Report on Academic
Specialist Visit to Greece:
March 19 - 25, 1999
By JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
(UMBC)
About the Specialist
JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall is Professor
of Education, Co-Director of the MA Program in ESOL/Bilingual
Education, and Director of the interdisciplinary Doctoral Program
in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (UMBC). Prior to joining the faculty at UMBC
in 1992, she was Vice President of the Center for Applied Linguistics
in Washington, DC. Dr. Crandall received a BA degree in English
and Spanish from Ohio University, an MA in American Literature
from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MS and PhD
in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University. Dr. Crandall has
been President of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
(TESOL) and its Washington area affiliate (WATESOL), and of the
American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL). She has also
served on a number of advisory boards, including the USIA English
Teaching Advisory Panel, the Fulbright Applied Linguistics/TEFL
Selection Committee, the TOEFL Policy Council, and the National
Clearinghouse on Adult ESL Literacy Education. She is a frequent
invited speaker at national and international conferences and
is also frequently asked to serve as external reviewer of educational
programs for universities, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental
agencies. Dr. Crandall is the author of more than 100 books, articles,
chapters, and monographs.
Visit
Jodi Crandall's home page
Areas of Specialization
Content-based language teaching,
language teacher education, literacy, and first and second language
writing.
Trip Report
I made 4 presentations: a plenary
address on "Teachers as learners: Collaboration in teacher development"
at the TESOL Greece Convention; a workshop on "Developing thematic
units for teaching EFL" to third and fourth year students at the
University of Athens; and two workshops at the Hellenic American
Union, one for teachers on "Integrating writing into EFL teaching
at all levels" and another for teacher trainers on "Collaboration
in teacher training." In all, about 600 language teachers, researchers,
and teacher educators were in the audience, including 300 prospective
teachers at the University of Athens. From the conference and
the interaction with scholars and students, I have a number of
very positive impressions.
First, I was very impressed with
the level of discourse in the discussion at all the conference
presentations, especially evidenced in the questions asked both
formally and informally throughout my visit, by both experienced
and prospective language teachers. While participants were eager
to learn new instructional techniques, they were also interested
in much more thorny issues relating to language policy, curriculum,
or program design.
Second, teacher development is
of critical concern in Greece. It was a major theme at the TESOL
Greece conference and the subject of continuing discussion in
sessions at the University of Athens and the Hellenic American
Union. Of particular concern is the role of collaboration in preservice
and inservice teacher education, through collaborative observation,
curriculum planning, team-teaching, or research. The teacher trainers,
especially, were eager to discuss ways in which they could include
collaboration in their programs and to encourage collaborative
teacher development for experienced teachers.
Third, I was impressed at the growing
linkages between Greek and Turkish English language teaching professionals.
Tom Kral, the USIA English Language Officer in Ankara, brought
four academic specialists from Turkey to the TESOL Greece Conference.
Their presentations at TESOL Greece were well received, and there
were invited to visit local universities following the conference.
USIA's publications of American literature and the English Teaching
Forum were also the focus of discussion, with Kral giving a workshop
on multi-cultural American literature as part of his visit.
Fourth, as is the case in most countries,
interest in teaching writing is high, since students receive little
formal instruction in writing, even in the first language. Suggestions
on ways to include writing in English language teaching at even
the beginning levels was well-received, as were ideas on ways
to integrate academic content and skills into English language
teaching.
I was also interviewed by a reporter
for ELT News, an English-language newspaper, during my visit.
In addition, several participants indicated they would be inviting
me to speak at subsequent conferences or to serve as a consultant
to their programs.
Suggested Bibliography
Since my return, I have heard from
participants from Greece requesting additional information on
topics I mentioned in my talks. The following are some suggested
references for further reading:
Crandall, J. A. (1987). ESL through
content-area instruction: Mathematics, science, social studies.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ and Washington, DC: Prentice Hall and Center
for Applied Linguistics.
Crandall, J. A. (1993). Strategic
integration: Preparing language and content teachers for linguistically
and culturally diverse classrooms. In J. E. Alatis (Ed.) Georgetown
University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics 1993 (pp.
255-274). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Crandall, J. A. (1996). Teacher professionalism
in TESOL. MexTESOL Journal 19(3), 11-26.
Crandall, J. A. (1998). Collaborate
and cooperate: Teacher education for integrating language and
content instruction. English Teaching Forum, 36(1), 2-9.
Crandall, J. (1998). The expanding
role of the elementary ESL teacher. ESL Magazine 1(4),
10-14.
Crandall, J. A. & Tucker, G. R.
(1989). Content-based language instruction in second and foreign
languages. In A. Sanivan (Ed.) Language teaching methodology
for the nineties (pp. 83-96). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language
Centre.
Recommended
Links
UMBC Department of Education homepage
http://research.umbc.edu/education
Jodi Crandall's home page http://www.research.umbc.edu/education/facstaff/facstaff/faculty/crandall.html
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