1. A Needs Assessment of Foreign Language Teachers Today.
- Author
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Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers, Whitewater., Grittner, Frank M., and Knop, Constance K.
- Abstract
The theme of the Fall 1974 conference of the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers was "Foreign Languages and the Changing Curriculum." The 250 teachers who attended were given a questionnaire aimed at identifying needs and areas of concern to foreign language teachers. They were asked to: (1) identify the most serious problem facing the foreign language teaching profession, and (2) suggest an approach that would most improve foreign language instruction. A need for community support for foreign language learning ranked as the biggest concern. Student motivation ranked as the second most crucial problem. Lack of understanding and support from the administration, inadequate budgets, declining enrollments and inadequate teacher preparation were also cited. Solutions to problems centered on curricular reform, including goal re-evaluation, alternative organization and changes in content. Public relations were also seen as a means of change, with efforts to reach administrators and school counselors, parents, the community, the state and the nation. A follow-up, closed questionnaire was submitted to participants at the spring conference. This questionnaire listed problems and solutions based on those most often mentioned on the earlier questionnaire, and asked that they be ranked on a five-point scale. Decreasing enrollments and excessive utilitarian emphasis in the curriculum ranked high, and again public relations emerged as the best solution. (CHK)
- Published
- 1975