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Designing a VLE for Academic Reading Language Courses
Nebojša Radić, Jackie Bow, Pedro Barriuso-Algar & Paul Högger
Language Centre
Designing a VLE for Academic Reading Courses
20 years of ICT
CULP context
The Academic Reading courses
CULP online materials
A teacher/pedagogy driven design
20 years of pedagogy and ICT
1995
ICT in language teaching
What was the technology? • Smart classrooms
• Portable electronics
• DVD
• Youtube
• Online multimedia (broadband)
• Wiki
• Skype
How to squeeze
pedagogical needs into the
available technology?
The challenge of integration
Pedagogical rationale
ICT
Today’s opportunity: pedagogy driven ICT
Student Centred Learning
Institutional context
Student needs
Backgrounds
Motivation
Teacher professionalisation, training, support
Technical know-how
Open courseware
Cambridge University Language Programmes
Interactive, multimedia materials delivered online
instead of textbooks
2,000 students, 26 teachers
12 languages:
Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish & Swahili
Institution-wide general language courses
&
courses for specialist learners
FL Academic Reading courses
Post-graduates
Two schools:
Arts and Humanities & Humanities and Social Sciences
French, German, Italian and Spanish
To read secondary literature
300+ a year over 3 terms
Financially supported by the Schools
Student background
35% of Camb. population are post-graduate students (PhD)
53% from outside the UK
50% do not speak English as their first language
Wide range of academic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds
Implications
Mixed levels of proficiency:
from ab initio to intermediate
No common reading list
Reading Vs language skills
Teaching philosophy, approach, methodology, resources &
teacher training/support
The Academic Reading courses
French, German, Italian & Spanish
20 groups
20/16 students per group
French 6 (120) / German 11 (160) / Italian 2 (30) / Spanish 1 (15)
Italian methodology: basic to intermediate
Weeks 13-21:
Cooperative work in small groups Student-selected texts
Weeks 8-12:
Reading practice & analysis
Teacher-selected texts
Weeks 1-7:
Grammar and introduction to reading Teacher-selected simplified texts
Cooperative work with student-selected texts
Historians
Literature Musicians
Historians
Giovanni Bottero (philosopher, historian, early
17th century)
Margherita Isnardi Parente (theology, 20th century)
Venetian 17th century historical archives (in
Venetian, not in Italian)
History of the Venetian Biennale between the two
wars (1920-1940)
Academic Reading in Spanish
Mixed levels of proficiency groups.
Students with different levels: from A1 to C1
Students from different academic backgrounds: history, law, sociology, criminology, linguistics.
Students are grouped according to their level, and they work with different texts.
Methodology & resources
German Academic Reading Courses
160 STUDENTS (APPROX.)
3 TEACHERS
11 GROUPS
‘School-wide’ groups (6)
Specialised groups (3 Classics, 1 Divinity, 1 Music, 1 History)
3 LEVELS: Basic (5), Intermediate 1 (4), Intermediate 2 (2)
Methodology and Challenges
Basic formula
Adapting to specific needs of students
Highly work-intensive preparation
Dealing with other people’s specialisms
French Academic Reading courses
Michaelmas Term, 6 Groups:
Basic 1 x 2
Intermediate 1 x 2
Intermediate 2 x 2:
Lent Term, 6 Groups:
Basic 1 x 1 ( 1 new ab initio group)
Basic 2 x 2
Intermediate 1 x 2
Intermediate 2 x 1
From various faculties
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Oriental Studies
Classics
English
MML
History
Divinity
Students
Come from various disciplines
Need to read different texts
Have a range of mother tongues
Come with very different foreign language learning experiences
Have limited time at their disposal
Have high expectations of themselves and their teachers
Having an indicative syllabus
Selecting relevant material
Setting the pace appropriately
Ensuring regular ‘reality checks’
Not assuming cultural knowledge
Equipping them with knowledge and skills
So, how do we keep the customers satisfied?
LC reading materials
Rationale for new developments:
the Academic Reading Environment
Integrate f2f and VLE
Initial store of text
Create active area to upload text and annotations in the form of a Wiki
Provide tools, including dictionaries, glossaries, annotation guidelines, forums etc.
Searchable database where texts, after suitable editing, are stored in a standard format
Access to database for students and tutors in comparable institutions
Pedagogical rationale
Integrate classroom teaching and flexible learning at a distance technologically and methodologically
All tools to support the reading and
establish platform for the collection, annotation, dissemination and exchange of texts
Student-produced
Teacher-validated
In partnership with comparable institutions, this database can grow exponentially and be a significant tool in the further development of academic
reading skills in a wide range of languages and academic fields
Scalable, flexible, adaptable, replicable, sustainable
Nebojša Radić
Jackie Bow Pedro
Barriuso-Algar
Paul Högger
Designing a VLE for Academic Reading Language Courses