Eötvös Loránd University

Budapest - Loránd Eötvös University Budapest - Loránd Eötvös University By Andrzej Otrębski - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24678528
ICT and TBLT - Task based activities in foreign language learning aided by modern technology
 

 

This course aims to set a theoretical background to, and study examples of good practice of ICT integrated task-based activities at four levels of the CEFR (from A1 to B2), and thus help pre-service and in-service teachers develop strategies and procedures for the design and/or adaptation of task-based activities.

Additional Info

  • Course Title: ICT and TBLT - Task based activities in foreign language learning aided by modern technology
  • Rationale and justification for the course: The context of language teaching has undergone a huge change in the last decade with the advancement of new technologies. At the same time, teachers are facing a new generation of students, less ready to bear with the use of a single course book, be it the best one available. In order to face this challenge, teachers need to be able to turn to more realistic, life-like activities, and a more modern approach towards technology. This course aims to set a theoretical background to, and study examples of good practice of ICT integrated task-based activities at four levels of the CEFR (from A1 to B2), and thus help pre-service and in-service teachers develop strategies and procedures for the design and/or adaptation of task-based activities.
  • Investigation of the field (state of the art) and innovative character: ICT has been in the spotlight in Hungary for the last decade, as a fresh and ever-evolving tool for teaching and learning. Task-based language teaching has also been around for more than a decade, but it still has not found its way into mainstream Hungarian language teaching. This course aims to encourage Hungarian teachers and teacher trainees to re-evaluate traditional teaching approaches and find ways to bring teaching closer to 21st century students.
  • Target groups: Students of MA teacher training courses on modern foreign languages, as well as teachers of modern foreign languages, with a focus on students of Eötvös Loránd University and on teachers and trainees at Eötvös Loránd University Radnóti Miklós Secondary School in Budapest
  • Outcomes: changes in practices, procedures or didactic materials: To make task-based teaching a common practice in the classroom. To provide the trainees and colleagues with strategies and tools to create activities that involve real life tasks in the teaching of foreign languages; either as their original design, or as an adaptation and redesign of existing materials for their classroom reality. To encourage the use of ICT as an integral part of the process of learning a foreign language, facilitating not only the completion of the task, but also as a road towards computer literacy. To motivate graduates for collaborative working arrangements at the national and international levels using the potential offered by ICT for the purpose.
  • Contents: Overview of the latest theoretical developments in the field of language teaching by tasks and the innovative and practical use of ICT. (120 min) / The role of European projects in the dissemination of good practice. (60 min) / Collaborative working arrangements at the national and international levels by the tools offered by ICT. The role of EU projects in developing a European cooperation. How to participate in European projects. (90 min) / Ways to implement language learning by tasks in elementary and secondary schools in Europe. (90 min) / How to adapt and adjust pre-existing activities. Theory and practice. Peer teaching (240 min)
  • Methodologies: a) Literature review on task-based activities in the context of foreign language teaching. b) Analysis of examples of good practices at a European level, chosen from those provided by the platform of the PETALL project with an emphasis on similarities and differences. A view of recent examples of European teachers’ cooperation. c) Finding different approaches to the adaptation of the good practices to the Hungarian elementary and secondary school reality. d) Discussion of the personal professional side: preparing the language teacher for this kind of classroom activities. e) Peer planning of a task-based activity (original or adapted/redesigned). Can be done in pairs to ensure creative atmosphere and give trainees an experience in teacher cooperation. f) Implementation of this activity on the course in form of ‘peer teaching’. Some part of the activity will be chosen to be demonstrated with the parts before and after explained but not implemented. g) Feedback on the activity from participating peers. h) Analysis of the results obtained from observation instruments and predefined assessment. (Written work to be handed in after course.) i) Planning original ICT supported task for participant’s own students, or for an imagined group for pre-service participants. (Written work to be shared electronically after course.)
  • Evaluation procedures: Students will be assessed by the following criteria: a) Activity during course, including discussions (20 %) b) Planning and (partially) implementing an ICT supported task-based activity in peer-teaching during the course (30 %) c) Critical report on the planning and implementation of the activity, with reflection on results of the peer evaluation. (30 %) d) Planning original ICT supported task for participant’s own students (20 %)
  • Follow-up strategy: Students will share their original ICT supported tasks with trainers and participants of the course. They will be encouraged to share their new designs and their experiences regularly (e.g. in a closed Facebook group). Students will be invited to join the PETALL design platform and to participate in training and research initiatives to be developed under the project.
  • Schedule: Time frame: 600 minutes / over a period of 3-5 weeks; number of sessions: 3; total number of hours for each type of session: 3+3+4
  • Scientific advisor: Name: António Lopes Affiliation: School of Education and Communication, University of Algarve
  • Bibliography and other resources: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf (English) https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/hu/resources/european-language-levels-cefr (Hungarian) ELLIS, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: OUP. Lévai, Dóra: A pedagógus kompetenciái az online tanulási környezetben zajló tanulási-tanítási folyamat során. ELTE Eötvös Kiadó. Budapest. LOPES, A. (2012). Changing teachers’ attitudes towards ICT-based language learning tasks: the ETALAGE Comenius project (the Portuguese case). The EUROCALL Review 20(1): 100-103. LOPES, A. (2014). PETALL: A European project on technology-mediated TBLT. In S. Jager, L. Bradley, E. Meima and S. Thouësny (eds.), CALL Design: Principles and Practice - Proceedings of the 2014 EUROCALL Conference, Groningen, The Netherlands. Dublin: Research-publishing.net: 209-213. Nádori, Gergely, Prievara, Tibor: IKT Kiskáté. www.tanarblog.hu/attachments/2520_ikt_kiskate.pdf NUNAN, D. (2004). Task-based Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP. NUNAN, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: CUP. SCHROOTEN, W. (2006). Task-based language teaching and ICT: Developing and assessing interactive multimedia for task-based language teaching. In: K. van den BRANDEN (ed.), Task-based language education: from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 129-150. Prievara, Tibor: A 21 századi tanár. Neteducatio Kft., 2015 THOMAS, M. and H. REINDERS (2010).Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching with Technology. Continuum Publishing Corporation. WILLIS, D. and J. WILLIS (2007). Doing Task-Based Teaching (Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers). Oxford: OUP. WILLIS, J. (1996). A Framework for Task-Based Learning, London: Longman.