June 2930 2006

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• June 29-30 2006
• Southampton workshop TNP 3
• Professional development
• for HE FL teachers
• Alessandra Corda
• Faculty of Arts
• Leiden University

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• Background
• 2006-2007 INTUIT project
• 6 university language centers (Leiden, Utrecht,
  Groningen, Nijmegen, Maastricht, Tilburg)
• Budget 555,000, cofinanced by SURF ( 229,000)
• Target group HE students who need to improve
  their academic English
• English language of instruction in almost all MA
  courses.
• English vwo B2 rec., B1 prod.

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Required English level

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• Aims
• Development of an ICT enriched learning
  environment to support English for academic
  purposes
• Support for
• diagnostic testing (Dialang, SAT 10)
• Practising (different programs, among which
  Ellips and the Word Academic List)
• Guidance (Digital Language Portfolio)

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• Structure of the project
• 2006 12 pilot projects (2 pilots projects per
  language centre), 12 teachers
• Common theoretical framework CEF, autonomous
  language learning
• Needs analysis what are according to the
  teachers the needs in the fields of
• Testing
• Practising
• Guidance
• Professional development

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• Results needs analysis (I)
• Formative testing
• Digital tests for 1) speaking skills (B1, B2,
  C1), 2) writing skills (B2, C1, C2), 3)
  vocabulary (B1-C2)
• Summative testing
• Digital tests for 1) speaking skills (B1 C2),
  2) reading skills (B2, C1), 3) writing skills
  (B2, C1, C2)
• Practising
• Digital materials for 1) vocabulary (B2, C1, C2),
  2) writing skills (C1, C2), 3) listening skills
  (C1, C2)

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• Results needs analysis (II)
• Guidance
• Digital support for 1) giving feedback to
  students, 2) follow students progress through a
  tracking system, 3) monitor through a portfolio
• Little or no need for
• Language biography
• Self assessment according to the checklists of
  the language portfolio
• Intake at the beginning of the course

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• Results needs analysis (III)
• Professional development
• How to support autonomous learning
• I do not know enough yet
• Implementation is very difficult
• I would very much like to be trained
• CEF
• CEF levels known, sometimes used
• More information needed
• Language portfolio
• Not used at all
• More information needed
• Language testing more information needed
  (Dialang)

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• How do teachers prefer to be trained?

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• Professional development (I)
• Learning by doing
• Format for pilot description analysis of course
  and final test relating course aims, competences
  and final test to CEF levels
• Leiden pilot with digital language portfolio
  (www.europeestaalportfolio.nl), Dialang already
  used)
• Utrecht pilot with Dialang and EELP
• Groningen, Nijmegen pilot with Dialang

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• Professional development (II)
• Workshop to exchange experiences about pilots
• Contacts among teachers working with similar
  pilots
• Leiden, Utrecht language portfolio
• Nijmegen, Groningen Dialang
• Maastricht, Tilburg Ellips

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• Language portfolio pilot
• Choice for a digital LP
• Dutch or English interface?
• Teacher should have access to results and be able
  to give feedback to studentsproducts
• Challenge very short courses (6-10 weeks), 2-4
  hours per week
• Login www.europeestaalportfolio.nl

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• Provisional conclusion
• Combination of Dialang and Language Portfolio
• Language Portfolio will be used again in short
  courses for academic speaking skills
• LP provides evidence for known problems and
  allows for differentiation
• Extra work load for teacher (feedback)
• Support for teacher crucial factor (2-4 hours
  per week)