Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen - Volume 18, Issue 1, 1984

A phase model is a cycle of phases, which can be recognised in most FL lessons and course books. Each phase is in fact a collection of learning activities, which we consider to be distinctly different from other collections of learning activities.Phase models have a descriptive function: they describe stereotypical patterns in FL course books and lessons. They also have a prescriptive function, in so far as they are presented as exemplary patterns or schemes that will lead to better learning results. Prescriptive models are attractive to students, teachers and course book writers, because they give guidance in planning instructional units and lessons, but they are also risky, because they must largely be based on assumptions about de FL acquisition process, the conclusions of research on this subject being far from definitive. Further discussion of prescriptive phase models is necessary.Existing phase models lack precision of definition and plausibility of the underlying FL acquisition theory. The phase model of Strauss (in Kwakernaaks description) is criticized, especially the part of it that concerns the receptive skills.It is questionable whether phase models are appropriate for use in pre- and in-service teacher training, since students tend to adhere too closely to models, particularly where the "prescribed" order of the phases is concerned. Exercise typologies render the same service as phase models, inasmuch as they distinguish categories of learning activities without being too prescriptive. Two German exercise typologies are briefly discussed and a few suggestions for their improvement are made.1) English (revised and expanded) edition of one of them: Christopher N. Chandlin: The Communicative Teaching of English. Principles and Exercise Typology, Longman, Burned Mill, Harlow, Essex 1981.

This article presents a model of training the foreign language teacher. Startingpoint is a phase model for the teaching of material presented in foreign language courses for the first two or three years in secondary education, to wit introduction phase, presentation phase, cognitive phase, practice phase and transfer phase. Such a model presents the teacher trainee with a good framework for taking decisions with regard to the content of his lesson. Moreover, the phase model is a good startingpoint for raising other issues concerning the functioning of a teacher, such as interaction. The phase model turns out to offer a basis for curriculum analysis and the observation and preparation of lessons.The article concludes with a discussion of the problems students encounter in working with the various phases.

In this paper we describe findings concerning a limited part of teacher behaviour namely relational skills. These skills are of vital importance if a teacher is to create a good classroom atmosphere. On the basis of theories of Leary (1957) and Watzlawick et al. (1968) we have constructed a model that describes relational aspects of teacher behaviour. This model focusses on teacher behaviour as revealed in teacher pupil interactions. These interactions are analysed by means of the system theory of communication. We have investigated teacher behaviour as observed by teachers and pupils, with the help of an instrument called 'The Questionnaire for Interactional Teacher Behaviour'. It is found that from the pupils' point of view good teachers are distinguished from bad teachers by the amount of kindness and understanding they show, their helpfulness and the way they manage a class. We also investigated the behaviour that teachers themselves wish to display. They agree about the need to be kind, helpful and understanding but differ in the amount of strict behaviour they want to display and in the amount of freedom and independence they want to give to pupils. We also investigated with this questionnaire the teacher behaviour of teachers who teach different subjects. It is found that pupils consider modern language teachers in particular to behave differently from other teachers; they are stricter, less kind and give less independence to pupils. This different behaviour of modern language teachers may be due to the structure of the subject matter, or to the way in which languages are taught at universities to future teachers.We think teacher trainers should be concerned with our findings because when teachers, and particularly language teachers, become older they seem to have increasing difficulty in creating and maintaining an adequate relationship with their pupils.

The aim of this article is to answer the following questions:1. How do teachers teach oral proficiency in German?2. Are there any consistent oral proficiency methods for German in use in the field of education?3. Which teachers use the the various oral proficiency methods?Answer to question no. 1.; The teaching of oral proficiency in German is mainly characterized by the following features:- The aims realized mainly have a grammatical content.- Many teachers don't have a positive attitude towards innovations.- The choice of the educational appliances and the didactic ways of teaching is determined by the importance that is attached to grammar.- The following way of teaching is often used: the teacher stands in front of the class and teaches all the pupils the same things at the same time.- When oral proficiency in German is evaluated, not the grammatical aspect is the most important but rather the communicative aspect.Answer to question no. 2.: In Dutch educational circles two linguistically minded oral proficiency methods for German are used. No audio-lingual oral proficiency method was used. At the same time three oral proficiency methods were found that are more (ped)-agogically minded.Answer to question no. 3.: It appears that two oral proficiency methods are used especially by teachers who teach in schools that have a rather low level, and hardly by teachers who teach in schools that have a rather high level.

Teachers of foreign languages have many problems in dealing with errors in oral communicative exercises: should errors be corrected or does correction interfere with the communicative effort of students?The present study reviews research in this field, in particular the need of correction, its effects and the risk of "fossilization". Emphasis is on the studies of teachers' correction behaviour in the classroom, which seems to be rather ambigous for students; the effects on communication are rather negative. There are few studies dealing with oral work and peer-correction or self-correction. Studies on grammatical judgements show the need of prudence. Effective studies of error gravity from a communicative point of view have to be set up. The effects of methodologies of error prevention or correction need to be studied. The effects of errors have to be measured in communicative situations by means of native - non-native interaction.

One of the objectives of teacher-training is that the student should be able to assess the results of educational research in terms of its relevance to classroom practice.In addition, he or she should be able to participate in research and material- or curriculum-development.In this paper we want to emphasize these two objectives, using as an example our research project An Explorative Investigation of Learner Characteristics Relevant to Material Development (for French).Our presentation includesA. Research questions:- Is it possible to get more insight into learner-characteristics which may be relevant to modern language teaching?- Does this insight result in criteria for developing communicative teaching materials (for French) which cater more for individual differences (cognitive as well as affective) between learners?Research methods: Some pupils of a first year mixed-ability group, selected by the Group Embedded Figures Test for Field- (in)dependency, carried out a set of language tasks. They were invited to "think aloud" while performing these tasks. The protocols obtained were analysed and a tentative identification, in terms of learner characteristics, was made of the typical behaviour of f.d. and f.i. pupils.Conclusions: Field(in)dependency seems to be a relevant learner characteristic for foreign language learning in schools. Some recommendations are made, particularly in the domain of orientation-activities.B. A discussion of the students' participation in this project.C. A description of the way in which this (and other) research project(s) have been integrated into our teacher-training courses.

Many secondary schools in the Netherlands are in a maelstrom of change. They work on themes like heterogeneous grouping, various forms of differentiation, guidance and counseling, thematic- and project-education. Beside these development in groups of schools organized in projects, or in individual schools, an important renovation of the educational system is in preparation. This socalled "continued primary school" is a comprehensive school for pupils aged 12-15 years. It will be followed by a system of vocational or general streams in the second phase of secondary education.The above mentioned changes in schools make high demands upon the teacher's capabilities. Therefore a broadening of teacher's qualifications will be necessary. At the same time changes in teacher training programs will be required. Since these programs differ rather strongly from the current ones, a systematic innovation in teacher training institutes will be required. In the article it is suggested to start this innovation with school-focussed in-service training in secondary schools involved in innovations. After a period of active participation in innovation activities, the teacher training institute will be in a better position to base the renewal of pre-service training on the complex requirements of teaching practice.The reorganization of the content and training in the programs for teacher training can then be established from the viewpoint of functionality for educational practice.

When we talk about innovation in the teaching of modern foreign languages, we often refer to various areas: new theories in the. psychology of learning, advanced lesson materials, etc. All these aspects have one thing in common, namely, that they are intended to bring about changes in classroom practice. However, a self-evident relation between the areas of innovation mentioned and the classroom practice is too readily assumed. This leads to disappointing results for teachers and councellors alike. One thing that is clearly demonstrated is the importance of the individual teacher's experience in the innovation process. This determines to a large extent how the teacher operates in that process. In order to gain insight into the complexity of an innovation process the 'Concerns-Based Adoption Model' (CBAM) was used in the Mavo project. This model was introduced by Van den Berg and Vandenberghe and was adapted for the Dutch/Belgian situation. This model utilizes 'Stages of Concern' which give insight into the processes that (can) take place within teachers during an innovation process. These 'Stages of Concern' are closely related to the 'Levels of Use' - these latter being the means by which we measure the way in which and the extent to which teachers use innovation.Application of this model in the Mavo project led to, among other things, a reflection on the relational aspects of guidance activities. The 'Concerns-Based Adoption Model' could fulfil a mirror function for those who would like to gain insight into the effects of their guidance activities

In the Netherlands, one of the ways of getting a teaching qualification is via a variety of evening courses, named LO, MO-A and -B, which were meant originally for career-minded primary-school teachers· This part-time curriculum takes the student at least 3+2+4=9 years, and will bring him a third, second or first degree of qualification. The third degree enables him to teach in the lower secondary schools (LBO, MAVO), the second degree in the lower grades of the higher secondary schools, the first degree, equivalent to the qualification obtainable at universities, in all the forms of secondary schools. The programmes in these courses, some of which are as much as a hundred years old, had a reputation of solid traditionalism. In the early seventies new institutes for teacher training (NLO-institutes) were created, which allow the student in full-time courses to get a second and third degree in two different subjects. These institutes were based on a new educational philosophy and were more oriented towards the teaching profession than the traditional part-time courses. In 1978, the minister of Education allowed the old MO-institutes to renew themselves in order to become up-to-date training institutes. This article describes the operation that this decision implied-The restructuring of the LO-MO-A had to take place according to the so-called Y-model. After a first preparatory year the student passes a preparatory exam which has a diagnostic function, both for him and the Institute. After two years of study the student has to choose between two options: the general education option and the teacher training option. In the modern language field the general option leeds to careers in which a thorough knowledge of a specific foreign language and foreign-language culture is required, such as in journalism or in industry. The article, however, limits itself to the teaching option for modern languages. If one compares the new situation with the old one, one finds the following more or less fundamental differences:- Whereas vast differences could be observed in the nature of the curricula for the respective languages in the old situation, the objectives for the new curricula were defined along the same lines which allows for a maximum of comparability.- In the new situation the student gets a third degree after three years, and a second degree after one more year·- Great importance is attached to oral and written skills, much less to grammar and translation.- Unlike the situation of old, every element in the curriculum should be legitimized to a large extent by its relevance to teaching.- Foreign language culture is taught with an emphasis on today's political, social and cultural manifestations.- The most profound break with the past is that 25 per cent of the curriculum is devoted to general didactics and language pedagogy.

From 1950 onwards the ethnic and cultural structure of Dutch society has been radically changing. The influx of people from the former colonies, of refugees and foreign labour is especially noticable in the large towns and in industrial areas. Their children attend the regular Dutch schools; if necessary these schools receive facilities for extra language tuition and guidance.The institutes for teacher training have to accommodate themselves to this new situation in the schools, where Dutch is no longer the self-evident medium and where cultural differences have their effects in the classroom.The necessary changes in the teacher training curriculum must be effected by means of an innovation process emphasizing the links between socio-cultural issues and policies, and educational measures.To mention a few aspects:There is a continuing discussion about the question to what extent ethnic groups have to assimilate to the dominant culture, or if they have a right to preserve their own language and culture within a national and international context. In the U.S. there is a strong trend towards multi-cultural (intercultural) education offering possibilities for identification to all pupils.In the Netherlands intercultural education is promoted by the authorities as a way to create mutual understanding and respect between children of different ethnic backgrounds.The schools have problems in trying to implement the idea of intercultural education and the teaching of Dutch as a second language. Teaching staff are not prepared for this task, materials and guidelines are hardly available. In the shadow of these technical difficulties lies another less tangible problem: will all those concerned come to accept the new multicultural situation?NLO (New Teacher Training) Institutes in the Netherlands are nowworking on four problem areas:1) establishing the educational needs of both allochthonous and autochthonous pupils with respect to intercultural education;2) establishing criteria for learning materials in the sphere of intercultural education, including second language acquisition which is especially difficult when it comes to the technical languages connected with various school-subjects;3) establishing the necessary professional preparation for teaching in a multicultural and multilingual situation; in terms of skills to be mastered and curricular materials for the training of these skills;4) further changes in the curriculum of teacher training institutes to improve their functioning in a multicultural and multiethnic society.