Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1995

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Patricia Davis-Wiley

Committee Members

Margaret Beauvois, Grady Bogue, Thomas Turner

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of an effective modern foreign language lesson, as described by those teachers judged by their respective state foreign language teaching associations as outstanding secondary modern foreign language teachers. This study examined the outstanding modern foreign language teachers' written responses to questions which asked them to reflect upon, to recall, and to describe the lesson they perceived to have been their most effective during the academic year 1994-1995. The research questions which guided this study were: (a) What teaching practices are employed by outstanding secondary modern foreign language teachers in the lessons they perceive as their most effective?, and (b) What commonalities, if any, exist in the reported teaching practices and the reflections of outstanding secondary modern foreign language teachers? While much research attention has centered around the general topic of effective teaching, little research has specifically examined effective foreign language teaching practices employed by exemplary modern foreign language classroom teachers. What outstanding modern foreign language teachers do to make their lessons effective is information which can be applied by any modern foreign language teacher to improve or to enhance his/her teaching effectiveness. The population of the study consisted of 30 secondary modern foreign language teachers who had received recognition by their respective state foreign language teaching associations either as a 1994 Teacher of the Year (or comparable distinction) or as a recipient of that award in Tennessee in any year since the award's inception in 1978. Participants in the study became the 17 teachers, or 56.67% of the population, who signed the consent form and returned the questionnaire. The questionnaire, one developed by the researcher specifically for this study, asked the participants to reflect upon and then to describe the lesson they perceived to have been their most effective in 1994-1995 and also to respond to open-ended questions concerning not only that lesson, but also effective lessons in general. The narrative responses describing the teachers' most effective lessons were analyzed to determine categories of teaching practices which appeared. The identified categories were then ranked on the basis of number and percentage of teachers who recorded the use of each in the narratives of their most effective lessons. Those categories of teaching practices which appeared as commonalities in the narrative descriptions of the participants' most effective lessons became the characteristics of an effective modern foreign language lesson. From the analysis of the data emerged 19 characteristics of an effective modern foreign language lesson. Those characteristics include preparation, active involvement of students, a non-textbook focus, nontraditional activities, use of the spoken target language in meaningful communication, a variety of teaching materials/aids, review/building on previous learning, group work, immediate establishment of target language atmosphere, a variety of activities, use of objects or pictures, integration of culture, opportunities for student movement, communication of expectations to students, checking for comprehension, integration of topics or activities which relate to students' lives, encouragement of student creativity, opportunities for practice, and a nontraditional arrangement of classroom or students. The results of the analysis of the data led to the following conclusions:

1. Individual effective foreign language lessons exhibit characteristics present in other effective foreign language lessons.

2. Commonalities exist in the teaching practices employed in the most effective lessons of exemplary teachers.

3. There are certain characteristics of an effective modern foreign language lesson which appear as commonalities in lessons perceived to be highly effective by outstanding secondary modern foreign language teachers.

4. There exist modern foreign language teaching practices which have worked in the past and which continue to work, regardless of any particular methodology or theory in vogue at the time.

5. Commonalities in effective modern foreign language teaching practices exist without regard to target language taught or the level of language taught.

6. Effective secondary modern foreign language lessons occur as a result of direct involvement of the teacher in preparing, selecting, orchestrating, and facilitating those lessons.

7. The characteristics of an effective modern foreign language lesson embody teaching practices which can be adopted and incorporated by any secondary modern foreign language teacher. Recommendations for further research include studies exploring students' perceptions of highly effective modern foreign language lessons and replication of the study with a larger population and with populations from different subject areas at various grade levels.

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