Thinking through Teacher Talk: Increasing Target Language Use in the Beginning Russian Classroom

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Issue Date
2013Author
Comer, William J.
Publisher
Russian Language Journal
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In July 2012 the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) adopted a position statement calling for instructors and learners to use the target language (TL) for 90% plus of instructional time. Implementing ACTFL’s recommendation can be particularly challenging for instructors of less commonly taught languages, particularly at the beginning levels of instruction. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the findings from extant research studies of classroom language use, identify impediments to target language use in the Russian language classroom, and offer specific advice, suggestions and resources to help beginning teachers and teaching assistants of Russian increase the amount of Russian used in classroom instruction. The article includes two appendices (Appendix 1 shows an opinion exchange activity with sample teacher talk needed to conduct the activity entirely in Russian; Appendix 2 presents a lengthy Russian-English list of instructions for different kinds of classroom activities, with selective commentaries on language usage).
Description
Article was originally published in Russian Language Journal Vol. 63 (2013).
ISSN
0036-0252Collections
Citation
Comer, William J. "Thinking through Teacher Talk: Increasing Target Language Use in the Beginning Russian Classroom" Russian Language Journal 63 (2013): 91-112.
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