Transforming our perspectives as language professionals during COVID-19 (original) (raw)

2020, Second Language Research and Practice

The arrival of COVID-19 in spring 2020 impacted every aspect of language educators’ lives in higher education. Using the backdrop of Transformative Learning (Mezirow, 1991), which understands disorienting dilemmas to be catalysts of change in one’s frames of reference about the world and self, this essay describes how the sudden move to remote instruction encouraged language professionals in higher education to reconsider certain practices and understandings about how best to learn and teach world languages. Through a first-hand account, a Language Program Director at a U.S. university reflects on how the pandemic occasioned their own questioning and reassessing of various facets of program coordination work, including pedagogical practices, assessment tools, teaching observations, and professional development.