The flipped classroom in ESL teacher education: An example from CALL

The flipped classroom is one of many technology-enhanced teaching strategies. In this approach, students are responsible for initial learning at home (often via instructional videos) and class time is used for problem-solving and activities to deepen understanding. Although research on and use of the flipped classroom in language education is growing, little work has examined its use in teacher education, particularly for language teachers. To address this gap, this study examined the flipped classroom through the eyes of pre-service language teachers to reveal what hinders them from or encourages them to adopt this approach. Data were collected from students in a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) course; they experienced two flipped class sessions (complementing the traditional instructor-led sessions) and completed a survey about their experiences. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a sub-set of students to examine their perceptions in greater depth. Three major themes emerged regarding benefits of the flipped classroom: learner autonomy, learning by doing with support, and preventing cognitive overload. Four challenges emerged: learners’ technology access and technical ability, technical support for instructors, ambiguous student responsibility, and an inability to provide immediate clarification. Three additional notable themes emerged: heightened awareness of peers in the classroom, different reactions to content-oriented versus technically-oriented instructional videos, and student workload. These themes are discussed in detail, along with suggestions for teacher training and professional development. Also considered is the need to establish guidelines for best practices in flipped classrooms and to develop high-quality approaches to flipping without a dependence on instructional videos

EXPLORING EFL STUDENTS' VIEWS ON USING YOUTUBE VIDEOS FOR IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS IN ENGLISH

English videos on YouTube can be utilized as an alternative medium for learning listening subjects. This research attempts to explore EFL students’ perspectives on using English videos on YouTube as a learning medium to enhance students’ listening skills. A mix-method research design was used to explore students’ perceptions of using English video to enhance their listening skills. The data in this study were obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews which were administered online to thirty-two students of the English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) at Universitas Teknologi Yogyakarta using a convenience sampling technique. The findings revealed that of 32 respondents, 31 of them viewed the English video platform on YouTube to help them a lot in learning listening subjects. Of 32 respondents, 30 of them utilized the platform for learning vocabulary. Of 32 respondents, 29 of them thought that their listening skills improved a lot after watching and listening to videos on YouTube.  It indicates that the majority of respondents have positive perceptions of the utilization of this platform because it helps them in facilitating their learning needs. However, 2 respondents disagree about the statements for some reasons.

Students’ Optimal Engagement in EFL Large Classes: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study in East Nusa Tenggara

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in researching students’ engagement in English as foreign language (EFL) classes as students’ language learning achievement is shaped by their engagement in class. Yet, the study of students’ engagement in EFL large classes has received relatively little empirical attention. This qualitative phenomenological study aims at exploring how teachers perceive the factors boosting students’ optimal engagement and what strategies they use to boost students’ optimal engagement in EFL large classes. Ten university teachers with adequate experience of teaching EFL large classes in East Nusa Tenggara-Indonesia participated in this study. Semi structured interviews were used to elicit the teachers’ perceptions and interpretations of students’ optimal engagement. The results revealed five factors affecting students’ optimal engagement in EFL large classes: teaching strategies, individual motivation, student-teacher relationship, students’ English proficiency, and teaching facilities. Additionally, the teachers applied instructional and affective strategies to boost students’ optimal engagement in EFL large classes. Based on the study results, we offered some pedagogical implications for the teachers and their institutions

ALANZ handbook 2018

Co-edited Handbook for participants at December ALANZ Symposiu

ALANZ handbook

Co-edited Handbook for participants at December ALANZ Symposiu

ALANZ 2018

1st December 2018 Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) Hamilton We are pleased to announce that the Call for Papers for the ALANZ SYMPOSIUM 2018 is now open. We invite proposals for paper presentations, interactive sessions and posters. The landscape of English language teaching is constantly changing and as teachers contemplate new cohorts of learners, they face this question: Is business as usual enough? In today’s settings there are new technologies to incorporate into learning and teaching, different teaching spaces becoming available, a need to balance fostering learner autonomy with the pastoral care of students, as well as ensuring that our teaching is relevant to the world our students face. We would like to adopt a collegial approach to this question and so invite abstracts from members and non-members of ALANZ and in particular from new and emerging researchers. Presentation types: * Oral Presentations: These will be allocated 20 minutes and 5 minutes for questions (25 minutes total) usually supported with visual aids. * Interactive sessions: These could be workshops or informal discussions around points of interest in Applied Linguistics (45 minutes) and could be supported by visual aids or activities. * Posters: Often some research projects can be best presented in a visual manner in the form of a poster. Abstracts (250 words max.) can be submitted to one of two committee members: * Anthea Fester email: [email protected] or * Celine Kearney email: [email protected] Deadline for abstract submission: 7th September 2018 Notification of acceptance: 28th September 201

Mobile Technology for Language Learning and Instruction: Investigating Beliefs and Attitudes of Indonesian EFL Preservice Teachers

This study is primarily aimed to investigate beliefs and attitudes of Indonesian EFL preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets for learning and instructional practice in Indonesia. Furthermore, this phenomenological study attempted to reveal the factors affecting these two constructs from 20 Indonesian EFL preservice teachers through semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed participants’ beliefs that mobile devices could positively contribute to the development of language performance as learning tools and the development of language instruction as instructional tools. Regarding attitudes of EFL preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices for learning and teaching, this study revealed mixed responses. As learning tools, all participants expressed their positive attitudes toward this technology and intention to use this technology more intensively. As for teaching tools, the majority of the participants expressed their negative attitudes which were reflected in their disappointment through their experience during their student teaching program and their lack of interest to adopt this technology for their future classes. However, they acknowledged that this technology was helpful to facilitate online learning and agreed that this technology would become more popular in the future. Analysis of the data also revealed factors affecting beliefs and attitudes of preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices as learning and instructional tools comprising perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and other influencing elements of self-efficacy: enactive mastery, vicarious experience, and physiological arousal. Finally, this study presents implications and recommendations which can be a reference to optimize the integrated mobile technology for class instruction and identifies which aspects in the implementation of mobile technology that require further investigation

ALANZ handbook

Co-edited Handbook for participants at December ALANZ Symposiu

Flipping an IELTS Writing Course: Investigating its impacts on students’ performance and their attitudes

The technology-enhanced instructional approach has been proven to stimulate active learning and advance the teaching-learning process. The flipped classroom (FC) instructional method, an instructional technology part of blended learning, has gained remarkable popularity in recent years due to its promising and positive impacts on different aspects of students’ learning process (motivation, engagement, academic performance, independent learning). In the current study, an explanatory mixed-method approach was employed to investigate the implementation of the flipped pedagogical approach in a government-funded IELTS preparation course in Indonesia, particularly in the writing section of the course. It examined the impacts of this instructional technology method on learners’ writing performance and explored their learning attitudes and experiences. A number of 25 participants from various professional backgrounds aspiring to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees who were recruited based on their previous TOEFL or IELTS scores participated in this study. The findings of this study showed that the learners had a positive attitude toward the flipped instruction method, and their writing test achievement significantly improved as reflected in the official IELTS test scores. Method flexibility, independent learning, and collaborative and active learning were factors that emerged in the interviews that were considered the important determinants of the participants’ IELTS writing improvements