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CATESOL Book Review: Pedagogy & Practice for Online English Language Teacher Education
07/21/2020
Christie Sosa
Pre-service and In-service teacher education in increasingly being offered and accessed online. It may be the delivery of training and professional development for teachers, and informs their delivery of language instruction to students virtually. Therefore, pedagogy needs to be the underlying source for development, design and delivery, not technology. The authors share principles and examples the how to accomplish this.
Chapter One addresses the basics, the presence of a teacher online. Deliberate planning and application as a reflective process is necessary. Concepts of Presence Theory, Pedagogical Significance and Pathways to Practice are addressed. The teacher, and effective presence, permits critical thinking and higher order thinking skills, when activities and interaction are well designed.
Reflection on experience is the focus of Chapter Two. Reflective practice has long been an established procedural exercise to inform teacher development. The chapter examines the use of reflective practice in online in-service teacher training and how the common format of asynchronous and text-based mediums contribute to the effective reflection on instructional practice.
The flexible and dynamic nature of online teacher training, compared to face-to-face classroom instruction, is highlighted in Chapter Three and how by its nature offers multiple means of representative to offer inclusive teaching for a variety of learners. An example of the redesign for an online intensive pre-service teacher training workshop on universal design is shared to model multiple means of access and communication.
The authors in Chapter 4 remind us of how digital platforms have permitted access to numerous networks, but for these networks, big and small, they need to be constructed and managed effectively. Literature on connectivism and related principles are discussed and how they are applied to online professional learning networks (PLNs).
Chapter Five describes how the use of theories such as JiTT (Just-in-time teaching) can be used in flipped learning environments. JiTT is when the instructor helps in preparing the students for the learning that may occur based on the students’ input and questions. The author describes how a doctoral seminar that integrates flipped learning with JiTT may be the perfect scenario for this type of learning, as the in-class discussion helps students co-construct the knowledge and meaning from the assigned texts.
In Chapter Six, the use of online synchronous meetings, where students meet at the same time, is described as beneficial for dialectical learning, as the students can work together to construct meaning. The author uses an example of a writing pedagogy class an example of how this structure works, including how students can learn together in real-time.
In contrast, in Chapter Seven, the authors focus on how asynchronous work can be beneficial for the students, particularly in writing. The authors also describe how the use of scaffolding, whether it is hard scaffolding (i.e, mediator-controlled) or soft scaffolding (i.e., based on immediate feedback), in process writing can be beneficial for the class. Three types of tools (i.e., blogs, wikis, and forums) were examined in a writing pedagogy course for pre-service ESL/EFL teachers to see how they could help support learners during the writing process.
The concept of the « third space » in online educational settings is examined in Chapter Eight. In this chapter, the online « third space » is described and defined as a safe place where students can share, collaborate, and learn from each other on topics that can be considered challenging to learn. The authors of this chapter describe how they used their online class for ESL/EFL teacher candidates and helped them develop their cultural identity and understanding of others within the space.
Chapter Nine describes the « trans-classrooming » experience of teachers, where they have to shuffle between teaching face-to-face to teaching in an online space and the pedagogical challenges they may face as a result of this transition. The authors also describe the concept of « liminal space » as the transition between both kinds of teaching, and while this space may provide some anxiety for teachers new to teaching remotely, it can provide an opportunity for instructors to think critically about their teaching beliefs and pedagogies.
The book content is certainly timely with the multitude of classroom teachers that have moved to online teaching. Training at an institute level, educational association level and an individual teacher level can be enhanced by the discussions to better prepare new and experienced teachers for the virtual environment.
Call for Book Review Co-Authors
If you are interested in co-authoring a book slated for the coming months or if you would like to recommend a book that you would like to review as co-author/sole author in future issues, please contact Kara Mac Donald, kmacd@rocketmail.com
Christie Sosa
CATESOL Book Review: Pedagogy & Practice for Online English Language Teacher Education
By Kara Mac Donald and Suzanne Bardasz
Pre-service and In-service teacher education in increasingly being offered and accessed online. It may be the delivery of training and professional development for teachers, and informs their delivery of language instruction to students virtually. Therefore, pedagogy needs to be the underlying source for development, design and delivery, not technology. The authors share principles and examples the how to accomplish this.
Pre-service and In-service teacher education in increasingly being offered and accessed online. It may be the delivery of training and professional development for teachers, and informs their delivery of language instruction to students virtually. Therefore, pedagogy needs to be the underlying source for development, design and delivery, not technology. The authors share principles and examples the how to accomplish this.
Chapter One addresses the basics, the presence of a teacher online. Deliberate planning and application as a reflective process is necessary. Concepts of Presence Theory, Pedagogical Significance and Pathways to Practice are addressed. The teacher, and effective presence, permits critical thinking and higher order thinking skills, when activities and interaction are well designed.
Reflection on experience is the focus of Chapter Two. Reflective practice has long been an established procedural exercise to inform teacher development. The chapter examines the use of reflective practice in online in-service teacher training and how the common format of asynchronous and text-based mediums contribute to the effective reflection on instructional practice.
The flexible and dynamic nature of online teacher training, compared to face-to-face classroom instruction, is highlighted in Chapter Three and how by its nature offers multiple means of representative to offer inclusive teaching for a variety of learners. An example of the redesign for an online intensive pre-service teacher training workshop on universal design is shared to model multiple means of access and communication.
The authors in Chapter 4 remind us of how digital platforms have permitted access to numerous networks, but for these networks, big and small, they need to be constructed and managed effectively. Literature on connectivism and related principles are discussed and how they are applied to online professional learning networks (PLNs).
Chapter Five describes how the use of theories such as JiTT (Just-in-time teaching) can be used in flipped learning environments. JiTT is when the instructor helps in preparing the students for the learning that may occur based on the students’ input and questions. The author describes how a doctoral seminar that integrates flipped learning with JiTT may be the perfect scenario for this type of learning, as the in-class discussion helps students co-construct the knowledge and meaning from the assigned texts.
In Chapter Six, the use of online synchronous meetings, where students meet at the same time, is described as beneficial for dialectical learning, as the students can work together to construct meaning. The author uses an example of a writing pedagogy class an example of how this structure works, including how students can learn together in real-time.
In contrast, in Chapter Seven, the authors focus on how asynchronous work can be beneficial for the students, particularly in writing. The authors also describe how the use of scaffolding, whether it is hard scaffolding (i.e, mediator-controlled) or soft scaffolding (i.e., based on immediate feedback), in process writing can be beneficial for the class. Three types of tools (i.e., blogs, wikis, and forums) were examined in a writing pedagogy course for pre-service ESL/EFL teachers to see how they could help support learners during the writing process.
The concept of the « third space » in online educational settings is examined in Chapter Eight. In this chapter, the online « third space » is described and defined as a safe place where students can share, collaborate, and learn from each other on topics that can be considered challenging to learn. The authors of this chapter describe how they used their online class for ESL/EFL teacher candidates and helped them develop their cultural identity and understanding of others within the space.
Chapter Nine describes the « trans-classrooming » experience of teachers, where they have to shuffle between teaching face-to-face to teaching in an online space and the pedagogical challenges they may face as a result of this transition. The authors also describe the concept of « liminal space » as the transition between both kinds of teaching, and while this space may provide some anxiety for teachers new to teaching remotely, it can provide an opportunity for instructors to think critically about their teaching beliefs and pedagogies.
The book content is certainly timely with the multitude of classroom teachers that have moved to online teaching. Training at an institute level, educational association level and an individual teacher level can be enhanced by the discussions to better prepare new and experienced teachers for the virtual environment.
Call for Book Review Co-Authors
If you are interested in co-authoring a book slated for the coming months or if you would like to recommend a book that you would like to review as co-author/sole author in future issues, please contact Kara Mac Donald, kmacd@rocketmail.com