L2 Teacher Education Research Papers (original) (raw)

While the role of culture in second and/or foreign language (L2/FL) learning and teaching has often been unquestioned, empirical research on culture learning and teaching in L2/FL education has been less common than opinion-oriented writings in relevant journals. This article offers a summary and synthesis of 52 empirical studies on L2/FL culture learning and teaching published during the 20-year period 1996-2015. In doing so, it first provides some background, then discusses the methods used for choosing, summarizing, and briefly analyzing these studies, and finally outlines a range of quantitative and qualitative findings. Culture learning and teaching research in L2/FL education during this period involved five main languages (English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish) in 19 different countries; adopted mainly qualitative research approaches; and addressed a diverse range of age and educational levels, although postsecondary research studies were most common. The survey here highlights a shift from a focus on ‘culture’ to the ‘intercultural,’ and reveals that culture learning and teaching research has moved beyond reporting teachers’ and students’ attitudes to a range of topics impacting L2/FL learning and teaching, including instructional approaches, teaching materials, assessment, and technology. It also points to connections between the studies outlined and offers possibilities and directions for future research in this important area.

With extensive numbers of English learners in public schools worldwide, content-based language instruction (CBI) is prevalent in the preparation of second language (L2) teaching professionals. This study investigated how aspects of Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) manifest as pre-service L2 teachers develop lesson plans for CBI contexts. The authors examined the interplay between three factors: the participants' perceived utility of their teacher preparation coursework, the participants' ability to identify language demands in a content-area text, and the types of pedagogical activities participants suggested for subsequent CBI lessons. Descriptive and qualitative data were obtained by combining a survey with a constructed lesson-planning task. Findings yielded paradoxical results pertaining to participants' perceptions of language-focused coursework and their ability TLA during CBI lesson plan development.

- by Kristen Lindahl and +1
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- Second Language Teacher Education, Language Awareness, L2 Teacher Education, Content-based instruction

Most teacher education programs prepare teachers for work with individuals who have formal education experience and print literacy skills. However, teachers of adult emergent readers often experience distress and isolation as they navigate an uncharted teaching context. This study involved participants in a professional learning community to explore their teaching and reflective practice. They concurrently unpacked the underlying aspects of their teaching practice (philosophy, principles, theory), while exploring their actual teaching (practice). Participation in the professional learning community fostered the critical dialogues necessary to take these teachers into a space for critical reflection beyond practice.

Over the years, the multiple intelligences theory (MIT) proposed by Howard Gardner has renewed interest in learners' use of effective learning strategies and produced interesting results. This MIT-oriented study investigated the role of successful L2 readers' multiple intelligences in their effective use of reading strategies. To this end, a TOEFL reading comprehension test was administered to a cohort of 135 English as a foreign language students at several universities in the southwest and centre of Iran, and 80 students were identified as successful L2 readers based on the ETS rating scale and their TOEFL scores. Then, they answered an MI questionnaire originally developed by Armstrong and a reading strategies inventory adapted by Singhal. The data were quantitatively analysed using correlations and multiple regressions. The results revealed that linguistic, logical-mathematical and intrapersonal intelligences were the good L2 readers' most dominant intelligences, while bodily intelligence was the least common type. In addition, they mostly employed metacognitive and cognitive strategies but rarely drew upon affective and compensation strategies while reading. Further, there was a significant positive relationship between linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences and the use of metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies. Similar relationships were also found between linguistic intelligence and the participants' use of memory strategy, on one hand, and between interpersonal intelligence and compensation and social strategy use, on the other. Importantly, linguistic and intrapersonal intelligences as well as metacognitive and cognitive strategy use were shown to be the best predictors of reading comprehension. Finally, the theoretical or pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.

RESUMO: Este presente estudo visa definir o conceito de biletramento; discorrer sobre as vantagens desta modalidade de aprendizado; mapear as metodologias utilizadas e explicitar as possibilidades de aquisição da L2, o inglês, nos ambientes bilíngues oferecidos por estas instituições da rede privada de ensino na cidade de São Paulo e nas cidades da Grande São Paulo. Devido à ausência desta modalidade em Escolas Estaduais e Municipais, o presente estudo enfatiza as práticas em Escolas Bilíngues, ou Internacionais Particulares. Palavras----chave: Biletramento. Bilínguismo. Escolas Internacionais. Metodologias. CLIL. Inquiry. L2. INTRODUÇÃO Em face ao desenvolvimento econômico da sociedade moderna globalizada e as várias adaptações educacionais ocorridas, principalmente no ensino das línguas estrangeiras, em escolas do ciclo comum e em escolas bilíngues cabe a este estudo bibliográfico fazer um levantamento sobre a formação docente do educador bilíngue (inglês-português), pois há uma urgência por mudanças curriculares em Instituições de formação superior tanto nos Cursos de Pedagogia, quanto nos cursos de Licenciaturas, ou principalmente na Licenciatura em Letras, ou na Área de Tradutor e Intérprete; também é levantada, neste estudo a aquisição da língua inglesa (L2) em ambientes favoráveis ao bilinguismo, em que o ensino da (L2) ocorre integrado ao ensino das ciências naturais, sociais e das artes em escolas bilíngues ou internacionais, sendo esta prática denominada na literatura atual como biletramento.

- by Edson L B Dos Santos
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- Biliteracy, L2 Teacher Education

The current review acknowledges the complex and subjective nature of the practicum experience and thereby makes a deliberate attempt in recognizing a diverse body of literature that informs the formulation, operationalization, and implementation of the entire practicum process. More specifi cally, it presents a systematic analysis of books focusing on the practicum experience (Richards & Farrell, 2011), language teacher development (Farrell, 2015), and teacher identity negotiation and construction (Cheung, Said, & Park, 2015).

Although research into the use of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning has grown in strength in recent years, the majority of ESL teacher-training courses still provide little to no information regarding L1 use in L2 teaching. This paper investigates the perspectives of pre-service ESL teachers regarding the use of the L1 in L2 learning, the potential reasons underpinning these views, and what, if any, further education is needed in ESL teacher training courses regarding L1 use in the L2 classroom. The results of this study suggest that, although the pre-service teacher participants were accepting of L1 use at times, their acceptance was limited, implying a lack of a complete understanding overall. The author recommends ESL teacher-training courses equip future teachers with more information regarding L1 use in L2 learning so that they can to make their own informed decisions on effective L1 use in their classrooms.

This collection of empirical work offers an in-depth exploration of key issues in the education of adolescents and adults with refugee backgrounds, residing in North America, Australia and Europe. The studies foreground student goals,... more

Engaging learners in classes they are required to attend can be a challenge. However a large body of educational research on motivation – both intrinsic and extrinsic – has given educators a solid foundation from which to target and increase student motivation. In this workshop, I will briefly highlight challenges to maintaining students’ motivation in EFL classes. Then we will explore strategies and classroom practices to engage all learners and increase motivation to learn. Often, a positive byproduct of motivating and engaging learners is keeping them on task. We will therefore also discover how engaging learners can be the best tool in your classroom management toolbox.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate boredom among Croatian primary and secondary school teachers of English. The data was gathered by means of an open-ended survey that focused on the teachers' experiences with classroom boredom. The findings pointed to different causes of boredom in the Croatian FLT context, such as grammar tasks and uninteresting subject matter. Croatian teachers reported various manifestations of boredom, i.e. cognitive and motivational, as well as diverse emotion regulation strategies employed, such as introducing new content or engaging in physical activity. Majority of the teachers stated that boredom did not affect their instructional quality, however there were those who reported having observed adverse effects in their classrooms.

Do you spend a lot of time observing classes and providing feedback to EFL teachers? Are we missing an opportunity to grow from the very feedback we provide? This session will highlight the opportunities that our feedback can give us as... more

For years the English proficiency of general Hong Kong students is said to be continuously declining. There is a common belief that the execution of mother tongue education is a main factor for this phenomenon. However, rarely have people mentioned, discussed or thought of the relationship between the falling English proficiency and the prevalent teaching methodology. This paper questions the overuse of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the Hong Kong context. It pinpoints the key principles and features of CLT and examines the reality of Hong Kong students against these principles and features. It concludes through the comparison that although CLT is in vogue and meets the general desires of learning a new language, it has some limitations to a context like Hong Kong. Reality shows that CLT does not match the Hong Kong context in many aspects; overuse of it can only cause detrimental effects and fail the intended aim of using it to develop the learner's communicative competence.

Co-teaching is an under-utilized model within EFL teaching contexts, yet it has the potential to enhance teaching through increased teacher collaboration and reflection. The presenters will describe the findings of a study exploring the effectiveness of co-teaching during a TEFL program teaching internship in Armenia. Intended audience: Teacher trainers

- by Raichle (Rai) Farrelly
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- Co-teaching, L2 Teacher Education

In this qualitative study, I scrutinize my second language (L2) academic and disciplinary discourse socialization (ADS) as a US-based language educator leading a study abroad (SA) program in Germany in the context of an interview interaction with Meike, a language educator and coordinator of the host site’s summer language course. I recruit a reflexive approach to the examination of the interview and a reflexive researcher identity memo that I wrote immediately afterwards (Maxwell, 1998). The macroanalysis shows that I experience significant affective responses around three themes: Auslandsgermanistik (i.e., international German studies), L2 pronunciation in SA, and SA as ‘entertainment’. The microanalysis shows that instead of revealing my affective reactions, I cooperate structurally, or facilitate the relevant interactional roles (e.g., interview and interviewee), with Meike when these themes emerge in the interview interaction. Taken together, the results reveal that my emotions enter into the interview interaction in very minimal ways because I pursue the maintenance of my role as interviewer and my/our SA program’s partnership with Meike/the host site. The results of this project remind us that interviewers are situated, socializing agents who make coordinated choices with their participants due to the need to negotiate multiple identities and expertise. This project lends strong support to scholarship that understands interviewers as non-neutral bodies (McGregor & Fernández, 2019; Prior, 2017; Talmy, 2011) and compels practitioners to consider the consequences of their ongoing L2 ADS for their students as well as their own language teaching and programs.

This workshop involves participants in the design and delivery of inquiry-based approaches to professional development. Participants will explore two models of teacher-driven professional development that they can adapt for implementation in their contexts. We will focus on the potential for these approaches to support teachers in remote regions.

A sociocultural perspective of teacher development honours the rich knowledge base that teachers work from as they strive to connect theory (" expert " knowledge) to practice (" experiential " knowledge). The present paper explores classroom research and reflective practice as forms of teacher-led inquiry for the EFL context. In particular, this study explores the extent to which Armenian EFL teachers engage in classroom research, the challenges they face therein, and whether or not they consider themselves to be reflective practitioners. The findings are presented against the backdrop of the Armenian context with recommendations for cultivating teacher-led inquiry to promote teacher development in a range of EFL settings.

The practical teaching course, also known as the "practicum", is an essential component in graduate TESOL programs in the United States. The rationale behind this course is to allow preservice teachers the opportunity "to acquire the practical skills and knowledge needed to function as effective language teacher[s]". Traditionally, practicum program participants consist of a practicum supervisor, preservice teachers, mentor teachers, and language learners. The authors feel, however, that the traditional practicum course suffers in some ways because groups of participants do not interact sufficiently. One noteworthy absence of interaction is that between practicum supervisors and mentor teachers, even though this interaction is considered a critical element of the practice teaching experience. Another type of interaction often lacking in richness in the campus-based practicum is that between preservice teachers. One approach to increasing interaction between different practicum participants is to increase the authenticity of the practicum setting by, for example, offering the practicum outside the United States in an EFL context. This approach gives preservice teachers the opportunity to develop their teaching practices collaboratively while engaging with real language learners daily in authentic EFL classrooms. Additionally, preservice teachers are afforded a rich cross-cultural experience and the chance to share their language and culture with students who may never have visited the United States. In this brief article, the authors describe an innovative on-site practicum model developed at the University of Utah, implemented in the Czech Republic in summers of 2007 and 2008, and with plans to continue in the summer of 2009.

This chapter presents a discussion of how teacher candidates can develop an awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and supports students of diverse backgrounds in second language (L2) teaching. Buoyed with a narrative inquiry involving 17 L2 teachers at one independent secondary school in the Northeastern United States, Geneva Gay's culturally responsive teaching is recast, integrating cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity in L2 curricula. Although many teacher participants reported incorporating student background as a resource in informal ways, few teachers (3 of 17) reported formally integrating activities into L2 curricula that supported students in this way. This finding suggests that knowledge of the relevance of student diversity as a resource may also be underrepresented in L2 practices, and implications for L2 teaching and teacher candidates are discussed. Following this examination, the chapter offers a guiding activity that teacher candidates can develop to explore diversity and inform teaching practices.

- by Sheri Dion
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- Diversity & Inclusion, L2 pedagogy, L2 Teacher Education