Language teachers’ accounts of challenges in two European settings of integration training

Second Language Teachers

This study investigates the work of second language teachers in two institutional settings responsible for integration training. By exploring teachers’ accounts in Finland and Germany, we seek to deepen the understanding of the daily practice of second language education. Bridging conceptual and practical approaches, the aim is to contribute to the current discourse on the development of adult second language education in Europe. A phenomenographic analysis of semi-structured interviews reveals challenges that influence instruction from inside and outside institutional practice. Accounts in the Finnish setting depict issues in how language education, teachers’ work, and adult education are perceived. Administration and language teachers disagree on what needs to be improved in a changing societal environment. Professional pride and appreciation are strongly demanded in a profession that is still being established, and challenges specific to adult education translate into priorities in delivering instruction. In the German setting, expressions culminate in prerequisites, and challenges lie in the way external factors influence course design and instruction. They also touch upon learning: methods, materials, and abilities. Feelings of inadequacy describe teachers’ psychological working environment. A comparison concludes a need to defend contact teaching in Finland and to improve tracking of slower learners’ progress in Germany.

Implementing a Flipped Classroom in Teaching Second Language Pronunciation

Blended Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0783-3.ch090 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1882-1897

Author(s):

Kazuhiro Yonemoto ◽

Asami Tsuda ◽

Hisako Hayashi

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Second Language ◽

Technology Integration ◽

Language Learning ◽

Flipped Classroom ◽

Language Education ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Self Learning

While the philosophy of flipped classroom has recently been drawing much attention of second language teachers, integrating technology into pedagogy is often an issue. This is also the case in pronunciation teaching. Second language pronunciation teaching has been largely dependent on teachers' intuition and beliefs, realized by repetition. Although recent technology developments in the field of linguistics, namely ultrasound imaging, enable visualization of movement and motion inside the mouth, it has not yet been widely used in second language education. In this chapter, taking a self-learning website for Japanese language pronunciation, the authors explore what makes teachers stay away from technology integration into language learning and how this barrier can be overcome to implement a flipped classroom. Specifically, the authors address the importance of taking initiative in planning how technology can be integrated into pedagogy while closely collaborating with and involving other fields of study, like linguistics, as well as information technology.

Preparing Foreign Language Teachers for Next-Generation Education - Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development ◽

Implementing a Flipped Classroom in Teaching Second Language Pronunciation

10.4018/978-1-5225-0483-2.ch007 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 114-129

Author(s):

Kazuhiro Yonemoto ◽

Asami Tsuda ◽

Hisako Hayashi

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Second Language ◽

Technology Integration ◽

Language Learning ◽

Flipped Classroom ◽

Language Education ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Self Learning

Adventure in a new language: what a first generation Canadian immigrant’s narrative holds for ESL teachers

Journal of Language and Cultural Education ◽

10.1515/jolace-2016-0033 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 222-232

Author(s):

Xing Fang

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Narrative Inquiry ◽

First Generation ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Language Education ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Esl Teachers ◽

Teaching And Research ◽

Second Language Education

Abstract This paper explored the value of learner’s stories for ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers’ teaching and research through a narrative inquiry of the lived English learning experience of a first generation Canadian immigrant. It first reviewed the concept of narrative and the significance of launching narrative inquiry. Then, it presented an interview conducted with the Canadian immigrant as a model of narrative inquiry. Themes of the narrative interview were found to resonate with theoretical issues of SLE (Second Language Education), ESL and SLA (Second Language Acquisition). Considering the themes and the entire interviewing process, this paper closed with a discussion of the benefits of narrative inquiry for ESL teachers’ teaching and research.

FROM READER TO READING TEACHER: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES FOR SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS.Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. xii + 263. $18.95 paper.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263199233062 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 492-493

Author(s):

Elizabeth Bernhardt

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Second Language ◽

Reading Instruction ◽

Teacher Development ◽

Course Design ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Comprehensive Treatment ◽

Language Classrooms ◽

Reading Teacher

From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second language classrooms is a book targeted at second language teachers in training. The first two chapters provide a brief overview of theory and research in second language reading. Chapter 3 treats course design; 4, prereading activities; 5, activities during reading; 6, postreading activities; 7, vocabulary; 8, the use of literature; 9, assessment; 10, lesson planning; and 11, teacher development. In other words, the book attempts a comprehensive treatment of important issues related to reading instruction in second language contexts.

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis and Second Language Learning

Journal of ELT Research ◽

10.22236/jer_vol4issue1pp35-43 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 35

Author(s):

Ali Akbar Khansir ◽

Farhad Pakdel

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Language Education ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Target Language ◽

Contrastive Analysis ◽

Language Studies ◽

The World

This article aims to provide an overview of some of the issues related to contrastive analysis hypothesis in second language learning. Contrastive hypothesis is one of the branches of applied linguistics which concerns with the study of two systems of languages between first language and target language. Contrastive hypothesis has fairly played an important role in language studies. Thus, in recent years, contrastive analysis has been used in language teaching contexts, syllabus design, and language classrooms by language teachers over the world. Many research works have been done by many language researchers in different aspects of contrastive hypothesis and also error analysis in the world. Language teachers always see contrastive analysis as a pedagogical imperative in target language and they use it as a functional approach in language classroom. However, contrastive hypothesis follows the errors of language learners in second language education.

“This is Not My World”. Essential Support Strategies for Newly Arrived Adult Immigrants Learning Swedish

Sustainable Multilingualism ◽

10.2478/sm-2021-0005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 85-110

Author(s):

Oliver St John ◽

Vilmantė Liubinienė

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Ethnically Diverse ◽

Language Education ◽

Cultural Knowledge ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Support Strategies ◽

Adult Immigrants ◽

Essential Support

Summary In Sweden, the state-sponsored language education, Swedish for immigrants (Sfi), provides language and cultural knowledge for the integration of newly arrived adult migrants in Swedish society. Sfi’s educational quality has sustained severe criticism. Through qualitative investigation of Sfi teacher work, this study aims to find out what pedagogical priorities guide the teachers’ classroom practices with linguistically and culturally diverse students. Furthermore, it aims to compare the contributions to Sfi learning environments of ethnically diverse teachers whose language experiences are different. Research into second language acquisition and native and non-native second language teachers contextualize the research aims. Bakhtin’s (1986) conception of human understanding as the meeting of two consciousnesses and García’s ideas about translanguaging in language education for adult migrants provide theoretical perspectives. Classroom observation alongside teacher focus groups generated data. Content analysis condensed the data into five essential support strategies that foreground students’ existential needs, their home languages as a learning resource, integration, learning challenge and instructional partnership between ethnically diverse teachers. Findings do not support the view that non-native language teachers are better equipped to teach second language students than their native counterparts but illuminate the unequivocal advantage of harnessing the pedagogical strengths of both teacher groups cooperatively.

Values and Attitudes of Nordic Language Teachers Towards Second Language Education

Sustainable Multilingualism ◽

10.1515/sm-2017-0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 194-212

Author(s):

Christina von Post ◽

Patrik Wikström ◽

Helge Räihä ◽

Vilmantė Liubinienė

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Language Education ◽

Language Testing ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Value Systems ◽

International Studies ◽

The Relationship

Summary Issues in minority education in relation to citizenship have received more attention lately, because of new requirements for language testing in several countries (Bevelander, Fernandez & Hellström, 2011, p. 101). The acquisition of citizenship is more decisive for immigrant participation in society than the duration of stay in the country (Bevelander, Fernandez & Hellström, 2011). The second language is crucial for active citizenship and integration in this perspective. Most countries in the EU (except Ireland and Sweden) have language requirements for citizenship and the use of language testing becomes increasingly common among the countries that receive migrants. The rapid development highlights the need for new international studies on the relationship between citizenship and conditions for second language learning. The goal of the recent study is to compare premises, perspectives and scales of values of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish language educators, related to the requirements for immigrant citizenship. Previous studies (Björklund & Liubiniené, 2004) indicate that there are major differences in value systems even between the neighbouring countries. To reach the objective of the present study, interviews were conducted with language educators in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The results have revealed two opposing patterns. The values of Swedish informants show a wide-ranging variation, while the Danish and Norwegian data on values are consistently similar. The results raise further questions about the effects caused by differences in values among language educators when comparing the countries and call for a further verification of the data in a more extended study, including Lithuania and other Baltic states.