Language proficiency, technical skill, and vocational awareness: Instructor competencies for bilingual vocational training

This article describes the skills required of occupational instructors who provide bilingual vocational training and offers a rationale for the skills selected based primarily on expert opinion and, where possible, empirical research. The background and clientele of bilingual vocational training programs are briefly explained as an introduction to the discussion of instructor competencies. Then a more detailed discussion of instructor competencies is presented. The discussion is drawn from current research in second language learning and teaching, sociolinguistics, technical training, and vocational psychology. The three major competency areas needed by bilingual vocational instructors include skills related to knowledge of language and the processes of language learning; skills related to a specific occupational field and ability to convey these skills to limited-English-proficient students; and skills related to vocational awareness as pertinent to present and future occupational prospects in any field and to the culture of the students being trained. In each of these areas, recent scholarship provides insights into the competencies needed by bilingual vocational instructors.