Learning “About” and Learning “Through” Technology: An Analysis of Syllabi from Foreign Language Teaching Methods Courses

Abstract

The 2007 Modern Language Association (MLA) report recommended that foreign language (FL) graduate students be provided with “substantive training in language teaching and in the use of new technologies” (p. 7). In the present study, I examined teaching methodology (“methods”) course syllabi in order to gauge the extent of professional development in technology after the publication of the MLA report. Using data from methods course syllabi (N = 31), I explored how FL Teaching Assistants (TAs) learned about technology and learned through technology and found that there were considerable missed opportunities for both. Data suggest that technology in the methods course is not keeping pace with advances in technology and that the methods course needs to be rethought.