Exploring the hype(r) of languages learning and teaching Presentation by Penny Coutas at AFMLTA conference Sydney 2009

1. Exploring the Hype(r) of Languages
Learning and Teaching
The use of ICT for learning and teaching Languages in
technology-enhanced government schools
Are you
tweeting this?
#ASILE09
Penelope Coutas
EdD Candidate
Murdoch University
p.coutas@murdoch.edu.au
http://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/pcoutas

2. Exploring the Hype(r) of Languages
Learning and Teaching
The use of ICT for learning and teaching Languages in
technology-enhanced government schools
A story about the use of ICTs for learning and teaching
Languages in technology-enhanced government schools
Work in progress: case study
Two schools
Three Languages teachers
Their perspectives
Their advice

3. Once upon a time...
...in a galaxy far, far away
•
“The most isolated capital city”
•
DET is one of the largest ICT
organisations in Australia. The
network comprises 1210 network
sites with over 86,000 personal
computers and over 2000 servers
(Online Teaching Learning Service
Website, DETWA)

4. The hype
Real World
Motivation & Engagement
Digital Natives & Net Natives
Collaborate
Communicate
Connections
Student achievement

5. The hype & conditions for success
Real World Leadership
Motivation & Engagement Equipment
Digital Natives & Net Natives Professional Learning
Collaborate Support
Communicate Time
Connections
Student achievement

6. Enabling the Hype: The 100 Schools Project

7. What is going on here?

8. How, and why, are Languages teachers using
ICTs?
What are their perceptions of the impact of ICTs,
and what have they found to be effective?

9. Lilly, ICT Coordinator at Maxwell SHS gives her take on
the Classroom First Strategy
Once upon a time

10. The state of Languages Alice, Indonesian teacher at Morragangga SHS
education.
Once upon a time

11. Mixed messages Old and new technologies
Once upon a time

12. I come in the back way. And it normally starts with,
"Oh, Brie, the network's down" or "Oh, Brie, the
booking page is down." Sometimes it starts with
"Hi Brie, how are you today?" which is lovely. Um,
and there's an ongoing joke between the Deputy,
who's my line manager, and I and we see each
other and we go, "Hi, how are you going? Oh, by
the way, these 5 problems have occurred in the
last 10 minutes."
Brie, ICT Coordinator, Morragangga SHS
Once upon a time

13. So that’s the galaxy. Let’s meet the stars.

14. Saras
Saras referred to herself as a
“beginner teacher” but had, in fact,
over twenty years’ experience
teaching Economics in her native
Malaysia. She became an
Indonesian teacher at Maxwell
SHS based on her language
background.

15. Saras
Penny
What about more generally in your
approach to teaching Languages? How
would you describe it?
Saras
Um, my approach has so far has been
more of um, uh, like, more repetition,
going through words, I like um, since it
is a new language for them, I like to do
more pictures, I like to show pictures,
um, sometimes in, in the kids' mind,
because they are coming uh from
learning at a higher level, maybe the
language is English and the other
subjects where they do at the high
language and suddenly come here and it
seems like a bit babyish.

16. Anna
Anna qualified as a specialist
French and Italian teacher in
1999 and had been teaching at
Maxwell SHS for six years. She
called herself the “De-facto
Teacher In Charge” because
Languages did not have a Head
of Learning Area. The lack of
representation and status for the
Languages learning area was a
major concern for Anna.

17. Anna
It’s embarrassing. Not being like
you know confident enough to...
I don't know, just, I want, I want
to know more before I go in there
and look like an ass in front of
them... You know like sort of how
they go, "Miss, you know," you
know like you gotta I mean, that's
fine, you know, you can have a
laugh, and and that's OK, you
know actually I really don't care if
you know, but it's it’s more like,
you know, you kind of, you want
to know more than what, you
want to know what's going on.

18. Anna
[This research project] made me
more aware of them [ICTs] being
there. It's made me more, like,
think about what else could I do
aside from what I'm already doing
to make ICT... and it's also made
me go into class and like look at
the kids with the iPods and all
that stuff and just like watching
them. They're just fascinated.
Um, they, they can sit there
through a lesson and just like,
you know, um, they can like be,
you know, clicking and whatever,
and if you're not watching,
they're doing it, under desks.

19. Alice
Alice was a product of NALSAS.
She had jumped at the opportunity
to add Indonesian to her teaching
repertoire and found that her
background in Phys Ed and
French teaching were invaluable in
her many roles at Morragangga
SHS.

21. Alice

22. What works, according to these teachers?

23. Advice from Saras
ICTs make learning fun.
Audio-visual materials make it real (“power of being able to see”).
ICT is a research tool.
It is difficult to manage student behaviour in computer pods. Use labs instead.
Having the computers networked is very important.
Get to know good websites by asking others.

24. Advice from Anna
Boys love using computers.
Languages Online is a fantastic resource.
Make ICT a conscious part of your curriculum.
Make the learning/teaching purpose explicit, “OK, so we’re watching this
because...”
Access to IT technical support is essential.
Get ideas from other schools with more experience.
Languages must be recognised and supported as a Learning Area.

25. Advice from Alice
Win over your school’s technical support person/s (chocolate cake and a bottle of
bourbon).
Put your hand up for everything (except being in charge of ICT). Get involved.
Always have a backup plan. Don’t expect it to work, but don’t let that stop you.
Maximise on the audio-visual opportunities afforded by ICTs (both reception and
production).
Keep your pen and notepad. Add to (and remodel) your existing toolkit.
Plan for tomorrow today. Be flexible enough to adapt to what’s going on today.
Challenge your learners. Multi-level and multi-task. “Why are we doing this?” “No,
you tell me.”
Learn by doing.

26. Did they all live happily ever after?

27. What is the moral to this story?

28. Choose your own adventure?

29. “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me
sum up.”
Inigo Montoya
The Princess Bride

30. No simple cause-effect relationship.

31. Instead of viewing technology as the sole player,
we need to adopt perspectives that take
technology, teaching (pedagogy) and what is being
taught (curriculum/content) into consideration.
(Zhao, 2002; Mishra & Koehler, 2008)

32. http://www.tpack.org

33. Stay tuned. That’s the sequel.

34. Terima kasih!
Are you
tweeting this?
#ASILE09
Penelope Coutas
EdD Candidate
Murdoch University
p.coutas@murdoch.edu.au
http://blogs.murdoch.edu.au/pcoutas

35. Image credits
Where credits are not given, the images are my own.
• Slide 1 Twitter logo: http://www.twitter.com
• Slide 3 Map of WA: http://maps.google.com
• Slide 8 & 9 The Age newspaper: http://www.theage.com.au
• Slide 9 School fronts: http://maps.google.com