Triangulating Graduate Instructor Learning in FL Teaching Methods: Questionnaires, Concept Maps, and Reflective Teaching Journals

Abstract

Graduate students who teach languages in university settings often receive their training in an intensive, semester-long teaching methodology course. Measuring learning in this context is often a challenge, as graduate students enter with varying levels of knowledge and experience and are often expected to simultaneously learn and apply this knowledge to the courses they are teaching. While common means of measuring instructor learning via cognitive change has been documented for more experienced language instructors (cf. Borg, 2006) [1], graduate instructors are an often-overlooked population (cf. Gurzynski- Weiss, 2013; in press) [2] [3]. In hopes of encouraging robust research in this critical area, this paper details three instruments that can be utilized to examine graduate instructor cognition and evidence of learning in a methods course: questionnaires, concept maps, and reflective teaching journals. Design and implementation techniques of each instrument, along with strengths and limitations, are discussed. Illustrative examples from an on-going research project are presented to demonstrate how each instrument can elicit evidence of graduate instructor cognitive change (e.g., learning), and be utilized in other graduate instructor teaching methods courses.