Regine Hampel

Online Communication in Language Learning and Teaching

This book deals with research and practice in online communication and communication technologies of language learning and teaching. These include all forms of computerized media using text, graphics, audio and video, with a particular focus on multimodal teaching and learning. As part of the project the authors describe well-structured action research projects which have transferable features and which can inspire readers wanting to undertake their own projects.

The use of videoconferencing to support multimodal interaction in an online language classroom

The introduction of virtual learning environments has made new tools available that have the potential to support learner communication and interaction, thus aiding second language acquisition both from a psycholinguistic and a sociocultural point of view. This article focuses on the use of videoconferencing in the context of a larger exploratory study to find out how interaction was influenced by the affordances of the environment. Taking a mainly qualitative approach, the authors analysed the written and spoken interaction in recorded videoconferencing sessions, alongside examining some quantitative data to reveal participation patterns. Exploring language learning interaction in a synchronous online medium allows us to show how this is a process mediated by interaction with experts and peers as well as by the artefacts used (e.g., technology) and how learners use and combine multiple modes to make meaning. Our findings illustrate how an online videoconferencing environment with its multiple modalities can be used in language teaching, how teachers and learners adapt to the multimodal online environment and how new patterns of communication emerge in the process.

Training teachers for the multimedia age: developing teacher expertise to enhance online learner interaction and collaboration

Abstract This article considers the skills that enable teachers to foster interaction and collaboration in online language learning. Drawing on Hampel and Sticklers (2005) skills pyramid for online language learning and teaching, it presents the pre-service and in-service training programme that associate lecturers in the Department of Languages at the Open University undergo in the context of teaching languages with the help of online communication tools. Two projects are presented that shed more light on the expertise required to teach languages in complex virtual learning environments. The first project highlights the skills that are needed to teach in a complex online environment; the second one, a teacher training study, aimed to examine distance teachers’ experience of facilitating online group work, identify development needs, try out the potential of specific asynchronous and synchronous tools to support collaborative learning and trial possible development activities. The paper concludes by describing the kind of training programme that tutors require in order to acquire the skills identified.

Designing online tutor training for language courses: a case study

In 2003–04 the Open University offered its first German beginners’ course with a dual tuition strand: tutorials were delivered either face‐to‐face or online using synchronous, audio‐graphic, Internet‐based conferencing software. For the new online tutors, a special training programme was designed and delivered. We evaluated the benefits of our training through a brief questionnaire and in‐depth interviews with selected participants. The outcomes are two‐fold: proof of the necessity of pedagogical training for tutors who work in a new and fast‐moving field, and some recommendations for best practice in training tutors for online tuition.

Online Teacher Development: Collaborating in a Virtual Learning Environment

Over recent years, educational institutions have been making increasing use of virtual environments to set up collaborative activities for learners. While it is recognized that teachers play an important role in facilitating learner collaboration online, they may not have the necessary skills to do so successfully. Thus, a small-scale professional development programme was set up and piloted by two distance universities. The aims were to develop teachers’ experience of online group work, to trial a set of pilot activities that would raise awareness of factors contributing to successful collaborative online activity, and to identify professional development needs in this area. This article reports on the hands-on experience of a group of 20 teachers, examines some of the competences that are needed to successfully collaborate in virtual environments, and presents the skills that teachers need to foster online collaborative learning in the virtual classroom. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected, examining the levels of participation among participants, the collaborative activity of two groups, and teachers’ perception of the collaboration that took place. The skills identified include planning and managing the collaboration, designing appropriate activities, giving clear instructions and getting students to negotiate ground rules for participation, moderating at the right level, and choosing the right environment and the appropriate tool(s). While this study was carried out with language teachers, many of the findings are applicable to other subject areas where growing emphasis is placed on the development of collaborative skills.

Learners’ anxiety in audiographic conferences: A discursive psychology approach to emotion talk

Success and failure in language learning are partly determined by the learners’ ability to regulate their emotions. Negative feelings are more likely to frustrate progress, while positive ones make the task of learning a second language (L2) a more effective experience. To date no significant body of research has been carried out into the role of anxiety in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The present study adopts discursive psychology (DP) as its methodological approach to examine anxiety not as a psychological state, but as a social construct in the context of an audiographic conferencing tool. After interviewing a sample of learners of Spanish at the Open University (OU), our findings reveal a strong connection between emotion and learner beliefs.

Interacting at a distance: a critical review of the role of ICT in developing the learner–context interface in a university language programme

Abstract This article examines the introduction of new online technologies to support distance language learning in a higher education institution in the UK, charting the development from using telephone conferencing in the 1990s to the implementation of Moodle and videoconferencing more recently. It uses the sociocultural concept of the learner–context interface to emphasise the centrality of both learners and context in the design and delivery of technology-supported language courses rather than making the development of computer-mediated learning opportunities the main focus. Building on research and evaluation work carried out over more than 15 years, the authors of this article analyse the issues that have arisen and that have affected change regarding technology and pedagogy. Central areas of investigation in terms of the learners were found to be interaction, learning communities, metacognition, literacy, affect and learner support; in terms of context they include task design, teacher roles and teacher skills. In the conclusion, limitations of the research and new developments are outlined.

Transforming Teaching: New Skills for Online Language Learning Spaces

The use of digital technologies has transformed language learning and teaching, and today a multitude of online spaces are available that have a potential for learning. These spaces are multimodal, multicultural and multilingual, and they serve a number of purposes, from providing factual, reliable information and allowing learners to create individual or collaborative texts, to opening up fictional worlds and making available games for education. As they offer an almost unmanageable choice (Stockwell, 2012), teachers and course designers need a number of new skills to understand and select from what is available and subsequently to be able to transform these online spaces into coherent and usable learning spaces. Most language teaching is not conducted purely online or in only one medium, and this poses additional challenges, not just for teachers, but also for course and syllabus designers. These include integrating different communication channels (for example online and face-to-face teaching), choosing between asynchronous and synchronous tools, combining core teaching and optional ‘fun’ activities, or working with the ‘flipped classroom’ concept. In addition, although young learners in particular are often quite literate when it comes to the use of new technologies, they are not necessarily able to exploit these effectively in the context of the language classroom (Parry, 2011; Pegrum, 2011).

Introduction: From Teacher Training to Self-Reflective Practice

This book has been written to meet the need of language teachers who are keen to engage in online teaching and learning contexts, teacher trainers in search of resources that they can use with their trainees to develop their online teaching skills, and researchers in language pedagogy looking for well-founded studies and recommendations in this area. It integrates technology and pedagogy as well as theory and practice, and will help teachers in formal, non-formal and informal settings to become confident users of online tools and to relate their pedagogical practice to online learning situations as well as giving them a basic understanding of selected theories. Readers will be able to use this volume in the context of independent self-training and pre-service teacher training courses, for in-service staff development and also for establishing their own research projects. As befits the content, the book is modular rather than linear, and certain elements can be taken out of context and used independently for self-training or institutional training events.

Theoretical approaches and research-based pedagogies for online teaching

[A]s computers have become more a part of our everyday lives — and permeated other areas of education — the question is no longer whether to use computers but how. CALL researchers, developers and practitioners have a critical role in helping the overall field of second language learning come to grips with this domain. (Hubbard, 2009, p. 1)