Recommended Strategies

1. 1. Identify language learning needs across the curriculum.
   2. Make the curriculum inclusive and culturally responsive.
   3. Make language learning dynamic and engaging.
   4. Develop assessment strategies that inform L2 teaching.
   5. Deliver high-impact learning activities.
   6. Adopt hybrid teaching models.
   7. Offer options along the path to proficiency.
   8. Cultivate opportunities for authentic L2 immersion and practice.
   9. Inspire language teachers to be invested in their craft.

• • Form a task force of faculty, students, and LLC staff to assess language learning needs and goals.
  • Explore language learning needs in other academic majors (i.e., business, health, engineering, social sciences, etc.).
  • Assess the usefulness of technology resources for language teaching, and evaluate data with faculty.
  • Devise strategies for promoting language learning.
  • Plan social and academic events to bring teachers and students together.

The importance of fostering a culture of diversity equity, and inclusion on campus and in the LLC cannot be understated. These ideals are not merely words for checking off compliance requirements. They are truths that must be lived, shared, and adopted by all stakeholders across cultures, communities, connections, comparisons, and all levels of communication, in the classroom and in the curriculum. Click here to see an example of diversity, equity, and inclusion integrated in language teaching.

The traditional LLC and similar academic support units must find ways to be pedagogically relevant and multidimensional across the content area. Language students should have an array of experiential options to gain vital authentic L2 immersion. Language practice is essential for success, but it is not uncommon for students to be uncomfortable and nervous when interacting with L2 native speakers. The instructional design, resources, activities, and language partners must fit the learning needs and goals of the student in order to be effective. Identifying the optimal language learning path requires work and customization; for the teacher and the student.

Devising effective assessment strategies to measure understanding is challenging. Interpreting the data is more complicated. The greatest challenge is to identify the right approach to ensure assessment data effectively informs teaching and leads to improvement. I remind new teachers that building good assessment strategies takes years, not months. Employing participatory action research methods can help streamline the cumbersome data collection and archival processes. Patience, persistence, and good organization are also essential strategies.

• • Structured virtual language exchanges;
  • Digital storytelling and mini-documentaries;
  • Subtitling and overdubbing film scenes and other media with thematic content;
  • Voice-recording activities such as simultaneous translations, giving speeches, even singing karaoke, and doing radio-skits;
  • Use discussion boards and voice threads to cultivate online communication that resonates with learners.

The Coronavirus pandemic forced millions of teachers worldwide to learn how to teach online. At the end of the 2020 spring semester, my heightened use of Zoom enabled me to see that we could replicate the instructor-guided sessions in the lab using Zoom breakout rooms, share screen, and other functions. However, there will never be a tool or technology that will completely replace traditional classroom learning. Higher education is an inherently social institution. For this reason, I advocate for hybrid learning.

Using a framework like the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) World-Readiness Standards is a highly effective way to develop interpretive and presentational competencies in world languages. The learning activities should be engaging, form relationships, activate students' prior knowledge, and make learning contextual.

Offering more choices to develop communicative competencies may be more effective than the one-size-fits-all model. Establish specific language goals and clear learning targets, but offer options instead of requiring students to complete the same task. For example, if the objective is to present a topic, theme, or idea in the L2, allow students to choose from multiple project options with specific rubrics, templates, and examples. Let students decide whether to express their learning through a slideshow, video, or podcast.

All of these project ideas involve writing a script, making a voice recording (speaking) in the L2, and articulating ideas and opinions in the L2. There are numerous ideas for multimedia projects and the final products make excellent e-portfolio artifacts.

I am committed to providing my students with quality instruction supplemented with authentic and meaningful L2 immersion opportunities. I routinely collaborate with EFL instructors in other countries whose students have similar L2 needs, goals, and proficiency levels. We align our content and language objectives through streamlined cooperation, then pair students for mutually beneficial translingual interactions. I view structured language exchanges as an optimal strategy for developing interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational L2 competencies and global citizenship. Refining this practice is the essence of my pedagogical inquiry. 

• • Find joy in the pursuit of pedagogical excellence as a language teacher.
  • Learn to streamline teaching tasks, organize content, strengthen assessment, and foster engaged learning communities.
  • Be engaged in professional development and identify personal short and long-term goals.
  • Collaborate with ESL/EFL teachers in local and global communities to explore mutually beneficial co-teaching partnerships.
  • Reconnect with the things that motivated you to become a language teacher.