FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

At the Fourth Annual Meeting of ACTFL, the sessions entitled “Teachers as Students-and Who Will Train Them” brought several suggestions from partici- pants regarding ACTFLs service to teacher education programs. The need for good communication about such programs was emphasized. In the hope of answer- ing that need, we are initiating this special department in Foreign Language A n nu Is.

We are indeed fortunate that Dale L. Lange of the University of Minnesota has agreed tlo serve as contributing editor for the new sectiton. Mr. Lange’s professional contributions have included editing the ACTFL Annual Bibliography and the Britannica Review of Foreign Language Education.

We also thank Paul F. Luckau of Brigham Young University for his assistance and suggestions. He is currently conducting a survey of graduate-level foreign lan- guage teacher training programs in the United States. We will keep ACTFL mem- bers informed of his findings in these pages.

An Editorial Comment

THE NEED for this special department was indicated at the Fourth Annual Meet- ing of ACTFL as described above. Its pur- pose is to provide the means whereby For- eign Language Education programs which prepare teachers on all levels can exchange information. An attempt has been made to locate a contact person in each program who is willing to provide information or give suggestions as to the kind of informa- tion this department needs to provide. The initial list of programs has been developed from a survey of graduate level teacher training programs by Professor Paul Luck- au, Brigham Young Universi’ty.

This department will appear two times a year, in the December and May issues of Foreign Language Annals. In future issues

we intend an exchange of information about Graduate Programs in Foreign Lan- guage Education and how teacher prepara- tion programs are facing the teacher over-

I n this first appearance of the depart- ment on Foreign Language Teacher Educa- tion, an article by Klaus Mueller has been included. The training and supervision of teaching assistants is crucial because their training greatly affects the preparation of future teachers.

supply.

Comments about the purpose of this de- partment, future plans, comments on Mr. Mueller’s article are welcomed. Send corre- spondence to Dale L. Lange, 148 Peik Hall, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.

235

236 Foreign Langirnge Tencher Etlitcnt?on

Aspects in Training and Supervising College Teachers of Foreign Languages

Klaus A . Mueller

ABSTRACT T h e paper describes a number of key aspects in the training of future college teachers. These are described i n the context of the program for the training of Teaching As- sistants, conducted by the Department of Ger- man a t the University of California, Berkeley.

In order to instill new foreign language teach- ers with the necessary pedagogical competence and sense of professionalism needed to carry out their duties productively, it is urgent a t the

beginning of the training program to provide the new Teaching Assistants with adequate guidance and support. Features included in the training program are: demonstration films, both locally prepared and others; visits to classes and written and oral reports on these visits; micro- lesson teaching, and discussions on a variety of methodological topics, such as programmed learning, testing, individualization of instruction, and psycholinguistics.

Introduction. The training of future col- lege teachers of foreign languages has al- ways offered challenges and posed prob- lems. The present educational climate at the universities and the status of foreign language studies in schools and colleges present new challenges.

The situation at the universities is not, for the moment, as discouraging as the plight of the majority of our public schools that prompted Charles Silberman to ob- serve in his new book Crisis in the Class-

KLAUS A. MUELLER (M.A., Columbia Univ.) is Senior Lecturer in German at the Univ. of California at Berkeley. He has taught at several NDEA Insti- tutes and has been Director of the Romance and Germanic Language Departments, Defense Language Institute, West Coach Branch, Coordinator of Lan- guage Instruction Programs and Director of Foreign Language Research for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and Coordinator of Foreign Language Pro- grams and Director of Foreign Language Research for the California State Department of Education. His many publications include co-authorship of Spanish for Schools and Colleges, Cultura, Conver- sacion y Repaso, Moderne deutsche Sprachlehre, and the series Spanish for Secondary Schools. His articles have appeared in MLJ, California Education, and the California Journal of Secondary Education. His professional memberships include ACTFL, NEA- DFL, MLA, and AATG.

room: “It is not possible to spend any pro- longed period visiting public school class rooms without being appalled by the muti- lation visible everywhere-mutilation of spontaneity, of joy in learning, of sense of self. Because adults take the schools so much for granted, they fail to appreciate what grim, joyless places most American schools are.”

The teaching in our beginning and in- termediate foreign language classes con- tinues to PO* problems of considerable magnitude. I would like to highlight some of the concerns with reference to certain features of our teacher training program in German at the University of California at Berkeley.

Foreign language teacher trainers at most universities are confronted with similar problems. The history and the financial re- sources of the academic department and the university, as well as the qualifications and educational philosophy of the person in charge of the training program, deter- mine the solutions found in attempting to meet these problems. The differing convic- tions and theories regarding foreign lan- guage learning and the training of future

DALE L. LANCE 237

language teachers also account for differ- ences.

The first problem faced by the majority of training programs is the urgency at the beginning of the training program to pro- uide suficient guidance and support for new teachers which will enable them to car- ry out their duties as instructors before any substantial salutary eflects of t he program can be realized. At Berkeley, as at most other institutions, graduate students re- ceive the major part of their training while already teaching. Moreover, most teaching assistants are also new graduate students just beginning their own studies when they are given their first teaching assignment. As a consequence, their energies and loyal- ties are divided by two distinct concerns: first being a new graduate student and sec- ond being a new teacher.

A typical comment illustrating this di- lemma was made recently by a former Teaching Assistant now involved in our new Graduate Student Teaching Improve- ment Program, which was inaugurated last month as a pilot project by the College of Letters and Science. “TAs are insecure, as you can well imagine. They are supposed to do a job they think important, but they are not trained how to do it. They don’t know what their students will be like, and they have no idea what their departments ex- pect of them.” My personal conviction is that not all TAs think that their job is im- portant, and that many departments fail to give TAs an idea what is expected of them. The problem is real nevertheless. Our teacher training program attempts to provide adequate guidance for TAs and instill them with a sense of professionalism and commitment, and at the same time im- prove the quality of the undergraduate lan- guage program.

Demonstration Films. The first aspect of the teacher training program concerns itself with providing as quickly as possible an overview of the program of instruction and an opportunity to discuss those phases of the course which the instructor is charged

with teaching during the first quarter. We believe that the most effective means to ac- complish this is to have the new Teaching Assistants view a sixty-minute demonstra- tion film showing carefully selected teach- ing techniques in classes taught by experi- enced teachers at every level of instruction, concentrating on those techniques and teaching methods which we consider most important and which we know from ex- perience cause problems for new teachers. Some of the selected demonstrations show techniques for introducing and drilling new structures and vocabulary, procedures for student recitation of memorized mate- rial, techniques for developing fluency in speaking, reading and writing, discussions of reading assignments, and techniques for various reviews as well as methods which have proved effective in the discussion and interpretation of literature. The film se- quences present our own classes, taught by our experienced Teaching Assistants. As the new instructor gains personal experi- ence with his assigned class, the individual sequences of the film are shown again and discussed in greater depth during the meth- ods course. The methods course, which is obligatory for all our new TAs, presents at a later stage additional films or demonstra- tions illustrating teaching situations at other institutions and in a variety of settings.

Class Visits. Another feature of our training and guidance program is regularly sched- uled class visits. T h e instructor in charge of the program-who also teaches the methods course-is the first faculty mem- ber who visits a new TA’s class early dur- ing the first quarter. Other regular faculty members of the department also visit the new TA as soon thereafter as possible. Each visitor completes a five-page departmental Class Visit Report Form and schedules a conference with the T A visited as soon after the observation as convenient. In this con- ference the visitor’s report of the class is discussed. T h e new T A intern is required to visit a minimum of five classes during

238 Foreign Language Teacher E ~ u cat ion

each quarter in his first year of teaching (a total of 15 classes). He is required to com- plete a Class Visit Report Form for each vis- it. This form is similar to the form used by the regular faculty. It differs from it in a number of minor respects. The only im- portant difference is that the name Of the person visited is not reported. The purpose of the report is to help the new instructor recognize important aspects of teaching and to furnish the instructor in charge-to whom these reports are returned-evidence that he is aware of these aspects, as well as evidence of his judgment of the quality of the class he has observed. In addition, the report serves to document the required number of classes actually visited. The class visits and reports thus offer additional and regular meetings of the new instructor with the methods teacher and other members of the faculty to discuss teaching problems. They give the teacher trainer further op- portunities to judge the degree of percep- tiveness and the professional development of the new colleague.

The Methods Course. The methods course extends over three quarters. This extended period of time affords the new TAs and the instructor in charge a chance to maintain regular formal instruction during the im- portant first year of teaching. Among the various features (including the demonstra- tion films and class visitation program al- ready mentioned), the methods course in- corporates two additional key activities: Micro-Lesson Teaching and the Group Leader Program.

Micro-Lesson Teaching. The program of micro-lesson teaching provides the new in- structor with an opportunity to teach at least one regular class for a period of 10 to 20 minutes while being observed by the other members and the instructor of the methods course. This is accomplished through a closed-circuit television system which makes it possible to record the class on videotape and simultaneously have the observers in another room view the per-

formance on a T V screen. As soon as the T A has completed his assignment, the regu- lar instructor takes over the class, the TA rejoins the methods class, and his perform- ance is discussed. Then the videotape of the micro-lesson is replayed and is again discussed by the group. This procedure has proved a valuable training device because it makes the new instructor aware of prob- lems and gives him an opportunity to see himself in action. Although many new teachers are somewhat nervous and tense while teaching a micro-lesson, the great majority of our TAs have expressed satis- faction if not always enthusiasm with this feature of our program. Most admit, how- ever, that they would not otherwise have become aware of their personal teaching techniques. All have found it greatly re- vealing to view themselves, and the majori- ty consider the procedure helpful.

The Group Leader Program. Through the appointment of group leaders we have been able to effect better coordination and ad- ministration of our undergraduate language program. Experienced and qualified TAs are appointed to serve as group leaders for each course (one leader is appointed for German 1, another for German 2, etc.). In most cases they are promoted to the rank of Associate in recognition of this additional responsibility. In this capacity they perform a number of key functions. They assist the instructor in charge in the administration of courses (scheduling of group meetings, class visits, coordination of examination committees, and the like). They also provide a professional link between the T A and the faculty member in charge of the courses. Perhaps the most significant benefit of this arrangement is the opportunity for TAs to discuss suggestions for improvement of our courses, changes in procedures and course content, scheduling and teaching difficul- ties, and student problems among themselves first. This helps to clarify their own thinking and results in an orderly presentation of suggestions for change through the group leader to the instructor in charge leading

DALE L. LANGI;. 239

eventually to changes approved by the de- partment. This program also affords some of our senior TAs a much needed opportu- nity to become involved in the administra- tion and decision-making process of the de- partment which will serve them well when they themselves assume the duties of plan- ning and supervising courses. The sudden transition from T A to Assistant Professor at a new institution has in the past been a rather traumatic experience for most grad- uate students. For this reason we consider our training in course planning, the prep- aration of final examinations, and some as- pects of departmental administration an important part of the training of future colleagues.

Other Features. The other features of our teacher training program and methods course are perhaps more similar to pro- grams in other institutions. For this reason I shall not describe them in detail. I n addi- tion to the activities described, the method5 course includes a selected Reading List, Lesson Plans for each course, an Znstruc- tor’s Guide, and numerous “handouts” scheduled for use in the methods course. The list of topics for discussion in the methods course follows. These Dzscusszon Topics are scheduled after the appropriate background reading from the list has been completed.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10.

11. 12. 13.

Structural perception drills Pronunciation drills Function arid use of dialogues Function and use of directed dialogues Dialogue recitation Pattern drills Application drills Directed conversations Free conversations Recombination exercises-oral and writ- ten Introduction to reading Discussion of assigned reading Composition

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36.

Introduction to literature Interpretation of literary selections The use of audiovisual-tactile aids The use of electro-mechanical devices The use of television Programmed learning Individualized instruction Team learning Testing Grading Preparation of supplementary teaching materials Audiolingual vs. other instructional meth- ods The influence of structural linguistics on language teaching The influence of behavioral theories on language teaching Conditioning and cognitive learning as- pects Psycholinguis tics Paralanguage and kinesics General semantics Research and research designs Articulation Comparison of course materials Professional activities, organizations, and journals Questions regarding a national model German curriculum

In conclusion I wish to stress that the most important part of training future for- eign language teachers at the college level must be the development of the candidates’ sense of professionalism. The most effective manner in which to achieve this goal is to provide a well-structured program of pro- fessional training and supervision from the very beginning of the new teacher’s career. I t is most important that new teachers be able by virtue of their teaching skill to con- vince students that learning a foreign lan- guage and culture on the college level is possible and desirable. They can accom- plish this only i f they are given adequate training. In the final analysis, of course, the success of every teacher must be judged by the performance of his students.