The report gives an account of a research and development project on Language Assistant Training. It shows the place of the Year Abroad in Modern Languages Degrees, and the need for training of English Language Assistants. After detailing the preparatory arrangements and timetable of a fieldwork visit to French schools to observe and record…

Examines the efforts, in four European countries, to increase the professionalization of teacher training. France recently elevated the status of teachers to civil servants and strengthened certification procedures. Germany retains a high degree of academic excellence and professional training. England and Wales have increased local autonomy and…

A University of London (England) study investigated attitudes of 282 graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) concerning teaching skill instruction they receive. Pre-workshop surveys over three years found a consistent pattern of anxieties and problems. Workshops were provided to address these concerns. The workshops used brainstorming, simulation,…

Twenty-five recent graduates of a Master's Program in Early Childhood Special Education participated in focus group interviews designed to explore their perceptions and experiences regarding their first years of practice in urban schools. Findings revealed that participants faced many challenges including collaboration with colleagues, seeking…

During the past decade, many departments of agricultural education have used microteaching in the preparation of teachers. Research has found that microteaching has a positive effect on students' views of themselves as teachers and their attitudes toward and perceptions of teaching. Microteaching also allows a student to view his or her strengths…

The history of the Doctor of Arts (D.A.) degree and issues related to its development are briefly traced, and D.A. programs presently available and the success of degree recipients are addressed. Attention is also directed to other types of degree programs that are available, including their advantages and disadvantages, factors involved in…

A project was undertaken at the University of Texas at Austin to underwrite expenses incurred with the planning and implementation of a curriculum for developing teaching skills among students interested in teaching science and engineering. In this project report information is provided on the following: course goals and activities, course…

The overall purpose of this volume is to provide concrete suggestions for foreign language methods instructors to choose from in designing methods courses according to their goals and in conjunction with the needs, interest and capabilities of their students. The eight chapters comprise: "Listening, Reading, and the Methods Course," by Bonnie B.…

Palomar College produced an alternative resource for staff development in the form of a video tape library of demonstration ESL/ABE classroom strategies. The series of 15 tapes offers an inexpensive and easily duplicated means of viewing a variety of methods, an opportunity to select certain methods for repeated viewing, and the opportunity to…

This book on a rather widely known but less widely applied technique for teacher education is intended both to inform those people who are unfamiliar with microteaching and to caution those who see it as a final answer to teacher training. The first chapter provides a working definition of microteaching; surveys its importance in supervision,…

This study attempted to discover what difference was made in teaching practice by the introduction of a course in linguistics into the undergraduate English-education curriculum. Questionnaires were sent to 10 students who had graduated from Roosevelt University (Chicago) prior to January, 1966, with no linguistic training and to 14 graduating…

Coincidental changes in the perceived nature of Australian society and in the linguistic sciences are creating urgent needs for the re-education of Australian language teachers. Recognition of the pluralism of Australian society has highlighted the inappropriateness of the languages, objectives, and methods of traditional language teaching.…

This symposium of the ad hoc committee on integration of the Ontario (Canada) Teachers of English as a Second Language (TESL) reports educators' concerns with providing adequate support for immigrant and refugee students, maintaining the integrity, voice, and visibility of ESL education in school boards, and advocating and providing guidelines for…

A discussion of communication between native English-speaking (NS) tutors and their non-native-speaker (NNS) students draws on a study conducted in the Indiana University writing center and focuses on conflicts between effectiveness in communication and effectiveness in instruction technique. Examples of tutor-student (NS-NNS) interaction are…

This report is the second in a series of policy papers on the education of educators. It identifies several model teacher education programs, but also finds that the majority of the nation's teachers are prepared in programs that have low admission and graduation standards and cling to an outdated vision of teacher education. Both state…