AVOIDING STAGNATION OF WORLD LANGUAGE TEACHER L2 PROFICIENCY AND TARGET CULTURE AWARENESS THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE RIGHT TIME, SPACE, AND PLACE

Abstract

This study investigates the current perspectives and practices of professional development for world language teachers. The skills needed to become a licensed world language teacher in the United States are well-researched and outlined by national and regional standards set both by universities and national organizations concerned with language teaching such as the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. The current literature sets the standard for students to achieve an advanced level of proficiency and a breadth of cultural understanding as demonstrated through advanced study in the target language at the university level and proficiency testing. However, the current literature falls short of such depth in describing what it is that world language teachers should do once they have entered into the teaching profession in order to maintain their linguistic skills as well as their knowledge of the cultures where the target language is spoken. This study investigates what practices world language teachers and other language education stakeholders can implement to provide world language teachers with opportunities to continually improve their linguistic skills in the target language and their cultural knowledge. Without access to professional development that addresses these needs, world language teacher experience feelings of becoming less proficient or fluent in their target language and consequentially less effective in teaching, communicating, and interacting in the target language. Personal reflections about my experience in a 2-week study abroad experience in France were written to analyze what practices occurred during the trip that allowed me the time, space, and place to improve my linguistic and cultural knowledge. Through nexus analysis, which is concerned with the interconnectedness of learned social expectations, social interactions, and the unspoken rules of belonging and participating in a particular context, I analyze specific moments and interactions during my experience to open a wider discussion on the types of learning and interactions that world language teachers need to grow their knowledge and skills which are imperative for effectively teaching in the world language classroom and how such practices can be implemented on regularly basis for professional development.