Multidisciplinary learning, interdisciplinary learning and transdisciplinary learning are often used with a similar meaning, but the misunderstanding of these terms may cause a failure of defining learner needs and developing high quality learning design. In this paper, the three terms are reviewed in line with learner engagement and are conceptualised according to different types and levels of interactivity. An undergraduate course, named Creative Industries: Making Connections, was designed to deliver various learning modules to over 1200 students from 11 different disciplines in a blended learning mode. A visual communication learning module in the course, in particular, challenges students as well as academic staff to experience transdisciplinary learning. A survey was conducted to evaluate students' learning experience in the visual communication learning module. The results of the survey bring up meaningful implications for the realisation of transdisciplinary learning.
The aims of the study reported in this article are to investigate factors affecting English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' use of computers in their classrooms and to find out EFL teachers' perceptions of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and ways to improve CALL practice in school settings. Participants in the study were twelve Korean in-service teachers of EFL working at secondary schools in Korea. A questionnaire and follow-up in-depth interviews were employed to collect data. The results of the study indicate that the teachers have positive and favourable attitudes toward the use of the computers. They consider computer technology as a useful teaching tool that can enhance ways of teaching by offering students a variety of language inputs and expanding students' learning experiences in real and authentic contexts. It is also reported that external factors such as lack of time, insufficient computer facilities, rigid school curricula and textbooks and lack of administrative support negatively influence the implementation of CALL in the classroom. Internal factors such as teachers' limited computer skills, knowledge about computers and beliefs and perceptions of CALL also seem to significantly affect teachers' decisions on the use of CALL. Based on the findings of the study, implications are made for the effective implementation of CALL in EFL contexts.
In recent decades, teachers of second languages in many countries, including Australia, have been encouraged to use an approach known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This approach advocates the development of communicative competence as a primary goal through the extensive use of the second language as a means of communication during classroom lessons. Understandably, education authorities and teacher educators are keen to know what teachers understand by CLT and how well they have incorporated this approach into their second language teaching. This exploratory study seeks to answer these questions in respect of one teacher, who claims to use a CLT approach. This is done by documenting her personal practical theory of CLT, using a framework adapted from a well-known approach to describing models of teaching. Access to the teacher's practical theory was gained through indepth, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews involving use of videotapes of two of the teacher's lessons. The study establishes that the teacher's practical theory is an amalgam of many features of CLT approaches and of general teaching. The CLT components of the teacher's practical theory are largely consistent with features commonly listed in texts about CLT approaches, though there are some components of her theory that are not generally discussed in the CLT literature. The framework used in this study for representing the teacher's practical theories of CLT is also assessed and considered suitable for wider use.
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