E-assessment: Wash-Back Effects and Challenges (Examining Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes Towards E-tests)

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Creating an Inclusive Classroom Culture

The chapter discusses creating an inclusive classroom through a language socialization perspective. The authors suggest that to create an inclusive culture in a multicultural and multilingual classroom, language educators should engage in explicit language socialization practices that promote development of critical cultural consciousness and language awareness. They propose that in the process of creating an inclusive classroom, educators need to attend to affective, individual, and interpersonal domains. Specific practices for use in a language (including ESOL) classroom and a teacher preparation program are provided.

Addressing Sexual and Gender Diversity in an English Education Teacher Preparation Program

Teacher education programs as a whole do little to prepare graduates to create and maintain classroom and school cultures that recognize and affirm lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer + (LGBTQ+) identities. This chapter describes how an English education program chair at a Midwestern university has integrated the study of sexual and gender diversity alongside English language arts pedagogy in three different courses, including specific texts and learning activities, as well as student responses to the in-class experiences. Recommendations for future study and curriculum design are addressed.

Critical Ethnography in a Language Classroom

The chapter discusses a critical mini classroom ethnography as a pedagogical tool for educators working with multilingual learners in K-12 or adult settings. Critical classroom ethnography and culturally responsive instruction in language teaching are discussed. For practicing language educators, a questionnaire, an interview guide, and a reflection template are offered. For pre-service teachers, a structured observation template is included. The suggested tools are discussed in relation to equitable and inclusive educational practices to help develop critical ethnographic skills as they pertain to critically reflective observation which can be utilized by all teachers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the mini classroom ethnography's use by a candidate in a language teacher preparation program in the US led to the process of critical and linguistic self-reflection and transformation towards becoming a more culturally responsive and inclusive practitioner.

Minecraft and Elementary Literacy Learning

This research examines the perceptions and instructional ideas of preservice teachers as relates to using Minecraft, a popular video game, to facilitate game-based learning opportunities in their future elementary classrooms. The participants were 21 preservice teachers who played Minecraft as part of a teacher preparation program course and then completed essays on their experiences with the game and its potential to support student learning in the elementary English language arts classroom. These essays were coded and analyzed for themes. Three primary results were found in data analysis. First, three groups emerged from the data with each group indicating either no interest, some interest, or high interest in using Minecraft in their future teaching. Second, the preservice teachers illustrated various potential instructional strategies for integrating the game into the classroom, and third, participants identified a variety of ways that Minecraft integration can support English language arts instruction and learning.

Remote University Supervision of Student Teachers

This chapter outlines the shift of a U.S.-based university teacher preparation program from in-person supervision of student teachers to fully remote supervision during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Strengths identified in the shift to remote supervision include elimination of travel to school sites, modest cost savings, improved frequency and scope of feedback provided by university supervisors, increased flexibility in timing and nature of observations, and the use of recorded videos for reflection. Challenges identified include the need for ongoing professional development among all parties, missing school and classroom context, and weaker relationships between university supervisors and K-12 mentor teachers. The chapter makes recommendations for university teacher education programs considering a shift to remote supervision of student teachers, including provision of professional development, implementation of video coaching cycles, and explicit planning for relationship development with K-12 school partners.

Developing Teacher Education Performance Assessment through Teaching E-portfolios and Pre-service/In-service EFL Teachers’ Self-reflection

A portfolio is a document describing skills, experience, interests or knowledge of an individual. Recently, the conventional paper-based portfolio has been no longer able to keep pace and therefore, some researchers have suggested e-portfolios overcome this weakness. It is rare to find research on e-portfolio for managing certification of professional competence. Considering that developing an Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) teaching e-portfolio helps teachers to become more reflective in their teaching, the present study tried to merge this issue by exploring the effects of developing edTPA teaching e-portfolios on pre-service and in-service teachers’ self-reflection in a teacher preparation program in the Iranian EFL context. The researchers employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach. A self-reflection survey was administered to 100 EFL pre�service and in-service teachers. The participants developed edTPA teaching portfolios with three specific types of tasks (planning, instruction, and assessment) in their classrooms. After the teaching classroom, a self-reflection survey was administered as a posttest. Then six of the participants were surveyed using a follow-up interview. The results of the study showed that there was a significant improvement in the EFL teachers’ self-reflection in both groups through developing three types of edTPA and underlying five factors of reflection in their teaching. Research on edTPA as a tool measures teacher readiness and reflection. Further research efforts should focus on edTPA performance, teacher evaluation and student performance to add to the professional discourse on teacher preparation, teacher quality, and policy making.

The Effectiveness of In-Person versus Online Instruction in the Pre-service Teacher Preparation Programme

In reference to the reflective nature of the methodological design of the current pre-service English teacher education program at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, considerable challenges related to teacher-education were noted during the emergency online switch. For this reason, the theory/practice connections, typically strengthened via the practical, experiential and reflective components of university teacher-education programs, were put to the test. The research is aimed at identifying the challenges of the online switch and focuses on comparison of the effectiveness of in-person versus online instruction in the pre-service English teacher preparation program. The research questions seek to examine whether teacher-training sessions online are more demanding and challenging, and potentially less effective (as perceived by the respondents), compared to the in-person teacher-training practices. The study results offer a valuable insight into the teacher-trainees’ perceptions of the challenges and effectiveness of the online English teacher-training course implementation in comparison with the in-person mode.

Becoming humanizing educators during inhumane times: Valuing compassion and care above productivity and performance

This qualitative inquiry presents a duoethnographic reflection by a pre-service teacher and teacher educator on their individual and collective experiences navigating teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emails of gratitude exchanged between both authors serve as the beginning of their inquiry and analysis. Their narratives reveal the ways in which they experienced humanizing pedagogies, received compassion and care, and engaged in culturally sustaining pedagogies within their teacher preparation program. Implications for reimagining teacher preparation embedded in humanizing pedagogies are explored.

Reflecting upon 30 Years of STEM Partnerships between Industry, University, and Public Schools: Past Lessons, Current Successes, and Future Dreams

The importance of partnerships is critical in educational arenas, but information on how partnerships form with the involvement of corporations, districts, and universities working in harmony is limited in the current literature. The teacher preparation program described in this paper is a “built-to-last” partnership model with over 650 teachers prepared to be teacher-leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The authors provide a history of the program’s development, the sustainability of the program over time, the content of the various components of the partnership, and the evolution of the program, including its current status.