Teaching strategies of university professors to promote the development of oral language in future teachers

Abstract

Recent studies highlight the need to introduce objectives into teaching plans linked to Oral Language Competence (OLC), especially in grades’ and master's degrees in teacher education. The main aim of the study is to analyse the perception of professors of the degrees of Early Childhood Education, Primary Education and the Master of Secondary Education on how oral language is taught and learned in their subjects. 17 professors from 4 catalan universities were interviewed. The results indicate that the majority of professors usually implement at least one activity or strategy related to the development of OLC, despite the fact that this does not constitute a learning target, although less than half carry out specific activities to promote OLC. Most of the professors evaluate oral presentations (individual or in groups), the participation in class and high percentage of professors indicates that they share the evaluation criteria before the students make the presentations, usually through a rubric. Finally, the most frequently mentioned arguments to justify the low proposal of OLC activities are the lack of time and that it is not included in the teaching plan. The need to generate processes of collaborative reflection between professors from different areas of knowledge is concluded to help incorporate resources to understand the relevance of OLC in university classes.