About
The L2 Journal is an open access, fully refereed, interdisciplinary journal which aims to promote the research and the practice of world language learning and teaching, particularly languages other than English. L2 Journal publishes articles on all aspects of applied linguistics broadly conceived, i.e., second language acquisition, second language pedagogy, bilingualism and multilingualism, language and technology, curriculum development and teacher training, testing and evaluation.
Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015
Articles
Exploratory Practice in the FL Teaching Methods Course: A Case Study of Three Graduate Student Instructors’ Experiences
The foreign language (FL) teaching “methods” course—which serves an increasingly diverse population of graduate students with varied teaching and learning experiences, professional goals, and developmental trajectories (Allen & Negueruela-Azarola, 2010)— is often the only dedicated space for graduate student instructors (GSIs) to develop integrated theoretical and practical knowledge about collegiate language learning and teaching (Bourns & Melin, 2014). This article describes how the reflective teaching framework of exploratory practice (EP) (Allwright 2003, 2005) was used in a combined German/Spanish FL teaching methods course at a large state university in the U.S. in order to foster ongoing reflective teaching practice and provide learning opportunities for GSIs with different experiences and training. Through qualitative analysis of three learning teachers’ written reflections, the study shows how graduate students worked with EP to understand their own classrooms and teaching programs in personally-meaningful and developmentally-appropriate ways. Analysis of the GSIs’ reported learning outcomes and their ability to follow EP’s seven guiding principles in their journals reveals key differences between the novice and more experienced GSIs, suggesting it may take time for those new to teaching to understand and fully integrate the principles into their reflective practice. Implications for methods coursework are discussed.
Teachers' Forum
Collaborative Textbook Selection: A Case Study Leading to Practical and Theoretical Considerations
This case study developed a collaborative approach to the selection of a Spanish language textbook. The collaborative process consisted of six steps, detailed in this article: team building, generating evaluation criteria, formulating a meaningful rubric, selecting prospective textbooks, calculating rubric results, and reflectively reviewing results. Following the selection of the textbook and its introduction into the curriculum, both the collaborative approach and the textbook itself were evaluated using teacher (n = 10) and student (n = 120) satisfaction surveys. The survey results, which were positive for both groups, offered empirical data from which to theoretically consider the textbook.