Reflective teaching as a methodology to

assess training of pre-service and in-

service teacher for on-line tutoring tasks

Nathalie Gettliffe

Université de Strasbourg

(France)

Teacher Education and CALL at

the University of Strasbourg

Year 3 Licence: 24 hours ICT and

Language Teaching

Year 1 Master of Arts Teaching Foreign

Languages: 48 hours

Year 2 Master of Arts Educational

Technology and Language Teaching: 400

hours

Teacher Education and CALL at

the Université de Strasbourg

Year 2 Master of Arts Research: 24 hours

Year 2 Master of Arts Language

counsellor: 24 hours

Year 2 Master of Arts Managing language

programs: 24 hours (+24 hours)

Teacher Education in CALL: a growing

concern (Hubbard and Levy, 2006)

Training pre-service and in-service

teachers in on-line tutoring : a challenge

given the instability of on-line tutoring

practices

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Various practices to Teacher Development with CALL (Hubbard and Levy, 2006): Project based learning

Situated learning

Online courses and CMC

Collaborative development

Integration of CALL education throughout degree programs

Communities of practice in CALL education and learning autonomy

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Which practice is effective in Teacher

Education in CALL?

How can we assess the effectiveness of a

particular practice?

Which methodology can (should) we use

to assess the effectiveness of a particular

practice?

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

My project:

Assessing a project-based practice with a

reflective teaching methodology

Course content: on-line tutoring

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective pratice is not:

-action research (implementation of an

action plan to bring change in some

aspects of a teacher’s class with

subsequent monitoring of the effects of the

innovation)

-developmental research (designing a tool

and conducting multiple recursive analyses

during the « creative » process)

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective teaching is not:

Reflexivity: research paradigm that uses the

capacity of social actors in modern societies

to be conscious and able to give accounts of

their actions to explore (mostly sociological)

issues or researchers biases (De Robillard,

2009)

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective teaching is: Examining teaching experience as a basis for

evaluation and decision making and as a source of change (Bartlett, 1990)

Exploring classroom processes: teacher’s beliefs, focus on the learner, teacher decision making, role of the teacher, structure of a language lesson, interaction in the second language classroom, nature of language learning activities, language use in the classroom (Richards and Lockhart, 1994)

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Schön, 1987 Educating the reflective

practitionerThis dilemma of rigor or relevance arises more acutely in some areas

of practice than others. In the varied topography of professional

practice, there is a high hard ground where the practitioner can make

use of research-based theory and technique, and there is the swampy

lowland where situations are confusing messes incapable of technical

solutions. The difficulty is that the problems of the high ground,

however great their technical interest, are often relatively unimportant

to clients or the larger society, while in the swamp are the problems of

greatest human concern.

Second language acquisition vs teacher education

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Assessing reflective teaching as an

effective mode to train teachers in project

based-CALL:

Confronting reflective teaching to user’s

perceptions (questionnaire and interviews)

Confronting reflective teaching to data

analysis

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective teaching can use the following

procedures:

Teaching journals, lesson reports, surveys

and questionnaires, audio and video

recordings, observations, e-portfolios…

Tutors used a portfolio for their reflective

teaching (ex ample Group 4)

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

What I used to assess reflective teaching

On-line questionnaire (27 items):

Group, technical challenges; aims; beginning/end;

who was in charge; tutor role; number of tasks;

tasks sequencing; follow-up from the tutors;

evaluation; conclusion

Questionnaire designed from reflective teaching

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Interviews:

similar questions than questionnaire

Two extra questions: was it your first course on-

line? how much time did it take you to do the on-

line tasks?

Observations of on-line tutoring scenario

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

12 hour course on On-line tutoring

Course content: Definitions (on-line tutoring) of on-line tutoring

Tasks/role of an on-line tutor

setting up a tutoring scenario and linking it to on-line and off-line resources

On-line tutoring tools (characteristics and limitations)

Learning management system (Dokeos)

Videos of novice, intermediate and experienced on-line tutors

example of an On-line course (English for Academic purposes)

research on On-line tutoring (articles, journals, books).

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Course project

Designing on-line tasks for Master 1 foreign

students needing help with their written

academic French (pretest and homeworks)

Managing a three week on-line tutoring

session with the Master 1 students (scenario)

Evaluating the work of « their » students

(30%)

Introduction Issu

e

Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusio

n

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Tutors Students

Group A: Tomoki

n=3

N=8 (2 were MM

students)

Group B: Lucia

n=3

N=8 (1 was MM

student)

Group C: Christos

n=4

N=8

Group D: Xiaolu

n=4

N=8

Project report

Description of on-line scenario

Reflective teaching (issues when designing tasks,

issues during the on-line tutoring, changes brought

during the on-line tutoring, future changes, what you

have learned, what you would like to learn, comments

on the help from your informants)

Link your reflective thinking to at least 2 research

articles

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Case Study A:

Analysis of scenario

Objectives: to identify main arguments in a text

and to write a persuasive structured essay

Activities:

Week 1: read and identify the structure of a text on

Applied Linguistics

Week 2: Critique of students work and own work

Week 3: write a short essay (300 words) on a topic on

Applied Linguistics

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Resources:

text on the importance of a pedagogical scenario

for foreign language learning (8 Pages)

Course components:

Identify the main ideas of a text

How to write sentences summarizing a paragraph

transitions

Connecting words

What is the structure of a paragraph

Evaluation

Three or four links for each course

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Tutoring (Accompagnement):

Virtual office hours Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday via

a chat from 7pm to 8pm

Discussion forums for individual and group

feedback

Announcements for homework to be done

Corrections and feed-back on all submitted work

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective teaching:

No major group problem. Everyone had a

specific task: native speakers gave feedback

and designed course content; non-native

speaker looked for Internet links and

approved course task as an informant

Difficulties: technical challenges; wrong

format for the posted homeworks; not enough

interaction on the forum; text too long;

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Difficulties:

Indications for final work not clear enough;

students gave their homework late and group

discussions could not take place

Changes to be brought:

Send personal mails to students to remind them of

work to be done

Design tasks that can be done independently

What we have learned:

On-line tutoring requires a lot of time to design and

follow activities

Need to give detailed explanation so students

understand what needs to be done

Need to plan everything

Content needs to be motivating

Research article:

Our main challenge was to motivate students

Celik, C. (2009) « Analyse de pratiques de tutorat

dans un campus numérique de maîtrise de FLE à

distance » Alsic, vol 11

Decamps, S., Depover, C. et De Lièvre, B. (2009)

Moduler l’encadrement tutoral dans la

scénarisation d’activités à distance, Actes du

colloque EPAL.

What they have learned from research:

Quality of tutoring influences the number of stay-

ins/drop-out

Tutoring can help retain students (vs no tutoring)

Pro-active responses helps retain students and

help them use fully all resources provided on the

LMS

« We should have been more proactive »

User’s point of view

interviews (2)

Motivation: does not like on-line components; late

registration

Did understand that writing an esssay in French is

not the same that writing an essay in English thank

to the tutors feedback

Could not identify who was tutoring

Feedback was not precise enough

User’s point of view

Questionnaire (3)

Problem with understanding when the on-line

component started, who was in charge (2), who to

contact in case of problems,

Too many activities (3), too difficult, not organized

enough

No individual help (2) and no understanding as to

how one was being evaluated (2)

Overall, the on-line tutors realized that

they were not just there to give

homeworks and grade them but to

create a relationship with the students

in order to keep them motivated and

on task.

Nonetheless, tutors are not attentive

enough to individual needs (what can

I help you with?)

Group B:

Objectives: improve style and sentence

structure

Activities: write a short essay (200 words),

identify the key areas of difficulties, write a

lesson about it and write a second essay (300

words) to see if improvement; write on a blog

about your challenges as a foreign student in

Strasbourg

Group C:

Objectives: review grammatical points and

understand text writing

Activities: formative tests on grammar; write a

complex sentence; write a collaborative text

Group D:

Objectives: understanding grammar points

and writing a short text

Activities: grammar lessons and text

production

My project:

Assessing a project-based practice with a

reflective teaching methodology

Course content: on-line tutoring

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Through their reflective teaching portfolio, all tutoring groups identified the main difficulties of on-line tutoring:

Time

Availability

Being proactive

Being precise when giving feedback

Distributing and sharing roles

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Reflective teaching allows tutors to reflect

on changes that need to be brought to

their project

Dialogic conversations with research

allows them to seek answers

Tutors still need feedback from students to

complement reflection as well as teacher’s

feedback

Introduction Issue Research

Methodology

Context Data Discussion Conclusion

Final considerations

Ethical questions

Reflective teaching to become researchers