Final projet meeting keynote: 28 June 2017 PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany

1. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Against PPP: updating
pedagogy through interactive
teaching with technologies
ITILT multiplier event
28 June 2017
Shona Whyte

2. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Why change? Let’s step back from practical
questions of technology and pedagogy to address
this simple question. I compare presentation-
practice-production (PPP) and task-based language
teaching (TBLT) approaches, using examples from
French iTILT teachers at primary, secondary, and
university levels to illustrate differences and show
how innovative, reflective, and open practice can
save time and add value in language education.

3. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Plan
• speaker background
• project background
• theoretical background
• teaching implications

4. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
language
• monolingual English background
• French, German undergraduate studies
• anglophone in France

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teaching
• English language, translation (LLCE)
• English for special purposes (ESP)
• young learners

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research
• PhD Linguistics (second
language acquisition)
• CALL (computer-assisted
language learning)
• teacher education (HDR
didactique de l’anglais)

7. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
teacher
education
• pre-service language teacher
preparation
• international projects &
teacher education groups
• social media & open
educational practices

8. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Plan
• speaker background
• project background
• theoretical background
• teaching implications

9. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
iTILT
• interactive
TECHNOLOGY:
first iTILT project
(2011-13)
• interactive
TEACHING: current
ITILT project
(2014-17)

10. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
EU lifelong learning project
• 2011-2013
• http://itilt.eu
website with video
examples of IWB-
supported classroom
practice with
additional materials

11. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Development of the project
IWB
Training
Data
Collection
Website

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class filming
learner reflections
teacher interviews
DATA COLLECTION

13. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
6 languages
Dutch
English
French
Spanish
Turkish
Welsh
7 countries
Belgium
France
Germany
Netherlands
Spain
Turkey
UK
44 teachers, 81
films, 267 clips
primary
secondary
university
vocational
4 educational levels

14. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
http://itilt.eu

15. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
QUICK search
who is at the IWB?
which tools are used?
for which teaching objectives?

16. IWB tools and
features
IWB user:
teacher or
learner?
Language teaching
objectives
Task orientation
balance between
embedding and
activity clear preference
for learner use of
IWB
balanced use of IWB
for skills and subskills general preference
for pedagogical
exerciseslimited range of
tools and features
used
much more speaking +
listening than reading
+ writing
focus on basic
features:
images + sounds;
pen + drag/drop
individual
learner at IWB,
not pairs or
groups
strong focus on
vocabulary, also
pronunciation
some task-like goals
and outcomes but
language focus on
accuracy rather than
appropriateness
rare use for grammar
Limited range of basic features
used to teach oral skills and vocabulary
with individual learners at the IWB
working on pedagogical exercises

17. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
implications
• practical/technical, pedagogical and reflective
dimensions of technology integration
• “slow burner” approach to teacher education
• collaborative reflection may stimulate innovation
• action research model to integrate classroom
learning, teaching and teacher education

18. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
ERASMUS+ project
website with video
examples of task-
based language
teaching with
various technologies

19. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
20 teachers, 25 tasks, 100 clips
5 languages
English
French
German
Turkish
Welsh
3 educational levels
primary
secondary
university
Belgium
France
Germany
Netherlands
Turkey
UK
6 countries
tablets
smartphones
video
3 technologies

20. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Development of the project
TBLT
Training
Data
Collection
Website

21. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
My learners must cover a certain part of a larger
programme and take high-stakes examinations
Is this true of you?

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My school has purchased textbooks so I have to
use them.
Yes?

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My school wants me to use technology and
participate in class exchanges
Yes?

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I have to respect rules regarding internet safety
and privacy laws
Yes?

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Everyone wants
•change
•evidence of learning
•reflective, collaborative, even open practices …
Yes?

26. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
European projects like iTILT may add to these
tensions instead of relieving them
mais non …

27. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Plan
• speaker background
• project background
• theoretical background
• teaching implications

28. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017

29. PPP: presentation,
practice, production
• Byrne 1976
• Teaching Oral English, Byrne
1986

30. Presentation
Language features are selected
and sequenced in advance for
explicit instruction, involving
contextualised presentation
followed by clarification of
meaning, form and use.

31. Practice
Controlled practice of the feature
is provided (e.g. in gap-fill
exercises, ‘closed’ speaking
practice activities and oral drills)

32. Production
Opportunities for use of the
feature is provided through free
production activities that attempt
to simulate real-world usage
(spoken or written) such as in
role-plays, discussions and email
exchanges.

34. Arguments in favour of PPP
• PPP reflects well how many of us expect to be taught a new skill (even if
we don’t learn language like other skills)
• It stands to reason that demonstrations or presentations should precede
practice, and that slow, careful practice should precede more automated,
fluent practice.
• PPP is often culturally much closer to learner and teacher
expectations than alternative lesson frameworks based on for example
task-based learning
• PPP has dominated the organisation of the majority of mainstream ELT
coursebooks ever since Abbs and Freebairn used it for their Strategies
series in the 1970s

36. Task-based language
teaching (TBLT)
• Long
• Ellis
• Skehan
• Willis

37. What is a task?
• a task is a workplan
• the plan engages learners
in authentic language
use
• the task includes
materials to help learners
achieve an outcome
• the outcome is specified in
communicative, not
linguistic terms

38. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
linguistic difficulties
• he and she
• his and her
• the copula is
• lexis: play the cello, wrestling, horse-riding
• I don’t know/I don’t understand
• simple present 3rd person singular “s” he lives
• the preposition in
• is versus it’s
• live/love
• /h/ his, he, her; (h)old; his/is

39. Second language acquisition research suggests
• language learning is best achieved not by treating language
as an ‘object’ to be dissected into bits and learned [..],
but as a ‘tool’ for accomplishing a communicative purpose.
• ‘learning’ does not need to precede ‘use’, but rather
occurs through the efforts that learners make to understand
and be understood in achieving a communicative goal.
• the interactions resulting from the performance of tasks in
a classroom resemble - in many respects - those found in
child language acquisition in the home

40. Potential problems
• teachers do not always have a clear understanding of what a ‘task’ is and as a
result the tasks end up as ‘practice’ rather than affording opportunities for
genuine communication
• there may be tension between the need to get the students talking and the
need to maintain class discipline
• teachers’ lack of confidence in their own L2 oral ability and the fear that
TBLT places too much emphasis on oral communication
• teachers are also wary of adopting TBLT in situations where they need to
prepare students for high-stakes tests that emphasize grammatical accuracy
rather than communicative effectiveness
• TBLT threatens the established role of teachers by re-positioning them as
co-communicators rather than as sources of knowledge about the L2

41. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
An example of TBLT
• a French university-level
course
• undergraduate English
• media and communication
• learners used digital media as
both a topic and a means of
communication

42. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Story slam
• undergraduate English majors
(L1 French, level B1-B2)
• 1h30 per week over a 12-week
semester.
• one task: a story slam
(storytelling competition)
• storytellers all prepare short
personal stories on the same
theme and tell them live one after
the other
• winners go through to grand slam

43. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
General TBLT criteria Story slam activities
1
• meaning takes precedence
over form
• there is a gap in knowledge
• story has to fit guidelines (5 minutes,
conflict/resolution format, true story, no
notes)
• audience has not heard story
2
learners use their own
resources
• complete freedom to tell story in own
words
• no imposed or pre-taught vocabulary
or grammatical structures
3 there is an outcome
• advance planning focuses on story
• story is told live to audience
4 there is a link to the real world
• The Moth organisation runs story
slams in English in many countries
• storytelling is an activity also
commonly conducted in L1

44. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
The class listened as each storyteller told their story.
The students used their smartphones to record their
performances.
A panel of judges used a grading rubric on paper to
record their individual assessments of each story.
After all the stories had been told, the judges summed
their individual grades for each storyteller to identify the
two best stories, whose tellers went on to a grand slam
in the final class session (for extra credit).

47. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
This story slam task allowed students to
participate in a regular language
activity which people also engage in in
their native language for entertainment
and other social reasons.
Our classroom task was judged in terms
of its real-world outcome.

48. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
However, in addition to feedback on the
task outcome, the students also needed
feedback on their language use to make
the most of this opportunity for language
learning.
For this, we needed post-task activities
to provide feedback and encourage
reflection.

49. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Resources Activities Other possibilities
Soundcloud
audio sharing
platform
learners created their own
accounts, uploaded their story
audio and shared with the
teacher
Free account creation, use pseudonym
or private setting if desired, hide/delete
when course is over.
Also possible to share with others.
Google forms
survey & quiz
application
learners entered name, e-mail
and direct link to recording on
SoundCloud
Easy to create form and save responses
to spreadsheet.
Avoids problem of searching for
student work, overloaded inbox.
Timestamp to check submission time.
Gmail canned
responses
mail.google.com
=> Settings > Labs >
Canned responses
Teacher composed canned
response with link to
pronunciation feedback page,
space for individual feedback,
and grade
Helps to avoid forgetting repeated
details, and maintain level of feedback
during grading process

50. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
Task-based language teaching
involves embedding teaching and learning
activities in a wider, meaningful context

51. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
expect learners to understand and produce
more, but don’t insist on accuracy at first
instead spend time on exposing learners to rich
language input and providing opportunities
for interaction

52. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
consider how language is learned and how
the teacher can support learning, rather than
what you should teach explicitly

53. Multiplier Event PH Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany 28 June 2017
http://www.itilt2.eu
Shona Whyte
whyte@unice.fr
http://efl.unice.fr