Jarosław Krajka
ICT in the Foreign Philology
Curriculum – Towards a Systematic
Approach to E-Teacher Training
Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature 2930, 172-192
2006
29/30, 2006, h t t p ://w w w .l s m l l .u m c s .l u b l i n . p l
Jarosław Krajka
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University,
Lublin, Poland
ICT in the Foreign Philology Curriculum -
Towards a Systematic Approach to E-Teacher Training
1. Introduction
The significance o f educational technology, com puters and the Internet, in the w ork o f a foreign language teacher is not to be questioned now adays. The dynam ic developm ent o f new technologies, the expansion o f the Internet in every single sphere o f life together w ith a significant decrease in the price o f educational softw are and office applications, all add a new dim ension to the foreign language instruction, by providing the elem ents o f authenticity, recency, variety, choice and interactivity to increase the effectiveness o f the teaching process. Thus, in order to enhance language teaching a proper consideration o f ICT teacher training needs to be done in the context o f official requirem ents for teacher education, as w ell as future teachers' needs w hen confronted w ith the technical possibilities they m ay com e across in their everyday practice.
In order for ICT training to be system atic and com prehensive, it needs to be considered on a v ariety o f planes, w ith a shifting focus on various com petences and skills. W ith the existence o f a w ide range of branches o f C om puter-A ssisted L anguage L earning (C A LL), such as Internet-B ased Teaching (IBT), C om puter-M ediated C om m unication
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 173
(CMC), D ata-D riven Learning (DDL), C om puter-A daptive Testing (CAT), O pen D istance Learning (ODL), to nam e ju s t a few to portray the richness o f possible applications o f IC T in foreign language teaching, the reflection on the directions o f IC T teacher training in the m odern philology program m e is necessary in order to tailor the instruction to the requirem ents of the P olish educational system .
T he present paper w ill investigate the issues o f IC T teacher training in the pre-service context o f a five-year M .A . m odern philology program m e. The consideration o f the content o f training, m ode o f delivery, learning activities, teach er’s and learners’ role w ill be follow ed by a staged m odel o f distributed IC T training illustrating grow ing student teacher com petence. The lessons learnt from in service teacher training already conducted w ill be used to im prove the organisation o f e-teacher education in the m odern philology curriculum .
2. Inform ation and C om m unication T echnology in in-service teacher training
A s early as in 2000, the im portance o f IT know ledge and skills in the w ork o f a teacher w as form ally reflected in the decree o f the M inister o f N ational Education (MEN, 2000), w hich regulated the w hole sphere o f the teacher developm ent process. A ccording to the regulations, the dem onstration o f the effective use o f com puter literacy has becom e obligatory for teachers w anting to get prom oted to the tw o higher ranks o f the teacher developm ent schem e (the appointed teacher and the diplom a teacher), w hich w as upheld in the new regulations in 2004 (MENiS, 2004a). Thus, right after 2000 w ide popular dem and stim ulated the organization o f ICT teacher training by different organizations (The IN SETT Program m e, T he B ritish C ouncil Poland ICT Project for EFL Teachers, the Interklasa program m e or IN TEL - T each to the Future program m e) on the national level, as w ell as by local teacher training centres and m ethodology advisors on the local level.
T he lack o f ICT standards caused the fact that the content o f these courses w as o f different quality and quantity, and, m ore im portantly,
not alw ays reflecting the needs o f participants on the one hand and sound m ethodological principles on the other. W hat the early ICT teacher training (based on the IN SETT and B ritish C ouncil training efforts, see Krajka, 2004a) had in com m on w as the strong focus on general com puter skills, instructing trainees in the m ost popular applications (w ord-processor, spreadsheet, em ail client, Internet brow ser, graphics editor) in order to build the solid foundation o f com puter literacy. A certain disproportion betw een com puter skills and com puter-assisted m ethodology w as to a large extent the result of needs o f teachers, m ainly the ones w ho had not had any IT classes during their education on the secondary or tertiary level.
Together w ith the increasing level o f com puter literacy displayed by participants of courses after the year 2000, the course syllabus w as evolving tow ards devoting m ore tim e to practical uses o f IT in teaching a foreign language. The com puter literacy o f participants w as evaluated by trainers in the pre-course test and, consequently, the am ount o f initial com puter training w as suited to the estim ated level, aim ing at providing trainees w ith the skills equivalent to the level of E uropean C om puter D riving L icense (E C D L).
In the subsequent ICT training program m es co-organised by the Lublin IN SETT program m e and The B ritish C ouncil IC T p ro ject for EFL T eachers also greater care w as devoted to the integration o f both parts, the com puter training m odule and the com puter-assisted m ethodology m odule - for that reason, m ore advanced features of com puter applications w ere introduced (e.g., w ord-processor's review ing function, using the w ord-processor as a w ebpublishing tool or using em ail in subscribing to and starting discussion groups). W ith the increasingly higher level o f com puter skills, the com ponent o f com puter-assisted foreign language teaching has been significantly expanded, to include the instruction in the follow ing areas:
1. Internet-based activity structures: telefieldtrips, treasure hunts, WebQuests, ask-an-expert, ke yp a l exchanges, online research m odules (Harris, 1995a; Harris, 1995b; March,
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 175
2. evaluation o f Internet w ebsites and w ebpublishing (Nelson, 1997; Krajka, 2002);
3. the process o f creating Internet-assisted lessons (Krajka, 2004b);
4. setting up and running electronic exchange projects (Krajka, 2001);
5. synchronous and asynchronous C om puter-M ediated C om m unication tools (discussion groups, blogs, wikis, M OOs) and their use in teaching (G odw in-Jones, 2003); 6. authoring tools, enabling teachers to create interactive or no n
interactive language exercises (e.g., m ultiple-choice, cloze, m atching, crossw ord, text reconstruction - G odw in-Jones, 2001).
T he lessons learnt from ICT in-service training experiences w ere m ultifold, m ainly in the area of content selection, m ode o f delivery, organisation o f training, use o f online tools and services. The m ain assum ption is the concurrent developm ent o f IC T skills (basic com puter literacy in the area of office applications) and com puter- assisted m ethodology. D ue to m ixed needs and expectations o f future teachers, the provision o f training needs to be delivered on voluntary and elective basis w ithin som e areas (e.g., stages 4, 5 and 6 from the m odel below), w hile obligatory training w ithin others is needed to ensure equal level o f participation in the curriculum . T he selection of areas for inclusion needs to be strongly connected to the actual teaching contexts that trainees already are or w ill be in, consequently, the aw areness o f the available resources in the Polish schools of various sectors is essential. Sim ilarly, the selection o f tools (e.g., corpora and concordancers) is to be based on the availability criterion, favouring free o f charge online access solutions.
3. Issues o f content selection for pre-service ICT training program m e U ntil recently, the process o f training future teachers on the tertiary level has not alw ays included ICT training. In case o f hum anities (including foreign language teaching), this area of know ledge has often been neglected in university curricula, especially due to
inadequate resources and lack o f clear obligation expressed in the official standards. D ue to that, the graduates w ere not provided w ith the know ledge and skills necessary to im plem ent the elem ents of C om puter-A ssisted L anguage L earning/Teaching, w hich also resulted in the deterioration o f their IT skills acquired on the secondary level.
T he officially published teacher education standards (M ENiS, 2004b) list com puter literacy as one o f the elem ents o f teacher know ledge, characterized as “the ability to use ICT in teach ing ” (M ENiS, 2004b). However, only w ith strict obligation and precise tim e form ulation introduced in the regulations, ICT has been elevated to be a valid com ponent on a par w ith other areas o f the m odern philology curriculum . T hanks to precise specification o f content for the ICT training, it has becom e possible to m ake the instruction uniform w ithin the follow ing four them atic areas:
1. using term inology, equipm ent, softw are and m ethods o f ICT ; 2. ICT as a com ponent o f teacher's work;
3. the im plem entation o f ICT in teaching a given subject;
4. hum anistic, social, ethical and legal aspects o f access to and use o f ICT.
A n exam ple of the practical realization o f the above-m entioned standards can be the syllabus o f the course “ICT for teachers and translators”, offered in the curriculum at the D epartm ent o f A pplied Linguistics o f M aria C urie-Skłodow ska U niversity in Lublin, Poland. A 30-hour course encom passes selected issues from the D ecree (M ENiS, 2004b), adapted to the conditions o f educating students in two foreign languages as w ell as tw o professional profiles (teachers and translators).
It needs to be stressed at this point that the selection o f content for pre-service ICT training is different from the in-service context, m ainly due to the lack o f articulated expectations o f students and teaching experience. Thus, the syllabus below shifts focus from pedagogical applications o f educational technology onto the im plem entation of ICT in students' w ork (dictionaries, corpora, discussion groups, term inology databanks, autom atic translation tools):
1. Finding, evaluating and using Internet m aterials 2. W eb-based activities
3. O nline authoring tools 4. C orpora and concordancers 5. W eb dictionaries and glossaries 6. D iscussion groups and m ailing lists
7. R eview ing and sharing docum ents in a w ord processor. 8. C reating visual stim ulus m aterials
9. C om puter-aided presentations 10. O nline course delivery system s 11. A utom atic translation tools
12. C om puter-assisted term inology m anagem ent
T he selection o f content for teacher training courses, as described above, could be flexibly suited to the needs and expectations of learners, thus, proper diagnosis o f not only their com puter literacy level ought to be m ade (in the pre-course test), but also a needs analysis is to be executed in order to investigate the priorities of teachers (after all, w ith m ostly practitioners being w ell-aw are o f how they w ould like to exploit technology in everyday teaching). The reconciliation o f three indispensable elem ents o f a needs analysis (K om orow ska, 2005), nam ely lacks in the train e es’ com puter literacy, necessities com ing from teacher professional developm ent requirem ents (M ENiS, 2004a) and w ants as expressed by trainees leads to a successful training program m e.
How ever, the content selection process cannot be grounded only on the trainer's preferences and trainees' expectations, but also upon the logistical considerations o f the higher education institution. Thus, the pre-course w ork should also involve reflecting on available technological (type o f equipm ent available, connection speed) and financial opportunities (availability o f office applications and m ultim edia softw are), in order to approxim ate the content to the trainees' needs. Then, the item s o f the syllabus enum erated above should be selected flexibly, together w ith custom ized tim e allocation, for the ICT teacher training course to truly reflect the situation o f a particular group.
4. D istribution of training in the foreign philology curriculum
One o f the conclusions o f the in-service ICT training delivered by The B ritish C ouncil Poland ICT for T eachers Project (Krajka, 2004a) w as the need for the coverage o f both general com puter literacy (file m anagem ent, office applications, inform ation collection and retrieval) and C A L L m ethodology (Internet-based classroom teaching, online teaching, m ultim edia authoring, etc.), w ell balanced and clearly separated from each other. A nother aspect w hich influences the distribution o f training is the particular nature o f the foreign philology curriculum , w ith obligatory and elective courses, free choice of B .A ./M .A . sem inars, choice o f the specialization m odule (e.g., teaching and translation). T he recent change in the foreign philology curricula dem onstrated by the division o f instruction into clearly separated B.A. and M .A . program m e is yet another factor influencing the organization of technology-enhanced teacher training.
In order to satisfy, at least partially, all o f the interests enum erated above, it seem s necessary to develop a m odel o f distributed ICT training, spanning both B.A. and M .A . program m es, consisting o f a variety o f stages, w hose basic representation as the proposal o f ICT teacher training in the foreign language curricula can be seen in Figure 1 below. The shape o f the pyram id sym bolizes on the one hand system atic increase in the train e es’ ICT and teaching com petence w hen m oving from one stage to another upw ards, how ever, at the sam e time, system atic decrease in the num ber o f participants, proceeding from obligatory courses for all students, through courses obligatory w ithin a particular specialization m odule, to electives w ithin the specialization selected.
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 179 Stage S Stage 6 RESEARCH /AND \ E VALUATION A SSISTED TEACHING PRACTICE
Stage 4 COMPUTER-A SSISTED
METHODOLOGY
Stage 3 COMPUTER-ASSISTED
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
Stage 2 ICT TOOLS AND
S K IL L S TRAINING
Figure 1. The model of distributed ICT training (Krajka, 2006).
Stage 1, “O rientation to online to o ls”, aim s at fam iliarising students w ith online tools and services w hich w ill be im plem ented to m anage the didactic process during the course o f studies. T his m ight m ean b rief training in the use o f a particular L earning M anagem ent System (LMS) w hich is used in the departm ent to facilitate running curricular courses, ideally organised by a course tutor (opiekun roku) at the very beginning o f the B.A. program m e. Thus, during brief initial training, as w ell as w hile using the particular solutions later, trainees are exposed to IC T tools and resources as learners and users, w hich w ill give them the first-hand experience for future m anipulation o f particular features o f the sam e Learning M anagem ent System w hen designing their online courses.
T he exam ples o f processes and tasks in this stage could be quick orientation tasks, use o f a selected LM S (e.g., M oodle, http://m oodle.org) to m anage the program m e (notice board, course enrollm ent handling, grade adm inistration), activities o f retrieving various types o f resources from in stru cto rs’ online courses, online
participation in blended learning courses (e.g., chat, forum discussion or online task subm ission). A n im portant elem ent consolidating basic ICT literacy, file m anagem ent and W eb skills m ight be stim ulating student-student and student-teacher interaction in virtual spaces (courses) designed at an LM S for student use (e.g., for student special interest groups).
T he aim o f Stage 2, “ICT tools and skills train in g ”, realised in the form o f a com puter-based course (face-to-face or online) fairly early in the B.A. curriculum (1st year), is to consolidate the ICT com petence acquired at secondary level and expand it focusing to the greatest extent on learner study skills, how ever, w ithout a clear teaching focus due to not sufficiently articulated student specialization (teaching vs. translating). T hese specific classes are devoted to building up ICT skills w ithin the m ost frequent softw are (office applications) and Internet services, follow ing the sam ple syllabus below:
· finding, evaluating and retrieving online m aterials; · w ord-processor: sharing docum ents;
· w ebpublishing: w ord-processor, blogs, wikis; · presentation software;
· discussion groups: finding, subscribing and posting; · C om puter-A ided T ranslation (CAT) tools;
· com puter-assisted term inology m anagem ent.
The activities and products expected for this stage m ight be annotated w ebsite review s, discussion group digests, subject-m atter presentations, sim ple CAT translation m em ory files or basic CAT glossaries.
C ontrary to Stage 1 and 2, w hich are obligatory for all the students w ithin a particular departm ent, no m atter their specialization, Stage 3 (C om puter-assisted m aterials developm ent) is m eant to constitute the transfer o f skills acquired previously into the process o f preparing electronic classroom m aterials. Placed in the second year o f the B.A. program m e once som e teacher training has been delivered, this particular course w ould help focus on teacher com petences, m aking
students m ore conscious o f the process o f designing or adapting m aterials to the needs o f a particular class. The contents o f this m odule o f ICT teacher education, as exem plified by a sam ple syllabus outline below, needs to address also the principles o f evaluating m aterials, techniques o f adapting these, as w ell as copyright restrictions in retrieving Internet-based resources:
· types o f Internet resources;
· principles o f designing and adapting m aterials;
· copyright issues in com puter-aided m aterials developm ent; · searching, evaluating, retrieving text/picture/audio/video; · creating non-interactive m aterials w ith a w ord-processor; · constructing interactive quizzes w ith authoring software; · adapting language m aterials - editing text, picture, audio; · designing collaborative w riting activities - blogs, wikis; · creating presentations for gram m ar/vocabulary work.
The expected outcom es could involve, but are not lim ited to, N ew M atura stim ulating m aterials, teacher-adapted listening com prehension tasks, online dictionary-based pronunciation resources, teacher-m ade podcasts, interactive language and culture quizzes or w iki-based collaborative w riting tasks.
Stage 4, “C om puter-assisted language m ethodology”, is the culm ination of ICT teacher education process on the B.A. level, w ith the course exclusively devoted to building W eb-based or distance teaching skills. Such a 30-hour course, taken by students in the final year o f the B.A. program m e, at the end o f the teaching specialization m odule, should allow trainees to gain insight into opportunities for enhancing teaching w ith technology. Ideally, this course com ponent should focus on products for im m ediate im plem entation in relation to a particular coursebook, so for instance student-m ade Internet activities (treasure hunts, virtual fieldtrips, W ebQ uests), Internet- based lesson plans for face-to-face lessons or activities used w ith discussion groups created for specific purposes are grounded in an actual teaching context. The syllabus for this stage m ay cover the follow ing areas:
· searching and evaluating online m aterials;
· evaluating and designing Internet-based activity structures: telefieldtrips, treasure hunts, W ebQ uests, ask-an-expert, keypal exchanges, online research m odules;
· im plem enting cross-curricular W eb-based teaching; · setting up and running electronic collaborative projects; · developing com m unicative skills w ith C om puter-M ediated
C om m unication tools (discussion groups, blogs, wikis); · creating Internet-based face-to-face lessons;
· running and troubleshooting Internet-based lessons; · designing distance learning program m es;
· authoring courses in a selected Learning M anagem ent System . Stage 5 and 6, adm inistered as a part o f the M .A. in online/W eb based teaching program m e, w ill help the students interested in pursuing C om puter-A ssisted L anguage L earning as the area for research to obtain practice in technology-enhanced language teaching and to evaluate its outcom e. Thus, the M .A. sem inar w ill com prise both Stage 5 (C om puter-assisted teaching practice) and Stage 6 (R esearch and evaluation) in its subsequent years, aim ing at creating, im plem enting and evaluating the actual teaching products (activities, lesson plans, curricula) in in-class teaching. T his com ponent o f e- teacher education w ill inevitably dem and close cooperation w ith sufficiently resourced educational institutions (either from the public or the private sector), in the w ork on the follow ing topics:
· investigating the teaching context/defining curricular aims; · executing a needs analysis/form ulating a learner profile; · negotiating a syllabus and classroom tasks w ith a teacher; · evaluating and com paring selected O pen S ource LM Ss; · authoring language m aterials;
· constructing distance learning/f2f Internet-based lessons; · piloting the curriculum and m aking changes;
· facilitating the course.
W ith the use o f such tools as needs analysis student questionnaires, class teacher interview outlines, LM S review w orksheets, post-course
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 183
student questionnaire, trainees w ill be encouraged to observe and analyse particular aspects o f the com puter-assisted language teaching process. C onducting research for com pleting the M.A. thesis in technology-enhanced English teaching w ill involve the application of such research m ethods as observation, case study, experim ent, survey or interview .
Thus, the system for the overall developm ent o f ICT com petence as presented above starts w ith building com puter literacy (Stages 1 and 2), proceeds to applying IC T skills to enhance the teaching process (Stages 3 and 4), to finally com e up w ith actual technology- based teaching practice properly evaluated and reflected upon. The progression of stages clearly reflects the refinem ent o f train ees’ personal objectives and expectations tow ards their studies.
5. M ode o f delivery
The selection o f the proper m ode o f delivery, not only in term s of classroom activities and procedures, but rather technological solutions used to m ediate the teaching process, can help to m axim ise the effectiveness o f ICT training to a large extent. A properly selected and m aintained w eb presence (see Stevens, 2004), such as a w ebpage, a w eb-based discussion group or a Learning M anagem ent System , helps to increase the im pact o f the course by extending the content exposure, exploiting the m ultim edia dim ension, using the com puter as an adm inistering and testing tool.
From the point of v iew o f the trainee, D om brow ski (2002) stresses that “student ow nership through generation o f the final product is essential to deeper learning.” Sim ilarly, generative and problem -based learning (N arayanan et. al., 1995) helps to provide opportunities for critical thinking, m etacognitive grow th, recall o f m aterial, and transfer o f inform ation to long-term m em ory. In this way, students are engaged in exploring open-ended problem s and providing training content. In the reality o f the teacher/translator training courses described, increased ow nership w as achieved by publishing student m ade w ebsite reviews, Internet lesson plans, W ordfast glossaries, T ranslation M em ories and student-selected w ebsites and reference
search files in the LM S coursespace available only for course participants.
C reating and m aintaining teacher- (or student-) m ade w ebsites, either w ith a w ord-processor, a dedicated HTM L editor or special online w ebpage creation service, can be an effective w ay o f running a W eb-based course. However, taking into account lack o f control over course content access, one-w ay (te a c h e r^ stu d e n ts) com m unication only, finally, no opportunities for other form s o f interaction, one needs to reflect upon som e other solutions that w ould provide a m ore sophisticated learning environm ent.
W hen considering the technological solutions w hich can be used to m anage the courses, such as teacher-m ade w ebsites, dedicated discussion groups (e.g., set up at Y ahoo!G roups, http://groups.yahoo.com ) , Internet classroom assistants (Nicenet, http://w w w .nicenet.org) , the m ost sophisticated, yet at the sam e tim e m ost reliable and flexible tool for delivering ICT instruction, is a full- scale Learning M anagem ent System (also term ed as C ontent, Course M anagem ent System or V irtual Learning Environm ent). Such extrem ely versatile and sophisticated products, both open-source (e.g., M oodle, http://m oodle.org) and com m ercial (e.g., W ebCT, http://w w w .w ebct.com or Blackboard.com , http://coursesites.blackboard.com ) enable m anagem ent, delivery and tracking o f learning both in a blended learning m ode (a face-to-face classroom using online m aterials) and fully distance.
Jekat and M assey (2003) describe the follow ing essential opportunities for W eb-based e-learning translator training, w hich w ould have been possible only thanks to an effectively sophisticated C ontent M anagem ent System like M oodle:
· an electronically-delivered course directly integrates extensive know ledge bases and electronic tools, encouraging learners to use them in an experiential context (learning-by-doing); · students get a first-hand experience o f m ore and m ore
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 185
projects thanks to synchronous and asynchronous com m unication tools;
· hyperlinking enables non-linear presentation o f know ledge in learning sequences, thus enabling the dynam ic, open-ended process w hich characterizes the acquisition o f translation com petence;
· the integration o f a variety o f W eb-based m edia (text, anim ations, audio, video) not only allow s the presentation of com plex translation assignm ents, but also acts as a strong m otivational factor for participants.
C ontrary to other CM Ss, M oodle is unique in the philosophy behind it. A s M artin D ougiam as, M oodle's founder, phrases it, the design o f the system is based on the social constructionist philosophy, according to w hich people actively construct n ew know ledge as they interact w ith the environm ent, learning is particularly effective w hen people are encouraged to experience the inform ation by reacting to it, w ith the learners form ing a com m unity constructing things for one another, shaping others' learning experience at the sam e tim e (Moodle, 2006). Sim ilarly, L angdon and T aylor (2005) pinpoint the follow ing im portant advantages o f M oodle over Y ahoo!G roups, N icenet or B lackboard.com :
· m ore com plex CM C tools triggering greater interaction; · threaded forum s enabling students to discuss individual
topics;
· user logging and tracking allow ing creating activity reports for each student, w hich enables instructors to m onitor stu d en ts’ use o f the course;
· electronic assignm ent and delivery o f papers and projects, online grading and individualized feedback;
· recycling o f docum ents or presentations used, w ith the possibility to hide and reveal resources at one's wish, even during the class.
The ICT training as described in the present paper has undergone the transform ation from the use o f a sim ple teacher-m ade w ebsite,
w hich served only the purpose o f facilitating running the class and providing exposure to class m aterials, through static use o f a Learning M anagem ent System (using M oodle as a publishing tool only, w ithout encouraging student-student interaction or involving students as course co-authors), to the dynam ic exploitation of the tool w ith significant student contribution. R efining the m odes o f course delivery, including such m odern advancem ents as Course M anagem ent System s, allow s the teacher to achieve a m uch greater im pact o f the training program m e, as the instruction is not lim ited to the physical and tem poral confines o f the classroom . T hanks to giving students rights to add contents to the course, learner autonom y is tapped into, and students learn to take the responsibility for the learning process. Finally, enabling and m anaging synchronous and asynchronous m odes o f interaction, coupled w ith the possibilities of inviting experts for virtual gatherings, can facilitate the acquisition o f subject m atter know ledge essential for gaining online teacher com petence.
6. C lassroom activities
Inevitably, the types o f activities for ICT teacher training need to constitute a w ell-structured m ix o f w hole-class, pair w ork and individual tasks, both involving m ore teacher-centred know ledge transm ission in the form o f presentations and active learning discovery activities. A n im portant step in the evolution o f the ICT training program m e w as the shift from teacher-m ade tasks only to out- of-class pair w ork projects that aim ed at the application o f the know ledge transm itted in class and consolidating the skills in the teac h er’s toolkit. The tasks can be seen below:
1. Find, evaluate and briefly describe five sites pertaining to a selected area o f E nglish language teaching in a m essage subm itted to the forum.
2. F ind three m ore online dictionaries, com pare them as for the functionality o f use and briefly describe in a m essage sent to the forum.
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 187
3. M ake three language puzzles w hich could be solved using W eb concordancers.
4. Use the w ebsites given to design an Internet-based lesson. Preferably, use the W eb-based activity form at provided. 5. C reate an interactive language quiz exploiting m ultim edia
content and linking to W eb-based resources.
6. Find and evaluate discussion groups and m ailing lists useful for an online teacher. S elect one, subscribe to it, then send a selected digest o f postings on a specific topic to the class forum.
7. Take the gram m atical structure assigned and prepare a Pow erPoint presentation w hich could be used in the gram m ar presentation stage.
It is interesting to note that all o f the pair w ork projects described above w ere instantly m ade available to the w hole com m unity o f the course participants in the class LM S, either in the form o f uploaded files or m essages posted to dedicated classroom forums. In this way, all students had access to their p eers’ work, and, m ore im portantly, the teacher could use them in subsequent classes for in-class activities (e.g., student-m ade interactive quizzes w ere used for learning how to add m ultim edia content). Thus, the use o f learner-centred m aterials, together w ith involving students as m aterials providers for the class, intended at expanding the im pact o f the course by tapping into stu d en ts’ m otivation, increasing their sense o f authorship and ownership.
7. T each er’s and learner’s role
The form ulation o f the teach er’s and learn er’s roles in the ICT training program m e is the consequence o f decisions m ade as for training aims, content and classroom activities. The need for a m ore constructivist and learner-centred approach, w ith greater use o f group and pair w ork interaction, both in class and out o f it, entails a less prom inent role of the teacher, so that in groups students can begin to feel a sense of com m unity and learn from each other as w ell as from the teacher. The learner-centred approach to classroom activity results in the
redefinition o f the teach er’s roles as the guide and counsellor, “the guide on the sid e” replacing “the sage on the stag e” (Kiraly, 2000:16). The concept o f the teacher-student relationship addressed the m odel o f
C om m unity L anguage L ea rning (Curran, 1976), w here the teacher is
the know er to guide and help students acquire the know ledge on their own. It is also essential to acknow ledge the need for peer cooperation especially in the area o f com puter skills, w ith som e students being know ers for less com puter-literate learners.
For that purpose, the role o f the teacher is to diagnose the needs of learners to elicit their ICT needs w ith the help o f a “S kills and N eeds A nalysis” survey, assess their com puter literacy to identify lacks, ensure proper equipm ent in term s o f hardw are and softw are, create a range o f in-class tasks and out-of-class projects, finally, organise the class by grouping students into m ixed-ability groups (in term s o f com puter literacy, out-of-class Internet access and foreign language skills).
T he aim o f the curriculum needs to be to take trainees through C hesterm an’s (1997) stages o f com petence building (given on the exam ple o f translators): the first “n ov ice” stage, the second “advanced b egin n er” stage, the third “co m petence” stage, the fourth “proficiency” stage, and finally the “expertise” stage, here in the area o f ICT skills. It is hoped that this grow ing independence in follow ing the course of study w ill be developing together w ith the progression of learners from initial stages oriented m ore at building up technical skills, through W eb-based m ethodology com ponent to the final stages exhibiting greatest am ount o f learner-centredness. Thus, as is the case w ith the C om m unity L anguage Learning classroom , it is initially the teacher w ho adopts a m ore dom inant role, providing direction and m anaging learning, yet encouraging the developm ent o f study skills allow ing the learner to becom e increasingly independent. It is to be hoped that at a certain point in learning, the roles could sw itch, w ith the student no longer needing the teach er’s know ledge transm ission. Ideally, the classroom needs to be m oving tow ards the student-centred pole as seen in the juxtap o sitio n o f teacher-centred and
student-IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum ... 189
centred approaches (Cannon and Newble, 2000; cited in Kelly, 2 0 0 5 :185-б).
Teacher-centred approaches Student-centred approaches
Most or all decisions regarding content and method should be made by the teacher
Choices regarding content and method should be made partly or mostly by students
Emphasis (including responsibility for assessment) should be on individual subjects or course units
Emphasis (including responsibility for assessment) should be on the overall programme and its aims
The teacher is an expert who should transmit knowledge
The teacher should be an expert guide for students and facilitate their learning The teacher transmits information The teacher asks questions Student activity should be mostly
individual
Cooperative learning is more effective Students learn in the classroom or in
programmed activities
Students learn anywhere anytime Achieving good marks and praise from
teachers is a major motivation
Intellectual curiosity and personal responsibility are major motivations Class arrangements should be planned
beforehand and not modified
Class arrangements may, indeed should, be modified as the course develops Assessment is the teacher’s responsibility
only
Self and peer assessment may be useful tools for learning
The most important outcome is for students to learn syllabus content
The most important outcome is for students to acquire learning techniques Assessment should be summative Assessment should be formative The whole class should progress together
at the same pace
Individual students should progress at their own pace
All students should learn the same Individual students may learn different things
Teachers work alone Team work is an essential part of teaching
Teachers and individual departments or academic units should have autonomy
Teachers and academic units should work together in close collaboration Table 1. Views on teaching and learning (Cannon and Newble, 2000; cited after Kelly, 2005:185-6).
The need for the ICT teacher training program m es to be gradually m oving tow ards the student-centered approach is the inevitable
consequence o f the definition o f roles o f instructor and trainees. The form er, being m ainly the IC T researcher, highlights the possible uses o f educational technology to assist the teaching process, giving students practical tasks in cooperation w ith the m ethodology class lecturers. Starting w ith teacher-orchestrated tutorials, w ith the grow ing com petence of learners the focus is going to m ove tow ards students applying the ICT solutions in particular teaching contexts of their own. T he resultant discussion o f opportunities and drawbacks, strengths and w eaknesses, organised by the teacher but w ith significant role o f stu d en ts’ contributions, w ill lead to better understanding o f the IC T /C A T /e-learning environm ent. Thus, the shift o f classroom pow er from teacher to students, from teacher-initiated and controlled activities to teacher-prepared but student-organised tasks, should build greater aw areness o f the technology-enhanced teaching process.
8. C onclusion
N ow adays, both future teachers and already w orking professionals should be encom passed w ith up-to-date know ledge enabling them to increase the effectiveness of their ow n teaching. It seem s evident that ICT literacy m ust be an indispensable elem ent o f foreign language teacher education in all possible m om ents o f their career, in order to satisfy the expectations o f students or the requirem ents o f the teacher professional developm ent schem e. T ogether w ith the grow ing role o f technology in various spheres o f life, it seem s proper to reflect this im portance in the w ay ICT training content is distributed in the foreign philology curriculum . T hanks to system atic consideration of skills and know ledge necessary for being a technology-enhanced teacher, it is postulated to separate contents obligatory for every foreign philology student, through courses essential for w ould-be teachers to the m ost sophisticated level o f online teaching practice.
How ever, trainers should keep in m ind the m ajor problem s o f content selection, such as m ixed com puter-skills ability groups, different com puter access, finally, often very disparate expectations tow ards ICT. It seem s that a flexible approach, supported by a pre
IC T in the Foreign Philology Curriculum 191
course com puter-skills test and a needs analysis, should enable the instructors to succeed in educating teachers w ithin the area o f ICT use. References
Cannon, R. & D. Newble (2000): A handbook for teachers in universities and
colleges. A guide to improving teaching methods. London: Kogan Page.
Chesterman, A. (1997): Memes of translation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Curran, C. (1976): Counselling-learning in second languages. Apple River, 1ll.: Apple River Press.
Dombrowski, L. (2002): Students generating web pages: Implementation of problem- based learning in the classroom. Educators' Outlook. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www.techlearning.com/db area/archives/WCE/archives/dombrow.htm. Godwin-Jones, B. (2001): Language testing tools and technologies. Language
Learning & Technology, 5 (2), 8-12. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from
http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num2/emerging/default.html.
Godwin-Jones, B. (2003): Blogs and wikis: Environments for on-line collaboration.
Language Learning & Technology, 7 (2), 12-16. [online] Retrieved November 15,
2006 from http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num2/emerging/.
Harris, J. (1995a): Educational telecomputing activities: Problem-solving projects.
Learning and Leading with Technology, 22 (8). [online] Retrieved November 15,
2006 from http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/mining/May95-TCT.html.
Harris, J. (1995b): Educational telecomputing projects: Information collections. The
Computing Teacher, 22 (7). [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Mining/April95-TCT.html.
Jekat, S.J. & G. Massey (2003): The puzzle of translation skills. Towards an integration of e-learning and special concepts of computational linguistics into the training of future translators. Linguistik online, 17, 5/03, 41-55. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www.linguistik-online.de/17 03/iekatMassev.html.
Kelly, D. (2005): Training translator trainers in the framework of the European higher education area. In M. Misztal and M. Trawiński (Eds.), Studies in Teacher
Education. Language, Literature, and Culture, 183-191. Cracow: Wydawnictwo
Naukowe Akademii Pedagogicznej.
Kiraly, D.C. (2000): A social constructivist approach to translator education. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Komorowska, H. (2005): Programy nauczania w kształceniu ogólnym i w kształceniu
Krajka, J. (2001): School partnerships on the Web - Using the Internet to facilitate school collaboration. Teaching English with Technology, 1 (1). [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j article.htm.
Krajka, J. (2002): EFL/ESL portal sites - an attempt at a comparison. TESL-EJ, 6 (2). [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www-writing.berkelev.edu/TESL-EI/ej22/m1.html.
Krajka, J. (2004a): Technologia informacyjna w pracy nauczycieli języka angielskiego - działalność programu INSETT. Praktyka programu INSETT.
Opinie i wydarzenia. Warszawa: CODN, 48-51.
Krajka, J. (2004b): Creating Internet-based lessons. CALL Review, The Journal of the
Computer SiG, October 2004, 25-32.
Krajka, J. (2006): Integrating CALL into teacher education - Training teachers to go online. Presentation given at EuroCALL 2006 conference, Granada, September 2006.
Langdon, S. & J. Taylor (2005): Making our lives easier: Using free Learning Management Systems in the ESL environment. Teaching English with
Technology, 5 (3) 2005. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from
http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j tech22.htm.
March, T. (1997): Working the Web for education. Theory and practice on integrating the Web for learning. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www.ozline.com/leaming/theory.html.
MEN (2000): The Decree of the Minister of National Education of the 3rd of August 2000 on the teacher development ranks (Dz.U. z 2000r. Nr 70, poz.825).
MENiS (2004a): The Decree of the Minister of National Education and Sport of the 1st of December 2004 on the teacher development ranks (Dz.U. z 2004r. Nr 260, poz. 2593).
MENiS (2004b): The Decree of the Minister of National Education and Sport of the 7th of September 2004 on the teacher education standards (Dz.U. z 2004r. Nr 207, poz. 2110).
Moodle (2006): Moodle Documentation: Philosophy. [online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://moodle.org/doc/?fìle=philosophy.html.
Narayanan, N.H., C.E. Hmelo, V. Petrushin, W.C. Newsletter, M. Guzdial, & J.L. Kolodner (1995): Computational support for collaborative learning through
generative problem solving. Atlanta, GA: EduTech Institute.
Nelson, J.T. (1997): A system for the evaluation of ESL web sites. Unpublished M.A. dissertation. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho.[online] Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://itp.innoved.org/~jtnelson/thesis.
Stevens, V. (2004): Establishing and maintaining web presence: A guide for educators. TESL-EJ, 8 (3). Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://writing.berkelev.edu/TESL-EI/ej31/int.html.
