Elspeth Broady

Elspeth Broady, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Reflections by Androulla Athanasiou

Another very interesting presentation, through which Elspeth discussed the concept of learner autonomy, in relation to technologization, otherising and culturalism and identity. More specifically, Elspeth talked about our beliefs that certain cultures are incompatible with learner autonomy and that we should not stereotype, since autonomy is engaged in different ways in different contexts by different people. Hence, Elspeth emphasized the importance of establishing our and our learners’ identity, finding the comfort zone, before engaging into autonomy. ‘Autonomy can’t function unless we are aware of our own identity’.

Bernd Rüschoff

Bernd Rüschoff, Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Bernd Rüschoff takes us through the concept of interoperability and how a painting by Magritte can represent old and new versions of the web.

Ema Ushioda

Ema Ushioda, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Reflections by Androulla Athanasiou

Ema’s presentation ‘Teacher-learner autonomy in a connected world: re-engaging alumni through an online community of practice’ was one of great interest to me, since it brought back memories of my experience as an ELSM (English Language Studies and Methods) student. More specifically, she talked about a group of past, present and future students doing the ELSM and how the three groups are connected via vodcasting. The aim of this online community and connection, according to Ema, is to see how and whether teacher-learner autonomy can be developed through a socially mediated process. That is, the participants share their experiences (whether during the MA or through teaching) as to how they view or attempt to develop both teacher and learner autonomy.

Regina Hampel, Sarah Heiser, Linda Murphy and Ursula Stickler

Regina Hampel, Sarah Heiser, Linda Murphy and Ursula Stickler, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Reflections by Androulla Athanasiou

The four presenters provided us with an enlightening insight of the pros and cons of online collaboration, in an attempt to promote autonomy. The specific research involved an online collaboration of 20 tutors (at two distance teaching universities), who ‘worked together’ in deciding the contents, planning and monitoring of their courses, aiming at promoting autonomy. The presenters discussed the pros and cons of this online collaborative process, indicating that such a process can succeed, but with some guidelines at the initial stages.

Maria Luisa Pervez Cavana, The Open University, UK

Maria Luisa Pervez Cavana, The Open University, UK, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Reflections by Androulla Athanasiou

Maria discussed the values of using the ELP (European Language Portfolio) in terms of developing autonomy. She provided us with a thorough description of how she used the two components of ELP (i.e. learning styles and biography), emphasizing the need to make learners aware of their learning styles. Overall, Maria said that the use of ELP has been beneficial, highlighting the fact that overall the learners – who participated in her research- indicated that knowing their learning styles helped them in dealing with their difficulties in language learning and in monitoring their own learning.

Esmaeil Momtaz’s poster

Comments by Jo Mynard

I had a really interesting discussion with Esmaeil Momtaz during the poster session.  Esmaeil is from Iran and doing his PhD at the University of Aberdeen.  His study showed that generally students performed better on reading comprehension questions if the reading was done collaboratively. The collaborative approaches included activities such as students reading aloud to each other and discussing the text, or students choosing to translate the text into their mother tongue. Other students paraphrased or summarized the main ideas.  Whatever the approach, it sounded like the students in the collaborative group had ownership over the activity and directed the task their way.  A much more effective approach than simply reading an assigned text alone.

Mirjam Hauck, The Open University, UK

Mirjam Hauck, The Open University, UK, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Mirjam Hauck highlights how multimodal competence can contribute to increased learner control by describing a project of online language learning.

General impressions

Reflections by Liang Wang

Overall, in the conference voices were emphasized for the recognition and action that LA is not only an individual effort but an inter-dependent relationship with others, or external factors (Hampel et al; Ushioda). In addition to discussing about collaborative autonomy and human autonomy between teachers and learners, institutional culture/discourses that may influence LA construction and development can be highlighted.

Ushioda’s talk presented a view of teacher-learner autonomy between past, present, and prospectus learners connected by Internet technologies. In my view, it demonstrated how institutional effort afforded and scaffold learners to develop their LA in academic research and professional teaching career development within an intercultural environment – a good example of what Thorne (2006) described as ‘established e-community’ type of Internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education.

Maria Fernández Toro and Stella Hurd, The Open University, UK

Maria Fernandez Toro and Stella Hurd, The Open University, UK, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

Affect in theory and practice: issues for learning and performance in independent language learning.

Summary/comments by Jo Mynard

The paper that Stella Hurd and Maria Fernández Toro presented stemmed from their interest in feedback that is given to distance / independent language learners. Distance learners have to be generally more autonomous than classroom-based learners as they have to rely on their own resources. The quality of feedback given to these learners is crucial in order to promote effective language learning. Stella noted that focusing on cognitive and metacognitive skills is important, but this is only part of the picture. Affective factors (motivation, anxiety, beliefs, reactions…) have an equally important role to play. The affective dimension influences how “efficiently students can use what they have” for successful language learning (e.g. strong motivations / anxiety). Distance learners need feedback in the form of a response to their performance, but also support, encouragement and motivation to continue.

Poster session

Poster session, originally uploaded by IATEFL LA SIG.

We thought he posters at this event were excellent. Please use this opportunity to give any comments or reflections on posters that made an impression on you. Presenters – feel free to comment too!