The Effects of Enhancing Prospective EFL Teachers' Knowledge Management Strategies in Virtual Learning Environments on Their Ideational Flexibility and Engagement

Ammar Abdullah Mahmoud Ismail

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.2p.154

Abstract

The last few years have witnessed an increased interest in moving away from traditional language instruction settings towards more hybrid and virtual learning environments. Face-to-face interaction, guided practice, and uniformity of knowledge sources and skills are all replaced by settings where multiplicity of views from different learning communities, interconnectedness, self-directedness, and self-management of knowledge and learning are increasingly emphasized. This shift from walled-classroom instruction with its limited scope and resources to hybrid and virtual learning environments with their limitless provisions requires that learners be equipped with requisite skills and strategies to manage knowledge and handle language learning in ways commensurate with the nature and limitless possibilities of these new environments. The current study aimed at enhancing knowledge management strategies of EFL teachers in virtual learning environments and examine the impact on their ideational flexibility and engagement in language learning settings. A knowledge management model was proposed and field-test on a cohort of prospective EFL teachers in the Emirati context. Participants were prospective EFL teachers enrolled in the Methods of Teaching Courses and doing their practicum in the Emirati EFL context. Participants' ideational flexibility was tapped via a bi-methodical approach including a contextualized task and a decontextualized one. Their engagement in virtual language learning settings was tapped via an engagement scale. Results of the study indicated that enhancing prospective EFL teachers' knowledge management strategies in virtual learning environments had a significant impact on their ideational flexibility and engagement in foreign language learning settings. Details of the instructional intervention, instruments for tapping students’ ideational flexibility and engagement, and results of the study are discussed. Implications for foreign language teaching/learning along with suggestions for further research are also provided.Keywords: Knowledge management, ideational flexibility, student engagement

Highlights

The last few years have witnessed a revived interest in creativity and productivity in different learning environments fuelled by a paradigm shift towards knowledge-driven development and knowledge-oriented educational practices
Fuelled by the inadequacies of the existing models of knowledge management discussed above, the current study proposes a knowledge-management model that integrates the three models into a comprehensive instructional framework to help prospective EFL teachers manage their pedagogical knowledge for better foreign language instruction
The results of the study reported above show that enhancing knowledge management strategies of prospective EFL teachers brought about significant gains in their creativity in foreign language teaching/learning settings as measured in terms of their ideational flexibility

Summary

Introduction

The last few years have witnessed a revived interest in creativity and productivity in different learning environments fuelled by a paradigm shift towards knowledge-driven development and knowledge-oriented educational practices. Producing and advancing knowledge are seen as essential keys to success and advancement in these fields In this emerging knowledge age, creativity has become one of the core competencies, along with collaboration, communication, and critical thinking (Barbot et al, 2015; Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009). It is increasingly recognized as a valuable asset for individuals in their daily problem solving and their professional careers (Besancon et al, 2013). This is important in language teaching that is heavily dependent on both creativity and knowledge. Improvisation, advancement of teaching theories and applications thereof, and the creative adaptation of universal pedagogical knowledge all need creative minds

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Conclusion