Learning to teach with videoconferencing in primary foreign language classrooms

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the relationship between learning opportunities and teacher cognition in the context of a videoconferencing (VC) project for foreign languages (FL) in French primary schools. Six generalist primary teachers were followed throughout the initial six-month stage of the initiative, and data were collected from learners, teachers, and trainers via questionnaire, video and audio recordings of class and feedback sessions, online teacher and trainer discussion, and video-stimulated recall interviews. Interview data revealed distinct teacher profiles involving differences in orientation to teaching and the teacher, learning and learners, and technology. These profiles corresponded to different teaching strategies and resulted in varying patterns of learner interaction in VC sessions. Teachers' comments showed them to be guided by general rather than FL-specific pedagogical principles, and pedagogical concerns frequently intersected with technical issues as teachers learned to exploit the new VC technology. While most teachers valued spontaneous FL interaction as a key VC affordance, the filmed sessions revealed little unplanned learner-learner communication. This finding is related to teachers' views of second language acquisition as product rather than a process; for more learner-centred teachers, spontaneity was affected by rehearsal, and for more teacheroriented practitioners, sustained teacher intervention influenced patterns of learner participation. In addition to these classroom findings, the study highlights the value of this type of participant research in facilitating the exchange of resources and expertise, classroom video footage, and participants' comments and queries, and thus contributing to professional development in CALL and CMC-based teacher education.

Professional development in the transition to online teaching: The voice of entrant online instructors

“…Peters (2006) also suggests propagating techno-pedagogical components throughout PD programmes instead of delivering them as stand-alone modules. Likewise, Whyte (2011) echoes the advice from Hubbard and Levy (2006) that pedagogical and technological training should be integrated in PD initiatives.…”

Video viewing in teacher education and professional development: A literature review

“…As an example, a video can be viewed as a class activity (Koc, 2011;Rosaen et al, 2010a) or as a distance-learning activity (Karsenti & Collin, 2011;Krammer et al, 2006), live (Mitchell, Marsh, Hobson, & Sornsen, 2008;Whyte, 2011) or recorded (Kleinknecht & Schneider, 2013;Wang, 2013), as an occasional activity (Calandra et al, 2008;Tripp & Rich, 2012a) or as part of regular activities (Santagata, 2009;, and alone (Star & Stirkland, 2008;van den Berg, 2001) or in a group (Borko et al, 2008;van Es, 2012). Video viewing is also sometimes combined with other technologies such as electronic portfolios (Cooper, 2015;Fadde et al, 2009), online discussions (Koc, Peker, & Osmanoglu, 2009;Llinares & Valls, 2009;Yamamoto & Hicks, 2007), video-conferencing (Dyke, Harding, & Liddon, 2008;Marsh et al, 2009;Wiesemes & Wang, 2010), "multimodal resources": digital pictures and texts (Roche & Gal-Petitfaux, 2015), DVD and CD-ROM (Chan & Harris, 2005;Yung et al, 2007), TV programmes, 5 or web platforms 6 (Aub e, David, Cantin, & Meyer, 2003;Baecher & Kung, 2011;Leblanc & Ria, 2014).…”

Language teacher education in blended synchronous learning environments (BSLE). A view from the classroom

“…A very serious one is the increased cognitive load for the instructor. Teaching online may require a diff erent skill set than that needed to teach F2F; teachers oft en report an increased cognitive burden related to managing the technology and the subject matt er at the same time (Whyte, 2011). In addition to having to manage a F2F classroom -which in and of itself may be a daunting task -a teacher trainer needs to be in control of two distinct groups of trainees, one att ending F2F and the other online.…”