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2020/2021

Learning a Foreign Language (English) in Primary Education through ICT

Code: 103580 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500798 Primary Education OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Melinda Ann Dooly Owenby
Email:
MelindaAnn.Dooly@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

El requisit d'entrada a aquesta assignatura (com part de la menció) és un nivell C1 en llengua anglesa.

Prerequisites

To take this course students must demonstrate a C1 level in English. This is a requirement for all the courses that make up the specialization (menció) in English language teaching. Students in 3rd year will have to provide evidence that they comply with this requirement by the date indicated on the Faculty of Education webpage in order to be able to take any course in the specialization in the fourth year, including this one. Students who are taking this course as an elective but not enrolled in the specialization (menció) must also document a C1 by the indicated date in order to enrol. Further consultations can be made at the academic management office of the Faculty of Education Sciences, UAB.

Important note: The proposed teaching methodology and assessment may undergo some modification depending on any attendance restrictions imposed by the health authorities.

Objectives and Contextualisation

This course is compulsory for any student enrolled in the English as a Foreign Language Minor and an optional subject for anyone studying to become a primary education teacher. It is therefore addressed to all prospective teachers interested in exploring how to integrate the use of technology in the promotion of language learning and collaborative work. The course aims to prepare primary education teachers in specific knowledge related to the teaching and learning of foreign languages mediated through technology, as well as explore how to use languages in school-wide participation in international mobility programs and to promote plurilingualism. The contents of the course include the core teaching principles as recommended in recent European documents such as the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL, 2007), the Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education (CoE, 2015) and also incorporates the underlying features of digital-pedagogical competences required for virtual exchange in language education, as promoted by the EVALUATE executive report (2019). The course aims to help teachers facilitate learners' communicative competences, effectively design and implement language and content learning tasks, efficiently implement technology-mediated plurilingual, interdisciplinary project-based language learning, develop evaluation criteria that uses competence descriptors, promote students' language and intercultural awareness and reflect on teaching practice as a valuable tool for training, all of this facilitated through the use of technology. This latter encompasses in particular social media as it will be used to communicate with learning partners in other parts of the world. English as a lingua franca (ELF) will be the language of scholarly communication by students and teachers in this course, including both written documents (syllabus, readings, etc.) and audiovisual documents (video-conferences, online communication, etc.) as well as the classroom language.

Competences

  • Be familiar with the languages and literature curriculum.
  • Critically analyse personal work and use resources for professional development.
  • Develop and evaluate contents of the curriculum by means of appropriate didactic resources and promote the corresponding skills in pupils.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and understand how to communicate effectively both in one’s own languages and in a foreign language.
  • Effectively address language learning situations in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
  • Express oneself orally and in writing in a foreign language.
  • Foster reading and critical analysis of the texts in different scientific fields and cultural contents in the school curriculum.
  • Foster reading and encourage writing.
  • Incorporate information and communications technology to learn, communicate and share in educational contexts.
  • Respect the diversity and the plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Understand the basic principles of the sciences of language and communication.
  • Work in teams and with teams (in the same field or interdisciplinary).

Learning Outcomes

  1. Adapt and write textbooks adjusted to the level of cognitive and communicative development of pupils in correct English and with the proper register.
  2. Analyse and identify education and communication needs to design strategies for teaching and learning of the English language that are supported by the development of communication skills through ICT and technologies for learning and knowledge.
  3. Analyse communication needs and control the process of learning the English language.
  4. Analyse, individually and with fellow teachers, the practice of teaching, identify areas for professional improvement, and implement strategies to achieve that improvement.
  5. Apply the theoretical framework on effective communicative both on a written and oral level, and from a multilingual and contrastive perspective.
  6. Assessing the value of Spanish language learning strategies and techniques appropriate to primary education.
  7. Being capable of self-assessment and establishing and implementing a plan for improving communicative skills in English.
  8. Being capable of self-assessment and of evaluating the written and oral productions of colleagues in English in a well-argued way.
  9. Critically analyse and discuss theoretical texts from different fields of linguistics.
  10. Critically understand and analyse, from a formal register of the English language, professional and academic discourse in English.
  11. Demonstrate intercultural attitudes to benefit efficient work in diverse teams.
  12. Demonstrate proficiency level B2 (CEF) in the use of the English language both in informal situations and in professional contexts, in reception, production and interaction activities.
  13. Demonstrate sufficient receptive competence in foreign languages to understand oral presentations and read professional documents (teaching materials, popular articles, etc.). with the help of tools to support comprehension.
  14. Design tasks that foster a taste for reading and the development of critical thinking in primary pupils.
  15. Develop critical thinking applied to the selection of appropriate digital tools and resources as instruments of learning aimed at primary school pupils.
  16. Develop reading skills in English to be able to analyse the practical implications of carrying out theoretical proposals in the field of language teaching.
  17. Establish relations between the foreign language curriculum of nursery and primary education, and between both and that of secondary school.
  18. Establish relations between the nursery and primary foreign language curriculum and that of the first language.
  19. Form teams that are capable of carrying out activities effectively both in person and remotely.
  20. Incorporate information and communications technology to learn, communicate and share in educational contexts.
  21. Incorporating appropriate CMO activities for the development of CLIL units in the context of national and international programmes (Comenius, etc.).
  22. Know and use the main resources and tools of inquiry in linguistics.
  23. Knowing how to express oneself in the English language in oral and written form at an advanced level (corresponding at least to Level B2 of the CEFR).
  24. Knowing how to self-assess the level of knowledge of the English language and establish an improvement plan designed to obtain results aimed at excellence in communicative capability.
  25. Perform tasks and criteria for training and integrated evaluation of content in French.
  26. Perform tasks and criteria of high educational value to promote integrated assessment of content in English.
  27. Present products (teaching units, class analyses, etc.) produced in teams with people from different degree courses and levels of expertise.
  28. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of digital learning and intercultural skills.
  29. Produce structured teaching sequences in projects that promote both the integrated learning of the school’s languages and the development of llinguistic, audiovisual and digital skills.
  30. Recognising languages as a set of varieties that are all equally respectable, and demonstrating the theoretical knowledge needed to describe and explain the variations in the English language and the processes of standardisation.
  31. Recognising the value of the ICTs/LCTs as a privileged communication tool between teachers and learners with diverse languages and cultures.
  32. Self-assess one’s own level of knowledge of English and analyse one’s own communication needs and establish improvement plans.
  33. Use advanced communication skills and strategies in the English language to suit the level of cognitive and communicative development of learners and interlocutors and be understood in English while efficiently using scaffolding strategies.
  34. Using ICTs in the design, development and self-evaluation of self-learning activities in English.
  35. Using texts from children's literature in Spanish in order to develop English language learning activities in primary education.
  36. Using the English language as a common vehicle of communication in the university classroom and in the primary school classroom, as well as all academic tasks related to the subject.
  37. Using virtual environments as a source and resource to promote critical reading of multimodal texts.
  38. Using virtual environments as tools for written communication that respond to a variety of functions (recreational, academic, transactional, etc.) among learners.
  39. Using virtual platforms as a communication and management tool for directed and supervised activities.
  40. Working efficiently as part of a team and individually, both in theoretical and practical activities, seeking resources and strategies that are appropriate for each situation.

Content

  • Theories of language acquisition
  • Theoretical principles of communicative approaches to language teaching: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT); Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL); Telecollaborative projects (TcLL), etc.
  • Criteria for designing, implementing and assessing educational materials and teaching processes based on communicative approaches (CLT, PBLL, TcLL), through the use of ICT.
  • Language Learning Project typology (PBLL) in primary and early childhood education (design of teaching activities) through the use of ICT.
  • Criteria for assessment of communicative skills in foreign languages including intercultural attitudes necessary for teamwork.
  • Teaching and learning practices related to teamwork (e.g. telecollaboration).
  • Collaborative and telecollaborative activities.
  • Strategies to promote communicative interaction with an authentic purpose (e.g. through TcLL projects).
  • Activities of self/peer evaluation.
  • Technologies in learning foreign languages: techniques and resources
  • Criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of different technology in learning and communication.
  • Articulating strategies for teaching foreign language and the use of technology to promote communication, collaboration, interaction and intercultural awareness.

Methodology

The course integrates in-class dialogic learning, telecollaboration and flipped classroom materials. Taking the underlying premise of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) that student learning should be self-directed and promote increasing learner autonomy, the approach to this course places equal emphasis on the work carried on outside of the class as the activities that take place inside the classroom. In order to facilitate this type of learning the use of telecollaboration (interacting with learners from other parts of the world) is a central nexus for the learning process, as well as engagement with the materials prepared for flipped instruction. In this way, students (future language teachers) are expected to actively engage in face-to-face (in the classroom) and self-directed online learning situations that promote epistemic development (in both content and language) in order to then reflect on how they can transfer this knowledge to similar contexts for their pupils. While this approach was already in place before the current health situation, it will be extended to include a hybrid teaching-learning approach that will involve more online and some in-class teaching, according to the conditions allowed. In the event that it is necessary, the teaching may be switched completely to online (synchronous and asynchronous). Exemptions can be consulted in the section on evaluation.

For more detailed information about this approach see: Sadler, R. & Dooly, M. (2016). Twelve years of telecollaboration: What we have learnt. ELT Journal, 70(4), 401-413.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures, online activities, reading discussions, presentations of student work, discussion and reflection on core content issues 45 1.8 1, 2, 32, 19, 11, 13, 12, 33, 20, 31, 40, 38, 37, 36
Type: Supervised      
Telecollaborative work, development of projects, indepth analysis of selected content topic 30 1.2 1, 2, 19, 11, 12, 33, 20, 31, 40, 38, 37, 36
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation of individual and group work, analysis and presentation of documents, readings, discussions, individual reflection, development of projects, preparatory work, telecollaborative group work 75 3 1, 2, 32, 19, 11, 13, 12, 33, 20, 31, 40, 38, 37, 36

Assessment

The evaluation of the course encompasses the development of the identified basic competences for the course and therefore the evaluation includes continuous assessment of set activities along with consideration of students' participation, critical thinking and attitude throughout the course. Given the importance of participation, attendance* is mandatory: the student must attend a minimum of 80% of classes/online activities, otherwise students will be considered absent. Tardiness or leaving early (in-class or online) before class ends result in reduction of half-day participation. A minimum of 85% participation in all of the activities (preparatory, online and in-class) is required in order to pass.

The final marks will be calculated through the use of multiple data collected throughout the course (peer, self and teacher assessment of presentations, group work, project output, etc.). Specifically, the course will be evaluated through the following instruments:

  • Engagement in telecollaborative and in-class activites; completion of assigned flipped materials. These will constitute continuous assessment through peer and self-assessment and through teacher assessment, based on averaged achieved through collected rubrics and portfolio of activities.
  • Individual reflection (e.g. learner diary).
  • Final product and oral defense.
  • Online exam (December 21st, 2020)

*Due to the nature of the course (specialization in teaching of English as a Foreign Language), a separate mark will be given for communicative competence in the language of instruction (English). Students with a fail in language use will not pass the course. This mark willbe calculated progressively through evaluation rubrics accordingto the required activities (written, oral, etc.).

Copying and plagiarism is intellectual theft and, therefore, constitutes a crime which shall be punished with a zero in the entire block where the plagiarism took place. In the case of copying between two students, the sanction applies to both students. In case of repeat offenders, they will have a fail for the entire course. Students should bear in mind that plagiarism is reproducing all or a large part of work from another without proper referencing. By definition "plagiarism" is the use of all or part of a text by an author as if it is his/her own work, without citing sources, whether on paper or in digital format.

The final evaluation of the subject is divided into 3 blocks: 

  • Self-directed (individual and group): Telecollaborative activities & online preparatory activities, final portfolio and/or group project (averages collected throughout the course)
    • This includes individual contribution and engagement with the course: (averages collected throughout the course, online exam)
  • In-class activities: Collaborative and individual work (discussions, technology showcases, peer teaching, etc.: averages collected throughout the course)
  • Communicative competence in the target language (see observation above)

All 3 blocks must be passed in order to have a successful completion mark of the course. Each block is made up of several summative marks. These 3 blocks are divided percentage-wise between individual and collective thus:

  • Individual work: participation, portfolio and sub-products, final output, reflection & exam: 60% (teacher, peer & self-assessment)
  • Group work: participation, sub-products, final output (peer-assessment): 30%
  • Communicative competence in the target language: (teacher, peer & self-assessment): 10%

In the case of failing one of the blocks (except the first one, see below), the student can opt for a global examination of the contents that will be administered individually in an interview format in February 2021 (date to be determined in collaboration with the individual/s affected.

Due to the component of continued telecollaborative work with an external group during the course, there is no option for recovery of the first block with an exam. In the event of failing this block, the student will be required to present an individual telecollaborative language learning project design, based on the theoretical principles presented in the module. This will be due by 1 February 2021.

*Important note: The proposed teaching methodology and assessment may undergo some modification depending on the attendance restrictions imposed by the health authorities. You can consult the proposed hybrid approach in the section on methodology.

Adaptations may be applied for any student who is unable to follow the course due to COVID-19:

1. The student should make his/her request alleging the reasons of impossibility of following the regular teaching plan. There is no need to present any legal certification of the situation.
2. The dean's office or school management will assess the request and, if it deemed sufficient, will communicate the decision to the teacher in order to make the necessary adaptations.

General criteria for acceptance:

  • The student or a member of the student's family with whom they are in close contact (living in the same residence, etc.) has contracted Covid-19 or has any related condition therein.
  • Conditions of employment or job change arising from the situation.
  • ICT and connectivity and/or other technical difficulties.
  • The student is care-taker for anyone vulnerable.
  • The student provides services related to the situation (health ...).
  • Any other situation generated within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Individual assessment (programmed activities, exam) 30% 0 0 2, 11, 33, 28, 31, 36
Self-directed Learning 45% 0 0 1, 2, 32, 19, 11, 13, 12, 33, 29, 20, 31, 40, 38, 37, 36
Teacher-directed learning & group activities 25% 0 0 1, 4, 9, 2, 3, 5, 32, 10, 19, 17, 22, 11, 13, 12, 16, 25, 26, 15, 33, 14, 28, 29, 18, 21, 20, 27, 31, 30, 24, 23, 8, 7, 40, 38, 37, 36, 34, 39, 35, 6

Bibliography

Recommended bibliography (all of the reading on this list is not specifically linked to the activities in the course, but the list is useful for autonomous work). Specific bibliography to some of the activities will be given at the beginning of the course or during the course. Due to the rapid updates of webpages, a list of links will be given at the beginning of the course. 

  • Barnes, Ann and Hunt, Marilyn. (2003). Effective assessment in MFL. London: CILT.
  • Beacco, Jean-Claude; Byram, Michael; Cavalli, Marisa; Coste, Daniel; Egli Cuenat, Mirjam; Goullier, Francis and Panthier, Johanna. (2016). Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education. Strausbourg: Council of Europe.
  • Bradley, Jessica; Moore, Emilee; Simpson, James and Atkinson, Louise.  (2018). Translanguaging creativity: creating spaces for the visual and the audible. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18 (1), 54-73.
  • Bruner, Jerome. (1985). La parla des l'infants. Com s'aprèn a fer server el llenguatge. Vic: Eumo Editorial.
  • Council of Europe (n/d). Relating language examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). A manual. Strausbourg: Council of Europe.
  • Council of Europe (2018). CEFR companion volumewith new descriptors. Strausbourg: Council of Europe.
  • Dooly, Melinda. (2011) Divergent perceptions of telecollaborative language learning tasks: Tasks-as-workplan vs. task-as-process. Language Learning & Technology, 15(2): 69-91.
  • Dooly, Melinda. (2016a). Proyectos didácticos para aprender lenguas. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp.169-193). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Dooly, Melinda. (2016b). Desarrollo de destrezas comunicativas. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp.195-223). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Dooly, Melinda. (2018). “I do which the question”: Students’ innovative use of technology resources in the language classroom. Language Learning & Technology, 22 (1), 184-217.
  • Dooly, Melinda & Dolors Masats. (2020). 'What do you zinc about the project?': Examples of technology-enhanced project-based language learning. In G. Beckett & T. Slater (Eds.), Global perspectives on project-based language learning, teaching, and assessment: Key approaches, technology tools, and frameworks (pp. 126–145). NY/Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Dooly, Melinda and O'Dowd, Robert. (Eds.) (2018a). In this together: Teachers’ experiences with transnational, telecollaborative language learning projects.New York/Bern: Peter Lang.
  • Dooly, Melinda and O'Dowd, Robert (2018b). Telecollaboration in the foreign language classroom: A review of its origins and its application to language teaching practices. In Melinda Dooly & Robert O'Dowd (eds.) In this together: Teachers’ experiences with transnational, telecollaborative language learning projects. New York/Bern: Peter Lang.
  • Dooly, Melinda and Sadler, Randall. (2016). Becoming little scientists: Technologically-enhanced project-based language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 20(1):54-78.
  • Dooly, Melinda & Sadler, Randall (2019). Preparing English student-teachers with digital and collaborative knowledge: An illustrative synopsis. In Dolors Masats, Maria Mont & Nathaly Gonzalez-Acevedo (Eds.), Joint efforts for innovation: Working together to improve foreign language teaching in the 21st century (pp. 21-28). Rothersthorpe: Paragon Publishing. Paragon Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3064130
  • Dooly, Melinda & Claudia Vallejo (2020). Bringing plurilingualism into teaching practice: a quixotic quest? Special Issue: International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(1), 81-97. DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2019.1598933.
  • The EVALUATE Group. (2019). Evaluating the impact of virtual exchange on initial teacher education: a European policy experiment. Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2019.29.9782490057337
  • Griffith, Nia. (2005). 100 ideas for teaching languages. London:Continuum.
  • Herrera, Almudena & Moore, Emilee (2020). ‘The butterfly circus’: Targeting social inequalities through English teaching. APAC ELT Journal 92, 7-14.
  • Ioannou-Georgiou, Sophie and Pavlou, Pavlos. (2003). Assessing young learners. Oxford: Oxford Resource Book for Teachers, Oxford University Press.
  • Llompart, Júlia; Masats, Dolors; Moore, Emilee, & Nussbaum, Luci. (2020). 'Mézclalo un poquito': plurilingual practices in multilingual educational milieus. Special Issue: International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(1), 98-112. 10.1080/13670050.2019.1598934
  • Larmer, John; Mergendoller, John and Boss, Suzie. (2015). Setting the standard for project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute of Education
  • Masats, Dolors. (2016a). Recursos y materiales para aprender lenguas. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp. 225-251). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Masats, Dolors (2019) Planificar proyectos globales significativos. Memorial II Congreso Internacional en Didáctica de la Lengua Castellana. Manizales: Universidad de Manizales. http://www.congresointernacionalendidacticas.com/public/archivos/memoria_lengua_castellana.pdf
  • Masats, Dolors. (2016b). Gestión de la comunicación en las aulas. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp.143-168). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Masats, Dolors andNoguerol, Artur. (2016a). Proyectos lingüísticos de centro y currículo. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria (pp.59-84). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Masats, Dolors and Nussbaum, Luci (2016b) (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educación secundaria obligatoria. Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Meskill, Carla and Anthony, Natasha. (Eds.) (2010). Teaching languages online. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto:Multilingual Matters.
  • Mont, Maria and Masats, Dolors. (2018). Tips and suggestions to implement telecollaborative projects with young learners. In Melinda Dooly & Robert O'Dowd (eds.) In this together: Teachers’ experiences with transnational, telecollaborative language learning projects. New York/Bern: Peter Lang.
  • Mont, Maria & Gonzalez-Acevedo, Nathaly (2019). Coding toys while learning English: Programming with very young learners. In Dolors Masats, Maria Mont & Nathaly Gonzalez-Acevedo (Eds.), Joint efforts for innovation: Working together to improve foreign language teaching in the 21st century (pp. 59-65). Rothersthorpe: Paragon Publishing. Paragon Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3064130
  • Moore, Emilee. (2016). Aprendizaje de lenguas e interacción social. In Dolors Masats & Luci Nussbaum (Ed.), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en educaciónsecundaria obligatoria (pp.35-58). Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Newby, David; Allan, Rebecca; Fenner, Anne-Brit; Jones, Barry; Komorowska, Hanna and Soghikyan, Kristine (2007). EPOSTL: European Portfolio of Student Teachers of Languages. Graz: European Centre for Modern Languages.
  • O'Dowd, Robert & Melinda Dooly. (2020). Intercultural communicative competence through telecollaboration and virtual exchange. In J. Jackson (ed.) The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication, 2nd ed. (pp. 361-375). Milton Park: Routledge.
  • Sadler, Randall. (2012). Virtual worlds for language learning: From theory to practice. Bern: Peter Lang.
  • Saville-Troike, Muriel and Barto, Karen. (2017). Introducing second language acquisition (Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistics) 3rd Edition. Cambridge UK/New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Vallejo, Claudia & Melinda Dooly (2020). Plurilingualism and translanguaging: emergent approaches and shared concerns. Introduction to the special issue. Special Issue: International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(1), 1-16.  DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2019.1600469