“The entire process of education is shaped by the culture within which it operates. So long as a culture is shared by teachers and students, the problems of learning that arise are merely those of educational expectations and methods. Much less tractable problems arise, however, when students shift from one education system to another and the normally shared cultural assumptions no longer obtain.”

– Ballard and Clanchy, 1991

Students learning in Languagelab's virtual English City

A teacher of English will often find that students ‘warm up’ and do better after their initial nerves but this is more to do with how they learn and how they adjust to the teacher. In online education, particularly in virtual reality, very little of the course content is covered because the learners are adjusting to the technology. This is because the technology affects their habits as learners. Rather than seeing this as positive or negative, the teacher needs to see this as a truism – that learners need training.

Indeed, the learner attitude towards knowledge is exceedingly important because it affects the importance of knowledge in society and how students learn in the first place. This is an aspect of learning that schools who teach English are increasingly recognising. This is why most institutions, like Languagelab, have orientation days, leaflets that explain their teaching approach and learner training in the first class of some courses.

The ramifications of learner training are that students in different countries have different approaches to learning. What they know is learned experience, and how they behave in the classroom is because of where they come from and how they learn. For example, students from some countries in Asia do not want to get into debates because they feel that etiquette demands that they show their respect through silence. In some other countries in Asia, like in India or Pakistan, rote learning or memorising, is essential, and the critical discussion is often not considered to be necessary. On the other side of the spectrum, young European students may need to learn the etiquette of turn-taking. For this reason, I believe that teachers need to pull together their knowledge about students from different countries and have workshops on how to change the way a student learns.

- Iffaf Khan, teacher at Languagelab.com

Twitter: iffafteacher

SL avatar name: Iffaf Ling

Bibliography

Ballard, B and Clanchy, J. (1991). ‘Assessment by misconception: Cultural influences and intellectual traditions’. In: L. Hamp Lyons (Ed.), Assessing second-language writing in academic contexts (pp19-36). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

When learning a language, there is nothing more valuable than authentic language production. The internet has revolutionised the way we access information and opened up new and more effective ways to learn. It continues to become a bigger part of our everyday lives and the traditional teaching methods and tools are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Languagelab counts students' blog posts in their Academic Record

A person living anywhere in the world is just a few clicks away from engaging others in debate and discussion of his or her interests. It is both engaging and immersive. If this is done in the target language it can be extremely valuable to the student. Much of this goes on but it cannot be recognised in their course, as their teachers do not know about it, which is where our Language Production Tracker comes in.

The Language Production Tracker allows us to record all relevant work that students create and contribute to online and include it in their academic record. Students will be able to submit work they’ve done outside of the course and have it checked by teachers and, if it meets the required standard in terms of quantity and quality, it will be added to the Student Record. The work can be in any form; video, audio, text, blogs, social media or anything on a publicly accessible website.

Advantages of this system are many. The level of engagement and effort when producing writing for leisure or work often exceeds that made in the classrooms.  This takes personalisation to a far greater level and encourages students to engage in activities they enjoy in a way that will benefit their learning.  Students no longer have to stick to the rigid, approved topic structure of the traditional classroom; they can now fully incorporate their own interests into their learning experience. Their Student Record will also provide a much more detailed picture of their skills. Every student leaves with a unique body of work on subjects that they care about, which will dramatically improve acquisition and retention rates. Not too shabby for a fad.

*But as Abraham Lincoln once said “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine.”

Knewton

Educators and learners are becoming increasingly aware that a one size fits all approach to education is not working.

Traditional classroom-based learning in many cases only services the middle ability students, as if you finish the task quickly and want to look into a topic more intensively you are held up by the class. Conversely, if you are struggling with the topic and want to back track and review a related topic to aid your understanding you do not have time, as the group has moved onto the next topic. So what is the answer to this problem? How can educators account for mixed ability classes and give the best experience to all the learners in a group?

One of the solutions that Pearson has developed is the Knewton system of adaptive learning. Adaptive learning provides learners with a unique learning path based on their skills and what they need to improve on to reach their goal.

The courses on the Knewton platform are updated in real time, individualised and students can work at a pace that works for them. The courses are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection and, as teachers don’t have to pitch lectures for 60-70 students, they can be more focused. Points, badges and other game mechanics are used to keep engagement high.  There isn’t a set study plan that students follow from the start of the course – it continually adapts to the student.

Languagelab also makes use of adaptive learning technology in several ways. In its most basic form it allows the student to choose their learning path. They can select from 100s of classes per month based on their goals. For example, a student may need to travel to a the USA to work, therefore they may choose to attend an IELTS preparation class in order to have their visa granted to them. They could take part in a Market Leader Business English meeting class to give them practice of chairing a meeting. Lastly, they could attend a pronunciation class with an American teacher to get used to an American accent.

Languagelab students select from 100s of classes per month based on their goals

This personalised learning path enables a learner to choose a path that is right for them at any given time. A more involved method of adaptive learning is Languagelab’s recommendation engine.  Teachers recommend which skills students need to improve on after each class, for example; grammar, pronunciation, reading. These recommendations then form a list of recommended classes that a student can attend. This real time feedback ensures that students get help and are guided to the classes which would  benefit them in addition to choosing their own learning path.

Learners’ needs are becoming increasingly more specific, especially online. An example group currently studying with Languagelab are Brazilian Air Traffic controllers who need to achieve and maintain ICAO level 4 Operational. They need to understand General English and be familiar with accents from all over the world. They also need to have 24/7 classes due to shift work and all the students have different learning styles. With the breadth of topics available to Languagelab students, our worldwide community and the recommendation engine for skills improvement, this group are experiencing a high degree of adaptive learning.

To cater to the increasingly specific needs of learners, the future of both online and face-to-face education must be as flexible and adaptive as possible.

- Jessica Driscoll, Product Manager at Languagelab.com

Jessica Driscoll presenting at the V-lang conference, Warsaw 2011

- By Jessica Driscoll (@JessieDriscoll) Product Development Manager, Languagelab.com

The V-lang conference, ‘Future Language Learning Now: Innovative Applications and Methods for Language Training’, took place in Warsaw on 17 November 2011.

Funded by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, the conference focused on new and innovative ways to learn languages. There were presentations on learning in virtual worlds, online classes via Skype, and games for language learning. It also included discussion on research into these methods of learning.

I presented Languagelab’s newest product, Market Leader Live. My main points were that by simulating real business situations, stress, and interactions with students from different countries, you can create a more realistic Business English experience that will prepare students for working internationally.

My presentation also discussed the use of course books in a modern classroom, and why simply digitising books is not enough to meet the needs of learners. Reading has become fragmented by the use of e-books and mobile devices, so the linear method of working through a course book with a teacher in a time constrained atmosphere is not an ideal way of experiencing Business English online.

If you can take a textbook and make it into a virtual experience which is rich in co-presence, real language in context and prepares students to be in the real situation you are on the right track to making a resource of the future.

Jessica is a classically trained pianist, singer and self-taught guitarist. She has played at Glastonbury five times.

Jessica will be playing a special live concert with cellist Emma Butterworth in English City, Languagelab’s virtual English teaching platform.  After the concert, Jessica will be speaking to Mike Solly, EFL expert andLanguagelab teacher, about her music and other interests.

Jessica grew up in India, Ethiopia and Oxford in the UK, and is now settled in London. She gained her first musical experience in a local band and playing solo around London and Sydney, Australia. Jessica has also lived in Barcelona where she met a group of Brazilian musicians and spent more than a year as a singing angel street statue!

Jessica’s songwriting is often inspired by her travels, from a tour of Central America and Cuba, where she performed regularly at Havana’s ‘Casa de la Troba’ to a series of concerts in Brazil and Argentina.

Preview Jessica’s music: Jessica Goyder Music on Facebook /  http://www.speegra.com/artist.asp?id=1

Date: Thursday 22 September
Time: 8pm London time (BST / GMT+1)
Location: English City, Languagelab’s virtual English learning environment.

If you would like to attend, please email Louise.Hayter@languagelab.com

Over 90% of educators surveyed by Knewton recently said that they believed online tools improve education for their students, and the landscape is changing fast – from a one-size-fits-all model with unprepared students, to technology-enabled solutions customised for each student.

Blended learning courses, which contain both classroom and online components, are growing rapidy – people using blended learning solutions are expected to account for nearly 50% of the market by 2014, and fully 98% of the market by 2020.

via: ReadWriteWeb

(Source: knewton.com)

We are proud to be hosting an online event with Alison Goddard, Education Correspondent for The Economist, on Thursday 8 September.

Alison reports on schools and universities in Britain and worldwide. She is particularly interested in how different education systems function, and the role of education in economic growth and social mobility (see her biography). Alison has worked for other high profile publications including The Times Higher Education Supplement and for New Scientist as a freelance journalist. She has a degree in physics and another in politics, philosophy and history, and a masters degree in science communication.

Mike Solly, ELT expert and teacher at Languagelab, will be speaking to Alison on a range of topical issues and about her role at The Economist. Likely topics include her thoughts on the links between education, economic growth and social mobility, the current reputation of print journalists following the News of the World phone hacking scandal, and her opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of British education.

The Editor of Your World writes about LanugageLab.com

Our Sales Director, Chris Moore talks about the potential of online learning: “For schools, times are undoubtedly tough, yet global demand is rocketing: two billion learners by 2020, according to the British Council. As these learners become increasingly connected, this represents an incredible opportunity for online education providers.”

Chris Moore, Director of Sales

He goes on to highlight how LanguageLab.com has made use of this opportunity, providing a revolutionary new platfrom for the teaching and learning of English: “We develop and run English city, a virtual city designed specifically for learning and practising English. It’s 3D, immersive, and live. It consists of 300 acres of virtual cafés, hotels, business & exam centres, an airport, theatres, galleries exhibiting real artists, even an oil rig.”

One particular trend that we have tried to harness is the increasing interconnectedness of the overseas market for English learning. Our clients come from all over the world as “more and more schools and agents seek to integrate classroom and online learning.”

“While we started with UK schools looking to add a cutting edge online component to the student experience, since March the conversation has shifted quickly overseas. Our latest partnerships are with organisations in Italy, Brazil, Tunisia, Chile and Poland. We’re well down the line with others in France, Turkey, Japan and Switzerland.”

This is set to continue: “Online space is incredibly flexible, customisable and scalable – and its impact on ELT is growing rapidly. Internet connections are better, and we think that students increasingly want an accessible online element to their courses, whatever they learn. Learning is becoming more mobile, personalised, social and experiential.”

As a reporter and producer for the BBC for almost 20 years, Jamie has lived and worked all over the world. Initially based in Moscow, he has since reported from Warsaw and Paris among other places. More recently, he was the chief Washington correspondent for the BBC from 2005 to 2009; during that time he reported on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Obama’s ground-breaking election in 2008.

Currently he presents the hugely popular News Hour programme on BBC World. For more details, check out Jamie’s BBC profile.

LanguageLab is proud to host this rare opportunity for you to put your questions to the man who normally questions others. As a master of four languages (including Russian and French), we expect he has a lot to say on the issue of language learning, as well as the experience of living in foreign countries. Make sure you don’t miss out. Come join us in English City at 7.30 pm GMT to put an avatar face to the famous voice!

For more details about the event, please visit the LanguageLab Events Calender.

See you there!

Daniel will be talking about his work, his views of art and his favourite paintings (now on display in English City’s art gallery – do visit and leave a comment saying what you think!) Daniel will also be taking questions from the audience.

“A chat with…” is one of the popular events in English City, hosted by Mike Solly, an English Language expert and teacher in English City. Not to be missed!

Date/Time: Tuesday 12 July at 19.30 UK time.

Sign up to the event on Languagelab’s calendar.

Daniel Lehan, 'HOW MUCH WILL YOU SPEND TO MAKE SOMEONE LOVE YOU', Subliminal Seduction event, Oxford Street London, 5 April 2008.