Facilitating Synchronous Online Language Learning through Zoom

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822093723
Author(s):  
Lucas Kohnke ◽  
Benjamin Luke Moorhouse
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Authentic Language ◽  
Screen Sharing ◽  
Synchronous Online

Events caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have required second language (L2) educators to move away from face-to-face (F2F) lessons and adopt online teaching. Educators have utilized a range of online synchronous meeting tools (SMTs) to facilitate student learning. One of the popular, immersive and easy-to-use SMTs these days is Zoom. It includes several features, such as annotation tools, polls, breakout rooms and video and screen sharing. These functions facilitate communicative language learning through the use of authentic language instruction in interactive synchronous classes.

scholarly journals E-Classroom Interactional Competencies: Mediating and Assisting Language Learning During Synchronous Online Lessons

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822098527
Author(s):  
Benjamin Luke Moorhouse ◽  
Yanna Li ◽  
Steve Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Management Competencies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Synchronous Online

Interaction is seen by many English language teachers and scholars as an essential part of face-to-face English language classrooms. Teachers require specific competencies to effectively use interaction as a tool for mediating and assisting learning. These can be referred to as classroom interactional competence (CIC). However, the situation created by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic which began in early 2020, and the recent advancement in technologies have led to teachers conducting synchronous online lessons through video-conferencing software. The online environment is distinctly different from the face-to-face classroom and teachers require new and additional skills to effectively utilise interaction online in real time. This exploratory study used an online mixed-method survey of 75 university level English language teachers who had engaged in synchronous online teaching due to COVID-19, to explore the competencies that teachers need to use interaction as a tool to mediate and assist language learning in synchronous online lessons. Teachers were found to require three competencies, in addition to their CIC – technological competencies, online environment management competencies, and online teacher interactional competencies – which together constitute e-CIC. The findings provide greater insights into the needs of teachers required to teach synchronously online and will be of interest to teachers and teacher educators.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ONLINE LEARNING: AN EXAMINTATION TOWARDS ENGLISH TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION AND PRATICES

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Naajihah Mafruudloh ◽  
Fais Wahidatul Arifatin ◽  
Uswatun Chasanah
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Face To Face Learning

Information technology is well developed today. This is shown by several applications that support online activities, social activities, commerce, services, and learning. In this pandemic situation (covid-19), several institutions provided policies to carry out online learning to prevent and minimize the spread of the Covid-19 virus. In this case, the institution committees ask the teachers and lecturers to provide online learning to students, especially in learning English. The purpose of this study was to determine the teachers' perceptions in online language learning. Researchers used a questionnaire instrument to conduct surveys and interviews to obtain qualitative data. This is aimed to observe the teachers’ perception towards online language teaching practices and changes in teaching to online teaching. The things encountered during learning, as well as obstacles faced by the English teacher. In online learning, teachers must be able to involve students so that the situation runs like face-to-face learning. The final results of this study will be useful for online language teachers, institutions, and all aspects involved in education.

scholarly journals Foreign Language Acquisition Anxiety and Project-Based Learning in Collaborative L2 Instruction: A Case Study

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Elizandra Miguel ◽  
William Carney
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Face To Face Instruction

This article discusses the experiences of an instructor-student collaboration in combining English as a Second Language instruction with a project-based model. It provides information about a year-long period of instruction that made use of extensive collaboration in language instruction for the creation of business documents geared to a specific purpose. The article suggests that such a project-based and collaborative approach to Foreign Language Learning might be useful in alleviating foreign language learning anxiety for advanced speakers of a second language. Additionally, the article discusses instruction performed via the Zoom platform. The use of platforms such as Zoom, or Skype, are becoming more ubiquitous as an instructional trend that pre-dates recent public health concerns, and this technology is discussed here in terms of the opportunities for collaborative learning and feedback it offers in a discipline that is still favors traditional face-to-face instruction. Although the experiences described here occurred in a non-academic setting with an instructor-student dyad, we suggest that it may be useful in academic settings with additional students and fewer collaborative opportunities to create highly specific objectives.

Current Trends in Online Language Learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 19-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Blake
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Development ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Virtual Classes

Online language learning (OLL) can take place in Web-facilitated, hybrid, or fully virtual classes. These formats are beginning to attract serious attention from the language profession and, in particular, the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). This article traces recent studies of online learning and then focuses in on its application to language learning through tutorial CALL, social computing, and games for language learning. I strive to show that tutorial CALL and computer-mediated communication can complement each other in the service of modern language instruction, along with the inclusion of language games. Although assessment studies of OLL remain sparse, the evidence is steadily mounting that shows that these new formats can provide learning environments conducive to successful second language development when properly integrated into the curriculum.

A Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game and Its Effects on Interaction in the Second Language

2018 ◽  
pp. 367-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuttakritta Chotipaktanasook ◽  
Hayo Reinders
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have been dramatically used in language education and identified in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research as playing a central role in second language acquisition (SLA). This chapter addresses the integration of a commercially developed MMORPG Ragnarok Online into a language course as a basis for digital game-based language learning and reports on its effects on second language (L2) interaction. Thirty Thai learners of English who enrolled in a 15-week university language course were required to complete 18 face-to-face classroom lessons and six gameplay sessions. Learners' language use in both text and voice chats during gameplay was recorded and analysed to measure the effects of the game. The findings show that participating in MMORPG resulted in a significantly more considerable increase in L2 interaction that used a wider range of discourse functions compared with English interaction in the classroom. The authors discuss some of the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Online Synchronous Learning Management Systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 168-190
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nami
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Synchronous Learning ◽  
The Face ◽  
Learning Management ◽  
Writing Knowledge

In line with calls for a more comprehensive understanding of the potentials of virtual environments for language learning/teaching, the chapter reports a study on the application of a synchronous learning management system (SLMS). The development of academic writing knowledge of a group of MA students attending an online academic writing course in a state university in Tehran was compared with that of a similar group in a face-to-face course in the same university. The analysis of participants' classroom discussions and their writing assignments indicated that although the writing knowledge of both groups improved by the end of the course, the nature of changes differed from the online group to the face-to-face one. It is suggested that while SLMSs have opened up new horizons for the instruction/practice of language skills, their uses are largely context- and user-specific. The finding of this study feeds into research on SLMS-based foreign language instruction.

Comprehension, Comprehensibility, and Learning in the Second Language Classroom

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Chaudron
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Behavior ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Instructional Behaviors ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Instructional Settings

Two questions are fundamental to research on second language learning in instructional settings: (1) Does second language instruction have a positive influence on acquisition? and (2) If so, what factors in instruction make a difference, how, and for whom? This paper considers theory and research on second language classroom behavior that is aimed toward answering the second question, given evidence that the answer to the first one is affirmative.Theory suggests that the provision of comprehensible input, a focus on formal aspects of the target language, and the learner's opportunity to practice the target language, all may contribute to L2 development. Empirical research is reviewed to explore what modifications of teacher speech might influence comprehensibility, whether amount of exposure to target forms is related to learners' development, and which instructional behaviors might lead to productive practice with and knowledge about the target language.

scholarly journals Perceived Best Practices for Faculty Training in Distance Education

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Michael G. McVey
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Perceived Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Significant Difference

Student learning style differences have been widely researched in both traditional face-to-face and online learning environments (Irani, Scherler & Harrington, 2003;Steinbronn, 2007; Williamson & Watson, 2007; Ugur, Akkoyunlu & Kurbanoglu, 2001). After conducting a literature review of adult student learning styles and teaching method analysis, it became apparent that there was not a significant difference in academic performance for students with differing learning styles whether they attended face-to-face or online classroom environments. What was not clearly indicated though, from the review of the literature, was what were the perceived best practices for online teaching from the perspective of experienced distance educators and whether the instructors' perceived learning style was incorporated in training programs to assist faculty to teach online. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative pilot study is to determine the perceived best practices to train faculty to teach in an online environment and how individual instructors' perceived learning style can be incorporated within best practices to foster competence on an individual instructor level. This study also analyzes faculty resistance to distance education and how transformative learning theory may play a role in overcoming this resistance.

scholarly journals Reflections by Some Jordanian EFL Lecturers on Salmon’s Five-Stage E-Learning Model and Its Possible Application to Teaching English in Jordan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
Ahmad Alkhawaldeh
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
English Language Instruction ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Collaborative Language

This study attempted to evaluate Gilly Salmon’s Five-stage e-learning Model and its possible contribution to learning English language skills by surveying the related literature and obtaining perspectives of some EFL lecturers in Jordan during the 1st semester, 2018–2019. A convenient sample of twenty EFL lecturers participated in a semi-structured interview to reflect on the contribution of the five-stage model to English language instruction. The study revealed some strengths and drawbacks of the above model. While acknowledging the existence of several positive attributes of this model such as exhibiting coherence and being structural and developmental and featuring the engagement of learners via collaborative language learning, this model, according to some EFL specialists, demands further improvement to highlight, for instance, face-to-face mode of language instruction and to be more spiral and bi-directional. The study called for integrating assessment into the model to monitor learner’s learning progress. It also called for achieving independent language learning and enabling learners to transfer their learning beyond the model’s final stage of development. It was suggested that the above model should be modified to account more adequately for online English language learning.

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