Instructional Expertise Research Articles

Technology Integration in Foreign Language Teacher Training Programs: Exploring Cutting-Edge Tools and Applications for Professional Development

The incorporation of technology into the training of foreign language teachers has garnered considerable interest among educators, who have increasingly acknowledged the inherent possibilities of innovative tools and applications in augmenting their professional growth. Notwithstanding, these tools allow educators to remain abreast of the most current pedagogical methodologies, augment their instructional expertise, and proficiently cater to the varied requirements of students. This study investigates the incorporation of these tools within the instructional program of educators specializing in foreign languages; with the ultimate aim of unveiling the views of relevant stakeholders on how these tools aid in strengthening their professional growth. The study involved the participation of 107 individuals, comprising both foreign language university lecturers and teacher trainers. Furthermore, a quantitative method of analysis was adopted in analyzing the research data that was collated through the use of an online questionnaire. Several significant findings were made from the research data which were presented and analyzed. The research findings revealed that technology integration seamlessly paves the way for the professional development of foreign language educators. Also, a comprehensive training program, provision of ongoing professional development opportunities, peer collaboration, and establishment of feedback and evaluation mechanisms can aid in countering major limitations of the implementation of technology integration.

ENHANCING ESL NOVICE TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ROLES OF PEERS IN OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING THROUGH PEER MENTORING

The transition from pre-service training to real-world classrooms can be daunting for novice English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. A qualitative multiple-case study approach was employed to determine the impact of peer mentoring on ESL teachers’ professional development through mutual classroom observations. Specifically, peer mentors’ guidance on novice ESL teachers in developing effective instructions was appraised by applying Lortie’s (1975) apprenticeship of observation. The data were collected through interviews with three novice ESL teachers from public primary schools who participated in peer mentoring partnerships, classroom observations, and participants’ personal journal entries. Thematic analysis was performed, which demonstrated that peer mentoring facilitated a) enhanced instructional practices, b) a shift in the novices’ mindset and c) a collaborative interaction in the professional learning community. The findings posited that peer mentoring provided an alternative observational learning approach for novice ESL teachers in terms of effective instructional strategies from colleagues while obtaining specific feedback on professional development. Resultantly, a nuanced comprehension of the approach employed by novice ESL teachers to enhance instructional expertise via peer support was provided. Practical implications were contributed to existing ESL training programs, novice ESL teachers, and educational institutions.

A Low-Career Elementary Teacher’s Paradigmatic Shift Experience in Lesson Discussion through Cognitive Coaching

This study explored the process of cognitive coaching in relation to social studies lessons for a low-career elementary teacher. The purpose was to scrutinize the procedures and principles followed by the coach and the teacher and to identify changes in the teacher’s instructional and curricular expertise. During the coaching, the coach utilized mediational tools such as paralanguage, response behaviors, and mediative questioning to facilitate the teacher's self-directed learning process. Consequently, the teacher experienced autonomy in lesson discussions. Reflecting on lesson planning, she recognized the necessity of reading children's books and the need to restructure units. She established goals to enhance her teaching expertise, expressed a willingness to explore self-reflection methods, and hoped to improve her use of mediational tools.
 Over a span of 7 months, data were collected from the coach and the teacher. The data collection included pre-coaching open-ended survey responses, transcripts of coaching dialogue over two cycles, and open-ended survey responses from a mid-term evaluation. Additionally, instructional plans for the teacher's 6th-grade social studies class were gathered. These data were analyzed using the constant comparative method, and a validation process was conducted for the results. As recommendations, a paradigm shift focusing on teachers' thinking in lesson discussions, establishing a culture where observers mediate teachers' internal thoughts in a non-judgmental manner, reevaluation of mandatory classroom observations, providing coaching related to individual teachers' lessons within the learning community, concurrent emphasis on personal reflective thinking and sharing and discussing experiences and knowledge within the learning community, fostering collaboration between teacher training institutions and educational authorities for developing and expanding cognitive coaching training programs, and coupling training for the enhancement of instructional expertise and curricular expertise were suggested. Further studies were proposed.

교사의 디지털 리터러시 역량이 교수적 수정과 실천적 지식에 미치는 영향

The primary objective of this study was to explore the influence of digital literacy competencies on two pivotal factors related to teachers' instructional expertise: pedagogical modification and practical knowledge. To facilitate this, a survey was undertaken among school teachers in Area A, with a total of 150 participants. From this, after filtering out insincere responses, 117 valid responses were analyzed. For the survey analysis, SPSS 20.0 was employed, conducting frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The findings illustrated that teachers greatly value digital literacy competencies, pedagogical modification, and practical knowledge. A notable correlation between these areas was also identified. Importantly, digital literacy competencies showed a significant influence on both pedagogical modification and practical knowledge. This research emphasizes the importance of digital literacy in teacher education and provides foundational data for tangible strategies in leveraging digital literacy competencies in actual educational environments.

학교현장실습에서 예비보건교사의 수업 전문성 향상에 대한 질적 연구

Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore how prospective health teachers developed their professionalism through the teaching practicum. Methods The author interviewed nine prospective health teachers who conducted their teaching practicum at the secondary schools during four weeks. The author also collected and analyzed the documents of teaching practicum logs of prospective health teachers. Results Through instruction observation and teaching practice, the prospective teachers were gradually able to improve their health instruction. They worked collaboratively to plan health lessons, observed each other's classes, and discussed and reflected on what worked well and what did not work in their lessons. By observing the differences in each other's instruction despites the same lesson plan, they learned that each of the prospective teachers had their own individual teaching styles and teaching philosophies, and worked to develop their own ones. Furthermore, the prospective teachers were able to improve their teaching professionalism by reflecting on their trial-and-error experiences while teaching the health lessons in multiple classes: they continued to modify their lesson plans in response to student reactions in teaching. In addition to enhancing their own instructional expertise, they recognized and learned the importance of teacher collaboration in developing teaching professionalism. Conclusions Theses results suggested that the teaching practicum would contribute to the professional development of prospective health teachers by encouraging them to collaborate with each other, observe each other's lessons, and reflect in and on their teaching practices.

중등영어교사의 전문성 향상을 위한 사범대학 연계 직무연수 수요조사 및 프로그램 개발

This study aims to develop a teacher training program to effectively enhance the instructional expertise of secondary school English teachers in Gangwon province by collaborating with a local school of education. In order to achieve this objective, the researcher proceeded with two Focused Group Interviews (FGI) with a total of three English teachers, consisting of one middle school teacher and two high school teachers. A questionnaire was provided ahead of each interview which was carried out via Zoom. Drawing upon the questionnaire responses and the information gathered from the interviews, the researcher analyzed the training experiences and specific needs of the three teachers. Then a 30-period teacher training program was designed, taking into account the identified needs as well as the current state of teacher training. To finalize the program selection criteria and determine its detailed contents, the second interview was conducted, focusing on the proposed 30-period program. It was determined to separate the training programs between middle and high schools, offering both online and offline sessions during regular semesters and vacations. The teachers’ opinions on effective ways to activate training were also provided. Finally, the limitations and implications arising from this research were presented.

How Expert and Inexpert Instructors Talk about Teaching

Using mixed-method social network analysis, we explored the discussions happening between instructors within a teaching-related network and how instructional expertise correlated with the content of those discussions. Instructional expertise, defined by the extent to which effective teaching practices were implemented, was measured for 82 faculty teaching at a Midwestern research university in the USA using the Faculty Inventory of Methods and Practices Associated with Competent Teaching (F-IMPACT). Eight instructors from this population were interviewed after being selected from a stratified random sample having varied disciplines, positions, years of teaching experience, number of network alters, and quartile F-IMPACT score. Network Canvas was used to design, capture, and export network data during the interview process, and a deductive qualitative analysis approach was used for coding and analysis. In general, expert instructors had larger networks that also consisted of expert alters and greater frequency of discussions throughout the semester (both formal and informal) and participated in discussions centered around best practices and education research. Inexpert instructors had smaller teaching networks that consisted of other inexpert instructors, lower frequency of interactions, and had discussions that centered around sharing course-specific, surface-level advice.

전직 중장년 여성 프리랜서 강사의 강사 전문성 형성과정

The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical model by gaining insight from the life path of former middle-aged female freelance instructors and exploring the formation of their expertise. The researcher selected 11 middle-aged female freelance instructors as a theoretical sample, collected data through in-depth interviews, and theorized the collected data through systematic grounded theory. The participants in this study became professional instructors by achieving work-life balance (WLB) through nomadic reflection during the process of developing their instructional expertise. Accordingly, ‘middle-aged female professional instructor's insight and liberation of nomadism' was derived as a core category of the theoretical integration analysis step. Through the study using the theoretical model it was found that the participants discover their own value through self-introspection and continuous self-directed learning, and built their expertise by drawing innovative growth. Therefore, in this study, the experience of reconstructing and expanding the subjective life of middle-aged women was modeled. In recent years, as the demand for lifelong learning has increased, the importance of establishing the status and qualifications of freelance instructors has emerged and active discussions have been taking place. This study suggests that the process of formation should be considered as an important factor in the discussion of adaptive expertise, especially in the expertise research. In addition, this study attempted to present theoretical and practical implications through research on the formation process of instructor expertise, which is insufficient when compared to competency research.

Conceptualizing secondary science teachers as strategic leaders

ABSTRACT Much prior scholarship in K-12 teacher leadership is agnostic to teachers’ disciplinary areas and centrally focuses on how teachers’ instructional expertise is utilized for leadership activities solely within their school. However, there are teacher leaders who engage in leadership by influencing policy development and implementation at larger system scales focused on their content areas. Given the nascency of research on this kind of leadership, the leadership activities teachers engage in outside the purview of their own building is not well known. There is a need to explore how this kind of leadership is described through explicit taxonomies, frameworks, and models. We focus specifically on secondary science teachers to discern how this form of disciplinary, strategic leadership has manifested within the extant research literature. A systematic literature review (SLR) methodological approach yielded 30 refereed publications from 25 authors using search parameters for secondary science teacher strategic leadership. The analysis yielded four themes: (1) divisions within and (2) conflicting conceptualizations of strategic leadership among researchers, and, for teachers, (3) individualized experiences precipitated by a (4) transformational experience that facilitated engagement in strategic leadership. This scholarship establishes a foundation for future research directions in leadership among secondary science teachers.

MOROCCAN TEACHERS TRAINEES' ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHER LEADERSHIP

Teacher leadership has become an important aspect of the modern education system. Teacher leadership involves teachers assuming leadership roles and responsibilities, with the aim to drive improvement and positively impact student’s learning outcomes. Effective teacher leaders possess a combination of instructional expertise, collaboration skills, vision and initiative, communication ability, adaptability, advocacy, and ethical and professional dispositions. This qualitative study aims at examining teachers’ trainees’ perspective on teacher leadership. The study employed online semi-structured interviews of 37 teacher trainees from three teacher colleges in Morocco. The findings indicated that though most participants could not define teacher leadership in a broader manner, they are still super-conscious that teacher attitude is the most influential factor in teacher leadership practice. Regardless of those lopsided findings, there is a need for further investment in this field as teacher leadership is becoming increasingly important for teachers to contribute to driving change and making a positive impact on the education system as a whole.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0059/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

유아교사의 수업전문성 함양을 위한 창의융합 교수-학습 지표 개발

This study developed a teaching-learning indicator for creativity confluence as a guideline for early childhood teachers to perform creative confluence classes with instructional expertise. This study came about in three stages. In the first stage, creative confluence class and FGI were conducted on domestic and foreign literature analysis; and the concept and component of teaching-learning of creative confluence for early childhood. In the second stage of indicator development, the first and second Delphi surveys confirmed the content validity (CVI) and consensus of the survey items and developed the provisional indicator. In the third stage of the indicator completion, there was confirmation of content validity (CVI) and agreement on the components and indicators of teaching-learning of creative confluence for early childhood were confirmed through the expert content validity verification. as results of this study was confirmed that a creative confluence teaching-learning indicator for cultivating instructional expertise of early childhood teachers, the components required for performance in professional creative confluence classes were 'teacher's creative confluence class ability, creative confluence class design, creative confluence class execution, creative confluence class evaluation, creative confluence class environment.

"OPERATIVE DENTISTRY: The Vanishing Discipline," a reprint with Foreword.

"OPERATIVE DENTISTRY: The Vanishing Discipline," a reprint with Foreword.

Science Teacher Educators’ Visions and Evaluations of Expertise in NGSS-Aligned Instruction Across Institutions

ABSTRACT While states are increasingly adopting and implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as goalposts for student learning, there is less clear consensus around the science instruction needed in classrooms to realize this vision. In this study, I investigate the visions of expertise in science instruction that three science teacher educators (TEs) hold who work for a university, public district’s residency, and charter school’s new Graduate School of Education (nGSE). Through analyzing interviews as well as artifacts of their institution’s evaluation rubrics and methods, I find that TEs across institutions have remarkably similar ideals for student learning in a science classroom, yet markedly different descriptions of how teachers should facilitate this experience for students in their instruction. The differences in their visions of instructional expertise mirror the priorities seen in their institution’s evaluation practices, which in turn closely resemble the market logics of their institutions. Using the framework of adaptive expertise, my analysis reveals that these differences occur on three dimensions: how much they prioritize general routines through proactiveness, students’ novel thinking through responsiveness, as well as how much they consider the material conditions of classrooms. This work suggests that in the absence of field-wide consensus around NGSS-aligned instruction, science TEs are highly influenced by the insular logics of their institutions. Future work might consider how cross-institutional dialogue could provide science TEs access to alternative logics that expand their knowledge base, as well as develop shared insights around science TE pedagogy for methods instruction that upholds the NGSS.

유아교육기관 원장의 전문성과 유아교사의 수업전문성 간의 관계에서 조직효과성의 매개효과

This study was conducted to examine the mediating effect of organizational effectivenessbetween the director's expertise and the teacher's instructional expertise. The subjects of thisstudy were 229 national and private kindergarten teachers in 21 kindergartens in 3 cities inGyeongsangbuk-do. As a result of the study, first, the professionalism of the director formed astatic relationship with organizational effectiveness. Second, the director's professionalism had apositive relationship with the teacher's teaching expertise. Third, organizational effectivenessformed a static relationship with class expertise. Fourth, the organizational effectiveness showeda partial mediating effect in the relationship between the professionalism of the principal of theearly childhood education institution and the teaching expertise of the teacher. The results ofthis study are expected to be used as basic data for the necessity to increase theprofessionalism of the director and to find a support plan for the improvement of tissueeffectiveness.

유아기 기본동작능력 습득을 위한 예비유아교사의 체육놀이 지도전문성 육성방안

The purpose of this study is to [strengthen understanding of physical play and instructional ability] so that pre-primary teachers who hold the key to kindergarten education can have instructional abilities that can help early childhood children acquire basic motor skills. In addition, a physical education play program was operated for 15 sessions for 112 pre-infant/nursing teachers at K Junior College in Japan, aimed at ‘strengthening their understanding and instructional competence in sports play’. The confirmation of the effect of this physical education program was confirmed by the conscious and functional changes of the subjects before (2nd session) and after (15th session) implementation of the program. As a result, first, after participating in the sports play program, the awareness of participation in physical education increased, and the knowledge/information about the activity also increased by 10% to 30%, respectively. Second, with regard to the improvement of basic motion ability through the physical education play program, it was found that most of the three areas (average system exercise (3/4), movement system exercise (4/4), and manipulation system exercise (3/4) improved after implementation. Third, in the improvement of instructional professionalism/confidence through participation in the physical education play program and class composition presentation, all three items (understanding infant physical development, confidence in instructional physical education, will to learn instruction) significantly increased p＜.000. As described above, it was confirmed that the physical education program practiced in this study was very effective in forming the physical education knowledge and instructional expertise of pre-primary early childhood teachers.

What competencies do environmental health graduates need to manage social determinants of health?

BackgroundGraduates of environmental health engineering should be able to manage Social Determinants of Health (SDH) and acquire the essential competencies during their studies at university. This study was performed to determine the expected competencies of environmental health graduates in a way to be able to manage environmental and Social Determinants of Health according to their job description.MethodsThis descriptive cross-sectional study was performed using Delphi technique. First, the literature review was done and the Delphi technique was performed in three rounds. The purposeful sampling was used and 50 people were selected among the specialists in the field of environmental health engineering and SDH. Participants answered an open-ended question, for the first round. Then, a questionnaire with 8 areas was designed based on the results of the first round and distributed for the second round. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. The third round was done to reach the agreement on final items.ResultsThe agreement on the items of the third round of Delphi was more than 70%. The final results showed eight competency areas under which 29 competencies were defined. Competency areas included expert knowledge, reasoning and planning, advocacy, system-based practice, professionalism, instructional expertise, social and personal skills and, research and self-development. The first three priorities of the required competency areas were expert knowledge (4.46 ± 0.55), professionalism (4.42 ± 0.64), and advocacy (4.32 ± 0.77).ConclusionsIt is necessary that environmental health engineers achieve necessary competencies regarding managing SDH, upon their graduation. It is suggested to integrate these competencies into the curriculum of environmental and health engineering in Iran universities.

Using structural equation modelling for understanding relationships influencing the middle school technology teacher’s attitudes toward STEAM education in Korea

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural relationship between technology teachers’ attitudes toward STEAM education and the cooperation of instructional resources collaboration, school educational change receptivity, and instructional expertise and instructional efficacy. The population comprised about 3500 technology teachers working in middle schools in Korea, and the sample size was set at 650. Data were collected in parallel with postal surveys and online surveys. A total of 650 copies were distributed, of which 409 were recovered, and 283 copies were used for analysis after data cleaning. The Mplus 7 program was used for data analysis, and the significance level was set at 5%. First, we found that the suitability of the structural model established to clarify technology teachers’ attitudes toward STEAM education, instructional resource collaboration, school educational change receptivity, instructional expertise, and instructional efficacy was generally good, so the relationship between the variables was reasonably confirmed. Second, school educational change receptivity and instructional efficacy were found to have a direct effect on attitudes toward STEAM education. Third, the teachers’ instructional resources collaboration was confirmed to influence their attitudes toward STEAM education by mediating the school educational change receptivity and instructional efficacy, and their instructional expertise mediated their instructional efficacy. Fourth, school educational change receptivity was confirmed to influence attitudes toward STEAM education through the dual media of instructional expertise and instructional efficacy. Finally, instructional resource collaboration was confirmed to influence attitudes toward STEAM education through school educational change receptivity, instructional expertise, and instructional efficacy.

Teachers’ interpersonal relationships and instructional expertise: How are they related?

This study explores new directions to study and combine measurements of instructional expertise and teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students. The sample comprises 34 in-service teachers. The My Teacher questionnaire (MTQ) was used to operationalize teachers’ instructional expertise. The Questionnaire of Teacher Interaction (QTI) was used to describe teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students. Hypotheses were tested using circular mixed-effects models. Results indicate that teachers’ interpersonal relationships differ at successive levels of instructional expertise. Results further indicated that increases in instructional expertise are associated with a sharp decrease in the within-class variance in interpersonal relationships. Specifically, the higher teachers’ instructional expertise, the more teachers' interpersonal relationships are described as “directing” and “helpful” by all students in the class.

Instructional Expertise and Micropolitics: The Social Networks of Instrumental Music Teachers

The purpose of this study was to understand the social networks of three instrumental music teachers in a midwestern school district. Research questions were (1) How do instrumental music teachers describe their formal/instructional networks? and (2) How do instrumental music teachers’ social networks differ by career stage? I used a qualitative ego network design to map social networks of information sharing with a focus on the flow of social capital. Data sources included a name-generating questionnaire to construct networks and two semistructured interviews focusing on the nature and significance of teachers’ ties. Findings suggest that social networks showed particularities in terms of number of ties and tie strength. On matters of instruction, participants sought out music teachers whom they respected or who possessed specialized knowledge. Participants spoke of the importance of forging micropolitical ties to secure needs related to resources and scheduling, using ties strategically. Finally, participants felt that networks differed by career stage with advice seeking decreasing over time and networks becoming more close-knit. Implications are offered for music teachers and music teacher educators.

How exemplary educators use their instructional expertise to support CLDE achievement in English‐only inclusive classrooms

English language learners with special needs require specific cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and cultural considerations to be successful in inclusive environments. Educators who teach within the confines of English‐only laws have an additional hurdle to overcome when educating culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional (CLDE) students. Through participant observation, four exemplary middle school inclusive educators were observed to determine how each educator specifically used research‐based instruction to support content, language acquisition, and differentiated learning for both CLDE learners and their typically developing counterparts in English‐only settings. The researchers compiled instructional theories associated with culturally responsive teaching, inclusive education, and CLDE learning theories to create an observational tool that compared the instructional strategies used by exemplary inclusive educators to research‐based strategies associated with this population of students. Data reveal that each educator presented a research‐based, instructional strength, which included alternative assessment, active learning, self‐determination skills, and language acquisition.