Envisioning a Future of Re-examination of Foreign Language Teacher Education

Abstract

Envisioning a Future of Re-examination of Foreign Language Teacher Education Comfort Pratt Keywords foreign languages/lenguas extranjeras, language proficiency/proficiencia de lengua, Portuguese/portugués, Spanish/español, teacher education/formación docente Response to "The Future of K–12 Teacher Education: Spanish and Portuguese" The precarious situation facing the foreign language community in the United States presages a future of re-examination of foreign language teacher education. However pervasive the shortage of foreign language teachers may be as evidenced by Swanson (2012, 2013), of equal concern are the target language proficiency levels and pedagogical skills of the teachers, as well as their knowledge about their students' motivations for studying the languages (Brooks and Darhower 2014; Pratt, Agnello, and Santos 2009; Rhodes and Pufahl 2008; Richards, Conway, Rosvist, and Harvey 2013), but I will limit my response to language proficiency. The Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers proposed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (ACTFL/CAEP) require preservice teachers of Portuguese and Spanish to have a minimum proficiency level of Advanced Low (ACTFL/CAEP 2013). This is also the widely accepted minimum requirement for certification. However, the literature indicates that students coming out of US foreign language undergraduate programs hardly ever achieve that level (Darhower 2014; Glisan 2013; Tedick 2013), and only 54% of teacher candidates attain Advanced Low oral proficiency (Glisan, Swender, and Surface 2013). Rhodes and Pufahl (2008) also report that more than one quarter of elementary school foreign language teachers are not certified, and the percentage of elementary schools that had uncertified language teachers increased from 17% in 1997 to 31% in 2008. VanPatten (2015) cautions about the dearth of experts in language acquisition and notes that the combined expertise (linguistics, language acquisition, language teaching) of tenure-line faculty members at PhD granting institutions in Spanish is about 20% and only 6% of them has expertise in second-language acquisition. That, to him, indicates a major lacuna in "language departments," and he questions: "Who is driving the bus of language development?" (2). He expresses the concern that since very few language experts are exiting doctoral programs, most of the people who will be at the helm of language departments and programs will not be language experts. He explains that "language acquisition is the place where the rubber meets the road" as language acquisitionists are the ones who have the best chance of informing language teaching(5). He adds that without a strong presence of language experts, there is a predominance of old myths such as the belief that language is a list of rules, which in my view explains the continued pervasive use of grammar-based curricula despite the abundant literature on the indispensability of communicative approaches for communicative competence. Therefore, school districts will increase the hiring of Spanish and Portuguese native speakers from other countries until there is a consistent flow of homegrown teachers who meet the [End Page 268] required language proficiency standards. The "Visiting Teachers from Spain in the USA and Canada" program of the Ministry of Education of Spain for example continues to gain popularity in school districts. Comfort Pratt Texas Tech University WORKS CITED ACTFL/CAEP. (2013). "ACTFL Program Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers." Web. 2 June 2016. PDF. Google Scholar Brooks, Frank B., and Mark Anthony Darhower. (2014). "It Takes a Department! A Study of the Culture of Proficiency in Three Successful Foreign Language Teacher Education Programs." Hispania 47.4: 592–613. Print. Google Scholar Darhower, Mark Anthony. (2014). "Literary Discussions and Advanced-Superior Speaking Functions in the Undergraduate Language Program." Hispania 97.3: 396–412. Print. Google Scholar Glisan, Eileen. (2013). "On Keeping the Target Language in Language Teaching: A Bottom-Up Effort to Protect the Public and Students." Modern Language Journal 97: 541–44. Print. Google Scholar Glisan, Eileen, Elvira Swender, and Eric Surface. (2013). "Oral Proficiency Standards and Foreign Language Teacher Candidates: Current Findings and Future Research Directions." Foreign Language Annals 46: 264–89. Print. Google Scholar Pratt, Comfort, Mary Frances Agnello, and Sheryl Santos. (2009). "Factors That Motivate High-School Students' Decisions to Study Spanish." Hispania 92.4: 800–13...