Integrating ICT into classroom practice in modern foreign language teaching in England: making room for teachers' voices

Current government policy in the UK places teachers of all subject areas under pressure to embed ICT into their pedagogic practice to improve teaching and learning. This article attempts to compare that policy with the situated reality of a small number of Modern Foreign Language teachers striving to comply. The voices of four teachers are presented as they began to embed the use of ICT (primarily their newly acquired Interactive Whiteboards) into their existing classroom approach. The story of their developing practice is examined for signs of transformation; the complexity of a real situation is thus contrasted with a simplified ideal. By means of this investigation, examples of sophisticated pedagogical thinking are explored to demonstrate that it is perhaps not so easy to transform the learning process, with or without ICT.

La politique actuelle du gouvernement du Royaume‐Uni exerce une pression sur les enseignants de toutes matières pour qu'ils intègrent les technologies d'information et de communication dans leurs pratiques pédagogiques afin d'améliorer l'enseignement et l'apprentissage. Cet article essaye de comparer cette politique avec la réalité contextualisée d'un petit nombre de professeurs de langues étrangères qui font leur possible pour s'y conformer. Les voix de quatre enseignants y sont présentées alors qu'ils commençaient à intégrer l'informatique (et en particulier leurs tableaux interactifs récemment acquis) dans leur approche pédagogique actuelle. L'histoire du changement de leurs pratiques est remise en question pour trouver des indications de transformation. La complexité d'une situation réelle peut alors être mise en contraste avec une idée simplifiée. De par cette étude, on peut examiner des exemples de la réflexion pédagogique développée pour montrer que ce n'est pas tellement facile de transformer les méthodes d'apprentissage, avec ou sans l'outil informatique.

Die Gegenwärtige Regierungspolitik in Großbritannien setzt Lehrkräfte aller Schulfächer unter Druck, moderne Informationstechniken in ihre pädagogische Praxis einzubeziehen, um den Unterricht und den Lernprozess zu verbessern. Dieser Beitrag versucht, diese Politik mit der realen Situation einer kleinen Anzahl von SprachlehrerInnen zu vergleichen, die sich bemühen, den Anordnungen nachzukommen. Die Stimmen von vier Lehrkräften werden vorgelegt, die damit begonnen haben, Informations‐ und Kommunikationstechnologie (hauptsächlich ihre neu erworbenen interactive whiteboards (interaktive Tafeln)) in ihre gegenwärtige Unterrichtsmethode einzubeziehen. Es wird untersucht, welche Veränderungen es bei zunehmender Praxis gibt. Die Vielschichtigkeit einer realen Situation wird somit dem vereinfachten Idealfall gegenübergestellt. Mittels dieser Untersuchung werden Beispiele hochentwickelten pädagogischen Denkens erforscht und dazu verwendet, um zu zeigen, dass es doch nicht so einfach ist, den Lernprozess zu verändern—mit oder ohne ICT.

La política actuel del gobierno del Reino Unido sitúa a los profesores de todos los departamentos bajo la presión de arraigar ICT en la práctica de su pedagogía para mejorar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Este artículo intenta comparar esa política con la realidad de un pequeño número de profesores de idiomas extranjeros que se esfuerza por llevarla a cabo. La voz de cuatro profesores nos presenta como empoezaron a arraigar el uso de ICT (primeramente con la reciente adquisición de los Whiteboards Interactivos) como enfoque en sus clases actuales. La historia de su práctica en desarrollo está acompañada de indicios de cambios. Por eso la complejidad de una situación real se contrasta con un ideal más simplificado. Por medio de esta investigación, se exploran ejemplos de pensamiento pedagógico sofisticado para demostrar que quizás no sea tan fácil transformar el proceso de aprendizaje, con o sin ICT.     

Young readers' use of phonological information: phonological awareness, memory, and comprehension

In this study, we explored the relationship between beginning readers' phonological awareness and other aspects of phonological processing, specifically as manifested in short-term memory and comprehension tasks. The theoretical questions underlying the study were (a) what roles phonological processes play in children's beginning reading, from word identification through sentence comprehension, and (b) whether those roles are sufficiently related that potential difficulties at one level directly affect processing at other levels. Phonologically induced effects were observed for word-list memory and for sentence judgments for both novice readers (at the end of kindergarten) and relatively more experienced readers (end of Grades 1 and 2). For both age groups, correlational analyses revealed relationships among phonological awareness, phonological processing in list memory, and word reading. However, phonological processing in sentence comprehension was not related to other types of phonological processing. These results indicate that although phonology plays a role during comprehension, phonological processing may not be as limiting a factor in comprehension as in word reading.     

Social learning in new Caledonian crows

New Caledonian (NC) crows are the most sophisticated tool manufacturers other than humans. The diversification and geographical distribution of their three Pandanus tool designs that differ in complexity, as well as the lack of ecological correlates, suggest that cumulative technological change has taken place. To investigate the possibility that high-fidelity social transmission mediated this putative ratchet-like process, we studied the ontogeny of Pandanus tool manufacture and social organization in free-living NC crows. We found that juvenile crows took more than 1 year to reach adult proficiency in their Pandanus tool skills. Although trial-and-error learning is clearly important, juveniles have ample opportunity to learn about Pandanus tool manufacture by both observing their parents and interacting with artifactual material. The crows’ social system seems likely to promote the faithful social transmission of local tool designs by both favoring the vertical transmission of tool information and minimizing horizontal transmission. We suggest that NC crows develop their Pandanus tool skills in a highly scaffolded learning environment that facilitates the cumulative technological evolution of tool designs.     

The broader aspects of speech training

Need gratification, expectation fulfillment, equivocality reduction, and constraint‐reinforcement conceptualizations have been proposed for the satisfaction construct. Analysis and application of these perspectives to communication satisfaction reveal a number of serious shortcomings. A new perspective, the discriminative fulfillment approach, was developed to overcome these problems. The perspective defines satisfaction as the reinforcement of behavior associated with discriminative stimuli and suggests the investigation of performing and perceiving discriminative stimuli and producing appropriate behaviors and reinforcement.     

Re-engaging disengaged pupils in physical education: an appreciative inquiry perspective

Many children and young people enjoy physical education (PE), yet many do not, and subsequently become disengaged from PE. Previous research that has explored pupil disengagement from PE has focused on what teachers should do to re-engage their pupils, or has encouraged dis-engaged pupils to create a curriculum that they perceive to be socially and culturally relevant. While this research is extremely important, it does not highlight enough what teachers bring to the teaching and learning process. An alternative approach to understanding (dis)engagement in PE is to start by asking both teachers and pupils: what is currently working, why is it working, and what could be in the future? This ‘appreciative inquiry’ (AI) approach is underpinned by the belief that everyone and everything has strengths that can be developed, and that those strengths should be the starting point for change. Consequently, in establishing the use of AI as an important means of understanding and potentially enhancing PE pedagogy, this research sought to understand the successful teaching strategies developed by PE teachers to re-engage disengaged pupils. Importantly, in recognising the value of understanding pupil experiences we also explored and shared the success stories of the ‘re-engaged’ pupils. Finally, in extending the research in this area, we examined the impact that teacher engagement in the AI process had on their professional learning. As the teachers engaged in the AI process, they discussed, listened to (each other and their pupils), reflected and shared their success stories. This, in turn, appears to have encouraged them to re-articulate and re-enact their practice and learning within the context of a more positive future. They designed (and in some cases, co-design with their pupils) meaningful and empowering PE programmes for their ‘disengaged’ pupils and have subsequently made a commitment to future professional learning and inquiry.     

Academic Integrity in Electronic Universities of the New Millennium: a Practitioner's Perspective

Drawing upon its experience as a pioneer of open and distance learning in the management education field, the Open University Business School of the United Kingdom has now extended its system of student communication and support to include the use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a mass teaching tool. After outlining the method of supported open learning practiced by this Business School, the article describes the use of computer‐mediated conferencing in the graduate entry course to the MBA programme, a course that attracts some 1,500 managers each year from across Europe. The article then summarizes two years of student evaluation of their use of computer‐mediated conferencing as a learning support medium. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of student reactions to computer‐mediated conferencing for the future effective use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in management education.     

Comparison of kinematics in skilled and unskilled arms of the same recreational baseball players

We examined mechanisms of coordination that enable skilled recreational baseball players to make fast overarm throws with their skilled arm and which are absent or rudimentary in their unskilled arm. Arm segment angular kinematics in three dimensions at 1000 Hz were recorded with the search-coil technique from the arms of eight individuals who on one occasion threw with their skilled right arm and on another with their unskilled left arm. Compared with their unskilled arm, the skilled arm had: a larger angular deceleration of the upper arm in space in the forward horizontal direction; a larger shoulder internal rotation velocity at ball release (unskilled arms had a negative velocity); a period of elbow extension deceleration before ball release; and an increase in wrist velocity with an increase in ball speed. It is suggested that some of these differences in arm kinematics occur because of differences between the skilled and unskilled arms in their ability to control interaction torques (the passive torque at one joint due to motion at adjacent joints). It is proposed that one reason unskilled individuals cannot throw fast is that, unlike their skilled counterparts, they have not developed the coordination mechanisms to effectively exploit interaction torques.