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Universität Essen

FB3 – Anglistik
Didaktik/Technologiegestütztes Fremdsprachenlernen

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rüschoff

(e-mail:)

Introduction

Upon joining the project in spring 2002, our team was asked to look into the general aims & proposed methodology of the the GEH-MIT project. Also, we were asked to draw up remarks concerning current principles of teacher training. In addition, we were asked to provide some theoretical background material to underpin the development of the teacher training course and the respective course materials. As far as the latter task is concerned, we have selected two papers (soon to be published in a) a "Handbook on Educational Technology" and b) in the new edition of the "Handbuch Fremdsprachendidaktik") which provide a general introduction into the theoretical background of the integration of new technologies into foreign language learning and acquisition as well as a brief overview of the types of materials available.

As far as the first task is concerned, our team was able to draw on our experience as a partner in projects of a similar nature, to which we shall refer later. However, it must be said from the outset of this short statement that some of the following remarks might be redundant as the project team might already be moving into the directions suggested below. This is difficult to assess from a distance, as – due to our relatively recent integration into the project and the fact that we have not yet had the opportunity to participate in a project meeting – we havwe only been able to look at the website and printed materials provided. As a general impression we would like to state that the general gist of the GEH-MIT project and its intended activities and outcomes are very much in line with current innovative thinking in the area of exploiting new technologies in foreign language learning. This is reflected by the hands-on and very much classroom-practice as well as action-research oriented approach to the development and integration of technology-enhanced scenarios for language learning proposed by the project.

1. Principles of Teacher Training

Current principles of teacher training place an emphasis on a process-oriented approach where teachers are encouraged to continuously reflect and improve on their teaching practices. Such an on-going process may involve taking part in in-service training courses, carrying out action research in classrooms or engaging in collaborative discussions and projects with other teachers in both virtual and face-to-face environments. These activities reflect an attitude that on-going teacher development is a vital part of a good professional’s life and that such development clearly marks the difference between teachers “...with twenty years’ experience and those with one year’s experience repeated twenty times (Ur, 1996:317)”.

In-service training has become a vital part of this process of teacher development and many teachers are taking part in postgraduate courses such as the MA in Applied Linguistics or TESOL. Distance courses, such as those offered by Johnson et. al. (2001) offer virtual components which allow teachers to benefit from the tutoring and interaction of an in-service course without it being necessary to travel long distances.

Apart from in-service training, teachers have been encouraged to adopt more reflective and critical approaches to their work by the introduction of action research procedures. In action research teachers reflect on a certain aspect of their teaching by collecting data from their classroom – either by keeping a journal, recording classes, distributing questionnaires or interviewing students – and then, based on the results of this research, make decisions about how their future teaching practices should be adapted (Van Lier, 1996; Wallace, 1998).

This is were the GEH-MIT approach fits in perfectly with current lines of though in teacher training, as the project plans to "... structure its curricula as to develop the teachers' abilities to use computers in everyday teaching, and to design and evaluate didactic plans that make use of the computer as a tool in actual classroom environments". The planned integration of an action research oriented approach also becomes evident from the fact that "teachers will be asked to introduce a selected sample to their classrooms according to specific lesson plans and evaluate them. Furthermore teachers will be asked to prepare their lesson plans in different cases."

The tendency for teachers to be more reflective about their approach to teaching has increased the need for greater collaboration and interaction between teachers about their profession and their own personal experiences. Again, the aspect of collaboration not just amongst teachers but also between teachers' training departments of Universities, Institutes of further education and schools is very much part of the GEH-MIT philosophy. Wallace (1998) suggests that collaboration between teachers allows for fresh perspectives to be cast on old problems and that feedback from colleagues can be both motivating and rewarding. Schecter and Ramirez (1992) report on a teacher-research group in the United States which met regularly in order to discuss relevant issues with invited ‘guest speakers’ or to discuss a paper or article about their profession which had been proposed by the group leader. The writers found that the group provided teachers with a solid support structure and enabled them to become more reflective practitioners. The Council of Europe’s series of workshops on ICT in vocationally oriented language learning (see below) is another example of how teachers are being brought together in order to share ideas and learn from each others’ practical experiences.

  1. Synergies with relevant projects

The GEH-MIT website quotes as one of the proposed outcomes "an innovative training curriculum and training material (conventional and web-based) for the teachers and the student teachers of the German language". Here, the first potential synergy with related activities could be the activities of the project ICT in VOLL – Information & Communication Technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language learning – funded by the Council of Europe and ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages). This project runs a series of workshops and related activities which – similar to the GEH-MIT idea – set out to show how Information and Communication Technologies and their multimedia applications can be established as an integral part of modern language curricula (in the case of the ICT in VOLL project with a strong focus on vocationally oriented education and training), and how they can encourage more flexible and accessible educational provision. The final product of this project will be an extended, comprehensive website covering a wider range of topics related to ICT in VOLL with an emphasis on samples of best practice as well as practical suggestions for teacher training materials in this area. The results of each workshop are published on the project website, which already exists.

This website and the unique process- and product-oriented character of the ICT in VOLL workshops might be a model for the planning of future GEH-MIT activities, particularly with a view of preparing the kind of input needed to acchieve another of the aims specified by the GEH-MIT project, i.e. to present to teachers "a long series of examples of good practice for the usage of Internet and multimedia applications in the classroom" and subsequently ask "teachers to introduce a selected sample to their classrooms according to specific lesson plans and evaluate them .. [and] to prepare their lesson plans in different cases". Consequently, the already impressive GEH-MIT website might be further extended into a platform containing resources developed by participants of training courses and getting participants of future training courses involved in learning as well as contributing to the results. We found this learning & producing towards immediate electronic publication format of the ICT in VOLL workshops extremely motivating for the participants.

A second project which intends to proceed and publish in a format similar to the one suggested by the GEH-MIT project is the Staging Foreign Language Learning project funded by the European Union (Sokrates – Lingua A). This project is aimed at developing innovative scenarios for language learning (very much task-based, product-oriented, and focussing on learning as processes of knowledge contruction), and to evaluate the potential role of new technologies in such scenarios. The project is aimed at teachers delivering in-service teacher training in German and English as well as at trainers and instructors of foreign language teachers. All participants implement the project concepts with materials and methodological strategies that will be developed by cross-national work groups. In the first phase of this project, a bilingual materials collection was completed and then published on CD-ROM and in print. The type of publication, the focus of activities planned for the next phase of this project and possible synergies and co-operation might provide useful points of reference in the next phase of the GEH-MIT project.

  1. Aims & Outcomes: Publication of Materials

With regards to the publication of the "Trainees' Guide and CD-ROM" to be "developed and delivered to the teachers and to student teachers", the project might consider (in fact, the project-plan suggests that such a format is already envisaged) a format of publication which integrates website, printed material, and the CD-ROM. This would mean, that a publication should include a CD-ROM containing the worksheets and materials cited in the chapters as well as (when possible and feasible) demo-versions or sample copies of some of the software involved. In addition, websites referred to in the texts or made use of in the learning modules and projects should be annotated and be made directly accessible from the CD-ROM.

I make this suggestion based on the experience gained when contributing to a similar publication by a major German educational publishing house, Cornelsen. This book, Kallenbach, CH. & Ritter, M. (2000): Computerideen für den Englischunterricht. Berlin: Cornelsen, proposes exactly this kind of format. As far as this book is concerned, all reviews comment very favourably on this solution, as it makes the transfer of the suggestions made in such a publication into one's own teaching context as well as the integration of such materials into training courses a lot easier than more traditional forms of publication.

  1. References:

Johnson, E., Bishop, A. & Holt, A. (2001). Reflection in cyberspace: Webconfernecing for language teacher education. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 17 (2), 169-186.

Kallenbach, CH. & Ritter, M. (2000). Computerideen für den Englischunterricht. Berlin: Cornelsen

Rüschoff, B. (2002). "Languages" In H.H. Adelsberger, B. Collis, J.M. Pawlowski (eds) Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training. Berlin: Springer.

Rüschoff, B. (2002). "Computerunterstützte Lehr- und Lernmaterialien" In Bausch/Christ/Krumm (Hrsg.) Handbuch Fremdsprachenunterricht. Tübingen: Francke Verlag.

Scheter, S. & Ramirez, R. (1992). “A teacher-research group in action” In D. Nunan Collaborative language learning and teaching. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the Language Curriculum. London: Longman.

Wallace, M. (1998). Action Research for Language Teachers. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

ICT in VOLL – Information & Communication Technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language learning –