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Conceptual Framework
The course
Methods of Teaching Foreign Language is based on the University
Delaware’s Conceptual Framework, which was developed by a multi-college
committee to define the approaches generally used in the university’s
teacher education program. The framework is based on the conviction that good
teaching requires constant trial and error, thought revision, and reflection.
For that reason, a primary goal of “Methods
of Teaching Foreign Language” is not merely to convey content, but to
help students develop and practice skills they will need for a career of
vital, innovative teaching. These skills begin with personal reflection aimed
at improving practice, but they also include using scholarly resources as
well as forming partnerships with parents, teachers, and the larger community
as a means of defining and resolving problems. Students should read the
Conceptual Framework document, which they will find at: University of Delaware's
Conceptual Framework document or its brief version here.
A.
Reflective practitioner: All readings, activities, and projects encourage
students to think through problems and approaches to teaching. Specific
step-by-step models will be provided as well as general tools, and students
are encouraged to reflect on these tools and find their way to solve problems.
Textbooks present material in a way that invites reflection and problem
solving. The activities that accompany the chapters require thoughtful
consideration. Finally, discussions, small group work, demonstrations, micro
teaching session, portfolio and all projects include reflective exercises.
B.
Scholar: In accord with the general way of becoming reflective
practitioners, students are encouraged to consider ways of using existing
research-based information as means of determining what more they need to
learn and how best to learn it. Students are required to include in this
effort not only traditional scholarly texts but appropriate Internet sites
and community resources as well. This work is not undertaken as separate,
isolated assignment; rather, it is part of the routine development of
motivational activities, lesson plans, multiple assessments, and other
instructional materials the students are writing in the course. Accordingly,
students are required to indicate, in written assignments specifically how
they are applying this research-based information to the material they are
proposing to use with their (future) pupils. Finally, students are challenged
to move beyond the traditional image of scholarship as an individual pursuit
and to experience the acquisition of knowledge as a collaborative, community
effort.
C.
Problem-solver: The concept of problem-solver is not separate from the goals
of the two concepts defined in A and B above. For that reason, the class
discussions, activities, demonstrations, and micro teaching sessions are
routinely framed in terms of analyzing what problems need to be solved, what
information or material is necessary to solve them, and how that information
or material may be acquired. This approach is applied to such topics as the
development of motivational activities for diverse learners, the
incorporation of state content standards into lesson planning, and the
development of principled stands on issues of importance to the profession.
D.
Partner: Class periods will include activities that model technique of
cooperative peer instructions. Students are encouraged to develop both the
skills and the attitudes necessary to foster routine, comfortable
partnership-formal and informal- with pupils, parents, and colleagues.
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