The Role of Continuous Professional Development Workshops in the Technological-Pedagogical Skills Development of Teacher Trainers

University instructors' technological-pedagogical knowledge receives much attention in the current professional discourse. This chapter introduces a case study based on a workshop series organised by the members of the language pedagogy department of a Hungarian university for the technological-pedagogical development of the instructors owing to COVID-19-triggered emergency remote teaching. Ten participants took part in the workshops and the study, including the two researcher-participants. Through semi-structured interviews, triangulated with field notes and personal communication, it was found that the members of the department welcomed the workshop series, especially because it was tailored to their needs. The first remote teaching period posed many challenges, but because of the workshops, the instructors felt more secure to experiment with online teaching possibilities and were able to teach higher quality lessons. Participants also reported that the workshop series resulted in feeling a sense of community and that its affordances broadened their technological-pedagogical repertoire.

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN EFL CLASSROOM FOR INDONESIAN ADOLESECENT LEARNERS

The coming of the internet and the advancement of technology make revolution in Language Pedagogy, especially in the EFL classroom. Teaching the students who were born as the digital natives forces EFL, teachers have to integrate technology in language teaching. This article was written based on a recent EFL teacher’s practice. This study employed a case study method with 30 students of grade 9 of Junior High School in the west part of Indonesia as the participants. The aim of this study was to elaborate the way how the teacher made the students more familiar with the computer and the internet access in EFL Classroom. A Messenger Group as the main communication platform, supported by other web-based platforms including school’s Facebook (FB) group and online materials were integrated into learning activities. The findings showed that students found using technology in the classroom was easy due to the teacher’s instruction. They also reported that the technology integration in their EFL classroom encouraged their creativity and helped to accommodate their diverse interest. As a result, the students feel more comfortable and confident using technology for educational purposes and, become more creative and innovative in doing their project. Beside the clear instructions from the teacher, the availability of the computer laboratory, internet access, and students’ smartphones really help the success of this course.

Ripensare l’insegnamento delle lingue straniere a partire dall’esperienza della didattica a distanza: introduzione al numero speciale

IT La didattica a distanza emergenziale determinata dalla pandemia da Covid-19 ha posto insegnanti e studenti di fronte a sfide inedite, forzando un cambiamento senza precedenti in termini di entità e rapidità. Questo numero speciale raccoglie contributi sulla didattica delle lingue, accomunati dalla volontà di trarre vantaggio dalle problematicità legate all’insegnamento a distanza per innescare riflessioni e cambiamenti necessari e duraturi, capaci di prescindere dalla situazione emergenziale che li ha generati. Questa introduzione descrive il contesto in cui insegnanti e studenti si sono trovati a operare, sottolineandone le implicazioni glottodidattiche in termini di gestione dell’input, dell’output, dell’interazione e della valutazione delle competenze. Offriamo una sintesi dei contributi inclusi nel numero speciale, seguita da una riflessione sulle possibili conclusioni trasversali all’intero volume. Parole chiave: DAD, DIDATTICA DIGITALE INTEGRATA/DDI, DIDATTICA DELLE LINGUE, COVID-19, APPRENDIMENTO DELLE L2/LS EN The emergency remote teaching necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic has confronted teachers and students with unknown challenges, forcing truly rapid and significant changes that are without precedent. The current special issue offers contributions, in Italian and English, that are focused on language pedagogy. Their shared objective is to gain meaningful knowledge from new issues related to remote teaching that can lead to reflection and necessary, long-lasting changes beyond the context of the emergency that created them. This introductory article describes the context in which teachers and students have found themselves working, highlighting the implications for language teaching in terms of managing input, output, interaction, and assessment. We then offer a summary of the contributions and the reviews included in this special issue, followed by a reflection on its possible conclusions. Key words: DISTANCE LEARNING, INTEGRATED DIGITAL PEDAGOGY, LANGUAGE TEACHING, COVID-19, LEARNING OF L2/SECOND LANGUAGE ES La enseñanza remota de emergencia determinada por la pandemia COVID-19 ha situado a docentes y a estudiantes ante desafíos desconocidos, forzando cambios rápidos y significativos sin precedentes. El presente número especial reúne contribuciones en italiano y en inglés, centradas en la enseñanza de lenguas, cuyo objetivo común es extraer conocimiento de las problemáticas relacionadas con la enseñanza remota que pueda provocar reflexiones y cambios necesarios y duraderos más allá de la situación de emergencia que las generó. Este artículo introductorio describe el contexto en el que se han encontrado trabajando el profesorado y el alumnado, destacando las implicaciones para la enseñanza de idiomas en términos de gestión del input, del output, de las interacciones y de la evaluación de las competencias. Tras ello, ofrecemos una síntesis de las contribuciones y de las reseñas incluidas en este número especial, seguida de una reflexión sobre las posibles conclusiones trasversales al número entero. Palabras clave: DIDÁCTICA A DISTANCIA, DIDÁCTICA DIGITAL INTEGRADA, DIDÁCTICA DE LENGUAS, COVID-19, APRENDIZAJE DE SEGUNDAS LENGUAS

Second language acquisition research and materials development: Need to bridge the gap between theory and practice

This research paper highlights the issue of the lack of connection between second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research, particularly with regard to language pedagogy and its practical implementation in language teaching materials/textbooks. Based on a theoretical review of the major theoretical perspectives in SLA, the paper underscores that a gap exists between the theory developers (who develop theories through research) and the practitioners (who bear the responsibility for the implementation of theoretical knowledge) in the fields of SLA and materials development. This lack of cohesion between the theory developers and the practitioners causes the development of ineffective English language teaching (ELT) materials which, consequently, fail to make a substantial contribution to effective English language teaching and learning. The paper highlights that it is important to explore SLA theory and research and ensure its implementation in ELT materials. Similarly, there is a need to carry out research about the implementation of SLA theory in materials development and instructed language learning. Such research will be a significant contribution to the field of materials development and will open new horizons in language pedagogy from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Language and thinking: a contrastive characterization of English, French, German and Russian, with its application to language pedagogy

This paper seeks to give in a concise manner a holistic characterization of English, French, German and Russian, revealing at the same time the types of thinking (or thought patterns) involving these languages. The four languages are characterized respectively as being experiential/pragmatic, rational/ dualistic, idealistic, and antithetical. Based on these observations, some suggestions as to the pedagogy of foreign languages are also made.

Researching Pre-school Teachers’ Knowledge of Oral Language Pedagogy Using Video

The Observing Language Pedagogy (OLP) tool uses videos of authentic classroom interactions to elicit the procedural knowledge which pre-school teachers can access, activate and use to support classroom decision-making. Three facets are captured: perceiving (the ability to identify salient language-supporting strategies); naming (the use of specific professional vocabulary to describe interactions); and interpreting (the ability to interpret the interactions observed). Prior research has shown that the OLP predicts classroom quality; with naming and interpreting proving the strongest predictors. This study examines OLP responses from 104 teachers to consider the nature of their pedagogical knowledge (perceiving, naming, interpreting), and describe differences between expert teachers (those leading language-supporting classrooms) and non-expert teachers (those leading lower quality classrooms). It offers insight into the nature of language-related expertise and to guide design of teacher professional development, suggesting a tri-fold focus on knowledge of linguistic input, relational pedagogy and cognitive challenging interactions.

Parental belief towards online-based language learning amidst the pandemic

The pandemic had impeded the accustomed, traditional face-to-face synchronous modality of instruction. Attributable to the impediment, a revolutionized modality of pedagogy had to be conceptualized and subsequently adopted to ascertain that education does not halt. To date, the state-of-the-art technology provides the optimal option as a route the education sector could take. Though indirectly, parents – being one of the stakeholders of education – had to be involved in the business of educating the next generation. Along these claims, the present study investigated the beliefs of parents towards online-based language pedagogy. A total of 120 respondents of varying educational attainments ranging from elementary, secondary, tertiary, and postgraduate were surveyed online via an adapted research instrument, named as PBOBLLQ. The current paper employed a descriptive quantitative method which aids in shedding light on the beliefs of parents towards online-based language instruction. Also, a significant difference in the parents’ beliefs across educational attainment was confirmed.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Critical Language Pedagogy

Readers of the journal Education Sciences will be broadly aware that within educational research as a whole, a position exists that analyzes educational issues and researches questions from an overall contextual perspective that locates them in respect to values such as equity, liberty, and social justice [...]