In recent decades, considerable European investment has been devoted to the training of language assistants, full-time teaching staff and mentors, while the new figure of the professional language teacher trainer (LTT) has emerged. It is becoming increasingly important that future LTTs are not simply more expert teachers, or scholars competent in the various relevant disciplines, but professionals who are aware of their role, who know the development of teacher training in Europe and beyond, and who are able to compare various experiences in different training contexts. This volume is aimed at LTTs who wish to become aware of the main issues, tools and research now available for their daily practice and professional role, and for lecturers who teach prospective language teachers. Language teachers with long experience might also find useful information on how they can develop into LTTs. The book also offers an overview of recent European projects that could be relevant to principals of language departments who are involved in the assessment and performance management of their staff. Finally, the volume contains research suggestions for academic and PhD students who are investigating current issues in language teaching methodology, teacher training, lifelong learning and professional development. Contributors include: Merce Bernaus, Nick Charge, Jim Cummins, Pierangela Diadori, Michael Kelly, Hanna Komorowska, Laura Muresan, Joe Navarro, Brian North, Mario Pace, Fiorella Perotto and Richard Rossner.
About the Author: Pierangela Diadori is Associate Professor of Modern Language Teaching Methodology at the Universita per Stranieri di Siena and Director of DITALS Centre (Certification for Teachers of Italian as a Foreign Language). Her research activities cover the fields of Italian language teaching, teaching audiovisual technologies, cinema for language teaching, teacher-talk, pragmatic aspects of communication, theory and techniques of translation. Among her most recent publications on teacher training are: Manuale di didattica dell'italiano L2 (co-authored with Massimo Palermo and Donatella Troncarelli, 2009), Qualita della didattica e tirocinio formativo per l'italiano L2 (co-edited with Stefania Semplici, 2009), Cinema e didattica dell'italiano L2 (co-authored with Paola Micheli, 2010), and Insegnare italiano a stranieri (2011). She has translated the EPOSTL (Newby et al., 2007) and the Profile (Kelly and Grenfell, 2004) into Italian, which were published in TQAC in FLT: Training, Quality and Certification in Foreign Language Teaching (2010).