Reconsidering graduate students' education as scholar-teachers: Mind your language!

Abstract

This contribution argues that the education of the future professoriate must be based on a comprehensive view of the work of FL professionals. That requires the FL field to develop a coherent intellectual foundation and educational philosophy capable of assuring the validity and value of the range of its contributions—in teaching, scholarship, and service. The paper proposes a reimagined shared knowledge about language as that necessary foundation, substantiating the argument from several perspectives: investigation of the conceptualization of language underlying the MLA Report; a projection of future demands on faculty with regard to knowledge about language; the possibilities of systemic functional linguistics to provide suitable conceptual constructs and educational proposals; a critique of the current situation in core areas of the field; features of a reconceptualized TA education; and reflections on future steps that might enable language professionals to “mind our language” while we “mind the store.”