ERIC Number: ED556280
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 235
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-1-3035-6545-8
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Using Technology to Develop a Collaborative-Reflective Teaching Practice toward Synthecultural Competence: An Ethnographic Case Study in World Language Teacher Preparation
Webber, Dana E.
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University
Using technology to develop a collaborative-reflective teaching practice in a world language education methods course block for teaching certification creates unique opportunities for world language education undergraduates to learn to develop synthecultural competence for education. Such a program allows undergraduates to expand their capacity to improve their own communicative ability in the languaculture being learned, to increase their computer skills, and to make and implement curricular and on-the-spot decisions about interactions that afford optimal learning opportunities for students. Thus, a more productive fusion in the classroom occur. The instructional model researched here was offered through a major university, in Northeastern United States, to all prospective language teachers in a 2009-2011 cohort. The curriculum included a two-year program of Methods courses for which assignments were submitted online. Principal tools utilized by the undergraduates were MacBook (wireless, laptop) computers that had Internet capability and video software allowing for annotating frames. Cohort members collaborated together and with instructors to design, teach, and reflect upon lessons for students in grades kindergarten through twelfth. Many reflections were based upon the undergraduates' viewing and annotating audio-video footage of themselves after teaching their lessons that had been digitally recorded. Additionally, some participants enrolled in an optional course, which required them to blog with one another during study abroad from their respective countries about certain topics in order to connect their cultural-linguistic and pedagogical knowledge to practical application in furthering their own and others' education. Participants' electronically submitted assignments from the four semesters were downloaded from online then reviewed several times by the principal researcher. To determine the results of this instructional model, the following major question was addressed: What evidence is there that ubiquitous access to the tools previously listed facilitates participants' capacity to develop competence for language learning and teaching? Specifically, the study sought to determine: A.) What can this type of technology use contribute to world language teacher development? B.) Do specific uses of these tools have transformative potential for world language education? C.) How is the use of technology in education perceived by these undergraduates? The hypothesis was that ubiquitous access to these tools would facilitate participants' interaction with one another and with their instructors; this, in turn, would extend participants' capacity to develop cultural-linguistic, pedagogical, and technological competences as beginning language teachers. Analysis of the aforementioned and additional data (initial survey, focus-group interviews, and exit survey) provide evidence that this kind of experience affords an environment in which prospective language teachers' development occurs largely on their own terms. Participants articulate the meaning of competence and express the desire to increase theirs; through reflection, they pinpoint areas for improvement and envision ways to accomplish that. As their successes in those areas increase, so does their confidence. This appears to further motivate them to take risks, continuing to push their developmental limits; in turn, they are able to offer to their students some exceptional opportunities for learning as well. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Language Teachers, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Reflective Teaching, Teaching Methods, Technology Uses in Education, Teacher Education, Methods Courses, Undergraduate Students, Communicative Competence (Languages), Video Technology, Internet, Computer Literacy, Skill Development, Decision Making, Cultural Awareness, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Assignments, Transformative Learning, Student Attitudes, Teacher Student Relationship, Surveys, Focus Groups, Interviews, Risk, Self Esteem, Personal Autonomy
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A