This paper tackles a challenging issue: the use of Virtual Communities in EFL learning/teaching. It features an in-service training lesson plan meant to encourage EFL teachers to explore Virtual Communities in view of using them with students, thus helping them to engage in highly motivating activities.
The in-service training lesson plan is designed for EFL teachers who are interested in technology as a privileged tool for enhancing language learning. It aims at enabling teachers to explore, build and use different types of Internet based communities in their teaching practice. The idea of the training course was spurred by some drawbacks commonly met in EFL learning situations:
When learners become active members of a virtual community they may:
The use of Virtual Communities may also provide some side benefits in terms of classroom management:
When dealing with technology issues, there is always a double focus: on tools and resources on one side and on teaching principles and practices on the other.
The training course is made up of three sessions of about three hours each, covering different features of the target topic.
The second session focuses on tools relied upon by Virtual Communities. First of all, trainees will be asked to identify and classify them, according to suitable criteria. Then they will experiment with a few tools themselves. Finally, trainees will draft the outline of lesson plans for virtual activities with their students, using the tools they have just tried out. This is a highly practical session, mainly based on the assumption that learning by doing is one of the most effective ways of learning, provided you are able to reflect critically on what you do.
The third session is intended to let trainees explore and exploit Online Platforms, powerful learning environments. combining most of the tools presented and exploited in session two in a single package, and providing many more functions as well. The last part of session three will be devoted to devising possible teaching activities for the use of Online Platforms with students. At the end of session three trainees ought to be able to cope with at least some form of online interaction and have the knowledge to explore this field further.
Goals
Tasks
Rationale
During this stage trainees will learn about the underlying principles of Virtual Communities. It is really important for trainer to know exactly what information trainees already have about the topic, so that trainer will be able to adapt, if not her materials at least her presentation. Many trainees may already be familiar with collaborative learning and may even have practiced it in one form or another. This may be useful to link the new topic to trainees’ experience and offer them the opportunity to reflect on the fact that even the newest approaches rely on a background of widely shared and codified principles. At this stage, it is also important to link principles and practice, so that trainees get the feeling that they are doing something really relevant. Trainer should pay special attention to keeping the right balance between her working time and that of trainees. Trainer may ask trainees to think about possible virtual applications of what they already do with students at a collaborative level.
Goals
Tasks
Rationale
In this stage trainees are actually given the opportunity to get hands-on experience. Trainees ought to leave with the feeling of having learned something usable. Trainer should choose simple sample Virtual Communities that can be easily and successfully explored, even by inexperienced people; they ought to offer all the typical features and tools usually provided by Virtual Communities. They also ought to be visually appealing and intellectually stimulating. The actual Virtual Communities exploration may be carried out either individually or in pairs. Technologically poorer trainees may initially be guided by trainer or by quite expert trainees. Trainer has to encourage all trainees to try things out on their own. If trainees do not try things out immediately, the chances are they will never be able to do so. It may be difficult to pull trainees away from their exploration, once they start, so trainer ought to keep an eye on time and gently lead trainees to the next task, teaching exploitation of Virtual Communities. For this second task Trainer has to take extra care with group formation, if she wants groups to produce useful outcomes. Groups may lack ideas, or they may resort to very trivial or over-trodden ones. It is trainer responsibility to supervise group work in order to stimulate, suggest, or encourage.
Goals
Tasks
Rationale
The first stage is meant for the identification/classification of tools, the second stage is devoted to working with them. It is advisable to recall the core features of the previous session, both to gather feedback on acquisition/feelings, and to see whether trainees have tried out some activities with their students. Then trainees are asked to have a closer look at a few Virtual Communities. The task aims at enabling trainees to identify the main tools used for online interaction. Trainees ought to be able to find out the two main types of online interaction – synchronous and asynchronous – the second being by far the most widespread. They ought also to realize that e-mail and mailing lists are asynchronous interaction tools, while text or voice chat is the most used synchronous interaction tool. The last task is a highly practical one. Trainees are required to set up a free e-mail account for themselves.. There's a double aim: first to show trainees how to do it, so that they can to do the same with their students; secondly, to have trainees use the newly created accounts for the setting up of a mailing list.
Goals
Tasks
Rationale
In stage two trainees are going to explore and use a few tools commonly found in virtual interaction, both in synchronous and asynchronous modes. Trainees are not expected to become confident users of Virtual Communities tools. The task is intended to raise trainees’ awareness and curiosity.. The newly created mailing list may be used to let trainees keep in touch and exchange ideas, suggestions and materials during and after the course. The procedure is the usual one: elicitation of trainees’ previous knowledge, demonstration of how to use different tools, actual practice with tools, devising and planning of teaching activities for students, featuring the newly presented tools. If there isn't enough time to get a usable outline of a lesson plan during the session, trainees may be required to complete it for homework. Trainer ought to devote extra care to pairing/grouping trainees, considering not only trainees’ level of technological competence, but also their interest or the type of school they come from, so that they may derive maximum benefit from their co-operation. Trainer will have to discreetly but carefully supervise group work, so that she may prompt trainees if/when they lack ideas and support them or lead them in a practicable direction.
Goals
Task
Rationale
Session three is completely devoted to Online Platforms. The first task is meant to gather feedback. Trainer may start commenting on any interaction that has occurred on the group mailing list and then let trainees report on any attempts they may have made on their own or with students. The second task is focused on Online Platforms. Trainees may already be familiar with Online Platforms. Trainer has to elicit trainees’ previous knowledge to be able to adapt what she is going to say in her presentation in task three. The main aim of task two is to let trainees identify the tools they have experimented with in session two and realize they are grouped all together in Online Platforms. Trainees may also identify a few more tools/functions. In any case, Trainer may point out some more tools in her summing up. The Power Point presentation based lecturette is meant to further clarify what Online Platforms are, but also to offer hints on how they may be used for teaching/learning purposes. The main differences between free/open source platforms and commercial ones ought also to be pointed out. Task four is meant for further exploration of Online Platforms, offering trainees the opportunity to look for new features/functions, but also to let them think of possible teaching exploitation. At the end of stage one trainees should have gathered a few ideas on what kind of support for teaching Online Platforms may offer and what use can actually be made of them.
Goals
Tasks
Rationale
Stage two of session three is devoted to teaching exploitation of Online Platforms. Trainees think about a teaching project or learning session they would like to implement for their students, then chose suitable Online Platforms There are two main aims in task one: to let Trainees think about practical exploitation of Online Platforms and to let them use as many virtual tools as possible. It is trainer's responsibility to support groups with a few hints/suggestion. Grouping is very important for this task. Trainees ought to group according to common interests, so that trainees may find it easier to get focused. Task two is a report on group outcomes. Trainees may gather lots of ideas for further exploitation of Virtual Communities/Online Platforms in their teaching. Trainer may ask trainees to share their products uploading them on the group mailing list. Task three is meant as a course rounding up and leave taking, but also as a way of gathering further feedback on how trainees feel about the course and its outcomes. Trainees are not expected to have become expert in virtual interaction, but they may feel confident enough to explore the field further on their own and try out a few things with their students.
There are two basic assumptions behind the course presented in the in-service training lesson plan: on the one hand technology may offer the opportunity to create virtual communities where people can meet and share ideas, knowledge, opinions or just for fun; on the other hand virtual communities may prove extremely beneficial for language learning. It may be safely stated, as a final remark, that if learners become active members of a virtual community, they will get plenty of language exposure, they will learn how to interact, co-operate and share things with real people, thus increasing their interpersonal skills and their intercultural awareness.
The paper is based on an assignment carried out at NILE /Leeds Metropolitan University as part of a teacher trainer co-funded bursary scheme by British Council/Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.