faculty

Faculty Spotlight Robert Elliott

What do you do at the University of Oregon, and how are you connected to LTS?

I am faculty at the American English Institute and the Associate Director of Educational Technology at the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI). I specialize in CALL, pronunciation and intonation, and International Graduate Teaching Fellow (IGTF) Training, as well as work with indigenous language revitalization. I teach classes in the LTS program on CALL in the Spring and Summer terms. One of my favorite classes is the Summer CALL class where I get to witness firsthand the metamorphosis of the project papers into academic presentations. I love seeing the creative and innovative ways LTS students come up with to present their work to the UO community.

What do you think is most important for LTS students to get out of the program?

Since I work with small, endangered languages I am a bit biased. I feel the LTS program offers a rare opportunity for new teachers to raise their awareness of the issues of minority languages and the threats to linguistic diversity, both here in the US and around the globe. This is something my MA program in TESOL did not do.

Just as we are witnessing the severe threats to endangered species around the globe, similarly we are seeing the world’s languages disappearing. The teaching of major languages like English is not the cause of the problem, but it certainly can exacerbate the problem. I think the LTS program – with its emphasis on building language education professionals rather than English teachers – leaves graduates with a sensitivity to these issues. I think LTS grads see mother tongue language as a basic human right. As language professionals we should “tread lightly” on smaller, more vulnerable languages. We should not leave our students with the explicit or even implicit assumption that some languages are more valuable, useful or more fit for the modern world than others. LTS students get to experience this first hand through exposure to faculty and peers working on less commonly taught and endangered languages.

What message do you have for LTS students this week?

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Faculty Spotlight Brian Barnett

Could you tell us a little bit about your connection to the LTS program? 

I became connected to the LTS program while being the Director of French Language Instruction in the Department of Romance Languages at the U of O.  My academic background is in French and language education, so I wanted to find additional opportunities to work with students and faculty dedicated to language pedagogy. My profile is somewhat different from most other LTS faculty members as I bring a perspective of an experienced language educator working in the field of FL instruction (French) within the United States. Currently, I am the Director of the First-Year Language Program in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at Indiana State University.  I teach first- through third-year French courses, supervise graduate students teaching first and second semester courses for all languages (German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, etc.), and teach in the graduate program in linguistics. I have remained involved with LTS from a distance by working with students’ final projects and teaching the summer capstone seminar (LT 610) in some years.

Could you briefly describe the course(s) you teach?

I have taught two different courses in the LTS program. The first is LT 536 Second Language Teaching.  This course gives students a solid foundation in developing lessons plans for their particular teaching contexts.  The culminating assignment is quite practical as it requires students to design a unit of at least three sequenced lesson plans that is grounded in current pedagogical theory and practice; this is a task that future teachers will encounter in the classroom.  The second course is LT 610 Language Teaching Seminar in Summer terms.  This 4-week seminar is taught with variable topics.  My class has been organized with three modules focusing on learning styles and strategies: (a) exposure to different learning styles and strategies and their classifications, (b) frameworks for Styles- and Strategies- Based Instruction and how to incorporate this approach to your lesson plans, and (c) teacher action research through collection of style and/or strategy data from students.

What do you like best about working with LTS students?  

[note: despite the background, no wine was consumed during the making of this video]

 

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Faculty Spotlight Tom Delaney

How have you been involved as a faculty and administrator at the University of Oregon?

In addition to teaching in the LTS MA program, I am faculty and an administrator in the American English Institute (AEI). I have taught extensively in most of the AEI’s programs, including the Intensive English Program (IEP) for pre-matriculated students, the Academic English for International Students (AEIS) program for UO undergraduate students, and the eLearning program, which provides teacher training and development courses for language teachers around the globe.

I am also currently the Coordinator of the AEIS program. This means I am involved in curriculum and assessment development, scheduling courses and teachers, and working with campus partners – we are always looking for ways to improve our programs and help students succeed at the University of Oregon.

Can you describe what you teach in the LTS program?

I regularly teach LT 535 Second Language Teaching Methods and LT 549 Language Testing and Assessment.

LT 535 builds a bridge between the theoretical issues explored in the study of Second Language Acquisition (LING 540) and the very practical skills developed in the course on Language Teaching Planning (LT 536). We explore the history of language teaching up to our current understanding of the principles of language teaching and learning. We also get a sense of all the different individual, social, cultural, and institutional factors that can affect how languages are taught and learned. We then move on to building some skills which are developed in more depth in LT 536: curriculum development, lesson planning, and choosing or developing appropriate tasks and activities.

LT 549 is a course that some students are not excited to take, but, in my experience, most students find language testing and assessment surprisingly interesting. Some even find it fascinating! This class is a unique blend of the deeply philosophical (“How can we know what a language learner knows or can do?”) and very practical (“What’s the best way to assess what my students have learned in this class?”). Personally, I find developing valid and reliable ways to assess learning to be an intensely creative and intellectually stimulating activity, and I am always gratified that many students seem to come to a similar view after taking this class.

What is an example of a strength of the LTS program?

What advice do you have for LTS students?

Be patient. This program prepares you to be a well-rounded language teaching professional. You will gain knowledge and skills that will serve you well in any language teaching context, not just one or two. You will develop practical skills and you will have the opportunity to personalize your projects, but don’t breeze past the things that seem “too theoretical.” Give the tough issues your attention and you may find that those are the things you return to again and again in your career. There are many, many books full of activities and lesson plans. This program will give you a lot more than that, and that’s what separates a good MA program from a fly-by-night language teaching certificate.

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