FL 4500/6500

Foreign Language Teaching Methods Online

This course is designed to address the needs and concerns of students preparing to teach foreign languages in the K-12 schools and inservice teachers who need a methods course for endorsement or licensure. It will also serve inservice teachers who are seeking to update their knowledge of second-language acquisition and instruction for personal growth or for academic credit toward state re-licensing or for national board certification.

This methods course is organized around the Standards for Foreign Language Learning, commonly referred to as the Five Cs: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. Students will learn about current theoretical bases for second-language acquisition and how theory informs classroom practice. The course does not promote a particular methodology but rather presents principles of learning from which teachers can draw as they make decisions about instruction. In today's classrooms with diverse learners and curricular options, teachers must possess a repertoire of teaching practices based on an evolving research and knowledge base.

This course is intended for upper division undergraduate students who are taking advanced level language courses. Students are encouraged to have taken an Oral Proficiency Interview prior to the course; if that has not been done, students should consider being interviewed to assess their proficiency level as soon as possible. (Information on the OPI can be obtained through your instructor.) Students planning to student teach should ideally take this course prior to that experience.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of current theories of second-language acquisition research.

2. Design unit and daily lesson plans in alignment with the standards for language learning.

3. Create lesson segments that reflect theory and practice.

4. Design performance-based assessments.

5. Use technology as a tool for professional development and to promote student learning.

6. Develop the ability to reflect on their teaching, student learning and to make changes as warranted.

Week 1. Module 1: Reflection and Goal Setting

Week 2: Module 2: Our Evolving Profession

Week 3: Module 3: Standards for Foreign Language Learning

GUEST LECTURE: Classroom Action Research

Weeks 4/5: Module 4: The Foreign Language Learner and the Acquisition Process

GUEST LECTURE: Socio-Cultural Theory

Week 6: Module 5: Designing Curricula and Planning Lessons

GUEST LECTURE: Elementary / Middle School Program types

Week 7: Module 6: Meeting the Needs of the Learner

Week 8: Module 7: Teaching for Interpretive Communication

Week 9: Module 8: Teaching for Interpersonal Communication

Week 10: Module 9: Teaching for Presentational Communication

Weeks 11/12: Module 10: Assessing Performance in Language Classrooms

GUEST LECTURE: Authentic Assessment

Week 13: Module 11: Understanding Cultural Perspectives and Making Comparisons

Week 14: Module 12: Connecting with Other Disciplines and the Target Language Community

Week 15: Assembling Your Teaching Portfolio

In a "live" course, you would be interacting with other students in your class. That interaction is important to the learning process. In this online course, you are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities designed to promote interactive communication in cyberspace. Your classmates may be in sites distant from your location; they may have very different backgrounds and experiences with language learners. Get to know them, seek to work with them.

One of the major ways you will share your progress with your instructor is through submissions to your electronic portfolio. You will be submitting answers to questions on the reading assignments, reflections, lesson plans and segments you have created, and other assignments.  Other strategies include discussion forums, live voice chat exchanges, viewing video segments and listening to audio clips.  There will also be "cyber board meetings" in which students and professors can discuss and share information with each other.

Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. (1999) Lawrence, KS:Allen Press
Shrum, Judith L. & Glisan, Eileen W.  Teacher's Handbook. 2nd Edition.(2000) Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

(Points to be assigned)

Exams

Portfolio submissions

Projects

Participation: Discussions, chats, board meetings

Final Teaching Portfolio

REFERENCES: Each module in this online course has its own list of references so that you can consult additional resources for your research, assignments, and personal professional growth. You can access references by clicking on the word "References" on the left of your window. Please take advantage of these references because they represent the most current research in the field. Some of the references will be identified as being on electronic reserve. In those instances click on the phrase "Reserve" to access the article or book.

Computer requirements: To find out what the minimal computer requirements you will need to take this course, go to: http://wsuonline.weber.edu. From that page, click on Online Courses and click on any listed course to find out about the Minimum computer specifications.

There are 12 modules that students will need to complete. Within each module are reading assignments, portfolio submissions, and online interactions with other students.

Three modules contain examinations and the others have culminating projects.

At the end of the course, students will submit a teaching portfolio. The exact format will be negotiated with your instructor in consideration of institutional and/or state requirements.

Graduate students will be required to produce 2 of the following: 1) a paper that explores a research question beyond the course content; 2) a plan for a classroom action research project; or 3) a case study that presents a real classroom situation experienced by a foreign language teacher and which raises a question that can be explored in terms of research and practice.. Specific topics will be approved by the instructor.