Dscribes the format and content of a three-quarter-long methods course taught to teaching assistants in the German Department of the University of California at Davis. This includes a preteaching orientation program, a year-long methods course, continuing supervision, and rotating teaching assignments. The benefits of this expanded course are…

Reviews trends in the preparation of foreign language graduate students as teaching assistants, and identifies such teaching-assistant development program elements as preservice workshops, methods courses, classroom observation, practice teaching, instructor visits, class videotaping, and peer assistance. (CB)

Suggests that the declining enrollment in German courses in the southern and western United States illustrates the need to promote German language education. Teaching assistants should be trained in public relations methods; a model is provided for including such training in existing methods courses. (25 references) (JL)

Discusses the components of a foreign language in the elementary school methods course in a state where K-12 certification in second languages is now mandated, describing course emphasis on integrated or content-based instruction, second-language acquisition, a practicum allowing participants to demonstrate innovative teaching techniques, and…

Discusses Tek.Xam, a national standard in technical literacy developed by the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges, as the framework for six technology modules that are integrated into a representative undergraduate foreign language methodology course. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on helping graduate students reframe their thinking about the teaching of literature to undergraduate students in the various roles undergraduates play as language learners and particularly as "nonintended readers" of texts from cultures very different from there own. Suggests students can be led to engage in a dialogue with texts, to take…

Results of a study of the curricular content of the foreign language (FL) methods course are presented, based on 157 FL methods course syllabi from 144 colleges and universities. Course goals, instructional materials, content, requirements, and evaluation systems were examined. Areas in need of further development are identified. (50 references)…

Preservice English-as-Second-Language (ESL) teachers respond to various forms of feedback that they received in their TESL methodology course, and offer insights into how these individual response will shape their own evolving feedback practices. Results show that these preservice ESL teachers were pleased with the wide variety of forms of…

Washington University's (Missouri) Department of Romance Languages and Literature requires its graduate teaching assistants to take a one-semester pedagogy course to ensure their competence and effectiveness as teaching assistants. The course features seminars in which goals, expectations, and learning theories are discussed and practice teaching…

Explores the extent to which a reflective approach to English-as-a-Foreign/Language teacher training is suitable for teaching undergraduate students a course in methodology at the University of Alcala in Spain. (Author/VWL)

This article describes changes being introduced in Norwegian colleges of education regarding the training of English teachers. Traditional divisions (phonetics, language, culture, literature, etc.) are being replaced by a theme-based approach, in which students are obliged to use English and are more actively engaged in the learning process. (IAH)

Describes a study conducted in a core French methodology course, designed for generalist core French teachers. Describes the challenges generalist core French teachers face, and examines the ways in which students evolved and changed as professionals and as educators during the course. (Author/VWL)

An experienced foreign language methods instructor presents his "private history" about teaching Spanish to fifth-graders as part of an elementary school's afternoon enrichment program. (Author/VWL)

It is proposed that professional preparation programs for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers can help teachers become better cultural observers by drawing on their prior experiences in developing perceptions about their own culture and the classroom culture. A theoretical framework and its application in one ESL teacher education program…

This paper envisions what a standards-based second language methods course might look like. In exploring the possibilities, the paper describes a current model for preservice training, generalizations gleaned from a study of a second language methods syllabi archive, and an analysis of and reflection upon a particular second language methods…