Analysing target language interaction in IWB-mediated activities: from drills to tasks in state secondary EFL classes
Shona Whyte, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Euline Cutrim Schmid, Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
Gary Beauchamp, Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK
Increased access to interactive technologies such as the interactive whiteboard (IWB) together with a methodological shift towards constructivist pedagogies are changing many classrooms and prompting research into effects on teaching and learning (Avvisati, 2013; Higgins, Beauchamp & Miller, 2007). Studies of IWB use in second language classrooms in European school and university settings suggest an often cautious approach to this new tool: the IWB is generally integrated into existing practice rather than acting as a catalyst for pedagogical transformation. Teachers tend to use a limited range of IWB tools and features for closely circumscribed teaching objectives, and generally follow personal pedagogical goals rather than adopting the communicative language teaching (CLT) and task-based language teaching (TBLT) approaches which currently underpin official programmes (Cutrim Schmid & Whyte, 2012; Whyte et al., 2013). A recent study of TBLT with the IWB using questionnaire, video, and interview data from 9 French EFL teachers found that transformation towards task-oriented teaching was associated with teachers with high IWB fluency and particular pedagogical engagement (Whyte & Alexander, in press).
The present study extends this line of research in an investigation of teacher and learner interaction using video recorded lessons with eleven state school teachers in France and Germany. In addition to primary classroom data, participants’ views were gathered via learner focus-group interviews and semi-structured video-stimulated teacher interviews, as part of a wider multilingual European research project on IWB-supported FL teaching. This analysis led to the development of a framework for classifying interaction, which includes CLT and TBLT criteria. The framework includes four levels of interaction, from the most basic level of drilling, through activities where teachers invite learner to display knowledge, more contextualised simulation activities, and finally to genuinely communicative tasks. The classification system includes the dimensions of focus on form/meaning, level of contextualisation and authenticity of tasks, and teacher/learner control.
The study allows for the correlation of differing levels of interaction with IWB use, participant characteristics, and teachers’ IWB experience, describing and explaining the level of interactivity and task-orientation of IWB-supported language teaching and learning in classes at different proficiency levels and across teachers with varying IWB and language teaching experience.
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Ongoing research on IWB-mediated (language) instruction
Teaching languages with technology
How teachers use the IWB for language teaching, including the design and implementation of materials and activities.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2009). The Pedagogical Potential of Interactive Whiteboards 2.0. In Thomas, M. (Ed) The Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning. IGI Global, USA.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2008). Interactive Whiteboards and the Normalisation of CALL. In de Cassia, Rita; Morriott, Veiga; Torres, Patricia Luipon (Ed.): Handbook of Research on E-Learning Methodologies for Language Acquisition. IGI Global, USA.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2006). Investigating the Use of Interactive Whiteboard Technology in the Language Classroom through the Lens of a Critical Theory of Technology. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 19 (1), 47-62.
Cutrim Schmid, E. & van Hazebrouck, Sanderin (2012). Material Development and Task Design for the Interactive Whiteboard in the Foreign Language Classroom. In Biebighäuser, K., Zibelius, M. & Schmidt, T. (Eds.) Aufgaben 2.0 – Konzepte, Materialien und Methoden für das Fremdsprachenlehren und -lernen mit digitalen Medien. Tübingen: Narr.
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Teacher education research
Investigating technology-mediated teaching practice: a number of papers using semi-structured video-stimulated recall (VSR) interviews with teachers, and drawing on teacher efficacy (Bandura) frameworks.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2011). Video-Stimulated Reflection as a Professional Development Tool in Interactive Whiteboard Research. ReCALL, 23 (3), 252-270.
Cutrim Schmid, E. & Whyte, S. (2012). Interactive Whiteboards in School Settings: Teacher Responses to Socio-constructivist Hegemonies. Language Learning and Technology 16 (2), 65-86.
Hillier, E., Beauchamp, G., & Whyte, S. (2013). A study of self-efficacy in the use of interactive whiteboards across educational settings: a European perspective from the iTILT project. Educational Futures, 5 (2)
Jones, S., Tanner, H., Kennewell, S., Parkinson, J., Denny, H., Anthony, C., Beauchamp, G., Jones, B., Lewis, H., & Loughran, A. (2009). Using Video Stimulated Reflective Dialogue to support the development of ICT based pedagogy in Mathematics and Science, The Welsh Journal of Education, 14(2), 63-77
Whyte, S. (2011). Learning to teach with videoconferencing in primary foreign language classrooms. ReCALL 23(3), 271–293.
Language teacher education
Supporting language teachers in technology-mediated practice: case studies, collaborative action research, and research projects on IWB education for language teachers.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2010). Developing competencies for using the interactive whiteboard to implement communicative language teaching in the English as a Foreign Language classroom. In Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 9 (2), 159-172.
Cutrim Schmid, E. & Schimmack, E. (2010). First Steps towards a Model of Interactive Whiteboard Training for Language Teachers. In Thomas, M. and Cutrim Schmid, E. (Eds) Interactive Whiteboards: Theory, Research and Practice. IGI Global, USA.
Cutrim Schmid, E., & Whyte, S. (Eds.) Teaching languages with technology: communicative approaches to interactive whiteboard use. A resource book for teacher development. Advances in Digital Language Learning and Teaching (Series editors: Michael Thomas, Mark Warschauer & Mark Peterson). Bloomsbury.
Cutrim Schmid, E. & Whyte, Shona (2014). Ongoing professional development in IWB mediated language teaching: evening up the odds. In Cutrim Schmid, E., & Whyte, S. (Eds.) Teaching languages with technology: communicative approaches to interactive whiteboard use. A resource book for teacher development. London: Bloomsbury.
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Whyte, S. (2013). Orchestrating learning in the language classroom: the IWB as digital dashboard. Babylonia, 2013(3), 55-61.
Whyte, S., Cutrim Schmid, E., van Hazebrouck, S., & Oberhofer, M. (2013). Open educational resources for CALL teacher education: the iTILT interactive whiteboard project. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27 (2), 122-148 doi: 10.1080/09588221.2013.818558
General teaching with (IWB) technology
Beauchamp, G. (2011). Interactivity and ICT in the primary school: categories of learner interactions with and without ICT, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20(2), , 175–190 (DOI: 10.1080/1475939X.2011.588408)
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Beauchamp, G. and Kennewell, S. (2008) ‘The influence of ICT on the interactivity of teaching’, Special Issue of the Education and Information Technologies, Vol.13, No. 4, pp305-315.
Beauchamp, G. & Parkinson, J. (2005). Beyond the ‘wow’ factor: Developing interactivity with the interactive whiteboard, School Science Review, 86(316), 97-103
Kennewell, S. & Beauchamp. G. (2007). The features of interactive whiteboards and their influence on learning, Learning, Media and Technology 32(3), pp227-241
Kennewell, S., Tanner, H., Beauchamp, G., Parkinson, J., Jones, S., Meiring, L., Norman, N., Morgan, A., Thomas, G. (2009) ‘Interactive Teaching and ICT’, The Welsh Journal of Education, 14(2), 29-44.
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Van Laer, S., Beauchamp, G. And Colpaert, J. (2012). Teacher use of the Interactive Whiteboards in Flemish Secondary Education – mapping against a transition framework, Education and Information Technologies. DOI 10.1007/s10639-012-9228-6
Second language acquisition and teaching
Research on the relationship between interactive technologies and second language acquisition.
Whyte, S. (2014). Theory and practice in second language teaching with interactive technologies. In Cutrim Schmid, E., & Whyte, S. (Eds.) Teaching languages with technology: communicative approaches to interactive whiteboard use. A resource book for teacher development. London: Bloomsbury.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2009). Interactive Whiteboard Technology in the Language Classroom: exploring new pedagogical opportunities. Saarbruecken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller.
Cutrim Schmid, E. (2008). Facilitating Whole-Class Collaborative Learning in the English Language Classroom: the Potential of Interactive Whiteboard Technology. In Müller-Hartmann, A. & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, M. (Eds.). Aufgabenorientiertes Lernen und Lehren mit Medien: Ansätze, Erfahrungen, Perspektiven in der Fremdsprachendidaktik. Frankfurt/ Main u.a.: Peter Lang.
on teaching languages with technology 