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

• Facebook

• Twitter

• 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