ERIC Number: ED130539
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1975-Sep
Pages: 253
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A Framework for the Training of Bilingual/ESL Teachers in the Schools of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Viera, Silvia M.; And Others
The Bilingual/Bicultural Education Professions Program conducted a needs assessment designed to find out the situation teachers in the Holyoke Public Schools face in their classrooms and what needs they have, in order to improve preservice teacher education. The tools used to determine teacher needs were a demographic questionnaire, an explicit statement of need, a teacher descriptive statement, and an interview. The report delineates the general characteristics of the Holyoke teacher population and elaborates upon the teachers' attitudes and interests by drawing out three major profiles in order that individual differences among teachers might be taken into account for training purposes. Attention is called to the discrepancy between what teachers have come to expect in their classrooms and what they find when they actually begin teaching in classrooms where there are differing languages and cultures. The Project points out five major clusters where teachers note their greatest frustration and elaborates upon each in order to direct training programs to the places where teachers' preparation is most noticeably lacking. The five clusters are: (1) school and classroom, not related to cultural background; (2) school and classroom, interference from cultural background; (3) class attitudes and differences; (4) cultural values, including language; and (5) no differentiation between class and culture. In addition, the Report includes numerous statistical tables which indicate the priorities teachers assign to their needs, thereby pointing out feasible priorities for teacher education programs. (Author/CFM)
Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingual Students, Bilingual Teachers, Cultural Differences, Educational Needs, Educational Planning, English (Second Language), Language Instruction, Needs Assessment, Program Improvement, Second Language Learning, Spanish Speaking, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Background, Teacher Characteristics, Teacher Education, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Improvement, Teacher Qualifications
Silvia M. Viera, Director of Bilingual Education, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Massachusetts Univ., Amherst. School of Education.
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A