Roles for trainers and trainees in computer-mediated courses

These days many people subscribe to the view that the teacher or teacher-trainer’s role should principally be that of facilitator, rather than “fountainhead of knowledge” Greater equality between trainers and trainees is regarded as beneficial to the learning process; it empowers trainees to select their own learning styles and question received wisdom, whilst it also permits trainers to step back from centre stage to a position where they can observe the learning process. Computer-mediated conferencing (cmc), apart from its value as a means of distance learning, offers opportunities for trainer-trainee equality that are unimaginable in the face-to-face classroom. Participants need not, and often, because of relative anonymity cannot, defer to those belonging to a more dominant age group, gender or race. Thus ideas and issues that might not be voiced in a conventional learning situation can find a forum. This article identifies and discusses the relevant design features of computer-mediated courses for pre-service and in-service teacher training, and discusses some of the strengths and weaknesses of a medium that offers participants a more equal voice

Lecture discourse and the study of languages ​​for specific academic purposes:What makes a good model text?

This paper examines some of the similarities and differences between authentic lectures and “infotainment” genres, especially TED talks, in terms of their structure and communicative purposes. It draws attention to some of the effects of culture on spoken academic discourse, and argues that delivery style is affected by audience expectations and local and institutional culture.Transferring from one delivery style to another can cause problems for learners, who might not understand or appreciate the speakers’ intentions or their use of specific cultural references. Teachers of languages for specific academic purposes must choose listening resources that reflect not only the disciplines and topics that are relevant to their learners, but also the culturalenvironments that they are most likely to encounter, helping them to negotiate the problematic aspects of unfamiliar lecturing styles