LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS RESEARCH CLUSTER INTERFACE WITH LINGUISTICS Westminster University

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LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS RESEARCH
CLUSTERINTERFACE WITH LINGUISTICSWestminster
University

• Use of Video Conferencing (VC) in Teacher
  Education and Teacher Training for Empowerment of
  Disadvantaged Learners and Teachers
• Mark Krzanowski

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Abstract/Summary

• The purpose of this presentation is to
  demonstrate how video conferencing, online
  learning and distance education can be
  meaningfully used in applied linguistics and
  English Language Teaching in order to provide
  linguistic training, guidance and assistance to
  those learners and teachers who have been
  historically disadvantaged, and who have limited
  access either to state-of-the-art pedagogical
  resources or to subject experts in other
  geographical locations.
• The presentation will focus on the outcomes of a
  VC teacher training project led by the speaker
  and delivered to Al-Quds Open University in
  Palestinian Territories. The author will present
  a concise review of the project and will argue
  that with the advancement of ICT and e-learning
  in the 21st century it is now possible to offer
  educational training that would have been
  difficult to deliver in the previous decades. The
  talk will be illustrated by recorded video
  footage which shows how large groups of students
  and teachers in four remote sites in Palestine
  (Nablus, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Hebron) interact
  live with UK-based lecturers in the British
  Council VC studio in London.
• The participants of this presentation will be
  able to assess whether video conferencing,
  distance education and blended learning can offer
  a plausible teaching paradigm in the absence of
  traditional face-to-face learning. The author
  will provide the audience with a write-up of the
  project (2004-2008) which was recently published
  in the Professional and Academic English
  Journal (March 2009).

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Use of Video Conferencing (VC) in Teacher
Education and Teacher Training for Empowerment of
Disadvantaged Learners and Teachers

• Introduction
• Background information
• What is So Unique About VC?
• Delivery of video-conferencing sessions and
  benefits to participants
• Lessons learnt
• Short DVD demo London tutor interacts with 4
  centres at Al-Quds University
• Interface of ELT with Linguistics and Education
  evidence and my views
• Conclusions

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Background information

• Video-conferencing project agreed on in 2004
• Aim to empower historically disadvantaged
  learners in Palestine
• Reason locally provided tuition deemed
  insufficient
• Cost relatively affordable, absorbed by the BC
  in Ramallah
• Teaching and learning conditions in Palestinian
  Territories substandard motivational issues
• Video conferencing relatively unexploited in ELT
• Linguistic issue how easy is it to develop
• L2 competence in isolation?

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What is So Unique About VC?

• Challenge of technological advances, and the
  question will it work?
• Opportunity to reach a group of learners,
  trainees or colleagues in a distant location
  simultaneously as if the interaction were
  happening here
• Technophobia becomes a peripheral issue in due
  course
• Ability to embrace a new learning and teaching
  dimension

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Delivery of video-conferencing sessions and
benefits to participants

• Video-conferencing prior training not
• essential but helpful
• Description of the mechanics of the process
• Benefits to participants Palestine
• Exposure to UK-based ELT tutors and access to
  state-of-art expertise in ELT
• Opportunity to improve language competence in a
  multilingual set-up
• Increase in motivation / the hamas factor
• Benefits to participants UK-based tutors
• Adding VC skills to ones teaching repertoire and
  embracing advances of online and blended
  learning CPD

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Lessons learnt

• Video-conferencing viable alternative to
  face-to-face teaching
• It is possible to offer teaching and training
  from a distance in an efficient and
  cost-effective manner
• Motivation of disadvantaged learners increases if
  they are provided with meaningful external input
• VC training sessions need to be shorter that
  traditional face-to-face sessions and learners
  and instructors need to fee comfortable about the
  infrastructure and the technology used
• Geographical inaccessibility and historical
  neglect need not be a barrier to education

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Short DVD demo London tutor interacts with 4
centres at Al-Quds University

• The tutor in the BC office in London interacts
  with 4 Campuses of Al-Quds
• Features of the interaction
• Each campus contributes on an equal footing
• The acoustics are reasonable
• The fact that the participants are separated by
  distance is not an obstacle to effective
  communication
• The level of interest and motivation is very high
• Palestinian tutors seem to function very well in
  English geographical inaccessibility does not
  seem a major variable impacting on language
  competence
• Involvement and enthusiasm for ELT projected by
  Palestinian ELT tutors
• Acceptance of VC as a perfect mode of educational
  communication

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Interface of ELT with Linguistics and Education
evidence and my views

• The VC project is a prime example of an
  interdisciplinary educational projects in which
  the lead members of the project (i.e. both
  British and Palestinian tutors) had to employ the
  best practice in ELT, applied linguistics,
  learning and teaching and education for best
  synergies
• It seems that loyalty to one discipline only may
  be a relic of the past
• 21st century appears to be an age of
  multi-disciplinarian pursuits

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Conclusions

• Video-conferencing in ESP, EAP and EFL as
  part of e-learning or distance education or as a
  supplement to face-to-face communication can play
  a very important part in education, esp. in
  developing or low-income countries which may also
  be historically disadvantaged. VC can be a very
  important vehicle for knowledge transmission and
  knowledge acquisition. Video conferencing offers
  ample opportunity to ELT practitioners, applied
  linguistics specialists and educators to
  collaborate on stimulating and thought-provoking
  projects.