Category Archives: Teaching Methodology and Research

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and a group of educational psychologists developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning.  In the 1990’s Lorin Anderson (a former student of Bloom) and a new group of cognitive psychologists updated the taxonomy to reflect relevance to 21st century skills.  The new taxonomy is much more useful in language instruction.

Original Version:

Revised Version:

Even more applicable to language learning and teaching is this graphic representation of the Bloom levels that demonstrates how these skills are not a hierarchy, but are interrelated and dependent on each other to function most efficiently and effectively.  It shows that creating language is dependent on understanding and so forth.

Project Based Learning is being implemented more often in foreign language classes.  These projects provide opportunities for students to engage with the language authentically.

It is also a chance for students to use their language skills while researching and presenting the final product.  Below are some are some Project Based Learning (PBL) tips and suggestions to keep in mind to help ensure a high quality process and product.  You can also download a pdf of these tips in a checklist format along with some additional tips for specifically implementing PBL in the foreign language classroom.

• A concrete timeline that helps students learn how to benchmark and manage projects.

• An engaging presentation of the project that grabs student interest.

• Academic rigor and alignment with standards with a focus on content and skill mastery.

• An essential question that is based on the appropriate skill and age level of students.

• A product that demonstrates knowledge and skill in which students show evidence that they have mastered the standards and objectives of the project.

• Applied learning so that students think and do something new with their knowledge or skills.

• An authentic audience that helps to keep the process and product focused on authenticity.

• High-quality products or performance at the end of the project that demonstrates the results through applied knowledge and skills

I am always trying to make foreign language activities that are more communicative and give students opportunities to use the target language authentically.  I do firmly believe that accuracy has a place in language production and I do not focus only on fluency tasks, but even when practicing accuracy I try to have a communicative component.  To ensure this, I keep in mind the table below that reminds me what interpersonal communication is and is not.

Interpersonal Communication…

Below is a grid from Kathleen Cushman’s Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell us About Motivation and Mastery.  It is a clear and concise review of teaching objectives, traditional homework assignments related to the objects, suggestions for more interactive and student-centered assignments, and suggestion of when and where to complete these activities.

This is a document that I create to help myself stay focused on effective and productive language teaching.  I assembled the criteria from many different sources including state and national standards as well as my own research in applied linguistics and psycholinguitics (second language acquisition).  I keep the document handy and refer to it once in a while to remind myself of what needs to be happening in my classroom.  Each school year I make it a point to focus on one of the areas and make a strong effort to improve in that area.  These topics are typically what are evaluated in highly-effective foreign/world language programs so using a document like this on a personal level will help to keep the teacher track and prepared for more formal evaluations.

You can download a pdf of the document HERE.