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Graduate Programs in Comprehension Based Instruction?
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8 thoughts on “Graduate Programs in Comprehension Based Instruction?”
Where do you teach, Michelle?
I teach at Beaver Local High School in Lisbon, Ohio, which is Columbiana County.
So I’m giving some thought to what main “categories” I need to include in my degree program:
-methods/advanced TPRS skills
-curriculum development
-research and documentation of SLA – I hope to chat with Stephen Krashen about this
-reading’s importance in SLA (S Krashen again)
-selective integration of technology in the classroom (my school is about to build a state-of-the-art school in which students will have iPads.
I value anyone’s input, suggestions, and direction, especially since I’m at the brainstorming/planning level.
Thank you!!
Michele
Stephen Krashen has been great about responding quickly to a few personal e-mails from me. Give that a shot.
I don’t think a graduate program will ever be offered in TPRS instruction. TPRS is copyrighted so I think you’re best bet is to go to conferences offered by Blaine Ray, Susan Gross, et al.
If you have freedom to “create your own master’s program,” and that would involve basically reading and writing about whatever you wanted, then go for it. Read everything Krashen and Blaine and Ben have ever written. And I’m sure Krashen could recommend some more material for you to read, or you could pour over the bibliographies in his works.
Now a graduate program in TCI (teaching with comprehensible input) might be something else, because TCI is just an umbrella term for using CI to teach a foreign language. Really, if you think about, EVERY graduate program in foreign language pedagogy SHOULD be a TCI program. But alas. Most fall far short. I’d be interested in hearing from others if a department at some university somewhere has a good amount of TCI researchers and practitioners. Where does Stephen Krashen work?
I went to Truman State University, which is in Kirksville, MO and the two professors that taught my methodology class, though not specifically focusing on TCI in their instruction, were VERY knowledgeable about SLA research, standards, applying the standards in their classrooms, etc. We focused a fair amount on thematic units, which could still work in a TCI classroom, so I was able to apply some of what I learned in my TPRS/CI-based classroom. I would say that the biggest thing for me, with that class, was the theoretical underpinnings that really changed how I viewed foreign language instruction.
So, Michele, as part of the research/documentation area of your masters, you definitely would want to check out Krashen, but also there are a lot of interesting and pertinent works out there that I would recommend. A couple would be…
– Teacher’s Handbook by Shrum & Glisan
– Input to Output by VanPatten
– Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen by Lee and VanPatten
– Article: The Evidence is IN: Drills are OUT by Wong & VanPatten
– Work by Vygotsky on Zone of Proximal Development
– Peruse through ACTFL’s publication, Foreign Language Annals (or whatever it’s called)
– Also there’s the IJFLT publication, which often has research related to TPRS/CI.
Now, of course, VanPatten focuses a lot on his ‘processing instruction’ way of teaching, which goes against Krashen’s hypotheses in various ways, but I think as a theoretical basis it’s important to consider / be knowledgeable of.
And I agree that it might be more effective to go towards a TCI graduate program rather than just specifically TPRS as it will be a broader umbrella term, as James said.
Basically I would find all of the theoretical works that would be pertinent (look at Brain-Based Learning research… curriculum design research… etc) and then also go to as many workshops / conferences as possible.
Think about what kind of research would be interesting for you, too. And that would be pertinent to the profession, especially with regards to using TCI in the classroom.
Haha, okay, so those are just some thoughts. This is awesome though and I wish you the best of luck! 🙂
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to relay some good news to our group regarding how TCI is being received at a university in my area. I live and teach in Monroe, Michigan and the University of Toledo(UT) in Ohio is close by and trains a lot of the teachers from my area. One of my colleagues, who is a great TPRS teacher, has been working with a student teacher from UT for most of the school year. This young teacher’s supervisor came to evaluate her again today and was very impressed, not just with this young lady’s growth as a future WL educator, but specifically at the method that we have been training her to implement. The UT supervisor wants to send us more student teachers next year, and is convinced that our methodology is the way to go. I share many of the ideas that I read about here with my department, and slowly, but surely, word is spreading that we, in the WL department, are doing great things with our kids that really work. I am hoping that before too long, there will be Masters programs that focus on TCI as well. Unfortunately, at this time, it seems as though most universities are behind the times on this one. The same teacher that I spoke of here had a student teacher last year from a nearby Michigan university, and that student’s supervisor tried to poke holes in our methodology mostly because she thought everything should be taught from an authentic cultural focus and that translation should never be used for clarification. We have a ways to go, but we’re making progress! This felt like a small victory for us anyway.
Update: I was excited to find a “SLATE” program at the University of Alaska. I found out about it from a post by Michelle Whaley on the moretprs yahoo group. It is fully accessible online and I’m hoping to pursue it. SLATE stands for Seconda Language Acquisition & Teacher Education I believe, and it is very TPRS friendly from what I understand so far. I appreciate all of the input from people and hope to pursue all of the sources suggested.
Unfortunately the SLATE program was temporary and has ended. It appears that it was funded by grants and perhaps was a pilot program of some sort. I’m still researching and appreciate all the comments, suggestions and help!