Shona Whyte; EuroCALL CMC & Teacher Education SiG workshop, Barcelona, April 2011

1. EUROCALL CMC & Teacher Education SIG, Barcelona, 14-15 April 2011
Pre-service teachers' views on
technology for teaching and learning
foreign languages
Shona Whyte
University of Nice, France

2. changes in
the language
classroom
‣ more learners (younger,
more diverse)
‣ more generalist teachers
‣ insufficient training
‣ more technology

3. what we know
about teacher Beauchamp & Kennewell
cognitions
Borg
‣ classroom practice affected
by beliefs and experience
(not just training)
‣ technical interactivity ≠
pedagogical interactivity
‣ procedural (not just
theoretical) training required Feryok

4. mis
mat
ch
pedagogical
recommendations ≠
classroom
implementation

5. teacher cognitions
FL teaching
ICT

6. Teacher cognition & technology
research context and
methodology
preliminary findings
tentative conclusions

7. Research context &
methodology

8. subjects
137 graduate/undergraduate
students in 7 classes
71 questionnaire responses
32 volunteers (e-mail addresses)
11 interviews

9. method
12 week semester (October-December)
online questionnaire (after class, before
grades; December/January)
preliminary data analysis (February)
follow-up interviews (March)

10. subject profiles
5 groups
teachers - graduate teacher trainees
(English, primary, science)
students - undergraduate English
majors (literature or media/culture)

11. EFL teachers (ICT class)
pre-service secondary EFL teachers
second of 2-year graduate training
25 students programme
19 respondents contact class in IT for FL teaching
10 volunteers online component involved group wikis
and creation of online teaching/learning
3 interviews resources
future teaching is secondary EFL

12. Primary Teachers with TEFL
pre-service primary teachers
34 students second year of 2-year graduate training
programme for generalist primary school
15 respondents teachers
5 volunteers course on FL pedagogy for young learners
1 interview teacher used videoprojection, Google site,
Ss sent e-mail attachments
future teaching includes FL classes, but not
priority

13. Science teachers (contact/distance)
pre-service secondary science teachers
26 students first of 2-year graduate training programme
contact and distance EFL classes with
13 respondents technology (videoconference, filmed
5 volunteers student ppt presentations)
2 interviews future teaching does not include FL
(distance students will teach distance
courses)

14. English undergraduate (ICT)
undergraduate English majors
first/third year of 3-year English
43 students programme
17 respondents contact class in ICT for FL learning
7 volunteers online component involved blogs and
group wikis
2 interviews
future careers do not involve teaching
(journalism, translation)

15. English undergraduate (SLA)
undergraduate English majors
9 students third year of 3-year English programme
7 respondents contact classes in learning theory and SLA
5 volunteers teacher used videoprojection, Google site,
Ss sent e-mail attachments
3 interviews
future careers may include FL teaching

16. summary
English English
English Primary Science
ICT ICT
SLA teachers teachers
teachers students
English Y Y Y ? N
ICT
training Y Y N N ?
Teaching Y N ? Y Y

17. summary
English English
Primary Science English
ICT ICT
teachers teachers SLA
teachers students
ET PT ST EST ESS

18. Findings
cognitions about
1. language learning/teaching
2. own ICT use/skills
3. ICT for language learning/teaching

19. student profile
Age: 62% < 25 years old
Effort: 85% good attendance (57% tried hard)
ICT use: 91% e-mail; 79% films/series
ICT skills: 25% rated 4 or 5/5 (“expert”)
SL beliefs: 72% teacher correction

20. Cognitions abut FL EFL Teachers ICT
Primary Teachers (EFL)
learning Science Teachers
English students ICT
English students SLA
100
75
50
25
0
L1 imitation L1 correction Intelligence Motivation Early start L1 transfer L2
Lightbown & Spada, 1999

21. Cognitions about FL EFL teachers ICT
Primary teachers (EFL)
teaching (1) Science Teachers
English students ICT
English students SLA
100
75
50
25
0
PPP is the best approach error correction is essential group work provides “junky data”
Lightbown & Spada, 2000

22. Cognitions abut FL EFL teachers ICT
Primary Teachers (EFL)
teaching (2) Science Teachers
English students ICT
English students SLA
100
93
75
50 57
47 48
25 31
0
students learn what they are taught

23. All students
Cognitions about EFL teachers ICT
English students ICT
ICT class experience English students SLA
100
75
50
25
0
I did a lot of work online I had a lot of e-mail contact with the teacher

24. EFL Teachers ICT
Cognitions about Primary Teachers (EFL)
Science Teachers
basic internet skills English Students ICT
English students SLA
100
75
50
25
0
find websites find audio + video e-mail download freeware

25. Cognitions about learning of ICT skills
After class, I can
ppt sign up Before class, I could
90
21 46
Audacity embed
67.5 15 51
55
68 45
42
56
45
44
22.5
23
18 19 17
0
help wiki slidecast

26. Creating an account (Google sites, slidecast.net)
100
75
After class, I can
27 Before class, I could
46
60
50 58 54 46
42 44
71
25 29 29
0
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All

27. After class, I can
Making a slideshow (ppt) Before class, I could
100
15 6
7
85 86
75 80 21
68
50 58
42
25 29
0
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All

28. After class, I can
Making a slidecast (slides + audio) Before class, I could
100
75
50
13 24
38
25 42
100
0 27 23 29 14
0 19
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All

29. After class, I can
Create a wiki Before class, I could
100
75
50
65
45
25
89
31
11 47
0 8 35 0 23
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All

30. After class, I can
Help someone with an ICT problem Before class, I could
90
18
67.5
15
45 42
71
60 62
56
22.5 42 43
0 0 0
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All

31. ET PT
Self-efficacy in ICT skills ST EST
ESS All
40
39
30
29
27
25
20
16
14
10
0
ET PT ST EST ESS All
I’m an expert user (4 or 5/5)

32. ICTskills
English ICT English ICT English
teachers students students
proficiency L H L
achievement H H L
self-efficacy L H L

33. ICT and FL learning/teaching
majority of respondents saw positive role for ICT for teacher
(70-100% agreement, 0-15% disapproval on 7 questions)
primary and science teachers were less enthusiastic regarding
learner autonomy (13-20% disagreement on 2 questions;
non ICT English majors were more sceptical about utility of the
internet and Web 2.0 tools for learner autonomy and
motivation

34. Conclusions - FL teaching
preference for structural syllabus and
teacher-fronted classes
views change with training
central teacher role particularly
important to primary teachers

35. Conclusions - ICT
positive view of ICT for language
teaching/learning
ICT more useful to teacher than learner
persistently low self-efficacy for ICT use

36. integrated training
• FL
• ICT
• classroom practice

37. Beauchamp, G., & Kennewell, S. (2010). Interactivity in the classroom and its impact
on learning. Computers & Education, 54, 759-766.
Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice.
London: Continuum.
Feryok, A. (2010). Language teacher cognitions: Complex dynamic systems? System,
38, 272-279.
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Whyte, S. (2011). Learning theory and technology in university foreign language.
education: The case of French universities. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 10
(2), 213-34.
Whyte, S. (to appear). Learning to teach with videoconferencing in primary foreign
language classrooms. ReCALL.
whyte@unice.fr