Teacher Development in Technology-Enhanced Language Teaching

Jeong-Bae Son

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319757117
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book explores language teacher development in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environments and discusses approaches, tasks and resources that can guide language teachers to develop their skills and strategies for technology-enhanced language teaching (TELT). It looks at key aspects of CALL in terms of pedagogy and technology and proposes a model of CALL teacher development, which incorporates essential elements of teacher learning in CALL. Further, the author presents practical tasks and tips on how to develop knowledge and skills for the use of digital technologies in language teaching and suggests ideas to improve language teacher training and development.

Part I

Language Teachers in CALL Environments

This book is about how language teachers can develop their CALL knowledge and skills and continue with their teacher development in TELT . It is also concerned about how teacher educators /trainers can provide opportunities for such development. Part I explores CALL teacher education and teachers’ roles and competencies in CALL environments. It also presents a model of CALL teacher development , which can be considered as a model of language teacher development in a broad sense.

© The Author(s) 2018

Jeong-Bae SonTeacher Development in Technology-Enhanced Language Teachinghttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75711-7_1

Begin Abstract

1. Technology and Language Teacher Education

Jeong-Bae Son¹

(1)

University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

End Abstract

Teachers are working with technology in continuously changing educational environments. Technology is changing the way we learn and teach. A wide range of educational technologies (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, interactive whiteboards, robots) are available for language learning. The need for the effective use of those educational technologies has been a main theme in language teaching circles and has been a key focus in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Along with the need, language teacher development in technology integration has become an important issue to address in various contexts. This chapter provides a brief overview of CALL development and reviews research on CALL teacher education to see the relationship between technology and language teacher education.

1.1 Development of CALL

CALL has been developed in line with pedagogical development and technological development in the areas of language learning and teaching since the 1960s. See Bax (2003), Davies, Otto, and Ruschoff (2012), Levy (1997) and Warschauer and Healey (1998) for further discussions on the history of CALL . Figure 1.1 shows a simplified version of theoretical concepts and practical tools that have largely influenced the development of CALL from the past (left) to the present (right) in its history . In terms of pedagogy , we have seen the development and adaptation of behaviourism, cognitivism, communicative language teaching, constructivism , social constructivism , task-based learning, mobile learning and personalised learning. In terms of technology, at the same time, we have also seen the development and use of mainframe computers, microcomputers, multimedia, the Internet, wireless networks, mobile devices and open educational resources . Recently, both pedagogical aspects of mobile learning and personalised learning and technological aspects of mobile devices and open educational resources (cf. massive open online courses (MOOCs )) have generated significant interest among CALL researchers and practitioners (e.g., Burston, 2013, 2014a, 2014b, 2015; Godwin-Jones, 2011, 2014, 2017; Son, 2016, 2018). It is certainly possible to add more branches to this chronological tree of CALL history . As CALL is evolving further, we will witness more pedagogical approaches and technological innovations that will expand the scope of CALL wider and deeper than before.

Figure 1.1

Development of computer-assisted language learning

A large number of papers on CALL have been and are being published regularly. In sorting out the ever-increasing papers, I use a categorisation system containing 25 topics and themes that are widely studied and discussed in the field of CALL. The topics and themes, which were drawn from a critical analysis of CALL publications, are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1

Main topics and themes of CALL research

1.	Overview (history , overall trends)
2.	Theory (concepts)
3.	Research (approaches, methods)
4.	Pedagogy (teaching methodology, implementation, instruction, practice, activities, tasks, blended learning , feedback , integration, interaction)
5.	Technology (hardware, software, tools, systems, platforms, e-portfolios, databases, blogs , wikis , digital tools)
6.	Learners (students, attitudes, perceptions, learning styles, learner training)
7.	Teachers (lecturers, attitudes, perceptions, teaching styles, teacher training , teacher education, professional development )
8.	Design (software design, website design, app creation , activity design )
9.	Evaluation (software evaluation , website evaluation , app evaluation )
10.	Reading
11.	Listening
12.	Writing
13.	Speaking
14.	Vocabulary (dictionaries, glosses)
15.	Grammar
16.	Pronunciation
17.	Culture
18.	Testing (assessment)
19.	Concordancing (corpora, concordancers)
20.	Gaming (games )
21.	Computer-mediated communication (CMC) (telecollaboration, videoconferencing)
22.	Web-based language learning (WBLL ) (websites)
23.	Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL ) (mobile apps )
24.	Robot-assisted language learning (RALL) (robots)
25.	Intelligent computer-assisted language learning (ICALL )

Among these topics and themes, computer-mediated communication (CMC ), web-based language learning (WBLL) and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) can be considered as three popular sub-areas (or expanded areas) of CALL as many recent CALL publications tend to have links to them (Son, 2018). Briefly speaking , CMC refers to interpersonal communication that occurs synchronously or asynchronously via networked computers or other digital devices (Son, 2002a); WBLL is language learning conducted on the web using web materials and resources (Son, 2007); and MALL is language learning using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets (Son, 2016). In classifying CALL publications, particularly those research papers on CMC , WBLL or MALL , a relatively more focused topic (e.g., a specific language skill , a specific communication tool, a specific website, a specific mobile app ) could be identified and chosen according to the above categorisation system.

It should be noted that the categorisation system does not offer an absolute distinction among the topics/themes and can be contracted or expanded depending on its purpose. It simply gives us an indication of which topic has received more attention than other topics when we classify CALL studies. Figure 1.2 shows the results of a survey of the topics/themes of research articles published in four major CALL-oriented journals (CALICO Journal, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Learning & Technology and ReCALL) from 2009 to 2016. The journals are considered as high-profile peer-reviewed journals in the field of CALL. Findings indicate that the most frequently discussed and reported topic is “Technology” (124 out of 699 articles) as expected from the fact that the category of “Technology” covers a wide range of technological aspects. The topic “Technology” is followed by “CMC ” (79), “Learners” (59), “Pedagogy ” (54), “Writing ” (53) and “Teachers” (47). It appears that “CMC ” has been a hot topic and “Writing ” has been the most frequently selected to...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Back Matter