IATEFL 2018 Steve Mann: Video in Language Teacher Education

IATEFL 2018 Conference Reports

IATEFL 2018 Conference Reports

    IATEFL Presentation, Thurs 12th April, 2018

Steve Mann: Video in Language Teacher Education

In this talk, Dr Steve Mann (University of Warwick) introduced the Video in Language Teacher Education (ViLTE) project. The project website:  https://vilte.warwick.ac.uk/

 

 

A screen shot of the ViLTE website

 

Introducing the ViLTE Project

The aims of the ViLTE project are to:

  1. Map the current use of vídeo and visual media tools in language teacher education.
  2. Build a community of practice among practitioners involved in teacher education in order to share good ideas and options.

These led to the Research Questions outlined in the following slides:

 

 

 

 

So far, the project has compiled information from 40 different teacher educators around the world to find out how they use vídeo in their training processes.

 

Using digital vídeo in language education

The use of (digital) vídeo and technology to create affordances for language learning is widely acknowledged. Steve highlighted the the EU project: Video For All http://videoforall.eu/es/ (see slide below) as an example of a website that shares ideas on how to use vídeo to its full potential in teaching and learning.

Video For All

Video is also increasingly being used in ‘remote’ teaching or teaching through vídeo conferences. some examples:
The Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, run by the British Council. See the article in IATEFL Voices ‘teaching remotely’ (Issue 259)
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/adriana-de-los-santos-alicia-artusi-cpd-wheel-remote-teaching
The HandsUp project (Nick Bilborough) in Gaza.
https://handsupproject.org/

Using digital vídeo in teacher education

He went on to describe how vídeo has been used in other areas of teacher education and professional development, e.g. in science and mathematics. An example of this in Maths teacher training is Santagata & Yeh’s use of vídeo to support teachers’ reflections on evidence of student learning. Video can be an important tool to enable teachers to consider their own teaching strategies and can help to build frameworks for analysis and reflection. Steve reviewed the current literature on the use of vídeo in language teacher training, summarised in the slide below: 

 

Literature Review

Amongst the many uses of vídeo for teacher development we can include:

· modelling
· self-observation
· debate
· sharing good practice on social media
· creation of portfolios
· measurement of progress.

Furthermore, vídeo can be used to great effect in Post Observation Conferences (POCs), to avoid some of the commonly encountered pitfalls. The role of vídeo helps the trainer to:

· talk less and being less directive (Copland et al., 2009)
· withhold value judgements (Brandt, 2008) and talk about specific episodes or moments.

Using digital vídeo in language teacher education: The ViLTE project

Video is being increasingly used in micro-teaching and peer feedback (Maher Sherif) and has great potential for dialogic Reflective Practice interaction between you and your former self, etc. The ViLTE project can record teachers’ experiences of development through various uses of vídeo: examples include the rise of platforms such as VEO, Panopto or Iris Connect and screen capture through Snaggit, Screencast-O-Matic, and other tools can be used for creation of portfolios, creation of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), vídeo-banks, etc.
By building up a bank of examples of how vídeo is used in Language teacher education, the ViLTE project can help to map the current state of the terrain as well as provide ideas and inspiration for those interested in implementing vídeo techniques into their teacher training and development programmes. There is information on the website about how to contribute.

References

Brunvand, S. & Fishman, B. (2006). Investigating the Impact of the Availability of Scaffolds on Preservice Teacher Noticing and Learning from Video. Journal of Education Technology Systems, 35 (2)

Gaudin, C. Chaliès, S. & Amathieu, J. (2015) The Impact of Preservice Teachers’ Experiences in a Video-Enhanced Training Program on Their Teaching: A Case Study in Physical Education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education.

Grant, T. J. & Kline, K. (2010). The impact of video-based lesson analysis on teachers' thinking and practice. Teacher Development, 14 (1), 69-83.

Liang, J. (2015). Live video classroom observation: an effective approach to reducing reactivity in collecting observational information for teacher professional development. Journal for Education for Teaching, 41 (3), 235-253.

Santagata & Yeh, (2012).Translating Thought into Action: How Digital Video Use Benefits Teachers:”Video and Practice-Based Teacher Preparation: Effects on Teaching and Self-Reflection Abilities. Retrieved from: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/learningfromteaching/2012/07/30/translating-thought-into-action-how-digital-video-use-benefits-teachersvideo-and-practice-based-teacher-preparation-effects-on-teaching-and-self-reflection-abilities/

Walsh, S. (2011). Exploring Classroom Discourse: Language in Action. Routledge.