Training Foreign And Second Language Teachers

This book provides a comparative perspective on foreign language teacher training in France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The training process of state secondary school foreign language teachers is considered from two perspectives for each country. The current training routes through which necessary teaching qualifications are obtained are described with respect to national policy for foreign language learning, the nature of providers, and training programme organization and contents, with details of any practice. These descriptive dimensions are accompanied by an evaluation of the degree to which the training fits the purpose of teaching foreign languages in state secondary schools. The descriptive and evaluative approaches to FL teacher training provide a novel overview of the current successes and challenges in the field, giving an understanding of terrains not easily accessible to the general English-language readership. The book highlights elements of good practice found across nations, and contributes to shedding light on the enduring mystery of why certain nations seem to be managing multilingualism better than others. As such, it provides a reference for interdisciplinary discussions between applied linguists, education researchers and practitioners, and policymakers.

This book contains many suggestions for practical work and discussion, and includes an extended case-study.

By bringing together research, theory, and best practices from a variety of contexts (ESL/EFL, foreign language, bilingual and immersion education), this book contributes to building meaningful professional dialogue among second-language teacher educators.

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.

This book contains many suggestions for practical work and discussion, and includes an extended case-study.

This book introduces a new field of educational research called teacher learning, as it applies to the teaching of languages. Up until recently, the study of second language teacher education has focused mainly on the knowledge base and specific skills needed for effective teaching. This book invites us to look at teacher education from a fresh point of view, through an exploration of the thinking and learning processes of individuals as they learn to teach. Seventeen original articles, based on studies done in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, provide examples of pioneering research into the ways that individuals learn to teach languages, and the roles that previous experience, social context, and professional training play in the process. The collection thus helps establish a research base for this newly developing field.

The present work is a part of an investigation into the teaching of the modern foreign languages which was begun in 1924 by a Committee organized under the sponsorship of the American Council on Education and working with funds supplied by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. From the first the Committee on Investigation recognized the fundamental importance which the training of secondary school teachers has for the present and future position of modern language studies in this country and took steps to sound out the situation as thoroughly as possible. The following pages contain the results of this inquiry. Even a hasty examination of Professor Purin's report will show that the foreign language teachers in this country, as a class, are poorly equipped both in the fundamentals of their subject and in the theory of teaching and the technique provided by practice under supervision. AU of these defects, as well as a lack of professional feeling, . teachers of the modern languages share with colleagues in other curriculum subjects, and all are to be explained in great measure by the recent history of our secondary school system. The deficiencies in the training of modern language teachers, resulting in a lack of fundamental skills and capacities, appear in glaring relief to every classroom visitor and are written plainly in the statistics contained in this report. Less than twenty-five per cent of the modern language teachers in the public secondary schools of the country have enjoyed opportunities beyond the college years, except such as were furnished by summer sessions. Only a little over thirty per cent of these teachers have ever visited a country where the language which they teach is spoken. Equally significant is the fact that one-third of them have not yet had three years of teaching experience and that thirty-six states in the Union still issue "blanket" certificates authorizing the holders to give instruction in any subject on the secondary school curriculum.

Current Issues in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Development: Research and Practice represents a collection of selected papers from the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), which was held in August 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. The volume comprises 18 chapters presenting current research projects and discussing issues related to second language acquisition, teaching and teacher education in a variety of contexts from around the world. This collection of research papers will be of use to both new and seasoned researchers in the field of applied linguistics. Teacher educators, language teachers and language policy makers will find this volume equally useful as the papers address current issues in language education.