scholarly journals Encouraging Autonomy Through a Community of Practice: The Role of a Self-Access Centre

2017 ◽  
pp. 157-168
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Teaching Community ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Student Assistants

Implementing autonomy in language learning and teaching in most institutional contexts is still, even after decades of research and practice, a challenge for teachers and learners. Facing these challenges may be easier, if this is done not in isolation, but rather as part of a learning and teaching community. My experience at the Centre for Independent Language Learning (CILL) at the Language Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin is that the first step towards implementing autonomy is encouraging it by building a community of practice. In the present article, I describe the opportunities I create for teachers and student assistants to discuss their understanding of autonomy, share their experiences, compare perspectives, and reflect on the provision of the CILL in order to promote a culture with more space for autonomous and reflective teaching and learning. Although the work is challenging, this community of practice brings its fruits both in everyday life at the CILL and for the personal and professional development of each of the participants.

scholarly journals Alentando la autonomía en la educación superior: modelo de un centro de autoaprendizaje.

2018 ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Culture ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Teaching Community ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Student Assistants ◽  
Common Understanding

Implementing autonomy in language learning and teaching in most institutional contexts is still, even after decades of research and practice, a challenge for teachers and learners. Facing these challenges may be easier, if this is done not in isolation, but rather as part of a learning and teaching community. My experience at the Centre for Independent Language Learning (CILL) at the Language Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin is that the first step towards implementing autonomy is encouraging it while building a community of practice. For teachers, a community of practice means the opportunity to discuss their understanding of autonomy, to share and reflect experiences, to develop common strategies both for teaching and for addressing the administration, if need be. An even better opportunity to build a learning culture based on autonomy is to support teachers and learners to exchange their perspectives and cooperate towards a common understanding of (more) autonomous teaching and learning. One of the aims of the CILL is to create opportunities for such an exchange, involving student assistants and teachers to reflect on the provision of the CILL and to help to further develop it.

scholarly journals The links between technology and principles of language teaching and learning: theoretical and practical insights

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 718-726
Author(s):  
Turki Alsolami ◽  
Nashwa Saaty
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Integration Of Technology ◽  
Teaching Instruction

The paper examines the integration of technology into various language learning aspects, mainly how technology can enhance language learning and teaching. The focus is on selected studies that highlight the significant role of technology in promoting higher levels of motivation, enhancing language input, contextualizing the language learning process through access to various cultural materials, improving learners’ L2 attitudes and enhancing better language teaching instruction.  In examining these areas, we hope to provide pedagogical insights that would help practitioners and curriculum developers to utilize technology in an effective way to promote a better language learning experience. 

scholarly journals Intelligibility: The Goal of Language Learning and Teaching

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sayyed Rashid Shah ◽  
Abdullah Al-Bargi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Impact

<p>This action research study investigates the intelligibility of Saudi EFL learners’ speeches in relation to the Lingua Franca Core (LFC). This study is carried out in an EFL class of 15 Saudi learners. One native and four non-native speakers of English performed the role of evaluators. A mixed-method approach was adopted to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data. The learners’ scores in their pre and post-intervention speeches led to the understanding of the impact of LFC on leaders’ speeches. The scores were awarded by five evaluators responding to a five-point Likert scale questionnaire while judging learners’ intelligibility. The results showed moderate improvement in the learners’ post-intervention speeches in terms of intelligibility. This procedure was followed by semi-structured interviews conducted with individual evaluators/listeners who rated post-intervention speeches as well-organized, lengthier and planned, delivered fluently and confidently in spite of insignificant improvement in the production of LFC features. Based on the findings, it can be recommended that LFC can have little or no impact on the learners’ pronunciation, thus intelligibility should be the goal of language teaching and learning in EFL settings.</p>

Dialogic Teaching and Translanguaging in Deaf Education

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Swanwick
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Deaf Education ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Diverse Learning ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Pedagogical Framework

This chapter proposes a pedagogical framework for deaf education that builds on a sociocultural perspective and the role of interaction in learning. Pedagogical principles are argued that recognize the dialogic nature of learning and teaching and the role of language as “the tool of all tools” in this process. Building on established work on classroom talk in deaf education, the issues of dialogue in deaf education are extended to consider deaf children’s current learning contexts and their diverse and plural use of sign and spoken languages. Within this broad language context, the languaging and translanguaging practices of learners and teachers are explained as central to a pedagogical framework that is responsive to the diverse learning needs of deaf children. Within this pedagogical framework practical teaching strategies are suggested that draw on successful approaches in the wider field of language learning and take into account the particular learning experience and contexts of deaf children.

Research on language teaching and learning in Austria (2004–2009)

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Dalton-Puffer ◽  
Renate Faistauer ◽  
Eva Vetter
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
National Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching

This overview of six years of research on language learning and teaching in Austria covers a period of dynamic development in the field. While all the studies reviewed here illustrate research driven by a combination of local and global concerns and theoretical frameworks, some specific clusters of research interest emerge. The first of these focuses on issues connected with multilingualism in present-day society in terms of language policy, theory development and, importantly, the critical scrutiny of dominant discursive practices in connection with minority and migrant languages. In combination with this focus, there is a concern with German as a second or foreign language in a number of contexts. A second cluster concerns the area of language testing and assessment, which has gained political import due to changes in national education policy and the introduction of standardized tests. Finally, a third cluster of research concerns the diverse types of specialized language instruction, including the introduction of foreign language instruction from age six onwards, the rise of academic writing instruction, English-medium education and, as a final more general issue, the role of English as a dominant language in the canon of all foreign and second languages in Austria.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial visions of the self: Language teaching and learning under neoliberal conditions

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-275
Author(s):  
Martina Zimmermann ◽  
Sebastian Muth
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn this special issue, we bring together empirical research that takes a critical perspective on the relationship between language learning and individual aspirations for future success. In doing so we aim to initiate a debate on how neoliberal ideology and mode of governance permeate language learning as part of a wider neoliberal project that postulates the ideal of the competitive and self-responsible language learner. The four contributions illustrate how neoliberal desires about entrepreneurial selves play out differently within different social, political, or linguistic contexts. They do not only address different languages individuals supposedly need to teach or acquire for a successful future within a specific context, but also concentrate on the discourses and social relations shaping these entrepreneurial aspirations. Ranging from vocational training in Japan, early education in Singapore, healthcare tourism in India, to higher education in Switzerland, the contributions all illustrate the role of language as part of the struggle to improve either oneself or others. While the research sites illustrate that investments in language are simultaneously promising and risky and as such dependent on local and global linguistic markets, they equally highlight underlying language ideologies and reveal wider structures of inequality that are firmly embedded in local, national and global contexts.

scholarly journals Case Study of the Commercially Published ELT materials in Foundation of English Course Books 1 & 2

IIUC Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Md Yousuf Uddin Khaled Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Right

Brumfit (1979) has suggested that many commercially published ELT materials are little more than ‘masses of rubbish, skilfully marketed’. He perhaps rejects most of the published materials. However, in reality, it is observed that these ELT resources are the only available alternatives in the contexts where infra-structural limitations of language classrooms and the inefficiency of the language-teachers make the goal of language learning and teaching unreachable or unattainable for many of the learners. This paper, through a case study, aims at justifying the use of commercially published ELT coursebooks that are designed and used, considering the limitations and problems of the personally produced materials by untrained teachers. Nevertheless, these materials must consider the local market rather than the global markets so that they meet the needs of the local language learners and instructors. The case study implies that it is the selection or adaptation of the right materials for the specific learners that makes them effective or ineffective. It also suggests that the personally designed or locally produced materials too may make teaching and learning difficult and impossible sometimes.IIUC Studies Vol.10 & 11 December 2014: 173-182

scholarly journals A Study on the Role of Motivation in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani ◽  
Lai-Mei Leong ◽  
Narjes Banou Sabouri
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching

scholarly journals Graduate Students' Reflections on Technology in Language Learning and Teaching: A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. A. Farrah
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Integrated Theory ◽  
Academic Year

This study aims to analyze the experiences and perceptions of a group of graduate students regarding an MA Technology in Language Learning and Teaching Course at Hebron University, Palestine. Specifically, the study addressed the aspects of the course that were perceived as the most useful for them and how graduate students perceive their professional growth as a result of the course. The study took place during the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017. The researcher employed a qualitative research to achieve the aims of the study. The participants wrote reflective journals and described how the course integrated theory and practice. The results revealed that the students benefited from the different elements of the course. Particularly, they benefited from the practical projects. The experience helped them in their professional development. Finally, the students offered a number of suggestions for improving the course. The researcher concluded with a set of recommendations.

scholarly journals Qualitative Development of Construction Student’s Attitude in Ecological Teaching and Learning Process

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Andris Bērziņš
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Ecological Education ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Teaching Content ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Student’S Attitude

<p>The publication reflects the qualitative development of construction students' ecological attitude in learning and teaching process in a vocational school. By facilitating the teaching and learning process, developing the content of education, introducing in teaching ecologically-oriented forms of work, methods, approaches and instruments; using the environment as a pedagogical tool and highlighting the important role of teacher as an ecological person in the accentuation of teaching content as students understand it. The author emphasizes the impact of the components of ecological education in the promotion of the reflection on the most essential attitude criteria – knowledge, skills and behaviour. Applying quantitative and qualitative research, the author sums up the experimantally obtained results showing that by the introduction of the components of ecological education, it is possible to foster the development of an ecological person.</p>

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