Issues In Modern Foreign Languages Teaching

Issues in Modern Foreign Languages Teaching draws together a range of issues in the teaching of modern foreign languages into one volume that will encourage students and newly qualified teachers to consider and reflect on the issues so that they can make a reasoned and informed judgement about their teaching of MFL. It will be relevant for students and newly qualified teachers at both primary and secondary level and will fill a gap in their knowledge due to time constraints - and an emphasis on standards - on ITT and PGCE courses.

At a time when environmental humanities and sustainability studies are creating new opportunities for curricular innovation, this volume examines factors key to successful implementation of cross-curricular initiatives in language programs. Contributors discuss theoretical issues pertinent to combining sustainability studies with foreign languages, describe curricular models transferable to a range of instructional contexts, and introduce program structures supportive of teaching cultures and languages across the curriculum. Exploring the intersection of ecocritical theory, second language acquisition research, and disciplinary fields, these essays demonstrate ways in which progressive language departments are being reconceived as relevant and viable programs of cross-disciplinary studies. They provide an introduction to teaching sustainability and environmental humanities topics in language, literature, and culture courses as well as a wide range of resources for teachers and diverse stakeholders in areas related to foreign language education.

This book is for newly qualified teachers and PGCE students of modern foreign languages. It covers the training standards for NQTS but goes beyond this with a focus on the subject expertise they bring into teaching.

Issues in Modern Foreign Languages Teaching draws together a range of issues in the teaching of modern foreign languages into one volume that will encourage students and newly qualified teachers to consider and reflect on the issues so that they can make a reasoned and informed judgement about their teaching of MFL. It will be relevant for students and newly qualified teachers at both primary and secondary level and will fill a gap in their knowledge due to time constraints - and an emphasis on standards - on ITT and PGCE courses.

This edited collection sets out the case for teaching modern languages across the curriculum and provides practical strategies for its implementation.

Designed as a text to support student teachers in training, this book focuses on the key skills of teaching modern foreign languages. The practical focus of the book is underpinned by a theoretical perspective including ample opportunities for reflection. Account is taken of national statutory frameworks. The book aims to assist student teachers in developing a personal approach to modern foreign languages teaching and to choose the most effective and appropriate methods to help pupils gain relevant knowledge, skills and understanding. For mentors and tutors working with student teachers this book provides an overview of the areas covered by student teachers during their course of initial teacher education. Chapters cover, for instance: the teaching of grammar and cultural awareness assessment the use of the target language for instruction and interaction the use of new technologies in the classroom. Examples are given in French, German and Spanish, but most are transferable to other languages.

Language teaching approaches, methods and procedures are constantly undergoing reassessment. New ideas keep emerging as the growing complexity of the means of communication and the opportunities created by technology put language skills to new uses. In addition, the political, social and economic impact of globalisation, the new demands of the labour market that result from it, the pursuit of competitiveness, the challenges of intercultural communication and the diversification of culture have opened new perspectives on the central role that foreign languages have come to play in the development of contemporary societies. This book provides an insight into the latest developments in the field and discusses the new trends in foreign language teaching in four major areas, namely methods and approaches, teacher training, innovation in the classroom, and evaluation and assessment.

First Published in 1991. This is Volume 22 of the Source Books on Education series. Politically speaking the study of foreign languages and cultures helps maintain a strong competitive position in an increasingly global marketplace. It was hard to imagine in 1957 that the launching of a Soviet rocket would push the United States into its greatest investment ever in foreign language education. As American policy-makers attempted to play catch-up with our brothers and sisters behind the iron curtain, this country infused federal dollars into extensive foreign language teacher training and the creation of new foreign language educational programs. As suddenly as federal support was given, however, so was it taken away; and its withdrawal was responsible for one of the darkest periods in the history of foreign language education in America. Drawing on the expertise of a number of the nation's most experienced and creative foreign language educators, this volume, edited by Ellen S. Silber, addresses some of the crucial problems we face in foreign language education today.