EPOSTL through the eyes of student teachers and teacher

trainers

Abdülvahit Çakır- Cem Balçıkanlı

Gazi University

1st International Foreign Language Teaching Conference: Independent

Learning

Gaziantep, 2010

MAP

* EPOSTL

* STUDY

Context

StepsComments

Suggestions

(European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages)

Developed for the European Centre for Modern

Languages/Council of Europe by a team of teacher educators

from 5 different countries (Austria, Armenia, Norway, Poland, UK,

led by David Newby.)

Rebecca Allan, Anne-Brit Fenner, Barry Jones, Hanna

Komorowska & Kristine Soghikyan from the above countries

Available in various European languages (English, German,

French, Polish, Turkish (coming soon)

http://www.ecml.at/mtp2/Fte/html/FTE_E_Results.htm

Harmonising teacher education in Europe

More about EPOSTL (1)process and no “show case“ portfolio

belongs to the [student] teacher, and is no assessment or grading tool

General Objectives:

increase transparency of education programmesencourage a reflective mode in teacher education (Akbari, 2007)aid comparison of teacher education programmes

Target groups: student teachers, teachers, but also teacher educators, curriculum designers.

Underlying principles:the concept of teacher & learner autonomy, CLT, interdependence of language & culture, ICT

a tool for reflection, dialogue & self-assessment

More about EPOSTL (2)

The EPOSTL in the European context

European Profile for Language Teacher

Education >Reference tool f. teacher education programmes

Common EuropeanFrame of Reference >

Reference tool f. teaching, learning &

assessment

EPOSTL >Tool for Reflection &

Self-assessment

European Language Portfolio >Tool for Reflection &

Self-assessment

Language Teaching Language Learning

8

The principal aims of the EPOSTL

9

to encourage students to reflect on the

competences a teacher strives to attain and on the

underlying knowledge which feeds these

competences

10

to promote discussion between students and between students and their teacher educators

and mentors

11

to facilitate self-assessment of

students’ competence

12

To help students develop awareness of their

strengths and weaknesses related to

teaching

13

The structure of the EPOSTL

14

15

16

17

Positive: Actually I cannot remember my primary classes, but when I was at high school my teacher was like a friend.She always encouraged us and she was always speaking English. For the first lesson I can remember even if we were at high school we had played “Silly Sally” game. It was enjoyful and she tried to teach us in an enjoyful way and always encouraged us by making us speak English. She was not so strict person but we used to had good lessons. We used to both enjoy and learn. With her help now I’m here.

Negative: Again in high school I had an another teacher. She was also good at English but she could not have an authority so we did not have a good atmosphere. Nevertheless she was trying to make us participate in the lesson. She always wanted us to do exercises. It was boring.

18

Categorisation of descriptors

1. Context

2. Methodology

3. Resources

4. Lesson planning5. Conducting a lesson

6. Independent Learning

7. Assessment of learning

19

20

21

dossier

24

index

User’s guide

27

The Common European Framework for Languages provides a common basis

for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines,

examinations, textbooks etc. across Europe.

The EPOSTL provides a common basis for the specification and

discussion of competences and teacher education curricula across

Europe.

28

The The Common European Framework Common European Framework (…) (…) describes in a comprehensive way what describes in a comprehensive way what language learnerslanguage learners have to learn to do in have to learn to do in

order to use a language for communication order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively.develop so as to be able to act effectively.

The The EPOSTL EPOSTL describes in a describes in a comprehensive way what comprehensive way what language language

teachersteachers have to learn to do in order to have to learn to do in order to teach learners to use a language for teach learners to use a language for

communication and what knowledge and communication and what knowledge and skills they have to help learners to skills they have to help learners to

develop so as to be able to act develop so as to be able to act effectively. effectively.

MAP* EPOSTL

* STUDY

Context

Participants

Steps

Comments

Suggestions

Implementation of the EPOSTL in the ELT Department, Gazi University, Ankara

Context

Participants

25 student teachers

4 teacher trainers

Steps

* introduction of the EPOSTL, working with

selected descriptors

* collecting their expectations through open-ended

questions

* using the EPOSTL for a semester under the

guidance of teacher trainers

* interviewing both student teachers and teacher

trainers upon the completion of the EPOSTL

Introduction of the EPOSTL

* One of the researchers introducted the

EPOSTL to student teachers

* At the same time, teacher trainers were

informed about the EPOSTL

Collecting their expectations (1)

I expect that this education (through Epostl) improves my perspective and makes me a

perfect teacher because, knowing a language means knowing a culture and so

this will provide me a new perspective of life. Teaching a language necessitates more

information about the culture. The education I take will sometimes be difficult but this will

help me be a distinguished teacher.

* it may be a great opportunity to monitor ourselves as

student teaches. Especially, the step by step evaluation will

enable us to construct the building properly.

* it seems very useful in seeing my progress in time.

* it will be useful for us to evaluate ourselves. By using

EPOSTL effectively, we can see our mistakes and correct

them.

* it is very beneficial for us since it will make us realize

how much progress we will make on our teaching.

* being aware of my weaknesses and strengths in my

teaching may help me improve my proficiency and

competence.

Collecting their expectations (2)

Using the EPOSTL for a semester

Interviewing student teachers (*)

1- How did you find the use of the EPOSTL? 2- Do you think EPOSTL is useful for your professional development? 3- If so, how does it contribute to your teaching performance?4- Did the EPOSTL serve as a tool for reflection and self-evaluation? 5- Did the use of the EPOSTL help you identify any specific areas you want to work on more?

Comments by student teachers (1)

* It is a chance that we used EPOSTL because it showed

us our development in teaching. I managed to see my

mistakes as well as strengths. I really found it useful.

* It is really beneficial in that EPOSTL helped me make

certain progress, especially when looking back to the

statements.

* I am pretty sure EPOSTL provided good progress for

me because I was given the opportunity to observe,

evaluate my own teaching.

* Very useful as with the help of EPOSTL I saw my

progress in teaching English step by step.

Comments by student teachers (2)

* I think it was a good step to take for us to asses our

future profession. As I become more aware of the phases

of my training, I can develop myself getting more benefits

from EPOSTL.

* EPOSTL helped me see my process of becoming a

teacher, a successful one. I also believe it contributed to

my professional development to a great extent.

* Evaluating myself in this period, I believe, provided me

a great deal of information that will shape my future

teaching profession.

* EPOSTL provided me an opportunity to establish my

profession within a variety of ways.

Comments by student teachers (3)

* It was a kind of a mirror that showed my weaknesses

about a specific point. When I did something during my

teaching practice, it contributed to my performance a lot.

* After we went over the various topics concerning

teaching English, I looked back at how much I really

understood them critically.

* I had a great difficulty in creating speaking atmosphere

in class, after we studied teaching speaking, I filled it in,

and I believe now I have to study on how to allocate

Comments by student teachers (4)

• It was really an important experience because I at

least tried to assess my own competence in teaching.

* It was very useful to see where I was and I would

be in near future

* I should say I did have a chance to evaluate myself

about how good I was teaching. A long way to go,

though.

* It enabled me to see my weak points such as

speaking interaction, how to manage large classes

effectively.

* It was very important in terms of self-evaluation and

reflection.

Comments by student teachers (5)

Well I don‘t know, for instance, it‘s also this reflection on how good am I at [teaching] speaking or writing.

Somehow listening seems to be some kind of a feared opponent of mine, for whatever reason, I haven‘t quite

got the hang of this […]

Maybe, when I am in a good mood, I might attend a course on teaching listening…because it is a

reasonable thing to do, isn‘t it?... it [EPOSTL] has an impact, definitely!“

ChallengesA) I found filling in the descriptors a bit difficult because it‘s hard to assess yourself. I mean nobody got a 100% obviously, but it‘s difficult to find out where you really are.“

B) Particularly at the beginning I found it extremely difficult to assess competences with the help of can-do-descriptors. I still feel I haven‘t got enough practical experience to do so.

C) For many people, it is difficult to assess themselves.

D) I don’t think I will be able to asses myself objectively because I have always had hard times judging myself even on daily things.

E) EPOSTL looks like a good one, but I think using EPOSTL may be hard work.

interviewing teacher trainers1- How useful do you think the EPOSTL is? 2- Do you think EPOSTL is useful for professional development? 3- If so, how does it contribute to student teachers’ teaching performance?4- To what extent does the EPOSTL serve as a tool for reflection and self-evaluation? 5- Do you think the use of the EPOSTL helps student teachers identify the areas they should work on? 6- When do you think is the optimal time for introducing the EPOSTL to pre-service teachers? 7- How much assistance do you think student teachers should be given?

Comments by teacher trainers1- Inside & outside the class, it enables students to do their

own jobs, share their opinions, 2- It is very useful for professional development, enhance

their teaching through reflection and they can do their own evaluation & assesment , how far and how much they can do, they can get feedback from their peers.

3- It helps student teachers to identify weak and strong point and to what extent they have to improve their weak points

4- It encourages views about language teaching, they can gain some insights about language teaching,

5- It may contribute to elt students’ teaching competences as long as they can follow the instructions properly

6- 2nd because they start taking teaching classess, their teaching awareness tends to develop

7- The epostl is not sufficient,back up and guidance from teacher trainers, sessions talking about the use of the epostl, how is it going on..

Reflection and professional growth [1]

It [critical reflection] is a response to past experience and

involves conscious recall, and examination of the experience

as a basis for evaluation and decision making, and as a

source for planning and action. (Bartlett,1990)

…self inquiry, and critical thinking […] as central for

continuing professional growth […] help[ing] teachers move

beyond a level where they are guided largely by impulse,

intuition, or routine (Boud, Keogh, and Walker, 1985)

Reflection and professional growth [2]

Reflection as a pre-condition of professionalism for:

> development of autonomy & self-assessment,

> mediation between theory and practice

(Akbari 2007)

Conclusion

Student teachers & Teacher trainers EPOSTL

Awareness

Reflection

Self-evaluation

Teacher Autonomy

Suggestions

1- E-epostl? An option?

2- Benchmarking?

3- A need to modify the EPOSTL in line with Turkish

context?

Thank you…..