The Effect on Foreign Language Teacher of Leadership Training in a Foreign Setting

Abstract

This report summarizes the effects of advanced FL and leadership training on teachers' attitudes, value orientations, professional motivation, and opinions about policy in the FL field. Comparisons were made among three groups of participants, two attending EPDA institutes in France, one stressing FL leadership training, the other following the traditional advanced EPDA program, and a third group following the traditional EPDA program in the States. The results indicated that all three groups were somewhat d pointed in their institute experiences, that they held generally similar attitudes, entations, motivation, and views about FL icies. The differences that did occur seem be attributable to initial differences in makeup of the groups with regard to experience abroad, level of teaching experience, language proficiency. Several recommendation for follow‐up studies are made.

Inter-ethnic contact: Attitudinal consequences.

“…As a result, this study could not partial out the effects of the mere passage of time. Nonetheless, the results obtained differed from those of previous studies reporting no changes (Leonard, 1964;Reynolds, Flagg, & Kenedy, Note 1;Tucker & Lambert, 1970). Consequently, it is possible that the effects were due to the passage of time, or to other variables operating in brief unstructured excursion programs which do not affect more structured programs.…”

“…The assumption that attitudes towards the group speaking the second language are related to competence in a second language has been the basis for the establishment of numerous language study programs (e.g., immersion, exchange, or language study abroad) meant to promote second language acquisition through contact with native speakers of the second language. Despite growing enthusiasm for such programs (Bicknese, 1973;Savignon, 1972;Wallach, 1973), research studying their effects on attitudes have either failed to obtain significant effects (cf., Leonard, 1964;Reynolds, Flag, & Kenedy, Note 1;Tucker & Lambert, 1970) or report decreases in motivation (MacKay, Note 2).…”

Positive Attitudes and Realistic Beliefs: Links to Proficiency

“…Many studies have demonstrated attitude shifts, particularly for those students who had greater contact with people of the culture being studied (e.g., Gardner & Smythe, 1975;Hoffman & Zak, 1969;Thomlison, 1991). Some studies, however, (Hanna & Smith, 1979;Tucker & Lambert, 1970) found no attitude change after bicultural exchanges.…”

The 1968 NDEA Philippine Institute for TESL Teachers: A Follow‐Up Evaluation

“…We then devised a series of questions to probe each participant's impressions of the Philippines, the institute in general, various specific components of the institute, his views of Filipinos and Filipino students i n comparison with Americans and American students, his eagerness to assume leadership positions within the language teaching profession, and his recollections about adjustment problems which lie had experienced. We based ow questionnaire on earlier work by C;ardner, Taylor, and Santos (1969) with these same teachers, and on the work of Tucker and Lambert (1970) with EPDA participants at an institute held in Arcachon, France. We also incorporated several ideas summariLed by Hrein and David (1971) in their studies of sojourners.…”

“…They also did supervised teaching with Filipino colleagues. T h e institute proved to be an excellent opportunity to assess some effects of foreign-based training on a group of American teachers, a topic already examined in earlier research by Tucker and Lambert (1970).…”