Telecollaboration for language learning in secondary schools

TELECOLLABORATION FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Shona WHYTE, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, FranceLinda GIJSEN, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Tilburg, Netherlands

promoting interaction in the EFL classroom via a blended teacher education course

New Directions in Telecollaborative Research and Practice:The Second Conference on Telecollaboration in University Education

Dublin, 21/04/16 http://wp.me/p28EmH-8T

http://wp.me/p28EmH-8T



1. overview of project2. EFL classroom outcomes3. teacher reflections

Conference on Telecollaboration in University Education, Dublin, 21/04/16 http://wp.me/p28EmH-8T

wp.me/p28EmH-8T



TELECOLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Telecollaborative research has focused on

learning about the target language culture (Kramsch, 2014)

understanding those from other cultures as a window on one’s own culture (Guth & Helm, 2010)

the mediating role of technology itself (Kern, 2014)

limitations and drawbacks of online communication

• technical constraints and problems

• artificial exchanges limited to personal registers (Hanna & de Nooy, 2009)

• unchallenging task design which fails to engage participants in genuine collaboration (Ware & O’Dowd, 2009)



OUR CONTRIBUTION

focus on language learning and use

teacher education for secondary school or vocational EFL contexts

task-based orientation in cognitivist-interactionist framework



1 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT

blended course using Google applications for synchronous and asychronous collaboration

a. teacher education courseb. participantsc. project tasks



1A THE COURSE

France: University of Nice/School of Education (ESPE)

12h course on technology for (language) teaching

second year Masters in Teaching English

9h/week teaching placement + academic/pedagogical training

Netherlands: Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Tilburg

8h course on technology in language teaching

second year Masters (open only to qualified teachers)

20h/week teaching positions

2014-15 pilot project: student teacher collaboration



COURSE ORGANISATION

preliminary group meeting: Adobe Connect/Skype (December)

initial tasks: video selfie presentation, Google community membership, enter teaching details on shared Google document (Christmas break)

creation of FR-NL teams: 3-5 teachers in 9 teams; shared folder on Google Drive; 6-8 week course (March-April)

weekly face-to-face class sessions in each country: group interactions - Google chat/hangout; one online session in France

final session to share teams’ results and reflections: synchronous video connection and separate presentations on each side

1B PARTICIPANTS

characteristics of student teacher groups in each country

pre-course questionnaire

attitudes to teaching/learning languages

view on technology for language teaching



PARTICIPANTS

characteristics of student teacher groups in each country

French: more homogeneous, younger, less (specific) training and teaching experience

Dutch: both younger and older participants, more (specific) training and more experienced teachers

pre-course questionnaire

attitudes to teaching/learning languages

view on technology for language teaching



PRE-COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE

online form

attitudes to teaching/learning languagesLightbown & Spada

views on technology for language teaching



1

2

3

4

5

imita

tion

corr

ectio

n

intell

igenc

e

L1 in

terfe

renc

e

gram

mar

pra

ctice

gram

mar

sylla

bus

erro

r cor

rect

ion

grad

ed m

ater

ials

junky

dat

a

OVE

RALL

FRENCH DUTCH

LANGUAGE LEARNING & TEACHING BELIEFS


attitudes to teaching/learning languages Lightbown & Spada

1. Languages are learned mainly through imitation

11. Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones.

12 items 5-point Likert scale

misguided beliefs 5 = very traditional/outdated1 = very well-informed/up to date


1

2

3

4

5

imita

tion

corr

ectio

n

intell

igenc

e

L1 in

terfe

renc

e

gram

mar

pra

ctice

gram

mar

sylla

bus

erro

r cor

rect

ion

grad

ed m

ater

ials

"junk

y da

ta"

OVE

RALL

FRENCH DUTCH

LANGUAGE LEARNING & TEACHING BELIEFS



1

2

3

4

5

sear

ch (s

elf)

seac

h (te

achin

g)

e-m

ail

LMS

inter

net

blog

audi

o re

cord

ing

video

reco

rding

slide

show

onlin

e he

lp

help

col

leagu

es

OVE

RALL

FRENCH DUTCH

TECHNOLOGICAL SELF-EFFICACY PERCEPTIONS



1

2

3

4

5

6

personal skills technology for teachingorientation

OVERALL

4.334.384.234.38

3.934.053.7

4.05

FRENCH DUTCH

TECHNOLOGICAL SELF-EFFICACY PERCEPTIONS



PROJECT TASKS & DATA

Objectives for student-teachers:

share information about their learners

devise learning tasks involving interaction between learners in different countries

document instances of target language communication and learning.

Data:

student-teacher contributions during the course

the teaching and learning materials they designed

their reflection on the implementation of activities from a TBLT perspective.

2 EFL CLASSROOM OUTCOMES

promoting classroom interaction

a. teaching/learning activitiesb. task analysisc. learner productions



2A ACTIVITIES


TEAM INFORMATIONEXCHANGE COLLABORATION&PRODUCTCREATION

1 Learnersworkingroupstoexchangee-mails

2 Learnersinpairstoexchangee-mailswithself-selectedpartners

3 LearnersworkingroupstoexchangevideopresentaNonstoprepareandtakequizzes

finalquiz

4 Learnersexchangebye-mailtomakeandconfirmhotelreservaNons(tourismvocaNonaleducaNon)

5 Learnersworkingroupstoexchangee-mails(finalquiz/videopresentaNonsseparately)

6 Learnersworkinpairsbye-mailtoplanweekendinpartnercountry

7 Learnersworkingroupstoexchangee-mailstoworkonwriNngskills

8 LearnersworkingroupstocreatecommonproducNon digitalposter

9 LearnerscreateacollaboraNveshortstory,groupwork collaboraNvestories

O’Dowd & Ware 2009


2B TECHNOLOGY


TEAM COMMUNICATION OTHERTECHNOLOGY

1 gmail Skype2 e-mail videoselfies3 learnervideo

4 e-mail YouTube

5 e-mail learnervideo

6 e-mail

7 e-mail digitalposterso`ware,ppt/Prezi

8 Padlet9 Googledocuments Padlet,website


2B TASK CRITERIA


TEAM MEANINGFOCUS

“GAP” LEARNERSRELYONOWNRESOURCES

OUTCOME/PRODUCT

1 No InformaNonexchange Yes,butpre-task finalleaer/e-mail,presentaNons

2 Yes InformaNonexchange Yes,butpre-task e-mailsummary(3mails)

3 Yes Reasoninggap Yes,butpre-task classquiz

4 Yes InformaNonexchange Yes,butpre-task e-mailconfirmaNon

5 Yes InformaNonexchange Yes,butpre-task e-mailfeedbackonpaper,learnerpresentaNons

6 Yes InformaNonexchange Yes wriaenreports

7 Yes InformaNonexchange Yes,butpre-task learnerpresentaNons

8 Yes Reasoninggap Yes,butpre-task A4poster presentaNon

9 Yes Reasoninggap Yes classdiscussion


2B REPORTED OBJECTIVES


AIMS CONSEQUENCES

LANGUAGE •pracNcefourskills•acquirevocabulary

•pre-taskacNviNestopreparelearners

•nofocus-on-formacNviNes

CULTURE •learnaboutothercultures

• nofocusoninterculturalcompetence

TECHNOLOGY •collaborateinasafelearningenvironment

• learntoidenNfyandapplynewinformaNon

•failuretoexploitpotenNaloftechnology

•nospecificdigitalliteracygoals


2C LEARNER PRODUCTIONS


teachers were

• satisfied with learner involvement in tasks in general

• often pleased with quality of learner productions

• sometimes surprised at learner insights during task activities or in later discussion

teachers had difficulties

• handling and exploiting large quantities of learner productions

• managing different levels of task engagement among learners and scheduling contraints

• selecting examples of learner productions to share as data


3 TEACHER REFLECTION


a. final course session feedback

b. written reflectionc. conclusions



LEARNER OUTCOMESFRENCH DUTCH

learnerperspectives

•pupilsenjoyedexchange•parents/schoolsalsosupporNve

•similaropinions

socialrelations

• greaterlearnerfreedominprojectacNviNesallowedmorepersonalisedteacher-learnerrelaNons

•similaropinions

interculturalconcerns

•somereNcenceaboutnontargetculturalexchange

• pupilinsightsaboutowncultureandsimilariNeswithDutch

•nosuchreNcence•greaterexperiencewithEnglishaslinguafrancaexchanges

•somereNcenceaboutnontargetculturalexchange

TECHNOLOGICAL CONCERNSFRENCH DUTCH

technicalissues

•minordifficulNes•choiceoffamiliartools•anNcipaNonofproblems

•avoidanceofinteracNvetasksduetolackofinternetaccessandprivacyissues

transitionsfromdigitaltoface-to-faceenvironments

• teachersspentNmereformaeng/prinNngonlineworkforclassroomexploitaNon

• somefoundPadletcollaboraNons“messy”

•disagree•noreformaeng•unNdinessviewedaspartoflearningprocess

•unNdinessviewedaspartoflearningprocess

PRACTICAL DIMENSIONSFRENCH DUTCH

teachercollaboration

•difficultyofschedulingandupdaNngplannedacNviNes

•somemisunderstandingsonlybecameapparentonceacNviNeswereunderway

•successaaributedtosimilariNesingoalsandaetudes(e.g.,creaNngfunacNviNes)

• lesssuccessfulteamswereimbalanced,withonesidemorecommiaed

classroommanagement

anddiscipline

•someconcernsaboutlackofmoNvaNonand/orinappropriatebehaviour

• difficulNesconcerninggradingasusualincenNveforeffortandachievement

•noviceteachersagreed•othersunderlineddifficultyofimplemenNngTBLTwithoutgoodclassmanagement

•difficultyofimplemenNngTBLTwithoutgoodclassmangement

OVERALL AIMS

FRENCH DUTCH

usingversuslearningEnglish

•somedifficulNesdecidingwhentocorrectlearners

•limitedexploitaNonoflearnerproducNons

•saNsfiedwithprocessratherthanproduct

• focusonmeaningratherthanaccuracy

•desireforoutcome(jointproducNon)

innovationandproject-

basedlearning

•notalwayseasytofittelecollaboraNvetasksintoongoingteachingunits

•notimmediateprofessionalpriority

•greaterinterest/experience/incenNveforinnovaNonandPBL

•wouldhavepreferredmoreflexibilityregardingNming


OVERALL AIMS

FRENCH DUTCH

usingversuslearningEnglish

•somedifficulNesdecidingwhentocorrectlearners

•limitedexploitaNonoflearnerproducNons

•saNsfiedwithprocessratherthanproduct

• focusonmeaningratherthanaccuracy

•desireforoutcome(jointproducNon)

innovationandproject-

basedlearning

•notalwayseasytofittelecollaboraNvetasksintoongoingteachingunits


•greaterinterest/experience/incenNveforinnovaNonandPBL

•wouldhavepreferredmoreflexibilityregardingNming


• limited exploitation of learner productions

CONCLUSIONSwide variation across and within groups, consistent with different training, experience, beliefs about language learning/teaching

value of (inter)cultural exchange is different for English studies versus EFL graduates

views of feasible learning tasks differ for novice versus experienced teachers

differences in institutional contexts in France and the Netherlands

NL: university delivery of in-service teacher education combined with pre-service teacher education; incentives for project-based learning and innovation

FR: more recent integration of university and school-based components of teacher education; less concrete support for task-based approaches or innovation

most productive teams in terms of task design and collaborative outcome were most or least motivated participants at the start of the project

AND SO …

teachers did focus on language use, although tasks offered limited opportunities for interaction

for teachers: rich, nuanced reflection on opportunities and challenges of telecollaboration

for teacher educators: questions about role of telecollaboration in formal teacher education programme





Shona Whyte (Nice)Linda Gijsen (Fontys)


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