PROFESSIONALISM AND PROFESSIONALIZATION OF ADULT ESL LITERACY

Adult ESL practitioners operate in a context in which full-time positi ons are rare, resources are scarce, and turnover- is high. But efforts to professionalize the field should not be taken as an indictment of the professionalism of the adult ESL workforce. Even under adverse cur rent working conditions, professionalism in the field is high, as is d emonstrated by participation in ongoing professional development and t he range of professional development models in use. Whereas both certi fication and credentialing have been proposed as ways of enhancing the professionalization of the field, credentialing may be more appropria te because it can provide for multiple routes of access to the profess ion. The article discusses three major models of adult ESL literacy pr ofessional development: craft or mentoring models, applied science or theory to practice models, and inquiry or reflective practice models. The article concludes by outlining each model, describing examples of each in adult ESL literacy and suggesting ways in which they can be ef fectively combined, looking to innovative teacher development practice s in K-12 education as a guide.