REPRESENTATION OF COMPOSITIONS, CRITERIA AND LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COMPETENCE IN US STANDARDS

Introduction. The present paper examines the standards of foreign language teacher preparation and development in the USA in the context of competence oriented educational paradigm. Purpose. To this end, the constituents, criteria and levels of foreign language teachers' competence as reflected in the standards of teacher preparation and development in the USA have been singled out. Methods.The methods of thematic analysis, comparison and systematization were employed in attaining this aim. Results. The joint vision of the language teachers' competence of the American educational researchers and practitioners is presented in the relevant standards. Standards, thus, reflect the strategic aims and expectations of language teacher education as a result of consensus reached by the country's professionals. The comparative analysis of the standards of different professional bodies revealed several underlying principles of their development: congruence of the content of standards of different professional organizations and within the same document, as well as consecutiveness and consistency, i.e. the nature of professional preparation and development of language teachers and the accompanying qualitative changes along the continuum of competence growth are taken into account. The structure of foreign language teacher's professional competence is made up of three main constituents: professional knowledge, skills and dispositions. Its main elements include the communicative language competence, linguistic, cultural, language teaching competence (methodological/ linguodidactic), general pedagogic and psychological, technological and some others. In the course of competence development the redistribution of focus in the structure of competence is mirrored in the analysed documents. Thus, teacher candidates should seek to improve the knowledge and skills closely related to their content area such as foreign language communicative competence (including knowledge of linguistics, language, communication), cultural, methodological competence etc. Novice teachers are expected to enhance their pedagogic and psychological competence, while experienced teachers are to aspire for professional growth, their students' academic gains and recognize the importance of life-long learning. Originality. So far, the aspects of language teachers' competence development in terms of their constituents, criteria and levels presented in the US standards have not been analysed by Ukrainian researchers, which adds to the novelty of this study. Conclusion.The discourse of competence and professionalism features in all texts of standards analysed, summarizing the essence and goals of language teachers' education and development.