Graham Davies

The lack of responses to the government’s consultation document on e-learning could simply be due to the fact that teachers are not particularly excited about e-learning. In addition, a large number of teachers are not sure what it is all about. The “e” appears to have been identified as more concerned with distance learning or Web-based learning rather than “electronic” in its wider sense, i.e. embracing CD-ROMs, DVDs, electronic whiteboards, etc. My personal view is that e-learning has been over-hyped. Perhaps a sense of ennui has set in. Computers are just another tool, and I am no more enthralled with computers than I am with audiocassette recorders and VCRs. I got very excited about using email when it first became available to me back in 1986. Now I just regard email as useful but also as an irritation, with 100-plus spam messages arriving in my mailboxes every day so that I have to shield myself with an aggressive filtering system. Recent anti-spam legislation has not improved matters one iota, but let’s see what happens as a result of the US CAN-SPAM Act being introduced on 1 January 2004. I got very excited about the Web when it was launched in 1993, but in many ways it is a disappointment. I thought the Web would have developed a lot further by now. It is still quite primitive as a learning tool. A good deal of what is being done on the Web could be executed much more efficiently on CD-ROMs. I am now on broadband, but I still get irritated by videos that hiccup intermittently and sites that slow down to a snail’s pace at peak times – or simply disappear. I use the Web mainly as an information system – it’s the best library I have ever used. But the Internet is also a threat. I was hacked three times in 2001, twice from Germany and once from Russia. No damage was done, as my ISP spotted the intrusions before I did and blocked my account on each occasion. My computer is now like Fort Knox, protected by ZoneAlarm Pro, MailWasher Pro, SpyBot, Spy Sweeper, Window Washer and Norton Anti-Virus. E-learning has potential, but you need a lot of knowledge to make the best use of it.

Resources for Language Teachers Lingu@NET: http://www.linguanet.org.uk Lingu@NET is managed by CILT, the National Centre for Languages (http://www.cilt.org.uk) and aims to be a virtual resources centre to support the teaching of modern foreign languages. The Lingu@NET Forum - a discussion list for language teachers and researchers - is located at: http://www.mailbase.org.uk/lists/linguanet-forum This is an extremely lively discussion list and well worth looking at. Curriculum issues and ICT are frequent hot topics. Lingu@NET Europa: http://www.linguanet-europa.org A multilingual project which developed out of Lingu@NET. A substantial online catalogue of language learning resources is being built up here. This project is currently undergoing expansion to incorporate an interface in a number of new languages and addressing in particular the needs of adult learners. My Favourite Websites My personal annotated list of Favourite Websites relating to Modern Foreign Languages can be found at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm

ICT4LT - ICT Training Materials for Language Teachers: http://www.ict4lt.org The ICT4LT website is the outcome of a Socrates-funded project coordinated by Thames Valley University. It is currently the Web's largest single group of freely available training resources in ICT for language teachers. It consists of a total of 15 modules at three different levels in four different languages (English, Italian, Finnish and Swedish), plus an additional category for new modules. The website has proved extremely popular both with practising language teachers and with teachers undergoing initial teacher training in university departments of education. The site receives an average of 500-plus hits per day and has been used widely as a support for the delivery of face-to-face and online training courses in ICT for language teachers. The site has been accessed not only from EU countries but also from over 70 other countries throughout the world. The ICT4LT project has been presented at numerous conferences, including EUROCALL 2000 in Scotland and IALLT 2001 in Houston, Texas. The ICT4LT website is updated by Graham Davies (Visiting Professor, Thames Valley University) on a weekly basis and continues to expand.

This is to draw forum members' attention to extensive report on a Europe-wide survey on the impact of ICT in teaching and learning foreign languages, which was commissioned in 2002 by the EC Directorate General of Education and Culture. The report was published in January 2003 and opens with an executive summary that includes the following statement: "One important fact that has emerged from this study is that Foreign Languages as a subject area is 'different' from most other subject areas in the curriculum, namely that it is skill-based as well as knowledge-based, and in this respect it has more in common with music than, say, history or geography." This is an important point. The media-rich environment that CALL software requires places considerable demands upon the hardware and the technicians who have to set it up and maintain it - a fact that is unfortunately often overlooked in most schools. The report consists of four main parts: - an overview of the different kinds of hardware and software currently in use in MFL teaching and learning - case studies from seven different countries exemplifying potentially interesting approaches to MFL teaching and learning, quality innovation and examples of best practice - future prospects for ICT in MFL teaching and learning, based on the feedback from respondents to a questionnaire issued to leading CALL practitioners from a wide range of European countries - conclusions and recommendations. These include the setting up a European taskforce to provide advice, organise workshops, and offer support systems for those launching national/regional programmes for ICT in MFL teaching and learning Fitzpatrick A. & Davies G. (eds.) (2003) The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and on the Role of Teachers of Foreign Languages. EC Directorate General of Education and Culture. The report can be downloaded in PDF or Word format from the ICC website: www.icc-europe.com. Click on "Report on ICT in FLL".

Anders asks: The conclusion for me is that ICT in school should be subject related. The training should be done by professionals within the subject who has the necessary ICT skills. To be able to make this work it has to be done on an individual basis... Will this not take a lot of time? Can it be done in a different way? It does take time, of course. But it is time that is worth investing. I found on my visits to schools that sitting with a small group of 5-6 teachers for 2-3 hours and guiding them step-by-step through basic ICT tasks I could achieve a great deal. I only used my online materials to reinforce what I had taught them, e.g. they could access the online materials as a reference source and email me with questions if necessary. Once they had acquired the basic skills, every trainee had to produce a lesson plan, showing how they intended to use ICT in the classroom. They were then encouraged to put their plan into action and report on its successes and failures.

Anders asks: How can we bring about change? The NOF programme to which I referred in my previous posting was supposed to bring about change, but in spite of the large amount of money that was spent (230 million pounds of National Lottery money) it was not as effective as expected. To quote from the OFSTED report on NOF that I cited in my previous email: "NOF training remains unsatisfactory in its overall effect. Training in around six out of every ten secondary schools and half the primaries has so far failed to tackle adequately those issues relating to the quality of ICT use in classrooms." (p. 3) Many teachers who undertook NOF training were negative about unreliable online systems, lack of technical support and lack of online tutor support - it was found, for example, that a single tutor could not handle more than 30 trainees at one time. It was also found that face-to-face training was essential at some stage in a training course - preferably early on and at the end of a course. Providing everything online was unpopular among trainees. To quote again from the OFSTED report: "The NOF training is most successful where senior managers in schools take an active interest in teachers’ progress, where there is effective peer support, and where groups of teachers meet for part of their training. Teachers left to their own devices to use distance-learning materials in their own time rarely make the same headway." (p. 3) I think the most important lesson that was learned from the NOF experience is that generic ICT training does not work: "Unfortunately, the training often lacks sufficient relevance to individual subjects […]. For many secondary school teachers, the training materials do not sufficiently engage them or make them want to explore the application of ICT to their subject." (OFSTED Report p. 4) ICT training has to be subject-specific in order to be effective, and it has to include a substantial portion of time devoted to pedagogy and methodology - a point that I underline in my recent article: Davies G. D. (2003) "Perspectives on online training initiatives". In Felix U. (ed.) Language learning online: towards best practice, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. One of the subject-specific training providers, the Centre for Information on Language Teaching (CILT), reported a far higher success rate than the average, with very positive feedback from trainees. Let's face it: Who do you ask for advice about ICT and graphic design? An ICT-literate graphic designer, of course. Who do you ask for advice about ICT and Modern Foreign Languages? An ICT-literate modern linguist, of course - which is my specialism. Ask me about sound recording and playback, speech synthesis, automatic speech recognition, etc, and I'll give you an informed opinion of their possibilities and constraints and their pedagogical value in MFL teaching and learning. Ask an ICT specialist the same questions, and you may well be overwhelmed with irrelevant technological advice. Regarding training teachers in website design: I wrote a couple of introductory modules (for Language Teachers), which I used in workshops organised by the Association for Language Learning: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/webintro.htm http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/webcreat.htm See also Module 3.3 (Creating a WWW site) at the ICT4LT website: http://www.ict4lt.org - it contains general advice as well as subject-specific advice. Furthermore, it has to be recognised that the Web is not the panacea. It has serious limitations, especially in my subject area. We still need a hybrid approach - and probably always will. Above all, don't forget that the "e" in "e-Learning" stands for "electronic" in its widest sense, not just in the sense of online learning.

The ICT4LT website offers a wealth of ICT training materials for language teachers: http://www.ict4lt.org. You can seek help on individual topics via the feedback form at the ICT4LT site. Alternatively, ask a question via this forum.

DIALANG: Diagnostic Language Testing DIALANG is a system offering online self-assessment, tests and feedback in 14 European languages. It has been designed for use by learners aged 16 and over. Self-assessment and feedback are related directly to the six-point scale of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF): http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operati...anguage_Policy/ The CEF is mentioned several times in the DfES “Languages for All” document (December 2002: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/languagesstrategy), the government’s aim being to introduce a new voluntary recognition system to complement existing national qualifications frameworks and the CEF. Bringing our examinations into line with the six CEF levels is long overdue. Our continental cousins and EFL/ESOL examination boards in this country have been using the CEF as a yardstick for many years. The current beta version of DIALANG can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.dialang.org. The final version will be launched across Europe along with a new-look website later this year. An introductory module on Computer Aided Assessment in MFL can be consulted at the ICT4LT website: http://www.ict4lt.org – select Module 4.1 from the English language homepage.

I worked for several months in 2002-2003 as a NOF trainer, having been called in by one of the NOF training providers to pick up the loose threads that were left over as this massive training programme neared its conclusion. I visited around 20 different schools as a NOF trainer. What I saw was often appalling. Although all the schools had reasonable ICT facilities, they were mostly underused. Access to ICT suites was the major problem. The suites were often hogged by the ICT and Maths departments. Humanities subjects were usually left out in the cold. Training teachers in some of the basic tasks that featured in the NOF programme was impossible, for example: 1. Web access was often subject to over-sensitive filtering systems that locked both teachers and students out of dozens of useful websites. One local education authority had blocked access to Google, making it impossible for teachers to use this excellent search engine. Sites containing certain words and phrases were often blocked. I found, for example, that a site seeking homes for retired racing greyhounds could not be accessed (a teacher was looking for pictures of dogs). Why? Probably because the phrase “black bitch” occurred several times in the texts at the site, which I was able to verify on my home computer. 2. One of the NOF tasks required teachers to evaluate a software package relating to their subject area. I am a Modern Foreign Languages specialist, and in at least one third of the schools that I visited there was not a single MFL package to evaluate, so I had to get the teachers to evaluate packages that I had installed on my laptop. An alternative would have been to evaluate an MFL website, but MFL websites mostly fall short of the standards that I expect and usually lack the facility that is indispensable in MFL, i.e. listen/record/playback, a facility that has been available on humble tape recorders since my early teaching days in the 1960s and on CD-ROMs since the 1980s! Most ICT suites that I used with my trainees were poor in terms of their ability to playback and record sound, for various reasons: soundcards being incorrectly set up, lack of headphones and microphones, lack of plug-ins, etc. I am currently contributing to the MELTEC project at Kingston University that offers training in multimedia for teachers in all subject areas: http://www.meltec.org.uk 3. The materials provided by the training provider for whom I was working were often incomprehensible – both jargon-ridden and abstruse. I therefore began to create my own training materials, which are located at http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/lspinset.htm and based on the more comprehensive materials at the ICT4LT site: http://www.ict4lt.org You can read about the successes and failures of the NOF training programme at: OFSTED Report, April 2002: ICT in schools: effect of government initiatives. See the OFSTED website, http://www.ofsted.gov.uk, where the report can be downloaded in PDF format: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/docs/19.pdf ICT can make an impact in education if it is handled sensibly. Concrete evidence is difficult to obtain, but a recent report on a research study conducted by BECTA, ImpaCT2, has produced a large amount of data: http://www.becta.org.uk/research/impact2. The ImpaCT2 study claims that schools using ICT in the classroom get better results than those that do not, and that there is a significant correlation between the use of ICT in MFL and good examination results. However, I remain sceptical about the way the data has been interpreted in this study. I am inclined to agree with Angela McFarlane, Professor of Education and Director of Learning Technology, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, who writes: "What we do know, whether from personal experience as teacher or learner, or as the result of 20 years of research into the question, is that ICT has an impact on learning, for some learners, under some conditions, and that it cannot replace a teacher. We know that a key factor in impact at school level is and remains the teacher, whose role in managing and integrating the ICT-based experiences learners have with the rest of the curriculum and culture is vital and probably always will be." Times Educational Supplement, ICT in Education Online, 26 April 2002, p. 17.

I have created a substantial set of annotated links to websites for Modern Foreign Languages: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm Feedback and suggestions for new sites are welcome.

I used to be very active in politics, but as I got older (I am now 61) I began to get more and more cynical about politicians. I always vote in national and local elections, but more and more I find myself looking carefully at the profile of the persons that I am voting for rather than their political allegiance, e.g. their CV and how active they have been in doing things for the community. Looking back on my life – I was a teacher for 28 years – I cannot honestly say that either of the two political parties that have been in power have ever made profound and lasting improvements to my working and social life. I took early retirement from teaching in 1993, mainly due to the increased workload that was being imposed on me as a result of increasing government interference and the control freaks in senior management in my institution, causing me to burn more and more midnight oil reporting and accounting rather than doing the job I was originally paid to do. I now run my own business partnership and relish the freedom to say “no” when I don’t want to undertake a task that is either (i) uninteresting or (ii) unprofitable.

Curriculum issues are frequently a topic of discussion in the Lingu@NET Forum. You can browse the archives at: http://www.mailbase.org.uk/lists/linguanet-forum

There are numerous resources for language teachers and language learners on the Web. Have a look at the annotated list of websites that I have compiled at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm

Trust me to forget the URL! It's http://www.ict4lt.org

I began my career in 1965 as a teacher of German and French in secondary education and I have been involved in ICT and foreign language learning and teaching since 1976. In 1982 I wrote one of the first introductory books on computers in language learning and teaching, which was subsequently followed by numerous other printed and digital publications. In 1989 I was conferred with the title of Professor of Computer Assisted Language Learning at Thames Valley University. I retired from university teaching in 1993, but I have continued to work as an independent consultant on ICT and language learning and teaching and I am a partner in an educational software development and retailing business, Camsoft: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk. I was the Founder President of EUROCALL, holding the post from 1993 to 2000: http://www.eurocall-languages.org. I have lectured and run ICT training courses for language teachers in 22 different countries and I sit on a number of national and international advisory boards and committees. I have been actively involved in WorldCALL since 1998 and I currently head a committee that is in the process of setting up WorldCALL as an official organisation aiming to assist countries that are underserved in the area of ICT and the teaching and learning of foreign languages: http://www.worldcall.org. I am currently Editor-in-Chief of the ICT4LT website, an ICT training project initiated with European Commission funding: http://www.ict4lt.org. My full CV can be found at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/cvgd.htm

ICT4LT - ICT for Language Teachers: The ICT4LT website is the outcome of a Socrates-funded project coordinated by Thames Valley University. It is currently the Web's largest single group of freely available training resources in ICT for language teachers. It consists of a total of 15 modules at three different levels in four different languages (English, Italian, Finnish and Swedish), plus an additional category for new modules. The website has proved extremely popular both with practising language teachers and with teachers undergoing initial teacher training in university departments of education. The site receives an average of 500-plus hits per day and has been used widely as a support for the delivery of face-to-face and online training courses in ICT for language teachers. The site has been accessed not only from EU countries but also from over 70 other countries throughout the world. The ICT4LT project has been presented at numerous conferences, including EUROCALL 2000 in Scotland and IALLT 2001 in Houston, Texas. The ICT4LT website is updated by Graham Davies (Visiting Professor, Thames Valley University) on a weekly basis and continues to expand.

ICT4LT - ICT for Language Teachers: The ICT4LT website is the outcome of a Socrates-funded project coordinated by Thames Valley University. It is currently the Web's largest single group of freely available training resources in ICT for language teachers. It consists of a total of 15 modules at three different levels in four different languages (English, Italian, Finnish and Swedish), plus an additional category for new modules. The website has proved extremely popular both with practising language teachers and with teachers undergoing initial teacher training in university departments of education. The site receives an average of 500-plus hits per day and has been used widely as a support for the delivery of face-to-face and online training courses in ICT for language teachers. The site has been accessed not only from EU countries but also from over 70 other countries throughout the world. The ICT4LT project has been presented at numerous conferences, including EUROCALL 2000 in Scotland and IALLT 2001 in Houston, Texas. The ICT4LT website is updated by Graham Davies (Visiting Professor, Thames Valley University) on a weekly basis and continues to expand.