Professional attitudes of high school modern language teachers in Texas

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of modern foreign language teachers in Texas high schools toward current trends in their profession. It included an examination of teacher attitudes towards stated objectives, methodology, language laboratories, textbooks, tapes, realia, teacher preparation, students, administrative practices, guidance, and other facets of modern foreign language instruction. Data for the study were obtained by means of questionnaire completed by 240 teachers of modern foreign languages. Responses were received from 141 Spanish, 54 French, 32 German, and 13 teachers of two foreign languages. Russian was taught part-time by two teachers. The results showed that all the teachers in the study held at least a baccalaureate degree. Master of Arts or Science degrees were held by 75. A total of 221 had standard certification, 197 were certified in the language they taught. While most teachers used audiolingual approaches and materials, the results showed that they accepted that they attempted to include more traditional grammar than the textbooks provided. Teachers felt that the audiolingual drills needed supplementing in order to enable the student to understand the structure of the target language better, and to generate original sentences. They were disappointed with the results yielded by language laboratories and critical of the available tapes...

Professional attitudes of high school modern language teachers in Texas

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of modern foreign language teachers in Texas high schools toward current trends in their profession. It included an examination of teacher attitudes towards stated objectives, methodology, language laboratories, textbooks, tapes, realia, teacher preparation, students, administrative practices, guidance, and other facets of modern foreign language instruction. Data for the study were obtained by means of questionnaire completed by 240 teachers of modern foreign languages. Responses were received from 141 Spanish, 54 French, 32 German, and 13 teachers of two foreign languages. Russian was taught part-time by two teachers. The results showed that all the teachers in the study held at least a baccalaureate degree. Master of Arts or Science degrees were held by 75. A total of 221 had standard certification, 197 were certified in the language they taught. While most teachers used audiolingual approaches and materials, the results showed that they accepted that they attempted to include more traditional grammar than the textbooks provided. Teachers felt that the audiolingual drills needed supplementing in order to enable the student to understand the structure of the target language better, and to generate original sentences. They were disappointed with the results yielded by language laboratories and critical of the available tapes...