scholarly journals Towards crossing the borders in foreign language teacher training: A report on a pilot phase of the Tandem Learning for Teacher Training project

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-291
Author(s):  
Magdalena Szyszka ◽  
Inna Smirnov ◽  
Regina Benchetrit
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Pilot Phase ◽  
Training Project ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Tandem Learning

The aim of the paper is to present the results of a pilot project for foreign language (FL) teacher education, in which trainee teachers’ knowledge and awareness of intercultural and cross-educational similarities and differences between two cooperating institutions from socio-culturally and linguistically distant countries – Israel and Poland – are elicited. The data collected serves as a springboard for designing an international project for FL trainee teachers to be implemented as a part of a teacher training course. In the project the trainee teachers coming from geographically, culturally and linguistically detached backgrounds, Israeli and Polish, are to participate in tandem learning understood as paired sessions of knowledge and experience exchange between FL trainee teachers via online communicators. The pilot phase, therefore, is an initial but indispensable stage evaluating the extent to which trainee teachers are ready to confront and share their educational background, cultural and linguistic knowledge with their peers from a geographically and socio-culturally distant country. A group of fourteen trainee teachers of Opole University participated in the pilot project measuring the participants’ readiness to engage in crossing the aforementioned borders with the help of a closed and open-item questionnaire focusing on the degrees of awareness of a number of aspects, for instance, culture and L1-based differences in approaching FL teaching. The application of the instrument generated quantitative and qualitative data, whose analysis supported the design of the final Tandem Learning Teacher Training (TLTT) program.

scholarly journals Designed-in and contingent scaffolding in the teaching practice groups model

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mallows
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Initial Teacher Training ◽  
English Language Teachers

The focus of this paper is the teacher learning of trainee teachers of English as a second, other or foreign language to adults, within a particular model of initial teacher training: Teaching Practice Groups. It draws on socio-constructive theories of teacher learning to explore the learning of trainees within the model. Teaching Practice Groups are highly social; trainees on courses using the model interact a great deal with each other, with their peers, with the learners in the teaching practice classroom, and also with the course documentation and activities. This paper suggests that these interactions, and the consequent development of trainees’ knowledge and understanding of teaching, are scaffolded in both ‘designed-in’ and ‘contingent’ ways (Hammond & Gibbons 2005: 12). Designed-in scaffolding can be seen in the way the course is structured, in the activities that learners are expected to engage with, and in the documents and processes through which these processes are managed. Contingent scaffolding on the other hand, the spontaneous actions and guidance of the trainer in response to the immediate learning needs of the trainee teacher, is unplanned. While the findings from this study are specific to the context of Teaching Practice Groups, this paper also offers a contribution to more general knowledge about initial teacher training for English language teachers.

scholarly journals diario como herramienta de práctica de la expresión escrita

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 64-77
Author(s):  
Yedid Monroy Segundo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Normal School ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Vital Importance ◽  
School Year ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Do So

Para los profesores de inglés, el dominio del idioma extranjero supone una importancia vital para el desarrollo de su práctica docente, lo es desde el instante mismo en el que ingresa a la Escuela Normal. En este sentido, el trabajo de investigación que se presenta en este documento tiene como objetivo describir como el diario de clases de un profesor en formación es una herramienta de práctica de la expresión escrita (Writing), durante el último año de su formación inicial. Para ello los materiales utilizados han sido los diarios de clase de los estudiantes normalistas, de los últimos tres ciclos escolares, a partir del ciclo escolar 2017 - 2018, asignados para asesoría con la autora del presente documento. Con respecto al método empleado, se han considerado los principios que establece el análisis de contenido y del discurso, lo que permite dar cuenta de la utilidad de trabajar el diario para recuperar aspectos de su práctica docente, con la finalidad de ejercitar la habilidad de escritura en el idioma inglés. Abstract For English teachers, the mastery of a foreign language is considered of vital importance for the development of teacher training from the moment a student begins their academic formation at a Normal School [Teacher’s College]. In this sense, this research aims to describe how the class diary of a trainee teacher is a tool for practicing writing skills during the last year of their preparation as teachers. To do so, during the last three academic periods, beginning from 2017-2018 school year, the author of this paper has assigned diaries as tools used by trainee teachers. Regarding the method applied, the principles that the content and essay analysis establish have been considered allowing us to render a report of the usefulness of working with a diary to retrieve aspects of their training as teachers in order to practice writing skills in English.

The involvement of neuro-linguistics and mind mapping in the development of a holistic perception of language education

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-125
Author(s):  
Gabriela Petrová ◽  
Nina Kozárová
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Mind Mapping ◽  
Repetitive Process ◽  
Holistic Perception ◽  
Mind Maps

Abstract The majority of people who have experienced institutionalized education have found it extremely laborious, slow and a necessarily repetitive process. The authors of this paper focus on and present possibilities for making the teaching of a foreign language more effective through mind mapping: the implementation of neuro-linguistic knowledge and mind maps into the learning process.

Reading Comprehension for ESL Students. Processes of Perceiving Texts

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-282
Author(s):  
Maria-Miruna Ciocoi-Pop
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Second Language Reading ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Unknown Words ◽  
Second Language Reading Comprehension ◽  
Esl Learners

AbstractIn an ever-increasing competitive academic setting, university students are striving for proficiency in their skills of foreign languages. This paper aims to highlight the significance of reading comprehension for students of English as a second language. Reading comprehension is a cognitive process, in other words, reading a text means processing and decoding it. Reading proficiency is linked to numerous aspects, such as age, cognitive processes, abilities, knowledge of the foreign language, etc. It goes without saying that the experience of reading a text, be it literary or non-literary, is more enjoyable without the need to constantly look up unknown words. This brief study also tries to show whether there is a direct connection between finding contentment in reading and comprehending the texts itself. Since reading is a key-skill verified in all major language exams, it is crucial for the ESL class, and not only, to include reading comprehension processes. Like any other skill, reading comprehension can be trained, as long as it is perceived as a procedure which requires the student’s commitment. Reading comprehension is a mechanism of phrase and concept identification, as well as of decoding meanings. Thus, this paper tries to emphasize the implications of reading comprehension and of teaching reading comprehension methods in the overall linguistic knowledge of ESL learners.

Politeness in professional contexts: foreign-language teacher training

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrard Mugford
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Bilingual Teachers ◽  
Further Training ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Professional Contexts

Abstract This paper examines the professional context of teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), whose first language is not English but who are required to help learners adhere to target-language (TL) politeness norms and practices. Many of these teachers have had little or no contact with TL countries/cultures and have limited professional training in this area. This paper highlights the specific context of 39 Mexican EFL teachers who reflected on their understandings and “teaching” of politeness. I argue that by employing existing resources and knowledge and with further training, bilingual teachers can be helped to take “possession” of politeness rather than having to unquestioningly teach appropriate, socially-accepted, socially-expected usage.

scholarly journals Differentiated Instruction in Mixed - Ability Groups the Jigsaw Strategy -

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-412
Author(s):  
Simona Boştină-Bratu ◽  
Alina Negoescu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Differentiated Instruction ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Instruction Strategies

Abstract An effective teaching-learning environment is student-centered, student-driven, allowing teachers to meet students’ learning needs and help them make progress in a variety of ways. This paper aims at analyzing some of the cooperative learning methods used to create more flexibly-designed foreign language lessons, where students’ skill levels, educational background, interests and motivation are heterogeneous. It focuses on differentiated instruction strategies, such as team work and jigsaw teaching, as well as on ways of implementing them appropriately and effectively in the foreign language classroom. We will start with an overview of some theoretical contributions and definitions concerning the differentiated instruction and the jigsaw classroom. The study mainly focusses on the jigsaw classroom as an effective technique meant to encourage students to involve in learning activities, interact and share knowledge and information, developing their linguistics, social and problem-solving skills, necessary in international environments, in such areas as communication, leadership, and decision-making.

scholarly journals Teacher's digital fluency: a new competence for foreigh language teaching

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-739
Author(s):  
Isis da Costa Pinho ◽  
Marilia dos Santos Lima
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Digital Tool ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Digital Fluency

This paper reports on a case study research focusing on digital fluency as a new competence for teaching foreign languages through technology. The data were generated on a training course having as its main purpose the investigation of pre-service and in-service teachers' perceptions about the relevance of digital fluency and the pedagogical use of digital technologies for foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. The trainee teachers were asked to work in groups with the purpose of exploring Windows Movie Maker software in order to create a movie addressing the importance of digital fluency and the potential of this digital tool in FL teaching and learning. The results suggest that digital fluency was considered a necessary competence for the creation of more attractive and dynamic lessons that motivate meaningful FL production.

scholarly journals La formazione degli insegnanti di italiano in Austria

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Gavagnin
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Training System ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Apprenticeship Programs ◽  
Teachers Training ◽  
The Way

This paper describes language teachers’ training in Austria where, following a 2013 law, in 2016-17 a new initial training system was implemented nationwide. The paper then focuses on the training of Italian teachers in Carinthia, where the new training system was first tested. In this region, cornered between Latin, German and Slav Europe, Italian is, notably, the second most studied foreign language after English. Finally, Austria’s old and new initial teacher trainings are compared, and particular attention is paid to the structure of the apprenticeship programs and to the way the guidelines set out in the EPOSTL and the EPLTE, the two EU documents on teacher training, are implemented.

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