New Visions in Action - Teacher Development

As you are probably aware, the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages have joined forces to create "New Visions in Foreign Language Education." wo workshops have already been held to begin addressing some of the critical issues that affect our profession. One of the subgroups is entitled "Teacher Development." In order to decide what teachers should know, we thought it best to begin with what we are teaching our pre-service teachers in our methods classes. To do this, we need the expertise of ALL FL methods teachers. We are writing to solicit your help with the first phase of this large undertaking.

Enclosed is a questionnaire, asking not only for your methods course syllabi, but also for information about additional general education courses that your students must take to become certified. We know that methods teachers are the busiest of all teachers, that you do not need more forms or papers to fill out. Yet, this project is so important to our profession that we are imploring you to take the time to complete it and send it back to us, if possible, within the next few weeks. The validity of this project corresponds directly to the number of responses we receive. YOUR input is critical.

Hopefully, this analysis will show common trends and important directions for our future. We will be sharing the results with you.

New Visions in Foreign Language Education
Sample Survey of Teacher Education Programs in the United States

State __________________

Institution______________________________________________________________________

Department that houses foreign language education classes: _______________________________

Name of contact person in that department _____________________________________

E-mail address _______________________ Phone ______________________________

Level of initial certification: Bachelors Masters

Areas in which degrees related to foreign language education are offered:

Program Descriptions: Please send or e-mail a copy of your program descriptions to the person whose address appears at the top of the page.

Courses beyond the core required for certificaton:
A. Language courses:

B. Foreign language education courses:

C. Other courses in the College of Education:

Course Descriptions: Please attach a syllabus or course description for each course taught that is directly related to foreign language education (i.e. methods courses, foundations of language learning, second language acquisition, student teaching, practica, etc.)

Assessment of language skills: How does your institution evaluate the language skills of its pre-service teachers? If you use a test, please describe and give an evaluation of the effectiveness of the test.

Study Abroad: Please describe any study abroad experiences your institution provides for its foreign language/foreign language education students. Indicate if you think a study abroad component should be required.

Critical Methods Course Content: Please check any content you consider critical to include in the compendium of courses offered for initial certification of foreign language teachers. Add any areas you perceive to be lacking from the list.

_____ second language acquisition theory	_____ understanding of historical methods of FL.ED
_____ introduction to linguistics	_____ psychological theory as it relates to methods
_____ learning styles	_____ elementary methods
_____ national standards	_____ ACTFL proficiency/performance guidelines
_____ middle school methods	_____ materials making
_____ listening skills	_____ speaking skills
_____ teaching reading skills	_____ teaching writing skills
_____ how to incorporate culture	_____ authentic assessment
_____ test writing	_____ curricula models
_____ unit planning	_____ lesson planning
_____ characteristics of learners	_____ learning styles
_____ classroom management	_____ use of Internet
_____ other computer-related instruction	_____ use of language labs
_____ micro-teaches	_____ reflective teaching
_____ action research	_____ meeting special needs
_____ error correction	_____ textbook evaluation
_____ contextualization	_____ immersion programs
_____ writing performance objectives	_____ portfolio assessment
_____ use of video	_____ content-related instruction