Language teacher education for the internationalization of higher education: the potential contributions of a network of communities

Abstract

The growing interest in the internationalization of the higher education, combined with the recognition of the relevant role that proficiency in other languages plays in this scenery, has fostered programs focused on language development of Brazilian university communities. Because of the specificity of language courses for academic purposes, teacher education has also figured as an objective of such language policies. This study seeks to investigate the practices of continuous education of teachers of English for specific purposes during the second stage of the Paraná Speaks Languages (English) Program in a state university of Paraná. The research is anchored in studies about professional development in language teacher education, as well as in communities of practice and author-teachers. The results reveal that the production of teaching-learning material, adopted as the central practice of the group, was the activity that boosted the teacher education. Therefore, the group associated with different communities through various formative modalities seeking for new knowledge. The professional development approach indicates a hybrid configuration, with a predominance of theoretical knowledge in emerging modalities, which were interrelated with knowledge of practical order in permanent modalities. Evidence of the constitution of a community of practice could be perceived by the end of the process.