Future (Im)Perfect: Language Teachers‘ Professional Development And ICT Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can connect with language teaching to make language learning more open, more enjoyable, and – some claim – more effective. Yet language teachers interested in integrating ICT (more) into their teaching activities face many challenges, which could be met with the help of adequate and flexible professional development. Drawing on recent research carried out by the AILA Research Network TPLang21 and by the speaker, this talk will provide an insightful picture of global language teachers‘ professional development activities. The final part of this talk addresses the ways in which the ICT-REV project at the European Centre of Modern Languages has sought to support language teachers in their individual and networked ICT-related professional development.

1. FUTURE (IM)PERFECT:
LANGUAGE TEACHERS‘
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
AND ICT
MARTINA EMKE
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM
DC4LT FORUM, BRUSSELS, 17 MAY 2019, #DC4LT

2. LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND ICT
“Unfortunately, teacher preparation for technology use
in language education has faced many challenges: It is
still often neglected completely or focused on learning
to use existing technologies rather than looking
forward to ways in which cutting-edge technologies can
enhance or revolutionize teaching and learning.”
(Kessler, 2018, p. 211)

3. EVERYTHING CHANGES…EVERYTHING
STAYS THE SAME!?
Source: CC0

4. WHAT TYPE OF TRAINING DO LANGUAGE
TEACHERS WANT IN AN IDEAL WORLD…
Learning by doing,
supported by clear
explanations and help
when needed, all in a
climate of tolerance,
openness and sharing.
Source: DOTS/MoreDOTS/ICT-REV
workshops

5. LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND ICT
• Increasing demands on language teachers in terms of technical
skills
• Learners view technology as important for their learning
experience
• Need for continuing professional development (CPD) for
language teachers
• We need to (better) understand
• what is available
• what is required
• what works.

6. THE RESEARCH NETWORK TPLANG21
• 35 established language educators and researchers from 15
countries/five continents who have worked on ICT and (self-)
empowering methods of CPD.
• Objectives:
• to collect information about CPD programmes, focusing on ICT and/or self-
empowerment of teachers
• to compare different, international approaches to CPD
• to compare beliefs about teachers (“ideal” teachers) from an intercultural
perspective.
• Ultimately, TPLANG21 seeks to provide a detailed picture of the
landscape of language teacher training available in terms of digital
skills development, according to target culture, culture of origin,
teaching and learning cultures.

7. Data collection : Initial steps
Available in 6 languages (English,
French, German, Persian, Portuguese,
Spanish)
285 respondents
• Open ended questions
• Q30-Q32
• ex. Which characteristics do you think
define the “ideal” language teacher”?
Please write a minimum of three.
• Open ended questions
• Q27- Q29
• perceptions of language teacher training
needs, and current models of language
teacher training
• Ex. Should the use of technologies in
language teaching and learning be an
obligatory part of language teachers
training programs? Yes or No, please
give reasons.
• closed ended questions + some open
ended questions
• What is available? What works? what is
required
• Q12 –Q26
• Ex. Levels, providers, format of training,
etc.
• Closed ended questions + some open
ended questions
• Ex. Carrier, Country, etc.
• Q1- Q11
Part 1 -
Personal
information
Part 2 – PD
for
integration
of
technology
Part 4 -
Perception
of ideal
language
teacher
Part 3 -
Perception
of needs
An online questionnaire
Source: TPLANG21, WorldCALL conference 2018

8. Part 1 - (Q1,Q2, Q3, Q4) Participants
250
145
46
34
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Language teacher Language trainer Administator Other
Participants
Language teacher Language trainer Administator Other
Year Abroad Officer and Assessor for HEA accreditation.
Area Referent teacher in the project "Secundaria de
futuro" at secondary schools of the Buenos Aires
government.
Curriculum developer
Foreign Language Pedagogical Supervisor
PHD student
Consultant
pedagogical adviser for innovations in education including
Source: TPLANG21, WorldCALL conference 2018

9. Part 2 - What is available?
Level of the certified
professional
development
programs?
When are these
certified professional
development programs
available?
Providers of these
programs?
In which format are
these training programs
available?
Type of professional
development programs
on the integration of
technologies in
language education
(taken or offered)
56
26
Universities
Academic centers
50
43
National certification
Institutional certification 74
45
in service pr.
pre-service tr.
95
58 57
Face-to-face programs
Blended programs (partly
online, partly face-to-face)
programs
Fully online programs
60
58
Self-training
Post-graduate
training courses
Source: TPLANG21, WorldCALL conference 2018

10. Satisfaction and comment categories
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Satisfaction with training received
Yes No Yes and No
Source: TPLANG21, WorldCALL conference 2018

11. PARTICIPANTS’ COMMENTS: EXAMPLES
• “I did self- training. There was no specific program for me.
Whenever I realized the need for something, such as an app, an
add-on, or software, I just searched Google or Youtube to gain
enough info about them.”
• „Es gibt kaum Trainings, die digitale Medien einschließen.
Dieses Feld entwickelt sich erst.“

12. Language teachers and language
teaching co-determine the rhizomatic
movement of tweet and hashtag
assemblages and are co-constructed
through the workings within such
assemblages and Twitter’s algorithms.
New, hybrid subjectivities are made
available to language teachers, e.g.
teacher-entrepreneur.
HOW DOES FREELANCE LANGUAGE
TEACHERS’ TWITTER-BASED PD WORK?
Source: Emke, 2019
Deleuzo-Guattarian inspired post-structuralist,
post-human research framework.

13. LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND ICT: WHERE TO
START?
Source: Pixabay

14. THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MODERN
LANGUAGES (ECML)
• Founded in 1994 within the Council
of Europe
• 32 member states
• Project participation and resources
“Our vision: A Europe committed to
linguistic and cultural diversity, where
the key role of quality language
education in achieving intercultural
dialogue, democratic citizenship and
social cohesion is recognised and
supported.”
Source: ECML website

15. CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE ECML PROGRAMME 2020-2023
ECML programme 2020-2023
Preview
INSPIRING INNOVATION
IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION
CHANGING CONTEXTS, EVOLVING COMPETENCES

16. DOTS/MOREDOTS/ICT-REV PROJECTS
2008 – 2011 ECML
Professional development training workshops for language
teachers, teacher trainers, CALL experts
DOTS Moodle workspace (bite-size self-training modules)
2012 – 2015 ECML
Training workshops for language teachers/mentors in
formal, informal, non-formal contexts, workshop concept
2013 -2015 ECML + European Commision
INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGIES AND ASSESSMENT IN
LANGUAGE LEARNING Programme, DOTS book
2016 -2019 ECML
Training workshops , Inventory of ICT tools & OERs
Project information: ECML website

17. DOTS & ICT-REV WORKSHOPS 2008 -2019
• Milton Keynes, UK
• Zagreb, Croatia
• Turku, Finland
• Budapest, Hungary
• Oslo, Norway
• Ljubljana/Kranj/Ptuj, Slovenia
• Brussels, Belgium
• Vilnius, Lithuania
• Graz, Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck
Austria
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Madrid, Spain
• Limerick, Ireland
• Burgas, Bulgaria
• Kingston, Jamaica
• Riga, Latvia
• Belgrade, Serbia
• Yerevan, Armenia
• Luxembourg
• Podgorica, Montenegro
• Beijing, China
• Skopje, Macedonia
• Sulejówek, Poland
• Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Zenica, Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Munich, Germany
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Aarhus, Denmark

18. INVENTORY OF ICT TOOLS AND OER
• Resources proposed by participants
at DOTS, moreDOTS, ICT-REV
workshops
• Content searchable via
filters/keywords on pedagogical
criteria & technical requirements for
each tool
• Examples of best practices
• Users evaluate tools + suggest more
tools/tasks
• Quality control on new tools & tasks
by project team members
Source: ECML website

19. (NOT) EVERYTHING CHANGES, AND (NOT)
EVERYTHING STAYS THE SAME…
Source: CC0 Source: Pixabay

20. THANK YOU!
… And if you would like to discuss this topic further,
please contact me on
Martina.Emke@open.ac.uk
or @MartinaEmke

21. REFERENCES
ECML (n.d.). ECML resources. Retrieved from
https://www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLPublications/tabid/277/language/en-
GB/Default.aspx
Emke, M. (2019). Freelance Language Teachers' Professional Development On...And
With...And Through Twitter. EdD thesis. The Open University. Retrieved from
http://oro.open.ac.uk/60076/
Hampel, R., & Stickler, U. (Eds.). (2015). Developing Online Language Teaching:
Research-Based Pedagogies and Reflective Practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kessler, G. (2018). Technology and the future of language teaching. Foreign Language
Annals, 51(1), 205-218. Retrieved from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/flan.12318