To achieve professionalism, English language teachers (both native English-speaking teachers [NESTs] and nonnative English-speaking teachers [NNESTs]) need to gain competence in disciplinary content knowledge about the nature of language, language learning, and language teaching, as well as pedagogical content knowledge regarding teaching strategies that they can use to make their teaching contextually appropriate and effective. Teachers also need to achieve the ability to use English effectively for different purposes, and acquire knowledge about English that gives them the skills to analyze and explain the language. In addition, teachers need to engage in reflective activities and classroom-based research as part of developing teacher qualifications, in order to be able to make a connection between these bodies of knowledge and their practice and continue their professional development. Benchmarks developed to measure teachers' English language proficiency need to reflect local needs and constraints as well as respond to the role of English as a lingua franca.

Content extracted and adapted from:

DOĞANÇAY-AKTUNA, Seran; HARDMAN, Joel. Teacher qualifications, professionalism, competencies, and benchmarks: Nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs).2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0034