DEVELOPING FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING COMPETENCE OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS IN THE US UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

. The present paper explores didactic approaches to developing teaching competence of prospective language teachers at the foreign language methods course in the USA. In the study a number of empirical and theoretical research methods were employed, the main ones being the method of thematic analysis, content analysis and comparison. The study analyzed 25 syllabi of foreign language teaching course and teaching English as a second language. The research focused around several aspects of the syllabi: the purpose of the discipline, the teaching methods, techniques, forms, requirements, and the resulting competencies. It has been found that the methods course is a fundamental component of the curricula of the world languages teacher preparation programs of the American universities, but the course content, didactic approaches, scope, and the number of credit hours differ. Results of the content analysis indicate that the widespread methods of the aforementioned discipline are the analysis and discussion of the required readings (100 %), the development of original teaching materials, lesson plans, thematic modules (88 %), the use of information technologies (84 %), observation of the language teaching process, field experience (72 %), micro teaching (68 %), writing research papers, reviews, assessment of teaching materials (48 %), formulating a personal teaching philosophy (32 %), portfolio (28 %), maintaining reflexive journals (28 %), individual and group project (16 %), attending or participating in academic conferences (14 %), case study and action research (4 % each). An important tendency that transpired in the course of analysis is the discipline’s orientation towards standards implementation including standards of teaching foreign languages and standards of teacher preparation. Finally, performance-based assessment is posited as one of the basic evaluation tools of the methods course.