ONELA conference 19 October 2021

1. FROM LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES
TO ENGLISH MEDIUM EDUCATION:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGE SPECIALISTS
TO INNOVATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
PEDAGOGY
Shona Whyte

2. SHARING OPEN EDUCATION
PRACTICES USING TECHNOLOGY
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
FRAMEWORK-SELF-SCAN-CAPSULE VIDEOS-EBOOKS
https://library.shout4he.eu/

3. • “English teachers are needed now more than ever not
only for language support also for the interactive
pedagogy which is often already part of their teaching
toolbox” (Dearden 2018)
• EMI: linguists wishing to “remain relevant” must “take
the interests of content lecturers into account” (Airey
2020)
• what connections can be made between language and
non-language pedagogy?
THE CONTRIBUTION OF LSP TO
HIGHER EDUCATION PEDAGOGY

4. TEACHING LANGUAGES
• 9/45 videos (20%): 3 MFL
+ 6 ESP
• 5 France, 2 Ireland, 1
Belgium, 1 Vietnam
• from receptive to
productive skills, reflective
activities
• from static through
dynamic to mobile digital
tools/resources

5. blogging
exercises
making
videos
blended
courses
videoconferencing

6. DIMENSIONS OF PRACTICE
• institutional/pedagogical
objectives/impetus
• techno-pedagogical
affordances
• use of language (L1, L2)
• task-/project-based
learning
• teacher identity/
community of practice

7. EFL EXERCISES
Business English (BE)
• commercial application for
grammar and vocabulary
learning
• homework/flipped
classroom; self-paced
learning
• efficiency for teachers
• "we have in fact complete
control over what the
student is doing”

8. BLENDED LEARNING (MOODLE)
ESP sports sciences (Bordeaux)
• course redesign, 50% online
• flipped classroom: Moodle
reading/listening/quizzes with
options for motivated/advanced
learners
• gains in learner engagement
through format (autonomy,
flexibility for competing athletes)
and content (e.g., ELF with
migrant athletes)
• teacher collaboration in course
design leading to greater
enjoyment

9. BLENDED LEARNING (MOODLE)
ESP public health (Bordeaux)
• real need for ELF
communication
• flipped classroom using
Moodle for receptive
activities then F2F and
Zoom for interaction
• gains in student autonomy
• heavy upstream
preparation for teachers

10. BLOGGING
ESP humanities
(Montpellier)
The teacher takes a big step back and is really trying to
encourage autonomy and getting students to interact
between themselves which means that there’s a whole load of
interaction that goes on outside the presence of the teacher
which is not what we’ve been trained for.
And for me what’s really important is that they have to know
how to improve their own language skills where they’re weak
in their language skills and what to do about it, OK?
And I’m there to facilitate all that but I’m not there spooning it
out, not at this stage.

11. BLOGGING
MFL French (Ireland)
• blogging in French literature course
to encourage engagement
• target language production and
interaction
• task-based: preparation for final
academic essay
• student perspectives: time-
consuming, face-threatening, but also
• “a real test of whether you've
understood what has been
happening in class" and "a good way
of really bringing it home what you've
learnt in school"

12. VC EXCHANGE
MFL Spanish (Ireland)
• intercultural exchange
between Irish students of
Spanish and Spanish EFL
students
• student pairs selected own
videoconferencing tool and
recorded three interactions;
final reflective video (task/
project)
• teacher collaboration
(publication on virtual
exchange)
doi:10.14705/rpnet.2020.45.9782490057726

13. VC EXCHANGE
ESP (Vietnam)
• accommodate larger student
numbers via blended learning
• Skype in the classoom: (one-
shot) class-to-class
videoconference
• ELF communication with
learners in Poland, Kenya,
Germany; intercultural
objectives
• teacher focus on free, intuitive,
multifunctional tools and
student enjoyment

14. MAKING VIDEOS
ESP health (Bordeaux)
• improve on standard
student presentation
activities
• paperslide videos:
gamification, authenticity
• teacher development -
shared across
departments and
universities

15. MAKING VIDEOS
ESP health (Bordeaux)
• improve on standard
student presentation
activities
• paperslide videos:
gamification, authenticity
• teacher development -
shared across
departments and
universities
they usually have to shoot
[their video] several times
but from a language
learning point of view I
think that this is the real
advantage to the practice, a
kind of purposeful yet
inconspicuous mill drill that
helps them to really
integrate and repeat key
language chunks

16. MAKING VIDEOS
TEFL (Nice)
• smartphone recordings of
class presentations or
student teaching
episodes
• learner autonomy and
focused individual
feedback from teacher
• technology not for target
language production but
for feedback

17. LANGUAGE TEACHING
PRACTICES
• both institutional and personal
pedagogical objectives
• range of tools and
pedagogical applications;
time-consuming preparation
• orientation towards authentic
communication, often in tasks
and projects
• interest in student needs/
engagement but also teacher
collaboration and community

18. TEACHING OTHER
DISCIPLINES
• disciplinary courses related
to ESP content
• public health:
interdisciplinary project
• teaching physical education

19. HEALTH SERVICE
PROJECT
• Nice University Hospital:
medicine + psychology
• Project-based learning:
interdisciplinary prevention
campaign (medicine/nursing/
physiotherapy; students)
• reflexive self-embedding
(mise en abyme) medical
trainee-patient and lecturer-
student relationship

20. VIDEO INTEACHER
EDUCATION
• pre-service physical
education teachers
• observation-feedback using
video and images via tablet
to provide targeted advice
• trainer training: 6h session
• transform practice +
teacher attitude to learners

21. NON-LANGUAGETEACHING
PRACTICES
• both institutional and personal pedagogical objectives
• time-consuming preparation (Moodle, trainer
training)
• real-life, authentic professional objectives; reflexive
self-embedding: professional objectives manifest in
learning design and process

22. Generally
when we have a novel it’s like nobody
reads it and then when it comes to Week 12
everyone panics and then it’s like “Look for an English
PDF and hope for the best.” Whereas with this one you
actually have to read it, you write your own opinion
on it, you can read other people’s
opinions and it’s nice
MFL student
On a des étudiants qui
sont à la maison, qui sont entre le pot de
Nutella, le téléphone portable avec les messages et
les réseaux sociaux et qui vont avoir une disponibilité
quand même assez courte, de concentration […] il faut
qu'on s'adapte pas cela, pour pouvoir leur permettre
d'accéder au message qu'on veut leur
donner
lecturer in
medicine
human frailties

23. Often with an oral presentation you give it
and it’s gone. Here the students leave with something
that they’ve made, a real artefact of their learning that
they can own and share on a wider platform if they
want to
ESP teacher
on n'a pas besoin d'avoir beaucoup de vidéo
parfois c'est moins de 30 secondes mais ça suffit à
réactiver le vécu expérientiel de ce moment […] dont on a
capturé l'essentiel pour cibler le conseil et engager
l'analyse de la pratique
lecturer in
teacher
education
capturing
experience

24. FROM LANGUAGES FOR
SPECIFIC PURPOSES TO
ENGLISH MEDIUM EDUCATION:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF
LANGUAGE SPECIALISTS TO
INNOVATION IN HIGHER
EDUCATION PEDAGOGY
Shona Whyte shona.whyte@univ-cotedazur.fr