ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to present an overview of language teacher education, discussing concepts such as teacher training and teacher development, and implications of how contemporary perspectives on different practice situations are driving forces toward the reconceptualization of the knowledge base of teacher education. Learning to teach today is understood as a long and complex process of development resulting from participation in social practices and contexts associated with teaching and learning. Therefore, we intend to discuss how a sociocultural perspective meets an interpretative view of reality and provides elements for the (re)construction and transformation of teaching practices. This places knowledge as intimately and dynamically linked to experience and highlights the role of human agency in professional development. We then relate this to competency-based language education.
