Approaches to the development of curricula of foreign language teacher education at the US Universities

The article considers current approaches and practices to the development of curricula of foreign language teacher education programs in the US universities. The research was conducted with the help of thematic and content analysis which enabled the identification of the distinctive characteristics of curricula of language teacher preparation programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The content of the foreign language teacher education presents itself a symbiosis of requirements towards the preparation and development of prospective teachers as reflected in the relevant standards, mutual visualization of the profession-specific competences, selection of the disciplines needed for the development of respective competences, as well as the students' and local communities' needs and interests. The curriculum of language teacher preparation programs is grouped according to blocks of general, field-oriented and subject-oriented disciplines. The thematic variability of curricula is a key feature of educational programs. The broadest range of disciplines is represented at the undergraduate level, which becomes more profession-focused at the master's level and in certificate programs. Based on the findings of content analysis, the quantitative characteristics of the curricula of the graduate language teacher education programs in the US universities were identified. The most popular disciplines are the methods of foreign/second language teaching (100%), second language acquisition (80%), applied linguistics and educational research (77%), assessment and evaluation in the foreign language teaching (67%), the use of information technologiesin language teaching and learning (58%), planning of instruction and curriculum design (56%) etc. According to the results of our study, the inherent features of the content of foreign language teacher education are flexibility and adaptability, personalization, differentiation, individualization, interdisciplinary approach, diversity and variability. The aggregated empirical data on quantitative characteristics of teacher education programs present practical significance for those involved in curriculum design.