Note: Most of the participants
in the survey did not know of any special training or preparation for LCTL
teachers at their institution or elsewhere. For this reason, and because the
training programs which were described are quite varied, the individual responses
have been compiled and summarized by institution.
Brown University
New faculty and lecturers at Brown University are encouraged to take part
in year-long workshops offered by the university's Center for the Advancement
of College Teaching. Brown also has an interdepartmentally-sponsored course
in language teaching methods that is open to graduate students and advanced
undergraduates; students in Italian, French and Spanish are required to take
it; both the German and Slavic departments don't allow their students to take
the course until they have fulfilled other Ph.D. course requirements, which
effectively means they can't take it until after their time as instructors
is past. This year, however, the German and Slavic departments are cooperating
in offering an expanded pre-service workshop.
BYU-Hawaii
The World Languages coordinator at BYU-Hawaii offers a yearly in-service training
meeting for language teachers; bi-monthly visits are made by the coordinator
with follow-up interview/critique sessions with each teacher. UCLA
At UCLA, African language TAs have to take a TA training course, and if they
are not already trained or experienced language teachers, they work under
the supervision of a professor for one year. This supervision usually involves
team-teaching with the professor for at least one quarter; in subsequent quarters
their teaching is closely monitored through visits to the classroom and frequent
meetings. The TAs are also required to attend annual workshops and meetings
held at UCLA that deal with a range of language-teaching issues, mainly focusing
on teaching methodology.
Indiana University
Assistant instructors of Dutch at Indiana University are required to take
a class on teaching methods, and are observed by department faculty and evaluated
by them annually.
University of Iowa
The Department of Asian Languages and Literatures at the
University of Iowa has a MA degree program in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign
Language. Students in the program are trained in Chinese language, Chinese
linguistics, Chinese culture and literature and Chinese language pedagogy,
which includes:
“background of and assumptions about the Chinese language, such as
the writing system, romanization, languages/dialects of Chinese and communicative
protocols in Chinese; Chinese pedagogical assumptions; curriculum design
(goals); classroom management; lesson planning; resources/materials use;
methodology (communication approaches); learning strategies; assessment and
evaluation (standards); articulation; performed culture; program development
(management, alternative instruction, community support); material development
and technology; advanced skills (narrative, rhetoric, composition and achievement
culture/literature); integration of theory and research in CFL and classroom
instruction; and the cognitive basis of CFL.”
Students who have graduated from the program are either teaching at the
college/university level as instructors or are pursuing an advanced degree
in applied linguistics/foreign language education (at Iowa or at other universities).
The College of Education also has certification programs
for Chinese and Japanese Secondary Instruction. There is regular communication
between these program and the programs in the Department of Asian Languages
and Literatures, and two of the courses in the program for the MA in TCFL
are also required courses for the Chinese certification program. Non-native
speakers of Japanese must complete at least four years of Japanese language
instruction to be certified in the state of Iowa, and native speakers must
pass the university's SPEAK/LECT test to become a TA. University of Kansas
The Department of African
and African-American Studies at the University of Kansas holds a
pedagogical orientation for TAs at the beginning of the school year, and the
TAs are closely monitored and observed and provided with feedback on how to
improve their teaching.
In the Department of Slavic Languages, the extent of departmental
training for TAs ranges from several individual consultations with the department's
language coordinator, to participation in a pre-service workshop and weekly
consultation meetings, to participation in the workshop, weekly consultation,
and enrollment in a semester-long three-credit course in the teaching of Slavic
languages. Additionally, all TAs are encouraged to observe each other's classes
as well as to share their own teaching activities. At least once a semester,
the language coordinator observes classes taught by the TAs and holds follow-up
conferences. The University of Kansas also has a Russian and East European
Studies National Resource Center, which hosts an annual one-day pedagogy workshop.
University of Maryland
At the University of Maryland, LCTL teachers have limited preparatory workshops
prior to the beginning of the academic year.
University of Minnesota
Teachers of Scandinavian languages at the University of Minnesota have an
annual week-long orientation, quarterly workshops, and a course for new teachers.
University of Pennsylvania
At the University of Pennsylvania,
all new language teachers, including LCTL teachers, must participate in two
major workshops: a week long workshop that prepares teachers for communicative
teaching, and an OPI workshop to prepare teachers for proficiency testing.
In addition, there are ongoing language-specific and general meetings for
the professional development of all language teachers.
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado as a secondary
certification program jointly directed by the College of Education and the
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, which is a one-year post-BA
program of coursework and practicum.
University of Texas at Austin
Assistant instructors and TAs in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at
The University of Texas at Austin take a teacher-training course taught by
an expert in applied linguistics.
University of Wisconsin
At the University of Wisconsin,
there is a general foreign language TA orientation program for all foreign
language TAs.
In addition, there is a methods course for Russian TAs and faculty
supervision is provided.
A course in "Methods of Teaching African Languages" will be offered
for the first time in the Fall 1996 term by the Department of African Languages
and Literatures.
Japanese students also take a one-semester course in Japanese language
acquisition, and usually have one year's experience as a teaching assistant.
Some students also take other advanced language acquisition courses (mostly
research oriented) offered in other departments.
In some departments, LCTLs have faculty coordinators who guide the TAs;
in other departments faculty will supervise one or two TAs. |