Language Awareness of Teacher Trainees

Abstract

Abstract-Knowledge of language is the basis of every teacher's daily work. After completing their training, teacher trainees will utilize their knowledge of language as both the basis and the setting for their future educational decisions regarding reading, writing, and language communication. Insights into the importance of language in teaching indicate that teaching language knowledge should occupy a prominent position in teacher-training programs. Accordingly, courses in applied linguistics have been added to courses on academic writing and constitute an essential part of teacher-training programs throughout the world. However, despite the acknowledged importance of language classes in teacher training, there is little systematic research into the changes that occur in teacher trainees' language knowledge following completion of these courses in applied linguistics. This study investigates the change in teachers' phonological and morphological awareness in Hebrew following their participation in a course entitled "Language Sound and Form". In a test conducted at the beginning and end of each year, teacher trainees were asked to choose the correct morpho-phonemic structure out of two or three options. The words were inserted into sentences consisting of pseudo-words and real words. Significant improvements were found between students' skills at the beginning of the academic year and its end, indicating that participation in the course apparently helped augment teacher trainees' linguistic knowledge. Furthermore, this improvement was shown to enable the application of this knowledge to new forms. These findings form the basis of a discussion about the importance of linguistic knowledge in teachers' training.

Exploring the Relationship between Metalinguistic Knowledge and Communicative Competence of Chilean EFL Teacher Trainees

“…Recent studies about MK in relation to language teaching have focused on, for example, teachers' MK and attitudes towards it in relation to the process of reading (Fielding-Barnsley & Purdie, 2005), teacher MK as a key component in language teaching and learning (Njika, 2015), the perception and importance given to LA by teacher trainees (Argaman & Vaknin-Nusbaum, 2016), and the importance of LA and its implications for pre-service English teachers (Bilgin, 2017). For studies prior to the ones mentioned here, refer to Esteki (2014).…”

Pre-service Teachers’ Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) on Bilingualism: Getting Insights to Developing Knowledge

“…Grijalva & Esparza (2013) identified PSTs' beliefs about English language teaching and learning at different stages of instruction, while İnceçay (2011) explored the effects of PSTs' language learning beliefs on their future teaching practices. More directly, Argaman & Vaknin-Nusbaum (2016) recognized the changes in PSTs' language knowledge regarding their phonological and morphological awareness after PSTs have learned about applied linguistics. Furthermore, Andrews (2001) and Ellis (2012) claim that teachers developing language awareness in TESOL has a pedagogical effect of such awareness on teaching practice.…”

Assessing teachers’ use of language and their teaching quality

“…Moreover, researchers also claim that using a high language register stimulates the quality of thinking and learning. Therefore, teachers of all disciplines are trained to use proper language in their direct and indirect teaching processes, to allow both thinking development and subject learning processes among all pupils (Argaman and Vaknin-Nusbaum, 2016; Karatsiori, 2016). Thus, K-12 pupils first study language (syntax and grammar), skills and uses throughout a variety of programs and subjects.…”