en  fr  de
  1. Home
  2.  > 
    Programme
  3.  > 
    Programme 2020-2023
  4.  > 
    Language-sensitive teacher education
  5.  > 
    yourteacher

Do the objectives of your teacher education curriculum support language-sensitive teaching?

This section aims to stimulate reflection on the way the teacher education curriculum is reviewed and developed in your context; further specific questions are asked about how the system works and who is involved.

TASK A Read the statements in the table below. Which of them are true for your educational context? Write brief notes about each.

Yes/no Comments
As an integral part of their teacher education, teachers of all subjects spend time working on the uses of language in teaching and on sensitivity to learners' language needs.
For learners at school, appropriate use of the language of schooling is an important criterion in end of year and final exams in all subjects.
In schools, subject teachers share with teachers of the language of schooling the responsibility for preparing and enabling learners to cope with the language requirements of the different subjects.
Teachers of foreign language are trained to use the target language and the language of schooling in a language-sensitive way.

View commentary

TASK B Considering the whole teacher education curriculum being followed in your context:

i. How much attention is given to student teachers' language awareness, that is their understanding of how languages work and how they are used? Examples of some topics that may be addressed can be found in a list of elements for language-sensitive teacher education, as well as in Building block 6, especially in Dimension 4 of the Teacher competence profiles.

ii. How much attention is given to student teachers' understanding of language policy, especially of the roles assigned to languages in society and in education?

iii. How much attention and space are given to the role of language(s) and communication in the actual teaching and learning of specific subjects? What kinds of guidance and training about language-sensitive teaching (of any subject) are included?

iv. Can you influence and change the objectives and content of the curriculum and the way it is implemented? For example, could a new module on language-sensitive education be added somewhere in the curriculum? Could elements focusing on language sensitivity be added to any existing modules (this is also the focus of Building block 4)? Could curricular reform and change also involve aspects of the language policy of your institution?

View commentary