Introducing German pre-service teachers to remote teaching: Policy, preparation and perceptions of competence development of future foreign language teachers

Abstract

This article considers the policies, preparations and perceptions of competence development of pre-service foreign language teachers within the context of an innovative remote teacher training module. Responding to a recent call for triangulated research on teacher professional competences and to curricular changes resulting from the turn of German universities to online teaching in summer term 2020, a Developmental Model of Teacher Professional Competence (DevTPC) is proposed that can serve as basis for operationalising required context- and content-specific teacher competences. The article’s aim is to establish the theoretical background of the DevTPC and report on first promising results of a pilot study (n=39) asking pre-service foreign language teachers about their perceived competence development in remote foreign language teaching between April and July 2020. By focussing on the perceived development of technological pedagogical content knowledge in the area of foreign language instruction, the results of the pilot study contextualise the potential of remote teaching contexts to transform foreign language teacher training and (foreign) language education in the years to come. The article ends with a series of questions and recommendations for further research to promote innovation in remote foreign language teacher training.

Keywords

• remote training
• foreign language teacher training
• developmental model
• professional competence
• pre-service
• technological pedagogical content knowledge
• tpck
• covid-19