The UNC Charlotte College of Education is officially home to one of the nation’s top foreign language teacher educators. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has selected Scott Kissau to receive the Anthony Papilia Award, an honor presented to one person annually for excellence in teacher education. The award recognizes a teacher, educator or author who has significantly influenced the lives of countless students and practicing teachers.
“Dr. Kissau has taught, prepared and inspired hundreds of students for the profession of foreign language teaching,” said Mary Jo Adams, World Languages Department chair at Providence Day School, where Kissau consults and many of his former students teach. “His students come from all walks of life in the variety of venues in which he teaches and the impact he has on their teaching has been significant.”
Providence Day School also was recognized for excellence in foreign education this year with the ACTFL Melba D. Woodruff Award for Exemplary Elementary Foreign Language Program.
Kissau’s excellence in the classroom is consistently reflected in course evaluations.
“Everything I learned in this class directly related to my life as a teacher,” said one student. “This has been the most helpful training I've had both outside and inside my job as a teacher. I would go to work the next day after this class and use whatever game or activity we learned with my kids, and the students loved it.”
During a 10-year career at UNC Charlotte, Kissau has developed and implemented an undergraduate minor, graduate certificate program and master’s degree program in foreign language education, as well as an undergraduate minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. He now serves as chair of the Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education. Kissau has been the lead investigator in numerous research studies, has published more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed foreign and second language journals, delivered 50-plus presentations at respected language conferences and generated approximately $400,000 in grants.
Kissau’s research interests include the effects of single-sex instruction on student motivation and the role of gender in motivation to study French and Spanish in Canada and the United States. He will be honored at the 2016 ACTFL annual convention awards ceremony on Friday, Nov. 18, in Boston, Massachusetts.
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is the national association for language education professionals from all levels of instruction and representing all languages. With more than 12,300 active members, ACTFL provides innovative professional development opportunities, acclaimed training and certification programs, and widely cited books, publications, scholarly journals, research studies and language education resources, including Foreign Language Annals and the Language Educator magazine.