Professional development activities for pre-service foreign language and culture teachers to build their methodological skills within test competency construct

Abstract

A professional development activity is considered by the author as a means of educational and cognitive performance aimed at building pre-service foreign language and culture teachers’ methodological abilities to select test materials, analyse test items and design tests for implementing test assessment of their students’ foreign language communication competence performance outcomes. Due to the suggested professional development activities, methodological knowledge is activated and specific methodological skills of pre-service teachers to design, implement, and monitor language testing are developed. While methodological skills are formed and developed, professional development activities perform their educational, motivational, integration, developmental and assessment functions. The article substantiates and presents the classification of teacher professional development activities based on one principal criterion (the characteristics of pre-service foreign language and culture teachers’ methodological performance) and two additional criteria (place and mode of doing professional development activities). According to the criterion “the characteristics of pre-service foreign language and culture teachers’ methodological performance”, the receptive analytical, reproductive, and creative professional development activities are determined. These activities foster prospective teachers’ skills to observe, analyse, generalise, classify, reproduce, forecast, develop, present. According to the criterion “place of doing professional development activities”, classroom and homework assignments are distinguished. In accordance with the criterion “mode of doing professional development activities”, individual, paired, group (in small groups) activities are identified. The sub-types of professional development activities are determined according to the principal criterion: analysis, classification (receptive-analytical activities), addition, correction (reproductive activities), design (creative activities). The requirements for professional development activities are formulated: functionality, hands-on attitude, taking into account specific features of foreign language and culture teacher’s performance while designing, planning, and organising students’ language competence test assessment. Several examples of professional development activities are presented in the French language.