Teaching Me Softly. A Research Study on Language Educators’ Must-Have Skills According to a Group of Prospective Teachers

Recent years have seen the propagation of soft skills in education and professional training, including teacher education. However, few studies investigate language educators’ beliefs about these skills within the theoretical framework of teacher cognition. This paper contributes to this research field by discussing the results of a study aimed at investigating the beliefs of a group of prospective teachers about the professional skills that language educators should possess. Data were gathered through a scenario-based task and a learning diary, followed by a mixed-method analysis. Results show that, while empathy is by large the most relevant skill for the participants, other people-oriented and task-oriented skills are frequently mentioned. A correlation was also found between skills’ frequency and priority in the dataset and the professional background of the participants, some of whom also work as teachers or private tutors.