scholarly journals Reflection on digital language teaching, learning, and assessment in times of crisis: a view from Italy

2021 ◽  
pp. 279-293
Author(s):  
Maria Freddi
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Construction Engineering ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Digital Language

This chapter is a reflective account of the author’s experience as a teacher of English at the University of Pavia during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It considers the design and delivery of an English for architecture and construction engineering course as well as the assessment stage of a text analysis course. It proceeds by presenting and discussing the decisions implemented as a consequence of the crisis situation and reflects on principles of English language teaching, learning, and assessment in general and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in particular. In doing so, it addresses the book project rationale as an opportunity to reflect on the adjustments made to various planning and design factors informing language education during the health crisis and thought to be generalisable to language teaching, learning, and assessment in the global digital world. It concludes with thoughts on what the future of digital language teaching, learning, and assessment could look like.

scholarly journals An Interview with Henry Widdowson

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Chantal Hemmi ◽  
Graham Mackenzie ◽  
Katsuya Yokomoto
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
The University

Welcome colleagues! For the last issue of 2019, we present a very special interview with Professor Henry Widdowson, an acclaimed authority in the field of applied linguistics who has made great contributions to the development of communicative language teaching. In this conversation, Professor Widdowson discusses English Language Learning in Japan in the context of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), English Medium Instruction (EMI), and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Professor Widdowson is Emeritus Professor at the University of London, was Professor of Applied Linguistics at Essex University and is currently Honorary Professor at the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Vienna. He has published extensively on English language teaching and applied linguistics. Here he was interviewed by Chantal Hemmi, an Associate Professor, Graham Mackenzie, a Project Associate Professor, and Katsuya Yokomoto, a Lecturer at the Center of Language Education and Research at Sophia University.

scholarly journals Constraints on innovation in English language teaching in hinterland regions of China

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882097985
Author(s):  
Neil Murray ◽  
Antony J. Liddicoat ◽  
Gavin Zhen ◽  
Penny Mosavian
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
English Language ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Chinese Government

Since the start of the twenty-first century, English has come to be seen by the Chinese government as a linchpin of its continued economic and political influence. Its resultant efforts to promote innovation in English language teaching align with the aspirations of a population, many of whom regard competency in English as a determiner of opportunity and success in their careers, and thus a vehicle through which to provide a good quality of life for themselves and their families. However, despite government-driven initiatives to improve English language education, change has been slow to materialize, especially outside of the main urban areas of Eastern China. Here, we report on a study that sought to explore the constraints governing attempts by teachers of English to innovate in universities located in some of the so-called ‘hinterland’ regions of Southwestern China. Key determinants that emerged, and which we discuss, included time pressure and competing priorities; scepticism towards new ideas; lack of investment in resources; the primacy of the textbook; students’ language proficiency; and opportunities for professional development. Together, these findings indicate the need for a change of culture if innovation is to be welcomed, both in principle and in practice, as a driver of positive change in the teaching of English in these universities. Teachers, their line managers, and university senior managers need to feel willing and able to engage freely in constructive and informed discourse, and in doing so consider recalibrating institutional priorities, thereby helping reconcile the pressures and tensions currently experienced by English language teachers and which impede progress.

scholarly journals O trabalho com uma sequência didática de receitas em língua inglesa em uma escola pública

Horizontes ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Marques Beato-Canato ◽  
Vera Lúcia Lopes Cristovão
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
School Year ◽  
Pen Pal ◽  
Interactionist Perspective ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Learning Language

Em uma perspectiva interacionista sociodiscursiva, advogamos que, para alcançar seus objetivos, o trabalho com línguas na rede regular pública de ensino pode ser planejado em sequências didáticas organizadas em torno degêneros textuais. Tais unidades visam ao desenvolvimento de capacidades de linguagem, entendidas como “aptidões requeridas para a realização de um texto numa situação de interação determinada” (DOLZ; PASQUIER; BRONCKART, 1993, p.30). A partir desses pressupostos, sequências didáticas foram aplicadas a alunos de uma escola municipal de Joinville, ao longo de um ano escolar, com o objetivo de possibilitar a participação efetiva em um projeto de troca de correspondências. Dentre os gêneros abordados, selecionamos receitas culinárias para o escopo deste artigo, que visa, assim, descrever o material elaborado e analisar as produções de um aluno de modo a ilustrar oportunidades (ou não) de desenvolvimento de capacidades de linguagem possibilitadas por um trabalho dessa natureza. Palavras-chave: Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo; gênero textual receita culinária; sequência didática; ensino-aprendizagem de língua inglesa; desenvolvimentode capacidades de linguagem.The work with a didactic sequence of recipes in English as an additional language in a public schoolAbstract In a sociodiscursive interactionist perspective, we advocate that, to achieve its goals, the work with languages in public regular schools can be planned in didactic sequences towards genres. Such units aim at the development of language capacities (DOLZ; PASQUIER; BRONCKART, 1993). Based on these principles, didactic sequences were employed with students of a public school in Joinville, during a school year, with the objective of contributing to their effective participation in a pen pal Project. Among the genres handled, cooking recipeswere taken as scope of this paper, which aims at describing the material planned and analyze the productions of one student in order to illustrate the opportunities of language capacities development enabled by a work of thisnature.Keywords: Sociodiscursive Interacionism; genre cooking recipe; didactic sequences; English language teaching/learning; language capacities development.

scholarly journals Recursos Didácticos Comunicativos Y Audiovisuales Para La Enseñanza-Aprendizaje Del Idioma Inglés A Través De Aulas Virtuales

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Armas Pesantez Paul Rolando ◽  
Armas Pesantez Washington Geovanny ◽  
Salazar Calderón Edison Hernán ◽  
Guadalupe Bravo Luis Oswaldo ◽  
Orozco Yánez Gabriel Isaac
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Curriculum Guidelines ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Didactic Material ◽  
Teaching Learning

The purpose of the current research was the implementation of didactic audiovisual and communicative resources through a virtual classroom for the teaching-learning of English language, aimed to the first level students Languages School at Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo due to the lack of didactic material helping in the development of activities and tasks into the classroom. This fact impedes teachers and students reaching a higher level in the English Language teaching-learning process, this situation made necessary the implementation of resources adaptive to the pedagogical context and planned through a content manager or virtual classroom. The current research is quasi experimental, bibliographic, documental and descriptive which was applied to a sample where it was necessary to consider an initial knowledge diagnose before applying the communicative and audiovisual resources, then it was necessary to carry out an evaluation at the end of it. It was also necessary to use a set of activities based on communicative and audiovisual resources framed within the micro curriculum guidelines with schedules and contents that were evaluated through questionnaires and a checklist. The instruments for collecting information allowed obtaining data in both pre-test and post-test. These qualifications were compared through a statistical test that allowed concluding that the use of the mentioned resources improved the English language teaching, at the same time it was possible to recommend its use within the curriculum for the First Level of the Languages Major.

English Language Learning as Intercultural Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Hamza R'boul ◽  
M Camino Bueno-Alastuey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Intercultural Relations ◽  
Intercultural Experience ◽  
The University ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

Teaching English in higher education entails additional factors and considerations that exemplify the complexity of accounting for the diverse population in modern higher education institutions. In particular, the increasing flow of international students and the employment demands of functioning in multicultural contexts render helping students to develop a critical understating of intercultural relations an important aspect of English language teaching. With the increasing adoption of English as a medium of instruction and its use as a lingua franca in intercultural communication, it is important to structure English education in a way that accounts for intercultural relations both in and outside the university. In addition to the postmodern conceptualizations of interculturality that emphasize the fluidity of culture, language and identity intercultural relations are characterized by power imbalances. That is why this chapter makes a case for the necessity of considering sociopolitical realities in intercultural English language teaching in higher education.

scholarly journals A Critical Investigation of English Language Teaching in Bangladesh

English Today ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mosiur Rahman ◽  
Ambigapathy Pandian
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Economic Constraints

The 2016 World Bank report on worldwide per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) identified Bangladesh as a lower middle-income country based on its consistent GDP growth throughout last decade (World Bank, 2016). To maintain this growth rate and meet the radical demand for human resources in increasingly globalised world markets, the country needs to communicate more effectively with the outside world. Inevitably, this means improving the quality of English teaching and learning. The significance of English, as the globallingua franca, to Bangladeshi learners is at its zenith. In this developing country, however, economic constraints mean that funds allocated to education are limited compared to many other Southeast Asian countries (Habib & Adhikary, 2016). Even given the generally low level of educational standards in Bangladesh (Islam, 2015), the standard of English language teaching and learning has decreased alarmingly in recent years (Hamid, 2011). English language education in Bangladesh has always been problematic, despite various attempts to initiate curriculum reform. As Hamid & Baldauf (2008) point out, the first of these major shifts in the ELT curriculum took place in the mid-1990s, when the traditional Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) was replaced with a curriculum based on a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) model. The principal objective of this article is to review the major problems associated with ELT in Bangladesh that have hindered the implementation of the new CLT curriculum from the perspective of teachers, and eventually to make recommendations for more effective ELT curriculum reform.

scholarly journals Smart Teacher Smart Class Portal in Enhancing Secondary School English Teachers’ English Language Teaching Knowledge in Bangladesh

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 147-157
Author(s):  
SM Kamruddin Ropum ◽  
Md Yasin Arafat
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Teaching Knowledge ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Teaching Learning

Smart teacher smart class (STSC) is a portal developed by Dnet which contains curriculum, teachers’ guide, education policy, textbook, lesson plan, multimedia contents, and teaching-learning strategies on different subjects aiming to provide content and pedagogical support to the secondary school teachers in Bangladesh. Making an offline CD, the STSC portal is provided to the respective teachers of secondary schools Dnet works with. The regular use of the STSC portal helps the teachers to improve their knowledge about effective teaching-learning techniques. The study was designed as one group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental method to find the effect of STSC portal on secondary school English teachers’ English language teaching knowledge (ELTK). Twenty eight English teachers from 14 secondary schools were selected purposively to form the group and the tests were administered on them considering 6 months intervention (STSC portal) period. The test was adapted from Cambridge language teaching knowledge (TKT) test focusing on different ELT aspects. The tests scores of the teachers were categorized in 4 knowledge levels: limited, basic, deep and extensive. The findings of the study show that the STSC portal induces a significant improvement of the teachers’ ELTK. Most of the teachers showed better performances in the post-test than the pre-test. Moreover, significance (0.001) and effect size score (0.91) also depict a clear and large effect in enhancing teachers’ ELTK. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v19i1-2.12087 Journal of NELTA, Vol 19 No. 1-2, December 2014: 147-157

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