The global health crisis forced ELICOS providers to quickly adapt to delivering online classes, leaving very little time for teacher training, curriculum adaptation and material development. Seeing that the vast majority of ELICOS teachers employ the communicative language teaching approach, one of the main challenges has been bringing the same level of interaction and engagement from a physical classroom to an online one. On top of this, monthly reports of Pathway Students progression at ILSC showed a consistently slower learning pace for online students when compared to students of the same nationality and level attending face to face classes. While it is not possible to draw definite conclusions on what causes this gap, it is possible to make adjustments to the way online classes are planned and designed. Interestingly, some of the issues around attention span and reading difficulties that online students come across are not dissimilar from the ones faced by students with dyslexia. Three years ago I talked about the issues around managing students with dyslexia in the ESL classroom. This year I am going to build on that to show how all students, regardless of having or not having dyslexia, face similar issues when attending online or hybrid classes. The aim is to reinforce the idea that designing highly inclusive lessons ultimately benefits all students.

1. Obstacles to language learning
progress in an emergency remote
teaching environment
Sara Bologna, ILSC Brisbane

2. In this presentation
● Background (5 minutes)
○ The numbers that triggered questions
● Questions and findings (5 minutes)
● My solution (5 minutes)
● Discussion, Q&A (5-10 minutes)

3. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background

4. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background
Late arrival policy
strengthened

5. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background
Motivational
interviewing
implemented

6. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background
Online schedule
launched

7. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background
Start comparing
student
progression
(online vs on
campus)

8. Session
12/2019
Session
13/2019
Session
1/2020
Session
2/2020
Session
3/2020
Session
4/2020
Session
5/2020
Session
6/2020
Session
7/2020
Total UP
students
124 125 126 139 148 138 138 157 152
UP ss on
probation
22 (17%) 29 (23%) 18 (14%)1
29 (20%) 29 (19%) 31 (22%) 23 (16%)2
12 (7.5%)3
14 (9.2%)
Goal not
reached
Session
8/2020
Session
9/2020
Session
10/2020
Session
11/2020
Session
12/2020
Session
13/2020
Session
1/2021
Session
2/2021
Total UP
students
175 173 180 189 192 169 127 138
UP students
on probation
32 (18%) 31 (17%) 35 (19%) 38 (20%)5
28 (14.5%) 45 (26%) 29 (23%) 27 (19.5%)
Goal not
reached
6 (6x T4)4
6 (4x T4) 10 (10xT4) 8 (5x T4) 6 (4x T4) 15 (15x T4) 18 (18 x T4) 14 (13 x T4)
Background
Big push to online
writing tutorials

9. Question
● Is the fact that these
students are studying online
the main obstacle to their
progression?
Answer

10. Question
● Is the fact that these
students are studying online
the main obstacle to their
progression?
● Very likely. Data from
University Pathway students
shows a consistently slower
learning pace for online
students when compared to
students attending classes
on campus.
Answer

11. Question
● Specifically, what are the
obstacles students
encounter when studying
online that might slow down
their progress?
Answer

12. Question
● Specifically, what are the
obstacles students
encounter when studying
online that might slow down
their progress?
● Tech issues make it hard to
follow/focus on class
● Class is slow / hard to speak
● Reading on screen is hard (eyes
hurt)
● Audio is unclear or slow or breaks
down during listening
● Too many students / don’t like
breakout rooms
● Lack of interaction with students
Answer

13. Question
● Where have I seen
something similar before?
*scratches head*
Answer

14. Question
● Where have I seen
something similar before?
*scratches head*
● When I looked into how to
support students with
Dyslexia in the ESL
classroom!
Answer

15. Student with dyslexia
● Difficulty reading
● Impaired phonological
awareness
● Symptoms are aggravated
by stress
● Easily distracted - issues with
focus and attention span
● Reading screen gives headache
● Low intelligibility of voices
through audio devices
● Under stress (lockdown, work,
visa…)
● Distractions at home / low
engagement of classes
Online student

16. Question
● How can I adapt my classes
to support students without
○ Having access to better
tech?
○ Training in online
teaching*?
Answer

17. Question
● How can I adapt my classes
to support students without
○ Having access to better
tech?
○ Training in online
teaching*?
Answer
*Online learning ≠ Emergency Remote Learning

18. Question
● How can I adapt my classes
to support students without
○ Having access to better
tech?
○ Training in online
teaching*?
● Since some of the issues
they face are comparable to
the issues faced by students
with dyslexia, I could try to
work with what I know/have
available for that purpose
Answer
*Online learning ≠ Emergency Remote Learning

19. Recap Slide
● Slow progression in remote learners
● Comparable issues between student
with dyslexia and remote learners
● Limited tools and knowledge
● Need for a short term, practical
solution

20. Things I can do right now

21. ● Keep an open mind when it comes to lazy,
distracted and disruptive students.
Things I can do right now

22. ● Help the eyes
○ Off white background and no bright
colours
○ Sans serif fonts, 12 point or more
○ Encourage students to get paper books
○ High definition images and videos
Things I can do right now

23. ● Help the ears
○ Limit videos and presentation time to 5
minutes per chunk
○ Write / type keywords when possible
○ Share slides or lesson recap sheet at the
end of class
Things I can do right now

24. ● Help focus
○ Live digital boards over powerpoints
○ Time everything as accurately as possible
○ Don’t have everything on the slides and
encourage them to take notes rather than
screenshots
○ Spiral teaching
Things I can do right now

25. ● Help focus
○ Live digital boards over powerpoints
○ Time everything as accurately as possible
○ Don’t have everything on the slides and
encourage them to take notes rather than
screenshots
○ Spiral teaching
Things I can do right now
Break down learning
in small chunks (e.g.,
3 minute grammar
presentation
followed by CCQs)

26. ● Help motivation
○ Create a sense of achievement
○ End of lesson recap sheet (what have you
learnt today? How do you feel about
today’s lesson?...)
○ Involve students in lesson planning
○ Measure progress across sessions
○ Class chat
Things I can do right now

27. ● Other tips / tools
○ Exercise videos during breaks
○ Flipgrid (interaction / speaking practice)
○ Video writing feedback
○ Class chat
Things I can do right now

28. ● How do I reduce TTT?
● How do I monitor effectively?
● Class discussions/debates?
● What about spontaneity?
● What happens to rapport?
Some of the things I’m not sure about

29. Let’s wrap it up - what’s next?
● Online language teaching methodology training:
more of it, please!
○ Is the communicative approach the best way
to teach online?
● How can we, as teachers, connect, collaborate
and support each other?

30. ● Ajmal, M., Alrasheedi, S., Keezhatta, M. S., & Yasir, G. M. (2020).
COVID‐19 and Online English Language Teaching: Students’
Response and Feedback. The Asian ESP Journal, 47
● BONARD, Vienna, Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the ELICOS
sector in Australia, August 2021, accessed on September 1, 2021
● Gabrieli, J. (2009). Dyslexia: A New Synergy between Education
and Cognitive Neuroscience. Science, 325(5938), 280-283.
● International Bureau of Statistics 2021, accessed on 31 July
2021: One year of COVID-19: Aussie jobs, business and the
economy
● Supporting Learners with Dyslexia in the ELT Classroom, Oxford
University Press: elt.oup.com/teachers/supportingdyslexia/
● Sun, S. Y. H. (2011). Online language teaching: The pedagogical
challenges. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An
International Journal, 3(3), 428-447.
● MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S. (2020). Language
teachers’ coping strategies during the Covid-19 conversion to
online teaching: Correlations with stress, wellbeing and negative
emotions. System, 94, 102352.
● Moser, K. M., Wei, T., & Brenner, D. (2021). Remote teaching
during COVID-19: Implications from a national survey of
language educators. System, 97, 102431.
● Gao, L. X., & Zhang, L. J. (2020). Teacher learning in difficult
times: Examining foreign language teachers’ cognitions about
online teaching to tide over COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology,
11, 2396.
● Stanca, L. (2006). The effects of attendance on academic
performance: Panel data evidence for introductory
microeconomics. The Journal of Economic Education, 37(3),
251-266.
● Universities Australia Media Release February 2021: 17000 Uni
jobs lost to COVID-19
References