Effective Foreign Language Teaching: Broadening the Concept of Content Knowledge

Abstract

Studies investigating teacher candidate performance on traditional assessments of content knowledge place emphasis on just one of many skills needed to be an effective foreign language teacher; they also fail to explain why many teacher candidates with advanced oral proficiency struggle in the classroom and why some with less advanced language skills perform well. Using both quantitative data from Oral Proficiency Interviews, the Praxis Subject Assessment, and the edTPA scores for 21 native‐ and nonnative‐speaking teacher candidates of French and Spanish, as well as qualitative data collected from teacher candidate interviews, the study investigated the types of content knowledge that are necessary to be an effective foreign language teacher. Results suggest four distinct types of content knowledge, each of which is critical to being an effective teacher, and on which teacher candidate performance may vary widely. The results have implications for the establishment of program completion, teacher licensure, and accreditation requirements.

Impact of content‐specific seminars on candidate edTPA preparation and performance

“…Recent research has moved beyond reporting whole group performance to investigate the underperformance of specific subgroups of teacher candidates, suggesting possible bias in the assessment. Kissau and Algozzine () found that, of the 21 world language teacher candidates in their study, non‐native speakers of English performed significantly more poorly than their native‐speaking peers for task 3 (2.43 vs. 3.38), on the average rubric score (2.77 vs. 3.36), and on the total rubric score (34.4 vs. 43.82). Russell and Davidson Devall () also reported that non‐native speakers of English struggled in comparison with their native‐speaking counterparts.…”

“…Initial studies focused on candidate results in early‐adopting programs and highlighted areas where many candidates needed improvement (Burns, Henry, & Lindauer, ; Denton, ; Hildebrandt & Swanson, ). Researchers then began investigating the performance of specific groups of teacher candidates, specifically non‐native speakers of English (Kissau & Algozzine, ; Russell & Davidson Devall, ; Troyan & Kaplan, ), suggesting possible bias in the assessment. As it became increasingly clear that edTPA was a challenging assessment for many teacher candidates, some recent studies have proposed strategies to better support candidates and to improve their performance (Behney, ; Hildebrandt & Swanson, ; Ledwell & Oyler, ; Swanson & Hildebrandt, ).…”

“…According to the results, many of the candidates had difficulty providing suggestions to improve student performance (rubric 12) and using assessment results to inform instruction (rubric 13). More recently, Kissau and Algozzine (), once again, found that many foreign language teacher candidates struggled with task 3. In their study, candidate mean scores for rubrics in task 3 ranged from a low of 1 to a high of 4 of 5.…”

Communicative Learning Outcomes and World Language edTPA: Characteristics of High-scoring Portfolios

“…While the WL edTPA remains under researched (Behney 2016;Hildebrandt and Swanson 2016;Kissau and Algozzine 2017;Russell and Davidson Devall 2016;Troyan and Kaplan 2015), this research expands the literature base by examining teacher educators' analyses of edTPA portfolios.…”

“…edTPA's subject specificity, widespread usage, high-stakes nature, and focus on learning objectives prompt the present investigation. Given its widespread usage across the country, the World Language (WL) edTPA remains understudied despite recent investigations of the topic (e.g., Behney 2016;Hildebrandt and Swanson 2016;Kissau and Algozzine 2017;Russell and Davidson Devall 2016;Troyan and Kaplan 2015).…”