scholarly journals Student teachers' conceptions of curriculum: Toward an understanding of language-teacher development

1989 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alister Cumming

Programmes for the education of second language teachers necessarily base themselves on conceptions of what learning to be a teacher entails. But surprisingly little study has been devoted to understanding the processes by which second language teachers actually develop their knowledge, or to defining what such knowledge consists of. This paper approaches this issue through a content analysis of data on one aspect of student teachers' professional knowledge: their conceptions of curriculum decision making. Different representations of this knowledge emerge, ranging from schemata which appear inadequately developed to those which seem sufficient to guide curriculum decision- making effectively. Implications are drawn for the education and development of second language teachers, as well as further research in this area. It is argued that current "input-output" models of teacher education can be augmented by "developmental learning" models, if further understanding of language teachers' professional knowledge is obtained.

Author(s):  
Ramesh Sathappan ◽  
Malini Sathappan

This study set to find out the challenges faced by TESL students at a local teacher training institute during their first practicum practices at selected Malaysian primary schools for the 2nd semester of the academic year 2017. This research is of significant value, as the 17 students- teachers’ experiences need to be made known; the findings on the transitional move from a safe protected college environment into the unknown territory of school surroundings. Each of these trainee teachers had leapt into the role of a teacher in the 21st century language class. They would each maintain daily and weekly reflective journals throughout their practicum period to document their teaching concerns and the level of confidence they put into their abilities to teach and manage their primary school students. Thematic areas are discussed in the findings. These findings are triangulated with document reports from their respective supervisors and the school teachers who mentored them. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted.  This research enables to shed more lights into the areas of second language teaching in the classroom as the findings would be able to provide more support for future management and development of teacher education. Furthermore, these student-teachers could understand themselves better throughout the month-long practicum. The ability to self-monitor and self-appraise themselves are valuable skills to be acquired by these student-teachers for their personal and autonomous continuous self-assessments to become effective second language teachers.


1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-493
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Bernhardt

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 3234-3243
Author(s):  
Ramesh Sathappan ◽  
Premaraj Gurusamy

This study is set to assess the practice and challenges faced by TESL students at a local teacher training institute during their first practicum practices at selected Malaysian primary schools. This research is of significant value, as the 17 student- teachers’ experiences need to be made known; the findings on the transitional move from a safe protected college environment into the unknown territory of school surroundings. Each of these trainee-teachers had leapt into the role of a teacher in the 21st century language class. They would each maintain daily and weekly reflective journals throughout their practicum period to document their teaching concerns and the level of confidence they put into their abilities to teach and manage their primary school students. These findings from the questionnaires were reported. The data obtained from the study participants were analyzed qualitatively. The results of the study reveal that:- i) student-teachers have positive perception towards the role of practicum program in promoting their pedagogical skills as well as subject matter knowledge; ii) school mentors failed in providing the necessary support for practicum student-teachers. This research enables to shed more light into the areas of second language teaching in the classroom as the findings would be able to provide more support for future management and development of teacher education. Furthermore, these student-teachers could understand themselves better throughout the month extended practicum. The ability to self-monitor and self-appraise themselves are valuable skills to be acquired by these student-teachers for their personal and autonomous and continuous self-assessments to become effective second language teachers.


Author(s):  
Leena Maria Heikkola ◽  
Jenni Alisaari

The aim of the study was to investigate how different teaching methods, singing, listening to songs and reciting song lyrics, affect the development of pronunciation of Finnish as a foreign language pronunciation. The second objective of the study was to investigate whether future classroom teachers and future Finnish as a second language teachers evaluate the strength of foreign accent differently. The results indicate that reciting song lyrics is the most beneficial for the development of pronunciation. This teaching method is especially useful for beginners’ level language learners. The future class teachers gave stricter evaluations of foreign accent than the future Finnish as a second language teachers. Based on the results of the study, it could be argued that reciting song lyrics could be used for teaching pronunciation. Further, the results support previous findings that more experienced listeners give milder evaluations than more unexperienced. Thus, it would be valuable for future teachers to gain experience in listening diverse accents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-76
Author(s):  
Chinaza Solomon Ironsi

Teaching English language to young learners in an English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language context could be challenging especially for African immigrants, as they face varying arrays of challenges ranging from low wages, staff abuse, and other racial discriminations. A lot has been written about racially related issues in our school system yet there are limited works of literature that focus on the challenges of African immigrant English as a Second Language teachers with regards to racial discrimination. To investigate this, a mixed-method research design was used to elicit information from 68 African immigrant English as a Second Language teachers, teaching young English as a Foreign Language learners in 3 countries. The participants were purposively chosen after obtaining written and oral consent from them. A structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions were instruments for data collection. Reliability and validity checks were carried out before administering the questionnaire. After analysis, a notable finding was that African immigrant teachers felt unaccepted by the host communities and this made it difficult for the English as a Second Language learners to listen to classroom instructions given by these immigrant teachers. Again, the parents of these learners find it difficult to accept African immigrant teachers teaching their children as they deemed them incompetent to teach them. Other findings of the study were vital in making pedagogical conclusions on racial discrimination issues encountered by African immigrant English as a Second Language teachers. The ways forward for an all-inclusive educational system devoid of ethnic, religious, sexuality and racial issues were suggested.


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