ecml/celv
European Centre for Modern Languages
Centre européen pour les langues vivantes
Project 1.3.2: Information & Communication Technologies in Distance Language Learning

General introductionProject teamProject descriptionWorkshop participants Workshop reportIn the face of (workshop) adversityBibliography & Webography
Tier 2: Teaching - Studying - Learning processTier 3: Collaborative learning environment
Evaluation & Conclusions Workshop cartoonVideo album
Photo album 1
Photo album 2BSCW demo

Tier 1 : Teacher Education and Distance Language Learning

Introduction
Introducing ICTs in teacher education or distance language learning courses will strongly influence both the form and the content. Unfortunately there are several examples of computer assisted language learning programmes where a reversal to more traditional teaching methods can be detected. Courses designed for distance learning consisting of tasks and exercises with correct or incorrect answers are simple to produce and give the learner immediate feedback.

A communicative approach to foreign language learning is based on the view that learning a foreign language is being socialised into another culture. It is a dialogic process between teacher and learner, between peers, between texts, and between two or more cultures. Such a view of FLL requires tasks which have to be personally interpreted and negotiated in order to create meaning, and such tasks do not have correct or incorrect answers. Learning to communicate in a foreign language is an individual and ongoing process, as is learning how to teach a foreign language.

If foreign language learning and teacher education are regarded as processes rather than results, the benefits of ICTs can more easily be envisaged. The need for foreign language teachers to develop ICT skills is obvious, but it might not always be the main reason for introducing new technologies into teacher education courses. It is far more important to look at what ICTs can add to learning processes: what can be achieved by using new technologies that cannot be achieved without?

There are some obvious answers to this question. Geographical distance between students and institutions can be bridged, learning environments can be created, where direct contact with the foreign culture can easily be established, for instance through virtual student exchanges. The basic difference between face-to-face teaching and learning and learning through the use of ICTs, however, is the possibility for both teacher and students to get a glimpse into the individual and the shared learning processes themselves. In a traditional classroom context, the teacher will administer and follow the development of learning activities and outcomes, but s/he cannot easily look into the learning processes of the individual. In a collaborative learning environment, using new technologies, this however, becomes possible.

Firstly, using computers in foreign language learning or in teacher education means that students have to participate, individually or in groups. There is no longer any place in the classroom for the shy learners to hide. Secondly, it is basic to all foreign language learning that using the language is essential for developing it. With ICTs learners usually have to express themselves in writing. According to Lev Vygotsky '[t]hought is not merely expressed in words, it comes into existence through them' (Thought and Language 1934/1991). Collaborative learning environments provide opportunities to reflect on learning processes, whether in foreign language learning or in foreign language teacher education. Through virtual discussion forums, for instance, students' texts are made visible, not only to the teacher, but to groups of learners. Producing texts in the widest sense of the word, i.e. written texts, pictures or music, requires reflection. Publishing them in a shared forum provides opportunities for shared reflection where both teachers and peers can participate in the individual's learning processes. Here texts, whether they are suggested solutions to tasks or the production of learning materials, can be commented on, questioned, reflected upon and discussed. The process of learning becomes a shared experience rather than a private one between teacher and learner.

The presentations, projects and examples provided here show different aspects of learning processes and learning outcomes, some of them primarily related to foreign language teacher education and some to (distance) language learning. The examples were produced during the project period and as part of it. Common to them all is the fact that they were created without the aid of commercially developed materials, and each project is suited to the particular learning situation of the educational institution concerned. The selection is meant to provide a variety of examples and ideas of how ICTs can be employed both in foreign language learning and in foreign language teacher education.

List of presentations, projects, and student examples:

The use of ICT in teacher education:Workshop presentation with linked student examples.

The use of ICT in teacher education
Workshop discussions on the use of ICTs
    in teacher education
Task 1Task 2
Portfolio assessment
The Czech French-language project
The use of the web in teaching reading comprehension
Learning Management Systems in foreign language
    learning

Language Teacher Education and the challenge of ITCs
    - a Finnish perspective


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