The 1999 MLA Survey of Staffing in English and Foreign Language Departments

Laurence, David

doi:10.1632/ade.129.53

Cited by 8 publications

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“…Contextual factors such as directives from those making curricular decisions or aspects of student performance (see, e.g., Graden, ) can result in practices that do not necessarily align with an individual instructor's reported beliefs. This is perhaps particularly relevant when considering university‐level introductory language courses because many of these courses are taught by graduate TAs (Laurence, ) who are most likely not making curricular decisions but rather following directives from program directors/supervisors. Basturkmen, Loewen, and Ellis () investigated the extent to which ESL instructors’ beliefs concerning the incidental focus on form during communicative lessons aligned with their instructional practices.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

Huensch

2019

Foreign Language Annals

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This study combined evidence from survey, interview, and classroom observation data to better understand the amount and type of pronunciation instruction and corrective feedback practices in French and Spanish introductory language courses (i.e., the first four semesters) at the university level in the United States. Data consisted of responses (n = 142) to a national survey and audiorecorded interviews (6 hours) and classroom observations (22 hours) of seven graduate teaching assistants (TAs) of French or Spanish from two different large (i.e., more than 15,000 students) public universities. Survey results indicated that TAs believed that when they correct pronunciation, they should prioritize mistakes that impede comprehension or change meaning. Classroom observations demonstrated that on average, 2% of instructor talk was pronunciation focused, with a majority of pronunciation episodes categorized as corrective feedback in the form of recasts. In addition, only one instance of preplanned pronunciation teaching occurred in the data. The findings suggest that current pronunciation teaching practices in this context are rare and largely reactive.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

Huensch

2019

Foreign Language Annals

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“…All disciplines are affected by this shift (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005), but few are more concerned about and fundamentally affected by reliance on contingent faculty than English departments (Association of Departments of English, 1999;Bousquet, Scott, & Parascondola, 2004;Cayton, 1991;Laurence, 2001;Modern Language Association & Association of Departments of English, 2008). What happens in English, with its near universally required undergraduate writing courses and the foundational skills transmitted in those courses, has ripple effects across campus.…”

Section: Context Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

4: Understanding and Supporting Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Shaker

Palmer

Chism

2011

To Improve the Academy

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As the face of the American faculty profession changes, targeted academic development becomes more important. A phenomenological qualitative study of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in English portrays an experince characterized by a love of teaching but fraught with professional challenges stemming from low status and poor reward and recognition structures. These data provide the point of departure for recommendations on expanding organizational and faculty development strategies for supporting, integrating, and encouraging full-time, non-tenure-track faculty.The literature on faculty development is built around the traditional notion of the faculty member progressing along a stable career line, enjoying equal status with other faculty colleagues, and having relative autonomy and variety in teaching assignments. Faculty development centers often do workshops on documenting tenure dossiers, advice to developers stresses engaging "respected faculty leaders" in programming or on advisory boards, and workshops often assume that participants are free to alter their course syllabi, change course assessment methods, and develop new offerings. Enter the contingent faculty member, now among the majority of newly hired faculty members in the United States (Schuster & Finklestein, 2006).

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“…The majority of jobs in academia require faculty to continue teaching at least some language classes. As the "1999 MLA Survey of Staffing in English and Foreign Language Departments" (Laurence, 2001) states, in 1999, full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members taught 7.4% of first-year language courses at doctoral departments, 23.2% of first-year language courses at MA-granting departments, 41.8% of first-year language courses at BA-granting departments, and 40.5% of first-year language courses at AA-granting departments.…”

Section: Areas For Improvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovations in Teaching Assistant Development: An Apprenticeship Model

Kost

2008

Foreign Language Annals

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This article describes an apprenticeship model that was developed and implemented across several language areas within one department at a large Canadian university. The apprenticeship provides two semesters of training for graduate foreign language teaching assistants before they are put in charge of their own classes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of the program and point out areas for improvement. Based on questionnaires distributed to apprentices and mentoring instructors who participated in this program from 2003 to 2006, results indicate that the apprenticeship program is very successful in training incoming graduate students to become competent foreign language instructors. Mentoring instructors also benefited from working with apprentices.

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The 1999 MLA Survey of Staffing in English and Foreign Language Departments

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

4: Understanding and Supporting Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Innovations in Teaching Assistant Development: An Apprenticeship Model

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