TPACK-based professional development on web 2.0 for Spanish teachers: a case study

Abstract

The topic of this study is professional development (PD) on Web 2.0 technologies for foreign language teachers and integration of these tools into the language classroom. This research explored the experiences of eighteen teachers of Spanish in grades 7-12 from both rural and urban areas in Nebraska, United States, who participated in a technology, pedagogy, and content-based online PD. This qualitative case study included data from interviews, classroom observations, and documents to explore the learning and integration journeys of Spanish teacher participants during and after the PD. While qualitative findings indicated mainly positive learning experiences in the three areas -technology, pedagogy, and content- as well as in technology integration, the observational data illuminated issues of technology access and use of the target language (TL) by the teachers. The article concludes with implications for the design of PD on technology for foreign language teachers.

Keywords:

• Teacher professional development
• TPACK
• Web 2.0
• technology integration

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Aleidine J. Moeller for the opportunity to develop this project. This work is derived from the author’s doctoral dissertation (Bustamante, 2014).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carolina Bustamante

Carolina Bustamante is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. She coordinates the Graduate Spanish Adolescence Education Program and teaches courses on foreign language pedagogy, pedagogy for heritage speakers, language assessment, technology, SLA, and Spanish. Her published research has focused on professional development for teachers of Chinese, German, and Spanish, and mixed methods research. Her current research interests are professional development for foreign language teachers, development of heritage speakers as language teachers, and integrated performance assessment.