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Identifying the Best Foreign Language Teachers: Teacher Standards and Professional Portfolios
Author(s) -
Sullivan Joann Hammadou
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the modern language journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.486
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1540-4781
pISSN - 0026-7902
DOI - 10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.00236.x
Subject(s) - portfolio , creativity , foreign language , psychology , mathematics education , state (computer science) , professional standards , pedagogy , medical education , computer science , medicine , business , social psychology , engineering , finance , algorithm , engineering ethics
This study explored the differing perspectives of principals and foreign language department chairs on one state's teaching standards and the use of professional teaching portfolios as part of the hiring process. A 17‐item questionnaire completed by 61 participants revealed that both groups strongly agreed with state teacher standards as accurate descriptors of good teaching. Both groups reported confidence that teaching portfolios are helpful tools for evaluating teacher candidates. Principals most wanted evidence of creativity and innovation, whereas chairs most wanted evidence of second language (L2) proficiency in a candidate's portfolio. Principals were significantly more interested in seeing evidence of communication with parents than were chairs. Both reported spending relatively little time reviewing candidates' portfolios, although chairs devoted significantly more time. The results were the same, regardless of whether the educators were from urban, suburban, or rural districts. The findings suggest that foreign language educators should continue efforts to provide guidance on foreign‐language‐appropriate versions of state teaching standards and on creation of foreign language teaching professional portfolios.