In the past decade, the foreign language (FL) profession has established standards for beginning language teachers that are used by accrediting agencies and state licensing agencies to make decisions regarding teacher preparation program recognition and teacher certification. Among these expectations is the requirement that beginning teachers demonstrate a minimum level of Advanced‐Low on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for Speaking. Consequently, the role that teachers’ oral proficiency in the target language (TL) plays in classroom instruction has become a critical issue in the field of FL education. This review presents current research related to teachers’ TL proficiency and its impact on classroom practices, teacher effectiveness, and student learning. The article raises questions that merit investigation in future research as it strives to clarify the role that teacher TL proficiency plays in classroom instruction and learning of the TL.
The purpose of this article is to provide a review of current research on two of the original ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) research priorities areas, model teacher preparation programs and teacher oral proficiency, as well as a look at future directions for research in these areas. Driven by the call for continued research in the original articles, this article lays the foundation for future research on effective world language (WL) teacher preparation programs. Despite the premise from the original articles and the growth of teacher preparation programs built around the ACTFL/CAEP Standards, further research is necessary to fully realize the effects of teacher's proficiency levels on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes.
Recently in the field of teacher education, there has been a call for a more practice-based approach to teacher education. Best practices for developing any skill set is live practice and coaching. However, due to the many ethical considerations and the obstacles presented to the learning-to-teach process, it is neither practical nor best practice, to have teacher candidates conduct live practice lessons in real classrooms with constant interruptions by expert teachers. In contrast, virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL) can potentially assist teacher educators in overcoming these obstacles. This article presents the findings of a research study using SL in an inter-university Foreign Language (FL) methods course to provide teacher candidates with opportunities to teach (practice skills) while receiving continuous live feedback (coaching) from their methods instructors. The virtual experience and immediate feedback impacted candidate confidence as well as pedagogical practice and forced candidates to engage in reflective practice regarding content and pedagogical knowledge. The complexity of teaching, the role of feedback, and simulation within SL in FL teacher candidate learning are also discussed.
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