IATEFL 2021 Virtual Conference Selections

IATEFL 2021 Virtual Conference Conference Selections

Edited by Deborah Bullock

IATEFL 2021 Virtual Conference Selections 54th International Conference 19–21 June 2021

Edited by Deborah Bullock

Editorial Committee: Wendy Chambers, Jennifer MacDonald, Amos Paran

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First published 2022 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Education Deborah Bullock (Ed.) IATEFL 2021 Virtual Conference Selections ISBN PRINTED: 978-1-912588-38-1 DIGITAL: 978-1-912588-39-8

For a complete list of IATEFL publications including Conference Selections from previous years, please write to the above address, or visit the IATEFL website at www.iatefl.org.

Copy edited by Karen Sigley, Saddleworth Designed and typeset by Nathan Hemming-Brown, Bristol Cover design by Eleanor Baynham Printed in Britain by Hobbs the Printers Ltd., Totton, Hampshire

Contents 8

Editor’s introduction 1

2

Approaches in teacher development 1.1

Building principled ELT development projects in Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire Sarah Mount and Alan Pulverness

10

1.2

Planning a course on English pronunciation and pronunciation pedagogy for EFL teachers in Brazil Ana Paula Biazon Rocha

12

1.3

The impact of professional development on empowering Palestinian women educators Tina Jaber Rafidi and Silvia Nassar Mustaklem

13

1.4

Enhancing teachers’ professional development by creating Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs) Sevil Aghayeva and Konul Hajiyeva

16

1.5

English in public primary school in Venezuela: a case study Juana Sagaray, Maria-Teresa Fernandez and Wendy Arnold

18

1.6

Mentoring teacher research Richard Smith

20

1.7

Shifting the mentor-mentee relationship: enhancing capabilities and increasing efficacy Sanaa Abdel Hady Makhlouf

23

Teacher development: issues and concerns 2.1

Reflective Practice meets Neuroscience: EFL teachers owning their emotions Niki Christodoulou

26

2.2

Who are resilient ELT teachers? Gwyneth James

28

2.3

Exploring English language teachers’ engagement with published research David M. Barnard

30

2.4

Promoting teacher research: comparing case studies Amol Padwad

32

2.5

Motivational currents in English language teachers’ associations Beatrix Price

34

2.6

Challenging the ‘positive-negative-positive sandwich’: creating non-evaluative spaces for teacher learning Elena Ončevska Ager

37

2.7

EAP teacher identity: a longitudinal study Sofia Di Giallonardo

38

2.8

Effective feedback on students’ writing: supporting ESL teachers’ professional development Kalyan Chattopadhyay

40

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IATEFL 2021: Virtual Conference Selections

2.9

3

4

5

The impact of professional development on teachers’ automaticity in performance Amal Farhat

42

Issues in assessment 3.1

Plenary: Integrating teaching, testing and technology: where angels fear to tread Thom Kiddle

45

3.2

Fitting it all in: fully exploiting texts for exam classes Steven Ferrara

54

3.3

Designing EAP writing exams that create positive classroom washback Beth Wiens 56

Inclusivity and diversity 4.1

Letting students speak, or be silent if they prefer Siham Djedid and Kevin Balchin

4.2

Visual study skills for students with learning disabilities Julia Koifman 60

4.3

Differentiate your mixed-ability classroom: use improvisation in your teaching Roy Bicknell 62

4.4

Teaching the third age Ayşen Cem-Değer

64

4.5

One size doesn’t fit all: learner differentiation in trainer training Briony Beaven

66

4.6

Gender sensitivity: attitudes of prospective teachers Melike Ayşe Türkmenoğlu

68

4.7

Pride and prejudice: the influence of older learner stereotypes Heloisa Duarte

70

58

Teaching with technology 5.1

Learning phrasal verbs via quizzes on the Socrative application Ruby Vurdien

72

5.2

The role of Quizlet for vocabulary acquisition Désirée Verdonk

74

5.3

Deeper learning through remote team teaching Samir Salama and Nick Bilbrough

76

5.4

The relationship between teachers’ digital competencies and the integration of technology in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) Juan Quintana

78

4

Contents

6

7

8

5.5

Motivating EAP research paper writing using gamification and mobile/online applications Susan Esnawy

80

5.6

Technology-enhanced peer feedback in the EAP classroom Panagiota Tzanni

83

English in Higher Education 6.1

Humour in a pre-sessional classroom? Quyen Tran and Peter Watkins

85

6.2

Multiactibility seminar: integration of activities and abilities in ESP Juan Carlos Izaguirre Sanchez

87

6.3

Flipping writing lessons: an approach to enhancing learners’ text production Jennifer Schumm Fauster

89

6.4

Teaching presentation skills to aeronautical engineering students using video recordings Dietmar Tatzl 91

6.5

Knowledge decay in Higher Education: old problem, new solutions David Krygier

93

6.6

Successful cross-cultural exchange projects for lower-level proficiency students Kate Sato and Birte Horn

95

6.7

Journals in academic writing classes to combat fossilisation Susan Abrill

97

6.8

The importance of fun in the EAP classroom Amy Coryat

98

Course and materials development 7.1

An English class in disguise: edutainment in a multidisciplinary setting Elizaveta Tikhomirova and Anastasia Sharapkova

101

7.2

Teaching English to senior citizens Olja Milosevic

103

7.3

Transforming the blend: adapting materials for blended learning contexts Sharon Hartle

105

7.4

Introducing design thinking to increase student creativity and engagement Sophie Farag

106

Optimising learning 8.1

Plenary: Embedding a culture of empathy in language teaching Kieran Donaghy 5

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IATEFL 2021: Virtual Conference Selections

9

8.2

Not too old to learn: teaching senior language learners Sarah Curtius 121

8.3

Where is the evidence for evidence-based teaching? Carol Lethaby and Patricia Harries

123

8.4

Mind, Brain, and Education: evidence-based practice and insights André Hedlund

125

8.5

Measuring student attention as student and teacher reflection Neil Allison

127

8.6

Incorporating student-led lessons into reading classes for promoting student engagement Fumiko Murase 129

Working with young learners 9.1

Forum on picturebooks that challenge Sandie Mourão, Gail Ellis and Tatia Gruenbaum 131

9.2

Extramural English learning and digital media use Samúel Lefever

135

9.3

Focusing on learner attributions to build self-efficacy Julie Waddington

137

9.4

From slime tutorials to thought-provoking documentaries: learnergenerated videos in EFL Armanda Stroia

138

9.5

Improving teenagers’ long-term attitudes towards English through online link-ups Amal Mukhairez

141

10 Teaching language skills and systems 10.1 Research into L2 listening: practical implications for the ELT classroom Sheila Thorn

143

10.2 Teaching perfect infinitives through art and museum discourse Irina Ashmarina

145

10.3 Building confidence in ESL learners through extensive writing Vahida Berberovic and Ann-Charlotte Stent

147

10.4 An ‘experiment’ in linguistic mediation Anna Young

149

10.5 The why and how of EFL listening in an Italian secondary school: a case study Chiara Bruzzano

151

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Contents

10.6 Utilising self-expression to promote critical thinking Noha Khafagi

153

10.7 Visualising life skills: upskilling the classroom with simple graphics Emily Bryson

155

10.8 Teaching listening through decoding Felipe Fulber

157

10.9 Bringing soft skills into the classroom: activities that work Marjorie Rosenberg

159

11 Global issues 11.1 The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Promoting multilingualism while teaching English in the Global South Convenor: Martin Lamb with the A.S. Hornby scholars at IATEFL 2021 161 11.2 English medium: an enabling or a disabling factor? Ravinarayan Chakrakodi

166

11.3 Use of mother tongue in the EFL classroom Ganga Laxmi Bhandari 168 11.4 English language learning: a means of resilience in war-torn Syria Rasheed Abdul Hadi

169

11.5 Sharing our stories with the world outside through remote theatre Haneen Jadalla 171

7

From the Editor For the first time in its history, the home of the annual IATEFL International Conference and Exhibition in 2021 was not a UK city, but a digital platform, Hopin.

I doubt that any of us could have imagined that this would be the case back in 2019 in Liverpool, or that in 2020 there would be no Conference at all! Nevertheless, despite the numerous challenges that our Association faced, there is no doubt that the 54th International IATEFL Virtual Conference was a resounding success, thanks to the commitment and hard work of IATEFL’s Head Office staff, the Conference and Digital Committee members, the many IATEFL volunteers, the sponsors and exhibitors, the presenters and all those who attended.

From Saturday 19–Monday 21 June, delegates were treated to no fewer than 300 sessions (talks, workshops and poster presentations) on a wide range of topics from diverse contexts, ensuring something for everyone. And there was more – early morning ‘How-to…’ and mindful sessions (sponsored by Macmillan Education); Careers Fair sessions; Signature events (Macmillan Education, British Council, Pearson and Express Publishing); Pop-up Presentations; the Exhibition, SIG Showcases; and the many fun-filled evening events, which included the unforgettable International Cookalong, the ever-popular International Quiz, Sharing stories from around the globe, and the grand finale, Music from the heart.

A unique feature of the Virtual Conference that I suspect many delegates appreciated, was the Meet Others area. The quick one-to-one chats with random partners offered an unusual experience of interacting with professional ‘strangers’ and making new friends, while the chat box ensured we could catch up with old friends, too.

Another ‘first’ from this Conference is the huge number of presentation recordings that are available to watch at any time via the members’ section of the IATEFL website, and I am pleased to announce that you can find links to almost all of the authors’ full presentations in this edition of Conference Selections, too.

IATEFL’s mission statement is to ‘link, develop and support English language teaching professionals worldwide’. The 2021 Virtual Conference certainly succeeded in achieving this: IATEFL members and non-members from over 100 countries took part, and this diversity is also reflected in these Conference Selections. Authors whose

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Editor’s introduction

papers are included here represent no fewer than 35 countries – a truly broad range of educational contexts and professional communities.

As with previous annual IATEFL Conferences, various themes emerged from the plenary presentations and talks. Plenary talks this year included integrating teaching, testing and technology (Thom Kiddle [3.1]) and empathy in English language teaching (Kieran Donaghy [8.1]), and a number of papers within this collection pick up on these themes.

Not surprisingly, against a backdrop of school closures and the shift to online teaching in 2020, many authors describe and consider the role of technology in teaching, a thread which runs throughout the collection, but specifically in Chapter 5.

Additionally, a large number of papers discuss approaches and issues within teacher development and training (see Chapters 1 and 2). Other chapters reflect familiar and recurring themes of IATEFL Conferences: inclusivity and diversity (mainly in Chapter 4); English for academic or professional purposes (specifically, Chapter 6); global issues (Chapter 11); working with young learners (Chapter 9); course and materials development (Chapter 7); assessment (Chapter 3); optimising learning (Chapter 8); and teaching language skills and systems (Chapter 10). In short, the collection offers not only a glimpse into the wealth of experience and expertise of IATEFL’s membership worldwide, but also provides food for thought and practical ideas to take away and adapt to our contexts.

So, as I invite you to read and enjoy this 2021 Conference Selections, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those who took the time and effort to submit their papers for review, in what for most were unusually challenging times. To those of you whose papers have not been selected this year, I sincerely hope that you will find alternative forums in which to publish your work. I would also like to thank my editorial team: Amos Paran, Jennifer MacDonald, Wendy Chambers and Karen Sigley for their invaluable input, and Nathan Hemming-Brown and Eleanor Baynham for their work on this publication’s design.

I sincerely look forward to seeing you face-to-face at the next IATEFL Annual Conference in Belfast.

Deborah Bullock Editor, IATEFL Conference Selections cseditor@iatefl.org

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1

Approaches in teacher development

The opening chapter in this volume brings together seven papers that describe various approaches to the training and ongoing professional development of teachers in a range of contexts. To begin, Sarah Mount and Alan Pulverness draw on their experience of three teacher development projects in Africa to exemplify the importance of capacity building and sensitivity to context in project design. Moving from large-scale to more localised needs, Ana Paula Biazon Rocha reports on the planning of a pronunciation course for EFL teachers in Brazil to address needs that will resonate with teachers in many contexts – increased confidence in pronunciation, and how to teach it. In the next paper, two Palestinian educators, Tina Jaber Rafidi and Silvia Nassar Mustaklem, document their personal reflections of transforming challenges into possibilities by means of reflective practice, in spite of the many social and cultural barriers they face. Focusing on communities of practice, Sevil Aghayeva and Konul Hajiyeva then report on the impact of a Teacher Activity Group (TAG) project designed to support the development of teachers working in remote areas of Azerbaijan. In the next report by Juana Sagaray, Maria-Teresa Fernandez and Wendy Arnold, we return to South America and an evaluation of the impact of a primary teacher training project. The focus of the final two papers in this chapter is mentoring. Richard Smith outlines a practical approach to mentoring teacher research, while Sanaa Abdel Hady Makhlouf describes the challenges and rewards of online mentoring during the global pandemic.

1.1 Building principled ELT development projects in Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire Sarah Mount and Alan Pulverness TransformELT, UK

In the four years since we set up TransformELT, together with Alan Mackenzie, we have worked on development projects in nearly 30 countries. This talk presented case studies of three projects – in Algeria, Ethiopia and Senegal/Côte d’Ivoire – to exemplify our approach to context-sensitive project design and capacity building in different contexts.

As part of a large-scale project, Supporting School Reform in Algeria (SSRA), we trained 180 middle and secondary school inspectors in a four-year trainer training programme that included frameworks for CPD, coaching and mentoring, and approaches to developing spoken and written English with a focus on genres for STEM subjects.

In Ethiopia, in partnership with NILE, we managed a coaching project – Building a

10

Building principled ELT development projects in Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire

Coaching Culture in Ethiopian Primary Schools (BCCEPS) – building capacity for a cohort of 150 Master Coaches, each of whom formed triads with a school principal and a classroom teacher. And in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, within the British Council’s ‘English Connects’ programme, we piloted and developed ‘English Clubs’ support toolkits, to help club leaders increase learners’ confidence and ability to use English by providing them with additional resources for club activities.

For a development initiative to be context-appropriate and meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, planning must be informed by a view of what ‘success’ will look like. The most successful projects begin with an initial phase of needs analysis, based on data collected on the ground, to formulate clear outcome statements and develop a plan of action designed to achieve the changed state. Plans are based on a thorough understanding of context that identifies affordances for building capacity but at the same time acknowledges a range of realities on the ground. In Algeria this included focus group discussions with inspectors to gain insights into the geographical and organisational challenges they face, as well as their dual roles as inspectors and teacher trainers. For BCCEPS in Ethiopia the team leaders spent two weeks in schools, meeting students, teachers, principals, supervisors and regional leaders, which prompted the formation of triads for the training described above. The English Clubs toolkits in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire developed organically through an inception visit involving club leaders and participants, followed by a series of workshops where the eventual toolkits were co-created with participants.

Educational change is a gradual process, often accomplished over an extended period of time. But it does not follow that monitoring and evaluation should be deferred until long-term change can be observed. Throughout the life of a project, we remain responsive to evolving needs by constantly monitoring change as it happens, and repeatedly examining short- and medium-term impact. It is essential, therefore, for project design to remain flexible enough for participants to have a sense of agency and take an active role in the process. Each of the projects involved recursive design that allowed for cycles of micro-training, peer observation and trialling of training and/or learning materials.

Underpinning this iterative process of training and professional development in all the projects described here was a combination of modelling good practice and experiential learning. Training courses were practical and always informed by contextual considerations, and participants were engaged through a dialogic approach in a creative partnership. Carefully scaffolded guidance enabled the Algerian inspectors, the Ethiopian coaches and the Senegalese/Ivoirian English Club leaders to take on ownership of their project through collaboration in drafting, revising and refining their own plans and materials.

All projects are time-bound, even when, as in the case of SSRA in Algeria, they extend over several years. Change therefore requires a vision for the dissemination of new learning that will embed the change and make it sustainable. The cascade model is a strategy frequently applied as a way of spreading new practices to very large numbers. Conscious of the ever-present risk of dilution, as the training is reproduced at successive levels of the cascade, we have tried to preserve the quality and consistency of our interventions through the medium of cascade-training manuals in

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Chapter 1: Approaches in teacher development

Algeria and the distribution of toolkits on SD cards across Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

But materials alone do not guarantee uptake – systemic change depends on mutually supportive adjustment throughout the educational ecosystem. Physical resources are further supported by school-based or municipality-based development cells (Algeria and Ethiopia) and by the viral spread of new ideas via teacher associations, learning management systems and online forums, which paradoxically produced more professional dialogue in 2020/21 when training and development were forced online.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/4Gr3cKCwWOk smount@transformelt.com apulverness@transformelt.com

1.2 Planning a course on English pronunciation and pronunciation pedagogy for EFL teachers in Brazil Ana Paula Biazon Rocha University of Sheffield, UK

Broadly speaking, pronunciation refers to the production of sounds in speech to convey meaning, being an essential component of oral communication, alongside speaking and listening. The focus of pronunciation learning and teaching should be intelligibility, or the extent to which the message transmitted by the speaker’s utterance is clearly understood by the listener (Derwing & Munro, 2015).

Although research has proved that pronunciation instruction is effective in developing learners’ oral production, a great number of English teachers still struggle to incorporate and teach pronunciation in their lessons (Murphy, 2017). Some of their main difficulties are: 1) lack of confidence in their own pronunciation and in teaching pronunciation; 2) limited training in pronunciation teaching in Applied Linguistics courses and TESOL programmes; and 3) lack of access, information and materials on pronunciation pedagogy and pronunciation instruction research.

In Brazil, English is taught in regular schools (private and public), in bilingual private schools, and on private language courses. However, English lessons tend to mainly focus on grammar and vocabulary, and many English teachers need to deal with a lack of knowledge about the language and how to teach it. Some Brazilian EFL teachers’ difficulties are similar to those mentioned previously: 1) lack of confidence in their own pronunciation and in teaching pronunciation; 2) lack of attention to pronunciation pedagogy in undergraduate courses; 3) not knowing how to nominate and interpret learners’ mistakes adequately; and 4) focus on native-like pronunciation due to lack of other models in textbooks and resources in general (Buss, 2016).

Based on that and on my own experience as an EFL teacher in Brazil for about 15 years facing the very same obstacles, I decided to plan a course to cater for teachers’ needs: more knowledge on English pronunciation and more training on pronunciation pedagogy, so they could feel more confident about teaching pronunciation. It is a ten-week course for pre- and in-service teachers consisting of two lessons per week. The rationale is to introduce pronunciation activities to teachers, who first act as students, using this opportunity to improve and practise their own pronunciation as speakers of English, and then have

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Planning a course on English pronunciation and pronunciation pedagogy for EFL teachers in Brazil

them reflect and discuss how they would use or adapt the activities to their teaching context. Therefore, by the end of the course, teachers will have a substantial portfolio of ideas, activities, materials and resources related to English pronunciation and pronunciation pedagogy to improve their teaching of pronunciation and benefit their learners, and will hopefully feel more confident to teach pronunciation in their English lessons.

One of the main challenges of planning such a course was to provide relevant and useful content, materials and sources to engage teachers, meet their needs and boost their confidence towards pronunciation teaching. Some of the limitations were that this course was designed before the pandemic, so changes and adaptations are now needed to implement it, e.g. how to teach pronunciation online needs to be included. Nevertheless, the main point of designing this course was to show that it seems unfair to demand more effective pronunciation instruction from teachers if many of them do not feel confident and are not well-trained to do so. They need help and support; more courses and training on English pronunciation and pronunciation pedagogy can help bridge this gap and are urgently needed.

The choice of Brazil was based on my own experience, but the course rationale and framework are easily adaptable to different contexts, or can at least inspire teacher trainers and school owners to create their own courses to support their teachers in terms of pronunciation teaching.

When teachers receive useful information and are given adequate support, they can certainly learn more and improve their teaching, and their learners will undoubtedly and, most importantly, be the ultimate beneficiaries of such a significant development.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/pOWDKHuuQiI a.p.biazon-rocha@sheffield.ac.uk

References

Buss, L. (2016). Beliefs and practices of Brazilian EFL teachers regarding pronunciation.

Language Teaching Research, 20(5), 619–637.

Derwing, T., & Munro, M. (2015). Pronunciation fundamentals: Evidence-based perspectives for L2 teaching and research. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Murphy, J. (Ed.) (2017). Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Second Language: Focus on Whole Courses. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1.3 The impact of professional development on empowering Palestinian women educators Tina Jaber Rafidi Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestinian Territories and Silvia Nassar Mustaklem University of Exeter, UK Introduction

Education is at the heart of the Palestinian identity. Primarily, it is a form of personal and communal resistance that is necessary for engendering an environment that provides and protects human rights and basic human freedoms. As women educators, it is important to engage strategically in all aspects of the academic arena, particularly in the

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Chapter 1: Approaches in teacher development

fields of professional development (PD) and policy making. As part of our entrepreneurial endeavours, it is vital to contribute actively to knowledge transfer and production.

Research context

Women educators in the Palestinian Territories strive to be career-oriented, with a high sense of social responsibility, despite the ongoing struggles that are unique to Palestinian women today. According to PCBS (2020), women represent half of Palestinian society, are among the most educated in the Middle East, despite all the social, cultural and political constraints, and have a 96 per cent literacy rate.

Research objective

The purpose of this paper is to document personal reflections of two Palestinian women educators who were able to transform challenges into possibilities in the field of education by exploring the Experiential learning cycle (ELC) as a reflective practice, despite the social and cultural barriers. Both educators strive to create change in their classroom practices to liberate minds, enrich students’ experiences, and transform values. Passion has been the driving force for these two teachers, who believe that creating a chain of social agents can blur the boundaries between how teachers teach and how they understand what meaningful teaching is.

Professional development (PD)

PD for EFL teachers occurs when teachers advance their skills, knowledge, practice and career through a lifelong process of performing learning practices (Quirke, 2020). In the Palestinian Territories, the ongoing process of PD motivates and aids women in continuing with their ambitions and career. Furthermore, the impact of PD on Palestinian teachers ultimately reflects on learners as global citizens. Palestinian students require internationalised skills and competencies if they are to compete in an increasingly globalised world workforce. Therefore, practising reflection in action is a core value in the process of teaching in a learner-centred environment.

Experiential learning cycle (ELC)

The guiding principle for this research is based on Kolb’s Experiential learning cycle, which states that ‘learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience’ (Kolb, 1984, p. 38). This model assumes that learning is driven from experience as it carries a more holistic view that requires interaction with the surrounding environment to create knowledge (Kolb, 1984). For teachers, learning how to practise the ELC ultimately leads to exploring the elements of reflection, that is to capture thinking in action, revisit reflection in action, experiment with practice by trying something new, move practice forward, and develop a personal theory of practice (Figure 1.3.1). Likewise, exercising the ELC unfolds the potential of learners through experience, thus providing high quality education while shaping their abilities.

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The impact of professional development on empowering Palestinian women educators

Figure 1.3.1: Experiential learning cycle

This paper seeks to demonstrate the impact of practising ELC on career growth through PD. Both teachers were able to construct meaningful contexts to empower and sustain a community of women practitioners. As women educators, we are committed to research-based practices and community engagement while revisiting pedagogical classroom practices in a learner-centred environment.

Moving Forward

Due to the scarcity of research studies that are related to women educators’ reflective practices in the Palestinian Territories, we conducted a mixed-method research study to explore the impact of ELC on women educators during the Covid-19 pandemic using surveys and semi-structured interviews. The study aimed to answer the research question, ‘What is the impact of ELC on Palestinian women educators’ pedagogical practices?’, and sub-questions: • What actions did Palestinian women educators take to adapt to the Covid-19 changes?

• How do women educators revise their practices?

According to the initial findings, most of the teachers stated that Covid-19 impacted their teaching practices. Although the majority of the teachers spend a lot of time planning for their lessons, fewer than half of them are satisfied with their performance. Many participants stated that they reflect on their teaching practices; nonetheless, few participants could recall or mention any reflective models such as Kolb’s learning cycle. However, many of the teachers seem to be indirectly applying parts of the ELC cycle in their teaching practices without being aware of it.

Therefore, raising awareness among Palestinian women educators of the importance and the components of ELC as a theoretical framework to guide them while reflecting is crucial to ensure that professional development becomes a journey of self-awareness, ownership and emancipation.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/L_Ia32l1DhU trafidi@birzeit.edu sfmustak@gmail.com

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Chapter 1: Approaches in teacher development

References Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

PCBS. (2020). The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Announces the Main Results of the Palestinian Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (PMICS), 2019-2020. https:// www.pcbs.gov.ps/site/512/default.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=3871/ Quirke, P. (2020). Creating your own professional development and lifelong learning plan. In C. Coombe, N. Anderson & L. Stephenson (Eds.), Professionalizing Your English Language Teaching: Second Language Learning and Teaching (pp. 263–264). Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

1.4 Enhancing teachers’ professional development by creating Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs) Sevil Aghayeva and Konul Hajiyeva British Council, Azerbaijan

This paper reports on a study which examined a British Council CPD project, ‘Teacher Activity Groups’ (TAGs), to investigate the practice of highly motivated, experienced local EFL teachers who had recently attended teacher training courses and used materials to meet the professional needs of English teachers in their local communities.

The study was based on the view that much can be learnt about how TAGs are established from examining the practices of teachers who share common needs. TAGs were launched in different regions of the country and these groups were examined in terms of their educational and social challenges, and their scope of influence on the teachers’ beliefs and pedagogical knowledge in remote and isolated communities. Thus, the main purpose was to identify the impact and effects of such community of practices on English teachers’ CPD in state schools in remote areas, where there is a lack of resources and limited networking with peers from other areas.

For the purposes of this research, a case study involving multiple methods was carried out. Firstly, all relevant documentation was gathered. This came in the form of monthly reports submitted by the local facilitators, feedback forms, handbooks for both facilitators and participants, training resources for master trainers and any relevant documents regarding the programme itself. The second, more detailed phase of the study involved conducting online surveys developed for the facilitators who conducted monthly workshops, and English teachers in these TAGs. The monthly reports were particularly important as they provided insight into the project implementation and outcomes and challenges facilitators faced while delivering their workshops. The third stage included semi-structured interviews with local facilitators.

As Borg et al. report in their study (2020), TAGs have been conceptualised in a fairly consistent way, with teachers attending monthly workshops, where they are able to discuss their attempts to apply ideas from the modules studied in the classroom.

In our case, the TAG is regarded as a core professional learning activity for teachers, with extra support given outside the monthly workshops using WhatsApp groups or digital channels. One consistent feature of TAGs is its structure – a sequence of stages,

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Enhancing teachers’ professional development by creating Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs)

followed by a workshop and materials. This structure was the same for all TAGs in the country, and workshops followed the structure recommended in the facilitators' handbook.

Analysis shows that teachers involved in TAGs in the capital and suburban areas are more experienced than their regional counterparts (see Figure 1.4.1 for a more detailed overview of TAGs on the map). Western regional facilitators struggle with meeting teachers’ needs and expectations; topics have to be adapted and extended to fit their requirements. However, in the Southern area, the scenario is a bit different.

Although TAGs did not undergo major changes in format, local facilitators faced some challenges with language barriers, which resulted in poor understanding of the booklets. What is more, facilitators’ and teachers’ beliefs gradually changed as they realised that they were moving from traditional Soviet teaching methods to more communicative ways of teaching English.

Figure 1.4.1: TAGs on the map

Findings suggest that TAGs offer teachers an opportunity to create a community that meets to exchange ideas and work collaboratively. They also offer teachers working in isolated and rural communities the chance to benefit from their common needs and take part in sessions that enable them to reflect and share individual practices. It was also observed that while TAGs are limited to a year-long, ready-made course, the further the TAG is from the centre, the more time the community of practice needs to function independently. Additionally, in some instances, facilitators lack the pedagogical skills to conduct effective sessions and the language proficiency to understand the content or take an active part in discussions. Teachers’ attitudes, a reluctance to speak in front of others, and cultural background or norms are also hindering factors.

However, despite these obstacles, TAGs prove to be good communities of practice for teachers who live in less socially-developed areas, and they offer opportunities to develop both language and pedagogical skills.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/vSx8tsC6ths sevil_agayeva@yahoo.com hajiyeva.konul83@gmail.com

Reference

Borg, S., Lightfoot, A., & Gholkar, R. (2020). Professional development through Teacher Activity Groups. A review of evidence from international projects. British Council.

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Chapter 1: Approaches in teacher development

1.5 English in public primary school in Venezuela: a case study Juana Sagaray British Council, Venezuela, Maria-Teresa Fernandez

Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL), Venezuela and Wendy Arnold co-founder of ELT Consultants, UK Background

Venezuela is a Latin American country whose official language is Spanish. English is spoken by academics and some professionals, and it is needed for the oil industry and for tourism.

In Venezuela, English as a subject is only compulsory in secondary schools, while in primary only private schools include English in their classes. In 2007, English content was included in the national curriculum for primary, but its implementation has not been possible in most schools, because there are not enough trained teachers of English to cover the demand.

In 2013, the British Council collaborated with the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL), the main teacher training university in Venezuela, in order to develop a programme to introduce English to public primary schools by training generalist primary school teachers. This project lasted a year and about 200 teachers in six states were trained.

In 2016, the British Council and the Ministry of Education collaborated on the project ‘English in the Public Primary School’, in which generalist primary teachers are trained to introduce English to Grade 4, 5 and 6 students (Lopez de D’Amico & Gregson, 2019). The teachers’ level is CEFR A0 and through the training programme they are taken to A1. The teachers are also trained in appropriate young learner teaching methodology focusing on student participation. They learn as they do. They use simple phrases to communicate in the target language. Games and songs are integrated, and learning materials are created by students, teachers and, sometimes, parents.

2018–2019 case study methodology

In 2018–2019, a case study took place for monitoring and evaluation purposes. Its main goal was to evaluate the impact of the project. For this study, after preliminary surveys, ten teachers were selected according to a selection profile. The teachers were located in different regions of the country including rural and urban areas. The selection profile stated that teachers should: • be working in either Grade 4, 5 or 6; • have an English level at CEFR A0; • have 5–10 years of teaching experience; and • use the teaching materials designed for the programme.

The figures below give details of the data collection and stakeholder groups.

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English in public primary school in Venezuela: a case study

Figure 1.5.1: Data collection – stakeholder group 1

Figure 1.5.2: Data collection – stakeholder group 2

Findings: teachers

We found that the project had a positive impact on the generalist teachers. They reported that they had improved their teaching practice, not only when teaching English but also when teaching other subjects. They included pair and group work, clear instructions, creating their own teaching resources using recycled materials, and incorporating games and songs that make the lessons more enjoyable. The teachers witnessed progress in their own and students’ English learning, and felt their lessons were a success; all of this has increased their confidence and self-esteem.

Teachers faced multiple challenges, mainly external, such as electricity shortages, public transportation crises and fuel scarcity, among others. However, they managed to overcome these difficulties to continue in the programme.

Findings: students

The students were also positively impacted by this project. A common factor in all observed lessons was their motivation; their enthusiasm and willingness to participate in the class activities was evident.

Some children’s behaviour also improved. Teachers said they were more interested in the classes, and more focused as they had fun and were engaged in the lessons.

Findings: school community

The school community was also positively impacted. Principals, janitors, parents and

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Chapter 1: Approaches in teacher development

other teachers and students expressed admiration and recognised the work of the generalist teachers who were introducing English into their classrooms.

Conclusion

This project has had a profoundly positive impact on teachers, students and the school community. It has empowered teachers, whose self-esteem and confidence has increased. Students were also empowered, as they were not only learning something new but also something useful. The project has also involved parents who cooperated with the creation of teaching resources.

Continuation of the teaching of English during the pandemic

ELT Consultants have been the British Council, Venezuela’s, consultants, supporting the production of teacher training and classroom materials since 2013 (Arnold & Gregson, 2019). During the pandemic, both online and offline platforms were commissioned for the teacher training and classroom materials, and the development of stories for radio programmes (Lopez de D’Amico & Hutchinson, 2021).

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/IZFjeCb6JTg juana.sagaray@britishcouncil.org.ve mtfernandezdituri@gmail.com wendy@elt-consultants.com

References

Arnold, W., & Gregson, M. (2019). Changing the mindset: sustainable reform in Venezuelan state education. In T. Pattison (Ed.), IATEFL 2018 Brighton Conference Selections (pp.

130–132). Canterbury: IATEFL. López de D’Amico, R., & Gregson, M. (2019). La Primaria en Venezuela y la segunda lengua: Educación continua. Caracas: British Council & CENAMEC. https://www.britishcouncil.org. ve/sites/default/files/la_primaria_en_venezuela.pdf López de D’Amico, R., & Hutchinson, R. (2021). Experiencias de formación en el área de Inglés durante la pandemia. Caracas: British Council, CENAMEC & UNEM. https://www. britishcouncil.org.ve/sites/default/files/2021-experiencias-de_formacion-de-ingles-envenezuela-enero2021_def.pdf

1.6 Mentoring teacher research Richard Smith University of Warwick, UK Why this topic?

Teacher research (research done by teachers into issues of importance in their work) can have a long-lasting positive impact on teachers and learners. Quite a few resources on classroom-based research are nowadays available (e.g. Rebolledo et al., 2016; Smith & Rebolledo, 2018). However, there is a lack of guidance on how to support teacher research, particularly for prospective mentors. Such guidance is needed because teacher research mentoring can help teachers get started and can maintain

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Mentoring teacher research

their motivation, thus spreading the benefits of teacher research. Yet, it does not generally occur, without training and support.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring involves ‘sharing knowledge, skills and experience in order to encourage and empower another person … enhancing teachers’ autonomy to develop for themselves, increasing their ability and willingness to take control of their own learning rather than judging or directly advising them or telling them all the answers’ (Smith, 2020, p. 14).

When is mentoring useful for teacher researchers?

Experience gained on the British Council Action Research Mentoring Scheme (ARMS) in India and Nepal (2017–20) showed that the following were particularly necessary but challenging for prospective mentors of teacher research: • helping teachers to select a topic; • guiding teachers to develop research questions; • preparing teachers to collect data; • guiding teachers to analyse and interpret data; • supporting teachers to plan and evaluate change; and • helping teachers to share and reflect on their research.

Based on ARMS experience, a freely downloadable handbook was developed for teacher research mentors worldwide (Smith, 2020), ideas from which were shared during the workshop.

Helping teachers to select a topic and develop research questions

Through dialogue, a teacher can be helped to identify recent successes or problems, and to select one issue which is the most interesting, important, and beneficial and practicable to explore. The mentor can then probe further with questions like these: • What were the signs of your success or problem?

• What were the reasons for it?

At some points, a mentor may need to challenge assumptions, by asking, for example, ‘Are you sure?’ or ‘Why do you think [X]?’ When a teacher expresses uncertainty, for example by saying ‘I think [Y]’ but with no actual evidence, the mentor can suggest converting the uncertainty into an exploratory research question (see Smith, 2020, chapters 7 and 8). The final choice of research focus will be the teacher’s, however, in response to a mentoring question like the following: • What do you want to explore further, to understand your success/problem more deeply?

Preparing teachers to collect, analyse and interpret data

Once a teacher has clear research questions in mind, a mentor can usefully help them identify the kinds of data they need, guiding them, also, to integrate data collection into everyday teaching (see Figure 1.6.1).

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Figure 1.6.1: Feasible data for teacher research (source: Smith & Rebolledo, 2018, p. 50)

For exploring students’ perceptions, elicited reflective writing can, for example, be very informative. Teachers can be shown how to group different answers thematically by using keywords, as in the following example of student reflections relating to ‘What leads to loss of concentration, according to students?’: 1 Other students talking too much 2 The teacher talking for too long 3 When other students misbehave 4 There’s no space for asking questions

[other students’ behaviour]. [teacher lecturing]. [other students’ behaviour]. [teacher lecturing].

Through further dialogue, a mentor can help the teacher interpret findings and decide whether further exploration or a change in teaching behaviour is needed. In this case, for example, the teacher could be guided to make a simple questionnaire using students’ statements as items, to see if these are idiosyncratic or commonly held opinions. Discussion could then focus on how to reduce teacher talking time or reduce disruptive behaviour, if these are generally perceived to be problems.

Helping teachers to share and reflect on their research

Teachers can be shown how to share their research via means other than a formal written report, for example via oral presentation to students or teachers, at a specially organised event, a conference, or online (e.g. via webinar or uploaded recording).

Whether written or oral, an exploratory action research report may need to include the following (see Smith, 2020, chapter 12): • context description; • topic/issue and how it arose; • research questions; • types of data; • findings; • description of new actions; • evaluation of effects; and • overall reflections.

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Shifting the mentor-mentee relationship: enhancing capabilities and increasing efficacy

Follow-up

I ended by inviting participants to join a developing international teacher research mentoring community (via www.facebook.com/groups/mentoringTR and mentoring-tr.weebly.com/). I also suggested ways (see Smith, 2020, chapter 5) for mentors to get involved in researching their practice, for their own further development and that of the profession as a whole.

Acknowledgement

I acknowledge the support of the University of Warwick and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/T502054/1).

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/UHTl9eSPEJY R.C.Smith@warwick.ac.uk

References

Rebolledo, P., Smith, R., & Bullock, D. (2016). Champion Teachers: stories of exploratory action research. British Council. http://bit.ly/champion-teachers Smith, R., & Rebolledo, P. (2018). A handbook for exploratory action research. British Council. http://bit.ly/handbook-EAR Smith, R. (2020). Mentoring teachers to research their classrooms: a practical handbook. British Council. https://bit.ly/mentoring-TR

1.7 Shifting the mentor-mentee relationship: enhancing capabilities and increasing efficacy Sanaa Abdel Hady Makhlouf The American University in Cairo, Egypt Introduction

This talk reported on a different approach to mentoring, why it took a different form during the global pandemic, how the shift from face-to-face to online mentoring involved synchronous and asynchronous communication, what the challenges facing both the mentor and mentees were, and what recommendations were made. Although the shift to online mentoring had its challenges, the rewards far outweighed its limitations. Participants were one teacher with much experience in teaching academic English to freshman students, and two mentees completing their master’s degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Mentoring took place during spring 2020 and 2021 semesters. Like most institutions, we moved to online teaching in spring 2020, thus shifting the mentoring set-up from face-to-face to virtual teaching. The purpose of this study was to understand the challenges of engaging in a virtual mentoring relationship, to select the needed instructional tools, to reflect on best ways of mentoring, and to make recommendations that will help future mentors.

What is efficacy?

The term efficacy is a self-reflective concept referring to what a person can do with their skills to attain a desired goal. Those with high self-efficacy believe in themselves,

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are able to better perform tasks and constantly challenge themselves to succeed (Woolfolk Hoy & Burke Spero, 2005). One of the goals of this talk was to find ways to increase the mentees’ self-efficacy.

Shifting the mentor-mentee relationship

Due to the global pandemic and closure of the university, mentoring took place virtually. For best results, both the mentor and mentees went through three stages leading to a successful working relationship. The first stage was to develop mutual trust, respect and honest communication. The second was to provide mentees with leadership support and opportunities for professional development. The third stage was to develop clear departmental guidelines for both mentors and mentees to abide by.

This was followed by the selection of tools such as Zoom, Blackboard, shared Google documents and slides, and Turnitin for all synchronous and asynchronous teaching.

Best practices

For mentoring to lead to high self-efficacy, best practices were applied during synchronous and asynchronous classes where the mentees were required to teach an hour a day. Mentees were encouraged to reflect on the mentor’s teaching strategies. Moreover, they learnt to handle any discipline problems during online or face-to-face classes as well as tend to the needs of students with special needs. After class, the mentor discussed the mentees’ strengths before weaknesses, and highlighted the importance of building good rapport with students. Experiencing and managing authentic teaching practices led to higher self-efficacy and more professional growth.

Professional development opportunities for the mentee

Novice teachers always need to be given opportunities for their own professional growth. Throughout this mentoring process, mentees were included in various departmental meetings, curriculum design discussions, materials development processes, exam proctoring, and workshops. This increased their self-confidence, brought them face-to-face with real issues facing teachers and students, and allowed them to find creative and practical ways to overcome challenges.

Challenges facing mentees

When the mentoring relationship was shifted to a virtual one, mentees confronted unexpected frustrations. Trying to synchronise meeting times with the mentor or students was always an issue that sometimes led to miscommunication, misinformation and misunderstanding between the mentor and mentees, or mentees and students. In addition, mentees constantly worried about their rapport with both the students and mentor since written evaluations were submitted to the department which, if negative, could somewhat jeopardise their career prospects. The mentor, on the other hand, did not always have time to address all the mentees’ concerns, so juggling between lesson planning, students’ demands, online teaching and after-hours meetings, was not always easy.

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Shifting the mentor-mentee relationship: enhancing capabilities and increasing efficacy

Recommendations

In order to successfully overcome many of the challenges faced by the mentor and mentees, three areas needed to be addressed. First, experienced and novice teachers had to understand learners’ needs, background knowledge and the values they uphold. Second, teachers had to redesign the learning process, and select appropriate instructional tools for synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Third, sharing mentees’ self-reflective journals about the mentoring process was a much needed resource that bridged gaps between all parties involved, leading to higher efficacy levels.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges during online mentoring, mentees did exceptionally well.

The key lay in reciprocity, cooperation, honest communication and mutual respect between all parties involved. Based on this experience, mentees’ self-efficacy increased as they were immersed in authentic teaching experiences.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/yk5Tk9f9wds sanaaam@aucegypt.edu

Reference

Woolfolk Hoy, A., & Burke Spero, R. (2005). Changes in efficacy during the early years of Teaching: A Comparison of four measures. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(4), 343–356.

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2

Teacher development: issues and concerns

Continuing the theme of teacher development, the papers in chapter 2 raise issues and concerns around the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers.

The chapter starts by focusing on teachers themselves, and how they face what is generally considered a demanding profession. In the first paper, Niki Christodoulou draws on principles of Neuroscience and Reflective Practice to discuss how teacher wellbeing links to owning emotions, and the implications of this for teacher education programmes. In a similar vein, Gwyneth James addresses the notion and importance of resilience in teaching, and offers some practical suggestions on how this can be fostered. Moving on to CPD activity, David M. Barnard presents the findings of a small-scale study into English language teachers’ engagement with published research; while Amol Padwad examines the effectiveness of teachers carrying out their own research, by comparing three separate initiatives he took part in in India. In the next paper, the focus is on Teacher Associations, and Beatrix Price reports on a study into what constitutes motivating behaviour of association leaders to sustain their learning organisations, while offering some practical suggestions for maintaining long-term CPD goals. Next, Elena Ončevska Ager critiques the traditional ‘sandwich-approach’ to teacher learning, and describes her experiences of using a more mentee-centred model. Sofia Di Giallonardo focuses on professional identity, reporting on the changes that a group of EAP teachers underwent over a five-year period. The two papers that complete this chapter both discuss the impact of workshop training on teacher behaviour. Kalyan Chattopadhyay reports on a CPD project among secondary teachers in West Bengal, which focused on effective feedback on students’ writing; Amal Farhat describes the impact of a ‘games’ training session on teachers’ automaticity in a small private school in Lebanon.

2.1 Reflective Practice meets Neuroscience: EFL teachers owning their emotions Niki Christodoulou University of Nicosia, Cyprus Introduction

Although emotions are the epicentre of teachers’ work, teacher emotions are a neglected component in learning and teaching. Research on teacher emotion worldwide shows that teachers who feel valued and appreciated experience a sense of wellbeing which positively correlates with their commitment to stay in the profession. According to Acton & Glasgow (2015), teacher wellbeing is the ‘individual sense of personal

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Reflective Practice meets Neuroscience: EFL teachers owning their emotions

professional fulfilment, satisfaction, purposefulness, and happiness, [which is] constructed in a collaborative process with colleagues and students’ (p. 102). Instead of experiencing wellbeing, however, most teachers suffer from anxiety and depression due to emotional exhaustion from pressures at work and do not receive sufficient guidance about their mental health (Savill-Smith & Scanlan, 2020). In TEFL, there is a high teacher exodus due to stress and job dissatisfaction which mainly stems from poor collegial relationships, ‘critical’ (in the sense of judgemental) emotional cultures and the lack of appreciation toward EFL teachers and their work. This paper briefly describes how the fields of Reflective Practice and Neuroscience intersect to empower EFL teachers to learn to take responsibility and ownership of their emotions, thus enhancing their wellbeing.

Emotional labour in TEFL

An effective regulation of emotion is known to be integral to teacher efficacy and wellbeing. Teachers’ ability to manage their emotions, however, is often hindered due to emotional labour (EL) – the physical and emotional exhaustion and stress – which is caused by external and internal pressures in teaching. In TEFL, teachers experience EL not only from having to accommodate institutional demands and diverse student needs but also from feeling the discrepancy between their expected self-image and their current roles. Moreover, in higher education (HE), emotional exhaustion among EFL teachers comes from an awareness that they are negatively perceived as ‘second class citizens’ with little or no received pedagogical knowledge. The ‘critical’ in the sense of judgemental attitudes and judgemental talk in various EFL contexts creates an emotional culture in which teachers suppress their ‘voice’ and hide or fake their true emotions. As a result, EFL teachers stagnate in cultures where they feel unappreciated and marginalised, with negative emotions contributing to teacher burnout and low morale.

The new ‘critical’ in Reflective Practice

The ‘critical’ can have an empowering potential when it entails open-minded reflective approaches which include different teacher perspectives in non-judgemental contexts.

In research (Christodoulou, 2016) conducted on how the process of Guided Reflective Practice can impact the ‘self ’ and practice of five HE EFL teachers and the researchermentor, the ‘learning compass’ used in the reflective interactions was one of positive emotions of appreciation, respect, humility, gratitude, love and joy. Teachers felt free to reflect and own their emotions (negative and positive) because they interacted in a non-judgemental environment. The ‘critical’ in the research existed only in the sense that the EFL teachers and the researcher-mentor were each other’s ‘critical friends’, challenging themselves to improve using only positive language and positive attitudes.

The appreciative nature of all reflective interactions in the research combined with the ‘evolutionary mentoring’ undertaken by the researcher-mentor created a culture of ‘positive emotionality’ which led to the teachers’ transformational learning and reflective/reflexive development and enhanced wellbeing. The absence of ‘critical as judgemental’ was the catalyst that reduced stress and empowered EFL teachers with a renewed belief in themselves and the TEFL profession.

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

.

Reflective Practice and Neuroscience Principles from the fields of Reflective Practice and Neuroscience intersect to equip EFL teachers not only with new teaching methods and strategies but also with an awareness of the enormous potential of the human mind and heart. Neuroscience presuppositions were discovered by the author, who is also a certified Neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, to have quite a few commonalities with Guided Reflective Practice principles. One such principle common in both Reflective Practice and Neuroscience underlines the importance of emotional state in determining perceptions, behaviour and results, including the way we learn. Consequently, emotions influence the way EFL teachers perceive themselves and how their self-image affects performance. EFL teachers, however, must be made aware of the fact that they are responsible for their emotions. For this to happen, EFL teachers must learn how to reflect and own their emotions in non-judgemental cultures. Teacher education of this kind empowers EFL teachers to assume responsibility (not blame) for their learning and development.

Conclusion

Principles from the fields of Reflective Practice and Neuroscience can be used to infuse and transform teacher education programmes. EFL teachers have a lot to gain from reflective mentoring in non-judgemental contexts where they can feel free to own their emotions.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/9d7R6H_ODr0 dr.niki.christodoulou@gmail.com

References

Acton, R., & Glasgow, P. (2015). Teacher Wellbeing in Neoliberal Contexts: A Review of the Literature. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(8). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ ajte.2015v40n8.6 Christodoulou, N. (2016). Reflective Development through the Care Model: Empowering Teachers of English as a Foreign Language. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Savill-Smith, C., & Scanlan, D. (2020, November). Teacher Wellbeing Index (pp. 1–80).

Education Support.

2.2 Who are resilient ELT teachers?

Gwyneth James University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK Setting the scene

Think of a recent experience, within the last 3–6 months, in which you overcame a difficult teaching situation. How did you overcome it? Would you describe that as resilience?

In a study focused on resilience in early career ELT teachers, which my colleague and I conducted (James & de Laurentiis Brandão, 2019), we discovered that, on the

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Who are resilient ELT teachers?

whole, our participants did not seem to align their ability to overcome a difficult experience with being resilient. When asked to define resilience, many of them struggled, beyond the common understanding of ‘bouncing back’ from an adverse situation. The focus of this short paper is to look at three questions: 1) What is resilience in teaching?

2) Why is it important? 3) What is helpful for fostering teacher resilience?

What is resilience in teaching?

Much resilience in teaching has been researched from the context of primary and secondary education, not language teacher education or ELT. Gu & Day (2007) looked at data from UK-based primary and secondary teachers and defined resilience as a ‘multifaceted and unstable construct’ (p. 1314), a somewhat generic description.

They do, however, go on to clarify key features of resilience, the first of which is the capacity to continue to bounce back. The addition of ‘continue’ is vital, as resilience is not something we do once and then tick off our never-ending to do lists. Further key features outlined include resilience as being a dynamic interaction between internal factors of the individual, e.g. positive emotions such as joy which fuel what they term psychological resilience, and external factors, e.g. the individual’s work environment and colleagues. So, it is neither one nor the other but both. Additionally, the authors highlight that it encompasses a sense of purpose – often the rewards we gain from teaching – and fluctuates over time and varies from person to person. Resilience is therefore not something which we are born with but rather something we have to continuously work at and develop.

Why is it important?

Teaching is a complex and demanding profession and recently there has been a recognition for the need to shift the focus of research into teachers’ resilience from a negative perspective (i.e. the stress teachers face and issues that cause attrition) to a more positive one (i.e. what sustains them and enables them to continue in their profession). This is especially pertinent considering that resilience is ‘closely allied to a strong sense of vocation, self-efficacy and motivation to teach’ (Gu & Day, 2007, p.

1302). It is also important that teachers model resilience for their pupils and students; the authors state that it is unrealistic to expect our students to be resilient if we ourselves do not demonstrate resilient qualities.

What is helpful for fostering teacher resilience?

Some teachers’ responses we have garnered are: management support, seeking help, sharing difficulties with colleagues; and outside the work environment: friends, family, yoga, running, nature and walking, among others.

The relevant literature supports much of this. Johnson et al. (2015) conducted a large Australian-based study looking at resilience in early career teachers, and echoed the fundamental and undeniable fact that ‘teaching is intense and complex and not just the responsibility of the individual’ (pp. 29–30). Their suggestions for fostering resilience are wide-ranging, but focusing on the area of teachers’ work, some of their examples are as follows (pp. 32–33) – italics indicate those at whom the suggestions are aimed:

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

• E nsure that early career teachers have adequate time to plan, act and reflect on their teaching – employers.

• Be mindful that it takes time, energy and support to become a good teacher – school leaders, directors.

• Initiate conversations with (early career) teachers about what works; share ideas and resources willingly – (more experienced) colleagues.

• Find a good mentor; don’t compare yourself to more experienced colleagues; attend to personal relationships – early career teachers.

So, who are resilient ELT teachers?

In summary, then, resilient teachers are those who: • sometimes overcome difficulties (successfully) and sometimes not; • develop the capacity to continue to bounce back; • have a (strong) sense of purpose; • work at it (i.e. it’s not an innate quality); • recognise it’s not (simply) an individual trait; • establish a collaborative rather than individualistic approach to seeking solutions; • find/have a good mentor; • don’t compare themselves unrealistically with others; and • attend to personal relationships outside work.

Going back to the beginning and thinking of the difficulty you overcame, would you now see yourself as a resilient teacher if you didn’t initially?

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/Nhf8H62Bgt0 g.m.james@herts.ac.uk

References

Gu, Q., & Day, C. (2007). Teachers’ resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1302–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.006 James, G., & de Laurentiis Brandão, A. (2019). ELT teachers’ stories of resilience, ELT Research Papers 19.06. British Council.

Johnson, B., Down, B., Le Cornu, R., Peters, J., Sullivan, A., Pearce, J., & Hunter, J. (2015).

Early career teachers: Stories of resilience. Springer.

2.3 Exploring English language teachers’ engagement with published research David M. Barnard University of Aberdeen, UK Introduction

As a language teacher and early career researcher, I am always excited by a conference like IATEFL; however, I wonder how relevant many delegates find the sessions and what effect such engagement has on classrooms. Such thoughts produced a scribble in my notebook a few years ago, while attending the Brighton Conference, which grew into wonder about English language teachers and their relationship with published

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Exploring English language teachers’ engagement with published research

research. As my doctoral studies followed similar lines, I took the opportunity to do a small pilot study into English language teachers’ engagement with published research, with an aim to present at this year’s IATEFL conference.

My own experience has shown that critical engagement with published research as part of my continuing professional development (CPD) has considerable benefits. This seems broadly in line with thinking about professionalism in many of the expected standards of teaching across the world. Additionally, a quick literature search suggested this topic had yet to have been exhaustively explored. Thus, the following two research questions, kept broad for methodological reasons, suggested themselves: • What are English language teachers’ perspectives on current published research?

• How do English language teachers utilise published research in their teaching?

Method

The study employed a partial grounded theory methodology (see Birks & Mills, 2011) to explore the teachers’ engagement with published research. In grounded theory, data are collected and analysed before they are explored with current thinking to produce new generalisable theories. As my study was exploratory, I felt this methodology offered an appropriate framework. However, I refer to the study as a partial approach as I am not aiming to code to exhaustion or generate theory but offer food for thought.

Aberdeen University ethically approved the study before data were gathered by me and another researcher in Hong Kong. 15 volunteer English language teachers participated in 15–20 -minute recorded unstructured interviews, before transcriptions were produced and coded. An In Vivo style of coding was used first, before being followed by a process approach (Saldaña, 2016). The emergent themes are reported below.

Results

The process coding produced nine themes which are briefly reported here. Please see the presentation recording and later publications for a more in-depth consideration. The nine themes included: 1) motivating to engage with published research; 2) searching for new research; 3) engaging critically with the research base; 4) informing teaching; 5) preferring practice over theory; 6) connecting with others; 7) attending conferences; 8) limiting factors on the use of published research; and 9) doing research.

Several points of interest stood out. First, all participants considered time a seriously limiting factor, both due to typical work demands and the absence of official time for critical engagement. Additionally, the expense of conferences, including travel and fees, was mentioned repeatedly. Another strong indication was that teachers mainly engaged with research in response to classroom experiences, often fixing a problem or reflecting on an area for improvement. This experience tallied with five participants who identified a strong preference for practical knowledge over what was considered impractical theory. Finally, it was also suggested that the quality at conferences often varied, with some seeing it as a chance to have a holiday, practise presenting their research, or sell books.

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

Discussion and conclusion

I doubt the identified areas surprise anyone who is a teacher and is familiar with the work demands. Indeed, many of the ideas are reminiscent of work done by Sato & Loewen (2019). My interests push me to consider the notion of time itself and how it is perceived in education as part of the equation of learning; how learning is often considered at teacher and student levels to be a competitive linear process of input-output as measured by the ticking clock. Additionally, the lack of official time for critical engagement with published research is troubling. It suggests management may not be taking the role of published research in CPD seriously, despite its broad inclusion in structures of teacher control, like standards. Also concerning, although I have reservations about the false dichotomy of theory/practice, is perhaps a knock-on effect of an over-focus on practicality that could be driving a reduction in originality within published research. Are we all participating in a never-ending generational cycle of regurgitation of methods, repacked and sold by overly powerful publishers?

Something, perhaps, for further thought.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/68MGwL17g8o dmbarnard82@gmail.com

References

Birks, M., & Mills, J. (2011). Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide. SAGE. Saldaña, J. (2016). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (3rd ed.). SAGE. Sato, M., & Loewen, S. (2019). Do teachers care about research? The research-pedagogy dialogue. ELT Journal 73(1), 1–10.

2.4 Promoting teacher research: comparing case studies Amol Padwad Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi, India Background

This presentation intends to raise some questions about teacher research (TR) based on a comparison of three TR activities which I had first-hand experience of as a facilitator, consultant and mentor. The discussion below relates to the first iteration of each activity and draws on anecdotal data, personal observations and reports on the activities. The term TR is used here in the broad sense of teachers, usually without any research training or experience, conducting short explorations in their classrooms or work contexts with the support of mentors, typically as a part of some initiative or project.

Case 1: AINET-TRI

TRI (The Teacher Research Initiative) of the AINET Association India, in which teachers voluntarily join to undertake TR, emerged out of AINET members’ demand and perceived need. The first cycle of TRI in 2015–16 attracted 46 teachers through an open invitation, who were supported through face-to-face workshops, emails and phone calls by peers and AINET mentors. The original ‘research’ cycle of an academic year extended longer for most participants, to nearly two years in some cases.

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Promoting teacher research: comparing case studies

Research training included basics of research design, data collection and analysis, and inferencing, with literature review and formats of reporting added towards the end.

An important feature of this group was considerable familiarity among all members.

Case 2: BC-AARMS

AARMS (Aptis Action Research Mentoring Scheme) of the British Council, launched in 2017, offered funding and mentoring support to ‘mentors’ to help mentees undertake TR studies. These ‘mentors’ were in turn supported by two experienced ‘supermentors’ engaged by the British Council. In the first round 14 ‘mentors’ helped 85 mentees to engage in TR. AARMS restricted research themes to four areas: assessment, multilingualism, ICT and 21st century skills. The research training provided to the mentors (and presumably by them to their mentees) included an overview of research methods, data collection and analysis and alternative ways of reporting.

Case 3: AUD-TAR

A short-term CPD course ‘Teachers as Researchers’ (TAR) for in-service teachers was piloted by AUD (Ambedkar University Delhi) in 2019. This 6-month course consisted of 3 months each of taught classes and research studies. University faculty taught and mentored the 13 participants, whose research training consisted of modules on academic research methods and designs. A largely conventional format of reporting was followed to report on studies.

Comparison of cases

All three activities involved mentoring of practising teachers (usually in groups) by senior teachers or academics along a largely linear TR trajectory from identifying research questions to reporting. All studies were one-off and short-term, aligned with the academic year, without extension or recurrence and with little follow-up. The TR process seems to be modelled after academic research, though downplaying its norms and standards. However, unlike AINET-TRI and AUD-TAR, not all mentors in BC-AARMS had research experience. AUD-TAR and BC-AARMS were much less flexible about themes, timelines and research frameworks than AINET-TRI. AUDTAR and BC-AARMS were ‘top-down’, unlike AINET-TRI which emerged from demands and needs of teachers.

Data collected during and after these activities, including personal notes and observations, participant interviews, reports and records of activities (Padwad & Dixit, 2018; Smith & Padwad, 2018), lead to some interesting points. Participants listed finding research questions among the top difficulties in TR. Few participants had prior plans or ready concerns when joining TR. While participants counted several personal and professional gains from TR, hardly any mentioned finding answers to original questions, or findings informing their practice.

The foregoing discussion points to some critical questions regarding TR: 1 While all three initiatives assume that teachers come to TR to address a concern or a problem, it is highly plausible that teachers join TR for various other reasons. If this is true, what implications does it have for conceptualising and delivering TR initiatives?

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

2 If a short-term objective of TR is to help teachers address some practical concern, this does not seem to be happening, nor prioritised by teachers. In that case, how far should finding solutions to problems be given priority in TR? With what implications?

3 I f a long-term objective of TR is to develop teachers as researchers, short one-off studies, weak on research training and experience, may not be helpful. What kind of rethinking and restructuring is required in designing and implementing TR initiatives?

These questions need urgent attention, as TR seems to be replicated in several parts of the world along one or more of the three models discussed here without addressing these fundamental issues. TR is likely to remain ineffective and tokenistic unless these issues are explored and addressed.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/pyBdgdAlXBA amolpadwad@gmail.com

References

Padwad, A., & Dixit, K. (2018). Developing as researchers: promoting teachers’ CPD through engagement with research. In A. Keedwell (Ed.), Explorations: Teaching and Learning English in India, Issue 9 (pp. 6–12). British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.in/sites/default/ files/eltrep_issue_9.pdf Smith, R., & Padwad, A. (2018). Analysis of Mentor Reports in AARMS. Personal notes from the AARMS Project (unpublished).

2.5 Motivational currents in English language teachers’ associations Beatrix Price Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary Rationale

In recent years the world and education systems have been rapidly changing in both social and technological terms; therefore, English language teachers’ associations (ELTAs) have an even greater role in keeping their members up to date with quality education and building supporting professional networks. Teachers can access online resources, join online communities and attend webinars for free. Therefore, paid ELT conference attendance is decreasing and some ELTAs have either become dormant or died in recent years. The big international conferences, IATEFL and TESOL, attract many local ELTA leaders, and as conference participants belong not only to these international associations but to their national associates or affiliates, annual conferences could work as a catalyst for them. This paper introduces the findings of a fouryear international ELTA research study and the motivating behaviour of association leaders to sustain their learning organisations, and offers some practical suggestions for maintaining long-term goals.

Theoretical background

In the introduction to my talk I referred to the tripartite ‘possible selves’ concept (Markus & Nurius, 1986): 1) how to achieve the desired Ideal self in the future; 2)

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Motivational currents in English language teachers’ associations

how to comply with duties and requirements, (‘Ought-to self ’); and 3) battle with the detrimental Feared selves. I used the Possible English Language Teachers Association Self System (Price, 2018), focusing on the divided ‘Ought-to self ’, that can work as a guideline for ELTAs. Methods

My research involved both quantitative and qualitative research. Building on the results of a previous focus group interview study, a new questionnaire study investigated ELTAs’ CPD practices to gain a better understanding of the goals ELTAs strive toward. Data collection lasted eight months, from April to November 2019, with leaders of 54 ELTAs from all five continents.

Discussion

I argued that ELTAs have to fulfil certain requirements in order to remain an ELTA, and face external expectations, occasionally against their leaders’ will or desires. If conditions are favourable, external influences turn into motivating behaviour in a positive way and have inspiring influence, equivalent to the Ideal future ELTA self. If local conditions are not conducive, external factors act rather as a hindrance. Thus, the constrictive elements restrict their will, and often result in failure or demotivation for further action like the Feared future ELTA self. The findings confirmed that the ambivalent Ought-to ELTA self has both positive and negative sides, depending on the current leaders’ motivation and the actual context of the community.

Implications and recommendations

Conscious reflection on successes and challenges always leads to improvement within ELTAs (Gnawali, 2018), and therefore better understanding of how the different forms of CPD provided by these associations affect their members’ professional lives.

To conclude, a roadmap for ELTAs was suggested, by identifying an organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats by comparing dreams and the reality.

Table 2.5.1 represents a checklist for ELTAs, where the constrictive elements in each area can guide leaders to find the possible pitfalls that they should avoid and keep the constructive components in mind to sustain their organisations.

Component

Constructive elements

Constrictive elements

Providing CPD to members

Conferences, CPD events, SIG days, webinars and publications

Only conferences; occasional CPD events; neglecting publications

Membership

Growing number

Decreasing number

Social aspect

Creating a vibrant community; social evenings at conferences

No evening programmes at conferences; no social life

Collaboration with external bodies

Good relationship with: publishers, BC, RELO, ministry; exhibitors at CPD events

Publishers organise their own events; BC, RELO stop their sponsorship; no relationship with ministry

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns Financial obligations

Members pay membership fees; ELTA is compliant with tax

ELTA does not chase membership fees; semi-legal practices

Regulatory compliance

Complying with laws and regulations; legal documents are valid; change in board members are documented

Legal documents are not updated; change in board members are not documented

Transparency

Information about ELTA’s life, documents are easily accessible; skills and knowledge available to members

Task-holders keep their knowledge to themselves; website not user-friendly; resources not uploaded

Accountability

Leaders pay attention to members’ needs; delegation to committee members

Leaders take benefits provided

by ELTAs; keep own interest

Reputation

Good external image; logo, website, social media sites; PR

Spreading bad news; gossip

Continuity in leadership

Clearly-set rota of leadership positions and a predictable change; well-oiled mechanism

Leaders hold on to their positions for too long; burnout, apathy, ‘power hunger’

Succession

Recruiting volunteers, especially students; mentoring new task-holders

Sensitive period during changeover; unclear positions and unresolved conflicts

Sustainability

Legacy: a strong desire for leaders; keep the ELTA alive; vibrant ELTA

Despair and apprehension; no need for CPD provided by ELTAs; dead ELTA.

Table 2.5.1: Checklist for ELTAs

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/a5yDYjN4wos

References

price.beatrix@btk.elte.hu

Gnawali, L. (2018). Bringing language teacher associations together. In A. Elsheikh, C. Coombe, & O. Effiong (Eds.), The Role of language teachers associations in Professional Development (pp. 163–172). Springer.

Markus, H. R., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969.

Price, B. (2018). The Interconnectedness of ‘Possible Selves’ in running English Language Teachers’ Associations. Working Papers in Language Pedagogy, 12, 94–119.

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Challenging the ‘positive-negative-positive sandwich’: creating non-evaluative spaces for teacher learning

2.6 Challenging the ‘positive-negative-positive sandwich’: creating non-evaluative spaces for teacher learning Elena Ončevska Ager Saints Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North

Macedonia In my talk, I created a case for abandoning the ‘sandwich approach’ (Schwarz, 2013), which seems to be ubiquitously used in mentoring in favour of a more mentee-centred model called Systematic Informed Reflective Practice (SIRP) (Malderez, 2015).

I illustrated the structure and the potential benefits of the model by discussing transcript excerpts from a SIRP mentoring session.

Why not the ‘sandwich approach’?

The ‘sandwich approach’ refers to mentoring sessions in which the mentor starts and finishes the session by sharing their positive feedback, sandwiching any criticism in-between. The main risk of adopting such mentor-centred approaches is that the mentor’s feedback may not be relevant to the mentee’s developmental level. Instead of the mentor ‘meeting’ the mentee where they are to discuss aspects of teaching that the mentee is primed to learn about, the reverse seems to be assumed: that the mentee will ‘meet’ the mentor where the mentor is, which might not be very useful for the mentee’s learning. Also, it can be argued that power, as exemplified by who shares praise and criticism, is unequally distributed. This can undermine the mentoring relationship which successful learning typically depends on: when threatened by criticism, mentees’ instinctive reaction tends to be defence or withdrawal, rather than development, i.e. learning. Finally, the ‘sandwich’ model is so predictable that mentees sometimes report that mentors’ initial positive feedback washes over them as they anticipate learning about the ‘areas in need of improvement’.

Why SIRP?

Systematic Informed Reflective Practice is distinctly mentee-centred. The mentoring conversation is led by the mentee, with the mentor listening and guiding in a series of five discussion steps. The model is premised on the assumption that one learns more memorably when engaged in a process of self-initiated exploration, which, in mentoring contexts, typically starts with reflecting on the most salient points from a taught lesson. Step 1, therefore, poses the following questions: What stood out for you in the lesson? Describe, in factual terms, any problematic, successful or puzzling moment(s) in the lesson. In the transcript from the SIRP mentoring session, this insistence on evidence was visible in the mentor’s elicitation of factual information (e.g. a student laughs out loud in the middle of someone speaking) when the mentee inadvertently offers interpretations (e.g. the student displays odd social skills).

At Step 2, the mentee reflects on all the possible explanations for the episode that stood out for them at Step 1, e.g. using the following as a prompt: How can you understand this? List as many possible explanations as you can for the ‘problem’, ‘success’ or ‘puzzle’ you described above. In the transcript, the mentor urges the mentee to also consider explanations that may be counterintuitive for the mentee, suggesting that ‘thinking that we know something’ may prevent valuable learning.

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

Step 3 is to do with what the mentee already knows about the issue(s) discussed thus far. The prompt for Step 3 reads as follows: What have other people said/written on the topic?

Consider any ‘theories’ suggested in books, articles, talks, conversations with trusted others, etc.

What do you know about the context (e.g. student(s), class) in question? In the transcript, the mentor joins in the reflection to make suggestions about relevant literature that the mentee might not necessarily have consulted of their own accord.

At Step 4, the mentee is invited to choose the most likely explanation(s) shared in Step 2, in light of the relevant Step 3 insights. As indicated in the transcript, the mentee can also decide on a combination of possible explanations for the classroom episode taking place, not necessarily settle for one.

Step 5 encourages mentees to reflect on the implications the mentoring discussion had on their (and their learners’) learning, thus sketching directions for further development. The mentor can add pointers of their own with regard to potential future developmental routes.

Conclusion

My experience of using and analysing the effects of SIRP suggests that it is a worthwhile alternative to the ‘feedback sandwich’ as it makes the following affordances for professional learning: • facilitates learning in a safe, non-evaluative environment, unencumbered by power struggles; • insists on factual, systematically gathered and considered descriptions (not interpretations) of observed lessons, chosen by the mentee; • encourages mentees to formulate their own conclusions instead of relying on others’; and • taps into professional agency as mentees are tasked with sketching their own directions for professional development on the basis of the reflective dialogues with their mentors.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/ruC5O5o2ok8 elena.oncevska@flf.ukim.edu.mk

References

Malderez, A. (2015). On mentoring in supporting (English) teacher learning: Where are we now? In D. Holló & K. Károly (Eds.), Inspirations in foreign language teaching: Studies in language pedagogy and applied linguistics in honour of Péter Medgyes (pp. 21–32). Pearson Education.

Schwarz, R. (2013, April 19). The “Sandwich Approach” Undermines your Feedback. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/04/the-sandwich-approach-undermin

2.7 EAP teacher identity: a longitudinal study Sofia Di Giallonardo School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of

Glasgow, UK Introduction

In 2014, I undertook a research project on EAP teacher identity. Drawing from a

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EAP teacher identity: a longitudinal study

socio-cultural perspective, where professional identity stems from a sense of belonging to a community and engagement with the practices of that community (Trede et al., 2012), I sought to explore EAP teachers’ sense of belonging and place, their perceptions of, and engagement in, academic practice.

I conducted interviews with ten EAP teachers and followed up in 2018/19 with seven of the participants. They included native and non-native speakers on full- and part-time contracts, with EFL/EAP teaching experience ranging from 7–18 years. In the following section, I provide a brief overview of the changes that teachers underwent over a five-year period, as characterised by seven themes.

Identification

In 2014, most teachers were involved in pre-sessional EAP work and identified themselves as EAP or Study Skills teachers because, in contrast to language teacher, these labels were seen to capture their activity more accurately. Interestingly, for one non-native speaker, the labels allowed them to feel less exposed or less an ‘imposter’.

Another teacher avoided the label EAP altogether, preferring instead teacher-trainer.

This teacher had strong, negative feelings regarding the value of EAP work. In 2018/19, the terms EAP and Study Skills were used less frequently as teachers’ activities diversified to include post-graduate, in-sessional credit-bearing teaching and/or convening roles.

Meaning

In both rounds of interviews, teachers attributed the meaning of their work to opportunities for growth and development, belonging to a progressive, stimulating environment, a love of teaching and learning, and financial security. A slight difference in 2019 was noted where financial security had become more salient for some, while, for others, the job no longer held highest priority. The teacher who had expressed antipathy towards EAP had begun to perceive it ‘as a means to an end’, while another, who felt that teaching was their vocation, continued to feel that their work was not valued by the University.

Belonging and place

At the start of the study in 2014, having moved from University Services to the College of Arts, most teachers expressed their relationship to the University as ‘on the edge’, ‘on the periphery’ and ‘being in a bubble’, while others saw themselves as ‘crucial’. By 2019, most of the teachers expressed a stronger sense of connection to the University, citing a better understanding of how the University worked. However, one teacher felt more peripheral than before.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

In 2014, most teachers expressed a desire to engage in research and scholarship, and frustration at having little time to do so. One expressed anger at the lack of support for their scholarship interests; another voiced scepticism of research that had no practical application. By 2019, a slight decrease in scepticism was noted with SoTL being seen as ‘taken seriously’ by management. Some were grateful for the time allocated to SoTL. However, some continued to voice frustration at the constraints (see below).

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

Constraints

By 2018/19 several teachers expressed feeling constrained in fulfilling their professional ambitions and/or their ability to undertake SoTL. Two teachers felt they were outgrowing EAP. Another felt that systemic issues related to timetabling and a perceived inequality of workload allocation and responsibilities constrained meaningful engagement in SoTL. Agency

All the teachers made conscious choices to engage in activities that facilitated professional identity-making. These included engaging with post-graduate teaching and pursuing course design and convening roles, post-graduate study and/or collaborations with other schools (beyond EAP contexts).

Transitions

By 2018/19 all teachers had made transitions. Those whose activities were wholly in post-graduate teaching saw themselves as ‘applied EAP teachers’; others identified more strongly as course design and conveners, while others were transitioning out of EAP. Notably, the transitions to post-graduate, in-sessional work and course convening were seen as both rewarding and challenging.

Conclusion

The aim of the study was to explore the changes that EAP teachers underwent in their professional identity over a five-year period, with respect to their sense of place and belonging in the University. The findings include an increasing sense of connection to the University, a more positive view of SoTL, a transition to diversified roles beyond pre-sessional EAP teaching, and, for some, a distancing from the profession. Participants’ agency played a key role in these transitions. In so far as managers can support the development of professional identity, the perception that systemic inequalities contribute to constraints to engagement in SoTL emerged as an area of concern.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/lZYF4n7gUf4 sofia.digiallonardo@glasgow.ac.uk

Reference

Trede, F., Macklin, R., & Bridges, D. (2012). Professional identity development: a review of the higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education, 37(3), 365–384. https://doi.org /10.1080/03075079.2010.521237

2.8 Effective feedback on students’ writing: supporting ESL teachers’ professional development Kalyan Chattopadhyay Bankim Sardar College, University of Calcutta, India

My presentation drew on a Hornby Trust, UK funded project, ‘Supporting Professional Development of Writing Skill Teachers in India’ (2018–19). The idea for the project came from our study (Mukherjee & Chattopadhyay, 2017) under the British

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Effective feedback on students’ writing: supporting ESL teachers’ professional development

Council’s ELTReP scheme. The study investigated how secondary school teachers in the state of West Bengal in India gave feedback on the writing performance of their learners, and found certain mismatches between teachers’ beliefs and their feedback practices. Though most teachers believed in the efficacy of written feedback, oral feedback was the prevalent practice. Written feedback, when provided, was not always clear and concrete. Consequently, such feedback was not of much help for students to develop their writing.

Objectives

This project included the following objectives: 1) addressing the gap between beliefs and practices by developing in ESL teachers of selected schools a clear idea about what effective feedback in the writing skill classroom is; and 2) providing training on how to give clear and focused feedback not just on the structural features of the language but also on the content of learners’ writing.

Our activities under this project included: • writing the module and designing workshop activities across West Bengal; and • conducting workshops and evaluating their impact on the basis of a feedback form.

The module consisted of activities to develop understanding of what constitutes both product- and process-based feedback practices, and different techniques for giving feedback on learners’ writing performance. Workshops included many activities to support the module content. In one of the key activities, we redistributed the written feedback samples that teachers brought to the sessions, and encouraged them to work on them to give feedback on both content organisation and language development features based on their learning from the module. During the process, we introduced them to various approaches to written feedback on learners’ writing, and then encouraged them to try out these approaches in their language classrooms, and to include adequate rationale for their feedback. At the end of each workshop, we asked them what worked in their contexts and what didn’t, and why and why not, what could be done differently and what could be improved.

Reflection

Our workshops enabled teachers to give not just appropriate feedback on their learners’ writing, but also to provide an adequate rationale for it. Teachers were encouraged not only to write comments/praise, e.g. ‘very good’, ‘excellent’, but to explain why they thought that piece of writing was ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. We understood from these workshops that teachers were keen to give feedback on students’ writing as a product but not so much as a process.

We explored the reasons during feedback sessions, and found that most teachers cited lack of time, a large syllabus, large classes, and students’ lack of interest in improving their writing as possible reasons. We also observed that in spite of the teachers’ initial enthusiasm to give feedback, there was a lack of interest in giving process-oriented feedback because it is time-consuming; it takes a lot of effort, and a persistent approach.

So, we encouraged teachers to give process-oriented feedback at the end of each workshop, and continued to think about what we could do to support teachers move

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

easily from the structural features of the language to the content of learners’ writing.

In spite of our best efforts, we could not achieve that much in this respect because these teachers had not been introduced to process-oriented feedback earlier, and they were quite happy with the product-oriented feedback.

We realised that it would be a commendable task to improve teachers’ feedback practices, and considered how we could achieve our objectives even though teachers have certain beliefs about giving feedback, and students’ expectations are different. We began to explore the idea of follow-up training, and whether this follow-up training would be based on classroom observation of what the teachers are actually doing with the knowledge and skills they have gathered from our workshops. We also explored how best we could support them further to improve the content of the learners’ writing through their feedback.

We concluded that we could either carry out a project on follow-up training or we could do classroom observation-based research to look at these teachers’ written feedback practices to find out what would help them to improve their practices, and then use the findings of the research to conceptualise a training programme to support them.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/jVP7aLlrndg profkalyan@gmail.com

Reference

Mukherjee, K., & Chattopadhyay, K. (2017). Teacher written feedback on ESL learners’ writing in vernacular medium schools in West Bengal: an exploratory study. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Explorations: Teaching and Learning English in India, Issue 2: Assessing learning (1) (pp.

25–35). British Council India.

2.9 The impact of professional development on teachers’ automaticity in performance Amal Farhat Lebanese International University, Beqaa Campus, Lebanon Introduction

Professional development has always been a concern for educational institutions, and much effort is put into it as a result. Ongoing professional development has often been conducted in the form of training sessions. However, one-shot training sessions do not ensure that teachers acquire the practices introduced during these sessions, and thus the content of these sessions does not necessarily become part of the teachers’ in-class performance unless they are continuously prompted and reminded of these practices. In this study, conducted in a small private school, language teachers (English and Arabic) took part in a three-hour session where they were introduced to seven games (language activities) that encourage oral and written communication: 1 G uessing Game 2 D escribe & Draw 3 P aper Conversation

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The impact of professional development on teachers’ automaticity in performance

4 Show & Tell 5 Surveys 6 Chain Story 7 Dictogloss During training

Each game was introduced to the language teachers during the training session. First, the framework of the game was explicitly communicated to the teachers. They then practised the game. After the practice, each teacher was requested to reflect on the activity: how it might be used in their classes; how it could improve their students’ language; how it is different from/is similar to other language activities they do in their classes.

After the training

After the training, the participants were asked to apply one of the seven activities in their classrooms, record that activity, write a reflection on how the activity went in the class and then submit to the trainer a recording of the activity and their reflection on it. The teachers had access to the training session notes and a recording of the training session on the school website, and the trainer was available to provide any support needed in the implementation of the new activities in their classrooms.

Findings

Teachers’ reflections Teachers reported having enjoyed the newly-introduced activities and to have found them useful in their language teaching. They also reported that they implemented the activities and that they were easy to use, requiring few resources.

Choice of game/activity Studying the recordings of the teachers, it was found that nine of the ten teachers chose Show & Tell as their activity; one teacher chose the Describe & Draw activity.

Delivery of games/activities The activities, as recorded by the teachers, seemed to slightly resemble those as given in the training session. One teacher abided by the protocol of Show & Tell as given in the training session but omitted key points, such as the type of questions to be asked by the audience.

Discussion

Self-reported data (reflections) are not always indicative of classroom success and actual classroom performance.

The majority of the teachers chose Show & Tell as the activity to use with their students. This activity was in fact a speaking activity that the language teachers already commonly used in their classrooms from grades K–8. It is clear here that the teachers chose an activity that they were familiar with rather than choose a new activity that was introduced to them during the training session. Moreover, the delivery of this familiar activity did not change much; the protocol as introduced in the training session was not abided by.

The choice of activities along with their delivery shows that it is not easy to change

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Chapter 2: Teacher development: issues and concerns

practices of practitioners as they are fossilised in their performance due to long practice with no modification. This explains why teachers continued to perform the activities as they had done before the training. In addition, teachers tend to rely on activities that they are accustomed to even after being exposed to training. This is evident in the teachers’ choice of Show & Tell rather than any of the other six new activities.

Implications

Teachers need to be given ample time to practise newly-introduced practices before they are expected to start implementing them in their classrooms. Moreover, they need to be provided with sufficient, constructive feedback on their practices to help them improve these. In this study, the teachers were able to watch the video recordings of their selected activities and reflect on them. They had the opportunity to compare how they delivered the activity with the training session notes on that activity and assess their performance, i.e. they were able to check where they abided by the activity protocol as given in the training and where they did not.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/v44pq5TxKtQ amal.farhat@liu.edu.lb

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3

Issues in assessment

The three papers in this chapter each address different issues in assessment: successfully integrating teaching, learning, assessment and technology; effectively preparing students for exams; and creating positive washback. The chapter opens with Thom Kiddle’s plenary paper, in which he attempts to explore why the assessment of language proficiency and progress causes so much difficulty and frustration for teachers and students alike. Drawing on his early experiences of performing and ‘teaching’ in a travelling circus, he goes on to argue that an integrated-skills approach is the most effective way to re-align teaching, testing and technology. Continuing the circus metaphor, Steven Ferrara addresses the juggling act that teachers of exam preparation courses are asked to perform; carefully balancing linguistic and other learner needs with strategy training and exam practice, and often where time and materials are limited. His suggested approach – exploit exam texts to the full by repurposing them.

In the final paper, Beth Wiens explains how she and her colleagues purposefully set out to design, construct and deliver writing exams at a university in the UAE, to create positive washback in the classroom. The paper provides an overview of what was essentially an integrated-skills approach to assessment that could be adapted to other contexts.

3.1 Plenary: Integrating teaching, testing and technology: where angels fear to tread Thom Kiddle Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE); Eaquals;

AQUEDUTO Introduction

In this plenary presentation, I attempted to tackle three major themes in language education – teaching, testing and technology. I was keen to point out from the outset that to cover all three in any depth is the work of many conference presentations, and perhaps many conferences. However, my own professional and academic background governed my choice of focus – the alignment of language assessment with language teaching and with technology-mediated education.

Background

I began with a more personal aspect of my background, and the exposure to teaching and testing I had from an early age through growing up in a travelling circus. The theatre and circus show in which I performed travelled around western Europe in the 45

Chapter 3: Issues in assessment

eighties and nineties, and after each public performance we ran circus-skills workshops for children from the local community. My role was the teaching of unicycling, and it struck me much later that the relationship between teaching and testing here is much more straightforward than the language education field I later became involved in. With a unicycle, the progress is immediately visible, and the testing is wholly embedded in the learning and practice, with continuous opportunities for repetition of the practice, and the clear definition of success – when you stop falling off!

The assessment of language proficiency and measuring and marking progress is much less visible, tangible, and instantaneous, however, and I attempted to explore why this causes problems for both teachers and learners, and is a potential source of frustration for learners and a lack of professional confidence in their own competence for teachers.

Language assessment and the language teacher

As Brian North (1996), one of the architects of the CEFR has said, when trying to demonstrate progress through testing, we are ‘… trying to describe complex phenomena in a small number of words on the basis of incomplete theory’. The complexity of the interaction between second language acquisition, and measuring its mastery, is just one aspect of this ‘complex phenomena’ and is further challenged by the interplay between second language competences and first language skills and strategies, particularly when we focus on the receptive and productive skills, rather than their underlying systems, and as we move higher up the proficiency scale. We need to engage with this complexity, yet define what we are measuring, and the language-in-action implications of this, in a form which is simultaneously useful to learners, understandable to test score users, and accessible to teacher-assessors using rating criteria and other forms of determining scores and giving feedback. And, of course, we attempt this, while wanting to do the best for our students, in often high-stakes situations, and with the awareness that the theory of what happens cognitively, procedurally and linguistically in the brain as we process and produce language, is constantly developing and being challenged.

I think it is crucial to acknowledge the scale of this challenge for language educators, and the resistance to tests and exams, which may be born of it. I referenced one of the great ELTJ debates at the annual IATEFL Conference, from 2015, with the motion ‘This house believes that language testing does more harm than good’, to epitomise this resistance among teachers. I was keen to revisit this debate, not only as proof of the fear that surrounds testing principles and practice, but also because one of the comments from the floor in this debate, from Diane Schmitt at Nottingham Trent University, has stayed with me ever since. Diane made the point that formal assessment of our learners is one of the key tools that we have to ensure a culture of meritocracy in the (all-too-often limited) educational opportunities that are available to learners in the modern world. While we may strive for broader educational and professional opportunities for all, we shouldn’t allow factors such as who you know, how much money you have, or whether you have the right surname or background to determine your access to these opportunities. Assessment we can trust, and we can stand behind, as educational professionals, is something to be used as a force for good, for all its imperfections. This also has personal resonance for me, as the

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Plenary: Integrating teaching, testing and technology: where angels fear to tread

term meritocracy and its interesting blend of the Latin and the Greek, was coined by Michael Young – a pioneer at Dartington College of Arts, and a mentor and supporter for my father in starting the travelling theatre and circus company!

So we turn to why the assessment of language proficiency is sometimes seen as the ‘clack sheep’ of language education, under-explored in pre-service and in-service teacher education, and mistrusted in the sector as a whole.

One aspect is the awareness among all teachers of what happens between the careful crafting and checking of our language test items and tasks, and how they are read, heard, processed and responded to by the learners we unleash on them. In the teaching space, we can check, clarify, reframe, rephrase and support our learners, but in a testing situation, this can all depend on the skill in creation of clear tasks and their instructions and exemplification. I presented a range of humorous examples of learners responding to test questions in unforeseen and creative ways – wilfully or otherwise misinterpreting the instructions and the questions to produce surprising and pretty much unassessable responses. One feature that comes through in all the responses is the creative thinking involved on the learner’s part – one that we would surely embrace in a communicative classroom setting, and one which shows just how individual a learner’s response is to a standard test task. There’s a lovely quote which says ‘every student has a different teacher’ and emphasises the individual characteristics, viewpoints, background and experiences which will dictate how a learner will respond to their classroom teacher. By the same token, we could claim that ‘every candidate takes a different test’, to show just how unstandardised the response may be to even the most standardised test item.

I feel it is really important to hold onto this notion of creativity in our learners, as it fits in well with one of the other reasons for a misalignment between teaching and testing practice, and a potential cause of resentment because of this. If we look at any list of ‘21st century skills’ or ‘life skills’ or ‘skills needed in the modern and future workplace’, we see reference to creativity, alongside empathy, collaboration, teamwork and team-leading, and digital literacy, all of which are underpinned by communication, of course. Yet if we introduce these concepts to the setting of a secure test environment, we instantly see the conflict. Teamwork in a test? Communication between peers in a test? Using the Internet to search during a test? Thinking outside the box in a test? These sound too much like ‘cheating’! So potentially, all those skills that we’re fostering in our communicative, collaborative, learner-centred classrooms are the very ones we’re trying to remove when we try to test them in a formal way. This is a misalignment which cannot go unchallenged.

Another factor in a lack of trust in the traditional approach to language assessment is the sense we may have of something more fundamental missing from the testing process, or something undermined by an approach to measurement which looks at passing and failing, and definitions of success from single perspectives only. This is sometimes portrayed in the lines, often attributed to Einstein, but first seen in the literature from Cameron (1963, p. 13): ‘Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted, counts’. In short, if we reduce language measurement to discrete items so we can produce statistics and numbers, what do we ignore from our beliefs about how language is learnt, and used? And if we can’t count aspects such as creativity, motivation, attitude, enthusiasm, access and exposure, should they

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be less important in our approach to assessment? Although this is a very accessible quote, I proposed that there’s a better way of illustrating this sentiment, and invited Brian Patten to read his 2007 poem, The Minister for Exams, which is reproduced below with kind permission of the author.

The Minister for Exams When I was a child I sat an exam.

This test was so simple There was no way I could fail.

Q1. Describe the taste of the Moon.

It tastes like Creation I wrote, it has the flavour of starlight.

Q2. What colour is Love?

Love is the colour of the water a man lost in the desert finds, I wrote.

Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?

I wrote, they melt because they fall on to the warm tongue of God. There were other questions.

They were as simple.

I described the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.

I wrote down the exact weight of an elephant's dream.

Yet today, many years later, For my living I sweep the streets or clean out the toilets of the fat hotels.

Why? Because constantly I failed my exams.

Why? Well, let me set a test.

Q1. How large is a child's imagination?

Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams?

The final challenge for teachers I addressed is the language assessment literacy aspect of understanding how constructs are operationalised in language tests and exams, and referenced the concept of Learning-Oriented Assessment covered most clearly, I feel, in the 2007 article by Carless, Learning-oriented assessment: Conceptual bases and practical implications. This article stresses the importance of a model which incorporates three principles:

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Principle 1: Assessment tasks should be designed to stimulate sound learning practices amongst students.

Principle 2: Assessment should involve students actively in engaging with criteria, quality, their own and/or peers’ performance.

Principle 3: Feedback should be timely and forward-looking so as to support current and future student learning. … and also emphasises the role of tutors’ understandings and experiences of assessment to foster the adoption of these principles.

Language assessment and digital technology

‘The stone age did not end because people ran out of stones.’ (Pinker, 2018, p. 127).

I then proceeded to ask if digital technologies should provide a solution to the aforementioned challenges, particularly in the light of recent rapid moves to online and remote learning and teaching, and, by extension, testing and assessment. The challenges and responses of the past 18 months have accelerated the embracing of digital technology in language teaching and testing far more profoundly than we had ever thought possible. However, we need to question whether the solutions offered have empowered teachers and learners in similar ways in the testing and assessment area of education as they have in the teaching and learning sphere, and whether they have facilitated the interaction and integration between these areas, or raised greater barriers between them.

We’ve certainly come a long way in terms of technological hardware and platforms since the early days of technology in testing. The 1935 IBM machine was an early way of processing the responses to multiple-choice test questions, but although the technology has gone into hyperdrive, has the way we test developed in parallel?

There is no shortage of offerings from test publishers and developers which had emerged before, and increasingly during, the pandemic, and we have also seen a huge rise in ways to offer ‘remote proctoring’ to try to increase the test security of tests delivered with the learners in their own homes or other uninvigilated environments.

However, there is a danger that these approaches reduce teacher empowerment in understanding not just what is being tested, but how, and, most importantly, how the results and outcomes of tests actually benefit the teaching and learning process. Of course, we have to make a distinction between testing for summative and certification purposes, and tests and assessments with formative value, and also to consider the purpose of our assessment and/or measurement – and there is certainly a major difference between diagnostic testing which needs to feed back into what happens in the classroom, achievement testing which supports and marks progress through a syllabus, and proficiency testing which may have more external test users, but to what extent have the test tools and platforms facilitated teachers to make these distinctions?

Are we doing more than finding new ways to deliver multiple-choice questions and their variants? There is a clear risk that, as Thoreau stated over 100 years ago, ‘[We] have become the tools of our tools’, and unable to take control of the construct of what is being assessed. When the construct of what online assessment approaches are actually measuring is so indirect as to be essentially meaningless to the language of the classroom and the outside world, we have a great threat to both teacher empowerment and the affordances of learning-oriented assessment. And it’s the construct which we

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need to hold on to. If we can’t define what our test items are measuring and how this relates to our beliefs about how language is learnt and used, then we have lost the essential validity of the test. If the digital technology cannot be harnessed to increase teacher empowerment in the learning process, and learner autonomy over their own progress and next steps, then we may be missing an opportunity.

That opportunity, for me, lies in what should, or could, digital approaches to assessment offer to teachers and learners. This would seem to include: Multimodality: The use of video, audio, text, animation, and even the use of touchscreen technology and virtual reality movements and interactions to provide a range of options for both test input and candidate response.

Pacing in the hands of test takers: Can we take advantage of the digital space to allow learners the control of the pace at which they move through a test, particularly in such areas as listening assessment, and oral assessment? There is no need for the pace to be set by a teacher or invigilator pressing a ‘play’ button, or for all learners to turn over a test paper at the same moment. Even factors such as one-play or two-play listening tests can be controlled by the digital media player, and reduce the test anxiety which is heightened by time pressures at the start of an assessment component.

Learner choice in texts and tasks: We can find out so much nowadays about the lexical and structural properties of texts, and their reading level, and the statistical properties of items asked on a text, but one of the most important variables in reading text success remains topic familiarity. We’ve seen test providers struggle for years to reduce the impact of topic familiarity by desperately trying to find texts that are inherently interesting to no-one! Why, if we can control text difficulty and item difficulty, shouldn’t test takers in an online test of reading be allowed to choose the topic of the text they want to read about – from a menu of five or six topics, for example? After all, the further we move towards English as a global academic and professional requirement (note that 92 per cent of all academic articles are in English), reading topics in your area of specialism becomes more and more the real-world context in which we are trying to predict performance when we measure student proficiency.

Real-time collaboration observed by teachers: The options for live collaboration on texts or contribution to digital spaces (e.g. Padlet) allow for not only real-time monitoring, but also asynchronous analysis of who has contributed what to a collaborative task. This opens up opportunities for project- and task-based assessment, with learners working in teams – again enhancing the real-world relevance of the assessment approach.

Open-book assessments which allow sourcing of content and using search literacy: Another opportunity to embrace and recognise real-world search and research skills, following a news story, for example, and demonstrating critical evaluation of content for a spoken or written response.

Capturing spoken language and using screen casting to feed back on written work: There is so much potential in this area, including the capacity for student review of their progress, and asynchronous marking of spoken responses, as well as enabling the teacher’s voice to be a part of formative feedback, and looking at work on a text level, rather than comments in-the-margin.

The above list is just a slice of what it may be hoped digital technology can add to the alignment between testing, teaching and real-world authenticity of both. However, 50

Plenary: Integrating teaching, testing and technology: where angels fear to tread

there are two ‘elephants in the room’ which cannot be overlooked when we talk about digital technology in language learning and assessment.

First, recent promises of the power of tests to use Artificial Intelligence to deliver individualised learning pathways and present appropriate content to learners sound potentially attractive, but if they are powered by discrete-point, objectively-scored items only, we run the risk of turning language learning back into an atomised progress model, rather than the holistic discourse-based system which the last 30 years of research have shown us constitutes language use. In addition, with any consideration of AI in education we must acknowledge, as in the 2021 Guardian interview with Microsoft’s Kate Crawford, ‘AI is neither artificial nor intelligent’, the fact of the huge human resource needed and the environmental impact of data gathering and storage.

This leads into the most significant challenge for providers of educational instruments using AI: ethics. This is robustly addressed in The Ethical Framework for AI in Education (2021) and covers such issues as the intended use of data, bias, privacy, equity, transparency, autonomy, and more.

A further, related question is how we move beyond the approaches in the Internet of Behaviours – the ‘Other customers who bought this product also bought…’ approach, which aggregates learning pathways and looks for typical features, rather than individualises them – which surely is what a teacher is able to do with what she or he understands about the learner.

The second ‘elephant’ is the perennial question of whether automated marking can come close enough to human rating in the measurement of what really counts in any construct of communicative language use. I referenced several articles, going back to 2005 from the popular science field, including the seminal study by Les Perelmann at MIT, to emphasise the scale of the challenge in persuading a sceptical public of the role of automation in educational assessment. In our field, and focusing on oral language competence, I feel it is useful to look at models of communicative competence which have their roots in the work of Canale, and Canale and Swain, in the 1980s, and their presentation by Bachman in the 1990s. This division of communicative competence into, in Bachman’s model, Organisational Competence (which includes grammatical and textual competence), and Pragmatic Competence (which includes the illocutionary power of language, and its socio-cultural appropriacy), is a stark representation of how little of the Pragmatic side of language use can possibly be addressed by automated scoring models.

The upshot is that there is a great weight of responsibility on the side of test developers using AI and related automated scoring, to demonstrate their ethical approach to data collection and use, and the limitations inherent in the scoring models, or at least to demonstrate how the combination of machine-rating and human-rating can be used to best effect.

Language teaching and digital technology

One of the ironies associated with the challenges outlined for the language assessment field in the preceding section, is the fact that the language teaching field seems to have embraced digital technology in an altogether different way. We have spent the last 20 years gradually, and the last 15 months in overdrive, trying to determine the teacher’s role with technology-enhanced, or technology-mediated teaching, and this has largely

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been a process of empowerment for the teacher. Indeed, one of the most powerful stories of the past year has been the one of ‘teachers to the rescue’, in which the teacher has been central to the digitally-mediated responses to teaching and learning remotely and at a distance.

This has included synchronous online platforms and their constituent elements, the use of virtual learning environments to enable asynchronous learning and collaboration, the adoption of third-party tools for both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration and construction of learning, among many other approaches. It has also included invitations to consider the affordances of hybrid learning, with all its own attendant challenges (as highlighted in a NILE-led study from 2020 (Kiddle et al.)), and recent innovations and commercial offerings of virtual reality in language learning. A fundamental element which all the above would seem to share is that they all put the teacher and the learners at the heart of the learning approach, and invite those teachers and learners to use the technology, rather than be used by it.

Is there, then, an opportunity to integrate this teacher- and learner-centred approach to digital technology in the way we conceptualise and operationalise our assessment of language?

An integrated approach to language assessment

My own ‘money where your mouth is’ response to this question is an invitation to revisit the work in integrated skills assessment, from researchers and some test developers, of the possibilities of digital delivery to embrace testing of integrated skills.

This involves making listening into writing, for example, or reading into speaking, a part of the construct of a test, rather than continuing the traditional paradigm of disaggregating skills from each other in order to test them, and then go on to claim that an arbitrary combination of scores on each component accurately reflects realworld combination of these skills in action. It was expressed well in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics back in 1999 that separating out of the so-called four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing into pedagogically convenient units of learning is one of the major features of the traditional language teaching paradigm, and this is nowhere more true than in language assessment.

I’d even go so far as to question whether we need to test reading or listening independently in a proficiency test. In almost all real-world target language use situations, we read and listen in order to do something with the knowledge obtained – and most often by speaking or writing about it. Why not then, if we’re interested in performance testing, as a proficiency test should be, just test the ability to use the gained knowledge productively, rather than asking convoluted multiple-choice comprehension questions and assuming a successful mark means we can then do what’s required with the language? This, of course, leads much more meaningfully into effective teaching approaches, which emphasise the fundamentally integrated nature of language use.

There is significant support for this approach from the CEFR Companion Volume (2019), through its foregrounding of Mediation, which, for me, describes language use as essentially ‘born-integrated’. Many of the Mediation descriptive scales reflect the use of skills in integration and reinforce the idea of language as socially-situated and supported by non-linguistic skills as well as linguistic ones.

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In addition, we now have the platforms, and the teacher competence, to provide authentic language input texts, in multimodal forms, and to capture student responses for synchronous and asynchronous assessment. It seems to me that this is the opportunity we should be grasping in the integration of teaching, testing and technology.

Conclusion

This paper has been an attempt to look at different challenges and opportunities in the integration of technology in testing and teaching, and of course, with their own different perspectives, individuals and institutions will define their own role in relation to this integration. I have argued for an integrated-skills approach to this, as the most effective way to re-align teaching and testing practice in a time of upheaval and subsequent rebuilding.

So let me take you back to the circus, where my presentation began. We may see ourselves as walking a tightrope between competing demands of students, academic managers and parents or other stakeholders. We may see ourselves in the role of liontamer, trying desperately to control a fierce beast, which threatens our very existence.

We may see ourselves as an escapologist, shackled by the resources we currently have available, and looking to escape from these constraints with new and exciting tools.

And more optimistically, we may see ourselves as part of a coherent team, building up competence in all the aspects of technology and testing to support teaching.

Whichever metaphor you like best, we need to remember, following the work of Hannah Arendt (1958), that although education is a fundamentally conservative field, this should be seen as the imperative to conserve those things which are worth preserving as we move forwards. This should include our understanding of the nature of language, and the beliefs we have about learning and teaching, and how best to measure them, as we look to digital technology to enhance our profession, not to undermine it.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/YGIdkNcvJrc Thom@nile-elt.com

References

Arendt, H. (1958). The Human Condition. University of Chicago Press.

Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford University Press.

Cameron, W. B. (1963). Informal Sociology, a casual introduction to sociological thinking.

Random House.

Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy.

In J. C. Richards & R. W. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and Communication (pp. 2–14).

Routledge.

Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1), 1–47.

Carless, D. (2007). Learning-oriented assessment: Conceptual bases and practical implications.

Innovations In Education And Teaching International, 44(1), 57–66.

Council of Europe. (2019). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment – Companion Volume with New Descriptors. https:// rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989 Crawford, K. (2021, June 6). Microsoft’s Kate Crawford: ‘AI is neither artificial nor intelligent’

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Chapter 3: Issues in assessment (interview by Z. Corbyn). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/ jun/06/microsofts-kate-crawford-ai-is-neither-artificial-nor-intelligent Johnson, K., & Johnson, H. (1999). The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: A Handbook for Language Teaching (1st ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Kiddle, T., Farrell, C., Grew-O’Leary, J., & Mavridi, S. (2020). A survey of instances of, and attitudes to, Hybrid Learning in Language Teaching Organisations around the world as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE). https://www.nile-elt.com/images/2020Vision_HybridLearningsurvey-final_111220.pdf North, B. (1996). The Development of a Common Framework Scale of Language Proficiency [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Thames Valley University.

Patten, B. (2007). Selected Poems. Penguin.

Perelman, L. (2005, May 29). New SAT: Write Long, Badly and Prosper. Los Angeles Times.

Pinker, S. (2018). Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.

Penguin Books.

The Institute for Ethical AI in Education. (Updated March 2021). The Ethical Framework for AI in Education. University of Buckingham. https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2021/03/The-Institute-for-Ethical-AI-in-Education-The-Ethical-Framework-forAI-in-Education.pdf

3.2 Fitting it all in: fully exploiting texts for exam classes Steven Ferrara International House London, United Kingdom

Considering the amount of content required to deliver an effective exam preparation course, it is unsurprising that many teachers find the responsibility to be a juggling act. Such content includes: • exam practice, task familiarity, and exam strategy training; • topic range (especially at higher levels); • linguistic development (the four skills, and lexical/grammatical knowledge); • ongoing revision/recycling of language; • formative assessment (e.g. mock exams); and • learner training and autonomy (e.g. lexical notebooks).

Also, learners expect plentiful exam practice, which is challenging on courses where classroom time and materials might be limited, and students have other commitments. This can often result in an unofficial requirement for them to already be at the right level before course enrolment.

One solution to these problems is exploiting exam practice to provide other exam practice. For instance, in a Cambridge C1 exam class, once learners have answered comprehension questions in a reading or listening exam task, the teacher can then use the same text with some words gapped out to simulate Use of English exam practice, which tests knowledge of language forms (more so than reading or listening comprehension). The two example tasks below demonstrate this principle:

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Also, learners expect plentiful exam practice, ____ is challenging on courses where classroom time and materials might ____ limited, and students have other commitments. ____ can often result in an unofficial requirement ____ them to already be at the right level before course enrolment.

Figure 3.2.1 Use of English Part 2: Open cloze

Considering the amount of content _____________ to deliver an effective exam _____________ course, it is unsurprising that many teachers find the _____________ to be a juggling act. Such content includes:

REQUIRE PREPARE RESPONSE

Figure 3.2.2 Use of English Part 3: Word formation

Extra practice like this is an efficient use of time and materials because learners have already processed the text for meaning and are now focussed on form (rather than having to comprehend a completely new text for Use of English practice). The teacher can even return to the text much later for revision or assessment purposes. For instance, if the expression ‘on the big screen’ from listening practice is explored and recorded as new lexis, the same transcript can be given later as Use of English practice with words gapped out or covered up (e.g. ‘___ the big screen’).

Learners embrace extra practice of this nature, particularly in relation to the testing quality known as validity. These tasks are very ‘valid’ because they resemble the exam tasks and are constructed like them. It also achieves ‘content validity’ in the sense that it tests learners on language that they have actually been exposed to (Hughes, 2003).

The regular use of this approach also raises learners’ awareness of what the Use of English paper actually tests (e.g. collocation, grammar patterns, linkers, prefixes and suffixes, etc.). After some reading exam practice, my students were often surprised when presented with a gapped Use of English version of the same text because they could not remember the language forms – despite having just seen them when reading for comprehension (e.g. ‘Was it misleading or disleading?’). Consequently, exam students soon realise the importance of noticing language forms in texts when such language is immediately then tested via another exam task. Towards the end of the course, my learners were noticing more forms in texts, such as spelling, affixation, idioms and prepositions. When studying a text or transcript, they were able to tell me which lexis and grammar they might be tested on in Use of English practice. This approach therefore encourages the conscious noticing of language forms, which is a prerequisite for language acquisition (Schmidt, 1990).

Finally, texts and their topics can even be exploited for meaningful, productive skills exam practice. For example, a transcript containing lexis for money (e.g. cost a fortune, be extortionate, be good value for money, buy on impulse, etc.) can also inspire the teacher to create exam tasks that naturally elicit such language (e.g. Speaking Part 2: describing photos of people shopping).

To conclude, teachers can alleviate the time constraints of an exam course by exploiting exam texts for extra practice, revision and assessment. This approach also 55

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supports teachers with limited access to materials, and it fulfils the learners’ expectations of plentiful exam practice. Finally, by encouraging noticing, it further promotes linguistic development and learner autonomy as students become less dependent on the teacher to do the noticing for them.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/E8VsnR6pLww Steven.Ferrara@ihlondon.com

References

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for Language Teachers (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Schmidt, R. (1990). The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158.

3.3 Designing EAP writing exams that create positive classroom washback Beth Wiens Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Washback is a very important concept in education as we know that ‘a test will influence what teachers teach’ (Alderson & Wall, 1993, p. 121). It is also posited by Al Hinai & Al Jardani (2021, p. 68) that ‘the consequences of tests greatly determine or shape the nature of language teaching, learning, and testing’. According to Coombe (2005, p. 32), ‘Washback has become an increasingly prevalent and prominent phenomenon in the field of education and is rooted in the notion that tests or examinations should drive teaching, and therefore learning’.

When we adopted an academically focused curriculum, we needed to develop more academic and authentic assessments that integrated lecture notes and reading sources for our final level of writing exams. This paper focuses on the design, construction and delivery of the writing exams we created for the final level of our programme in order to create positive washback in the classroom.

Our language programme consisted of three levels, with core assessments (40 per cent of the course grade), and common assessments – midterm and final exams (30 per cent each of the course grade). Of these exams, the midterm writing exam was 10 per cent of the final grade and the writing components of the final exam were approximately 15 per cent of the course grade. In this paper, we will only talk about the components of the final writing exam. These components consisted of three different assessments of writing: a core skills exam, a listening summary, and an integrated (listening/reading) writing exam.

In our programme, we needed to design test tasks that facilitated teaching writing using sources such as lecture notes and short reading texts. We wanted students to be able to integrate information using two or more discrete skills, much as they would for any academic assignment. This might include listening, reading, or both. We wanted to move away from the formulaic five-paragraph essay assignments and move towards research writing skills that included summary writing, use of multiple sources and in-text citations.

The Core Skills exam is a short exam designed to encourage teachers to teach students how to identify key features of a well-written text, e.g. best topic sentence, best

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summary sentence, placing a missing sentence, choosing an irrelevant sentence, and choosing the best essay organisation. The second part of this exam was error correction; students corrected the identified errors in a short text of 200–225 words. The goal of this task was to encourage teachers to give students feedback via a correction code in order to correct and rewrite assignments.

The summary writing via the listening exam was aimed to get teachers to instruct students in how to identify the main points of a lecture and then how to summarise it in a short paragraph of 100–120 words. This was a task of taking notes on a very simple, well-signposted listening script around five minutes in length. The focus of the assessment of this task was main ideas and organisation.

The last component, and the most heavily weighted, was the integrated writing exam. While the students were only required to write 250 words, the exam incorporated a short listening (5–6 minutes), and several short reading texts students could use to support their response to an open-ended question. The sources given only gave related factual information, so students had to use critical thinking skills to answer the question. We wanted students to learn how to use and integrate sources into their writing and use in-text citations. They were required to use two different sources in their response and identify the sources with in-text citations. The reading sources were multiple short texts (a total of 600–1,000 words) and might include non-linear texts such as graphs and charts. For the listening note-taking, students were given guided note-taking sheets with the main ideas identified.

This paper hardly demonstrates the attention to detail given to creating each of these assessments, with special care taken to accommodate vocabulary level, text difficulty and readability. In the presentation, I shared examples of each of these assessments which I’d be happy to share with any interested readers here.

We experienced a very positive outcome of this assessment design. Teachers did teach to the test, which is what we wanted. They used correction codes and gave feedback to students on their writing; they taught them note-taking skills, identifying main ideas in a lecture, and how to integrate sources into their writing. Learning these skills helps students prepare for their continuing academic study.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/fMvq1KMRyF8 References

bethwiens@gmail.com, Beth.Wiens@zu.ac.ae

Al Hinai, M. K., & Al Jardani, K. S. (2021). Washback in language testing: an exploration with a focus on a specific EFL context in Oman. International Journal of English Linguistics, 11(1), 68–74. Canadian Center of Science and Education.

Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does washback exist? Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/14.2.115 Coombe, C. (2005). Washback and the impact of high-stakes tests on teaching and learning.

In D. Lloyd, P. Davidson, & C. Coombe (Eds.), The Fundamentals of Language Assessment: A Practical Guide for Teachers in the Gulf (pp. 31–39). TESOL Arabia.

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4

Inclusivity and diversity

Inclusivity and diversity continue to be key themes within ELT, and the papers in this chapter illustrate how practitioners might attempt to address these in their workplaces.

To begin, Siham Djedid and Kevin Balchin seek to understand the experiences and perspectives of silent or quiet students, and make a case for treating them in a more inclusive way, through empathy and the use of appropriate classroom strategies. Julia Koifman then discusses the needs of students with learning disabilities, and argues for the use of visual aids in training working memory, which is often deficient in learners with disabilities. Next, Roy Bicknell advocates the use of improvisation in the mixed-ability or differentiated classroom, and outlines practical activities which allow for more flexibility in teacher approach and student response. In the next paper, Ayşen Cem-Değer draws on her experience of teaching older learners at the Third Age University in Turkey to explain and exemplify the key concepts of geragogy and how these impact on course development for older learners. Briony Beaven also looks at the need for differentiation, but this time in the context of trainer training. She presents the results of a small-scale study designed to identify the differentiation needs of experienced teacher trainers, and then presents some practical ideas for differentiation both inside and outside the trainer training room. In our second paper from Turkey, Melike Ayşe Türkmenoğlu reports on the attitudes of prospective English language teachers toward gender-sensitive materials, and using them, with interesting results.

The final paper of this chapter by Heloisa Duarte from Brazil, again focuses on older learners, but is more concerned with the stereotype-related challenges that they may face and the need to challenge these.

4.1 Letting students speak, or be silent if they prefer Siham Djedid and Kevin Balchin Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Language classrooms are often optimised for developing students’ speaking skills with an assumption that learning is reflected in talk. Silence, therefore, is generally perceived as a threat which impedes students’ learning and foreign language development. This paper challenges this perspective on silence, arguing that quiet or silent students need to be treated in a more inclusive way.

Silent students interviewed in researching this paper were students identified through observation as those who tended to avoid verbal interactions in the classroom, rarely raised their hands to speak, and only occasionally volunteered to express their opinions or provide answers to teachers’ questions. However, somewhat unexpectedly, most of these students chose to be interviewed in English, and through 58

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these interviews were found to have a good command of the language. They also tended to perform well in examinations. This suggests that students can be engaged in learning in multiple ways, many of which may not fit with communicative or related approaches to language teaching and learning which are based around spoken interaction in the classroom.

The issue here is the stigma associated with silence, which can seriously affect students’ wellbeing in terms of their perceptions of themselves, their learning, their language competence and their ability to express their perspectives in an environment that favours active spoken participation in classes.

Lessons learnt about students

In seeking to understand the experiences and perspectives of silent students, three areas came to the fore.

1 How students see themselves Silent students showed a constant fear of being wrong or making mistakes and tended to doubt their skills and knowledge. Their negative ‘foreign language (FL) self-concept’ (Mercer, 2011) seems to be associated with their perception of their language proficiency in terms of, for example, grammar, pronunciation, accent and fluency, and also with how their academic knowledge is evaluated. As one participant noted, ‘I felt that if I speak in front of the teacher who is really fluent, I will be embarrassed … of my accent.’

2 Students’ prior learning experiences All students bring cultural and personal baggage to language classrooms. This can include preferred ways of learning, even preferred seating arrangements and preferred classroom rules and norms of behaviour. Students explained that certain participation patterns, such as speaking without raising hands or being invited by the teacher, can be intimidating, preferring forms of classroom participation that they felt more accustomed to. They specifically highlighted that immersing themselves into new ways of learning without a supportive transition can be difficult.

Silent students shared some of their more traumatic experiences from previous years of study, which may explain their use of silence as a means of avoiding being mocked, for example for stumbling over their words or because of weaknesses, perceived or otherwise, in pronunciation.

3 Assessments and evaluations of students’ performance Inconsistent or negative feedback, and low grades for oral participation, can affect students’ oral participation. Some students also feel intimidated to share their views publicly in case they receive negative peer feedback.

Further, students interviewed in this study also felt that their teachers often focused on correcting students’ grammatical or pronunciation errors, even in lessons aiming for developing oral fluency skills, or focused on students’ pronunciation mistakes rather than the content being shared. In some cases, students were graded based on their amount or quantity of talk, which seems to punish students who are more naturally reticent.

Toward an inclusive approach in the classroom

In light of the above, a classroom environment which, rather than seeing silent students as deficient, seeks to support and include these students seems desirable. In 59

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this inclusive environment, teachers acknowledge different modes of learning and the strengths and preferences of all learners. As a part of this, they include strategies that meet the needs of their silent students, such as: • constructing group work and allocating roles with care so as to avoid putting unwanted pressure on silent students to speak; • using multi-modal approaches and offering silent students choices about how they want to participate, express themselves or present their work; • varying assessment techniques, in particular avoiding assessing students based on the amount of talk they produce; • using sheltered ways for students to express their thoughts and opinions such as via the Mentimeter app; and • using one-to-one or small group interactions to reduce students’ anxiety.

To conclude, silent students do not exist in opposition to other learners. Through empathy, understanding and use of appropriate strategies, silent students can feel more included in their classes and so better realise their potential.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/jZv2FyEzyyU Siham_djedid@yahoo.com kevin.balchin@canterbury.ac.uk

Reference

Mercer, S. (2011). Towards an understanding of language learner self-concept. Springer.

4.2 Visual study skills for students with learning disabilities Julia Koifman Beit Ekshtein high school, Rupin, Israel Introduction

One of the biggest challenges students face is being able to study well. This is especially true for students with learning disabilities, who often misunderstand teachers’ instructions and become confused when they do vocabulary and grammar exercises or writing, reading and listening comprehension tasks. This talk outlined the role of visual aids in creating a truly inclusive classroom environment and involving all students in learning.

Since many students with learning difficulties have problems with working memory, remedial teachers need to help them choose the most effective strategies to train it. These students also need to develop visual study skills, as they are most effective in making progress and achieving top grades (Jandhyala, 2017).

Working memory and learning disabilities

Students grasp information in different ways: by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; reasoning logically and intuitively; analysing; and visualising. The research in this context increasingly focuses on deficits in phonologic processing and memorisation. It also differentiates between three subsystems of working memory – a central executive, a phonological loop and a visuo-spatial sketchpad – each with its individual sphere of responsibility. ‘The central executive assumes the task of controlling and monitoring

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cognitive processes, for example the coordination of resources while handling multiple chores, the flexible recall of long-term memory information, alternating between different strategies of memory, or controlling selective attention’ (Baddeley, 2010, p.137).

The research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology tells us that children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both, often demonstrate working memory deficits. They have very poor verbal (auditory) working memory and they have difficulty remembering the sequence of information. Therefore, they need multiple repetition of new vocabulary and it can be improved with the help of visual images. ‘Students with dyslexia have strengths in visual-spatial working memory’ (Alloway, 2016). Therefore, on the one hand, they perform similarly to normal readers; on the other, when they are asked to label the objects, they might fail because they have to rely on verbal working memory. Their good visual working memory means that they try to learn whole words but often misspell them because they confuse the individual sounds of the letters that form the words. They can train their skills of spelling with the help of eye-catching materials, such as flashcards and self-checking games.

Visual aids, both in regular classrooms and virtual ones, help students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to focus. They also stimulate imagination and affect learners’ cognitive capabilities. Besides, the visual language is also a way of stretching ‘human bandwidth’, which comprises absorbing, comprehending and analysing new information (Jandhyala, 2017). Therefore, images, pictures, diagrams and graphs are vital when it comes to training working memory and developing visual skills.

The value of visual study skills

According to Jandhyala (2017), students with dyslexia and DLD can succeed in studying English if images are added to the course material. Visuals will actually help the learners if they meet the following requirements: • They simplify the difficult-to-understand and text-heavy topics.

• They explain using actual people, places or objects.

• They help the learners connect the familiar materials with the unfamiliar.

Thus, materials for students with learning disabilities must contain pictures and diagrams, which are especially helpful while storytelling. Moreover, when they learn new vocabulary or repeat what they have already learned, connecting words to pictures is a good way to remember information because it creates a point of interest and activates brain areas related to story and semantics. In this way, students learn to make connections and analyse, for instance, ‘What word is connected to this image? What event does this picture symbolise? Which event happened before? What might happen next?’

These students can also draw pictures, diagrams and graphs themselves in order to do book reports and other projects. I have students with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) who use their visual skills and succeed in storytelling due to their ability to notice minor details.

Conclusion

Students with learning disabilities face greater challenges in learning ESL than their peers and need more support from their teachers, who should use visuals to catch their attention. According to modern researchers, it trains their working memory well when teachers show colourful tables while teaching spelling, vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, using

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images and graphic organisers improves their visual skills and helps them to succeed in their future studies.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/ILYOJPN2tPc f3djd@yahoo.ca

References

Alloway, T.P. (2016, January 5). Dyslexia and Working Memory. Psychology Today. https://www. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/keep-it-in-mind/201601/dyslexia-and-working-memory Baddeley, A. (2010). Working memory. Current Biology, 20(4), 136–140. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0960982209021332 Jandhyala, D. (2017, December 8). Visual Learning: 6 Reasons Why Visuals Are The Most Powerful Aspect Of eLearning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/visual-learning6-reasons-visuals-powerful-aspect-elearning

4.3 Differentiate your mixed-ability classroom: use improvisation in your teaching Roy Bicknell Freelance, Amsterdam, Netherlands

This workshop had a twofold purpose: one, to explore with the online audience their use of differentiation in mixed-ability classrooms; and two, to show how improvisation techniques can be used to support a differentiated approach in our classroom teaching.

After first giving examples from my own practice, I asked the audience to reflect on their views about teaching mixed-ability groups. There was general agreement that most classrooms are mixed-ability to a degree and that differentiated learning is an integral aspect of this. One key reason for this would be that we need to identify and address the needs and abilities of all learners so that they have the best opportunity to achieve their learning goals. We briefly explored learning issues such as measuring progress and how students respond to that, but our main focus was on how more differentiation can be provided through active learning and group/pair work – students can work at their own level and support and learn from each other. This provided the bridge to discussing the use of improvisation in the differentiated classroom.

Using improvisation

Kat Koppett, in her 2013 book Training to imagine, identifies a number of principles in improvisation. I presented three of these as suitable for the differentiated classroom: 1 Spontaneity is productive. It allows us to generate words and ideas without having to immediately evaluate them. Like brainstorming, this can be liberating for learners.

2 Listening and awareness are connected. If we listen and read between the lines we develop our awareness of the different types of information that can be gathered.

3 Storytelling shows learners how to be flexible in their stories (different perspectives and outcomes are possible). Stories engage learners, allowing them to assess their interests and needs. It also helps build retention skills.

I then introduced activities from the field of applied improvisation which reflected the principles we had just reviewed. For each activity there was a short Q & A with the 62

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audience to discuss contextualisation and strategies that can improve flexibility and adaptability in their own classroom. Two of these activities are outlined here.

Ask silly questions

Ask silly questions is a classroom ‘showdown’: small groups prepare silly questions on an agreed topic which are then fired at another group who must respond. Its ‘silliness’ has a dual didactical purpose: awareness-raising and flexibility of response. The audience loved the silliness of the questions I asked them to answer, for example, ‘What colours do you like to eat?’, ‘How do you drink a room?’ or ‘What makes a teacher go bananas?’. But they immediately saw the learning benefits and agreed that an activity like this especially helps lower-ability students who lack confidence in speaking. Silliness takes us out of the ‘routine’ nature of the learning space students perform in.

We prepare them to handle scenarios that address the functionality of their (future) professional roles but we also need to train our students to handle the unexpected.

Ask silly questions does just that: it develops student responsiveness when they need to improvise.

Story spine

In Story spine the class is split into smaller groups. Each group builds a structured story using one sentence at a time. Each student starts their sentence with cue phrases like ‘once upon a time’, ‘but one day…’, ‘until finally’, etc. This improvisation highlights spontaneity and also develops their listening skills. To demonstrate the potential of this storytelling activity I gave the audience a mini-story which I drew from a popular Netflix series. Here is how it starts: Once upon a time Lucifer decided to take a vacation from hell. He ended up in LA. Every day he would drink a Manhattan in his favourite bar LUX. But one day his wings sprouted back. Because of that he went to see a therapist. Because of that he clipped his new wings, etc.

The story really touched a chord with the audience. In the ensuing Q & A we discussed the possibilities for differentiation. One key point was that the cue phrases provide ‘weaker’ learners with a simple scaffolding. It stimulates the generation of ideas and builds confidence (students feel freer to use as much English as their abilities allow). At the same time the cue phrases allow ‘stronger’ learners to use more English to express their ideas.

The final discussion brought into focus that these improvisation activities added new perspectives on feedback and other aspects of differentiated learning. There was a consensus that this new and different emphasis on active learning allowed for more flexibility in teacher approach and student response.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/GvyNfJ0z7OA roy.j.bicknell@gmail.com

Reference Koppett, K. (2013). Training to imagine. Stylus Publishing.

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4.4 Teaching the third age Ayşen Cem-Değer Freelance, Izmir, Turkey Introduction

Studies in FL geragogy emphasise two key concepts: 1) Any syllabus design for older learners should address their physical, psychological and cognitive age-related needs; 2) Drawing on older learners’ strengths can be a key to effective teaching (RamirezGomez, 2016).

Teaching context

The A2-level EFL elective course in the Third Age University, Izmir, Turkey has been designed around these concepts. The learners are retired adults between 60 and 76 years old. Although they prioritise ‘improving their English’ (81.3%) as the main reason for attending the course, they also demand their cognitive and psychological needs be addressed: ‘keeping their mind active’ (68.8%); ‘self-development during the pandemic’ (63.5%); ‘communicating with foreign relatives’ (37.5%); and ‘socialising’ (25%) are the other reasons.

As with many other older learners, our learners do experience age-related changes.

Their visual and hearing capacity changes, which requires modifications in the lesson materials and teaching strategies, especially when practising pronunciation and spelling. Moreover, they experience cognitive challenges with working memory, processing speed, and retrieving phonological and orthographic information from long-term memory. These challenges create a learning anxiety, which may cause panic when it comes to remembering and producing a newly introduced language item. Hence, their main psychological need is a learning process with very little or no tension. Apart from this, our learners need to form new social networks as their active life has been limited due to isolation during the pandemic and retirement.

Regarding the second key concept, older learners’ strengths stem mainly from their life experience. This also holds true for our learners. All learners had an active work life and do work voluntarily for non-governmental organisations at present. Their richness in experience results in self-directedness in the sense that they can negotiate the syllabus with their teacher and can also choose the self-study material from the study pool created for them. Another strength lies in the joy of peer teaching. Our learners can share their English and world knowledge when working and studying together.

Syllabus

Cognitive challenges of older age can be compensated for with appropriate training strategies. Such strategies are integrated into the instructional techniques and materials in our English course. Moreover, the syllabus is designed around the learners’ strengths and covers the following dimensions: 1 Language dimension In addition to establishing their language needs prior to the course, it is essential to accommodate older learners’ immediate needs during the course. I have observed that identifying the areas that they struggle with and allowing them to talk about their

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language needs after lessons helps not only to reduce anxiety resulting from cognitive challenges, but also encourages them to become more self-directed learners.

2 Cognitive dimension Older learners rely on continuous repetition of language to deal with age-related cognitive decline. This repetition should include certain compensation strategies to help learners make better connections between new information and long-term memory: it should be personally relevant to learners, present an element of unexpectedness, address learners’ emotions and offer opportunities for embodied learning (Merzenich, 2005; Bilbrough, 2011). Tasks around the topic ‘Clothes & Fashion’ from our course aim to cover all these strategies. Learners are asked to perform a mental imagery of a wardrobe clear-out while repeating to themselves the clothes they want to keep or give away. Then, they wear their favourite clothes, see themselves in the mirror and ask their classmates’ opinions. An element of unexpectedness comes in when they are told that they suddenly see a different person in the mirror. They try to walk and talk as this persona. Then, different personas meet on a dating site.

3 Affective dimension A course for older adults should also aim to boost their feeling of well-being. Thus, tasks should remind them of their strengths and expertise based on their experience and portray them as protagonists. For instance, asking our learners to create a charity organisation allowed them to share their expertise in NGOs. Experience in the topic reduced the pressure of communicating in English. Such activities also help them to form new social networks as they work together outside lesson hours. Materials such as ‘Fashion in the sixties’ or ‘Suggestions for young parents’ depict older learners with renovated roles.

Conclusion

Instructional activities for older adults and younger learners are not mutually exclusive in terms of providing best practices. However, instructional styles focusing on the learning process in addition to the content can make learning more favourable for older learners. Furthermore, a syllabus which not only accommodates their linguistic needs, but also their cognitive and affective needs, benefits them better beyond the classroom.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/jrSYT2rujtk aysencdeger5@gmail.com

References

Bilbrough, N. (2011). Memory Activities for Language Learning. CUP. Merzenich, M. M. (2005). Change minds for the better. The Journal on Active Aging.

International Council on Active Aging. November/December 2005, 22–29.

Ramirez-Gomez, D. (2016). Language Teaching and the Older Adult: The Significance of Experience. Multilingual Matters.

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4.5 One size doesn’t fit all: learner differentiation in trainer training Briony Beaven Freelance, Munich, Germany

Trainer training courses for experienced teacher trainers often include participants from different locations, involved in contrasting types of teacher training, with differing amounts of teaching experience and various qualifications. This will necessitate pro-active differentiation, with the trainer trainer addressing content flexibly, and varying teaching and learning procedures as needed. During my talk I: 1 illustrated differentiation needs and wishes as shown in a survey of teacher trainers; and 2 presented ideas for differentiation in practice on trainer training courses.

The survey

In this small-scale, exploratory investigation an opportunity sample of 31 experienced teacher trainers from 14 different countries returned 22 completed questionnaires (70%). An extensive range of practical, cognitive, interactive and affective needs emerged. Many respondents appreciated defined and sufficient content delivered by experts, while a minority rated place, process and peer interaction more highly. One commonality was that nearly all respondents valued professional development activities based on real-life situations.

Differentiation principles

If teacher trainers want training courses related to authentic situations that arise in their training rooms, or in their other work with teachers, trainer trainers will need to differentiate with regard to: • content, process, course goals, affective approaches, the training room environment, and according to participants’: • professional knowledge landscapes (Clandinin & Connolly, 1995), interests, learning preferences.

Differentiation ideas

Outside the training room, trainer trainers can set up development activities such as shadowing or observation for individual teacher trainers. Information about mentoring and peer coaching can be provided, facilitating the advent of such schemes in participants’ home institutions.

There are also several practical ways of achieving differentiation within the trainer training room, some of which are suggested below: 1 Critical incidents. A short narrative of a training puzzle or problem and questions about issues arising from the puzzle is supplied by the trainer trainer or a participant.

The teacher trainers study the puzzle or problem and consider what they would do about it, or what the teacher trainer concerned could have done. Critical incidents create an opportunity for teacher trainers to share their different experiences of teachers and/or course types and to engage in peer teaching.

2 Arrows. In this activity teacher trainers consider characteristics that make it difficult

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for a teacher to achieve a training course objective and they plan strategies to help them meet the goal. Differentiation is built in, as trainers will suggest different teacher characteristics, course goals and strategies, based on their varied contexts.

(Adapted from Korthagen, 2008).

3 Peer re-teaching in mixed experience groups. In an input-heavy session the trainer trainer pauses and asks the teacher trainers, working in small groups, to summarise the input so far. Summaries are compared, leading to a deeper engagement with the material. In plenary, participants consider the benefits and possible drawbacks of this approach.

4 Articulation by trainers of practical theory or ‘maxims’. These can be surfaced by adapting some of the popular beliefs questionnaires aimed at learners of English.

Teacher trainers agree with, disagree or modify statements about trainer beliefs.

Comparing one’s own previously unexamined beliefs about teacher training with those of trainer colleagues can be a fruitful development stimulus.

5 Planning workshops or courses for later use. Teacher trainers will have different scope, content and goals in mind. The activity promotes differentiated planning procedures and outcomes, and is rooted in course participants’ real-life situations, while allowing them to take part in a communal process.

6 ‘ Folk’ stories. A story is told, and participants consider its potential use in teacher training. For example, a story about a seemingly pointless office routine that has been established in a company for decades can be used to challenge habits, and question procedures, or to get teachers thinking about reasons for accepting or resisting change. Reactions to and interpretations of the story will differ.

7 Minimising the content of a trainer training course. This engenders a dynamic in which ‘the rhythm and cadence of the whole is shaped by the relationship between sessions and spaces’ (Poynton, 2019, p. 61). The trainer trainer could establish long pauses, consider a ‘no new content’ day and defend the boundaries of the empty space, by, for instance, not allowing sessions to overrun their allotted time.

A course is thus rebalanced, prioritising space and time for each participant to interpret the content and processes according to their own contextualised training experience.

Contact the author for details of the suggested techniques or see explanatory slides at: https://www.slideshare.net/BrionyBeavenone-size-doesnt-fit-all-learner-differentiation-in-trainer-training-briony-beaven Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/fdklTf_0NVc brionybeaven1@t-online.de

References Clandinin, D.J., & Connolly, F.M. (1995). Teachers’ Professional Knowledge Landscapes.

Teachers College Press.

Korthagen, F. (2008). Linking Practice and Theory: The Pedagogy of Realistic Teacher Education.

Routledge.

Poynton, R. (2019). Do Pause: You are not a to-do list. Works in Progress Publishing Ltd.

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4.6 Gender sensitivity: attitudes of prospective teachers Melike Ayşe Türkmenoğlu Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey Introduction and methodology

Gender sensitivity, at a basic level, refers to the awareness, acknowledgement, understanding and respect towards gender to create an environment without room for discrimination (Šribar, 2015). Classrooms are especially important in keeping this peace and positivity given that they bring together young individuals of different backgrounds. Upon meeting a student who was going through a gender-reassignment process, I have come to understand that I have to be more careful not only with my language but the materials and topics I bring to my classes. Realising that I was not equipped, and had no formal awareness of what to do as a novice teacher, I wanted to find out whether there were others who felt the same. Hence, the study was developed, in which 64 prospective English language teachers were involved, to discover what their attitude toward gender-sensitive learning materials would be, and how they would feel about using them in their own teaching. The study took place in a public university in central Turkey. Participants watched a demo lesson, which consisted of a reading into writing lesson on the topic of inequality, and the reading materials involved texts that were varied in terms of gender orientation, which is not common in the materials used in English language teaching. Afterwards, the students participated in a group discussion and individual interviews, which were organised thematically as findings.

Findings and discussion

The results were divided into two: 1) participants’ attitudes toward gender-sensitive materials; and 2) participants’ attitudes toward using gender-sensitive materials in their own teaching.

Figure 4.6.1: Overview of the results

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Gender sensitivity: attitudes of prospective teachers

Figure 4.6.1 provides an overview of the results in general and it shows that the participants had a more frequent positive attitude toward gender-sensitive materials upon watching the demo lesson; however, their neutral attitude was much higher when it came to using such materials in their own teaching. During the discussion and interviews, they stated several reasons for their choices. In terms of their attitude toward gender-sensitive materials, they stated that such topics (as those in the demo lesson) are useful because they can raise awareness about alienation that happens in society.

They also added that gender-sensitive materials should not be unusual because gender differences are a reality. Those who showed a neutral attitude claimed to have personal concerns; they thought the inclusion of gender variety in lessons would require them to be cautious given that there may be some students who would feel reluctant to talk about such topics. Those who had a negative attitude were significantly fewer, claiming that they simply do not feel comfortable around such topics because of the debate they could create.

On the other hand, in terms of attitudes toward using gender-sensitive materials in teaching, participants were more reluctant; their attitude was less positive or more neutral (as can be seen in Figure 4.6.1). Those who were positive stated that they would use such materials in class because they believe they can help demolish bias and create room for growth, understanding and respect. However, those who were neutral stated that although they may want to use such materials in class, they would actually hesitate to do so because of, e.g. the backlash they would get from students, the controversy it may create in class, and the societal differences that could lead to a chaotic discussion. In addition, they claimed that inclusion of such topics requires the teacher to know the field and how to handle the class, which is knowledge they do not possess. The institutions they work in, and the reaction they may get from parents, were among the factors that would make them hesitant to use gender-sensitive materials. Some participants were strictly against the use of such materials because they said that gender sensitivity as a topic had no room in a teaching environment, it would be inappropriate for learners, and parents would be furious, which could cause them to get into trouble at the institutions where they work.

Conclusion

This study proved that although acknowledging and being respectful towards gender is vital, including materials focused on gender differences would not be preferred by the prospective English language teachers in this study. Their concerns are valid and have shown that I was not alone in feeling inadequate as a teacher whose job it is to cater to a positive learning environment.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/FjPpK9SCQXM melike.gurgen@bilkent.edu.tr

Reference

Šribar, R. (2015). Glossary of common terms in gender equality and feminist theory. In M. Ule, R. Šribar & A. U. Venturini (Eds.), Gendering Science: Slovenian Surveys and Studies in the EU Paradigms. Echoraum.

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4.7 Pride and prejudice: the influence of older learner stereotypes Heloisa Duarte Freelance, São Paulo, Brazil Introduction

In my talk I addressed the stereotype-related challenges older learners may face when learning a new language. However, before we dive into the main subject of this paper, it is important to establish who exactly we are referring to when we mention older learners. Depending on the country or institution we take into consideration, the idea of old age is represented by different actual ages that may range from 50 to 75.

Nevertheless, the ages that are most commonly used to represent older citizens are 60 or 65. Although this age range may be seen as ‘too young to be considered old’, some of the most recognised international institutions have chosen 60 as the starting point of old age, and that is why I used it in my presentation and will use it in this paper.

Stereotypes

I agree with Adichie (2009) when she says that ‘the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story’. When we talk about older adults it is very easy to think of them as being frail, forgetful, in need of constant assistance or unable to learn. However, although these might be accurate representations of some of us when we reach old age, they cannot be deemed to be descriptions of all people over 60 years of age.

The fact is that stereotypes regarding older adults and their supposed inability to learn or remember things are so common in all kinds of media that we tend to internalise them as being true. The consequences of being exposed to such stereotypes for most of our lives include believing that we cannot learn or that we do not belong in the classroom after a certain age.

Stereotype embodiment

According to Levy’s (2009) stereotype embodiment theory, stereotypes act on us throughout our lives. She claims that they can become internalised beliefs because of our exposure to them from childhood and can operate unconsciously, that is, we tend to repeat what we have heard and perpetuate such stereotypes without realising we are doing so, even when we ourselves have already reached old age. It is not uncommon to see older learners saying that they may be too old to learn a new language. That, according to Levy (2009), is also part of the way stereotypes act upon us. She claims that stereotypes become relevant to us when we have to face them.

In the case of older learners, because so much has been said about the relation between memory loss and old age, when they are confronted with any kind of activity that relies on their memory, they might feel that they do not belong in the classroom even if they do not have any kind of memory impairment. According to Levy (2009), age stereotypes exert their influence in physiological, behavioural and psychological ways, which can lead older students to doubt their own potential even when there is nothing holding them back apart from their own fears.

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Pride and prejudice: the influence of older learner stereotypes

Stereotype threat

Steele et al. (2002, p. 410) coined the term ‘stereotype threat’ to describe ‘the socialpsychological threat that arises when one is in a situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one’s group applies’. When we consider older adults and the negative stereotypes that can be activated by their attempts to learn something new, it is understandable that these stereotypes can be sharply felt by them, affecting their behaviour and their performance.

According to Steele et al. (2002), the possible effects of the stereotype threat in students are: • domain avoidance – avoiding being in touch with a stereotype-threatening domain; • self-handicapping – coming up with strategies or behaviours that may lead to failure, so poor performance can be blamed on the student’s own actions, and not on their assumed stereotype-related disabilities; • counter-stereotypic behaviour – trying to disprove the stereotype or to show that ‘one is a subtype of the negatively stereotyped group to whom the stereotype does not apply’ (p. 408); and • disengagement – the ‘I don’t care’ attitude, i.e. disengaging from a stereotypethreatening domain that one cannot or does not want to avoid.

These were the main challenges faced by older learners discussed in my talk. It was also pointed out that, because we are living longer and healthier lives, it is crucial that we keep on challenging negative age-related stereotypes so that lifelong learning may become more normalised.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/gnzDkyOU8y0 heloisahcd@hotmail.com

References

Adichi, C. N. (2009, October 7). The danger of a single story. [Video]. TED. www.ted.com/ talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story Levy. B. (2009). Stereotype embodiment: A psychosocial approach to aging. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(6), 332–336.

Steele, C.M., Spencer, S. J., & Aronson, J. (2002). Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 379–440.

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5

Teaching with technology

Not surprisingly in these times, a number of papers in this volume report on the effective use of mobile or online technology in teaching and learning. This chapter opens with two reports of vocabulary learning via applications: Ruby Vurdien reports on a study into the learning of phrasal verbs via quizzes on the Socrative application in a language school in Spain; Désirée Verdonk examines the effectiveness of Quizlet in the acquisition of vocabulary and its use with mobile devices at an Austrian tertiary business college. In the next paper, Samir Salama and Nick Bilbrough describe their experiences of remote (UK/Gaza) online team teaching. They present three different examples of pre- and post-pandemic collaborative online teaching to explore some of the benefits of team teaching, and some of the adaptations they needed to make as a result of school closures. Juan Quintana’s paper reports on a study at a language institution in Peru, which investigated the relationship between teachers’ digital competencies and how they integrated technology in their teaching, while Susan Esnawy describes how a gamified project involving mobile/online applications was used to motivate academic research paper writing in a university in Egypt. To end this chapter, Panagiota Tzanni reports on her use of Eduflow and Padlet to promote and enhance peer feedback in an EAP setting in China. After discussing and comparing how each tool can be used, she also describes some of the benefits as experienced by her students.

5.1 Learning phrasal verbs via quizzes on the Socrative application Ruby Vurdien White Rose Language School, Spain Introduction

Research findings have shown that learning phrasal verbs presents a challenge for EFL students (Seifoori & Ahmadi, 2017) regardless of their level. One of the difficulties that students tend to face when learning these verbs is the fact that they are not only semantically complex, but ubiquitous in both written and spoken discourse; this might discourage students from using them. Since phrasal verbs form an essential part of English language vocabulary (Al Nasarat, 2017), their inclusion in coursebooks is vital so that teachers can instruct students on how to use them appropriately.

However, these generally provide learners with overwhelming lists of such verbs and their respective definitions, with students being requested to complete matching or gap-fill exercises (Rosca & Baicchi, 2016); these activities result in learning by memorising rather than contextual understanding. Consequently, students very often feel

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Learning phrasal verbs via quizzes on the Socrative application

demotivated and lose interest in acquiring a command of these fundamental lexical elements.

Today, a significant development in language education is the use of technology.

Socrative, a mobile application created to provide educational support through a realtime question/answer system or quizzes, is becoming a popular language-acquisition tool. This free application can be conveniently used to stimulate students to practise vocabulary exercises such as those focusing on phrasal verbs.

The purpose of this research is to shed some light on the use of quizzes on Socrative to motivate students to learn phrasal verbs, both by exploring their perceptions of their learning experience and by considering how they can be stimulated to learn via quizzes. Data were collated from two questionnaires (beginning and end of project), a survey questionnaire to gauge the participants’ learning experience, and individual interviews upon completion of the project.

The project

The current project was designed for one semester (January–June 2019) for a group of thirty-three EFL students (CEFR levels B2, C1 and C2), in a private language school in Spain. Of the four classes involved, one consisted of eight students with a B2 level; two comprised seventeen C1-level students; and the third was at C2 level. Despite the disparity in levels, the students’ common goal was to enhance vocabulary acquisition by learning phrasal verbs, and, as a result, they performed the same tasks. Google forms and the Socrative application were used to prompt the participants to complete their bi-weekly tasks, which involved reading and completing vocabulary exercises and quizzes. Short texts containing a number of phrasal verbs, followed by a vocabulary matching exercise to check comprehension, were shared with the participants on Google forms on a bi-weekly basis. Task completion was carried out at the students’ own convenience, either on their computer, tablet or smartphone. For the second part of the activity, which took place during class time, all the students used their smartphones to participate in the quizzes, which focused on the phrasal verbs they had acquired from contextual reading. Ten minutes was the maximum time allowed for each quiz. In total, the participants read eight short texts, did vocabulary exercises based on each one, and participated in eight quizzes.

Results and discussion

The participants’ evaluation of their novel approach to learning phrasal verbs tended to be positive, due to the fact that they enjoyed the experience, a finding reported in both their questionnaires and interviews. Contextual learning of phrasal verbs was considered meaningful and easier than their usual approach, namely, memorising a long list of verbs with their corresponding definitions, as presented in their textbooks.

The bi-weekly quizzes designed on Socrative allowed the students to consolidate their learning of phrasal verbs and to check their progress in vocabulary retention. The participants stated unanimously that they had found the quizzes enjoyable and entertaining, particularly as they were able to compete against themselves and their peers; this increased motivation led to an enhancement in their performance. However, it was felt that the time limit applied to each quiz was a constraint regarding their concentration on the questions. Despite this, Socrative was perceived as a valuable application, insofar as it guarantees immediate formative feedback, which helps both the teacher to monitor the students’ progress and the students to assess their own knowledge.

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Conclusion

The Socrative application used in this study can be regarded as an effective tool to create a learning environment and motivate students to learn phrasal verbs in a more dynamic and entertaining way. It can easily be downloaded on any technological device and its practicality enhances its use in the classroom. Consequently, teachers are encouraged to incorporate this tool in order to facilitate their students’ learning activity.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/jbPbdG2XZa0 whiterose_va@yahoo.es

References

Al Nasarat, S. A. (2017). The Dilemma of Learning Phrasal Verbs among EFL learners.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(2), 119–125.

Rosca, A., & Baicchi, A. (2016). Digging up the frequency of phrasal verbs in English for the Police: the case of up. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación, 67, 273–296.

Seifoori, Z., & Ahmadi, H. (2017). EFL learners’ learning and retention of phrasal verbs and lexical collocations: Contributions from formative assessment. Journal of Modern Research in English Language studies, 4(2), 47–62.

5.2 The role of Quizlet for vocabulary acquisition Désirée Verdonk University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria Introduction

Quizlet is a popular e-learning tool, consisting of seven self-study activities. Studies investigating the use of Quizlet have so far been exploratory, focusing mainly on its implementation in classroom practice or on student attitudes. By contrast, this study aims to explore Quizlet’s effectiveness for vocabulary acquisition and its use with mobile devices.

Quizlet’s design features outlined in Table 5.2.1 will be relevant for the later discussion.

Activity Learn Flashcard Write Spell Test Match Gravity

Description (a) Flashcards, (b) multiple choice, (c) gap-fill Gap-fill Listening and gap-fill (a) Gap-fill, (b) matching, (c) multiple-choice, (d) true/false Multiple matching Gap-fill

Recall vs. recognition

Typed answer

Both

Custom

Recall Recall Recall

No Yes Yes

Both

Custom

Recognition Recall

No Yes

Table 5.2.1: Quizlet's design features

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Method

This study was conducted at an Austrian tertiary business college during a 14-week business English course, involving 165 first-year students. Two study sets containing 276 lexical items were set up on Quizlet and students were encouraged to use the tool to study these items, which they knew would be tested during the term. The following data sources were used: 1) students’ English competence on entering the study programme; 2) frequency of Quizlet use; 3) students' total score on three vocabulary check-ups (Cronbach’s alpha=0.88); and 4) a questionnaire survey conducted at the end of the course.

Results and discussion

Although students were aware that knowledge of the vocabulary deposited on Quizlet would count towards their grade, only two thirds (64.8per cent) used Quizlet to study the items. This reflects the observation by Fryer et al. (2014) that students were rarely motivated to complete their (compulsory!) e-learning assignments. Those of our students who accessed Quizlet (n=119) used it on average 17.68 times (see Figure 5.2.1), i.e. just over once a week in the 14-week course. This still seems to have been sufficient to support vocabulary acquisition. In fact, a regression analysis confirms the efficacy of Quizlet (r2=0.118, F (2, 119)=7.773, p=0.001), with overall Quizlet-use making a significant contribution to students' vocabulary scores (beta=0.259, p=0.004). Quizlet’s contribution is, in fact, higher than that made by students’ prior English competence (beta=0.230, p=0.009). Hence, learners should find Quizlet an effective tool.

Figure 5.2.1: Mean frequency of Quizlet use over 14-week course

However, the frequency of 17.68 over a 14-week period (see Figure 5.2.1) masks some major variations within Quizlet’s seven activities. Among our sample, Match proved to be the most popular activity, accounting for almost half (8.32) of all usage.

However, Match is also the only activity that is exclusively based on word recognition, while all other activities require word recall (or a mix of recall and recognition; see Table 5.2.1). Unfortunately, word recognition tasks have been associated with lower effectiveness compared to word recall. Indeed, a further regression analysis (r2=0.192, F (3, 119)=9.107, p=0.000) confirms that the Match activity does not make a significant contribution to vocabulary learning (beta=0.038, p=0.651). By contrast, the

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activities based on recall only (Flashcard, Write, Spell, Gravity: beta=0.372, p=0.000) and those based on a mix of recall and recognition (Learn, Test: beta=0.248, p=0.004) contribute significantly to vocabulary scores. Learners should, consequently, be encouraged to practise Quizlet’s word-recall tasks, rather than the popular, but seemingly ineffective, Match activity.

Suggesting an appropriate recall activity may, however, depend on the type of electronic device used by learners. Our questionnaire survey found that Quizlet was used significantly more frequently with smartphones than computers (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, Z=‑5.403, p=0.000) and this resulted in learners avoiding activities that required typing (Friedman test, x2 (2, 165)=62.716, p=0.000), as onscreen keyboards are dispreferred for typed input (Chaparro et al., 2014). Learners using mobile devices should, therefore, find Quizlet’s Flashcard activity convenient as it only requires swiping, but no typing. By contrast, whenever a physical keyboard is available, learners may profit from gap-fill tasks, which require recalling the correct lexeme and typing it out.

Conclusions

The findings presented above support the following conclusions: • Quizlet is an effective resource for vocabulary acquisition, provided learners select recall tasks and avoid the – largely ineffective – Match activity.

• For use with mobile devices, the Flashcard activity is clearly the option of choice as it only requires swiping, thus avoiding a cumbersome virtual keyboard.

• If learners have access to a physical keyboard, the use of recall activities with a gapfill format should be encouraged (i.e. Write, Spell, Gravity, Test, Learn).

This paper was drafted in collaboration with Hans Platzer. desiree.verdonk@fhwn.ac.at

References

Chaparro, B., Phan, M., Siu, C., & Jardina, J. (2014). User Performance and Satisfaction of Tablet Physical Keyboards. Journal of Usability Studies, 9(2), 70–80.

Fryer, L., Bovee, N., & Nakao, K. (2014). E-Learning: Reasons Students in Language Learning Courses Don't Want To. Computers & Education, 74, 26–36.

5.3 Deeper learning through remote team teaching Samir Salama and Nick Bilbrough The Hands Up Project, Gaza, Palestinian

Territories, and UK Team teaching (one English teacher in the Palestinian Territories working collaboratively with another remote English teacher somewhere else in the world) has become a regular and quite unique feature of The Hands Up Project's work. We (Samir and Nick) have worked together in this way for around six years now, and in this workshop we explored three different examples of Hands Up Project team teaching in practice, teasing out along the way some of the reasons why two (teaching) heads may be better than one.

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Example 1: pre-pandemic online link-up sessions

Before Covid, we used to run weekly sessions together in the same way that many other Hands Up Project pairs did. Our sessions were generally free from materials and focused on semi-spontaneous scaffolded speaking activities. Samir was in the room with the learners and mainly responsible for classroom management, choosing topics for sessions, highlighting and exemplifying language on the board, and encouraging and correcting learner utterances. Nick was connected remotely via Zoom and was projected onto the whiteboard, with speakers, so that all the learners could hear him speaking. The learners generally took it in turns (individually or in small groups) to come up to the computer and interact directly with him, telling personal stories or generally chatting. His main role was in providing interactionally modified input through talking and listening to the learners. This input generally became a stimulus for the language work that Samir was doing.

We have both discovered that multitasking is not our forte! It is hard to listen to what people are saying at the same time as listening to how they are saying it, and as teachers we need to do this all the time. Having two teachers instead of one is a simple but effective way of getting round this problem.

Example 2: team teaching on Facebook live to focus on the Palestinian English curriculum

When the pandemic reached the Palestinian Territories, schools were immediately closed, and the Hands Up Project was unable to do its regular link-ups in the same way as before. We immediately switched most of our operations and activities to Facebook live and set up classes via Zoom on Facebook, with one Palestinian teacher of a particular grade working together with an English teacher in another country.

These two teachers couldn't see or hear the learners they were teaching (which was an obvious disadvantage), but on the other hand, because the sessions could be accessed using just a mobile phone and a weaker Internet connection, we found that many more learners were accessing each class. Also, because they were freely available on Facebook, we found that learners of English in other locations around the world were also attending.

Of course, the Palestinian English teacher knew the curriculum inside out, the strengths and weaknesses of her learners, shared cultural knowledge, and the first language of the class fluently. The foreign English teacher was able to provide interesting intercultural knowledge and, perhaps most importantly (because she didn't tend to know Arabic), a genuine reason for the learners to try to communicate through comments in English.

Example 3: international collaborative remote theatre projects

The pandemic has caused the Hands Up Project to grow in many different ways, not least in the scope and breadth of its remote theatre projects. We have now seen many remote plays, which have been performed live and remotely by learners of English in different locations around the world. In one notable play, Live your life, children learning English in Argentina, Gaza, Romania and Spain rehearsed together, and eventually performed their play in various online formats.

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The language learning experiences that the students are exposed to here are extremely rich in learning potential. For one thing, English becomes the necessary language of all communication in such encounters between teacher and teacher, teacher and student, and student and student. When the teachers are directing the play, and in all discussions that take place about how to act, stage the play and enter or leave the remote stage, everything happens in English – in fact, many varieties of English, which are used by all the speakers during this process. This, in our opinion, is the ultimate benefit of remote team teaching: learners are exposed to more advanced speakers of English using varieties of English to communicate effectively and interculturally.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/Jmv1QDHlEsQ samir4eye@hotmail.com info@handsupproject.org

Reference

The Hands Up Project. (2018, January 16). Live your life [Video]. YouTube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=PeofGSQet3I

5.4 The relationship between teachers’ digital competencies and the integration of technology in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) Juan Quintana Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano, Lima, Peru Introduction

According to Walker and White, ‘… using technology in ways which genuinely support language learning enables learners to become more independent, collaborative, and engaged’ (2013, p. 13). Certainly, harnessing technology to attain that aim greatly depends upon teachers’ digital competencies, i.e. knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes intended to effectively incorporate technology into the educational and social context (Punie & Brečko, 2013). As regards EFL teachers, they will be in a more advantageous position to enrich their lesson planning and delivery, as well as to foster students’ language learning, using different online digital resources at their disposal provided that they have solid digital competencies.

I have always been committed to improving my TEFL practice via effective technology utilisation, and it gradually dawned on me that this could be a fitting research topic in the context of a master’s degree. As someone working for the first time on a thesis project, I decided to conduct a study among my EFL colleagues in a TEFL language institution in Peru. What I aimed to discover was how they perceive their digital competencies and the extent to which they incorporate technology into their teaching practice.

Research objective

The research question was basically: Provided that teachers consider themselves digitally competent, does this have an impact on their perceptions of being capable of

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harnessing technology to improve their lessons and their students' language learning?

EFL teachers’ self-perceptions on both aspects were discovered through the administration of a 44-item survey (https://forms.gle/aZA3hUMsFNVgRvrC7). This covered aspects of digital competency (technology mastery, online collaborative work, and continuing professional development (CPD), as well as the incorporation of technology in TEFL (using technology in lesson planning, online student collaborative work, and improving communicative skills). 219 EFL teachers from a language centre with branches in different parts of the country responded to the questionnaire in 2019.

Digital competencies: research results

93.1 per cent of participants reported using PowerPoint presentations, while 31.5 per cent stated that they utilised alternative online applications to generate digital classroom content. In terms of EFL teachers working collaboratively on a OneDrive online repository to generate, share and edit digital content for their lessons, 44.7 per cent claimed to do so. Concerning CPD intended to improve digital competencies related to TEFL, 40.64 per cent claimed to review academic literature about it.

Results are consistent with the language centre digital policy, whereby individual OneDrive accounts are given to teachers so they can store PowerPoint presentations and share them with colleagues. In this regard, results confirm what the literature states – that the availability of digital infrastructure or resources is very likely to boost teachers’ skills in them through constant use, practice and training, which is better attained through conjoint efforts made by teachers, language programme administrators and general management (Healey et al., 2011). Results also demonstrate that institutional efforts to promote CPD on digital competencies have awakened teachers’ interest in reading academic research about it.

Integrating technology into TEFL: research results

89 per cent of teachers considered digital resources important assets in organising and delivering their sessions. A high percentage of teachers (ranging from 60 to 70 per cent) also claimed to incorporate technology to optimise communicative skills such as reading, listening, writing and speaking. Nevertheless, when it came to promoting student interaction and collaborative work, only 16.9 per cent reported doing so.

The results in this regard corroborate what has been stated in the literature: that technology is mainly utilised to support EFL educators’ lesson planning and delivery but using it for student interaction and collaborative work may not be greatly promoted (Walker & White, 2013).

Conclusion

The data evidence suggests that if EFL teachers are digitally competent and continuously work on CPD intended to improve their digital skills, there is a greater possibility that they effectively integrate technology into TEFL. Additionally, the 44-item questionnaire could be used in other TEFL contexts to find out how teachers perceive their digital competencies, and their effectiveness of integrating technology into their practice.

Since these results are based on teachers’ self-perceptions, this study could be the

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basis of a mixed-approach study in the context of master’s degree or PhD studies, i.e. one including teacher interviews and class observations. Finally, I would say that when undertaking academic research, I would recommend working on a topic which captures our interest, in order to sustain that academic endeavour throughout time and succeed. juan.quintana@icpna.edu.pe

References

Healey, D., Hanson-Smith, E., Hubbard, P., Ioannou-Georgiou, S., Kessler, G., & Ware, P. (2011). TESOL Technology Standards: Description, Implementation, Integration. TESOL Publications.

Punie, Y., & Brečko, B. (Ed.). (2013, September 10). DIGCOMP: A Framework for Developing and Understanding Digital Competence in Europe. EU Publications. https://op.europa.eu/ en/publication-detail/-/publication/a410aad4-10bf-4d25-8c5a-8646fe4101f1/language-en Walker, A., & White, G. (2013). Technology Enhanced Language Learning. Oxford University Press.

5.5 Motivating EAP research paper writing using gamification and mobile/online applications Susan Esnawy The American University in Cairo, Egypt

Many EAP learners are unfamiliar with the academic conventions of writing research papers, which necessitates their learning of such academic skills. To address this issue, a gamified research essay project was used, together with online tools, to introduce research paper writing to university EAP learners.

Why a gamified project?

The project was used to emphasise the importance of the research process and to enable students to practise already learned skills, such as critical reading and thinking, and paraphrasing and summarising with in-text citations. A game is a process in which players move from one step to the next, and so it mirrored the parts of the project. Gamification was also used as it has been advocated to increase motivation and engagement in the learning process (Healey, 2019; Kazimierski, 2017). Chou's (2014) Octalysis gamification framework ‘Accomplishment, Meaning, Empowerment, Ownership…’ guided the making of the game, steps and game mechanics. Thus, the gamified project was used to increase motivation and engagement aiming at enhancing learning through challenges.

The project

Topics The topics for the project were chosen from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), e.g. no poverty, education, good health. Students had to choose a goal, identify the problems and then choose a problem to focus on. The task questions were: What is the problem? What are the causes and solutions? Can any of the solutions be implemented in your country? How?

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Phases and steps The project was divided into four phases and each phase consisted of a number of steps: Phase 1: Selection – of problem and sources; Phase 2: Planning – brainstorming, outlining/draft, paraphrasing information, selecting quotations, and writing a thesis statement and final outline; Phase 3: Writing – in a different way from the writing of the final product to emphasise the importance of the process (See Table 5.5.1); Phase 4: Sharing – final product consisting of a research essay and an oral presentation to the class (also shared on Padlet); both the essay and the PowerPoint presentation were submitted on Turnitin.com.

Phase 3: Writing Tasks

Points

11

Citations: citing sources

3

12

Citing using correct format: accurate in-text citations

5

13

Integration of cited information into own ideas logically

5

14

Integration of cited information into own sentences grammatically

5

15

Topic sentences: own, appropriate

4

16

Logical analysis of ideas with evidence

5

17

Logical conclusion from supporting ideas

2

18

Conclusion: emphasising thesis/main idea

2

19

Conclusion: recommendation in conclusion

2

20

Turnitin.com: submission on time

5

Table 5.5.1: Phase 3 ‘writing’ steps and point values

Tools Several tools were used in the project. The students used Google Scholar and library resources to find sources, and Google Docs for the writing of the essay. They used the Trello application (trello.com) throughout the project to record their ideas and write the outline. Trello can be used both online and as a mobile phone application, which makes it possible to use in the classroom. Students can work on the same board

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simultaneously and so can see the contributions of their colleagues. As seen in Figure 5.5.1, each student can work on a card under the same list, either writing on the card as shown, or just giving it a title, then opening the card to have more space for writing; cards can be moved across lists. Trello also enables the teacher to monitor progress and see each student’s contributions (by clicking on the card to open it), and allows copying the written material to another document for the final product. The teacher used Google Sheets to record points as students completed each step (leader board).

Figure 5.5.1: Trello board

Time and groups The first time the project is used in class, the students do it in groups of 3–5 students.

It takes 3–4 weeks, as they are given a week at the beginning to choose the problem.

Then, the phases and steps are completed over a period of 2–3 weeks. At the beginning of each phase, students work in class and then continue their work out of class.

Students receive points for each step in each phase and badges for phases. The second time the students do the project, they do it in pairs, and after that individually.

Conclusion

The project appeared to be successful, both in a face-to-face class and in an online class, in increasing student engagement and motivation, and enhancing agency, coconstruction of knowledge and teamwork. Students enjoyed working together and liked the competition; they realised that the project was a process in which they used all the academic skills that they had learned and was a learning process in itself. This project can be applied in other contexts as it is the content that determines the level of proficiency needed. The gamification framework can be applied using teacherprovided materials, shorter texts, or fewer tasks.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/QIhM88OoA08 sesnawy@aucegypt.edu

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References Chou, Y. (2014). Gamification & Behavioral Design. Yu-kai Chou. https://yukaichou.com/ gamification-examples/octalysis-complete-gamification-framework/ Healey, D. (2019, March 21). Advancing Learning: Gamification. MacMillan English. https://www.macmillanenglish.com/ma/blog-resources/articles/article/advancing-learninggamification Kazimierski, P. (2017, April 12). Gamifying the EFL Classroom to Motivate the Learners.

University of Warsaw. https://clil.pedagog.uw.edu.pl/gamifying-the-efl-classroom-tomotivate-the-learners/

5.6 Technology-enhanced peer feedback in the EAP classroom Panagiota Tzanni University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China

Peer feedback or review is a common activity included in both EFL and EAP class settings. Peer feedback can be defined as ‘two-way reciprocal activity that benefits the parties involved in it’ (Hu, 2005, p. 322). In EAP settings, it usually takes place within writing activities, such as writing introductions or an argumentative paragraph, or during oral presentation practice. The benefits peer feedback has can be summarised as follows: it develops students’ awareness of their own knowledge gaps; it promotes learner autonomy; and, finally, it helps them develop a sense of audience, which finally leads to better performance (Hu, 2005).

However, it is often evident that students feel reluctant to provide honest and constructive feedback to their classmates. This is sometimes linked to their cultural background, especially if they come from an Asian country, where ‘losing face’ in front of your peers or criticising your peers is frowned upon (Hu, 2005). Therefore, providing anonymous peer feedback can transform this type of activity and give it a new meaning and purpose. When students provide their feedback anonymously, they are less worried about offending the writer (or speaker), which in turn appears to result in more useful feedback (Hosack, 2004).

Transforming peer feedback into a meaningful activity without jeopardising its effectiveness can be easily done with the help of technology. Web-based, technologyenhanced learning stimulates and supports the learning process and enhances learning outcomes (Lee & Woods, 2010). We mainly use technology to motivate our students more and enrich our learning resources in a way that we could not do otherwise (Lee & Woods, 2010). Eduflow and Padlet can be used to transform peer feedback and make it completely anonymous. Eduflow was the first website that I outlined during my presentation, showing its advantages and disadvantages. Eduflow has the potential to transform peer feedback into a meaningful activity, where students can express their opinions in a safe and comfortable space.

Eduflow (https://app.eduflow.com/login) is a commercial website which creates flows. Students submit their assignments and then the website randomly allocates them to their classmates without revealing the identity of the students during any step of the flow. The teacher can create different rubric questions, allocate more peer reviews to stronger students who finish early, and add more steps to the flow, such as

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self-review. It has to be noted that the teacher has access to students’ comments but only they are aware of the students’ data and which student reviews which paper. A student satisfaction survey showed that most of the students involved were satisfied with the website and they felt it helped them improve their writing skills. In addition, their writing exam results showed better performance and ultimately grades compared with other classes who did not use Eduflow.

Padlet (https://padlet.com) was another website presented, which can be used for smaller tasks that take little time, such as practising writing definitions, and its new features allow students to comment on each other’s posts anonymously. According to the satisfaction survey, students found it useful, but teacher observations remarked that it is not as effective as Eduflow, and should be used when projecting all answers during plenary mode feedback.

A few practical tips were also given during the final stage of the presentation, e.g. introduce the websites at the beginning of the course and train students by giving them structured and multiple-choice questions during the initial stages of peer feedback; and after a few lessons, try to encourage students to create their own rubric, an activity which can also serve as a warmer to peer feedback.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/b5_lza2yyqc englishtutor572@gmail.com

References

Hosack, I. (2004). The effects of anonymous feedback on Japanese university students' attitudes towards peer review. Language and its Universe, 3, 297–322.

Hu, G. (2005). Using peer review with Chinese ESL student writers. Language Teaching Research, 9(3), 321–342.

Lee, S. E., & Woods, K. J. (2010). Using contemporary topics and Internet resources to stimulate student-centered learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(6), 775–790. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/lee.html

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6

English in Higher Education

The focus of this chapter is EAP and ESP in higher education settings. Quyen Tran and Peter Watkins discuss the effects of teacher-initiated humour in the presessional classroom. Then, Juan Carlos Izaguirre Sanchez describes an integrated skills approach to English, which requires students to combine medical and language knowledge to perform a series of team tasks at a medical university in Cuba. Jennifer Schumm Fauster reports on learners’ and teachers’ experiences of a flipped advanced writing course at a university in Austria. Dietmar Tatzl then outlines a presentation skills course, using video recordings, specifically designed for aeronautical engineering students, but which could be adapted to other subjects and professions. David Krygier explores the problem of knowledge decay brought about as a result of longer breaks, and more recently, remote teaching and learning, and suggests some possible solutions. In the next paper, Kate Sato and Birte Horn draw on their experiences of cross-cultural exchange projects for lower-level proficiency students in Germany and Japan, to outline the key areas to consider and some of the benefits to students. Susan Abrill describes how she introduced and used a ‘fossilisation journal’ with students at different levels of English proficiency to promote awareness and self-correction of writing. In the final paper of this chapter, Amy Coryat advocates introducing more fun and games to the EAP classroom, providing examples adapted from general English.

6.1 Humour in a pre-sessional classroom?

Quyen Tran and Peter Watkins University of Portsmouth, UK

Although humour has been the subject of study in various disciplines, including education, virtually no research, as far as we are aware, has investigated the effects of teacher-initiated humour in English for academic purposes (EAP). This talk reported on some research done as part of a PhD programme, in which we explored the types of humour used and their effects, as well as teachers’ and students’ beliefs about humour in the EAP context.

Research

The study adopted a qualitative approach to a large extent, using a combination of observations and interviews. While these are not new methodological tools, they have rarely been used in research on humour in education, as key previous studies in this area mainly relied on quantitative data. We conducted two 90-minute observations as well as an individual interview with ten tutors. 25 pre-sessional students also 85

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volunteered to participate in four focus groups. They were mainly from China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, with an IELTS score of 5 or 5.5 upon entry. The following definition adapted from Booth-Butterfield & Booth-Butterfield (1991) was used in this study: ‘Humour: A teacher’s intentional verbal and nonverbal messages, which elicit laughter, chuckling, and other forms of spontaneous behaviour taken to mean pleasure, amusement, delight, and/or surprise in the students’.

Findings

The types and sources of pre-sessional English classroom humour The most prevalent type of humour employed by the pre-sessional English teachers in this study was funny comments and the targets of these were often the teachers themselves or the students. The teachers initiated these attempts at humour to relate to their students and strengthen the teacher-student bond. These comments were also seen as an encouragement to the students to experiment with their English and demonstrate their own sense of humour. Funny comments directed at the content or material of the lesson were also frequently identified. These humour attempts could be seen as a coping strategy used to build a united position of teacher and student against the difficulties faced in the course, or the dry nature of the material. Other popular types of humour used included the exploitation of funny materials (video clips, reading texts and examples) and physical humour (exaggerated body language and facial expressions).

Teachers’ perceptions It is striking how diverse the teachers’ views on the use of humour were.

Figure 6.1.1: PSE teachers’ perceptions of humour

These views varied from seeing humour as a diversion, thus deliberately avoiding it completely or using it sparingly, to acknowledging humour as actually contributing to learning and using it frequently or even considering it as part of their teaching philosophy. Interestingly, while some teachers believed that humour could negatively affect the discipline of the class, others appeared to use it to reinforce classroom rules

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in a less threatening way. Indeed, when humour was used as part of classroom management strategies, students seemed to be more receptive towards suggestions and more accepting of classroom discipline.

Noticeably, two tutors cited students’ previous learning experience and their expectations, as reasons to avoid using humour with international students. They maintained that these students were likely to resist the teacher’s attempt at humour, since they were not familiar with these interactions. However, results from the student focus groups appeared to suggest otherwise.

Students’ perceptions There were several factors that might have influenced the students’ expectations. These included: their previous experience of learning English in a teacher-centred, grammarfocused classroom; the formal and high-power distance relationship with their teachers; their impressions of native teachers; and the portrayal of Westerners on the social media platforms in their home country. All these factors were reported to lead to their preference for, and an expectation of, a more open, friendly and fun learning environment in the UK. These students indicated that the use of humour and the fun factor helped them feel more comfortable approaching their teachers for questions and feedback, as well as maintaining their interest during the intensive programme.

In addition, being able to enjoy humour with their classroom ‘community’ brought them a sense of ownership of the class and the pride of being able to understand or even initiate humour in a second language.

Conclusion

Teachers can experiment with humour in their teaching in many ways. For example, teachers who are not entirely confident with humour can share the humour of others or use engaging material related to their lesson. The tutors in this study also recommended the use of self-deprecating humour to gradually build rapport and establish a non-threatening classroom environment.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/DOr32e0lNlY quyen.tran@port.ac.uk peter.watkins@port.ac.uk

Reference

Booth-Butterfield, M., & Booth-Butterfield, S. (1991). Individual differences in the communication of humorous messages. Southern Journal of Communication, 56(3), 32–40.

6.2 Multiactibility seminar: integration of activities and abilities in ESP Juan Carlos Izaguirre Sanchez APC-ELI; Medical University, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Combining different tasks and the four basic language skills of the language within a single lesson has been challenging for teachers, but it has proven effective when using 87

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a ‘Multiactibility seminar’. This approach has shown advantages in language learning as well as enhancement in the health professional's communicative competence.

The integration of linguistic skills aims to provide learning opportunities in a natural environment where listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed simultaneously for a real audience and with a real purpose. In real life, though, it can be clearly seen that these skills are neither used in a specific order nor necessarily in conjunction, and that it is often pedagogical convenience, rather than need, that emphasises and prioritises the weight of the skills to be developed (Byrne, 1989).

As a teacher of English at the Medical University, I teach what we call ‘Multiactibility seminar’. This is a type of seminar in English, which summarises all aspects studied throughout a unit of study related to a medical entity (sometimes more than one entity with similarities among them) that helps learners establish the differential diagnoses. The ‘Multiactibility seminar’ works as follows: First, I ask the class to form four teams (preferably four to five members depending on the number of students in the class). I allow them to group themselves according to interests or relationships, but, to create a balance, teams could also be formed according to abilities. I then assign and explain in detail the nature of the task to be carried out by each team.

Team #1 is in charge of the oral presentation on the themes of the unit (for instance, ENT conditions: sinusitis and otitis media). It includes the most general aspects of these medical conditions such as: definition, aetiology, clinical manifestations, investigations, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, risk factors, complications or any other aspect of interest which could enrich the presentation. The team is free to make decisions about who speaks about what. During the presentations, the rest of the class, except Team #4, is taking notes in order to write about it later in the lesson.

Team #2 asks team #1 questions about the themes presented. These questions can be given in advance, but they should be demanding and call for deep reasoning; for example, team #2 could ask about the incidence of these diseases in a very specific health area and the implications, which may require statistical data.

Team #3 develops simulations and/or role plays about the medical conditions presented, for example, between doctor and patient, doctor and doctor, etc., as appropriate.

Team #4 writes case reports related to these simulations.

It is important to point out that while Team #4 is discussing and writing the report(s), the other teams make use of the notes taken during Team #1’s oral presentation to write about general aspects related to the oral presentation, and they are monitored by the members of Team #1.

This type of lesson/seminar allows for the integration of different activities and the four basic skills, as well as the systematisation of the grammatical content, with the aim of achieving a higher level of professional communication in English, and attaining a more solid development in professional skills, such as interviewing a patient, taking notes, presenting and discussing a case, writing reports, etc.

This type of classroom activity ensures learners remain actively involved in their tasks, and keeps them highly motivated and interested, due to the challenging whole class participation where everyone is doing different things at the same time. It 88

Flipping writing lessons: an approach to enhancing learners’ text production

provides vast opportunities for feedback, especially on professional skills previously acquired in L1, and results in a more comprehensive training for doctors by enhancing their communicative competence.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/xUwYS7mg7JE jcizaguirre@infomed.sld.cu

Reference

Byrne, D. (1989). Teaching Oral English. Edición Revolucionaria.

6.3 Flipping writing lessons: an approach to enhancing learners’ text production Jennifer Schumm Fauster University of Graz, Graz, Austria Introduction

The flipped classroom approach requires learners to watch pre-recorded lectures as homework and uses class time to answer questions, deepen understanding and engage in meaningful activities (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). The findings presented below are the result of research based on the principles of exploratory practice (EP), which focused on students’ responses to taking a flipped classroom approach in writing classes with an emphasis on specific genres.

Context

The study was conducted over two semesters in three advanced tertiary EFL writing courses, with a focus on genres and their specific characteristics. Each class had approximately 24 students with C1-C2 English. The courses met weekly for 1.5 hours.

Rationale for flipping

Before flipping, the writing courses were predominantly teacher-centred: instructors used class time to present key features and language structures of a given text type, while also providing learners with opportunities for active in-class learning. However, the latter was often neglected due to time constraints. Unhappy with the use of class time, the instructors decided to flip the writing classes. Pre-recorded videos were designed to present the structure, characteristics and language points for specific genres, and set as homework, thus allowing more class time to apply and enhance required skills. Another reason for flipping was to promote student-centred learning, as students could take more charge by influencing the pace and focus of their learning both inside and outside of the classroom. On a practical note, flipping also ensured that content was accessible to students who missed class and/or those who wanted to revise.

Procedure

Below are the general steps which were implemented when flipping the writing courses.

They should serve as a possible approach which can be taken.

1 Outside of class: videos were set as homework and learners were required to take notes on salient features.

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2 In class: teachers activated learners’ knowledge of the given text type and answered questions that arose while watching the video input.

3 In class: learners’ understanding of the given text type was deepened through

4

various activities (e.g. discussion, short writing tasks, honing required skills).

Time to prepare for independent writing either in collaboration with others or on their own was also provided.

In class: learners completed an exit ticket (a formative assessment tool) at the end of each session. They were asked to describe how they worked with the prerecorded videos, whether they found them helpful, if they enjoyed the learning experience and what questions they still had about the given text type. Exit tickets were collected after every class based on video input.

Learners’ responses

After two semesters of collecting exit tickets from our learners, we obtained the following findings. The majority of students watched the pre-recorded videos at least once and took breaks to take notes. Most students also rewound the videos to return to certain points.

In addition, the students stated that they found the videos helpful. The most frequent responses were that the videos were well-structured, they provided a clear overview of the text types, as well as concrete examples, and the visual input was appreciated. The responses were mixed concerning the question of whether students enjoyed watching the videos. Most students stated that they enjoyed a different medium and preferred receiving input via video than in written form; however, some students stated that they did not necessarily enjoy the process but found it beneficial, while a few preferred receiving input from their teacher. The final item, referring to questions students had concerning a given text type, resulted in a wide selection of responses from ‘everything is clear’ to specific requests, e.g. ‘I would like more input on writing positive reviews’.

Teachers’ observations

Teachers observed numerous effects that flipping had on their writing classes. Firstly, learners seemed to have fewer difficulties applying the overall text structures. While we cannot claim cause and effect, flipping the classroom seems to be an effective way to work on teaching genre (Pavanelli, 2018). Secondly, while the flipped approach is seen as a useful way to teach genre, it should be combined with other approaches, thus providing variety and taking into consideration different learning styles and needs.

Thirdly, it requires teachers to re-evaluate their role as the writing classroom becomes more learner-centred and less teacher-centred. Finally, flipping the classroom allows for more collaboration, feedback (teacher/peer), deepening learners’ knowledge and engaging with them individually.

Conclusion

The results of our classroom research seem to indicate that flipping can be an effective approach to teaching writing, especially genre. It provides teachers with yet another way to support students when working on writing.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/t5h_1WRZZtY jennifer.schumm@uni-graz.at

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Teaching presentation skills to aeronautical engineering students using video recordings

References Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your Classroom. Eugene, Oregon: ISTE. Pavanelli, R. (2018). The Flipped Classroom: A Mixed Methods Study of Academic Performances and Student Perception in EAP Writing Context. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 5(2), 16–26.

6.4 Teaching presentation skills to aeronautical engineering students using video recordings Dietmar Tatzl FH Johanneum, University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria Introduction

This paper presents an English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) course for teaching language and presentation skills to tertiary aeronautical engineering students.

Teaching presentation skills is a sensitive area, as students may be inhibited by the communicative situation of facing a group and speaking to an audience. The situation is further aggravated when presentations are given in a foreign language and when students do not feel competent, fluent or confident in that language (King, 2002).

The matter of giving feedback in such scenarios assumes particular importance, as direct oral comments from the teacher in front of a group may shatter nervous or lowachieving students. For this reason, the author decided to provide written feedback individually to each presenter and video record all talks for self-evaluation by learners.

The course concept and objectives

The course concept centres on: the integration of aeronautical content with language learning; students’ free choice of various presentation topics; learners’ self-evaluation by means of their recorded talks; and the use of different presentation media. The seminar in question is a short-term intensive language course focusing on the specific skill of giving formal presentations in academia and industry. It runs over six weeks, consists of six sessions, comprises 30 teaching hours (45 minutes each) in total, and thus carries two credits in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) (European Commission, 2016). The course further adopts an interactive, practical and experiential stance, enabling students to prepare relevant topics and affording the audience a multitude of spoken interaction scenarios. An evaluation of this course concept has already been published (Tatzl, 2017).

The main learning objectives of the course were: handling the pressure of speaking before a group; giving free presentations without note sheets; organising and designing slides; managing and controlling question and answer sessions; applying appropriate language for presenting; and becoming aware of audience expectations. It was deemed feasible to tackle these objectives through a task-based, interactive and experiential course design that would allow for intensive student engagement in each unit.

The presentation tasks

With an interactive and communicative scenario in mind, the author set six presentation tasks that each individual participant had to complete. Table 6.4.1 provides an overview of the tasks.

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Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Task 6

Any field

Aeronautics

Aeronautics

Charts and graphs

Model

Aeronautics

Medium

Flipchart

Slides

Flipchart

Slides

LEGO® Technic

Slides

Duration

c. 3 min.

10 min.

c. 5 min.

10 min.

c. 5 min.

12 min.

c. 10 slides

2–4 posters

c. 10 slides

No visual c. 12 slides aid

Topic list

Topic list

Free choice

Free choice

Thematic focus

No. of slides 1–3 posters / posters Origin of topic

Free choice

Project topic

Table 6.4.1: Overview of presentation tasks for students

The presentations with slides involved more extensive preparations outside classes and relied on Microsoft PowerPoint as a software tool. The topics were either freely chosen by the students or pre-selected by the teacher, and the graded final presentation was related to students’ aeronautical projects running in parallel with the course. All talks were recorded for self-evaluation after class, and all presenters received immediate written feedback on their performance from their peers and the teacher in class.

The video recordings

The recordings were made with a standard digital video camera fixed on a tripod and shared with students after each presentation cycle. Smartphones, however, represent a feasible alternative method of recording student talks in class and could be placed on a table instead of a tripod, for instance. In any case, students were asked to watch their own recorded talks and self-evaluate their performance before the subsequent session, with the aim of concentrating on specific aspects they wanted to improve.

Applications to other contexts

This course concept can be applied to wider ELT contexts. The principal course rationale is adaptable to a variety of content areas, target professions, learner groups and presentation formats. It allows flexibility in task design, learner-teacher interaction, learning objectives and skills evaluation. Variants of the course format, for instance, may be: blended learning settings with an online platform of the recorded files for systematic analysis; a fully virtual course; or longer intervals between sessions to prepare longer presentations.

Conclusions

This course concept puts student learning at the centre, as it maximises presentation opportunities for participants. Spoken interaction with peers and the teacher is a core element in each session, accompanied by written feedback and English language practice. As a consequence, sessions are lively, engage students, and contain thematic variety.

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Knowledge decay in Higher Education: old problem, new solutions

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/cp-sdR2s4uE dietmar.tatzl@fh-joanneum.at

References

European Commission. (2016). European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). http://ec.europa.eu/education/resources/european-credit-transfer-accumulation-system_en King, J. (2002). Preparing EFL learners for oral presentations. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(3). http://iteslj.org/Lessons/King-PublicSpeaking.html Tatzl, D. (2017). An intensive presentations course in English for aeronautical engineering students using cyclic video recordings. Language Learning in Higher Education, 7(2), 275– 309. https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2017-0011

6.5 Knowledge decay in Higher Education: old problem, new solutions David Krygier Duke Kunshan University, Suzhou, China Background

Knowledge decay can be defined as deterioration of knowledge and/or skills over time. In Higher Education (HE), due to longer breaks between semesters and years of study, this loss of knowledge is worrisome. Faced with long winter and summer holidays, learners often lack exposure to the subject as well as the academic environment in a broader sense. The majority of international students who return to their families overseas during those breaks have limited exposure to the English language.

This deterioration of knowledge has been observed in the US HE sector across various disciplines and demographics (Dills et al., 2016). Research also shows that this process occurs much faster than initially thought, just two weeks after final exams (Bunce et al., 2011).

Method

A year-long study conducted at a Sino-Foreign university investigated loss of skills during holiday periods. Eighteen Chinese freshmen, taking a course in academic reading and writing skills, were tested on three occasions: before and after their first-year winter break, and upon their return from their summer holiday, which marked the beginning of their second year of study. The three tests were based around core skills practised on this course: efficient reading comprehension; summarising; paraphrasing; and the use of an academic style of writing. These skills were used to summarise a 500–600 word text.

Findings

The findings were consistent with previous studies. A third of students performed markedly worse in each subsequent test. With the overall spread of marks ranging from 40 to 70, six students lost at least five marks each time. Others retained their mark within the range of five compared with their previous tests, showing that two thirds of participants managed to maintain their level of skills. While this may be encouraging,

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these were considered core academic skills which these learners were required to master in their first year and retain for the remainder of their university career.

Reasons

Limited exposure to the academic environment and English language during such a long break would certainly contribute to some degree of knowledge decay. Additionally, as freshmen tend to have lower levels of independence and responsibility for their learning, they were less likely to engage in re-learning or reviewing during the holidays.

Although some students certainly attempted that, they were left without any guidance or help from their teachers.

Attempted solutions

In an attempt to mitigate this problem, certain preventative measures were put in place, mostly with mixed success. Discipline-specific online bridging courses were created to encourage revision. However, perhaps due to their optional character, they saw low uptake. Additionally, one group of students, not included in this study, took part in a pilot programme in which they were assigned a task during their winter holiday. They were asked to critically evaluate selected media content and present their evaluation in the opening lesson of the spring semester. This task was weighted at five per cent of the final mark on that course. As all students received full marks, this shows that a tangible incentive can result in greater motivation. Changes to the assessment structure, however, can be difficult or, in many cases, not possible.

Alternative solutions

A more promising approach emerged after completion of this study. Microlearning (ML) is based around a more flexible nature of learning in the digital age. With this method, the material is curated and delivered as micro-content that can be completed in 10–15 minutes. Each of these chunks targets only a single learning outcome which allows for short bursts of learning to occur. This approach embraces the ubiquity of mobile devices, which offer convenience and flexibility. Short (up to 10 minutes) video clips, followed by a quiz or a matching task, can be easily integrated into everyday life, even on holiday. Subsequently, this can provide regular learning opportunities, which are shown to enhance retention of learned material. It can also foster autonomy, as the learner has freedom to select the material based on their needs. At this institution, ML was implemented successfully to deliver whole courses during emergency remote teaching at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite its slow adoption across HE, it has the potential to transform teaching and learning in the nearest future.

Conclusion

Shaped by remote teaching and learning, the current HE landscape has isolated most students and made them even more vulnerable to knowledge decay. It seems, therefore, that now more than ever, technology should be fully embraced to provide support for learners who need it. david.krygier@dukekunshan.edu.cn

References

Bunce, D.M., van den Plas, J.R., & Soulis, C. (2011). Decay of Student Knowledge in

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Successful cross-cultural exchange projects for lower-level proficiency students Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 88(9), 1231–1237. doi: 10.1021/ed100683h Dills, A.K., Hernandez-Julian, R., & Rotthoff, K.W. (2016) Knowledge Decay between Semesters. Economics of Education Review, 50, 63–74. doi: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.12.002

6.6 Successful cross-cultural exchange projects for lower-level proficiency students Kate Sato Hokkaido University of Science, Sapporo, Japan and Birte Horn

Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, Hamm, Germany Cross-cultural exchange projects (CCEPs) can be a very positive instrument in tertiary education to stimulate 21st century skills (Binkley et al.). Unlike intercultural communication (communication across cultures), students in a CCEP are expected to interact within their own culture and exchange reflections and experiences with students from a different culture. We chose cross-cultural rather than intercultural communication because ‘becoming aware of our own biases’ is the first step in ‘teaching for cultural understanding in our classroom’ (Hadley, 2001, p. 354).

We have implemented several projects with students based in Germany and Japan, many of whom had a lower-level English proficiency. While our first project was fuelled by enthusiasm, we quickly learned that careful planning and revision are critical. In this summary, we outline areas that need thorough consideration before embarking on a CCEP. Benefits

CCEPs offer numerous benefits for students: increasing their global skills and having the opportunity to practise authentic intercultural communication in a safe environment, where fluency and creativity are more important than grammatical accuracy. Naturally, exposure to a different culture and the necessity of working with colleagues from another country broaden the students’ horizons.

Tools

It is paramount that teachers and students are comfortable with the tools used in such a project. Throughout our projects, we have used various tools such as SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Dropbox, Skype, Zoom, Moodle, LINE (a messaging app) and email.

However, we found ourselves returning to those that felt easiest to us: Moodle (both universities use this LMS), email (for detailed asynchronous communication), LINE and Zoom. Still, being open to using new tools can lead to great results. Recently, we included Padlet, as students can share assignments, see others’ achievements and leave comments.

As good communication is crucial to the success of a CCEP, the tools used need to be adapted to the respective target groups.

Goals

Goal-setting gives focus to the project. Equally pertinent is how those goals should be attained. Whether simple or complex, depending on educational requirements, the first step is always for the students to get to know each other. One of our goals

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has been that our students use English to produce a quantifiable outcome, thereby focusing them on a clear goal, which in turn motivates them.

Project types

Numerous factors determine the type of project suitable for your individual classroom situation. Different fields that students are studying, e.g. engineering, computer sciences or business, as well as the level of English proficiency, help determine choices.

Thus, with media students, we asked them to produce short videos giving advice about cultural norms for a business traveller from the other country. With science and engineering students, we asked them to create a narrated PowerPoint presentation together. Here, students chose to explain the education system in their countries, or festivals.

Scheduling and grading

Scheduling is crucial, since academic years or semesters will differ for participants. We recommend a minimum of nine weeks for a CCEP, and dedicating 15–30 minutes each week in class to the project. Grading needs to be clear to the students. How, what and when something is graded needs to be defined at the beginning of a project. In this respect, you should also consider whether to include a CCEP in a compulsory or elective class. In our experience, students tend to show more motivation and bring assignments to successful completion when the results will affect their overall course grade.

Outcomes

The students you are working with and the goals you have set always define the results that you expect, hope or aim for. However, how do you measure those? A clear way of measuring results is looking at assignments such as videos or PowerPoint presentations. With this type of task, students have to work together and use English both as a mode of communication and as an instrument to achieve a result. For teachers, these are easy to grade. We have also found oral and written feedback from our students incredibly valuable, which we collected via class discussions and the Moodle feedback module.

Conclusion

Even though CCEPs require much time and effort, especially with lower-level proficiency students, the positive results far outweigh the challenges. While CCEPs have furthered the professional development of the teachers, we have also seen students building friendships that have continued beyond the project work, and students seeking to study abroad in the other country.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/o_cobVowAUc sato-ka@hus.ac.jp birte.horn@hshl.de

References

Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining twenty-first century skills. In P. Griffin, B. McGaw, E. Care (Eds.),

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Journals in academic writing classes to combat fossilisation Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. (pp. 17–66). Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-94-007-2324-5_2 Hadley, A. O. (2001). Teaching Language in Context. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

6.7 Journals in academic writing classes to combat fossilisation Susan Abrill University of Victoria, Canada

It is not uncommon to observe repeated basic errors in the writing of academic students such as errors in singular/plural, articles and subject/verb agreement. In this session, audience member comments indicated that this is a widespread frustration for teachers and students alike. I observed this over one summer in B1, B2 and C1 academic writing classes of young adults. When I noticed that the C1s were making the same errors that the B1s were, I decided to try something new. My idea was to use a different type of journal which I called a ‘Fossilisation Journal’. This journal of very brief entries would be checked for basic errors, those which I suspected were fossilised.

I hoped that, over time, the students would become more aware of how frequent these errors are, and, with this awareness, would be able to notice and correct them when editing their own work.

The instructions, pasted into the front cover of each journal, were: write one halfpage a day for four days, doubled-spaced. The fifth day I would collect them. Each entry must have a date and must only describe that day’s activities. I advised the students not to mention anything too private because we would use these in class later. Also, the journals would only be marked for participation, not quality, and they should skip lines and never go over the prescribed length. The length issue is essential to keep this task manageable for the teacher. Also, it is important that the students understand the purpose of the exercise and that the teacher’s focus is on fossilised errors.

I was satisfied with the results. Because this is a kind of tool, no more than a simple sample of the writing is needed each day to catch and track the fossilisation. In four days’ worth of half-page entries, patterns do emerge. And when the student can observe the same patterns over some weeks, self-corrections start happening. The first week I wrote in the corrections; from the second week I just circled them. Then, in class, I began to have students collaborate. For the first collaboration, I paired students up, had them share their journals with their partners and asked them to work together to figure out how to correct the errors that I had circled.

I connected several other collaboration activities to the journals. One was within a larger group of four or five students. The group, at a table together with their journals open and shared, analysed their errors as a group, discussed them, and decided upon the top three most frequent errors of their group. Then, they made a brief (ungraded) poster presentation about these errors. They were very engaged doing this, and, to my delight, the classes with the more advanced students were just as engaged as the lower-level classes. Another group activity was where I took four actual journal entries from another class and turned it into an exercise by changing the handwriting and

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some details but conserving the spelling and grammar. Photocopies of the four journal entries were given to each student. There was no indication in these entries of how many errors there were, so the student groups combed through them together and tried to find them and correct them. Then, as a class, we confirmed and discussed the errors and how to correct them.

The final group activity was surprisingly a lot of fun and engaging. I made a test which contained a list of 25 sentences, each one numbered. The students were told that two of the sentences were correct and that 23 of the sentences had errors. The sentences were inspired by or directly taken from the journals of the B1 students. I decided to use the same test for all the levels, in other words the B1s had the same test as the C1s, because the fossilised errors were below the level of all of the students. The marked test was a ‘group’ test where students were allowed to roam around the classroom and work together, but they could not refer to journals, books or the Internet for answers. Also, I gave them as much time as they needed. There was running and shouting and laughing. After about an hour they were finally done. The results were very interesting. The lower-level students scored higher on the test than the higherlevel students. I do not know how to explain this, but it does seem that all were much more aware of their own fossilisation errors by the end of the course.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/6P4w5H1YB6k suabrill@gmail.com

6.8 The importance of fun in the EAP classroom Amy Coryat University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Introduction

Research in neuroscience and psychology suggests that when a student enjoys learning, there is greater affective engagement and more learning because ‘joy and comfort aid effective information processing and long-term memory’ (Willis, 2007). The idea of using fun learning activities in any classroom, therefore, seems logical. So why should EAP be different?

My presentation aimed to inspire delegates to think about how EAP is taught and consider bringing more fun into the EAP classroom.

Fun in EAP

Before my presentation I had asked several EAP practitioners the following question: What do you think of when you think of EAP? Then, at the beginning of my talk, attendees were asked to guess the responses. Answers prior to the conference focused on what is taught, e.g. types of academic writing, referencing and presentations, whereas during my talk, responses were more related to perceptions of EAP, e.g. dry, dense, serious, difficult and boring.

There is a lack of literature related to fun in EAP. However, my experience suggests that it is an important factor. My definition of fun – feeling positive emotions, e.g. enjoyment, excitement and interest – was shared with the audience, before a second

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question was posed: Why isn’t fun a hot topic in EAP? The materials, time pressures, students’ expectations that EAP should be serious, and teachers’ fears of trivialising the input were all given as possible reasons.

Research in second language acquisition literature also supports the notion that fun aids learning (e.g. Tomlinson, 2013), and during my talk I used quotations and paraphrases from the research in a game of Guess the Missing Word. The missing words were enjoys, happy, affective, pleasurable and joy, highlighting the importance of positive emotions in learning, even in EAP. Examples adapted from general English

The perception of EAP can be that it is serious and that there is no time for games (Turner, 2012). However, it was argued that fun activities like learning games have a place in EAP, and I shared several examples of game-like activities used in general English, which could be adapted to an EAP context: Noughts and Crosses, Dominoes, Matching Game, Crossword, Half a Crossword, Call my Bluff, Hotseat, Lucky Box, Mystery Box, Correct or Incorrect Auction, Bamboozle, Escape Room.

Two of the activities were outlined in more detail to provide examples of how they could be implemented in EAP. The Noughts and Crosses activity (Figure 6.8.1) demonstrated that it is possible to create fun activities that require little preparation and minimal class time.

Figure 6.8.1: Noughts and Crosses

This activity was designed to create interest at the beginning of a lesson and practise academic vocabulary that learners had previously studied. To gain a nought or cross, learners had to give the correct pronunciation, the meaning and an example sentence.

I also shared information about an EAP escape room I created. The theme of the escape room is climate change and it begins with a short, dramatic video setting the scene and outlining the aim to escape the room in 60 minutes. The video can be viewed here: www.youtu.be/os03w34H3SQ. The activities encourage critical thinking and practise other academic skills, too, such as supporting claims with evidence, and evaluating sources. Material included locks, boxes, UV torches and a UV pen. For further information on my escape room, please email me.

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The students’ views

Research supports the use of fun activities in EAP, but it is also important to consider how they work in practice, in particular how our learners receive them. During my talk, I shared feedback quotes from several pre-sessional students, as well as a video clip, in which two students give their views on fun in EAP. Students highlighted that the fun of game-like activities helped them remember vocabulary better than traditional methods. Two students also mentioned that these activities helped them forget about their worries, demonstrating how fun can break down the affective filter. The students were clear advocates of fun in the EAP classroom and recognised the positive impact it had on their learning.

Conclusion

Fun activities like games should be viewed as appropriate learning tools in EAP. They are ways of engaging students, building positive relationships and increasing affective engagement. Our students’ emotional wellbeing is connected to their ability to learn.

Providing them with fun activities which distract them from worries in their lives, and encourage them to learn, is a good thing.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/WLPNLKjy-kk amy.coryat@uwe.ac.uk

References

Tomlinson, B. (2013). Materials Evaluation. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing Materials for Language Teaching (Chapter 1). Bloomsbury.

Turner, R. (2012, 8–9 June). The Gamification of EAP (Conference presentation). BUSEL International Conference in Language Teaching Issues: EAP in University Settings, Ankara, Turkey.

Willis, J. (2007, June 1). The Neuroscience of Joyful Education. ASCD. www.ascd.org/ publications/educational-leadership/summer07/vol64/num09/The-Neuroscience-ofJoyful-Education.aspx

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While this chapter is relatively short, the papers within it reflect the times we are living in and some of the noticeable themes of this year’s Conference Selections: the necessity of adapting to online teaching and learning; the increased focus and demand for life skills; the integration of assessment and technology; and, as a result of an ageing population, an appropriate approach to teaching older learners. In the opening paper, Elizaveta Tikhomirova and Anastasia Sharapkova showcase the materials design of a language-based educational activity, and its online version, for master’s students at a technical university in Russia. Then, Olja Milosevic describes a language course for older learners that she was asked to design and teach, by a charitable organisation which promotes the integration of senior citizens in Serbia. In the next paper, Sharon Hartle describes how materials had to be adapted for blended learning as a result of the pandemic in a university setting in Italy, and presents a simple framework for blended learning design. To close the chapter, Sophie Farag describes the introduction of an academic English skills course, which uses design thinking to increase student engagement and develop core life skills in a university in Egypt.

7.1 An English class in disguise: edutainment in a multidisciplinary setting Elizaveta Tikhomirova Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia and Anastasia Sharapkova Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Edutainment is a popular trend in modern pedagogy as it makes the route to the desired learning outcomes engaging and entertaining by challenging learners to practise various skills in a game-like setting. Here we showcase the materials design of a language-based educational activity for master’s students of a technical university (2018–19) and its online version (2020). We demonstrate how the proposed scenarios can involve participants in a high-tech interactive game to boost communication skills, improve language fluency, enhance academic vocabulary, and revise relevant grammar.

Commonly defined as a happy marriage between serious matters of education and the enjoyment of play, edutainment harnesses games, videos, puzzles, role play and project-like tasks to ‘exhilarate in addition to educate’ (Colace et al., 2006, p. 13).

However, despite numerous advantages, the organisation of a truly beneficial edutainment event is not child’s play; it requires a set of strictly determined concepts, so that gaming is not implemented for its own sake (Wills et al., 2011). These principles include: 1) the institutional context; 2) a clearly formulated educational aim and 101

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outcome; 3) knowledge of the target audience of the edutainment event; and 4) an intrinsically coherent and consistent story to string all the tasks, games and puzzles together.

Our project was designed for the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech, Russia). To establish and promote the entrepreneurial spirit, Skoltech implements the Innovations Workshop (IW), a one-month, full-time intensive ‘bootcamp’ style course, for the incoming cohort of master’s students. The participants are required to collaborate on an engineering project in a cross-disciplinary setting.

Although English is the medium of instruction at Skoltech, communicating – and innovating – in English may be challenging for some students. To help such learners, the Interstellar Communication English training was developed as a series of three, full-day (six-hour) edutainment challenges for about 30 participants each. After a successful launch in 2018, it was fine-tuned and improved for its second implementation in 2019.

The event was designed to practise productive and receptive skills. All tasks were competitive and required both individual and team input. The teams engaged in brainstorming, discussion, negotiation, project design and presentation. The language problems were addressed through a wide range of challenges in paper and online formats. The online tools included Bookwidgets, Mentimeter, Kahoot and Wordwall.

The exercises ranged from interactive word scrambles, matching and gap-filling to editing sentences with mistakes, finding clues to puzzles, and ultimately a WebQuest.

Speed and accuracy were rewarded with additional scores and special game currency, Skolthalers.

The story uniting a highly diverse multidisciplinary cohort was space travel. ‘Space crews’ of 5–6 students were sent on a space mission where they had to compete for equipment, resources and life supplies by completing a series of communicative and linguistic tasks. The game had several strict rules and a dynamic set of variables so that each new step or decision could have a lasting effect on the game in general.

The final task was a team presentation where each crew defended their planet development plan and proposed a roadmap, complete with a required technology description and a relevant budget. The winning crews received awards for the best presentation, highest scores, most efficient budget, and most effective cooperation/ teamwork.

The implemented project-based edutainment activity turned out to be efficient for promoting communication in a multidisciplinary environment and improving language skills. The proposed plot was demonstrated to be sufficiently guiding and versatile, scalable and adaptable for each particular group of students. The linguistic tasks proved to be easily adjustable to the level and particular needs of students, providing flexibility and variety. The overall story could also be modified to correlate with the students’ background.

In 2020, the edutainment approach was tested in online mode at Moscow State University (MSU) with a group of ten medical and biology students. In contrast to the Skoltech event, the MSU experience was the culmination of an advanced language course rather than a starter. The goal was to save the town from the Marburg virus outbreak by completing linguistic tasks including listening and reading comprehension

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skills, the use of articles, modal verbs and conditionals. It was demonstrated that a gamified setting can be successfully used for final assessment, making it less stressful and ultimately more enjoyable. All in all, edutainment transforms a regular English class into a creative and engaging communicative event.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/V0eu_tqFqAw e.tikhomirova@skoltech.ru warapkova@mail.ru

References

Colace, F., de Santo, M., Pietrosanto, A., & Troiano, A. (2006). ‘Work in Progress: Bayesian Networks for Edutainment’. Proceedings. Frontiers in Education. 36th Annual Conference.

IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2006.322573 Wills, S., Leigh, E., & Ip, A. (2011). The power of role-based e-learning: Designing and moderating online role play. Routledge.

7.2 Teaching English to senior citizens Olja Milosevic The International School of Belgrade, Serbia Introduction

In Serbia, the aging population has become one of the current demographic trends and 20 per cent of the population consists of citizens that are 65 or older (The Serbian Bureau of Statistics). Unfortunately, there is a lack of social and educational programmes for this age group that promote integration by encouraging senior citizens to acquire new skills. This paper is the result of one charity’s initiative to engage senior citizens in educational programmes and, in this case, to learn a foreign language.

Context

A charity that promotes the integration of senior citizens asked me to design and teach an English course. Although it was a language course, its main objective was to gather a group of senior citizens who would use their free time to meet and interact with others who belong to the same age group. Additionally, it was hoped that learning a new language would motivate the senior citizens to be active and form new friendships.

The course ran for three years, each year from October to April, and consisted of one, 60-minute lesson a week. The group was made up of nine women and two men with different educational backgrounds. Eight had not learnt English before; the others stated they had had some basic English classes.

The course

I was briefed to create a relaxed atmosphere, make participants feel comfortable, encourage them to join in the activities and work at their own pace. There were no prescribed learning outcomes and I was free to choose topics and activities. I did not use any coursebooks. Learners mostly wanted to focus on everyday language, and I introduced topics that are usually covered in a beginners’ course (family members,

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food, shopping, etc.). For each lesson, I created a handout to distribute to the learners.

Storytelling, nursery rhymes and drama activities became popular features of the course. To create a context for vocabulary, I told well-known fables, asked learners to make movements when they heard certain words, and draw pictures representing the scenes. Several learners wanted to know English because their grandchildren were learning it at primary school. They were hoping that English would become one of the things they had in common when playing with their grandchildren. To respond to that need, every second session I introduced a new nursery rhyme and explained in Serbian its historical context and/or meaning. After rehearsing the text, I asked the learners to practise it with their grandchildren and, if appropriate, tell them what they knew about the rhyme. I also introduced drama techniques to encourage learners to move around, use gestures to demonstrate words, and activate language. Although their English was basic, they readily joined in the drama activities and were happy to share information about themselves and find out about others. They were often excited during drama time and would switch to Serbian, but I would not interrupt them and praised all their contributions.

Learners’ reactions

At the end of the course, I asked learners to share their thoughts about the learning. Learning English was important to all of them for different reasons. First, they considered that it would be useful; as one learner commented, ‘All the world is using English’. It was also encouraging to see that although they were aware of their slow progress, they were not very upset by it. One learner stated, ‘I forgot all the words we learned last year, but I will learn them again’. Second, the course was an opportunity for participants to meet new people of the same age and to spend time in their company; participating in the English class provided a way to socialise and fight loneliness.

One lady pointed out that she had made new friends while attending the course, and added, ‘I love when I am here with you and when we spend time together’.

Conclusion

Working with this age group was a rewarding experience. The learners did not have high expectations from me or from the course, and were grateful for the attention they were receiving. However, slow progress was at times challenging for the instructor. My initial lesson plans proved to be demanding, and I realised that vocabulary retention and grammatical accuracy should not be priorities of the course. Lifelong learning is very important for this age group, and in this case the English course provided an opportunity not only to acquire a new skill but, more importantly, to meet people of the same age group and make new connections.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/Rm7g97u9PrU oljaict@hotmail.com

Reference

The Serbian Bureau of Statistics. (2021, October). Republic of Serbia Profile. http://devinfo.stat. gov.rs/SerbiaProfileLauncher/files/profiles/sr/1/DI_Profil_Republika%20Srbija_EURSRB.pdf

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7.3 Transforming the blend: adapting materials for blended learning contexts Sharon Hartle University of Verona, Italy

The overall aim of this paper is to describe key ways in which materials have been adapted for blended learning (BL) in my context of the University of Verona in Italy, when teaching English language students at all levels. It briefly covers the changing role of BL, as a result of the pandemic and, secondly, presents a simple framework for BL design. This is an approach that puts the learners at the centre of the process, using the affordances of both face-to-face interactions and independent study in the most appropriate ways when developing materials and activities.

Part one: lessons from ERT

The focus of my presentation, as a result of the pandemic, shifted slightly in emphasis to consider how BL differs from the Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), which so many have been struggling with over the past year and a half. ERT, in fact, was an ad hoc solution to the crisis and, therefore, inherently reactive, characterised by a lack of planning.

However, although ERT may have been a reaction, it has also been referred to as providing us with an opportunity for transformation (Reimers et al., 2020), and it is this opportunity to design learning with our students at the centre of the process that I focus on. In a study of learner and teacher perceptions of studying during the pandemic, which we conducted at Verona University, two key areas emerged that both learners and teachers stressed: 1 the need for interaction and socialisation in face-to-face contexts, which some teachers in our study referred to as the ‘human dimension’; and 2 the need for effective resources to support independent study to be carried out asynchronously.

In fact, these areas precisely reflect the elements highlighted in definitions of BL, such as Friesen’s (2012) widely cited focus on the ‘range of possibilities’ that a combination of the two types of context provide: the asynchronous platforms providing resources for independent study, and the face-to-face contexts (both in person and via video-conferencing) creating space for more social interactions.

Part two: a framework for approaching materials development in BL

As so many educators are now adapting their own materials, a simple framework to plan for this was felt to be helpful. In Verona, we adopted what we call the ‘Why, how, what and who’ framework. To see how this works in practice, let’s consider a group of upper intermediate learners who need to focus on describing memorable events from the past.

Why is the starting point so that we work backwards through the process, as suggested by Stein & Graham (2020). First, we identify the outcomes, which for the above example might be something like enabling learners to discuss memorable moments from the past.

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How involves mapping out a pathway to reach those outcomes, so the second stage is to ask ‘What do my learners need to know?’ This could be, in our example, past tenses, lexis related to describing activities, feelings and places or the pronunciation of weak past question forms if the focus is to be on speaking skills. This also means using technology in a principled way, providing clear, useful instructions and feedback to support learners along the way.

What refers to the lesson stages and identifying which activities are more suitable for the interactive face-to-face context, and which for the independent study work.

Studying the grammar rules, for instance, would be more suitable for independent online study whereas using images from learner mobile devices to discuss specific moments would be more interactive.

Who is the most important of all because it involves providing choice for different types of learners, while also bearing in mind what type of activity is suitable for a specific group of learners. Not all learners may have images on mobile phones, or young learners may be limited in their experiences, for instance. Each single learning context needs to be considered and catered to so that the activities are relevant for the learners.

Choice is one of the key affordances that digital platforms give learners. Choosing the most appropriate materials for the specific context (asynchronous access for independent learning or synchronous, interactive social learning) is our task. ERT has been the norm for the past year but now we can leave the negativity behind and embrace BL, taking to heart the lessons the pandemic is teaching us.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/6kEDnyXRkO4 sharon.hartle@univr.it

References

Friesen, N. (2012, August). Defining Blended Learning. Learning Spaces. https://www. normfriesen.info/papers/Defining_Blended_Learning_NF.pdf Reimers, F., Schleicher, A., Saavedra, J., & Tuominen, S. (2020). Supporting the continuation of teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. OECD, 1–38.

Stein, J., & Graham, C. R. (2020). Essentials for Blended Learning (2nd ed.). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

7.4 Introducing design thinking to increase student creativity and engagement Sophie Farag The American University in Cairo, Egypt Background

In autumn 2019, a new course was introduced to the Intensive Academic English Program for Undergraduates (IEP) of The American University in Cairo (AUC). The course focused on using design thinking as a problem-solving methodology to increase student engagement and creativity by developing critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills, in addition to the academic English skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

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Introducing design thinking to increase student creativity and engagement

Design thinking is a methodology that focuses on solving a problem for a specific end user. By following the five stages of empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test, the designers are able to fully understand the needs of the user and come up with a solution to a real-life problem.

The project-based integrated skills course

Many courses at AUC involve group projects, and this course focused on practising and integrating skills that are essential to successful group work. The course was divided into three, four-week sections:

1 Skills development tasks to prepare students for the projects they will

engage in later in the course We began with team-building activities to help students develop relationships. Activities included: building a tower using basic supplies; information gap activities, such as solving mysteries, where each team member was given part of the information required to find the solution; and creating posters, either physical or virtual, representing the team’s views on characteristics of successful teams, etc.

We then moved on to brainstorming and divergent thinking, where students worked in groups to come up with as many solutions as possible to a problem. Activities included creating something out of a few basic supplies, and designing a car for different users, such as a family with young children, people with disabilities, or elderly people. These designs were represented physically or virtually.

The third skill practised was interview techniques, as students needed these skills during the projects to empathise with their users. Students conducted interviews in pairs, where one student asked the questions, and the second student took notes on what they heard and saw.

The fourth week of this section of the course introduced students to the challenges commonly faced during project work, so they are better equipped to deal with them if they arise in their own groups. These challenges include unfair division of work and working with difficult people.

2 Design thinking project 1

The second section of the course allowed students to engage in their first project.

The topic was set by the instructor, and the students were guided through the five stages of design thinking. Topics included redesigning the learning space and designing a toy for a specific age group. The first step was for each team to create a teamwork agreement where they agreed on the team rules. Then, they began the empathy phase, where they conducted background research about the topic or problem. The students then identified their user, and conducted interviews to learn more about the problem from the point of view of the user. The next step was to analyse the findings from the interviews and to define the problem. The teams then ideated for as many different solutions as possible before choosing one or two solutions to take to the prototyping phase. In this phase, the teams created their prototype, and chose the medium, e.g. a physical model, video, animation, sketch, website, etc. They then tested their prototype with their users, received feedback on it, and refined the prototype based on this feedback. The final step of the project was a group presentation where teams shared their work with their teacher and classmates.

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3 Design thinking project 2

For this project, the same steps were followed as for project 1, but students had more autonomy as they had already been through the process, and they chose their own topic. Topics for this project included designing a start-up, redesigning a product or service, and solving a problem faced by AUC students, such as redesigning the dorms common room and designing an app to help new students who are confused about which engineering major to declare.

Throughout the course, students wrote reflections on the activities and projects they engaged in. They were assessed on their reflections, classwork and participation, research, interview reports, and group presentations.

Feedback and reflections

A self-evaluation survey was administered to students at the end of the course, and the feedback was very positive. The students said they had enjoyed the course and felt they: had gained confidence to participate actively in group work; had improved their language, critical thinking and problem solving skills; and had developed their ability to reflect on their performance.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/lY5b02cwNXQ sophiemf@aucegypt.edu

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This chapter brings together some ideas and suggestions for making language learning successful. The opening paper by plenary presenter, Kieran Donaghy, discusses the central role of empathy. After an in-depth exploration of what empathy is, he explains why it is important and how it can be explicitly developed in our classrooms. Sarah Curtius then discusses research carried out with teachers and older learners of English in adult education centres in Germany, and makes recommendations based on her findings. Moving on to evidenced-based practice, Carol Lethaby and Patricia Harries look at four main areas of research evidence and suggest looking beyond our own field to find it; while André Hedlund discusses the merits of a more holistic approach, Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE), and what it has to offer to teachers. The focus of Neil Allison’s paper is measuring student attention. He identifies a long list of factors that affect attention, and argues that by measuring attention, teachers can better monitor the quality of life in their classrooms. Finally, Fumiko Murase recounts how she incorporated student-led lessons into reading classes in a university in Japan, in an attempt to promote student engagement and autonomy.

8.1 Plenary: Embedding a culture of empathy in language teaching Kieran Donaghy The School for Training, Barcelona, Spain Introduction

This paper aims to show that empathy is central to successful language learning and to making language teaching a more compassionate and fairer profession. I begin by exploring what empathy is, its three main components (cognitive empathy, affective empathy, empathetic concern) and its neurological foundations. I draw on general education literature to present what research findings suggest about the role of empathy in education and the characteristics of empathic teachers. I then draw on language education literature and research to support my argument that empathy is particularly important in language education. I examine whether there is an empathy deficit in language teaching and look at hindering factors that may make it challenging to embed a culture of empathy in the profession. Finally, moving from theory to practice, I explore how we could explicitly develop empathy as a skill among teacher trainers, teachers and learners.

What is empathy?

Empathy is a complex construct and has several components. Roman Krznaric’s

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definition (2014) is particularly nuanced and recognises the multiple components of empathy: ‘Empathy is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives, and using that understanding to guide your actions’ (Krznaric, 2014, p. x).

Krznaric’s definition recognises three components of empathy. The first is a cognitive part: ‘stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person’ (Krznaric, 2014, p. x). The cognitive part is the drive to identify what another person might be thinking or feeling, and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and imagining what is going on in their minds.

The second component is affective: ‘understanding their feelings and perspectives’ (Krznaric, 2014, p. x). It is the emotional reaction to someone else’s thoughts and feelings. The affective component is about shared emotional response.

Both the cognitive component and the affective component must be combined to create the third component, empathic concern: ‘using that understanding to guide your actions’ (Krznaric, 2014, p. x). Empathic concern is an emotional response of compassion and concern that leads us to care about the other person’s welfare, and to want to take action to help them if they are in need. Empathic concern involves the will to do something for the other person. Cognitive and affective empathy alone are not enough for pro-social behaviours.

Figure 8.1.1: Three components of empathy

Parent-child attachment is key in the formation of empathy. Children must have experienced empathic treatment themselves if they are, in turn, to develop empathy (Hogan, 1973). Carl Rogers argued that empathy at an early stage in a relationship predicts later success in that relationship (1975). He believed that empathy can potentially be developed by training. There is an overwhelming consensus among experts that we can develop our empathic potential throughout our lives (Cooper, 2011; Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000; Gordon, 2009; Hargreaves, 1972; Howe, 2013; Krznaric, 2014; Rogers, 1975).

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What are the neurological foundations of empathy?

Having defined empathy and looked at its various components, we now need to explore the neurological foundations of empathy. To do this we need to consider a moment of scientific serendipity. In 1990, at the University of Parma, a team of neuroscientists led by Giacomo Rizzolatti accidentally discovered ‘mirror neurons’ while conducting experiments on monkeys (di Pellegrino et al., 1992). Rizzolatti and his team recorded that a particular region of the pre-motor cortex was activated when a monkey picked up a peanut. Then, completely by accident, they noticed that the same region lit up when the monkey happened to see a researcher pick up a nut even though the monkey had not moved an inch. The brain had responded as if the monkey had grasped the nut itself. Subsequent brain imaging experiments have shown that the inferior frontal cortex and superior parietal lobe are active when the person performs an action and also when the person sees another individual performing an action. It has been suggested that these brain regions contain mirror neurons.

However, it is important to understand that there is no simple empathy centre in the brain. Mirror neurons are just one part of a much more complex ‘empathy circuit’ comprising 14 different but interconnected brain regions. When we empathise with another person this network of regions is activated.

Figure 8.1.2: Regions in empathy circui

These neurological insights remind us what an extraordinary and complex capacity empathy is.

Why is empathy important in society?

Humans are fundamentally social beings and it is in our genetic nature to be neurobiologically connected to others (Cacioppo et al., 2010; Dunbarr, 1998; Libermann, 2013). Rifkin argues that empathy ‘becomes the thread that weaves an increasingly differentiated and individualised population into an integrated social tapestry, allowing the social organism to function as a whole’ (2010, p. 26). Empathy is also vital for a

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healthy democracy as it ensures we listen to different perspectives and that we hear and feel other people’s emotions. Without empathy democracy would not be possible (Howe, 2013).

Given the importance of empathy in society, its rapid decline, at least in the West, which Barrack Obama has called ‘the empathy deficit’, is alarming (Northwestern University, 2008). A study by Konrath et al. (2011) at the University of Michigan in 2010 revealed a dramatic decline in empathy levels among college students between 1980 and 2010. College students in the US today demonstrate about 40 per cent less empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago. Konrath et al. (2011) think a number of factors may be responsible for this empathy deficit: more people living alone and spending less time engaged in social and community activities which nurture empathy; the increased use of digital technology and the rise of social media; and a hypercompetitive social environment and inflated expectations of success.

Why is empathy important in education?

In education there is a wide recognition of the importance of emotions and the development of empathy as part of moral development (Best, 2000; Cooper, 2011; Cross, 1995; Gordon, 2009; Lang et al., 1998; Rogers, 1975). Daniel Goleman, author of the bestselling book Emotional Intelligence, argues that ‘Schools have a central role in cultivating character by inculcating self-discipline and empathy, which in turn enable true commitment to civic and moral values’ (1995, p. 286).

An extensive body of research suggests that in all educational settings high-quality relationships between the teacher and students, and among students, are important for students’ school engagement, motivation and learning (Berndt & Keefe, 1996; Birch & Ladd, 1996; Furrer et al., 2014; Juvonen et al., 2012; Klem & Connell, 2004; Martin & Dowson, 2009). Empathy is essential in creating these quality relationships and would appear to be central to all successful learning and development. Child advocate, Mary Gordon, reflects the importance of empathy and the high-quality relationships we form with our students when she argues that ‘to teach children, we must first reach them’ (2009, p. 194).

What are the characteristics of empathic teachers?

Characteristics of teacher empathy fall into three broad areas: functional; fundamental and profound (Cooper, 2011).

Figure 8.1.3: Functional empathy characteristics 112

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Functional empathy is demonstrated when teachers create a mental model of a group of students. To use functional empathy, teachers need to have a rich social, emotional and academic understanding of a whole group of students and to establish fair and reasonable group rules and good manners between the teacher and students.

While using functional empathy, teachers often categorise students into different types and groups in order to assess them and cater for their needs. Functional empathy is absolutely essential in the classroom, as it provides cohesion and security, creates understanding and a positive group climate. However, a teacher who only uses functional empathy does not cater to the needs of individual students who do not conform to the group stereotype. Most teachers try to supplement this functional empathy with fundamental empathy and profound empathy for individual students.

Figure 8.1.4: Fundamental empathy characteristics

Fundamental empathy is needed to initiate empathic relationships and can be observed in the type of social interaction that most people use to engage in relationships with others in daily life. There are a number of characteristics of teachers who use fundamental empathy. These teachers are accepting and open to students. By being open themselves and sharing their own experiences, teachers eventually learn more about the student. They give focused sole attention to students and this helps to maximise engagement, communication and learning. They listen and value individual students by hearing their perspective. They show interest in students and this makes the student feel valued and worthy. They directly praise students. Direct praise is particularly important for students from minority groups, and students with Specific Learning Difficulties, who may receive little praise elsewhere in the educational system. Finally, these teachers are enthusiastic about both their subject and their relationship with their students.

Fundamental empathy initiates the focused interactive relationships that support engagement, interaction and learning. The active listening and interest of the empathic teacher begins this engagement with the student, which over time can develop into emotional attachment. The enthusiasm of these teachers begins to engage students in learning at an emotional level.

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Figure 8.1.5: Profound empathy characteristics

Profound empathy is of a higher order than functional or fundamental empathy as its characteristics show deeper and broader levels of understanding. There are a number of characteristics of teachers who use profound empathy. Profoundly empathic teachers act to create positive emotions. They realise that positive personal interaction needs sole attention and individual quality time. They make time for interactions with students before and after class, in breaks, at lunchtime and after school. These teachers are aware of the importance of knowing themselves and of trying to get inside their students’ thinking and feelings. They remember their own reactions and their own children’s reactions to teachers. They lay great stress on the importance of relationships in teaching and learning and empathise deeply with a wide range of students. They build up an encyclopedic knowledge of all students. They take responsibility for the well-being of students, as well as their academic development. They are highly adaptive and aware of the different roles they adopt with different students. They build extremely rich mental models of their students and develop deep attachments. Finally, profoundly empathic teachers try to be good people, to do the right thing and to support others. The moral behaviour of the teacher is naturally mirrored by students.

When we examine the literature, profound teacher empathy reminds us of Carl Rogers’ synonym for empathy, ‘sensitive understanding’ (1975, pp. 5–7) and his concept of ‘unconditional positive regard’ for the other (1986, pp. 135–156); Earl Stevick’s concept of ‘presence of harmony’ (1980, p. 5); Nel Noddings’ concept of ‘engrossment’ (1986, p. 9) and Iris Murdoch’s concept of ‘loving attention’ (1970, pp.

2–5) that promotes moral development.

Why is empathy particularly important in language education?

As we have already seen, empathy and high-quality relationships are central to all successful learning and development. However, in contemporary language classrooms where communicative competence is a central goal and which use communicative language teaching and learner-centred approaches that are highly social and interpersonal in nature, high-quality relationships are particularly important. In 2016, Christina Gkonou and Sarah Mercer carried out the first large-scale study on the emotional and social intelligence of English language teachers across the globe. The results of the quantitative survey revealed that English language teachers generally scored highly on the emotional and social intelligence scales (2017). Gkonou and

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Mercer’s qualitative research findings show that the majority of teachers emphasised the importance of having meaningful high-quality relationships with their students, and pointed to four main characteristics of these quality relationships: empathy; respect; trust; and responsiveness. Empathy was the most mentioned characteristic of meaningful high-quality relationships with students. The key to achieving these meaningful high-quality relationships with our students and other teachers would seem to be our capacity to empathise.

Given the increasingly multicultural and multilingual nature of the language classroom in many parts of the world, language teachers and learners need to develop intercultural skills, and empathy has a vital role to play in promoting intercultural competence, which is a key facet of communicative competence (Rasoal et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2003). As Gkonou and Mercer argue, nurturing empathy, ‘can mediate intercultural understanding, increase self-awareness and an awareness and appreciation of other cultures, and make learners open to others’ (2017, p. 8). Empathy is even more important in the ESL classroom, where students often feel inadequate, as they have gone from feeling confident in classrooms in their own countries to classrooms in a foreign country where communication may be very difficult (Cooper, 2011).

To boost the self-confidence of ESL students, the teacher needs a huge amount of sensitivity and empathy.

In sum, empathy is particularly important in language education because of its focus on communication, social interactions and cultural diversity (Mercer, 2016).

Is there an empathy deficit in language education?

When we examined the importance of empathy in society, I referred to what Barrack Obama has termed the empathy deficit. We are now going to explore if an empathy deficit exists in language education. Language teachers are aware of the importance of empathy in successful learning, and want to be and try to be empathic. Undoubtedly, one of the most effective ways of embedding a culture of empathy in language teaching is for teachers to act as role models of an empathic and moral person. However, there are a number of factors which may hinder teachers’ ability to be empathic and for us to embed a culture of empathy. You will probably already be aware of these factors, but perhaps it is the first time you have read about them related to the construct of empathy.

One hindering factor is an over-emphasis on curriculum, assessment, certification and competition. Schools, head teachers and teachers who overstress the importance of exam results, certification and competition may send negative messages to students with Specific Learning Difficulties and their families, and make it more difficult for empathic teachers to support these students. Curriculum, assessment and league tables may also reduce time for empathy, and social and emotional education.

Another hindering is the exclusion of certain groups of people from coursebooks.

Global ELT coursebooks try to avoid certain issues that may cause offence, often summarised under the PARSNIPs acronym: politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms (such as socialism or atheism), and pork. The reason publishers censor material is that they want to sell books in as many markets as possible and do not want to upset local sensibilities. However, I would argue that the PARSNIPs approach is fundamentally flawed as it is based on a one-size-fits-all method of content creation. It is certainly

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economic, but it is not necessarily ethical because it excludes and ‘others’ many people as it denies their experiences, life choices and belief systems, and it may make it more difficult for students to empathise with these groups of people (Garmroudi, 2018; Gray, 2002).

I believe that all of us – teachers, teacher trainers, managers, writers and publishers – need to be braver and push for more inclusivity in ELT materials. A recent initiative to make ELT coursebooks more inclusive is Raise Up by Ilá Coimbra and James Taylor (2019) – a coursebook which represents groups of people such as working-class people, homosexuals, indigenous people, refugees, the elderly, and disabled people, who have traditionally been excluded from coursebooks.

Another hindering factor is native-speakerism, which Silvana Richardson spoke about eloquently and passionately in her seminal IATEFL plenary in Birmingham in 2016. During my career many of the very best teachers I have met have been ‘non-native English-speaking teachers’ (‘NNESTs’). However, there is still widespread discrimination in both the recruitment and conditions for this group of teachers.

The most common justification for this discrimination is that students prefer ‘native English-speaking teachers’ (‘NESTs’). However, when we examine the literature there is no conclusive evidence that students actually prefer ‘NESTs’ over ‘NNESTs’ (Cheung, 2002; Cook, 1999; Kelch and Santana-Williamson, 2002; Walkinshaw and Duong, 2012).

I feel there has to be equity for both ‘NESTs’ and ‘NNESTs’. TEFL Equity Advocates is an organisation set up by Marek Kiczkowiak which fights to achieve this equity (see www.teflequityadvocates.com/). Those of us in the profession who are ‘native speakers’ of English should imagine what it feels like to be a person who has learned English to a high level, studied pedagogy at university, pursued professional development, and then to be rejected for a job or receive a worse salary and conditions because their native language is not English. As Richardson (2017, p. 87) concludes, ‘The challenge and opportunity we are faced with is the re-construction of a profession where all competent, professional EFL teachers are treated equally and the diversity we all bring is valued’.

A general hindering factor is the undervaluing of teachers. Teachers feel undervalued and teacher morale is a major problem. Some of the reasons teachers feel undervalued are the long hours, low pay and precarity that many teachers endure. We know that if workers are overworked, stressed and tired, this has a negative impact on their capacity to empathise. The solution certainly involves teachers becoming members of local unions or forming a union if one does not already exist, in order to try to protect and improve their rights, pay and conditions, and fight for fair compensation when schools close. Another option is to join the Teachers as Workers Special Interest Group set up by Paul Walsh, which aims to address the working conditions of English language teachers (see www.teachersasworkers.org/). But, perhaps, it also involves teachers organising themselves collectively (Kerr & Wickham, 2016). A successful example of collective organisation is Cooperativa Serveis Lingüístics de Barcelona, a cooperative set up by teachers in Barcelona who offer language classes, teacher training courses, translations and services for language professionals (see www.slb.coop/).

Another hindering factor is the poor mental health of many language teachers.

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People who have poor mental health may find it more difficult to empathise with other people (Greenspan & Benderley, 1998). Teaching has one of the highest rates of stress and burnout, which interfere with mental health (Grayson & Alvarez, 2008; Jennings et al., 2017; Miller et al., 2019). In a 2020 UK study by the charity Education Support: 31 per cent of teachers said they had experienced a mental health problem in the past academic year; 84 per cent of teachers described themselves as ‘stressed’ or ‘very stressed’; and 74 per cent of teachers have considered leaving the profession due to pressures on their health and wellbeing (Education Support, 2020).

Language teachers may be even more susceptible to poor mental health because of the poor working conditions we explored earlier. In 2017, Phil Longwell carried out research into the causes of, and possible solutions to, poor mental health in English language teaching. In the qualitative part of his study, teachers wrote about their experience of poor mental health in the staffroom and classroom. Here are two examples: ‘I think poor and unstable working conditions, instability caused by moving from one country to another quite regularly, pressure to “perform” in the classroom and always seem to be happy and in a good mood even when you are not, are all factors’; ‘Unfair/difficult working conditions, professional instability, irrational expectations from employers, general social underestimating of my profession, working load that is not reflected in work pay. The latter is a main cause of frustration and feelings of depression’; (Longwell, 2018).

Both teachers refer to poor working conditions and precarity as causes of poor mental health. I believe ministries and schools can do a lot to improve their teachers’ mental wellbeing by improving working conditions.

How can we foster empathy?

The final part of this paper explores ways that empathy can be explicitly developed in our classrooms. One way for teachers and trainers to become more empathic is to keep a reflective journal to reflect on the perspectives of colleagues and students, and to record every time we notice an instance of ourselves, a student or a colleague being empathic. Reflecting on a diversity of perspectives is important, as we need to be able to have empathy for all our students and colleagues, not just those with whom we find it easy to empathise (Cooper, 2011).

As empathy is promoted whenever we focus on the human experience, read a novel, act in a play, look at a painting, or watch a film, perspective-taking activities and the arts can also be used to foster empathy among students (Howe, 2013).

The use of role play is an especially effective method for fostering empathy. As role play is a familiar type of activity in communicative language teaching classrooms, it is easy to adapt tasks to focus on empathy. However, to maximise the potential for students to foster empathy, they must be given time to prepare their role and get into character. Empathy-fostering questions such as ‘What kinds of things do you think they like and dislike?’ and ‘What and who do they care or worry about?’ support students in getting into character.

Fiction also helps to extend empathy, as it often focuses on the psychology of characters and their relationships. We should encourage students to read fiction about people different from them and people from marginalised groups. After reading a

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novel, short story or reader we can ask students to reflect using empathy-fostering questions which focus on the psychology of the characters, such as ‘How would you feel if you were that person?’ and ‘What would you have done differently in that situation?’

We can also show films about people who are very different from our students and about marginalised people. For example, the short film Ali’s Story (Freedom from Torture, 2012) tells the story of a young Afghan boy who has to flee his country because of war and becomes a refugee in Britain. Asking students to discuss empathy-fostering viewing questions after watching such films (e.g. ‘How do you think Ali might be feeling? How do you know?’ and ‘What led Ali to make that choice?’) helps students to consider the perspectives of people different from themselves.

Another way of taking someone else’s perspective is through the use of paintings and photographs. We can show students a painting or photo that includes a person and give them a perspective-taking instruction, such as: ‘Imagine a day in the life of this individual as if you were that person, looking at the world through her eyes and walking through the world in her shoes’ (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000).

A number of Visible Thinking Routines (Ritchhart et al., 2011) are also valuable tools for fostering empathy. The Step Inside routine asks students to step inside the role of a character from a picture they are looking at, a short film they have watched or a story they have read, and to imagine themselves inside that point of view. Students then speak or write from that chosen point of view. Three core questions guide students in this routine: 1 What can the person perceive?

2 What might the person know about or believe?

3 What might the person care about?

Final reflections

I would argue that the EdTech experiment during the pandemic has been a stark reminder of the vital importance of schools not just as places of learning but also of socialisation, community and caring. As we move from pandemic education to post-pandemic education, teachers will have to care for students who may have suffered Covid, whose relatives may have had Covid or even died from the virus, who may have mental health issues, and whose learning may have been negatively affected by the pandemic. This is a huge challenge which requires an enormous amount of empathy. With the support of profoundly empathic teachers, post-traumatic growth and wisdom among our students may be possible, but teachers need the right conditions to be able to help their students, and face-to-face classes where the constant human dialogue necessary for caring and learning best take place are an essential part of this. Teachers may also need training in social and emotional learning and trauma-informed practice. When the inevitable reimagining of post-pandemic education comes, we should reimagine how we can optimise language learning and, as an integral part of that, we should also reimagine inclusivity, entrenched underfunding, and teachers’ pay and conditions.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/XGl7HvhduUQ kieran@theschoolfortraining.com

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References Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1996). Friends’ influence on school adjustment: A motivational analysis. In J. Juvonen & K. R. Wentzel (Eds.), Social motivation: Understanding children’s school adjustment (pp. 248–278). Cambridge University Press.

Best, R. (2000). Empathy, experience and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education). Pastoral Care in education, 18(4), 8–18.

Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1996). Interpersonal relationships in the school environment and children’s early school adjustment: The role of teachers and peers. In J. Juvonen & K. R. Wentzel (Eds.), Social motivation: Understanding children’s school adjustment (pp.199–225).

Cambridge University Press.

Cacioppo, J.T., Berntson, G.C., & Decety, J. (2010). Social neuroscience and its relationship to social psychology. Social Cognition, 28(6), 675–685.

Cheung, Y.L. (2002). The Attitude of University Students in Hong Kong towards Native and Non-native Teachers of English (Unpublished master’s thesis). The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Coimbra, I., & Taylor, J. (2019). Raise Up. Taylor Made English.

Cook, V. J. (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), 185–209.

Cooper, B. (2011). Empathy in education: Engagement, values and achievement. Bloomsbury.

Cross, J. (1995). Is there a place for personal counselling in secondary school? Pastoral Care in education, 13(4), 6–10. di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. (1992). Understanding motor events: a neurophysiological study. Experimental Brain Research, 91(1), 176–180.

Dunbarr, R.I.M. (1998). The social brain hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews, 6(5), 170–190.

Education Support. (2020). Teacher wellbeing index 2020. https://www.educationsupport.org. uk/resources/research-reports/teacher-wellbeing-index-2020 Freedom from Torture. (2012, June 22). BBC Learning: ‘Seeking Refuge’ Series - Ali’s Story [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/44516196 Furrer, C.J., Skinner, E.A., & Pitzer, J.R. (2014). The influence of teacher and peer relationships on students’ classroom engagement and everyday motivational resilience.

National Society for the Study of Education, 113(1), 101–123.

Galinsky, A. D., & Moskowitz, G. B. (2000). Perspective-taking: Decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility, and in-group favoritism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 708–724.

Garmroudi, A. (2018, January 11). Parsnips, a protest BETTblogs. https:// digitallearningassociates.com/whats-new/2018/1/24/bettblogs-parsnips-a-protest Gkonou, C., & Mercer, S. (2017). Understanding emotional and social intelligence among English language teachers. British Council.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books.

Gordon, M. (2009). Roots of empathy: Changing the world child by child. The Experiment.

Gray, J. (2002). The global coursebook in English language teaching. In D. Block & D. Cameron (Eds.), Globalization and Language Teaching (pp. 151–167). Routledge.

Grayson, J. L., & Alvarez, H. K. (2008). School climate factors relating to teacher burnout: a

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Greenspan, S. I., & Benderly, B. L. (1998). The growth of the mind: And the endangered origins of intelligence. Perseus Books.

Hargreaves, D. H. (1972). Interpersonal relations and education. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Hogan, R. (1973). Moral conduct and moral character–a psychological perspective.

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Howe, D. (2013). Empathy: What it is and why it matters. Palgrave Macmillan.

Jennings, P. A., Brown, J. L., Frank, J. L., Doyle, S., Oh, Y., Davis, R., Rasheed, D., DeWeese, A., DeMauro, A. A., Cham, H., & Greenberg, M. T. (2017). Impacts of the CARE for teachers program on teachers’ social and emotional competence and classroom interactions.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 109, 1010–1028.

Juvonen, J., Espinoza, G., & Knifsend, C. (2012). The role of peer relationships in student academic and extracurricular engagement. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 387–401). Springer Science.

Kelch, K., & Santana-Williamson, E. (2002). ESL students' attitudes toward native and nonnative speaking instructors' accents. The CATESOL Journal, 14, 57–72.

Kerr, P., & Wickham, A. (2016). ELT conversation: ELT as an industry. In T. Pattison (Ed.), IATEFL 2015 Manchester Conference Selections (pp. 75–78). Canterbury: IATEFL. Klem, A. M., & Connell, J. P. (2004). Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement. Journal of School Health, 74, 262–273.

Konrath, S.H., O’Brien, E. H., & Hsing, C. (2011). Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: a meta-analysis. Personal Social Psychological Review, 5 August.

Krznaric, R. (2014). Empathy: A handbook for revolution. Rider.

Lang, P., Katz, Y., & Menezes, I. (Eds.) (1998). Affective education: A comparative view. Cassell.

Libermann, M. D. (2013). Social: Why our brains are wired to connect. Oxford University Press.

Longwell, P. (2018, April 4). The mental health of English language teachers: Research findings. Teacher Phili. https://teacherphili.com/2018/04/04/the-mental-health-of-englishlanguage-teachers-research-findings/ Martin, A. J., & Dowson, M. (2009). Interpersonal relationships, motivation, engagement, and achievement: Yields for theory, current issues, and educational practice. Review of Educational Research, 79, 327–365.

Mercer, S. (2016). Seeing the world through your eyes: Empathy in language learning and teaching. In P. D. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen, & S. Mercer, (Eds.), Positive Psychology in SLA (pp. 91–111). Multilingual Matters.

Miller, L., Musci, R., D’Agati, D., Alfes, C., Beaudry, M. B., Swartz, K., & Wilcox, H. (2019).

Teacher mental health literacy is associated with student literacy in the adolescent depression awareness program. School Mental Health 11(2), 357–363.

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Richardson, S. (2017). The ‘native factor’: the haves and the have nots … and why we still need to talk about this in 2016. In T. Pattison (Ed.), IATEFL 2016 Birmingham Conference Selections (pp. 77–89). Canterbury: IATEFL. Rifkin, J. (2010). The empathic civilization: The race to global consciousness in a world in crisis.

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Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. Jossey-Bass.

Rogers, C. R. (1975). Empathic: an unappreciated way of being. The Counselling Psychologist, 5(2), 2.

Rogers, C. R. (1986). A client-centered/person-centered approach to therapy. In H. Kirschenbaum & V. L. Henderson (Eds.), The Carl Rogers reader (pp. 135–156). Houghton Mifflin.

Stevick, E. (1980). Teaching Languages: A Way and Ways. Heinle.

Walkinshaw, I., & Duong, O. T. H. (2012). Native and non-native speaking English teachers in Vietnam: Weighing the benefits. TESL-EJ, 16(3), 1–17.

Wang, Y.W., Davidson, M. M., Yakushko, O. F., Savoy, H. B., Tan, J. A., & Bleier, J. K. (2003). The scale of ethnocultural empathy: Development, validation, and reliability. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(2), 221–234.

8.2 Not too old to learn: teaching senior language learners Sarah Curtius Freelance, Hanover, Germany

This paper is based on research carried out with teachers and older learners of English (60+) in adult education centres in Germany (so-called Volkshochschule). The paper looks at areas in which older adult learners are significantly different to their younger counterparts. While reasons for senior students to learn a language differ according to their context, they often want to be able to speak to friends or family living in an English-speaking country, communicate while travelling, preserve linguistic skills acquired over their lifetime, enjoy social interaction or stay mentally active (Derenowski, 2018). We considered four major areas where senior learners face challenges that younger learners do not.

Physiologically, potential problems in the classroom include a deterioration of eyesight and hearing. Teachers should ensure materials are clear and easily readable and take extra care preparing audio tasks.

Cognitively, there is a decline in working memory and processing speed as we age, although this decline is often exaggerated. Ageist jokes about ‘senior moments’ propagate the idea that decline is inevitable. Everyone experiences this decline at a different rate and a person’s level of education, working experience and the extent to which they engaged in lifelong learning have a greater impact on decline than age alone. While there may be decline, the brain continues to create neurons and synapses throughout the lifespan, making lifelong learning possible. In fact, the learning process itself is instrumental in stimulating neurons and connections, thus retaining brain functionality.

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Learner (and teacher) expectations in the area of methodology and learning also differ from those of younger adults and their teachers. If they learned a language in their youth, senior learners will be familiar with the grammar translation method and possibly other methodologies employed over the years. This can make them reluctant to adopt newer approaches and it is important that teachers are aware of this potential conflict. Getting to know our learners, their experiences and expectations can help us gain their trust and encourage them to try more communicative activities in the classroom. Learners are often more easily persuaded if teachers can explain why certain practices are effective, so it pays to be informed about the underpinnings of what we do.

Finally, and in my opinion most importantly, we examined the psychological differences between older and younger adult learners. Firstly, as mentioned above, cognitive decline tends to be over-emphasised and ageist attitudes pervade the belief systems of both learners and teachers. If learners believe they are too old to learn, they will prove themselves right! However, as we have seen, there is no reason why an older brain cannot learn new skills. It may take a little longer and repetition is more important, but learning is still possible.

The second area where learner beliefs have a profound effect on their success is in their beliefs about language acquisition. Lenneberg’s (1967) critical period hypothesis (CPH) sought to explain first language acquisition or acquisition of a further language in an immersion setting, yet ‘younger is better’ is widely accepted as fact for any setting. Research suggests young learners have a better chance of acquiring nativelike pronunciation and syntax (Hartshorne et al., 2018). However, older language learners are not normally aiming for native-like proficiency. The CPH is of limited use in explaining how a further language is acquired in adulthood in a classroom setting. Although native-like language may be unattainable, communicating in a foreign language is still an achievable goal. The belief that you must be young to learn a language successfully distracts from an important fact: learning a language is hard work whether a learner is 25, 45 or 65.

Age is not the greatest predictor of success in acquiring a second language. Motivation also plays an important role. Conference participants confirmed from their own experience that older learners were often highly intrinsically motivated, even though they expected a slower learning pace due to their age.

I would recommend that teachers of older learners directly address in their lessons the subjects of ageism, perceived cognitive decline and learner expectations concerning language acquisition. It is important that older learners understand that learning is still possible as we age, that learning a foreign language requires time and effort at any age but that this effort is especially beneficial for brain health.

As our societies age, it is vital we stay socially and mentally active. Learning a language with others is undoubtedly an activity which can be encouraged as fulfilling these two criteria.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/Bx9OR6uO79g sarahj.curtius@gmail.com

References

Derenowski, M. (2018). Identifying the characteristics of foreign language teachers who work

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145–160). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177(April), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.007 Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological foundations of language. Wiley & Sons.

8.3 Where is the evidence for evidence-based teaching?

Carol Lethaby The New School, New York, USA and Patricia Harries Freelance,

Colombo, Sri Lanka Overview

What is evidence-based teaching? The idea behind this is not to reduce teaching to an exact science, but rather it is ‘the practice of considering the relevant research, taking into account our students and our context and making decisions based on our experience as teachers’ (Lethaby et al. 2021, p. 10). Using evidence to inform teaching is useful because it can show teachers whether they are using practices that research indicates are not effective, highlight strategies that do have a research practice to support their use, and validate what teachers do already by providing a research base for effective strategies.

Where is the evidence?

During our presentation, we looked at four main areas that can provide research evidence to inform English language teaching practice and below we outline a few interesting findings from these different spheres.

1 Science and neuroscience

In the last two decades, classroom practitioners have been drawing insights from fields that derive evidence from the scientific method, and neuroscience is one of these areas. With the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists have been able to observe the physical brain in action and look at how parts of the brain are activated when we do certain tasks. As a result, we can challenge commonly-held beliefs that have pervaded educational practice, such as the one that claims people are either left-brained or right-brained. Neuroscientific evidence shows that there is no such thing as left or right hemispheric dominance, and that when learning a language, both sides of the brain are involved (Qi et al., 2019).

2 Psychology and cognitive science The brain cannot tell us what a learner is thinking – to consider how we learn and what is going on in the thinking mind we turn to the areas of cognitive science and psychology. Cognitive science has informed us about the importance of background knowledge, as well as how knowledge is stored and used and how memory works.

Marzano (2004) points out that there is a strong correlation between background knowledge and achievement, meaning that a learner who has a lot of prior knowledge

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on a topic will learn new information on that topic readily and well, while a learner with lower levels of previous knowledge will not learn new information as well.

This is connected to the limited nature of the working memory which only allows us to process a few new items of information at one time, compared to the longterm memory which can store enormous amounts of information. This information is organised in the mind in knowledge schemes, and the construction and use of these knowledge schemes helps us to overcome the limitations of the working memory. If we have things already stored in long-term memory and can retrieve the information automatically (this is developed through practice), it allows us to process more new items in the working memory. Prior knowledge therefore helps us learn new information.

3 General educational research Two strategies that have a wealth of research behind them are spaced retrieval practice and practice testing. The first simply refers to the spacing out of practice sessions rather than cramming study into one session. Evidence has shown that leaving intervals of time between study leads to greater long-term retention of what is being learned. It has also been demonstrated that using informal practice tests in the classroom or recall activities when studying alone or with peers improves performance and helps the learner retain learned content for longer.

4 Second language acquisition There are several interesting research findings in second language acquisition and this is the most obvious area that we think of as informing ELT. Researchers agree that learners need input (no surprise for language teachers), but what we consider especially interesting is the importance of extensive reading to vocabulary development and general language proficiency. Secondly, many studies and meta-analyses show the effectiveness of explicit instruction, that is, having clear language teaching goals and making these open to learners rather than just exposing learners to plentiful input and hoping they make sense of it all implicitly. The third interesting finding we would highlight is that learners need meaningful practice, not mechanical drills, but activities that require them to actively recall language that has been learned.

Conclusions

This paper merely scratches the surface of what evidence-based teaching is and how it can be used to inform ELT. There is no doubt that the evidence is out there, but we may need to look beyond our own field to find it.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/P2Nj9xrjXls clethaby@clethaby.com patti.harries@gmail.com

References Lethaby, C., Mayne, R., & Harries, P. (2021). An introduction to evidence-based teaching in the English language classroom: Theory and practice. Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd. Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. ASCD. Qi, Z., Han, M., Wang, Y., de los Angeles, C., Liu, Q., Garel, K., San Chen, E., Whitfield-

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8.4 Mind, Brain, and Education: evidence-based practice and insights André Hedlund Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), Curitiba, Brazil MBE’s objective and principles

Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) is a relatively new science that aims to merge the contributions of neuroscience, psychology and educators, with scientifically grounded evidence on how students learn, and which teaching practices may work best in the classroom. Its transdisciplinary character gives MBE a more holistic approach and assumes that no parent field alone should be prioritised over the other two.

MBE authors attempt to translate research into classroom practices that might be useful and, consequently, positively impact learners’ outcomes. A good example is how MBE systematises a few principles to be taken into consideration when planning and delivering lessons (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2010): 1 Each brain is unique and uniquely organised. Human brains are as unique as faces.

2 All brains are not equal because context and ability influence learning.

3 The brain is changed by experience.

4 The brain is highly plastic.

5 The brain connects new information to old.

A sixth principle comes from the research of Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel and it tells us that there is no learning without attention and memory (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014). So, how do these principles translate into classroom practice? We can promptly think of aspects such as differentiation and personalisation, prior knowledge, student-centredness and active learning, beliefs and attitudes about learning, emotion regulation and self-efficacy, and the list goes on.

On the other hand, we might regard MBE as a fact-checking tool for many of the things we do in the classroom – a sort of Socratic Triple Filter that checks whether things are true (based on our current understanding and evidence available), good (if they have a positive impact on students’ achievement), and useful (whether teachers can apply them in the classroom).

Perhaps the greatest utility of MBE is that of debunking well-established neuromyths, which can potentially hinder students’ learning outcomes by misinforming teachers on effective classroom practices (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014). One such wellestablished neuromyth is the learning styles theory. As Howard-Jones (2014) puts it: The implicit assumption seems to be that, because different regions of the cortex have crucial roles in visual, auditory and sensory processing, learners should receive information in visual, auditory or kinaesthetic forms according to which part of their brain works better. The brain’s interconnectivity makes such

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an assumption unsound, and reviews of educational literature and controlled laboratory studies fail to support this approach to teaching. (pp. 1–2) • • • •

Other popular neuromyths include: We use only 10 per cent of our brain.

There are critical periods in childhood after which certain things can no longer be learned.

When we sleep, the brain shuts down.

Differences in hemispheric dominance (left brain, right brain) can help explain individual differences amongst learners.

What can MBE do for teachers?

It is worth noting that people tend to buy into the buzz or trend of ‘neuro’, ‘brainbased’, ‘brain-friendly’ ideas. However, these terms may actually refer to unrealistic solutions that use neuroscience jargon to promise people that they will ‘enhance’ or ‘unlock’ their potential and learn much faster than anyone else. It makes it seem that learning a language does not require time, effort and commitment, for example. It also implies that all the research, accreditation and experience of institutions dealing with language teaching and assessment can easily be disregarded because someone has ‘cracked the code’.

MBE is a relevant and promising area because it looks at the available evidence and questions what teachers have been doing in the classroom out of tradition, many of whom are simply replicating what their teachers or trainers did without really reflecting on its effectiveness or the latest developments of scientific research. MBE offers a grounded, down-to-earth and empirical approach to teaching and learning. We do not need anything revolutionary; what we need is evidence-based research and we need that to be available from reliable sources and accessible to non-academic, nonscientific communities.

Conclusion

MBE is reliable and can make a positive difference. We could certainly benefit from focusing our efforts on understanding how the brain and the mind learn, base our practice on this understanding, rely on the research we have available, and discard ideas that have been debunked long ago. As Tokuhama-Espinosa (2010, p. 99) puts it: ‘All teachers should embrace medicine’s first rule, which is do no harm’.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/zl_AUY_N0K8 info@edcrocks.com

References

Howard-Jones, P. A. (2014). Neuroscience and education: myths and messages. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(12), 817–824.

Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2010). Mind, brain, and education science: A comprehensive guide to the new brain-based teaching. W.W. Norton & Company.

Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2014). Making classrooms better: 50 practical applications of mind, brain, and education science (1st ed.). W.W. Norton & Company.

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Measuring student attention as student and teacher reflection

8.5 Measuring student attention as student and teacher reflection Neil Allison University of Glasgow, UK Background – the importance of attention and the value of measuring attention in the classroom

Attention is a term that is largely studied in neuroscience and psychology under various terms and subcategories. In education, it is probably understudied, i.e. insufficient attention has been given to attention.

This presentation summarised a study that used mixed methods to collect attention data in the context of a reading and writing English for Academic Purposes course.

The project itself was originally intended to provide a comparison with published research on attention, to gain a picture of how attention in a foreign language classroom changes over time, and through three interaction types: group work, individual work, and full-class work, starting with a hypothesis that attention would be higher during group work. There is very little published attention research in foreign language contexts.

The unexpected finding from this attention measurement project seemed to be in the value of the tools used for data gathering themselves, tools which I have subsequently used regularly to analyse the classroom experience of students. The tools effectively became a highly efficient form of classroom assessment technique/feedback on student experience, superior in some ways to directly seeking satisfaction feedback, which is flawed.

What is attention?

At present there is no realistic ability to measure attention directly via brain scanning in the classroom yet attention is critical to learning. It is possible to identify four key headings to consider when analysing the construct: 1. Top-down attention (salience/relevance): this relates to the importance of input and the context, e.g. ‘Why am I motivated to pay attention?’

2. Bottom-up attention: this comes via stimuli, alerting us to pay attention, e.g. sounds, colours. However, distractors are also part of this (consider building work going on outside your classroom).

3. Sustained attention (vigilance): this is the suppressing of distractors and maintaining focus. Attention is a limited resource, meaning we cannot sustain attention indefinitely.

It can, for example, be promoted through high perceptual load, and damaged through over-demand on working memory.

4. Brain biological conditions: this is the underlying functioning of the brain and a positive or negative internal environment for learning, related partly to the production of dopamine and serotonin, influenced by lifestyle such as diet and sleep, and by feelings and emotions.

Teachers and students should know the factors likely to improve top-down and sustained attention, including biological conditions, lifestyle elements, the role of emotion and the importance of purpose and relevance of information.

For a fuller explication of factors relevant to attention, you can see in Figure 8.5.1 in the next section many of the factors students were asked to reflect on after each day of attention measurement.

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The findings from the study employing attention measurement tools

Initially, I conducted this research with a group of 13 students at IELTS level 5.5 and used attention probes where students were asked to grade their attention level between one and six (or zero for not paying attention) at all stages of the lesson after a particular activity had concluded.

Findings were published in Allison (2020). In this paper I summarise the key points as follows:

1 Fairly consistently students showed a wave-like pattern of attention over 1.52

hour lessons, with highest attention being somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes in, and then at around 1 hour 15 minutes.

Attention was higher in group work than individual or whole class interactions.

Students were surveyed on reasons for low attention. The list of factors they were given are in Figure 8.5.1. The most commonly chosen factor was lack of sleep.

Figure 8.5.1: Factors affecting attention

The value of measuring attention to monitor classroom quality of life

Why not just ask students directly whether they enjoyed or were satisfied with particular lessons or activities? Why seek to measure this indirectly, especially when attention is not a synonym for satisfaction? My presentation touched on a major flaw in the construct ‘satisfaction’. This flaw is attribution bias. A particular aspect of attribution bias that affects satisfaction attribution is hedonistic bias. Hedonistic bias is a tendency to blame others for failures while successes are attributed to our own intelligence or hard work. Measuring attention, assuming students have been sufficiently exposed to the construct, is seeking an emotionally neutral response relevant to learning. It would be for the teacher to interpret how lessons could be changed in future, considering the long list of factors affecting attention (Figure 8.5.1) or students could be asked to provide information on the causes of high or low attention.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/IbHYGDFH3zw Neil.allison@glasgow.ac.uk

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Incorporating student-led lessons into reading classes for promoting student engagement

Reference Allison, N. G. (2020). Students’ attention in class: patterns, perceptions of cause and a tool for measuring classroom quality of life. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 8(2), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v8i2.427

8.6 Incorporating student-led lessons into reading classes for promoting student engagement Fumiko Murase Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan

Reading classes can easily be teacher-centred with limited student participation in the classroom. However, it is important for the students to actively engage in the learning to effectively improve their language skills and develop their autonomy. For these purposes, a small project was conducted in English reading classes, where students were given the opportunity to work in small groups and give a lesson based on their own lesson plan. The study investigated the impact of the student-led lessons on promoting student engagement as well as students’ perceptions of this rather new learning experience.

The project

The student-led lesson project was conducted at a private university in Japan, from October to December 2018, before the Covid pandemic. The project was introduced to a 15-week compulsory English reading course with 78 first-year students in two different classes. The students met once a week for a 90-minute class over 15 weeks.

This project started in the second week of the semester with an orientation session, where students were asked to form groups of four to five and choose one text to use for their lesson from the English reading textbook assigned for the course. From Week 3 to Week 13, one group of students gave a 45–60-minute lesson on the text of their choice. In Week 13, after all groups had given their lessons, an online questionnaire survey was administered to investigate how the students perceived the new experience of preparing and giving a lesson and any problems they faced in the process.

Each 90-minute class started with an introduction to the day’s lesson and a vocabulary quiz, which was part of the course requirement, and then the rest of the class time was devoted to a student-led lesson. Each group was expected to prepare some form of lesson materials, such as handouts or slides to explain the text structure, content, grammar points, or anything that they thought would be important for themselves and their classmates to understand. How to use the lesson time, however, was entirely up to the members of each group. In the group lessons, there were times when, for example, the group missed important points or gave incorrect explanations. In such cases, I intervened after the lesson to add necessary explanations and/or correct errors.

After each lesson, students were asked to engage in self-/peer-evaluation of the lesson and give feedback to those who delivered it. During the final 10 to 15 minutes, groups prepared the lesson which they would teach later in the semester.

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Findings

The survey administered at the end of the semester showed the students’ relatively positive reaction to the project. On the five-point scale survey, 65 per cent of the students agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement ‘I actively participated in the class because it involved more group work opportunities’. In addition, 75 per cent agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the class incorporating the student-led lessons’. Positive responses could also be found in the students’ comments in the survey: • When our group was in charge of the lesson, I was able to understand the text very well because I spent much time preparing for the lesson.

• I was able to take more responsibility for learning.

• I was able to participate in the class actively.

However, it was shown that the project seemed to have resulted in negative learning outcomes for some students: • I did not prepare well for the class when I was not in charge of a lesson.

• Many groups gave a non-interactive, one-way lesson.

• It would be better if the teacher led the lesson. Teacher-led lessons would be easier to understand and more interesting.

These negative comments seemed to reflect the fact that only two groups included interactive activities which required communication between students.

Implications

The question here is: Did the student-led lesson project contribute to promoting student engagement? It can be said that the answer is ‘yes’ when students were giving a lesson, although this was not the case when they were not in charge. To conclude, this project seems to have had some positive impact on the students’ learning engagement.

However, it would be necessary to provide a framework for encouraging students to participate in the lesson more actively even when they are not delivering a lesson. fmurase@econ.ryukoku.ac.jp

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9

Working with young learners

The first paper in this chapter on working with young learners is a forum report by Sandie Mourão, Gail Ellis and Tatia Gruenbaum on picturebooks that challenge.

They look at the different ways they challenge; how disabilities are portrayed and how this can challenge learners’ perceptions; and the challenges a group of pre-service teachers experienced when using picturebooks. Samúel Lefever then looks into how children in Iceland use digital media outside the classroom and the impact this has on their English learning. In the next paper, Julie Waddington argues for focusing on learner attributions to build self-efficacy by discussing the results of a study with primary school children in Catalonia. The final two papers describe projects designed to interest and motivate young learners. Armanda Stroia provides practical examples of learner-generated video projects; Amal Mukhairez describes how intercultural exchange sessions via online link-ups has made communication in English authentic and meaningful for her teenage learners.

9.1 Forum on picturebooks that challenge Sandie Mourão Nova University Lisbon, Portugal, Gail Ellis Freelance, Paris, France and Tatia Gruenbaum, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Bréda, Netherlands

Picturebooks are a form of children’s literature that combine the interanimation of both image and word with design, to convey meaning. They afford multiple opportunities for reader interpretation, contain diverse, universal themes relevant for educational contexts and bring quality trade publishing into the classroom. They are both an artefact and a pedagogical tool. Key to the concept of ‘challenging’ is how the picturebook, if carefully selected and mediated, can afford multiple opportunities for reader interpretation, which should lead to taking learning beyond a focus on language per se.

This forum brought together three speakers who presented ideas, theories and practical experience with a view to better understanding how picturebooks that challenge can be used in the ELT classroom.

Moving beyond the conventional in ELT

Sandie Mourão: Sandie provided an overview of the different ways picturebooks can challenge.

For picturebooks that challenge to enter the language classroom, teachers need an understanding of the picturebook medium, which is fundamentally determined

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by its word–picture relationship. Picturebooks oriented toward knowledge as a thing known, that rarely go beyond the mundane of language itself (i.e. colours, numbers, days of the week, fruit, clothes, etc.) are quieting and rarely challenging. However, picturebooks that raise questions, prompt thought and discussion can be disquieting (Whitelaw, 2017), and thus challenging. What differentiates disquieting from quieting picturebooks is usually the complex interplay between pictures and words, for this provokes readers to actively think, explore and interpret the gaps between them. Picturebooks that challenge prompt teachers and learners to comprehend both the visual and the verbal stylistic devices through interaction, rather than asking and answering reading comprehension questions (Bland, 2018).

Picturebooks that challenge generate knowledge through language rather than by focusing on language. However, they can challenge in different ways: • Narrative challenges: these emerge directly from the complex interanimation of picture and word, where unanswered questions and possibilities for open interpretation can be an obstacle for learners who are not used to dealing with ambiguity.

• Content and thematic challenges: these become evident when the picturebook covers topics which are unusual or even taboo (e.g. old age, unconventional families, war, refugees, violence, death, LGBTQ+, etc.). Such topics can be surprising to learners, difficult to understand or even resisted by some.

• Aesthetic challenges: these can take several forms and include picturebooks with unusual lettering or illustrative styles, as well as wordless picturebooks. The latter require knowledge of visual grammars and conventions and a higher language proficiency for a co-authoring role with a wordless picturebook.

• Cognitive and linguistic challenges: these can result from picturebooks that cover topics that learners are not familiar with (e.g. communism or unknown historical events). Additionally, they can be related to the development of certain concepts like perspective taking – something younger learners might not have acquired yet.

There may also be instances in this category of linguistic challenges.

• (Inter)cultural challenges: these can emerge when explicit representations of an unknown culture go misunderstood or un-noticed, but also when a picturebook’s narrative is dependent upon an implicit understanding of a particular way of doing or saying something.

By acknowledging the picturebook as an aesthetic object – its pictures, its words, its design and the spaces it leaves for interpretation – picturebooks that challenge move beyond the conventional and help teachers and their learners see things in a different light.

Looking at disability

Gail Ellis: Gail looked at how characters with disabilities are represented in picturebooks. As classrooms are more and more diverse, educators need to select picturebooks which offer authentic and respectful portrayals of disability and are representative of all learners.

Two types of literature can be identified to help educators select picturebooks for and about people with disabilities (Ellis, 2019): Inclusion literature: This has a didactic purpose and aims to educate, raise awareness of and explain the nature of a disability, generally to non-disabled children. An

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example is Susan Laughs, a rhyming story describing a girl taking part in everyday activities and experiencing familiar emotions. The use of a ‘withheld image’ means that it is not until the last page that the reader discovers that Susan uses a wheelchair.

This leads to schema refreshment as the reader re-examines their beliefs and preconceptions. On closer analysis, as Susan is voiceless, her life narrated by an other, the lived reality and experience of her disability are also erased from the visual narrative, which ‘reinforces ableist norms about human worth’ (Aho & Alter, 2018, p. 307).

Immersive literature: This engages children in an interesting topic and storyline for enjoyment and pleasure and contains no moralistic or educational message. The inclusion of a character with a disability is incidental and unremarkable. For example, the front cover of Amazing shows a group of friends on wheels, with the main character using a wheelchair and leading the group, and the reader, into the picturebook. The story is narrated in the first person, who tells the reader about the things the main character and his pet dragon, Zibbo, do together. The wheelchair is visible in the illustrations on almost every page, which provide a visual parallel to the verbal text, in which no reference is made to the boy’s disability as this does not define his character.

A blend of both inclusion and immersive literature, for example What happened to YOU?: This picturebook presents Joe on the front cover standing happily on a swing on his one leg and looking directly at the reader. It tells the story of Joe who just wants to play pirates, and is based on the author’s own experience of what it is like to look different to everyone else and to be continually questioned about his disability by other children. It aims to raise non-disabled children’s awareness about differences and represents an authentic and meaningful portrayal of a disabled child.

These picturebooks challenge in different ways: Challenge

Susan Laughs

Content and thematic Aesthetic Cognitive

Linguistic

Amazing

What happened to YOU?

physical disability pictures show authentic representations of disability and a visual parallel to the verbal text; print features schema refreshment – re-examining beliefs and perceptions; developing empathy agency and voice: direct questions; agency and voice: narrated in first disability discourse narrated in third person; and etiquette; person in rhyming combination of combination of couplets narrative and narrative and dialogue dialogue

withheld image

Table 9.1.1: How picturebooks challenge

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Both inclusion and immersive literature can be used to offer new perspectives on the range of ability and disability. They challenge children by engaging them in critical conversations and by re-examining beliefs and perceptions.

Notes from the primary student teacher classroom

Tatia Gruenbaum: Tatia focused on sharing comments and observations which represent various challenges student teachers experienced while working with two picturebooks for PELT purposes: Please Mr Panda and Julian is a Mermaid. The comments and observations were made by students who participated in a pre-service course, which centred on educating primary English language teachers through picturebooks.

Please Mr Panda is the story of a panda who wonders around with a tray of doughnuts.

Each time he encounters an animal he asks if they would like a doughnut. Most animals reply that they would, but Panda refuses to give them his doughnuts until the word ‘Please’ is used in response to his question. In essence, this story is about saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ and, on a more general level, about politeness in communication.

This book, with its bold illustrations and short text, was extremely popular with the student teachers. However, many believed it was a story about sharing. In Dutch, as in French, the word ‘Please’ translates to ‘If it pleases you’. When replying to an offer such as ‘Would you like a doughnut?’ in Dutch, the word ‘Gladly’ is often used. Only if asked ‘Would you like the pink or the blue doughnut?’ would the word ‘Please’ be truly required. The students interpreted Mr Panda’s walking away as not wanting to share.

It was a lack of sensitivity or awareness towards the use of the word ‘Please’ in English which presented both cultural and linguistic challenges.

Julian is a Mermaid begins with Julian sitting with his grandmother in an overground train looking fascinated by three women wearing dresses with mermaid tails. The reader follows Julian into his imagination, where he turns into a mermaid, and then back to reality, where he makes himself a mermaid costume and joins a parade together with his grandmother.

Unlike Please Mr Panda, this book was only ever briefly flicked through before student teachers moved on. Only when encouraged to read it properly, and to imagine why this book might be useful in the PELT classroom, did they see its potential. The student teachers shared stories of carnival, boys and girls acting in non-gender stereotyped ways, and of family and friends with LGBTQ+ identities. They soon realised the different interpretations the book offered children, and that it was more a matter of what the child needs the story to be, than the teacher deciding what it should be. At the end of the lesson, several student teachers explained that, although the illustrations had caught their attention, they had not understood the title which was why they left it to one side. This picturebook provided content and thematic and cognitive challenges for these student teachers.

A teacher educator should foster discussion around picturebook selection and preferences, so student teachers are encouraged to reflect on their choices and recognise that unexpected challenges might arise, but that exciting discoveries can also be made.

By bringing picturebooks that challenge into the classroom the educator is able to go beyond language teaching alone and embrace their wider professional remit.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/TEqElhIgtjw sjmourao@gmail.com ta.gruenbaum@avans.nl gail.ellis75@gmail.com 134

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References Aho, T., & Alter, G. (2018). “Just like me, just like you”: Narrative erasure as disability normalization in children’s picture books. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 12(3), 303–319.

Antony, S. (2015). Please Mr Panda. Hodder Children's Books.

Antony, S. (2019). Amazing. Hodder Children’s Books.

Bland, J. (Ed.). (2018). Using Literature in English Language Education Challenging Reading for 8–18 Year Olds. Bloomsbury.

Catchpole, J., & George, K. (2021). What happened to YOU? Faber.

Ellis, G. (2019). Social Model Thinking about Disability through Picturebooks in Primary English. CLELE Journal, 7(2). http://clelejournal.org/article-3-social-model-thinking/ Love, J. (2019). Julian is a Mermaid. Walker Books Ltd. Whitelaw, J. (2017). Beyond the Bedtime Story: In Search of Epistemic Possibilities and the Innovative Potential of Disquieting Picturebooks. Bookbird, 55(1), 33–41.

Willis, J., & Ross, T. (1999). Susan Laughs. Red Fox.

9.2 Extramural English learning and digital media use Samúel Lefever University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland Introduction

My paper looks at children’s use of digital media and the impact it seems to have on their extramural English learning. Research has shown that increased exposure to English through the media has had an impact on the English learning of children in northern Europe. Studies carried out in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Iceland have documented how exposure to English through media sources is contributing to children’s extramural English learning (learning that takes place outside a classroom environment). Widespread exposure to English is becoming the norm in Iceland, as in other northern European countries. English is widely used in many sectors of society, such as business, tourism, education and entertainment. Digital media use is extensive, and foreign programmes are frequently broadcast in the original language (often English) and subtitled in Icelandic. Digital media use also includes computer and video games, online videos (YouTube), multimodal texts and social media. Gaming and computer use are a large part of popular culture today, not least amongst the youth and very young children.

Findings

Recent research in Iceland has explored the English media use of children and the impact it may have on their English learning. One study (Lefever, 2012) focused on the English skills of eight-year-old children and their media use as reported by their parents. None of the participants (n=172) had received formal instruction in English prior to the study. The children completed a set of English listening comprehension and oral communication tasks which were based on an international test of English for young learners. The findings showed that, although the children had received no formal 135

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instruction in English, a large percentage of them could understand and communicate in basic English, which their parents primarily attributed to the children’s exposure to English through media and computer games.

In another study, a master’s project done by Katherine Davidson at the University of Iceland, 12-year-old students (n=96) were surveyed about their English media use and were tested on their English vocabulary knowledge (Davidson, 2017). They were given a questionnaire about their use of digital media, including computer games and YouTube videos. The students were also given two vocabulary tests to gain information about the breadth and depth of their English vocabulary knowledge. My paper focuses on the data regarding digital media use.

The findings showed three main types of use where English dominated: social media (used more by girls than boys); computer games (used more by boys than girls); and watching online videos (equally used by boys and girls). The children used numerous devices: Internet-connected TV, smartphones, tablets and computers. The majority of the children used their devices every day. They reported reading, writing and/or listening to English three days a week or more frequently. A large variety of computer games were used which involved English use in varying degrees. Likewise, the participants reported watching a wide variety of online videos. Girls preferred music videos and make-up tutorials while boys more frequently chose game playthroughs and DIY videos. Based on the research data, reading and listening in English through digital media seemed to have a positive effect on vocabulary learning. The more frequently students read and listened in English while online, the higher their vocabulary scores. Due to the small scale of the study, the findings must be taken with caution, but the study does shed light on the type and amount of digital media use involving English among young children in Iceland.

Conclusions

The results from the two studies lend strength to the interdependence between English language exposure and extramural English learning. The ever-increasing access to English language materials of many types is impacting how children view language learning and use. The studies show that extramural English learning begins at an early age in Iceland. Children are widely exposed to English through digital media, and actively use apps, games and streaming services. This provides them with extensive opportunities to use English for their own purposes and, as a result, they are highly motivated to learn English.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/RbJ_pXn8PN4 samuel@hi.is

References

Davidson, K. L. (2017). English language media use and vocabulary skills (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Iceland.

Lefever, S. (2012). Incidental foreign language learning in young children. In A. Hasselgreen, I. Drew & B. Sorheim (Eds.), The young language learner: Research-based insights into teaching and learning (pp. 87–99). Fagbokforlaget.

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Focusing on learner attributions to build self-efficacy

9.3 Focusing on learner attributions to build self-efficacy Julie Waddington University of Girona, Catalonia, Spain Introduction

What do our learners attribute their language learning successes and failures to, and why does this matter? That was the main question I aimed to present and explore in my session, which I began by providing a brief introduction to the psychological construct of self-efficacy. After this, the interactive part of the workshop helped to explain and illustrate attribution theory on the basis of participants’ own examples and experiences, as outlined briefly below. I then presented the results of a study exploring and working on learner attributions in the EFL classroom with primary school children in Catalonia.

Self-efficacy and attribution theory

In a nutshell, when referring to self-efficacy we are talking about a person’s belief in their own competence (Bandura, 1997). Unlike more general constructs like self-confidence or self-esteem, it is important to highlight that self-efficacy beliefs are task- or domain-specific, corresponding to a person’s belief in their perceived ability or inability to do something successfully in a specific situation or task. Self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by internal and external factors, including those related to environmental, cognitive and affective dimensions. Focusing on the latter (internal) dimensions, attribution theory can help identify the source of beliefs that play a role in advancing or impeding learning. To illustrate this, participants were invited to respond to the following question: ‘Think about your own successes and failures related to language learning. Why do you think you succeeded/failed?’.

This led to an interesting exchange, with contributions helping to illustrate one of the points highlighted in the literature: ability and effort are the most influential perceived causes of success or failure in Western culture (Graham, 1994, as cited in Dörnyei, 2001). According to Ushioda (1996, as cited in Dörnyei, 2001), ‘the ideal motivational scenario is one in which students attribute positive outcomes to personal ability, and negative outcomes to temporary shortcomings that can be remedied’ (p.

119). Attributing past failures to ability is harmful, as suggested by the participant who initially reported, ‘I’m not very good at learning languages’, before correcting himself later on (reflecting on the input) and telling us that he would have to stop saying that! After reflecting on their own experiences, participants were asked to consider how their students explain their foreign language learning successes and failures.

Responses provided rich food for thought, expanding beyond the ability/effort framework and identifying other factors that learners attribute their failures or expected negative outcomes to: anxiety, fear around making mistakes, lack of motivation, lack of time, laziness, teachers not native, tests too hard, having a bad memory, not getting praise, having a fixed mindset. Becoming more aware of these kinds of attributions can be a first step in taking action to modify beliefs that may be hindering progress at any age and in any context.

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Exploratory study

After this interactive introduction, results of a study focusing on self-efficacy beliefs in primary school children helped to show how theory can be applied in practice. In the context of a new literacy project in the EFL classroom, learner attributions impacted negatively on self-efficacy levels, with attributions falling into three main categories: incomprehensibility/perceived inability to make oneself understood; anxiety around pronunciation/accent; and identity-related issues (Waddington, 2019). Becoming more aware of learner attributions meant that teachers were able to develop specific activities to promote more realistic and situated beliefs, and to address issues that were hindering progression. Self-efficacy levels increased significantly by the end of the project, with children reporting different reasons for their successes, including: positive feelings, positive behaviour, effort, practice/persistence, use of resources, and collaboration of others. In this way, attention shifted away from the individualistic focus, which tends to characterise the ability/effort paradigm, towards one which takes into account other factors (including relations with others), which operate in concert to influence self-efficacy levels (Bandura, 1997).

Conclusion

I began by asking why learner attributions matter. Teachers in the study context described above were initially concerned about ‘taking more time away from English’ in an already low-exposure context, since the strategies designed to address negative attributions – questionnaires, debates, learning diaries, role plays (peer-to-peer ‘pep talks’) – often involved translanguaging practices and a move away from the ‘target language only’ approach. Their concerns were alleviated when they observed how these strategies were contributing to building self-efficacy levels and promoting more constructive attitudes to English language learning. As the teachers themselves acknowledged, spending time promoting more affirmatory learner positions is time well spent. julie.waddington@udg.edu

References

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. W.H. Freeman.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press.

Waddington, J. (2019). Developing primary school students’ foreign language learner selfconcept. System, 82, 39–49.

9.4 From slime tutorials to thought-provoking documentaries: learner-generated videos in EFL Armanda Stroia Avram Iancu School, Dej, Romania Introduction

Exponential advancements in digital video technology (low-cost equipment, user-friendly editing software, sharing platforms) have opened the door to endless

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possibilities for using video in the classroom. However, our students are rarely given the opportunity to become active producers.

Research in the field of learner-generated media is still in the ‘embryonic stages’ (Reyna et al., 2019). Subsequently, frameworks for classroom use are rare, too technical, and provide low pedagogical value. Drawing on the literature (Kearney & Schuck, 2006; Reyna & Meier, 2018) and evidence from my classroom practice, combined with international collaboration, my talk outlined a flexible framework to design and carry out learner-generated video projects in the context of primary and secondary EFL classroom routines.

Why should we implement student-generated videos (SGV) in our classrooms?

Well-designed video tasks provide a personalised, content-rich and authentic learning experience (Kearney& Schuck, 2006). Additionally, they support autonomy, enhance language skills and self-reflection, while triggering impressive levels of engagement.

How can we implement SGV? Key elements when using studentgenerated video projects

Research studies (Reyna & Meier, 2018) reveal the need to consider the following elements, when designing video assignments that exploit the pedagogical value of SGV: • the type of video task: you can explore different video genres, e.g. vlog, guided tour, walkthrough, how-to video tutorials, etc.; • students' roles and types of interaction: individual or group collaborative assignment; • the purpose of SGV; • digital media training: it is essential to ensure that students are aware of issues such as ethics, intellectual property and copyright when designing their digital projects; • learning outcomes; • project stages; • ‘peer mentor’ structure: I usually use the ‘expert system’ suggested by Kearney and Schuck (2006). Thus, I give my students the freedom to choose the area they wish to contribute. For example, they can take responsibilities for different jobs, e.g. research for the storyboard, scriptwriting, acting, directing, or editing the video.

Students reported feeling empowered as they shared their knowledge and showcased their skills from the position of a mentor; • providing models and support; • teacher's roles and strategies; • reflection: allow your students to reflect on their learning experience with selfassessment rubrics and video observation worksheets; • dissemination and follow-up: you can use various secure platforms such as Google Classroom, Flipgrid, Seesaw.

It is important not to neglect the last stage, which implies finding innovative ways for students to ‘celebrate’ their creative efforts and their final products with a real audience. For example, I organised ‘Lights, Camera, Action: Inspire! The English Video Festival’ with awareness-raising videos on current local and global issues.

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Figure 9.4.1: Celebrating students' creative efforts through the English Short Video Festival Examples of SGV projects

Making videos empowers students to show evidence of their learning in a fun and engaging way. Here are some examples of creative video assignments that my students loved.

1 Video tutorials/experts on a topic Video tutorials are a great way to show a deep understanding of a skill or a concept.

For example, they can show anything from how to make slime to their favourite recipes. More than that, they can explore varied topics ranging from what a black hole is to explaining Minecraft.

2 A book trailer What better way is there to motivate your students to read?

3 Infomercial video challenge Challenge your students to promote a new concept/topic that they have learned, by creating a commercial. For instance, they can promote ‘My Happy Activities Cake’ with their favourite daily routine, or a scrumptious ‘Salad of Adjectives’ to explore their happy feelings. They need to be persuasive and use their creativity to convince their audience to ‘buy’ their product.

4 Favourite experiment/docu-video Recommended steps: 1 Documentation, e.g. shadowing other science videos, collecting information, etc.

2 Scriptwriting: creating the storyboard – you can use mind maps to facilitate scriptwriting.

3 Production stage – you can use any free video editing apps and tools: FilmoraGo, Power Director, VivaVideo, etc.

5 Video-based learning diary (reflective video) Example task: explaining the pandemic to my younger self Instructions Imagine you could talk to your younger self (you before the pandemic). What are the three most important lessons/pieces of advice you would give to your younger self?

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Guiding questions How have you felt during this pandemic?

What do you miss the most?

What is one important lesson you have learned during the pandemic?

To sum up, SGV can enhance students' digital media skills and help them develop essential life competencies while working creatively and collaboratively during an engaging task.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/tS8_sBYXgqg armandaramona@gmail.com

References

Kearney, M., & Schuck, S. (2006). Students in the director's seat: Teaching and learning with student-generated video. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds.), Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2005--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (pp. 2864–2871). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/20518/ Reyna, J., Hanham, J., Vlachopoulos, P., & Meier, P. (2019). Using factor analysis to validate a questionnaire to explore self-regulation in learner-generated digital media (LGDM) assignments in science education. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 35(5), 128–152. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.4514 Reyna, J., & Meier, P. (2018). Using the Learner-Generated Digital Media (LGDM) Framework in Tertiary Science Education: A Pilot Study. Education Sciences, 8(3), 106. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030106

9.5 Improving teenagers’ long-term attitudes towards English through online link-ups Amal Mukhairez UNRWA, Gaza, Palestinian Territories

During my work as a teacher, I've noticed that a lot of my students, even high achievers, lose their interest and motivation for learning English over time. The data collected through classroom observation and interviews with students show that the siege of over 14 years on their city, Gaza, is one of the main reasons. They cannot travel abroad and there are no foreigners in their city, so there is no point in learning English. Besides, learners have witnessed at least three wars and they experience airstrikes from time to time, which creates the feeling within them that the world doesn't care about them.

Therefore, I needed to find ways to give my students new and authentic access to the world in order to show them the fun and beautiful side of learning English. I wanted to build positive attitudes within them toward the world. I wanted them to feel welcome and cared about. The Hands Up Project (a UK-registered charity) was the answer. The project helped and still helps me to link my students to teachers and students from all over the globe. These online live link-ups and their effect on the learners' attitudes toward learning English were the focus of my presentation.

Four years ago, Nick Bilbrough, the manager of the project, arranged for our first ever live session. A group of students from Gaza met another group from Britain via

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Zoom. Students from both sides were engaged in spontaneous conversation about their cities, hobbies, holidays, music and hopes for the future. Our first session went very well and beyond my expectations. Students returned home happy, and the next day they asked for more.

Over the next few months, I started a regular link with a volunteer teacher from The Hands Up Project. Students aged 11 to 14 met a native speaker of English every week after school. They did various activities related to learning English, such as storytelling, drama and games. Volunteer teachers used English all the time with the students, which allayed their fears of getting stuck in conversation or being judged on their language skills. However, the volunteers were professional and experienced enough to help my students communicate with a lot of confidence in spite of limited vocabulary. My students were becoming more enthusiastic about learning English; they wanted to learn how to introduce themselves properly, were eager to do their session homework and even started their own dictionary.

The most interesting part of the whole experience has been transferring what has been learnt in these sessions into my regular classes. One might think that doing activities online with a group of 25–30 students is wonderful, but I would say that implementing these same activities in regular classes is even more so. It has meant that all students, not just those present in live sessions, have benefited from the online experience.

Another area of focus in my presentation was the intercultural exchange sessions.

Online sessions were arranged to link Palestinian students with students from different countries, e.g. Argentina, Finland, England and Indonesia. Students met online, again via Zoom, to communicate their ideas and speak their minds about different cultural or even personal topics. The challenge was for students to use English in real contexts and for meaningful purposes.

Performing drama online to international audiences from all over the globe was another opportunity offered by The Hands Up Project to my students. The project linked my students with audiences at various events and conferences, and gave them a chance to perform their plays live to real, online audiences.

The impact of such interactive online activities was clearly demonstrated via a recording of the students talking about their experiences with the live link-ups, and how these positively affected their attitudes toward learning English. Layan, who took part in the intercultural online session, said, ‘I have enhanced my English and improved my personality. I learned a lot about the cultures and traditions of countries that I cannot reach because of the siege’. Ameera, who performed in a play online with young people from Ukraine, said, ‘This play helped me to improve my English and show my acting talents’.

Mayar, who took part in a session with students from Manchester, said, ‘As a person who is afraid of socialising, this experience has helped me to get over my fear. I liked the idea of communicating with friends from a different country’.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/9Fj4qhGxick amalmukhairez@yahoo.com

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Teaching language skills and systems

In this chapter a number of findings, practical ideas and activities are presented for teaching language skills and systems in the classroom. In the first paper, Sheila Thorn presents the results of a study among advanced EAP students in Hong Kong, which found that they struggled to recognise, or decode, familiar words in a stream of speech.

After discussing possible reasons for this, she outlines her own approach to teaching listening. Next, Irina Ashmarina reports on the use of modals and perfect infinitives specific to museum discourse. She proposes that art and museum discourse can create a meaningful context to practise these structures, and suggests an activity procedure to use. Vahida Berberovic and Ann-Charlotte Stent report on an extensive writing programme among EAP students in Australia aimed at building confidence, which resulted in unexpected findings. With a focus on the CEFR Companion Volume, the next paper by Anna Young focuses on mediation and how to teach it. She provides two practical examples which she used with a multilingual group at CEFR level B2.

Returning to the teaching of listening, Chiara Bruzzano reports on a study to investigate how listening is taught by teachers, and developed by learners in an Italian secondary school, and goes on to discuss the implications. Next, Noha Khafagi describes how she uses print and digital posters to promote student self-expression and critical thinking. Emily Bryson also focuses on the use of visuals in her paper on the use of graphic facilitation to incorporate life skills into the language classroom. Felipe Fulber’s paper is also concerned with decoding, and provides practical examples of how this bottom-up approach to listening can be applied in the classroom. And finally, Marjorie Rosenberg presents activities to practise soft skills and communication in the business English classroom.

10.1 Research into L2 listening: practical implications for the ELT classroom Sheila Thorn The Listening Business, UK

I began by quoting research which indicates that even advanced learners of English struggle to recognise familiar words in a stream of speech. Pemberton (in Ward, 2018) discovered that undergraduate second semester EAP students in Hong Kong were unable to recognise one in four of the most frequent 1,000 content and function words in connected speech, even after repeated listening. Meanwhile Ward (2018) showed that recently arrived EAP students had the following success rates in identifying highly frequent words in a stream of slowed-down, read-aloud speech: life (37 per

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cent), same (39 per cent), first (66 per cent) and time (62 per cent).

I then analysed why learners struggle to recognise, or decode, familiar words in a stream of speech. A major factor is their lack of automaticity. L1 listeners decode rapidly, accurately and effortlessly, whereas L2 listeners have to expend far more conscious effort. Other reasons include learner anxiety and their lack of exposure to authentic spoken English. All too often, learners are only exposed to the scripted, graded and read-aloud recordings in their coursebooks. This lack of exposure to authentic input means that learners fail to build up multiple traces in their minds of the same lexical items said by a variety of L1 and L2 speakers in different contexts – something that is essential for effective decoding.

There is also the need to take into account the nature of spoken English. Speakers of English emphasise those words in an utterance that convey the speaker’s meaning by articulating these key words more clearly, and/or by saying them more slowly, and/ or by changing the pitch of the primary stressed syllable, and/or by saying them more loudly. These key words stand out from the other words in the utterance – something which helps the learners because the key words more closely resemble their citation forms. The challenge for learners is the fact that all the non-prominent, or unstressed, words in the utterance are likely to be reduced. This reduction means that unstressed words often bear little resemblance to how they sound in isolation. A parallel challenge is connected speech features, most importantly elision, assimilation and linking.

These also result in the sounds of words being reduced.

I then looked at other factors which contribute to learners finding listening so challenging. I argued that there is a lack of goals when it comes to teaching L2 listening.

The listening comprehension approach continues to dominate, with its focus on what was said, rather than how it was said. This focus on content over delivery means that learners are simply tested on their understanding of a text rather than being trained to listen. I also discussed the confusion in the ELT profession at large between learning the L2 through listening and learning to listen in the L2. Coursebooks do an excellent job of using listening texts to introduce new language (grammar and lexis). What they are not so good at is explicitly teaching learners to listen.

Next, I advocated a three-part approach to teaching listening which I have developed. This approach has listening goals at its core and exposes learners to authentic spoken English from an early stage in their language-learning journey. While this is challenging, and needs careful handling, it can be done. Rather than exposing learners to graded, scripted recordings performed by actors, in this approach the teacher uses authentic recordings and grades the tasks accordingly.

The two most important parts of this three-part approach are meaning building and decoding. When practising meaning building, the teacher plays the role of facilitator. Rather than setting written questions and having learners work in isolation to answer them, with meaning building practice there are no pre-set questions. Instead, the teacher puts learners into pairs or small groups and helps them build up their understanding of the recording for themselves, by giving them support and prompts when necessary.

Once a recording has been mined for content, it should then be recycled for intensive decoding practice. It is important that the teacher switches off their own automaticity and focuses on utterances containing frequent words that were less carefully 144

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articulated by the speaker. These utterances can then form the basis of gap-fills and dictations. Again, the teacher puts learners into pairs or small groups to crack the code.

Of course listening comprehension has its place in the classroom, not least because it is used in exams, and it forms the third part of my approach. Following any listening comprehension activity, the same authentic recording should then be recycled for intensive decoding practice.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/pZxt9UxOmds sheila@thelisteningbusiness.com

Reference

Ward, J. (2018). Second language listening in an academic context: Lexical, perceptual, and contextual cues to word recognition (Doctoral thesis). University of Reading, UK. http:// centaur.reading.ac.uk/84919/23/16026717_Ward_thesis_redacted.pdf

10.2 Teaching perfect infinitives through art and museum discourse Irina Ashmarina MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia

Discourse-oriented language pedagogy has been in the spotlight for quite a while, and a discourse-based approach to teaching languages seems to be gaining more and more ground in teaching practices (McCarthy, 2000; Thornbury, 2005). This approach seems to be beneficial to teaching perfect infinitives in English, a grammar area which is often difficult both to teach and to learn.

Perfect infinitives: challenge

The infinitive in English is presented by six forms, a morphological phenomenon not found in many other languages. As perfect forms are not that frequent, it may be difficult for a teacher to find a natural context that would enable learners to use perfect forms multiple times to negotiate meaning. A possible solution is to use art and museum discourse, where perfect infinitives often co-occur with modal verbs to express deduction or speculations about the subjects or past histories of the exhibits.

Modal verbs expressing degrees of certainty and possibility and used in patterns like might have done or must have been are termed in linguistics verbs of epistemic modality (McCarthy, 2000). However, there is another feature in the use of modals and perfect infinitives specific to museum discourse.

Research: another modal for deduction

The material of my study includes texts of exhibit labels collected in museums and art galleries throughout the UK. The labels were photographed and then transcribed and analysed. In total, the research material contains 127 museum labels comprising about 1,000 cases of various linguistic means of expressing epistemic modality, both lexical and grammatical: probably, almost certainly, perhaps, possibly, supposedly, were thought to be, likely to be, suggests that, so we assume that, must have heard, it may be by the master himself, etc.

The number of occurrences of perfect infinitives with each epistemic modal is presented in the table below. Surprisingly, the incidence of would is higher than any other modal.

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Modals denoting epistemic possibility + perfect infinitive incidence in verb example 127 labels would 60 The shoes would have been made as part of an outfit. may 20 Shakespeare may have engaged in his own personal study of the Bible. might 12 We often think about how objects might have been used. could 7 This needle could have been used to sew leather or cloth. must 4 He must have had nerves of steel as there was no guard rail [to climb the stairs]. cannot 1 Since it was two storeyed it cannot have contained the church.

Table 10.2.1: Incidence of modals denoting epistemic possibility + perfect infinitive

This meaning of would is noted by the Cambridge online dictionary, but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned by the most popular advanced grammar books.

Pedagogical implications

Museum labels can be valuable illustrations of what perfect infinitive forms exist for. In addition, they create an engaging context for all types of grammar activities.

Objects of art and museum artefacts also appear to be a fascinating theme for learners, as they provide opportunity for genuine cultural exchange, especially in a multilingual classroom. Based on the research findings, I suggest a procedure for activities based on museum labels. It would be reasonable to include all six structures.

Activities

The activities can be split into three stages: conceptual, elicitation and practice, and free practice.

The aim of the conceptual stage is to let the students examine the details of the artefact and answer the teacher’s questions crucial to understanding its concept. Museum objects like the three-legged stools in the Hangleton hut (https://www.wealddown. co.uk/buildings/medieval-building-hangleton/), or a genre painting presenting an event would make perfect topics for speculations.

At the elicitation and practice stage the teacher instructs the students to answer questions like ‘Why does the object have …?’ ‘Why are the people …?’ using modals

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for deduction and perfect infinitives. The teacher controls the use of target grammar.

During the free practice, students can show their peers a photograph of a museum object from their own country, or something they find interesting, and invite discussion. Speculating about the history behind the exhibit will encourage learners to use the target structures.

Conclusion

The study of museum labels shows that modals for deduction followed by perfect infinitives are a frequent occurrence in art and museum discourse, and the grammar structures in question can be widely practised in such contexts. Deduction is also a presumably discourse-specific meaning of would found in museum labels.

Museum and art objects create a meaningful context for practising perfect infinitives and allow accuracy work on the structures combined with negotiation of meaning. Introducing art and museum discourse to the classroom will also enable students to make interesting cross-cultural comparisons. irina_ashmarina@mail.ru

References

McCarthy, M. (2000). Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2005). Beyond the sentence. Introducing discourse analysis. Macmillan.

10.3 Building confidence in ESL learners through extensive writing Vahida Berberovic and Ann-Charlotte Stent UTS College, Sydney, Australia Introduction

For many ESL students going to university, the requirement to produce long, cohesive written texts can be challenging. Students often struggle to apply theoretical grammar knowledge to their writing. This issue is noticeable in EAP classes at our university language school in Sydney, Australia. We, therefore, undertook an extensive writing programme with our upper-intermediate students – ten minutes of free writing every day. As expected, the research project showed salient improvements in fluency.

However, an unexpected result was the observed improvement in confidence and risktaking of learners in all aspects of the course. We, therefore, undertook a second part of the action research project where we tried to replicate the daily writing activity with a similar group of students, only this time the focus was on issues related to confidence.

For the purpose of this project, we have defined ‘extensive writing’ as the activity of engaging in the writing process regularly and often, without input (or very little input) and without the usual aim of being assessed or published.

Students participating in this project were higher-intermediate and advanced students, mostly from Southeast Asia. They attended pathways language courses in preparation for university courses, either at undergraduate or post-graduate level.

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Intervention

As in the first stage, the students were required to write for ten minutes every day over a period of ten weeks. Their teachers provided feedback on content but not on form. We undertook student surveys at course commencement, after four weeks and at the end of the intervention. We also conducted student interviews at the end of the intervention and kept diaries. In addition, we compared results across all macro skills with the other classes, where no extensive writing was undertaken.

Findings

Similar to the first stage, our students showed a small but steady increase in their word count of the daily writing tasks, and the number of complex sentences increased over the period of ten weeks. Also, as expected, our students performed better under exam conditions. Our students managed to achieve the same results in their exam writing tasks as they had in guided writing activities, while all other classes performed significantly worse under exam conditions. This confirmed our hypothesis that daily practice would allow students to apply their theoretical knowledge in exam conditions.

Our predictions in relation to other macro skills proved right – our students (AE5B.9) showed improvements in those areas as well. Compared to the rest of the cohort, our students performed much better, particularly in their speaking exam (see Figure 10.3.1).

Figure 10.3.1: Speaking exam results

Discussion

It is rarely disputed that confidence and risk-taking are essential elements of successful language learning. Convincing students of their importance is often a challenge.

Finding strategies to develop their confidence is even more challenging. However, as this project progressed, students’ confidence and participation increased, and they were much more ready to accept that making mistakes is part of their learning. This became apparent not only in their writing, but even more so in speaking activities in the classroom. They were less hesitant to participate in speaking activities, and the participation rate, and hence the speaking abilities, improved significantly. It confirms Nation’s discussions on fluency and how important daily practice is (Nation, 1996).

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We believe that this is related to an additional factor often undervalued and under-researched – the notion of safety and close personal relationships. Safe in the knowledge that no one but us, their teachers, could see what they had written, the students often opened up in their writing and felt comfortable criticising their regime or parents, sharing their dreams and hopes as well as personal frustrations or secrets.

It brought us closer and made our classroom an even more relaxed and supportive environment. In addition, we had many more reference points we could use in our teaching. It also allowed weaker students, who might not participate much in class, to voice their opinions. It allowed for many spirited debates and opportunities to verbalise concerns.

Conclusion

This project was conducted over twelve months with a small number of students, and each group of students only participating for ten weeks before moving on to a different course. Therefore, it is impossible to make broad statements or establish far-reaching conclusions. However, it seems that daily writing practice enables the students to recall theoretical knowledge more easily and apply it in various contexts, even in exam conditions. The findings warrant recommendations to undertake further research into the relationship between extensive writing and improving language skills.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/bol33mePTOo vberberovic@gmail.com acstent67@gmail.com

Reference

Nation, P. (1996). The four strands of a language course. TESOL in Context, 6(2), 7–12.

10.4 An ‘experiment’ in linguistic mediation Anna Young Bell Cambridge, UK Introduction

You may have had the same reaction as me when I first saw that ‘mediation’ had been added to the CEFR Companion Volume (2018). Firstly, what is mediation? Secondly, how does that relate to teaching? And more importantly, how do I teach it?

After initially being ‘mystified by mediation’, I realised that I was doing many mediation tasks already, I just didn’t know they could be interpreted as mediation. I also realised that what I needed to do was make the focus on mediation more explicit to my learners.

Background

This short ‘experiment’ was carried out over two weeks in February 2020 with ten students at B2 level, from Asia, the Middle East and South America. We decided on the topic of climate as this was an issue the class was interested in.

Using the CEFR Companion Volume (2018), I matched my ‘usual tasks’ to the

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mediation descriptors and decided how to evaluate and get feedback from my students. Here are two examples: Example 1: Note taking and information gap

Task 1 Using the website: BBC Learning English; group A listened to ‘How can I help the environment?’ and group B listened to ‘Curbing our plastic addiction’.

2 Students made notes on ‘at least 3 key points’ from the audio.

This is: Mediation activities – Mediating a text – Note taking B2: Can understand a clearly structured lecture on a familiar subject and can take notes on points which strike him/her as important… (Council of Europe, 2018, p. 115).

3 Students then re-grouped (A+B) and exchanged information (a typical information gap activity).

This is: Mediation activities – Mediating a text – Processing text in speech B1: Can summarise (in Language B) the main points made in clear, well-structured spoken and written texts (in Language A) on subjects that are familiar or of personal interest…

(Council of Europe, 2018, p. 111).

Evaluation The descriptor was made clear to the students and they evaluated themselves and their partner. I asked: ‘How well could you summarise the text?’ (1=not so well, i.e.

I had to give information more than once. I only gave one piece of information; up to: 5=very well, i.e. I didn’t need to repeat information. I gave more than 5 pieces of information.)

Conclusion It became clear that the challenge was in identifying what was ‘an important piece of information’. The conclusion was to have ‘Information Units’. Before class, the teacher should note down the five most important pieces of information. Students can then check to see if their notes include the points in the Information Units.

Example 2: Translation

Working in a multilingual class, it’s been hard for me to successfully work with translation, as I don’t speak all my students’ languages. It’s also something that hasn’t really been encouraged in EFL … until now. With the changes in the CEFR Companion Volume, translation is now given more importance.

Task Find a news article related to an unusual weather event from a website written in your language. Read the article and tell your partner about it in English.

1 I gave an example (Cambridge recording the hottest UK temperature of 38.7 degrees).

2 Students chose a story, had 10–15 minutes to read, note down the key points and translate any unknown vocabulary.

3 Students exchanged information, taught each other new words and discussed the most shocking weather events.

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This is: Mediation activities – Mediating a text – Translating a written text in speech.

B2: I can provide a spoken translation, from my language into English, of a text containing information of personal interest… (Council of Europe, 2018, p. 114).

Evaluation I was curious to know how students would react to doing translation activities, having not focused on them before. I asked how they felt, what they had learnt and if they would like to do it again. The results were very positive and, overall, it was great for vocabulary development with eight of the ten students saying they would like to do more translation. All said they would have to translate in the future, so this was a real-world task and they saw relevance in doing it.

A general comment was that translation from their language into English was more challenging. I was initially unsure about doing this and for me it was hard to assess (I did see a lot of dictionary use though and written translations as evidence of key word translation).

To conclude

We don’t need to reinvent a wheel – we already have the activities. What we do need to change is the focus on mediation, making it explicit to our learners. For me the next challenge is how to assess mediation more accurately.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/NHpP8jvcrI4 Anna.young@bellenglish.com

References

BBC Learning English. 6 Minute English. www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6minute-english Council of Europe. (2018, February). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment Companion Volume with New Descriptors. https://rm.coe. int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989

10.5 The why and how of EFL listening in an Italian secondary school: a case study Chiara Bruzzano University of Leeds, UK

Listening is often considered an under-researched and neglected area in language education. Field (2008) famously characterises the teaching of listening as a ‘Comprehension Approach’, emphasising the product of listening in the form of correct answers to comprehension questions to the detriment of developing the processes of listening.

But is this really the case? Given the lack of empirical, observational evidence on listening instruction, this multiple case study investigated EFL teachers’ and students’ practices and beliefs regarding listening in an Italian secondary school.

Methods

Four experienced teachers and 84 students took part in the study. The data were generated via: • filmed classroom observations; • teacher interviews (including video-stimulated recall interviews); 151

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• learner interviews; • learner questionnaires; and • analysis of teaching materials, syllabi and listening tests.

This study aimed to investigate how listening is taught by teachers and developed by learners and their underlying beliefs related to listening. Video-stimulated recall interviews were crucial tools because beliefs were elicited as explanations of practice and not as abstract or decontextualised ideas (Borg, 2018).

Teaching practices

Teachers’ approaches ranged from highly structured, textbook-based teaching (moving from gist to detail listening), to exam preparation, to completely emergent teaching based on challenging authentic videos and post-listening discussions. A common feature was that listening was not seen as an end in itself but rather as serving other purposes. These purposes could be language-related, such as developing speaking or extracting grammatical structures from the audios, or, often, non-language related.

Indeed, listening was seen as part of an interdisciplinary approach, as videos were often used primarily for their content.

Teachers’ beliefs

How did the teachers explain their teaching practices? Their beliefs were mostly related to general educational purposes, such as developing critical thinking, or to learners’ needs, and, in particular, to their emotional needs. Teachers often claimed that listening was anxiety-inducing and they wanted to address this in the classroom, which sometimes led to the simplification of listening activities. Further, teachers rarely expressed beliefs that were specific to listening, which may reflect a broader lack of focus on listening in teacher education.

The learners

Contrary to some previous studies, learners appeared to enjoy listening. They reported listening to and watching English materials often outside of the classroom. They thought listening was important to access what they termed ‘real English’, which contrasted with ‘school English’ – a more grammatically correct and artificial type of English.

In terms of students’ perceived ability, or self-concept, over 70 per cent reported being able to complete most listening activities in school – though this percentage decreased to less than 60 per cent in classes where listening activities were seen as more challenging and only authentic sources were used. One key finding from this research was that listening was considered unpredictable and different from other subjects for which students could study and prepare. This belief was common; however, there was a difference between students with higher self-concept, who thought they could manage their difficulties, and students with lower self-concept, who felt they were prey to this unpredictability.

The main difficulties reported by students were related to vocabulary, task types and topics. Another key difficulty was anxiety, which detracts from the attention students

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can devote to listening tasks. These feelings were especially problematic when connected to the perception of being assessed – even when the students were not actually being formally assessed. Again, students with higher self-concept felt better equipped to manage this anxiety.

Finally, the most used listening strategies were inferencing and selective attention (i.e. noticing specific parts of the input). Students who were more often faced with structured listening activities seemed to apply strategies in a more fixed, predictable way, while those that did more unstructured tasks reported employing strategies in a more adaptable way.

Conclusion

One of the key implications of this study reflects a claim made by Graham et al.

(2014) that more nuanced labels than the ‘Comprehension Approach’ may be necessary to describe teachers’ practices accurately: in this study, the Comprehension Approach did not emerge as a key feature of teaching, because teachers did not focus overwhelmingly on comprehension, but rather saw listening as part of something bigger, which went beyond language. Indeed, defining teaching practices only as comprehension-oriented fails to acknowledge the complexity of teachers’ practices and may inadvertently position teachers as deficient, while their pedagogical decisions may be based on contextually sound needs and priorities. On the other hand, however, the teachers in this research appeared to lack listening-specific knowledge: this may signal a broader need for more specialised training in listening instruction in teacher education programmes.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/s42aMYSaD7w chiara@languaged.org

References

Borg, S. (2018). Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices. In P. Garrett & J. M. Cots (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language awareness (pp. 75–89). Routledge.

Field, J. (2008). Listening in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.

Graham, S., Santos, D., & Francis-Brophy, E. (2014). Teacher beliefs about listening in a foreign language. Teaching and Teacher Education, 40, 44–60.

10.6 Utilising self-expression to promote critical thinking Noha Khafagi The American University in Cairo, Egypt Introduction

Any educator who is passionate about engaging students in learning is indeed fortunate to be teaching in today’s digital world. Images that are shared with open licences permit learners to express themselves candidly through thought-provoking content that transforms the ways they interact in class and present themselves to both their classmates and teachers.

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A new way of utilising self-expression

The main purpose of this project is to show how the teacher can take advantage of the students’ visual and verbal skills to engage them more fully in sharing their opinions, thoughts, ideas, or even experiences and feelings, related to the knowledge acquired and the topics covered in their courses. The students’ medium for this self-expression consists of posters (both printed and digital). Students select posters which focus on issues of lasting values and beliefs, and which are relevant to their lives. Through the posters they select, the students express their opinions whether for or against the topic at hand. This has been demonstrated to lead to a very positive outcome, and encourage student engagement in the content of the course, while at the same time allowing them to add their candid opinions about the course themes they are exploring.

What is self-expression?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, self-expression is ‘the expression of your personality, feelings, or opinions, for example through artistic activity, such as writing, art, music or dance’. Thus, students are expressing their own personalities and asserting their individual traits through the images that they select as their vehicle of self-expression. Using a series of images, they can even construct their own narratives, since stories are a means of developing their learning by reinforcing their thinking strategies and increasing their verbal proficiency.

Why posters?

An effective poster presents reduced information while reinforcing the point the audience should remember. It develops in-depth understanding of self and others.

A poster can also help students find new meanings through new ideas, insights and information. A sense of achievement and an allied increase in confidence often follows, when students realise that they have contributed something meaningful from the thought process to the creative process.

Getting started

To start this process, teachers ask students to pick a topic of interest, a feeling or a word that is related to the course content. Then, students are asked to think about the issue that affected them the most. They are encouraged to start with one emphatic statement. The teacher stresses the fact that the students need to explore, reflect and project their ideas. For example, after studying Antigone by Sophocles (1989) (a play presenting many themes, such as defiance of authority, leadership, tyranny, human rights abuse, character defect and woman’s position) and John Stuart Mill’s 1859 essay On Liberty, a number of my students used those texts as a springboard for discussing gender discrimination at home and at school, inhibition of an individual’s freedom, as well as parental and governmental authority through the use of posters.

Advantage of this technique

Critically, posters are selected by the students and not imposed by the teacher. Student selection is based on their interaction with the content and the desire to express their opinions in a unique way.

This method shows how self-expression through these posters is utilised by

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empowering students and allowing them to be content creators, not just passive recipients of information acquired in the classroom. It also creates complex learning activities which are challenging, engaging and stimulating. This strategy is focused, individualistic and engaging. Very often the students become so engaged with a problem that it sometimes becomes therapeutic and helps to increase coping skills.

Assessing students’ work

Assessment of this procedure has been designed to operate on several levels: coverage of the topic; connection to the theme; the world and personal life; the visual layout and design; the depth and breadth of the information presented; and the clarity of what is delivered.

Conclusion

Using images/posters is a highly effective way to encourage self-expression through critical thinking. It allows students to reflect on and express their own beliefs and thoughts, and provides a means of validating their self-concepts through classroom interactions and discussions. Additional learning outcomes that are achieved through this successful technique are learner independence, integrity, intellectual curiosity and civic engagement.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/y-I4nVD3cc0

nohakhaf@aucegypt.edu

References

Mill, J. S. (1859). On Liberty. J.W. Parker and Son. Sophocles, & Braun, R. E. (1989). Antigone. Oxford University Press.

10.7 Visualising life skills: upskilling the classroom with simple graphics Emily Bryson Freelance and City of Glasgow College, Glasgow, UK

Graphic facilitation is the use of simple, hand-drawn graphics to support groups or individuals towards their goals. Traditionally, graphic facilitators use large sheets of paper, flipcharts or whiteboards and markers to engage participants. Online, graphic facilitators can do this using pre-drawn visuals, a graphics tablet, drawing software or a visualiser.

Some examples of graphic facilitation techniques involve using very simple handdrawn icons, visual templates, graphic organisers, infographics, mindmaps and sketchnotes. Having used graphic facilitation techniques for a few years now, I can safely say that they work very well indeed in the language classroom.

There are many benefits to using visual facilitation techniques in the classroom. It is a multisensory approach that aids critical thinking, it makes things memorable, it aids and checks understanding, plus it is quick, versatile and copyright free.

Moreover, working visually is a great way to promote life skills. Often referred to as ‘soft skills’, ‘21st century skills’, or ‘transferable skills’, life skills equip students for their future, help them to find work, support their educational journey, and give them 155

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confidence to grow. While ‘hard skills’, such as engineering, product design, teaching and computer coding are technical and vocation-focused, life skills are beneficial in any environment.

There are literally hundreds of life skills, many of which fall under the broader categories of social, academic, work, digital, and critical thinking. These include skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, organisation and decision-making. A LinkedIn article (Bersin, 2019) found that time management, adaptability, collaboration, persuasion and creativity were identified as the most important life skills.

Life skills are important because they are the key to our students’ success. They are exactly what potential employers and education providers look for when selecting candidates. Universities need their students to have sufficient digital skills to allow them to access the digital platform and submit their assignments online. Employers need their staff to be able to work alone and in groups, think critically and communicate effectively.

More importantly for us as language teachers, they are essential to students progressing in their language abilities. As an ESOL lecturer, I often notice a difference in how quickly students who have been to university or completed high school learn English, compared to my students who have had limited, little or no education. Of course, the student who has learned how to take notes, study at home, be self-directed, and manage their work, study and personal commitments effectively, will learn more quickly than the one who arrives to class late, loses their homework, forgets their timetable and doesn’t bring a pencil or notebook to class.

Thankfully, these skills can be incorporated into our classrooms, and in so doing we can support our students to flourish. Graphic facilitation techniques are perfect for this.

Students can draw if they want to, or simply complete a visual template with text. For students with anxiety over drawing, reassure them that their doodles need not be works of art. The root belief of graphic facilitation is that the icons are simple doodles which are easy to copy, and communicate a point visually. When I’m stuck for ideas of how to draw something, I find that looking at images of ‘icons’ online can aid inspiration.

One fun activity is to create a five-year plan with students. Making plans for the future is a common tool for professionals wishing to enhance their careers and clarify their goals and plans. To support learners in this way, ask them to draw a simple road map or set of stairs in their notebooks, then add visual or written representations of their current situation and end goals at the beginning and end points. Ask them to discuss their plans with other learners and consider how to achieve their goals.

While the aim of this activity may be to identify goals and how to achieve them, it also allows students to practise numerous life skills, such as communication, organisation, self-awareness, planning, and giving and receiving feedback. From a language perspective, it’s a great way to review mixed tenses and different ways of expressing the future. It’s also perfect for practising expressions for giving feedback, advice or making suggestions.

Overall, graphic facilitation is a great way to incorporate life skills into the language classroom. It is an innovative way to engage learners and equip them with skills for success.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/dxwlkGC5kU4 EmilyBryson@outlook.com

Reference Bersin, J. (2019, January 30). LinkedIn 2019 Talent Trends: Soft Skills, Transparency and

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Teaching listening through decoding Trust. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-2019-talent-trends-soft-skillstransparency-trust-bersin/

10.8 Teaching listening through decoding Felipe Fulber Freelance, Petrolina, Brazil

My talk briefly reviewed the differences between top-down and bottom-up listening activities, and provided attendees with a demonstration, rationale and recipe for a decoding task during a skills lesson.

What is decoding and why do it with students?

Decoding is a type of bottom-up listening activity, which means it is mainly concerned with language and its perception, as opposed to the message and its information. This kind of task aims to help students figure out word boundaries in the flow of speech – a feat not as easily performed as when the words are neatly written down on paper. In speech, gaps happen over time, not space, and to non-expert listeners a sentence may very well sound like this: wheretherearenonaturalpausescausedbythespeakersbreathingtheflowofspeech -isonelongsound (Wilson, 2008, p. 11).

How to make decoding activities and what they look like

Decoding activities can be done in different ways. The method I suggest is to find the transcript to the listening text being used, and create gaps in it for students to complete. Once students have listened multiple times, the teacher collects and exploits the learners’ answers to build on their explicit knowledge of how the pronunciation of words change in speech.

Figure 10.8.1: Example of decoding activity

What to keep in mind when preparing these activities

1 Decoding activities happen not in a vacuum but as part of a lesson, so teachers

should not only produce the task but also keep the usual lesson stages in mind, especially the pre-listening and gist stages, as they ease students into the task, which makes the whole experience more enjoyable than simply thrusting them into it.

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2 The listening texts used need to be relevant, i.e. they should showcase a feature

3

4

5

of connected speech the teacher would like to discuss with their students. In other words, use texts which are challenging not because of complex grammar or vocabulary, but because of instances of catenation, assimilation, etc. This generally favours authentic texts, but does not automatically exclude graded material.

The gaps should focus on phrases, not on individual words, specifically phrases that contain a cluster of grammatical words (e.g. prepositions, auxiliary verbs) between tone units. Cauldwell (2018) refers to them as squeeze zones due to their phonological volatility. They get ‘squeezed’ between content words in the flow of connected speech and become harder to discern.

The listening texts should be short. If the text used is selected correctly, it should be tricky for students to readily make sense of what they’re hearing. Having a short text helps to avoid making this experience frustrating, since it allows students time to quickly listen to the audio multiple times.

Less is more; keep the gaps to no more than six. I have personally found four gaps to be the sweet spot for my classes; more than that usually exhausts the students and makes the activity drag on.

What could follow decoding activities?

The most obvious segue is drilling, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. The teacher could drill the sentences and get students to attempt to reproduce the features.

The mouth and ear are connected so working on one could help the other.

Students could also hunt for more instances of the features dealt with in the lesson. For example, let us say students are taught, through the decoding activity, about elisions, and are given the rule of thumb that words ending in ‘t’ or ‘d’ lose the sound of those letters when the following word starts with a consonant. They could then go over the transcript and ‘hunt’ for instances of it not addressed in the gaps. This is probably my favourite post-listening activity to do. It feels like a controlled practice.

If the text is a dialogue, students could role-play it while paying attention to the features highlighted. If it is a monologue, in pairs, one learner could read aloud while the other listens to give feedback. Students could personalise the language, producing their own examples by using the sentences from the text as models, e.g. Then why did you ask? (waidʒə) => Then why did you go?

Students could move on from the decoding activity and do a freespeaking activity which circles back to the theme of the lesson, e.g. if the listening text is about arguments, they could discuss what different sets of people (parents and children, best friends) argue about.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/sHM8TFIVnKk felipefulber@gmail.com

References

Cauldwell, R. (2018). A syllabus for Listening – Decoding. Speech in Action.

Wilson, J.J. (2008). How to Teach Listening. Pearson Longman.

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Bringing soft skills into the classroom: activities that work

10.9 Bringing soft skills into the classroom: activities that work Marjorie Rosenberg Freelance, Graz, Austria Introduction

Soft skills, arguably the basis for making things happen in the workplace, have long been considered part of the curriculum in business English classes and can be found in most business English coursebooks. They are often seen as a major contribution to career success, as they contribute to one’s ability to communicate well, to work in a team, and to improve relationships in the workplace. In addition, in today’s multi-cultural work environment they are often seen as essential to bridging cultural differences. Therefore, finding ways to teach and practise these skills is a vital part of a business English teacher’s toolbox.

Background

This workshop looked at five areas of soft skills: communication, rapport, persuasion, cultural awareness and acceptance of others. Background information was provided on each topic before moving on to activities that teachers could experience and evaluate for themselves. The chat function enabled participants to interact with each other, encouraging active participation.

Communication

We began with a look at Albert Mehrabian’s model of communication which states that in certain types of spoken communication only 7 per cent of the content has an impact on the listener, while tonality provides 38 per cent and body language 55 per cent (British Library). Inconsistencies between messages and non-verbal clues were discussed, as well as the problem of messages being misinterpreted by the listener. As a demonstration, two participants turned on their mics and one was asked to read a simple message aloud three times: the first time using no emotion; the second time matching the emotion of the message; and the third time mismatching the emotion.

Participants commented that they received the message in different ways and said it was an activity they could easily implement in their teaching situations.

Rapport

The concept of rapport was explained with a drawing of two people walking over a bridge to meet in the middle. Tips on establishing rapport by matching body language, tonality, volume and speed of speech, register and eye contact were explained.

Two volunteers then turned on their mics and cameras and one was instructed to tell a story while the second matched body language and indicated interest. At a signal from me, the listener stopped matching and looked away while the story-teller continued until a signal was again given to match. Although the participants were online, the activity had the same effect it does when face-to-face. The story-teller said she felt uncomfortable and wondered why her partner suddenly ‘stopped listening’. Feedback from the participants showed that the activity raised awareness of the importance of non-verbal clues used in communication and rapport.

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Persuasion

Persuasion was also introduced with the bridge metaphor, but this time one person followed the other over the bridge. It was then explained that, once rapport has been established through the techniques mentioned earlier, it is easier to persuade another person to listen to your point of view. Two participants were asked again to take part; one began to talk emotionally about a situation with the partner matching their tonality at first, then gradually speaking in a less emotional way until the first speaker began to match the more neutral tone, eventually leading the way toward finding agreement.

Cultural awareness

This was introduced with the ‘iceberg’ theory of what we see of a culture (dress, food, customs, etc.) is less than what is below the surface (attitudes, values, beliefs, etc.).

Ideas for practising this in the classroom included discussing the superstitions of different countries and their importance to the people, as well as an activity based on making general statements about a group of people and determining if they are fact or opinion.

Acceptance of others

Several models were presented on the different ways people process information, approach tasks or set out to reach goals. We discussed the importance of understanding ourselves and realising that others may do things differently, but that we need to accept them without attaching values to their behaviour. Examples were given of different working styles. Participants recognised themselves or their colleagues in the descriptions and this stimulated a discussion on how to work on this topic in the classroom.

Summary and reflection

To end, there was a short reflection in which participants were asked to think about trying out or adapting the activities, and how these might benefit their learners. Many participants believed the activities would be easy to implement and felt they would raise awareness in adult classes, as well as provide learners with skills needed for the workplace.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/ruLM0i49xtY marjorie.rosenberg@email.com

Reference

British Library. Albert Mehrabian. https://www.bl.uk/people/albert-mehrabian

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Global issues

The papers in this final chapter describe a number of issues within contexts generally described as challenging. The chapter opens with a report of the Hornby Scholars presentation, facilitated by Martin Lamb. In this report, scholars from Iran, Nigeria, Rwanda, India, Sri Lanka, Peru and Ukraine, describe the multilingual landscapes of the countries where they teach English while actively promoting multilingualism.

Despite the diversity of contexts, several common themes emerge. The focus of the next two papers is the role of English in the classroom: Ravinarayan Chakrakodi reports on the issues associated with English as the medium of instruction in primary schools in South India; while Ganga Laxmi Bhandari reports on her experience of switching from English-only at a teacher education college in Nepal. Next, Rasheed Abdul Hadi reports his findings from a study to uncover what motivates students to learn English in wartime in Syria. And finally, Haneen Jadalla from Gaza describes the process of creating and performing plays to a remote audience, and how this benefits and empowers her learners who have few opportunities to connect with the wider world.

11.1 The Hornby Scholars panel presentation: Promoting multilingualism while teaching English in the Global South Convenor: Martin Lamb University of Leeds, UK with the A.S. Hornby Scholars at IATEFL 2021: Sadaf Eslami Canada/Iran, Nyengiwari Mabel IpaliboOsokolo Nigeria, James Mbonyuburyo Rwanda, Swapna Yadav India, Dulmin Wijerathn Sri Lanka, Diana Iyari Sempertigue Libaque Peru, and Larysa Andreiko Ukraine We urge individuals, corporations, institutions and governments to adopt a multilingual mindset that celebrates and promotes language diversity as the global norm, tackles language discrimination, and develops language policies that advance multilingualism. (Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World, 2017) As talented linguists living in some of the most linguistically rich societies on earth, the Hornby Scholars are fully supportive of the principles expressed in the Salzburg statement. They know the importance of maintaining community languages for social cohesion and economic progress. They are acutely aware of the importance of educating children in their first language, as far as possible. They recognise that as language specialists they have a responsibility to promote language diversity in the education

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system and beyond, to resist linguistic discrimination, and to utilise the high linguistic capital that minority or migrant groups have for their own and their country’s benefit.

At the same time, however, the Scholars are all engaged in English language education. Their primary jobs are related to the promotion of English, the global language that arguably threatens the vitality of many other languages (Phillipson & Skuttnab-Kangas, 2009). They earn their salaries from institutions and ministries that promulgate a discourse of English for internationalisation and economic development, potentially downgrading the status of local languages and setting in motion a vicious circle of neglect (Mohanty, 2015). In their presentations, each of the Scholars reflected on the tensions this can give rise to in their respective education systems and offer their perspective on how multilingualism can be promoted alongside English.

Sri Lanka

The two official languages of Sri Lanka are Sinhala (spoken by approximately 80 per cent) and Tamil (20 per cent). Most state schools use either Sinhalese or Tamil as the medium of instruction (MOI) and neither face any existential threat. However, their prestige among Sri Lankans is threatened by the fact that the educational elite in private and international schools use English as a medium of instruction, unfairly positioning Sinhalese- and Tamil-medium education as inferior. Dulmin believes there are ways that language educationalists can counter this dangerous trend. Firstly, he has seen that many of the best English teachers do use their pupils’ L1 to scaffold understanding and manage classroom activities. Rather than feeling guilty about this, they should be helped to systematise their use of the L1 through official guidance from the Ministry – this would in turn increase pupils’ pride in their L1. Secondly, the work of several Sri Lankan linguists has shown that there is a distinct Sri Lankan variety of English; this should be made acceptable for use in secondary schools, for example by adapting English language assessment criteria. Finally, Sinhalese and Tamil should be made compulsory subjects of study in private and international schools.

Rwanda

Few countries have made such radical reforms of their education system as Rwanda, when it switched almost overnight from French to English as the official MOI, with the aim of turning young Rwandans into world citizens able to compete in the global labour market. The decision was made despite the fact that virtually all Rwandans have a mother tongue (MT) in common (Kinyarwanda). Not surprisingly, the reform presented huge challenges to teachers of all subjects (Pearson, 2014) but, as James has witnessed, this common L1 has proved to be its saviour. In many classrooms teachers and learners use translanguaging to achieve mutual understanding. The regular spontaneous use of Kinyarwanda in class gives teachers confidence in classroom management, allows a focus on subject knowledge, increases learner participation levels and decreases stress and school dropout rates. What is more, James argues that it accords respect to the L1, demonstrating that it is capable of communicating scientific knowledge. However, translanguaging also brings problems, not least undermining the central aim of upgrading pupils’ English language skills. Some people are worried that it will lead to the emergence of a Kinyarwanda-English hybrid which may be voguish among metropolitan youth but be useless for international communication.

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Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the world’s most linguistically diverse countries, with at least 500 languages in total. An enlightened language-in-education policy stipulates that all children should be educated at primary level in the language of their local community, while learning one of the three main Nigerian languages, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, which are the medium of instruction in most state secondary schools. English is the first foreign language, while French is also taught in some. Superficially, this looks like a system that promotes multilingualism, protecting local languages and maximising learning of the curriculum. Mabel’s observation of classrooms in diverse settings tells her that in rural areas, beyond the reach of school inspectors, where secondary school teachers have the freedom to use the L1 in class to scaffold pupil learning, it does work well. The problems arise in urban settings where teachers fear reprimands for using the L1, and pupils can literally be beaten for the same offence. False beliefs about the negative effects of mixing languages in class are pervasive among urban educators. These could be effectively countered, Mabel believes, through the publication of bilingual textbooks in different subject areas, as this would be a public endorsement of multilingualism and stimulate the strategic use of the L1 to support learning.

India

Nigeria could look to India for inspiration in developing a multilingual education system. With its 22 major languages, 720 dialects and 13 different scripts, India is a linguistic melting pot, but for much of the Independence period a policy of promoting the two official languages, English and Hindi, has created hierarchies of power and prestige which restricted the reach of major state languages and undermined the vitality of many indigenous tribal minority languages (Mohanty, 2015). This has had pernicious effects on the education of rural children in remote areas who cannot access vernacular-medium schools. In her role as teacher educator, in Maharashtra state, Swapna has witnessed encouraging developments in schools with changes in state education policy. Teachers are now encouraged to use a bilingual approach in their teaching with those students whose home language is different from the MOI. Furthermore, the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Barat’ programme aims to make young Indians aware of the rich linguistic diversity of their country. For example, primary school pupils do projects on the cultural heritage of neighbouring states; in secondary schools, pupils have the option of studying one of the nation’s classical languages (Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia) for at least two years. Swapna stresses that for these initiatives to work, it is vital that the values of cultural pluralism are inculcated in teacher training and development.

Iran

Like Nigeria and India, Iran is on the surface a linguistically and culturally diverse country, with a wide range of languages and dialects from the Indo-European, Altaic and Afro-Asiatic families spoken throughout the country. But this multilingualism is under threat. The numerical and political dominance of Persian – the MT of over half the population, and MOI in all schools – and the popularity of English as the vehicle of international communication has led to a corresponding decline in status of the

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regional languages. Sadaf recognises her good fortune in coming from a family that was particularly proud to be Azeri Iranians, speaking Azeri (and the closely related Turkish) in the home and in local society. With Persian under no threat as the national language, she believes there is scope for the authorities to encourage local speech communities to make conscious efforts to promote their languages and all the traditions, ceremonies, poetry, songs and folk-knowledge that they embody. Language teachers have an important role here too, both Persian and English. They can draw on the rich language resources of their pupils to accelerate their learning of the new language – by comparing grammatical forms, sounds and meanings for instance – and at the same time demonstrating interest and respect for these indigenous cultures.

Peru

Peru has three official languages, Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, and approximately 50 indigenous languages (down from many hundred in pre-Conquest times) among communities high in the Andes mountains or in the Amazon jungle. As a state school English language teacher, Diana has no qualms about English posing a threat to multilingualism in Peru. That is because, with just two hours instruction per week in school, very few pupils learn it successfully anyway. The real threat to language diversity comes from Spanish, spoken by 85 per cent of largely monolingual Peruvians. The other 15 per cent speak Quechua, Aymara, or a local language as MT, and Spanish as a second language. The Ministry of Education has implemented a national plan to protect and preserve local languages: ‘Intercultural Bilingual Education’. In preschool, learners study in their MT. In primary schools, learners study 50 per cent of subjects in their MT and 50 per cent in Spanish. In secondary school, the proportions are 30 per cent/70 per cent. Is this national plan functioning to protect local languages? In the 10 years of its operation, there has been a slight increase in Quechua speakers and a 0.4 per cent decrease in those who speak other indigenous languages. It is known that many indigenous families prioritise their children’s learning of Spanish because this can be economically beneficial – so if these figures are accurate, it may mean the bilingual school policy is at least slowing down the loss of these Andean or Amazonian languages.

Ukraine

Ukraine is a multilingual state where Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian and other languages are spoken. However, the most widespread languages are Ukrainian and Russian. While Ukraine was a part of the Russian Empire and then the USSR, the Ukrainian language had a disadvantaged position compared to the Russian language; it was considered a ‘backward peasant language’ (Goodman, 2009). However, Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 led to a nationwide upsurge in the use of Ukrainian. In this complex and contentious linguistic context, English has acquired a special role too, as it is no longer just a school subject but reflects Ukraine's intention to align with Europe and the West. In 2019, a new National Policy was adopted, aimed at spreading and supporting English as a medium of instruction (EME) at universities. At Larysa’s university, over 240 subject courses are taught in English. The requirements to improve their proficiency in English has put a great strain on many academics, but they see the 164

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benefits in terms of enhancing their prospects for academic mobility and scientific collaboration with international colleagues. Students view it as a way of improving their employability. While there are many ongoing educational concerns about how EME is implemented, no one is questioning whether English is threatening the vitality of Ukrainian language or culture. Rather, somewhat ironically, it is viewed as a means to resist more immediate imperialistic threats, and as a key tool for effective international communication.

Conclusion

Some common themes emerge in the Scholars’ talks: • None of them feel conflicted about their role as English language educators but they do all recognise the benefits of living and working in multilingual societies.

• They also recognise that with strong global forces promoting the big languages – pre-eminently English, but also major national languages – local languages need active support to be sustained.

• Many countries have, in recent years, implemented national- or state-level policies aimed at doing this.

• The school/university classroom is a key battleground for mono vs multilingualism.

All the Scholars endorse a plurilingual approach to scaffold learning which draws on – and valorises – local community languages.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/uECIQF2tZYc M.V.Lamb@education.leeds.ac.uk (Sadaf Eslami) eslami.sadaf@gmail.com (Nyengiwari Mabel Ipalibo-Osokolo) waripali4@gmail.com (James Mbonyuburyo) mbonyejames1@gmail.com (Swapna Yadav) swapna.ydv@rediffmail.com (Dulmin Wijerathn) dulmin2media@yahoo.com (Diana Iyari Sempertigue Libaque) disely1@hotmail.com

References

(Larysa Andreiko) larysa.andreiko@gmail.com

Goodman, B. (2009). The ecology of language in Ukraine. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 24(2), 19–39.

Mohanty, A. (2015). Multilingualism, education, English and development: Whose development?

In H. Coleman (Ed.), Multilingualisms and Development (Selected Proceedings of the 11th Language & Development Conference, New Delhi, India, 2015) (pp. 261–280). The British Council.

Pearson, P. (2014). Policy without a plan: English as a medium of instruction in Rwanda. Current issues in language planning, 15(1), 39–56.

Phillipson, R., & Skuttnab-Kangas, T. (2009). The Politics and Policies of Language and Language Teaching. In M. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Teaching (pp. 26–41).

Oxford University Press.

Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World (2017). https://www.salzburgglobal.org/ fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/2010-2019/2017/Session_586/EN_SalzburgGlobal_ Statement_586_-_Multilingual_World_English.pdf

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11.2 English medium: an enabling or a disabling factor?

Ravinarayan Chakrakodi Regional Institute of English, Bangalore, South India

There is widespread consensus both in India and worldwide that mother tongue should be the medium of instruction at the primary level of education. Many research studies and reports (Dearden, 2014; Simpson, 2019; NCERT, 2005) point out that mother tongue should be the medium of instruction all through school, but certainly in the primary school.

1,000 English medium sections

In spite of these findings, the government of Karnataka introduced English as the medium of instruction from grade 1 in 1,000 government schools from the academic year 2019. The government defended the move by stating that it is a step that could meet the aspirations of hundreds of thousands of people from less-advantaged social backgrounds, who wish their children to be educated in English. Those who supported the initiative were of the opinion that English medium is a passport to economic mobility and will help in achieving social equity.

Several writers and activists opposed the move to open English medium sections in government schools. They argued that the switch in medium was not necessarily a guarantor of good education. Some of them were of the opinion that it is possible to run good Kannada (first language) medium schools with adequate facilities while making serious efforts to teach children the basics of the English language. Those who opposed the government’s decision were concerned about the deleterious impact of English medium on local languages and cultures and on children’s abilities to understand content in academic subjects.

The 1,000 government schools had both English and Kannada medium sections and parents could choose which section to enrol their children in. Media reports and statistics from the department of education reveal that there is an increasing demand for English medium in government schools.

Consequent to the decision of the government, a plan was rolled out to train teachers via the cascade model. Several concerns were raised by the Master Resource Persons (MRPs) who conducted the 15-day training, which suggest that they were not confident of cascading the training at the district level.

The English Medium Teachers’ Induction Programme (EMTIP): district level training

Teachers selected for the 1,000 English medium sections were general teachers at the primary level used to teaching across the curriculum in a particular way and who were now being introduced to teaching English in a particular way. Although teacher selection was crucial in the entire process, not much attention was paid to inducting competent teachers who were proficient in the English language.

Visits to the training centres and interactions with the MRPs and teachers revealed the following: • School leaderships were not on board. Efforts had not been made to involve them in the decision making.

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• T eachers were worried that they might not be able to fulfil the expectations of parents of English medium sections. They felt they would not be able to do justice to the children as they themselves needed to improve their English skills.

• 15-day training was not enough to enhance teachers’ teaching skills and English language proficiency.

Teachers did not seem to be sufficiently motivated to take up the new responsibility of teaching in English as the medium of instruction.

Classroom implementation

The majority of the teachers seemed to be very excited about the new venture and they did their best to make this initiative successful. Most of the students also showed interest in learning English. Teachers were using a variety of teaching materials for teaching English, environmental science and maths.

Parents seemed to show much interest in the English medium education. They seemed to feel happy when their children uttered a few sentences such as, ‘He is my grandfather’; ‘She is my grandmother’; ‘Give me mobile’; etc. at home.

Although the early implementation responses were mostly positive as it was a novel initiative for teachers and learners, it became obvious, over time, that English learning was very limited.

A way forward

Teachers’ capacity building is crucial. In schools where English is the medium of instruction, teachers’ competence in the language of instruction is vital. Teachers should be empowered to develop strategies to use active, learner-centred, language supportive pedagogies. With greater demand for English as the medium of instruction in schools, it becomes imperative for policy makers and other stakeholders to implement such programmes with real planning and thought. Lack of sufficient teachers who are proficient in English, and are aware of appropriate pedagogical strategies may become a major hindrance/stumbling block for further implementation or extension of the scheme to other government schools.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/HZR3SrMFr6Q ravirie@gmail.com

References

Dearden, J. (2014). English as a medium of instruction – a growing global phenomenon. British Council.

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). (2005). National Curriculum Framework. NCERT. Simpson, J. (2019). English language and medium of instruction in basic education in low- and middle-income countries: a British Council perspective. British Council.

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11.3 Use of mother tongue in the EFL classroom Ganga Laxmi Bhandari Mahendra Ratna Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal Introduction

Whether mother tongue should be allowed or not in the EFL/ESL classroom has been a debatable issue for many years, especially after the Grammar Translation (GT) method was considered ineffective in teaching English in non-native contexts (Paker & Karaağaç, 2015). With the introduction of different methods, such as a direct method, audiolingual method, the natural approach, and, more recently, communicative and task-based approaches, many teachers started to believe that the use of L1 interferes with target language learning.

At the beginning of my teaching career, 15 years ago, I was also influenced, like many beginner teachers, by the monolingual approach. I thought that English-only was the right approach, despite being aware that I was teaching in a public campus in which most of the students were from public schools with poor English competency.

I aspired to be an ideal teacher, speaking English fluently in the classroom and forbidding students to use their native languages.

Later, I realised, my approach was wrong, particularly after my students stopped attending my class and instead moved to another class where the teacher used the students’ mother tongue (Nepali in my context) as a medium (for instruction, teaching grammar, warming up, explaining homework and also the meaning of some technical words). I then went bilingual and witnessed its positive impact on retention and students’ interactive participation in the teaching-learning process.

In this paper I share my own recent experience of using L1 as a resource to teach writing skills and vocabulary. The students were 40 Bachelor of English Education students at a Public Campus in Kathmandu. As mentioned above, almost all the students were from government schools, with limited English proficiency. Most of them were from ethnic communities that would speak Nepali as the lingua franca.

Approach 1

Each student was asked to write a paragraph (eight lines) describing their own culture in English within 20 minutes. Out of 40 students, only two students (5%) completed the assignment (wrote a paragraph). Eight students (20%) wrote four lines of a paragraph. Twelve students (30%) wrote barely two lines and 18 students (45%) wrote nothing (they sat passively chewing their pens throughout the 20 minutes).

Approach 2

Students were grouped according to their cultural/linguistic background and were asked to write a half-page about their culture in LI, Nepali in this case, within 20 minutes. Almost all the students completed the assignment in time. In contrast to the first assignment, students were happy, engaged and motivated. Each group was then asked to translate the text into English and present it to their peers. In case of difficulties in finding an English term, they were allowed to retain Nepali term(s).

Each group tried their best to translate what they had written, and present it to their

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peers, highlighting the words/phrases they could not translate. I noted the highlighted words or phrases on the blackboard. After the presentations, each group was asked to seek help from other groups (using LI) to find English words/expressions for terms they had had difficulty in translating. After listening to the students, I stepped in to help. I also explained that certain cultural words may be difficult to translate, such as the names of community-specific food, e.g. Yomari (Newari food), Ghongi (Tharu Food), Thekuwa (a sweet cookie of the Terai people), and so on.

Impressions

The use of LI is very helpful in EFL classrooms in a multicultural setting, such as we have in Nepal. First and foremost, it strengthens the bond/connection between the teacher and students and helps create an inclusive environment in which students learn from each other (e.g. culture-specific vocabulary, writing skills, and interpersonal communication) on an equal footing. It enhances intercultural respect and collaborative learning among students. Most important of all, the use of LI motivates students not to see English as a burden. ‘If LI is utilized well and presented communicatively, it can be a facilitative tool that will improve the language proficiency of students’ (Pan & Pan, 2010, p. 88) and helps to develop students’ intercultural communicative competence by providing diverse learning content (Chinh, 2013).

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/s2d5TnWDHKY gbgangakattel@gmail.com

References

Chinh, N. D. (2013). Cultural Diversity in English Language Teaching: Learners' Voices.

English Language Teaching, 6(4), 1–7.

Paker, T., & Karaağaç, Ö. (2015). The use and functions of mother tongue in EFL classes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 111–119.

Pan, Y. C., & Pan, Y. C. (2010). The Use of L1 in the Foreign Language Classroom. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 12(2), 87–96.

11.4 English language learning: a means of resilience in war-torn Syria Rasheed Abdul Hadi Bath Spa University, UK/Damascus University, Syria Background information

My presentation shed light on a study I conducted to investigate learners' motivation for foreign language learning in wartime. It has been reported that the number of students enrolling in EFL courses in Syria has been increasing, which comes as a surprise given the unrest Syria has been witnessing since 2011. The table below shows the average number of students enrolled per month in four language schools in the city of Damascus between 2010 and the time of data collection in 2019:

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Language School

2010– 2011

2012– 2013

2014

2015

2016–the time of data collection

1 2

1200 1550

200 350

97 120

300 450

1340 1708

3 4

930 700

100 100

11 67

170 150

915 800

Table 11.4.1: Average number of students enrolled per school 2010–2019

Thus, the study aimed to uncover the reasons why people in war zones endeavour to learn English, despite all the difficulties. What motivates these learners to learn English in such unstable conditions, and what implications may be drawn from this?

Motivation for foreign language learning, according to Dörnyei (2005, p. 65), 'provides the primary impetus to initiate L2 learning and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process'. His definition points to two essential elements: the first is the spark/reason that ignites the learner's desire and interest to learn a foreign language; the second is the force that keeps this spark glowing throughout the learning process, which could be associated with learners' resilience and persistence. Dörnyei (2005) focuses on the necessity of sufficient desire to keep the learning task going from beginning to end, while considering that motivation fluctuates.

The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, utilising an online survey and Skype semi-structured interviews to explore the reasons behind the surge in the number of EFL learners in the context of war in Syria.

Findings

Both data sets revealed that the majority of the participants had a positive attitude toward learning English as a foreign language, that they were intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to learn English, and believed that learning English was important.

The findings also showed that the Syrian youth chiefly wanted to learn English for war-driven reasons, i.e. for survival and safety reasons. These included the need to communicate for survival, escaping the harsh reality of war, expressing feelings and sharing thoughts about the war with people via social media, evading military service, travelling abroad, and finding a job during the war. The study also shows that opportunities for foreign language learning can play a critical role in building resilience, so that those affected are able to survive and start rebuilding their lives and planning for their future.

Discussion

The participants’ high motivation, as the findings revealed, can represent the active aspect of their learning experience, given that they were determined to learn English under such discouraging conditions, which testifies to their resilience. It should also be emphasised that the participants were keen on learning English for more than one single reason (for both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons), which could provide evidence

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that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as concluded by Brown (2000). As mentioned above, their overall motivation to learn English, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, was primarily affected by the surrounding environment, i.e. the war and unrest in Syria, as well as their desire and endeavours to survive. This can explain the reasons behind the increasing number of EFL learners in the context of war, which suggests that the students would view learning English as a route to more possibilities that could strengthen their resilience and increase their determination.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, in addition to being a self-actualisation need as in Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs, language learning has become a safety need for young people in the context of war in Syria, as manifested in the participants' feelings of empowerment as a form of resilience. This could reflect how the research participants were trying to persevere and cope with their discouraging context and environment by channelling their motivation into their survival needs, which can be viewed as a ‘positive’ impact brought about by the war, and which highlights their resilience and persistence amid their turbulent surroundings. Future research should look into the extent to which this type of motivation could be sustained, and whether it yields the intended results with regard to students' goals and purposes. rasheedabdulhadi@yahoo.com

References

Brown, D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). Pearson Education.

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Maslow, A.H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.

11.5 Sharing our stories with the world outside through remote theatre Haneen Jadalla Asmaa Prep School “B” UNRWA, Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Attending and participating in the IATEFL Conference gave me the opportunity to share an example of a remote play created by Palestinian children, and ensure that their voices could be heard loudly and clearly in the wider world. It was an honour to share the amazing work of those young Palestinian learners – their stories, their plays – and the framework I have developed for enabling young learners to create and perform their remote theatre to the world by means of The Hands Up Project.

I started the workshop with a picture of a Palestinian girl holding a candle closely to the camera while she was performing a play – a vibrant representation of what remote theatre is all about. Then I moved on to the various stages of the process of creating plays in my drama club in Gaza. The stages are as follows:

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1 Writing stories On a topic of their choosing, students write their own short stories for homework, as preparation for the session.

2 Choosing one story Working in groups of 5–6, with an assigned group leader, they share their stories with each other, discussing and finally agreeing on one story which they will convert into a play. This stage teaches them to evaluate their own work, and helps them to learn how to work collaboratively.

3 Making story posters The students then create a picture story poster for the planned scenes of the play.

When they are ready, they present this to the rest of the class. This is the perfect way to help them overcome their shyness and to equip them with the self-confidence that they need in their final performances.

4 Writing the script I give the students a model so that they can see the features of scripts (stage directions, natural spoken language, etc.). They then start looking at their own stories and posters and write a first draft of the script as a group. Lots of different language skills come together during this stage.

5 Reformulation Each group leader hands the script to me and I edit/rewrite it keeping the distinct voice of the learners, but reformulating it in terms of grammatical accuracy, vocabulary, spelling, etc. Then I give the edited scripts back to the groups (without the original one initially) and ask them to underline any changes they notice between their first draft and the edited one. Here the students notice more advanced ways of expressing their own ideas.

6 Physicalising and rehearsal I ask each group leader to establish a timetable of training sessions with the group members. This leader gives each member a role in the play (including her/himself ) and they start to rehearse the lines. They do this on their own first, then I usually come in to give them my own feedback for improvement.

7 Performing the plays remotely After a lot of hard work, their plays see the light! We link up to our Hands Up Project volunteer (in our case, British playwright Peter Oswald) via Zoom for him to see the performance and to provide each group with feedback on the script and on their performance. This discussion is as important and useful as the actual performance.

It empowers students a lot to know that someone in the outside world is taking the time to listen to them and evaluate their work. The students then take the feedback into account and they go back to their training sessions to make any modifications they need to.

This framework could be adapted to any context, and with any age group of learners. It provides the students with a very rich learning context that integrates all the skills, but also a chance to see the world from different perspectives without it dominating their thoughts or judging their dreams.

Doing such a workshop has offered me a lot more than the opportunity to experience a major ELT event. The main thing I have taken with me is that no borders,

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time zones or challenges can stand in the way when those Palestinian children fly across the globe sharing their stories.

Link to presentation recording: https://youtu.be/bRzsfV3d_jo haneen.kh.jad@gmail.com

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Index of authors Abdul Hadi, Rasheed 11.4 Abrill, Susan 6.7 Aghayeva, Sevil 1.4 Allison, Neil 8.5 Arnold, Wendy 1.5 Ashmarina, Irina 10.2 Balchin, Kevin 4.1 Barnard, David M. 2.3 Beaven, Briony 4.5 Berberovic, Vahida 10.3 Bhandari, Ganga Laxmi 11.3 Biazon Rocha, Ana Paula 1.2 Bicknell, Roy 4.3 Bilbrough, Nick 5.3 Bruzzano, Chiara 10.5 Bryson, Emily 10.7 Cem-Değer, Ayşen 4.4 Chakrakodi, Ravinarayan 11.2 Chattopadhyay, Kalyan 2.8 Christodoulou, Niki 2.1 Coryat, Amy 6.8 Curtius, Sarah 8.2 Di Giallonardo, Sofia 2.7 Djedid, Siham 4.1 Donaghy, Kieran 8.1 Duarte, Heloisa 4.7 Ellis, Gail 9.1 Esnawy, Susan 5.5 Farag, Sophie 7.4 Farhat, Amal 2.9 Fernandez, Maria-Teresa 1.5 Ferrara, Steven 3.2 Fulber, Felipe 10.8 Gruenbaum, Tatia 9.1 Hajiyeva, Konul 1.4 Harries, Patricia 8.3 Hartle, Sharon 7.3 Hedlund, André 8.4 Horn, Birte 6.6

Izaguirre Sanchez, Juan Carlos 6.2 Jaber Rafidi, Tina 1.3 Jadalla, Haneen 11.5 James, Gwyneth 2.2 Khafagi, Noha 10.6 Kiddle, Thom 3.1 Koifman, Julia 4.2 Krygier, David 6.5 Lamb, Martin 11.1 Lefever, Samúel 9.2 Lethaby, Carol 8.3 Makhlouf, Sanaa Abdel Hady 1.7 Milosevic, Olja 7.2 Mount, Sarah 1.1 Mourão, Sandie 9.1 Mukhairez, Amal 9.5 Murase, Fumiko 8.6 Nassar Mustaklem, Silvia 1.3 Ončevska Ager, Elena 2.6 Padwad, Amol 2.4 Price, Beatrix 2.5 Pulverness, Alan 1.1 Quintana, Juan 5.4 Rosenberg, Marjorie 10.9 Sagaray, Juana 1.5 Salama, Samir 5.3 Sato, Kate 6.6 Schumm Fauster, Jennifer 6.3 Sharapkova, Anastasia 7.1 Smith, Richard 1.6 Stent, Ann-Charlotte 10.3 Stroia, Armanda 9.4 Tatzl, Dietmar 6.4 Thorn, Sheila 10.1 Tikhomirova, Elizaveta 7.1

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Tran, Quyen 6.1 Türkmenoğlu, Melike Ayşe 4.6 Tzanni, Panagiota 5.6 Verdonk, Désirée 5.2 Vurdien, Ruby 5.1 Waddington, Julie 9.3 Watkins, Peter 6.1 Wiens, Beth 3.3 Young, Anna 10.4

Subject index Assessment: an integrated approach: Kiddle, 3.1 Blended learning: Hartle, 7.3 Business English: Verdonk, 5.2; Rosenberg, 10.9 CEFR: Young, 10.4 Communities of practice (COPs): Aghayeva and Hajiyeva, 1.4 Continuing professional development (CPD): Rafidi and Nassar Mustaklem, 1.3; Aghayeva and Hajiyeva, 1.4; Barnard, 2.3; Padwad, 2.4; Ončevska Ager, 2.6; Chattopadhyay, 2.8; Farhat, 2.9; Quintana, 5.4 Correction and feedback: on writing: Chattopadhyay, 2.8; Abrill, 6.7; peer feedback: Tzanni, 5.6 Course design: Biazon Rocha, 1.2; Cem-Değer, 4.4; Izaguirre Sanchez, 6.2; Schumm Fauster, 6.3; Tatzl, 6.4; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Milosevic, 7.2; Farag, 7.4 Cultural understanding: Sato and Horn, 6.6; Mukhairez, 9.5 Design thinking: Farag, 7.4 Differentiation: in teaching: Bicknell, 4.3; in training: Beaven, 4.5 Digital competencies: Quintana, 5.4 Drama: Salama and Bilbrough, 5.3; Mukhairez, 9.5; Jadalla, 11.5 Educational change/reform: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Sagaray, Fernandez and Arnold, 1.5 Edutainment: Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1 Efficacy: Makhlouf, 1.7; Christodoulou, 2.1; James, 2.2; Waddington, 9.3 Empathy: Donaghy, 8.1 Empowerment: Rafidi and Nassar Mustaklem, 1.3; Abdul Hadi, 11.4; Jadalla, 11.5 English as a medium of instruction (EMI): Chakrakodi, 11.2; Bhandari, 11.3 English for specific/academic purposes: Makhlouf, 1.7; Di Giallonardo, 2.7; Wiens, 3.3; Esnawy, 5.5; Tzanni, 5.6; Tran and Watkins, 6.1; Izaguirre Sanchez, 6.2;

Schumm Fauster, 6.3; Tatzl, 6.4; Krygier, 6.5; Sato and Horn, 6.6; Abrill, 6.7; Coryat, 6.8; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Farag, 7.4; Thorn, 10.1; Berberovic and Stent, 10.3 ESOL: Bryson, 10.7 Evidence-based practice: Lethaby and Harries, 8.3; Hedlund, 8.4 Exams: preparation: Ferrara 3.2; writing: Wiens 3.3; washback: Wiens 3.3 Extramural learning: Lefever, 9.2 Games: Farhat, 2.9; Coryat, 6.8 Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1 Gamification: Esnawy, 5.5; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1 Gender: Türkmenoğlu, 4.6; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1 Grammar: Ashmarina, 10.2 Humour: Tran and Watkins, 6.1 Improvisation: Bicknell, 4.3 Inclusivity and diversity: Djedid and Balchin, 4.1; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1; Lamb, 11.1; Bhandari, 11.3 Knowledge decay: Krygier, 6.5 L1 use in the classroom: Lamb, 11.1; Chakrakodi, 11.2; Bhandari, 11.3 Learning disabilities: Koifman, 4.2 Life skills: Kiddle, 3.1; Esnawy, 5.5; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Farag, 7.4; Khafagi, 10.6; Bryson, 10.7; Rosenberg, 10.9 Listening: Thorn, 10.1; Bruzzano, 10.5; Fulber, 10.8 Materials development/adaptation: Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Milosevic, 7.2; Hartle, 7.3 Mediation: Young, 10.4 Mentoring: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Smith, 1.6; Makhlouf, 1.7; Christodoulou, 2.1; Ončevska Ager, 2.6 Mind, brain, and education science: Hedlund, 8.4

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Motivation: Price, 2.5; Abdul Hadi, 11.4 Multilingualism: Lamb, 11.1 Neuromyths: Hedlund, 8.4 Neuroscience: Christodoulou, 2.1; Lethaby and Harries, 8.3; Allison, 8.5 Older adults: Cem-Değer, 4.4; Duarte, 4.7; Milosevic, 7.2; Curtius, 8.2 Online teaching: of trainees and teachers: Makhlouf, 1.7; Mukhairez, 9.5; of students: Salama and Bilbrough, 5.3; Schumm Fauster, 6.3; Krygier, 6.5; Sato and Horn, 6.6; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Hartle, 7.3; Jadalla, 11.5 Picturebooks: Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1 Primary education: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Sagaray, Fernandez and Arnold, 1.5; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1; Lefever, 9.2; Waddington, 9.3; Chakrakodi, 11.2 Project work: Esnawy, 5.5; Sato and Horn, 6.6; Tikhomirova and Sharapkova, 7.1; Farag, 7.4; Stroia, 9.4; Khafagi, 10.6 Pronunciation: Biazon Rocha, 1.2

Technology: teaching and learning with: Kiddle, 3.1; Vurdien, 5.1; Verdonk, 5.2; Quintana, 5.4; Esnawy, 5.5; Lefever, 9.2; Stroia, 9.4; Mukhairez, 9.5; in assessment: Kiddle, 3.1; Tzanni, 5.6 Text exploitation: Ferrara, 3.2; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1 Training: of teachers: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Biazon Rocha, 1.2; Sagaray, Fernandez and Arnold, 1.5; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1; of trainers: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Beaven, 4.5 Translation: Young, 10.4 Visuals for teaching and learning: Koifman, 4.2; Khafagi, 10.6; Jadalla, 11.5; graphic facilitation: Bryson, 10.7 Vocabulary: Vurdien, 5.1; Verdonk, 5.2 Wellbeing: among teachers: Christodoulou, 2.1; Donaghy, 8.1; among students: Djedid and Balchin, 4.1 Writing: Esnawy, 5.5; Schumm Fauster, 6.3; Berberovic and Stent, 10.3; Jadalla, 11.5

Reading: Murase, 8.6; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1 Reflection: Christodoulou, 2.1 Resilience: among teachers: James, 2.2; among learners: Abdul Hadi, 11.4 Secondary education: Mount and Pulverness, 1.1; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1; Stroia, 9.4; Mukhairez, 9.5; Bruzzano, 10.5; Jadalla, 11.5 Speaking: teaching of: Djedid and Balchin, 4.1; Tatzl, 6.4; assessment of: Djedid and Balchin, 4.1 Stereotypes: Duarte, 4.7; Mourão, Ellis and Gruenbaum, 9.1 Student attention and engagement: Allison, 8.5; Murase, 8.6 Teacher identity: Di Giallonardo, 2.7 Teacher research: Smith, 1.6; Padwad, 2.4 Teachers’ associations: Price, 2.5 Team teaching: Salama and Bilbrough, 5.3; Mukhairez, 9.5

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Conference Selections is IATEFL’s peer-reviewed flagship publication containing a wide selection of articles representing the main threads discussed at the Annual Conference.

Conference Selections helps us fulfil our mission of linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide.

The 54th IATEFL International Annual Conference, Exhibition and Careers Fair was held in June 2021, and presenters shared their knowledge on a variety of topics with delegates on the Hopin platform. www.iatefl.org

info@iatefl.org

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Linking, developing and supporting ELT professionals worldwide