Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Evolving Notions Of Literacy-Based Teaching: A Case Study Of Graduate Student Instructors, Heather W. Allen, Beatrice Dupuy
Evolving Notions Of Literacy-Based Teaching: A Case Study Of Graduate Student Instructors, Heather W. Allen, Beatrice Dupuy
Heather Willis Allen
The effectiveness of professional development for future foreign language (FL) professors is more salient than ever given the significant role played by graduate student instructors (GSIs) in undergraduate education and recent calls for change in the collegiate FL curriculum requiring sophisticated understandings of integrating the teaching of language, literature, and culture. Taking a sociocultural theory perspective, this chapter reports on a study of five FL GSIs’ experiences learning to teach that sought to determine how participation in an advanced pedagogy seminar influenced GSIs’ notions of literacy as a framing construct for collegiate FL curricula. Findings showed that through involvement in …
Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Professional Development: Challenges And Strategies In Meeting The 2007 Mla Report’S Calls For Change, Heather W. Allen
Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Professional Development: Challenges And Strategies In Meeting The 2007 Mla Report’S Calls For Change, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
This presentation will include discussion of both challenges and strategies in meeting the 2007 MLA Report’s calls for change in lower-division FL courses and, in particular, in relation to TA professional development. A pedagogy of multiliteracies (Gee, 1990; Kern, 2000; New London Group, 1996; Swaffar & Arens, 2005) is posited as an appropriate framework for anchoring TA professional development and several concepts from Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology (e.g., everyday and scientific concepts, appropriation, dialogic mediation, assisted performance) are foregrounded as key elements of professional development activities. Examples will be shared from several empirical studies of TA conceptual development (Allen, 2011; Allen …
Appropriating Conceptual And Pedagogical Tools Of Literacy: A Qualitative Study Of Two Novice Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, Beatrice Dupuy, Heather W. Allen
Appropriating Conceptual And Pedagogical Tools Of Literacy: A Qualitative Study Of Two Novice Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, Beatrice Dupuy, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
Guided by a sociocultural theory perspective, this qualitative study explores how conceptual understanding and teaching practices related to literacy evolved for two novice TAs of Spanish during and after an “Introduction to FL Teaching” seminar. In particular, this study sought to answer the following questions: 1. In what ways were participants’ everyday concepts of language learning and teaching evidenced in their reactions to literacy-based FL pedagogy and its application in their local context? 2. What were the conceptual learning outcomes of participation in a one-semester seminar on literacy-oriented FL pedagogy? 3. According to participants, which activities and tools from the …
The Methods Course Revisited: From A Skills-Based To Multiliteracies Approach, Heather W. Allen, Kate Paesani, Beatrice Dupuy
The Methods Course Revisited: From A Skills-Based To Multiliteracies Approach, Heather W. Allen, Kate Paesani, Beatrice Dupuy
Heather Willis Allen
The 2007 MLA Report proposed curricular reform of undergraduate FL programs that situates language study in “cultural, historic, geographic, and cross-cultural frames” and incorporates “transcultural content and translingual reflection at every level” (p. 5). The implications of such curricular changes on the preparation of future FL professors were, however, only minimally addressed by the Report. This presentation responds to two questions related to the Report's limited recommendations on graduate student education: What pedagogical approaches are most appropriate to promote a unified language-and-content undergraduate FL curriculum? What professional development activities and tools for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) might best instantiate the …
Embracing Literacy-Based Teaching: A Longitudinal Study Of The Conceptual Development Of Novice Foreign Language Teachers, Heather W. Allen
Embracing Literacy-Based Teaching: A Longitudinal Study Of The Conceptual Development Of Novice Foreign Language Teachers, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
Taking a sociocultural theory perspective (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006), this longitudinal study explored the conceptual development of two teaching assistants in a university foreign language department in relation to literacy and language teaching. Findings illustrate the "twisting path" (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 156) of concept development experienced by the two first-time teachers of Spanish as their understandings of literacy and efforts to use tools of literacy evolved over several years. Evidence of the ability to think through concepts of literacy in structuring teaching practices did not emerge for either participant until four semesters after they started teaching, illustrating what a gradual …
The Professional Development Of Future Professors Of Foreign Languages:, Heather W. Allen, Eduardo Negueruela-Azarola
The Professional Development Of Future Professors Of Foreign Languages:, Heather W. Allen, Eduardo Negueruela-Azarola
Heather Willis Allen
Although the professional development of graduate students in foreign language (FL) departments is of critical importance, discussion of its significance and evolution was all but absent in the 2007 MLA Report “Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world," a document advocating curricular and structural reforms of FL departments in forthright terms. This lacuna drove the current review which traces the foci and forms of research appearing from 1987 to 2008 on the professional development of future professors of foreign languages. Although empirical studies on the relation of graduate students' beliefs and identities to their FL teaching …
Beyond The Language-Literature Divide: Advanced Pedagogy For Training Graduate Students, Heather W. Allen
Beyond The Language-Literature Divide: Advanced Pedagogy For Training Graduate Students, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
In this article, my objectives are 1) to discuss current practices and challenges related to the professional development of graduate students in foreign language departments as teachers; and 2) to provide a rationale for and description of a graduate seminar that serves to prepare future professors to develop students' analytical, critical, and argumentative capacities in the advanced undergraduate curriculum. It is my hope to encourage further discussion of integrative approaches to teaching foreign language at all levels by providing a concrete example of how graduate student professional development can include issues of language in advanced courses. A one-semester advanced foreign …
Teacher Self-Efficacy Of Graduate Teaching Assistants Of French, Heather W. Allen, Nicole A. Mills
Teacher Self-Efficacy Of Graduate Teaching Assistants Of French, Heather W. Allen, Nicole A. Mills
Heather Willis Allen
No abstract provided.