TESOL Standards

Is there an international governing body for TESOL? The short answer is – no. Not at the moment anyway. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t generally accepted ‘best practices’ which can help teachers and administrators plan, design, shape and deliver TESOL lessons or programs.

Here are some of the TESOL standards according to TESOL.org, one of the largest and well established TESOL organizations worldwide.

TESOL Standards (Adults)

Planning

Teachers should plan language instruction with the aim of encouraging learning and meeting specific learner goals. Lesson plans should engage learners and motivate them to achieve their learning goals.

Instructing

Teachers should create a supportive learning environment which engages all learners in focused language learning and encourages considerate learner interactions.

Assessing

Teachers should acknowledge the importance of and collect and interpret relevant data about the learning process and performance of learners with the aim of promoting the continuous development of both the intellectual and linguistic skills of each learner. Teachers should take student performance into account when making decisions about planning and teaching both ‘in the moment’ and for future sessions.

Teachers should involve their learners in the process of determining what aspects will be evaluated and offer practical and positive feedback to their learners after assessing their learning.

Identity and Context

Teachers should understand the significance of who their learners are, how their communities, inherited values and objectives characterize their learning and expectations. Teachers should appreciate the significance of how context influences identity formation and consequently influences the learning process. Teachers should apply this awareness of identity and context in planning, instruction, and assessment.

Language Proficiency

Teachers should display English language proficiency in social, business and academic contexts. Language proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing means a teacher should be functionally comparable to a native English speaker with a level of higher education.

Learning

Teachers should use their understanding of language and the process of adult language learning to be aware of the processes through which adult learners obtain a new language both inside and outside of the classroom setting.

Content

Teachers should appreciate that successful language learning most often occurs when language learners are engaged in using the language for authentic communicative purposes.
Teachers should understand that the content of any language program is the language which learners require so they can listen, talk about or read and write about a particular topic or subject area. Teachers should plan lessons to assist learners to acquire the specific language required to enable them to successfully communicate about the subject or topic in question.

Commitment and Professionalism

Teachers should continually widen and deepen their understanding of second language acquisition and related teaching methodology and constantly seek to develop themselves professionally.