Becoming a Language Teacher

 
How do I plan a lesson?
How will I know if my students are learning?
How do I teach language while also teaching content material?
How do I effectively use technology in language teaching?
How can I ensure the academic success of my students?
How can I help my students have more contact with the new language?
 
These are the practical questions language and mainstream teachers struggle with as they enter today's diverse classrooms in an era when they must focus not only on their everyday teaching, but also on students' second language development. The answers to these questions and more are here, in this much-needed, comprehensive, practical guide to language teaching in second foreign, and content-based settings.
 
In a warm, supportive tone, respected author and experienced language teacher Elaine K. Horwitz clearly explains the fundamental concepts of second language acquisition and language teaching, using actual classroom situations that help students learn to make instructional decisions in their own future teaching settings. Unique among other methods texts that emphasize language for communication purposes only, Becoming a Language Teacher also focuses on language for academic needs, while addressing the latest trends in language teaching as well as effective approaches for teaching language in content classes. The perfect choice for ESL and Foreign Language methods courses, this guide helps teachers develop a personal approach to language teaching, suited to their own unique teaching situations.
 
Major additions to the text are related to socio-cultural approaches to second language acquisition and teaching. The Second Edition also includes:
 

• Expanded coverage oflanguage development and content teaching
• Coverage of The Output Hypothesis, Sociocultural Theories of SLA, the SIOP Method and the CALLA Approach
• Publication of the long-awaited revision of theBeliefs about Language Learning Inventory, BALLI
• An Assessment for Learning approach to student testing added to Chapter 8
• Suggestions for using new technologies and digital media incorporated throughout
• Added explanations of Emergent Bilingual, Heritage Learners, Dual Language programs, World Languages, Sheltered English, Newcomer Centers, Self-Access Language Learning Centers, Willingness to Communicate, and Language Learner Autonomy

 

List of contents

Preface    
Part I• What Do Language Teachers Think About?
    
1    What Should I Know about Language Learners and Language Teaching Settings?      
Types of Language Learning Settings   
Learner Characteristics
Younger Learners and Stages of Cognitive Development           
Identity and Language Learning
 
2       What Should I Know about Second Language Acquisition?    
Theories of Second Language Acquisition        
The Critical Period Hypothesis 
How the Theories Differ on Important Language Teaching Issues          
Implications for Language Teaching     
   
3       What Should I Know about Language Teaching Methodologies?        
Language Teaching Methods   
What Is the Best Language Teaching Method? 
Content-Based, Sheltered-Immersion, Learner-Centered, and Task-Based Approaches to Language Teaching         
From Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Approaches         
 
Part II• How Do You Teach a Language?    
    
4       What Should I Know about Teaching Listening?         
The Importance of Listening Comprehension     
Obstacles to Teaching Listening Comprehension          
The Listening Process 
Some Guidelines for Developing Listening Activities     
Activity Ideas   
Assessing Listening Comprehension    
 
5       What Should I Know about Teaching Speaking?         
The Importance of True Communication in the Language Classroom     
Obstacles to Teaching Speaking          
The Development of Speaking Ability    
Some Guidelines for Developing Speaking Activities     
Activity Ideas   
Assessing Speaking    
 
6       What Should I Know about Teaching Reading?           
The Importance of Reading      
The Reading Process  
Types of Second Language Reading    
Learning to Read in a Second Language           
Types of Reading Materials      
Helping Students Develop Effective Reading Strategies
ESL Teachers and Content Reading     
Some Guidelines for Teaching Reading
Activity Ideas   
Assessing Reading Comprehension     
 
7       What Should I Know about Teaching Writing?
The Writing Process    
Types of Second Language Writing      
Helping Students Develop Effective Writing Strategies  
Some Guidelines for Teaching Writing  
Activity Ideas   
Assessing Writing       
 
8       What Should I Know about Teaching Academic English in Content Classes?            
The Development of Academic Language         
Generation 1.5 and Transnational Students       
Scaffolding, Contextualized Input, and Thematic Units   
Promoting Second Language Development in Content Classes  
Academic Literacy        166
Integrating Language Skills Using Thematic Units and Task-Based Activities    
Some Guidelines for Teaching Language through Content         
Activity Ideas   
The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)
Assessing Language in Content Classes          
 
Part III• How Do I Know What to Teach?    
 
9       How Do I Assess Language Learning?
Standards        
Issues in Language Testing     
Testing Approaches     
Testing for a Variety of Purposes         
Testing the Standards  
The TOEFL, the ACTFL OPI, the IELTS, and the TOEIC           
 
10       How Do I Plan My Classes?   
Planning for Your Students       
Common Language Teaching Activities
Differentiating Instruction and Supporting Learner Autonomy
 
Part IV• Where Do I Go from Here?            
 
11      So, Am I Now a Language Teacher?  
Thinking of Yourself as a Language Teacher    
Becoming Open to New Ideas about Language and Language Teaching
Becoming a Better Language Teacher  
Your Future as a Language Teacher     
Beginning Your Journey as a Language Teacher          
 
Appendix A: The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI ) Revised ESL Version       
Appendix B: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)        
Appendix C: Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (TFLAS)
Glossary         
Index   
 

About the author

Elaine Horwitz is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of the Graduate Program in Foreign Language Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She was born in Washington, DC, and attended the Montgomery County, MD, public schools where she studied French and Spanish. She began her language teaching career in seventh grade when other students would ask her to explain what her teacher was saying.
 
Professor Horwitz earned her BA at the University of Maryland at College Park and her MA and PhD in Second Language Learning and Teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While there, she was a Title VII Bilingual Education Fellow and supervised foreign language, ESL, and bilingual student teachers.
 
She first taught French, Spanish, and English in the Prince George's County, MD, public schools and later went on to teach at University High School in Urbana, IL, and as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Illinois. Before moving to the University of Texas, she taught courses in French, language teaching methodology, and bilingual education at the State University College of New York at Buffalo.
 
At the University of Texas, Professor Horwitz is Director of the Graduate Program in Foreign Language Education and teaches courses in language teaching methodology, second language acquisition, language testing, and second language research methods. She is well known for her research on language anxiety and student and teacher beliefs about language learning. In addition to numerous scholarly articles and chapters, she is the co-editor with Dolly Young of Language Anxiety: From Theory and Practice to Classroom Implications. Her assessment tools, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory, are widely used to help teachers and researchers better understand the needs of second language learners. She has been an invited lecturer and consultant on improving language teaching throughout the world.
 

Summary

This comprehensive, practical guide gives teachers the skills they need to meet the needs of all language learners in today's diverse classrooms, while encouraging each reader to develop a personal approach to language teaching.
 
How do I plan a lesson? How will I know if the students are learning? How do I teach language when I am also teaching content material? How do I effectively use technology in language teaching? How can I ensure the academic success of my students? How can I help my students have more contact with the new language?
 
These are just a few of the questions Elaine K. Horwitz answers in her comprehensive, practical guide to the knowledge and skills teachers need to meet the needs of all language learners in today's diverse classrooms and to develop a personal approach to language teaching. Respected author and experienced language teacher, Professor Horwitz uses a warm, supportive tone to clearly explain the fundamental concepts of second language acquisition and language teaching.
 
A much-needed resource at a time when it is critical for all mainstream teachers to focus on language development, Becoming a Language Teacher  describes how to develop language for academic needs as well as language for communicative purposes. It addresses the latest trends in language teaching including curriculum Standards for ESL and World Languages and state-of-the-art approaches for teaching language in content classes including the Sheltered-Immersion Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model and the Cognitive Academic Language Learning (CALLA) Approach. 
 

Product details

• Authors: Elaine K Horwitz, Elaine K. Horwitz
• Publisher: Pearson Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2018
• EAN: 9780132489980
• ISBN: 978-0-13-248998-0
• No. of pages: 312
• Dimensions: 179 mm x 231 mm x 15 mm
• Weight: 420 g
• Series: Allyn & Bacon; Allyn & Bacon
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Education > School education, didactics, methodology