Performing languages: an example of integrating open practices in staff development for language teachers

In 2009 the Department of Languages at The Open University, UK, developed LORO (http://loro.open.ac.uk), a repository of Open Educational Resources for language teaching and learning aimed at language teaching professionals. Initially populated with over 300 hours of teaching resources for French, Spanish, German, Italian, Welsh, Chinese and English for Academic Purposes, LORO’s initial function was to provide an efficient and open way of accessing and sharing resources. Additionally, the integration of LORO into language teachers’ workflows is part of the department’s strategy for teachers’ professional development and a key enabler for increased transparency, collaboration, skills development, and pedagogical reflection and discussion, leading ultimately to the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning. This case study describes how the vision of openness facilitated by LORO is being implemented at a practical level through the incorporation of open practices into teachers’ professional development activities. We look at the project Performing Languages (www.performinglanguages.eu), a Grundtvig Partnership project (part of the Lifelong Learning Programme) in which language teachers in the UK work with theatre associations in Spain, France and Italy. Besides the primary objective of exploring the role of drama in the language classroom as a tool for language and culture learning and intercultural communication, this project also intends to develop and publish most project resources (workshop activities, lesson plans, texts and video recordings, for example) as Open Educational Resources. The aim is to share the project experiences as widely as possible to maximise impact and ensure others can benefit from them. This case study looks at how the project has been designed so that collaborative writing, open sharing and peer review of the resources produced by participating language teachers are fully embedded in the project activities. We look at the strategies and tools that enable us to achieve these objectives in a distance context, and the resources that have been created and published by participants as a direct result of the project. Drawing on data from feedback questionnaires and a debriefing session with participants, we examine how teachers’ increased awareness of the benefits of sharing and collaboration has resulted in changes in practice, both in relation to openness and pedagogical approach

THE EFFICIENCY OF MOOCS IMPLEMENTATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

The article considers the way of integrating Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) into the educational process and determining their role in students’ motivation to learn a foreign language for professional purposes. The goal of the research is studying the efficiency of implementation of MOOCs as part of students’ independent work while learning a foreign language for professional purposes at the university. Considering the increasing need for education around the world, the role of MOOCs will become more important than ever before. Consequently, engaging students whose major is Information Technology in learning the integrating course could enhance their skill and knowledge of programming. The integration of MOOCs in the process of learning English for professional purposes will help to personalize learning environments and prepare future professionals. Research shows that the successful implementation of MOOCs can bring new opportunities to learners, such as increasing English proficiency level, developing critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving and time management. We consider the scientific problem connected with the efficiency of using Internet resources and MOOCs, ways of using interactive online technologies in the traditional educational process, potential and identified new opportunities offered by e-learning. Our observations are also related to the problem of integrating MOOCs into the curriculum; adapting them to the thematic modules and different subjects. Research shows that successful integration of MOOCs in the process of learning a foreign language for professional purposes depends on a number of factors. Each stage of our research has been carefully considered in the article. This study shows the efficiency of MOOCs as additional resources in studying English for professional purposes and describes the use of information and communication technology of distance learning in the traditional educational process. In this article, we describe how this idea is being realized and can be adopted by universities willing to use benefits of MOOCs in teaching English for professional purposes

Languages as resources: intercultural and inclusive language education at the BRICS scenario

The need to develop language policies capable of resizing the role of languages and their value as a resource in the 21st century has been a central issue in contemporary discussions in different forums in the field of the humanities. In this scenario, understanding languages as resources means giving language education a leading role, since it is one of the privileged strategies for the promotion of information, knowledge and social inclusion for all people, in an equitable and democratic way. Given this, it is necessary to design language education on a new basis, reshaping approaches and principles that constitute it, in order to incorporate it necessary elements for a more effective intervention in multicultural and multilingual societies. To this end, I will discuss three central aspects that constitute important axes for the construction of different approaches to contemporary language education: a) language conceptions and languages as resources and their impacts on the constitutive elements of the process and on the practices of language teaching and learning; b) intercultural approach as a means of intervention and construction of educational experience; c) Digital technologies and their role in promoting free and open language access. To illustrate the discussion, I will present two ongoing projects. The first, already implemented and consolidated, is the project for the promotion and teaching of Portuguese within the scope of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and developed by the International Institute of the Portuguese Language (IILP); the second, still being implemented, aims to promote the teaching of the four official languages of the BRICS, Portuguese, English, Chinese and Russian. Both projects using digital technologies as a privileged environment for access to free and quality language education

“USING PICTURE-STORIES TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION (A Classroom Action Research Conducted at the Eighth Grade of SMP N I Tasikmadu Karanganyar in the 2009/2010 Academic Year)”

Nowadays English has a very important role because it is particularly used in almost all of the countries as a native and international language. Based on the fact above, it becomes one foreign language, which has to be mastered by all people in the world. That is why English has to be taught in all levels of education. The widespread need for English as a second or foreign language needs a considerable pressure on the educational resources of many countries. Teaching and learning English in Junior High School has its scope including competence to comprehend and to produce spoken and written texts through four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing; competence to comprehend and to create many short functional texts and monolog also essay in the form of procedure, description, recount, narrative, and report. For this reason the teacher must have various methods in teaching genre to make the students more interested in teaching learning process. Reading, one of the language skills, should be mastered well by the students because reading is an essential factor that influences one’s activity in communication. Reading is a part of daily life for those who live in literate communities. People consider reading as an important activity, so that people usually say that reading is the way to open the world. Reading is interesting activity, because by reading, people can get some information widely without going anywhere. Teaching English is not easy because it requires motivation and creativity in order to make a good condition and achievement of English Learning and teaching goal. Students in Junior High School still find many difficulties in reading. For example, when the students read a text, they can not comprehend that text because the text is very long. For that reason, the students need an interesting technique to improve their reading comprehension. Aebersold and Field (1997: 15) define that reading is something which people look at the text and assign to the written symbols in that text; in other words, we assume that reading activity is people’s activity to read a text; there is interaction between the reader and the text when people read that text. Wallace (1992: 3) states that reading in a first or any other language, is an awareness of the way in which we use language. It means that reading is above all to do with language. commit to user It can be concluded that reading is a process of reacting and understand a written text as a piece of communication. Reading does not necessarily need to look everything in a given piece of text. It is important to comprehend genre in order to catch the information and message in written text. Text comprehension is related to reading skill, as reading is one of the important skills in order to communicate using English to fulfill daily needs such as reading newspaper, instruction, rule, book, advertisement, magazine etc. Reading is not the activity to read aloud but to comprehend the message and information in the text. Reading is ..............................

Evaluation of the creation of a web page with six open educational resources as a tool to enhance the learning of the English Language on Higher Education

Los Recursos Educativos abiertos, actualmente, ocupan un papel muy importante en el proceso de la Enseñanza del idioma inglés. Son herramientas gratuitas que se le ofrecen a los docentes para una mejor calidad en sus clases y para que los estudiantes tengan un mayor aprovechamiento y aprendan de una manera más sencilla y mediática. Este mundo digital en el que se vive actualmente, con estudiantes conocidos como nativos digitales, exige a los docentes (inmigrantes digitales) un esfuerzo cada vez mayor e implica una capacitación constante para los requerimientos actuales. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo presentar un proyecto de investigación acerca de la creación y evaluación de una página Web que cuenta con seis recursos educativos abiertos, todos ellos enfocados en ser una herramienta importante para la enseñanza del idioma inglés. En dicho proyecto de investigación, para realizar la evaluación del proyecto fue utilizado el método cualitativo y el método de casos, y se realizó mediante el uso de distintos instrumentos, principalmente encuestas, aplicadas a docentes del idioma inglés de 4 universidades de los países de México y Colombia y expertos relacionados al campo de la educación a nivel superior y de la informática que laboran en dichas universidades. Como conclusión del proyecto, de acuerdo a los instrumentos utilizados, estos arrojaron resultados positivos en la evaluación de la página web, en la mayoría de las ocasiones los recursos con los que contaba la página favorecieron en la enseñanza del idioma en los docentes, y como consecuencia, en el aprendizaje de los estudiantesOpen Educational Resources nowadays have an important role in the process of Teaching as a second language. They are free tools offered for teachers to increase the classes´ quality and for students to have academic progress in order they learn in an easy and fun way. The digital world in which we live now, with students known as digital natives, demands to the teachers (digital immigrants) an important effort and involves a constant training for the current requirements. The objective of this article is to present a research project about the creation and evaluation of a Web Page that has six open educational resources; all of them focused on being an important instrument for the English language teaching. To evaluate the research project it was used the qualitative method and the case study method, through the use of different instruments, mainly surveys, for teachers of the English language from four different universities of Mexico and Colombia and experts related to the field of higher education and in computer science that work in those universities. As a conclusion, through the instruments used to evaluate the web page, there were found positive results and in most of the cases the resources that the web page had contributed in the English language teaching process, and consequently, in the learning of the students

Educational Technology Topic Guide

This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured (see http://tel.ac.uk/about-3/, 2014). Effective edtech programmes are characterised by: a clear and specific curriculum focus the use of relevant curriculum materials a focus on teacher development and pedagogy evaluation mechanisms that go beyond outputs. These findings come from a wide range of technology use including: interactive radio instruction (IRI) classroom audio or video resources accessed via teachers’ mobile phones student tablets and eReaders computer-assisted learning (CAL) to supplement classroom teaching. However, there are also examples of large-scale investment in edtech – particularly computers for student use – that produce limited educational outcomes. We need to know more about: how to support teachers to develop appropriate, relevant practices using edtech how such practices are enacted in schools, and what factors contribute to or mitigate against successful outcomes. Recommendations: 1. Edtech programmes should focus on enabling educational change, not delivering technology. In doing so, programmes should provide adequate support for teachers and aim to capture changes in teaching practice and learning outcomes in evaluation. 2. Advisors should support proposals that further develop successful practices or that address gaps in evidence and understanding. 3. Advisors should discourage proposals that have an emphasis on technology over education, weak programmatic support or poor evaluation. 4. In design and evaluation, value-for-money metrics and cost-effectiveness analyses should be carried out

Collaborative development of EFL in Vietnam through open source software

The University of Aizu, in collaboration with the University of Waikato, has been investigating the use of open source, server-based software for the enhancement of English language instruction in Vietnam. In this paper, we describe recent educational, technical, and English language reforms in Vietnam which have facilitated a new approach to the teaching and learning not only of English, but also Computer Science concepts. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the efficacy of using open source tools and highly structured instructional approaches for English language teaching in developing nations

Multilingual classrooms: opportunities and challenges for English medium instruction in low and middle income contexts

This report is the product of a research collaboration between Education Development Trust, the British Council and The Open University. Its starting point was to consider the complex field of English Medium Instruction (EMI) policies in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Its purpose is to provide insight and support to those responsible for setting policy or enacting it in complex language environments around the world. The work recognises the importance given to English language by governments in the future development of intellectual and economic capital, and to accessing opportunity in an increasingly global world. It also recognises and respects the strong argument calling for education and learning to be conducted in a language spoken by learners and teachers. Navigating these two influences can appear impossible at times as they can be unhelpfully positioned as opposites. This research study set out to do two things: • Look at the global literature and draw on the lessons from existing research. • Focus on illustrating the operational enactment and levels of understanding of EMI polices in schools in two primary school contexts – Ghana and Bihar, India. These very different contexts provide valuable lessons that will help policy makers, educators, teacher trainers and schools to navigate the complexities of multilingual EMI environments

Foreign language learning in Second Life and the implications for resource provision in academic libraries

This project focuses on foreign language learning in Second Life and the implications for resource provision in academic libraries. In this context Second Life does not refer to the later years in life but to an online virtual world frequented by thousands of people simultaneously. Hislope sees it as “an excellent potential resource for supplementing foreign language classes” and this project aims to establish whether academic libraries have a role to play in this.The Arcadia Programme has been funded by a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund. http://www.arcadiafund.org.u

Mobile Learning Revolution: Implications for Language Pedagogy

Mobile technologies including cell phones and tablets are a pervasive feature of everyday life with potential impact on teaching and learning. “Mobile pedagogy” may seem like a contradiction in terms, since mobile learning often takes place physically beyond the teacher's reach, outside the walls of the classroom. While pedagogy implies careful planning, mobility exposes learners to the unexpected. A thoughtful pedagogical response to this reality involves new conceptualizations of what is to be learned and new activity designs. This approach recognizes that learners may act in more self-determined ways beyond the classroom walls, where online interactions and mobile encounters influence their target language communication needs and interests. The chapter sets out a range of opportunities for out-of-class mobile language learning that give learners an active role and promote communication. It then considers the implications of these developments for language content and curricula and the evolving roles and competences of teachers