Supporting the Professional Development of Foreign Language Graduate Students: A Focus on Course Development and Program Direction.

Abstract: The 2007 Modern Language Association report spurred research regarding the professional development of foreign language graduate students. This article first reviews existing proposals for the professional development of graduate students, then addresses the relevance of helping graduate students to develop the knowledge and skills that are needed to direct undergraduate language programs, describes a course on this topic, and reports the results of end-of-semester course evaluations completed by students.Key words: graduate student professional development, language program direction, pedagogy, TA training and supervision, university foreign/second language teacher preparationIntroductionThe 2007 Modern Language Association (MLA) report offered a range of proposals for curricular and structural changes designed to improve student learning in postsecondary foreign language departments. Among these recommendations, the MLA report stated, "To meet the needs of undergraduate language programs (which is where the majority of PhD candidates will find employment), graduate studies should provide substantive training in language teaching" (MLA, 2007 p. 7). Similarly, Olsen (1998) stated, "[g]raduate departments could enhance the competitive strength of their graduates by meeting the needs of the bread-and-butter positions" (p. 502), and Rifkin (2001) noted that providing more systematized professional development may increase graduate students' chances of acquiring a secure faculty position. Pfeiffer (2002) pointed out thatMany teaching positions are not located in the same type of research-oriented graduate departments in which graduate students get socialized.... Therefore, graduate students need to be equipped to respond productively to the variable needs of foreign language departments in a range of institutional environments. (p. 14)Pfeiffer (2008) and Schechtman and Koser (2008) reiterated this call for change in the professional development of graduate students, many of whom will be future professors and program directors in foreign language departments, and Paesani and Allen (2012) also echoed this call. As Schechtman and Koser continued to explain, graduate programs must begin to think differently about the value placed on professional development: "Graduate students...need to be presented with models that place equal value on preparation for teaching and research" (p. 311). More recently, in their comprehensive review, Allen and Negueruela-Azarola (2010) also highlighted the need for reform of graduate student professional development at the departmental level, which may be especially needed since, as Laurence (2013) stated, full-time tenure-track positions have become increasingly more difficult to obtain, due in part to the increased hiring of temporary or contingent instructors. Therefore, providing graduate students withmore continuous and structured opportunities for professional developmentmay be critical to increasing their job opportunities. In fact, as Pfeiffer (2002) explained, involving graduate students in discussions about teaching and mentoring "...sends a strong signal about the multiple professional responsibilities faculty members have within the department. By extension, these are the duties of future faculty members, that is, graduate students" (p. 12). Indeed, as the 2007 MLA report highlighted, faculty members should play an active role "...in shaping and overseeing the content and teaching approaches used throughout the curriculum, from the first year forward" (p. 7). In response to calls for greater emphasis on these aspects of the professional development of graduate students, this article offers a proposal for a graduate professional development course focusing on undergraduate language program direction and course development, and reports quantitative and qualitative survey data fromend-of-semester evaluations from students who recently took this course. …