Trends in Teaching
Asynchronous Session
Plurilingual Practices for Monolingual Writing Instructors: Surmounting Perceived Barriers to Effective Pedagogy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kay Losey
There are numerous perceived barriers to the use of plurilingual pedagogies in U.S. writing classrooms. Most derive from the country’s largely monolingual population that harbors inaccurate assumptions about multilingualism and language education (e.g., only the target language (English) should be used, and, if other languages are allowed, the teacher should be fluent in those languages). These assumptions exist even among secondary and tertiary writing instructors and school administrators; therefore, plurilingual practices are regularly deemed inappropriate or impossible to implement (Horner & Trimbur, 2002). However, teaching from a plurilingual perspective is crucial not only for increased intercultural understanding and normalizing of multilingualism, but also because such instruction supports the learning of additional languages (Stille & Cummins, 2013) and gives multilinguals the opportunity to fully engage in the writing process (Fu, 2009 & 2019). Based on findings of an analysis of over 50 quantitative and qualitative studies of effective pedagogy in multilingual writing classrooms, this presentation offers five key practices that allow students the benefits of using their plurilingual repertoire when learning to write, even if their instructors do not share their language(s): 1) Use of all languages during pre-writing activities, 2) Use of all language(s) when creating early drafts, 3) Use of shared other language(s) among peers when reviewing drafts written in the target language, 4) Use of other language(s) to support formal and informal vocabulary development, and 5) Use of all languages in journal writing. This paper describes the practices, their pedagogical benefits, and addresses implementation across contexts.
Changes in Teaching Actions during COVID-19 Crisis View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ana Laura Brasil Peralta, Wilsa Maria Ramos
This integrative literature review study investigates elementary school teachers’ experiences in Emergency Remote and/or Hybrid Education arising from COVID-19 and comprehend the consequences, challenges and opportunities from teachers` perspective. The corpus of the research includes eleven articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish published between March 2020 and September 2021, accessed through Scopus database. The results point out that most authors do not specify their theoretical basis of field analysis, use questionnaires as research tools, and conduct a thematic analysis of the data. About the reported challenges, most of the teachers identified great difficulty in interaction and communication with the students, however, they also reported that the reconfiguration of the teaching-learning process in Remote Education resulted in new opportunities to change the methodologies and didactics. In some studies, the participants affirm that the changes resulting from the crisis shaped new teaching practices, which need renovation in order to face the demands of the new educational and social scenario post-pandemic.
Analysis of Cultural and Artistic Competence in Europe Through University Orchestras View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mario Diz Otero
Cultural and artistic competence is currently emerging as one of the fundamental key competencies that every person must develop in order to be able to develop both in the labor market and in the changing society that surrounds us. The aim of this study is to carry out an analysis of the existing university orchestras in Europe relating their existence with the high cultural level of the countries where this type of institutions is more common. Among the main results we observed that there is a direct relationship between the cultural level of the countries and the fact that educational institutions such as university orchestras are promoted. We conclude that this type of cultural institutions have a direct impact on the acquisition of cultural and artistic competence among university students, increasing the cultural level of the countries and their citizens.
Teachers’ Concerns about the Implementation of Computer Technology in the Delivery of the Early Childhood Care and Education Curriculum in Trinidad and Tobago View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sharmila Nisha Harry, Natalie Suepaul
In the past, computer integration into classroom settings was geared towards students at higher levels. It has since become a key component in many Early Childhood (EC) settings in developed and developing countries. This study explores the concerns of three teachers at two ECCE centers within one ECCE cluster about the integration of computer technology in the delivery of the Early Childhood Care and Education curriculum. It also investigates teachers’ views of the factors that influence their concerns. This study can help change facilitators employ strategies to address the concerns of the teachers, guide policy development at the Ministry of Education and add to the dearth of local literature on ECCE teachers’ concerns about the integration of computer technology. A qualitative approach was employed and data was collected from semi-structured interviews and open-ended concerns statements. The Stages of Concerns component of the Concerns Based Adoption Model was the guiding theoretical framework utilized in this study. The findings reveal that teachers had a conglomeration of self, task and impact concerns with task concerns being predominant. Teachers’ concerns were mostly due to external factors such as, inadequate training, lack of resources and technical support. As such, there is the need for emphasis to be placed on teacher preparation with regards to the integration of technology and it is critical that teachers be supported throughout the change process.
