Keywords

Language and languages -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Florida

Abstract

Current foreign language pedagogy encourages a communicative approach to language learning. Instead of the reading and writing focus of the past, this communicative approach requires instruction in all skills, which include reading, writing, listening, speaking and having knowledge of associated cultures. A random sample of Florida foreign language teachers was surveyed to establish whether or not the goals and actual instructional practices were aligned. Respondents were asked to identify how much of a typical class period is dedicated to each of the five skills and how much of a typical unit test is dedicated to the same five skills. The findings showed that only the instruction and assessment of writing were aligned. Instruction and assessment of the other skills were unequal. A comparison of the means revealed that listening was actually instructed much more than assessed. The other means were similar, including writing. Reading was found to be the only skill that was assessed more than instructed. The variables examined in this study included the level of fluency, level of education, amount of experience of the teacher, available resources, amount of the target language used in the classroom, as well as demographic information. The interaction of the level of education and experience of the teacher was significant. Teacher gender was also significant, although the disparate gender groups made it difficult to compare means. The other variables revealed no statistical significance. Slightly less than half of the respondents stated that they do not believe that they include enough oral assessment as a part of instruction. They reported a lack of time, student resistance, class size, and unreliable technology as reasons for not including what they perceived to be enough oral assessment

Notes

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Graduation Date

2010

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Nutta, Joyce

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003557

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003557

Language

English

Release Date

December 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education, Education -- Dissertations, Academic

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