Collaborative Teacher Research: Learning with Students

Arabic language learning textbooks have fulfilled the elements of the learning system. However, the textbooks for Arabic language learning are considered inadequate to meet students' needs and contemporary social changes. This article describes the analysis of al-mahārah al-kalām material in the Madrasah Aliyah (MA) class XII Arabic language textbook published by the Indonesian Ministry of Religion based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines. This research uses research procedures and qualitative methods. Based on a content analysis approach, this research seeks to reveal al-mahārah al-kalām learning materials for class XII MA students. al-Mahārah al-kalām was chosen as the object of study because Arabic speaking skills are highly important in a person's motivation to learn Arabic. The data analysis technique used in this research follows the content analysis method, which emphasizes a set of procedures for making valid inferences from text. Methodically, the analysis used in this research is qualitative content analysis in discourse analysis, semiotic analysis, and hermeneutic analysis. This research found three things, namely (1) the use of ACTFL as a basis for standardizing Arabic textbooks necessitates harmonization of textbook material, which so far has not been fully oriented towards ACTFL; (2) confirmation of the standardization of Arabic language learning based-on ACTFL has an impact on restructuring the curriculum for Arabic language learning. ACTFL standardization is also seen as an effort to increase Arabic language mastery globally and (3) redefinition of Arabic language learning using teaching materials for class XII MA students. This redefinition is possible to prepare students to enter the higher education market at a global level. This research confirms the significance of using ACTFL in preparing Arabic language learning textbooks at all levels of Islamic education. Future research can utilize ACTFL to analyze various basic Arabic language skills, especially in each Islamic education unit and Islamic boarding school education. Keywords: Analysis, Speaking skill, Textbook, ACTFL Abstrak Kehadiran buku ajar pembelajaran bahasa Arab dalam beberapa hal dianggap telah memenuhi unsur-unsur sistem pembelajaran, namun demikian buku-buku ajar yang saat ini berlaku dianggap kurang memadai lagi untuk memenuhi kebutuhan siswa dan kontemporarisasi perubahan sosial. Artikel ini mendeskripsikan tentang analisis materi al-mahārah al-kalām dalam buku ajar bahasa Arab Madrasah Aliyah (MA) kelas XII yang diterbitkan oleh Kementerian Agama RI berdasarkan pedoman American Council on The Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Penelitian ini menggunakan prosedur dan cara kerja penelitian kualitatif. Dengan mendasarkan pada pendekatan content analysis, penelitian ini berupaya mengungkap materi-materi pembalajaran al-mahārah al-kalām untuk siswa MA kelas XII. al-Mahārah al-kalām dipilih sebagai objek kajian dengan pertimbangan bahwa keterampilan berbicara bahasa Arab memiliki posisi yang tinggi dari sudut motivasi seseorang belajar bahasa Arab. Teknik anlisis data yang digunakan penelitian ini mengikuti prosedur metode content analysis yang menekankan seperangkat prosedur untuk membuat inferensi yang valid dari teks. Secara metodis, analisis yang digunakan penelitian ini yaitu analisis isi kualitatif, berupa analisis wacana, analisis semiotik dan analisis hermeneutika. Penelitian ini menghasilkan tiga temuan, yaitu (1) penggunaan ACTFL sebagai basis standarisasi buku ajar bahasa Arab meniscayakan penyelarasan-penyelarasan materi buku ajar yang selama ini belum sepenuhnya beroirientasi pada ACTFL; (2) konfirmasi standarisasi pembelajaran bahasa Arab berbasis ACTFL berdampak pada penyusunan ulang kurikulum untuk pembelajaran bahasa Arab. Standarisasi ACTFL juga dipandang sebagai upaya peningkatan penguasaan bahasa Arab dalam konteks global; dan (3) redefinisi terhadap pembelajaran bahasa Arab yang menggunakan bahan ajar untuk siswa kelas XII MA. Redefinisi ini dimungkinkan dilakukan untuk menyiapkan peserta didik memasuki pasar perguruan tinggi pada tataran global. Hasil penelitian ini mengonfirmasi tentang signifikansi penggunaan ACTFL dalam penyusunan buku ajar pembelajaran bahasa Arab pada semua jenjang pendidikan Islam. Penelitian berikutnya dapat memanfaatkan penggunaan ACTFL sebagai basis analisis pada berbagai kemampuan dasar bahasa Arab, terutama pada setiap satuan pendidikan Islam dan pendidikan pesantren. Kata Kunci: Analisis, al-Mahārah al-Kalām, Buku Ajar, ACTFL

Language is a means of communication among human beings. Such communication among non-native and/or native language users can be facilitated through language learning and teaching. Language education professionals have developed guidelines for teachers and learners to measure the linguistic performance of these two groups. One of the prestigious international frameworks established in the field of foreign language teaching and assessment is the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency guidelines developed by a team of foreign language education professionals. The Arabic speaking skill, along with listening, is one of the main language skills used to orally communicate with Arabic speakers. Non-native students majoring in Arabic Language and Literature learn the required vocabulary and structures/styles to speak Arabic. But many of them face challenges in applying what they have learned when speaking Arabic. The present study, in particular, attempts to find an answer to the following two questions: What is the proficiency level of undergraduate students of Kharazmi University majoring in Arabic Language and Literature based on ACTFL guidelines for assessing speaking skill? What difficulties do Arabic language majors face in learning Arabic? The statistical sample of the study consisted of 30 undergraduate senior students majoring in Arabic Language and Literature at Kharazmi University, Tehran. To determine the students’ speaking level and discover the reasons for their possible deficiencies, a field (qualitative) research was conducted while adopting a descriptive and inductive approach. The research instruments included both the test and observation. The most prominent finding of the research was that while Arabic students take a total of 12 credits under the courses of Listening and Speaking 1 to 3 as well as Language Lab 1 to 3, they do not achieve a desirable level of speaking skill. There are many reasons for this weakness among which one can point out limited hours and credits allocated to the courses on language skills. The test results in particular revealed that the students did not perform well in the speaking skill. The contributing factors were the lack of confidence in speaking Arabic, fear of making lexical mistakes while speaking, and insufficient daily use of Arabic, among others.

Conversations about culture: How Korean and Japanese cultural products, practices and perspectives are discussed to co-construct cultural understanding in talk

This study investigated foreign language (FL) teachers’ experiences of the virtual classroom during COVID-19 lockdown. The sample consisted of 405 FL teachers who participated in the survey which aimed to measure FL teachers’ perceptions of TPACK, virtual classroom activities, online self-efficacy, student engagement and encountered obstacles. The findings indicate that teachers working in remote areas practice fewer virtual classroom activities and thus perceive low student online engagement. The article discusses the differences between FL teachers regarding the FL they teach, i.e., differences in student online engagement exist between the FL taught, and differences in virtual classroom activities depend on the FL taught. In addition, school stage predicts FL teachers’ online self-efficacy and the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of TPACK and school size exists.

This is a collection of essays dealing with ESL/EFL/FL teacher education by experienced ESL/EFL/FL teacher educators and student teachers of different cultural backgrounds, and from different countries. The essays cover topics that focus both on the teacher as learner and the learner as teacher. This book recognizes that the language classroom has a particular culture of its own while being part of a broader school culture. As a result, the multi-foci nature of the chapters serve to present the varied and diverse language education needs, programs, and approaches. Contents: The National Foreign Languages: Can we Get from Here to There?, Sophie Jeffries; FLES Teacher Preparation: Competencies, Content and Complexities, Gladys C. Lipton; Journaling: A Path to Reflective Teacher Development, Aleiline J. Moeller; Alternative Assessment in Foreign Second Language: What do we in Foreign Language Know?, Charles R. Hancock; Where are the African American Foreign Language Teachers?, Mark English; Foreign Language Teacher Education in a Professional Development School, Alan Garfinkel and Carol Sosa; Portfolio Design and the Decision Making Process and in Teacher Education, JoAnn Hammadou; Peer Evaluation in In-Service Teacher Education, Jeannette Morris; Professional Development for Japanese Teachers, Yoshiko Saito; Successful Listening Comprehension Strategies: Implications for Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Training, Rhonda Chipman-Johnson; Emergent L2 Writing in the French Immersion Classroom: Implications for Teacher Education of Where are the Holes in Whole Language?, Stephen Carey and Rishma Dunlop; Multimedia and Foreign Language Teacher: A Humananistic Perspective, Josef Hellebrandt; Culture: How do Teachers Teach it?, Zena Moore.

The purpose of the article is to analyze informal additional foreign language learning practices used by high school seniors in the context of modernization of school foreign language education, primarily expressed in optimizing the requirements for the formation of a multilingual component and the loss of the status of a compulsory subject in a second foreign language. The research strategy involves a comparative analysis between two reference points: 2020 and 2024, using data from official statistics, such as the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and specifically conducted sociological research by the MSLU sociological laboratory in cooperation with the NAFI research company among students of grades 8-11 in the Moscow region and other regions of the Russian Federation. Additionally, the study focuses on the informal (extracurricular) learning practices of seniors for foreign languages. The obtained results indicate an increase in the proportion of English language learners with a simultaneous loss of the role and importance of the traditional German and French languages for Russian foreign language education, as well as a reduction in the study of other foreign languages. The ongoing public discussions about the reorientation of the foreign component of school education in accordance with the new geopolitical situation to the languages of Asia and Africa do not have any real opportunities for their implementation due to the lack of staff and logistical support. At the same time, the maintenance of the elite segment of foreign language education in the form of specialized educational institutions with in-depth study of foreign languages is fixed, which does not eliminate, but rather perpetuates the gap in unequal access to opportunities for obtaining foreign language competencies and career opportunities. Additional (extracurricular) foreign language classes, including paid ones, continue to be in demand among seniors. The degree of involvement of schoolchildren in additional educational practices is determined by regional, settlement and professionally oriented factors.

This study aims to provide foreign language professionals with a sound methodology for selecting a suitable lexicon apropos of their students’ level in the language. The justification of said selection is, herein, rooted in a cognitive argument: If we are able to observe the manner in which words are organized within the mind, we will be better able to select the words needed for the natural process of communication. After analyzing over lists of lexical availability compiled by previous analyses, this study puts forth a glossary filtered by way of an objective procedure based on the mathematical concept known as Fuzzy Expected Value. I begin first by rigorously defining the concept of lexical availability and then thoroughly examining and explaining the manner in which I have obtained the results. Next, I employ the cognitive theory of prototypes to expound upon the organizational apparatus which arranges words within speakers’ minds. Subsequently, and in accordance with objective criteria, a lexical selection is proposed. To end, I contemplate and muse upon the significance of a program that would enable us to identify the most appropriate vocabulary according to the students’ level of linguistic competence. In order to further substantiate this study, it will be juxtaposed with the specific notions outlined by the curriculum of The Cervantes Institute. Moreover, it will relate to the teaching levels proposed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ professional development has been attached much importance with the advent of the National English Curriculum Standards (NECS in short) for Senior High Schools as it initiates the shift from knowledge-skill-oriented education to competence-oriented education. As an effective way for teachers’ professional development, collaborative action research community is introduced in this study to provide teachers with opportunities for mutual engagement, meaning negotiation, and a shared repertoire. Four senior high school EFL teachers from four different schools were studied in a collaborative action research community to explore how teachers from diversified backgrounds achieve mutual learning for their professional development. With data collected from observation, interviews, and journals, the study reveals that diversity and partiality help maintain mutual engagement in the community of practice. Meaning negotiation and mutual accountability in a joint enterprise contribute to the coherence of the community. Moreover, the participative activity of online and offline group discussion and the common topic of thinking visualization were treated as sources of a shared repertoire, an essential indication of a harmonious community. In this case, this study extrapolates how the collaborative action research community achieves harmony to support teachers’ professional development in action research.

This article is about language development of a foreign language (FL) teacher and is centred around the concept of teacher professional competence. Although the definition seems clear and indisputable, no publication has been traced that would clarify what a FL teacher language competence is. It immediately leads to diverse and sometimes contradictory views of content and language skills a FL teacher is supposed to demonstrate. I use this fact as a starting point and make an attempt to provide my view of a FL teacher language competence and essential elements that comprise it. My contention is that besides ‘general language’ and language awareness, a FL teacher should demonstrate skills in classroom and out-of-classroom communication. I support my view by coming out with a tentative and, at the moment, rather schematic description of FL teacher language competence. I consider this as the first step toward the definition of language teacher language competence to be followed by substantial empirical research which, hopefully, will contribute to a valid and more detailed description of the concept in question.

This article proposes a refl ection on the status attributed by public schools to the compulsory teacher training taken by undergraduate students of Languages, as well as the role played by students-teachers and foreign language teacher training supervisors in the matter, based on the author’s experience as a teacher training supervisor in a university in the south of Brazil. The article starts with a description of the new teacher training courses set by the Language Institute of the university, and is followed by an analysis of the underlying reasons for the changes taken into effect. Both the description and the analysis take into consideration (i) the national policies to foreign language (FL) teaching and learning and (ii) the general context in which foreign languages are taught in public schools. Possible outcomes deriving from such changes are also discussed. Keywords: FL teacher education. Curriculum. National policies to FL teaching and learning. Language teachers’ professional development.

The paper presents the results of the development and analysis of the model's effectiveness for a foreign language teacher's professional creative development utilizing art therapy in the framework of additional education. The paper aims to provide a theoretical and empirical study of the effectiveness of the model for the professional creativity development of a foreign language teacher through art therapy in the framework of additional education. Attention is drawn to the role and importance of creativity in the foreign language teacher’s activity, to the importance of creative learning in the context of linguistic education. The research methodology and its algorithm are selected, including conducting a complex psychological and pedagogical experiment, conducting diagnostics of the declared parameters, and statistical analysis of the results based on the Spearman rs criterion before and after implementing the developed model. The study of the effectiveness of the model for the professional creative development of a foreign language teacher using art therapy in the framework of additional education was carried out based on the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) in the Center for Additional Professional Education. The experimental and control group was formed. Each group consisted of 35 people. The sample is homogeneous by age and gender. The study results allow drawing a conclusion about the effectiveness of the developed development model and outlining the vector of further research in line with the stated problems.

Journal of the International Network for Korean Language and Culture 16-2, 171-197. This study aims to suggest a methodology for the development of an assessment framework and tool for intercultural communication. The following three studies, created by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), were examined: (1) “ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners,” (2) “2017 NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements,” and (3) “NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements for Intercultural Communication.” According to the ACTFL, proficiency benchmarks and performance indicators for ACTFL proficiency level are composed of two facets: “investigate” and “interact.” Next, ”Narrative” as a methodological alternative for measuring the learner’s evaluation performance is presented by considering precedent studies. Thus, this study has developed a process-focused performance assessment that combines the narrative-based assessment for intercultural communication. (Semyung University)

In 1981, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) published its Provisional Proficiency Guidelines (generic and language-specific descriptions) for the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). In 1986, ACTFL published its updated and sometimes expanded Proficiency Guidelines (general descriptions only). The changes in the descriptions were by and large improvements. This paper focuses on the reading guidelines with specific reference to their theoretical underpinnings.

This study deals with the use of images in the foreign language classroom. My research in more than 500 texts on the use of visual media in foreign language teaching shows that for centuries images have been recommended as teaching tools for foreign language classes because of their didactic functions (for the clarification of meaning, the practice of grammar and vocabulary, motivation, increase of memory and intercultural learning). It also shows that because of their wide use teaching methodologists demanded in 1989 to train students' visual competences. However, barely any empirical research has been done in German foreign language teaching methodology regarding these assumed didactic functions; and competence models for the development of visual competences (visual literacy) are still lacking. Yet, both are needed to employ images in language classes in a goal-oriented and successful manner. Based on scientific research by visual studies / visual culture this study devises principles for the use of visual media in foreign language teaching. With reference to psychological studies it explains the didactic functions of images (see above) and draws up conditions that have to be met for the successful use of visual media. To facilitate the choice of suitable images for class this study presents a typology of images for foreign language teaching, which is based on categories from the field of visual culture. Next, this study develops a methodology for the work with images in the foreign language classroom, referring to scientific methods but also considering important didactic principles such as process-orientation. In addition, with reference to research on visual literacy this study introduces a definition of visual competence as well as competence models. One chapter brings together the didactic functions of images, their conditions, the typology of images, the methodology, the definition of visual competence, and the competence models and shows how these results can be implemented in class: For two English classes I chose pictures of different types because of their didactic function(s). In a next step, I devised tasks to have the students work with the pictures according to didactic principles (process-orientation, action-orientation etc.). Due to the new methodology the students' visual competences can be trained in this course, too. This helps them to access and understand images which supports the images' didactic function(s). I conclude that visual studies is the key to the effective use of pictures in foreign language classes because it is the source of the results that I base my hermeneutic study on.

Since the language used by people has the potential to signal a membership in a discourse community, it is significant that prospective teachers speak the appropriate social language to be able to claim a strong membership in the community of teachers. This qualitative study explores a group of pre-service teachers’ professional language use and their claims for membership in the teaching profession. In this study, a scrutiny of the meanings reflected by 21 pre-service teachers during their one-semester internship is provided to illustrate the extent to which their classroom practice brings about a change in both their professional language use and their recognition of themselves as valid members of the specific discourse community of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Turkey. The methods of data collection in this study consisted of a blend of qualitative techniques: (1) the pre-service teachers’ weekly field notes; (2) their weekly reflective reports on their own field notes and their classroom practice experiences; (3) their written responses to open-ended questions posed at the end of the semester; and (4) my observational notes which I took during weekly discussion sessions. Findings underscore that there are several reasons leading to the participants’ limited professional language use. A focus on teachers’ professional language use – a significant part and indicator of teachers’ professional development – might help to reveal the dimensions of the processes involved in teachers’ identity formation in different educational contexts as well as in mainstream contexts.