Associate Professor; Associate Director, Summer Intensive Language Program
- Office
- 400 Pacific Street D205
- Tel
- (831) 647-3547
- jmartel@miis.edu
A native of southeastern Massachusetts, Jason Martel began his career as a secondary school French teacher. He has extensive experience in the Middlebury ecology, having worked for the Middlebury School of French, the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy, and now the Middlebury Institute. At the Institute, he teaches courses in language pedagogy, assessment, curriculum design, and second language acquisition and maintains an active research agenda in these domains.
Since 2014, Jason has served as associate director of the Institute’s Summer Intensive Language Program (SILP). His principal duties in this capacity include hiring and professionally developing faculty members and setting a pedagogical vision for the program. He enjoys the synergistic relationship between his SILP and faculty responsibilities; his teaching is enriched by his experiences working with veteran instructors in SILP, and SILP serves as a laboratory setting for his scholarship on language pedagogy.
Jason also participates in a variety of professional activities related to language education. He is an active member of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Currently, he serves as Secretary of ACTFL’s Teacher Development Special Interest Group and is a recent recipient of the organization’s Research Priorities Grant. In addition, he consults around the country in the areas of foreign language curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment.
Courses Taught
Courses offered in the past two years.
- Current term ●
- Upcoming term(s) ○
EDUC 8502 - Principls/Practcs Lang Tchng I ●
Principles & Practices in Language Teaching 1
Along with Principles and Practices 2, this course provides students with a foundational pedagogical training in preparation for careers in foreign/second language teaching. Topics covered include an introduction to the field and its expectations, course/syllabus design, needs assessment, and unit design. Students will engage in a variety of real-world performance tasks, such as creating needs assessment instruments, summative language assessments, and unit plans. Students will also deepen their understanding of course concepts by conducting classroom observations.
Fall 2017 - MIIS, Fall 2018 - MIIS
EDUC 8670 - Practicum Capstone ●
The Practicum Capstone combines reflective practice and professional development in preparing students for a career in language education. Participants integrate theory, research, and conceptual foundations into a coherent and well-informed approach to planning and executing lessons. They also incorporate these three components when developing and deploying instructional materials and assessment instruments. Activities and products prepare participants for entering the language teaching professional and performing admirably therein.
Practicum Capstone Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):
Articulate their approach to language learning and teaching with explicit reference to sound pedagogical principles
Demonstrate their expert knowledge of language, learning, and teaching
Select appropriate materials for effective language instruction
Plan productive instructional units and lessons to maximize second language learning in all skill areas
Assess student learning meaningfully using a range of formative and summative tools
Reflect critically on their teaching practice in order to build on their strengths and address areas for improvement
Spring 2017 - MIIS, Spring 2018 - MIIS, Fall 2018 - MIIS
EDUC 8503 - Principls/Practcs LangTchng II
Principles & Practices in Language Teaching 2
Along with Principles and Practices 1, this course provides students with a foundational pedagogical training in preparation for careers in foreign/second language teaching. Topics covered include essentials of lesson planning, authentic texts use, formative assessment, differentiation, and high leverage teaching practices. Students will engage in a variety of real-world performance tasks, such as creating lesson plans and performing microteaching. Students will also deepen their understanding of course concepts by conducting classroom observations.
Spring 2018 - MIIS
EDUC 8520 - Curriculum Design
Explores areas of theory research and practice that have a bearing on curriculum and syllabus design. Leads students to develop their own curriculum design projects.
Prerequisites: Principles and Practices of Language Teaching.
Fall 2017 - MIIS
LING 8630 - Second Language Acquisition
Surveys, in seminar format, research in second-language learning relating to language teaching and learning. Discusses the role of affective variables, interaction, learner strategies, and learner factors in the language acquisition process. Prerequisite: Language Analysis
Spring 2017 - MIIS
Areas of Interest
In his teaching, Jason draws heavily on content-based instruction (CBI), an approach to language teaching that involves the simultaneous learning of language and stimulating non-linguistic content such as culture, geography, history, etc. His research focuses on foreign language teachers’ experiences with innovative practices, primarily through an identity lens. Recent articles can be found in Foreign Language Annals, the French Review, and Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. View his Google Scholar profile.
Academic Degrees
- Ph.D., Second Languages and Cultures Education, University of Minnesota, 2013
- M.A., French, Middlebury College, 2003
- B.Mus., Viola Performance, Boston University, 2003
Professor Martel has been teaching at the Institute since 2013.
Publications
- Martel, J. (2018). Postsecondary students’ and instructors’ evaluative comments about ACTFL’s Integrated Performance Assessment. Journal of Applied Language Learning, 28(1), 1–18.
- Martel, J. (2017). Is the field of foreign language education disposed to change? Modern Language Journal, 101(2), 431–433.
- Troyan, F., Cammarata, L., & Martel, J. (2017). Integration PCK: Modeling the knowledge(s) underlying a world language teacher’s implementation of CBI. Foreign Language Annals, 50(2), 458–476.
- Martel, J. (2017). Identity, innovation, and learning to teach a foreign/second language. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Reflections on language teacher identity. New York: Routledge.
- Martel, J., & Pettitt, N. (2016). Mindsets and tools for developing foreign language curriculum featuring thoughtful culture-as-content. French Review, 90(2), 171–183.
- Three foreign language student teachers’ experiences with content-based Instruction: Exploring the identity/innovation interface. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. DOI: 10.1080/17501229.2016.1211134, Martel, J. (2016).
- Tapping the National Standards for thought-provoking CBI in K–16 foreign language programs. In L. Cammarata (Ed.), Content-based foreign language teaching: Curriculum and pedagogy for developing advanced thinking and literacy skills (pp. 101–122). New York: Routledge, Martel, J. (2016).
- The evolution of a practicum: Movement toward a capstone. CATESOL Journal, 27(2), 157–170, Avineri, N., & Martel, J. (2015).
- Learning to teach a foreign language: Identity negotiation and conceptualizations of pedagogical progress. Foreign Language Annals, 48(3), 394–412. Martel, J. (2015).
- Language teacher identity. In M. Bigelow & J. Ennser-Kananen (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of educational linguistics (pp. 289–300). New York: Routledge, Martel, J., & Wang, F. (2015).
- Saying our final goodbyes to the grammatical syllabus: A curricular imperative. French Review, 86(6), 1122–1133, Martel, J. (2013).
- Looking across contexts in foreign language student teacher supervision: A self-study. The New Educator, 8(3), 243–257, Martel, J. (2012).
- Exploring learner language. Language Magazine, 11(3), 37–39, Martel, J. (2011, October).
- View the complete list of scholarly contributions.
