Multiple-case study of lower division graduate student Spanish instructors

textThe ever-increasing popularity of digital media and connectivity to the World Wide Web permeates every day culture to the extent that the use of modern technologies also influences the teaching of foreign languages. In connection with the desire to implement sound pedagogical practices that align with Standards of teaching foreign languages, teachers are turning to modern technologies to incorporate into their teaching repertoire. Not only do teachers attempt to integrate the four language skills and culture into their teaching, but they are now urged to incorporate technology into their curriculum. The smart classroom offers the greatest potential for instructors to integrate technology into their curriculum, since this resource is already available across college campuses. This qualitative multiple case study explored the conceptualization and reconceptualization four lower division instructors of Spanish made as they attempted to integrate the resources their smart classrooms had to offer. Secondly, this research project also highlighted the challenges instructors faced while integrating technology into their curriculum. Lastly, this study underscored the advantages instructors believed might derive from integrating technology into their classrooms. Data for this study was collected from four main data sources. Five observations were conducted during the fall of 2005. Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the participants at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. Email reflections were requested from the instructors every two to three weeks during data collection. The course syllabus, lesson plans, and class activity handouts comprised the documents data base. Findings profiled the changes instructors made over the course of the semester in terms of their conceptualizations and re-conceptualizations of the technology offered by smart classrooms. The challenges instructors faced suggest that instructors need to take advantage of more professional development opportunities, as well as enter into dialogue with their peers and other instructors. The advantages highlighted the depth and breadth of the foreign language learning experience, as well as the affordances the accessibility and availability of information stored on the Internet can hold for instructors. This study concludes with pedagogical implications and recommendations for directions of future research.Curriculum and Instructio

Innovation and identity in distance language learning and teaching

doi: 10.2167/illt45.0Innovation in distance language learning and teaching has largely focused on developments in technology and the increased opportunities they provide for negotiation and control of learning experiences, for participating in collaborative learning environments and the development of interactive competence in the target language. Much less attention has been paid to pedagogical innovation and still less to how congruence develops between particular pedagogical approaches, various technologies and the skills, practices, actions and identities of language learners and teachers. In this article I explore the process of innovation in distance language teaching from the point of view of key participants in the process, the teachers, and the ways in which their identities are disrupted and challenged as they enter new distance teaching environments. Innovative approaches to distance language teaching are analysed for the insights they provide into the sites of conflict and struggle experienced by teachers, experiences which have a major impact on their selves as distance teachers and on the course of innovation. To conclude I argue that attention to issues of identity can deepen our understanding of innovation, of the tensions that are played out in the experiences and responses of teachers, and of the ways they accept or resist the identity shifts required of them

Faculty and student feedback of synchronous distance education in a multi-university learning consortium

The Texas Learning Consortium (TLC) began as a partnership between the foreign language departments at 5 small, private, liberal arts universities, where each specializes in a small number of different world languages to increase the course offerings to their students without the expense of adding additional faculty on every campus. Each university offers their language courses to consortium students in a real-time, interactive, distance education format. In Fall 2017, the consortium expanded beyond foreign languages, and the first engineering course, Statics, was offered in this synchronous, distance format. As background, this paper will provide an overview of the technology used in the classrooms and some of the administrative obstacles that were overcome in scheduling, registration and information technology. The paper will also reflect on the impact of this particular technological implementation on various teaching styles in both foreign language and engineering courses, especially compared to other distance engineering education in the literature, with a purpose of analyzing the model’s suitability for expansion into other engineering courses or a fully accredited consortium based engineering program. Student and faculty satisfaction surveys will additionally provide insight as to whether this distance format is the right fit for campuses used to high-touch learning environments.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Needs and challenges for online language teachers - the ECML project DOTS

The growing use of digital technologies in educational settings, paralleled by a paradigm change in educational theory from an instructivist transmission approach to constructivist and sociocultural theories of learning, demands more adapted teacher training programs, both technical and pedagogical. Looking at factors influencing teachers’ implementation of ICT in the foreign language classroom and guided by the results of a needs analysis survey conducted among twenty six language teachers from twenty five different European countries, the DOTS project aims to develop an online workspace with bite-sized learning objects for autonomous use by language professionals, particularly freelance teachers who frequently miss out on the training opportunities provided for their full-time colleagues

Student-Centered Learning Opportunities For Adolescent English Learners In Flipped Classrooms

This study documents opportunities for diverse adolescent English learners to deeply engage with content and language in flipped learning environments. Through a linked description of teaching practices and student learning experiences in an urban New England high school, the study attempts to understand the potential of flipped instruction in preparing a traditionally underserved population for post-secondary education. Our research partner Patriot High School (PHS) is one of the New England schools implementing flipped learning. PHS represents a typical secondary school context for adolescent English learners: More than half of students speak a language other than English at home and the majority of students are from minority and low-income homes (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2014). PHS is also an urban school committed to implementing student-centered learning strategies to meet the needs of its diverse students

Afterschool for the Global Age

Summarizes discussions from a July 2006 convening on model afterschool programs and best practices for enhancing global literacy, including innovative uses of community and international connections, project-based learning, and educational technology

ESL and EFL Writing Instruction: Challenges and opportunities

Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

International Education Planning Rubric: State Strategies to Prepare Globally Competent Students

Offers guidance for planning and assessing state strategies to develop students' global competence, including language, communication, and collaboration skills. Lists promising practices in leadership, resource allocation, certification, and curricula

Adapting literature to the language classroom

Very often we hear teachers arguing and complaining that today, thanks to the era of technology we live in, our students are not only no longer interested in reading but many have even lost the love for learning languages. In fact, notwithstanding all the efforts done by schools, parents and teachers, most students fail to understand the real benefits of language learning and prefer dedicating their efforts to other subjects like sciences and IT. A very good way of motivating students to love both reading for its own sake as well as languages is by adapting literature to the language classroom. This can be very challenging for the language teacher as it requires the implementation of various important concepts and strategies but at the same time very rewarding for students since literature very often deals with feelings, emotions, personal issues and has the ability to potentially enlarge a reader’s sense about the many possible ways to live. Many people still consider literature as a separate subject that has nothing to do with language learning, an assumption which is based on a reductive interpretation of the concept of language teaching and learning. Regardless of the difficulties the practitioner can encounter, using literature exposes students to different themes which textbooks usually do not include and consequently motivates students. Even more so if we consider literature as just another word for written or spoken media. Indeed, literature is one of the best tools to master a language as it is used in a real life context.peer-reviewe