Effective teacher training: Teacher lectures in comparison with student power point presentations

Abstract

National (dispositions of the Ministry of Education in Poland 2004, 2006) and international (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages 2001) documents provide many guidelines and suggestions about the competencies that foreign language teachers of today should develop to meet the desired standards and obtain the necessary qualifications. These qualifications comprise knowledge and a wide range of skills. The focus of this chapter is on knowledge since it is the foundation for the development of teaching skills and of a reflective approach to one’s teaching practices. In Polish tertiary education institutions the so-called “theoretical knowledge” has been imparted by means of lectures. This chapter reports action research that aimed at involving pre-service teachers—foreign language students—into a more active process of knowledge acquisition. Power Point presentations prepared by students on the “theoretical” topics show that it is an interesting alternative to trainer’s lectures because collaborative preparation of the learning content enhanced the students’ interest, motivation and engagement in the course, made them very well familiar with the course content. The knowledge they acquired in this way was more memorable as it appealed to many senses and to the common cultural knowledge of the participants. Moreover, collaborative work, searching the available Internet resources, organizing ideas and materials into a coherent presentation seem to foster both learning and teaching skills.