English Didactics Research Articles

Teaching tool codified gestures - Can more people learn more? Experiences with the Earth Speakr app from digital teacher training

During spring of the academic year 2020-2021, the English Didactics department of the Freie Universität Berlin offered a seminar on drama pedagogy. Given the pandemic and a syllabus which promised future teachers ‘teaching through actual classroom practice’ it was decided to take the in-person sessions between university students and grade six students online. The result of these collaborative drama lab sessions were Earth Speakr messages which, after being practiced online, were recorded in person at school in the Earth Speakr app by the English teacher, a university student assistant and the course instructor. Once uploaded, these messages become part of the global Earth Speakr artwork initiated by the artist and climate activist Olafur Eliasson. This article lays out some of the parameters, contexts and challenges of the sessions. These are complemented by individual reflections as well as outstanding questions for further research. Linguistic actions used in performative teaching, such as acting during an online guessing game or using gestures to practice pronouncing a word can have transformative effects. Even during pandemic times, there is evidence that these experiences can help learners and teachers to connect and find their own place in the social worlds they move in.

Exploring the Potentials of Using Smartphones in Enhancing Learning English at the University

This article investigates the pedagogical benefits of smartphones as a form of mobile learning in English language classes. This study which stems from the experience of the author as a teacher of English at the university seeks two main aims: shedding light on learners’ perceptions and awareness of the pedagogical usages of smartphones and exploring learners’ usages of cellphones inside and outside the classroom settings. To rigorously explore the afore-mentioned aims, a survey questionnaire had been administered to 18 Master students of English Didactics and Applied Languages, Mostaganem University). The analysis of the collected data revealed that the use of smartphones for pedagogical purposes is obstructed by various hindrances that emanate from learners’ unawareness of their academic usages and teachers’ negative attitudes towards them.

Doctor-patient communication: towards an outline of medical English didactics

Doctor-patient communication: towards an outline of medical English didactics

Maestros y tecnología de primaria de inglés del siglo XXI

Much of what happens in the classroom is due to the teacher’s attitudes and values towards the content and procedure. Additionally, sometimes students have a powerful effect in the way classes progress. When speaking about technologogy this is most visible. This reflective paper addresses the case of two different settings for the same class in terms of use of technology for learning. Two classes in the faculty of Education and Philolosophy & Letters were compared in their attitudes towards the creation of a blog as a part of their coursework for the class of English Didactics. This paper briefly explains the role and justification of such task and how students from both colleges approach it. The paper concludes that students in the College of Education show better attitudes and more interest than their counterparts from the College of Philosophy Letters. A number of of reflective conclusions can be drown from this case.

La lógica del sentido incorporada a la noción de investigación como una orientación para el aprendizaje: dos experiencias en el aula.

Se presenta una reflexión en torno a dos experiencias de aula en las que se incorpora la Lógica de Sentido a la noción de indagación en el aprendizaje. El autor utiliza el método de Experimentación, propuesto por Deleuze y Gauttari, y el cual a su vez se basa en principios filosóficos de Baruch Spinoza. La primera experiencia se realizada con estudiantes de la asignatura Taller de Lectura y Conversación, perteneciente al programa de Licenciatura en inglés de la Universidad del Tolima. El investigador diseña un protocolo de lectura para desarrollar inicialmente niveles de comprensión de los textos asignados para la clase. Posteriormente, los estudiantes alcanzan niveles de aplicación y evaluación a través de la formulación de preguntas basadas en las series de la Lógica del Sentido. La segunda experiencia se aplica con estudiantes de la Maestría en Didáctica del Inglés. El mismo formato de protocolo, utilizado con estudiantes de pregrado, es aplicado; pero, esta vez las preguntas formuladas permitieron visualizar perspectivas en el diseño de nuevas propuestas curriculares

Reflexión sobre el desarrollo profesional y personal de los profesores a través de un seminario en desarrollo de materiales

This qualitative action research study explores the role of reflection on teachers’ personal and professional growth through the methodology used in the Materials Development Seminar in the Master’s Programme in Education with Emphasis on English Didactics at a private university in Colombia. The project was carried out with 31 English as a Foreign Language Teachers. The instruments for data gathering were a survey and a written reflection. The findings suggest that reflection is critical in raising teachers’ awareness of personal and professional growth, creating a reflective learning environment and a positive affective state. Additionally, a number of English as a foreign language teachers became text developers with a recognised Colombian publishing house.

DRAMA TO GO! Hints and hands-on activities for the classroom

We are a group of English philology trainee teachers enrolled in a Master of Education programme at the Freie Universität Berlin, who participated in a seminar on drama in the foreign language classroom taught by Prof. Dr. Michaela Sambanis (chair of English didactics) in the winter term 2012/2013. In the course of the semester, we came across many inspiring ideas in already existing publications on drama in the classroom such as Tselikas 1999, Elena 2011. However, as future English teachers we were eager to find hands-on material for the classroom allowing flexibility in use, bringing more creativity to our teaching, and providing us with the essential theoretical as well as practical information to keep us informed and well-oriented. Inspired by different articles, manuals etc., we finally decided to create our own material for the foreign language classroom including classic examples as well as new drama impulses. We opted for a mode of presentation that we feel would be useful and easily accessible. As compact printables, the drama activities are ready to be slipped into the teacher’s pocket, thus becoming drama to go (cf. section 3). After this introductory paragraph, section 2 will provide some preliminary remarks on the use of ...

Technical Rationality and Learning by Reflecting on Action in Teacher Education: dichotomy or complement?

ABSTRACT The applied science view of teacher learning has been criticised as leaving teachers unprepared to face the messy complexity of educational problems. A reflective approach based on an epistemological view of practical rationality has been recommended instead. In this paper the authors reflect on their experience as teachers of an English didactics course based on a psychopedagogical content knowledge approach in a teacher education programme at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. They consider the applied science paradigm and the reflective approach views as complementary rather than dichoto‐mous and stress the role of cognitive flexibility in preparing teachers to cope with novel situations.