blog-efl

Moving to Substack

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 01:29:00 -0600

I've decided to start blogging on Substack rather than here.

The AI learning paradox

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:15:00 -0600

On his substack, Jason Gulya outlines a paradox:

"Learning with AI tools suffers from a paradox. To use AI as an effective tool, learners need to check the outputs. To check the outputs, learners need to already have some expertise on the topic. Or they need to have the research skills they're just in the process of developing."

It rings true. As we all know, Large Language Models hallucinate. Their outputs are grammatically correct and seem coherent, but they can often be factuallu incorrect or nnonsensical. There are examples of professionals being caught out by this, such as the lawyers who submitted fake court citations because ChatGPT invented them.

Even research tools such as NotebookLM has a prominent warning that says 'NotebookLM can make mistakes, so double-check it'.

Because they cannot always be trusted, LLMs are great assistants, but there is a great need to teach students to use critical literacy skills wheen using theem.

NotebookLM - An impressive research tool

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:19:00 -0600

The Guardian has an interesting article on NotebookLM,. Although the author of the article does advise proceeding with caution, there is much that sounds very useful with this AI tool: "You can start a new “notebook” for a project and upload up to 50 “sources”. These can include pdfs, audio files (which it automatically transcribes), .txt files, web links and Google Docs. I tried uploading notes and interview files for a story I was working on, then asked the “Notebook guide” – an AI assistant – to produce a briefing doc based on their content."

As the journalist mentions, "It’s the restriction at the core of NotebookLM – using only the information you provide" that is particularly interesting. Thhis means it can be used as a research tool if you point it to specific papers or other sources, etc. and ask for reports, conclusions, summaries, etc.

Here's another feature I really want to try out:Audio Overview: "a much-hyped feature that creates a 10-minute AI-generated podcast based on your sources. It’s fairly mind-blowing at first: it truly sounds like two podcast hosts knowledgably discussing the subject matter."

I decided to try out the tool with something I am working on at work - trying to better understand the English Language curriculum in Libya and why the Communicative Approach has not been entirely successful there. To do so, I uploaded some research papers and added sources to NotebookLM. It produced a summary of everything and encouraged me to ask questions. Above you can see the response it produced to my first question, and I must say, I am impressed.

As the tool states at the bottom, "NotebookLM can make mistakes, so double-check it." So, I still need to look at this in more detail, and check the answer, but at first glance, it does seem to have produced an insightful and useful summary and answer to my question.

Here is the answer (copied and pasted directly from the tool). The numbers refer to the sources I provided.

Here are some of the major factors hindering the successful implementation of English language curriculum reforms in Libya according to the sources provided.

Major Factors Hindering Curriculum Reform in Libya

A mismatch exists between the aims and principles of English language teaching (ELT) curricula and Libyan teachers’ existing beliefs about ELT. For example, one aim of the curriculum is for students to communicate effectively and fluently. However, teachers’ practices don’t reflect this aim and instead continue to focus on grammar and reading comprehension.[1, 2]
Libyan teachers naturally play a key role in the learning process and are seen as the main source of language knowledge. This deeply embedded belief can be an obstacle when implementing a new teaching methodology. [3]
Teachers and students need to be resocialised for the effective implementation of ELT curricula. [4]
Curriculum reform requires more than just introducing a new set of textbooks. It also requires a change in the way teachers and students behave and think. Policymakers need to recognise that curriculum innovation means changing the cultures of teachers, classrooms, and schools. [5, 6]
Libyan teachers may not be aware of the influence of their existing beliefs about learning. This points to the need for teacher training and education programmes where teachers can reflect on their classroom practices and where existing beliefs can be uncovered and confronted. [7]
The traditional approach to ELT, with its emphasis on grammatical rules and memorisation, is still prevalent in many Libyan foreign language classrooms. Communicative language teaching (CLT), while recognised as the leading theoretical model in ELT, has not been widely adopted in Libya. [8]
There are many constraints on the adoption of CLT in the Libyan context. These include: [8, 9]

Beliefs about the roles of teachers and students
Teachers’ lack of language proficiency and sociolinguistic competence
Examination pressure
Cultural teaching and learning styles

Teachers’ lack of competence in CLT is a major obstacle to implementing it. Changing teaching methods requires: [10]

Adequate language proficiency
Target language and cultural knowledge
Experience in creating communicative teaching materials
Confidence to depart from the traditional teacher-dominated classroom

In Libya there is no standard for ensuring the quality of English teachers, other than having a BA. Many English teachers lack English proficiency and the ability to teach effectively. [11]
The highly centralised national examination system is a powerful impediment to change and innovation in education. [12]
Libyan English teachers have the primary responsibility of preparing their students to pass public examinations. With passing competency-based national exams as the primary goal for students and teachers, it is understandable that the grammar translation method prevails. [12]
English is regarded as a foreign language rather than a second language in Libya, which means that learners lack sufficient exposure to the target language for effective language acquisition. [13]
Resources for teaching English other than textbooks are difficult to find in Libya. [14]
Native English speakers are uncommon as teachers and Libyan teachers with near-native competence are scarce. [14]
Many Libyan English teachers are committed to traditional approaches to teaching EFL. Most have been trained in it, have been successful using it, and are familiar with it. [15, 16]
Students resist CLT. They may find it hard to change their learning styles and may see communicative activities as games rather than serious learning. [17]
Libyan learners are accustomed to: [18]

Teacher-fronted, lecture-style teaching
Exact understanding of grammatical rules
Little tolerance of ambiguity
A focus on specific grammatical constructions

Students depend on knowledge transmission from the teacher and may have learning beliefs that restrict their range of learning strategies. They may believe that fluency is best achieved through: [19]

Translation
Grammar application
Rote memorisation

The national examination system does not assess communicative skills. [20, 21] Instead, it:

Examines students' linguistic knowledge
Prioritises completion of the curriculum
Encourages traditional, teacher-centred teaching approaches
Focuses on ‘teaching to the test’

The Libyan on-going conflict, public examination policy, and teachers’ lack of assessment literacy also have a significant impact on classroom testing. [21]
Students are largely passive in English classrooms. [21]
Public examination strategies improve students’ examination performance, but not their English learning outcomes. [22]
The examination content and format, and the social acceptance of cheating, all impact student performance and threaten the validity of exam scores. [22]
Students find very little opportunity to learn or use English outside of the classroom. For instance, very few signs are in English. [23]
Students have no exposure to English outside the classroom. [23] This makes it challenging for students to understand even basic English vocabulary. [23]
There is a lack of study materials, books, journals, and newspapers in English, and students have no reading habit. [24, 25]

The sources highlight that the Libyan education system faces systemic challenges in successfully implementing English language curriculum reforms. These challenges range from deeply rooted cultural beliefs about teaching and learning, to the lack of resources, to the effects of the ongoing conflict in the country.

I followed up with this question:

What are the recommendations for implementing a revised curriculum in Libya based on the Communicative approach?

This was the answer:

Here are some recommendations for implementing a revised curriculum in Libya based on the Communicative Approach, according to the sources.

Recommendations for Implementing a Communicative Curriculum

●

Address the mismatch between the aims of the new curriculum and the existing beliefs and practices of Libyan teachers. The sources emphasize that simply introducing a new set of textbooks and expecting teachers to implement them without addressing their existing beliefs and practices is likely to result in failure. Therefore, policymakers and curriculum developers need to take a more holistic approach that considers the cultural context of education in Libya.

○

Engage teachers in the curriculum development process. This could involve conducting needs analyses to identify the specific challenges teachers face in their classrooms, and working collaboratively with teachers to develop materials and strategies that are relevant to their context and address their concerns.

○

Provide opportunities for teachers to reflect on their current beliefs and practices. This could be facilitated through professional development programmes that encourage teachers to examine their own teaching philosophies and how they align with the principles of the Communicative Approach.

○

Develop a shared understanding of the goals of the new curriculum. Curriculum developers need to clearly articulate the rationale for adopting the Communicative Approach, and provide teachers with a clear understanding of how it differs from traditional approaches. This could involve providing training on the theoretical underpinnings of the approach, as well as practical strategies for implementing it in the classroom.

●

Provide extensive, ongoing teacher training and professional development that focuses on the practical aspects of implementing the Communicative Approach. This training should go beyond simply introducing teachers to the principles of the approach and should equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to implement it effectively in their classrooms.

○

Offer training in areas such as:

■

Developing communicative language tasks

■

Using authentic materials

■

Creating a learner-centred classroom environment

■

Managing group work and pair work

■

Providing effective feedback on communicative performance

■

Developing sociolinguistic competence

○

Ensure that teacher training programmes are tailored to the specific needs of Libyan teachers and address the challenges they face in their context. For example, training programmes could focus on helping teachers to adapt communicative activities to large class sizes, or to develop strategies for managing student behaviour in classrooms where learners are not accustomed to participating actively.

○

Develop a system for ongoing professional development and support. This could involve creating opportunities for peer observation and mentoring, providing access to online resources and communities of practice, and establishing a system for regular feedback and support from experienced trainers.

●

Revise the national examination system to align with the goals of the new curriculum. The sources repeatedly mention that the current examination system, which focuses on assessing grammatical accuracy and reading comprehension, is a major obstacle to the adoption of the Communicative Approach.

○

Develop new assessment instruments that measure students' ability to use English communicatively in real-life situations. This could involve incorporating tasks that require students to interact with others, solve problems, and use language for authentic purposes.

○

Provide training for teachers on how to develop and use communicative assessment tasks. This training should focus on helping teachers to understand the principles of communicative assessment, and to develop assessment tasks that are valid, reliable, and aligned with the goals of the curriculum.

○

Explore the use of alternative assessment methods, such as portfolios and performance-based assessments. These methods can provide a more holistic picture of students' communicative competence than traditional paper-and-pencil tests.

●

Increase students' exposure to English outside of the classroom. The sources note that the lack of opportunities to use English authentically is a major barrier to effective language acquisition.

○

Encourage the use of English in public spaces. This could involve promoting the use of English on signs, in government publications, and in the media.

○

Create opportunities for students to interact with native English speakers. This could involve establishing partnerships with schools and universities in English-speaking countries, or inviting native English speakers to participate in classroom activities.

○

Provide students with access to English-language resources, such as books, magazines, and websites.

●

Promote a positive attitude towards learning English. The sources suggest that student resistance to communicative activities is another barrier to the adoption of the Communicative Approach.

○

Raise awareness among students, parents, and the wider community about the importance of communicative competence in English. This could involve conducting public awareness campaigns, organizing events that showcase students' communicative skills, and providing information about the benefits of learning English for communication.

○

Encourage students to see English as a tool for communication rather than simply a subject to be studied for exams. This could involve using authentic materials and engaging students in activities that are relevant to their interests and needs.

○

Create a supportive and encouraging learning environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes.

●

Address the shortage of qualified English teachers. The sources highlight that the lack of qualified teachers is a major obstacle to implementing effective English language teaching in Libya. This can be addressed through a multi-faceted approach that includes:

○

Raising the entry requirements for English teacher training programmes.

○

Providing scholarships and other incentives to attract talented individuals to the teaching profession.

○

Improving the quality of pre-service teacher training programmes to ensure that graduates are well-equipped to teach English communicatively.

○

Providing ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers to help them keep up-to-date with the latest developments in ELT.

○

Implementing a system for mentoring and supporting novice teachers.

●

Address the issue of inadequate infrastructure and resources. The sources note the lack of resources, such as functional language labs and other audio-visual aids, hinders the implementation of effective ELT in Libya.

○

Invest in improving school facilities and infrastructure. This includes providing schools with well-equipped language labs, computer labs with internet access, libraries with a wide range of English language resources, and audio-visual equipment.

○

Ensure that teachers have access to high-quality teaching materials that support the Communicative Approach. This could involve providing teachers with subscriptions to online resource banks, funding the development of locally-produced materials, and establishing a system for sharing and disseminating best practices.

The sources suggest that the success of a revised curriculum in Libya based on the Communicative Approach hinges on a comprehensive approach that addresses not only pedagogical changes but also the underlying cultural beliefs and systemic challenges within the education system.

TTR: Empowering Learners

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 15:38:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio Sunday Lunchtime show, I spoke to Seda Yaman from Turkey about fostering self-confidence and other ways of empowering English Language Learners.

Listen to the show here.

This was my 91st show and I really enjoyed talking to Seda. I reached out to her because she recently wrote an article on this subject for IATEFL Voices Issue 301.

TTR: Teaching under difficult circumstances

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:48:00 -0600

The subject of today's Teachers Talk Radio Show (the 90th show I've done), was 'Teaching under difficult circumstances'.

Large classes, demotivated students, a lack of resources, a shortage of teachers, social problems. On today's show, I talked about these and other difficult circumstances that teachers and educational systems face, and looked at some solutions that have been implemented or which teachers could adopt.

You can listen to the show here.

Show notes

Welcome to the Sunday Lunchtime Show everyone. As I mentioned earlier, on today’s show, I will be talking about teaching and learning in difficult circumstances. I will be mainly referring to the teaching of English as another language, but much of what I’ll be talking about will be appropriate to other subjects too. Of course, there are exceptionally difficult circumstances that unfortunately some teachers and learners find themselves in. This may be due to natural disasters or because they live in a conflict zone. Rather than this type of difficult circumstance, I’ll be talking about more usual difficult circumstances that teachers and learners may find are part of the usual, or expected educational context. Depending on which part of the world you teach in, this might include large class sizes, demotivated students, a lack of resources, and social problems.

And when it comes to teaching English, multiple language levels in the same class is a challenge. Then, of course, there are circumstances when no teachers are available - how do you provide access in that situation?

Many of the world’s population, including children, live in difficult circumstances and it is severely affecting education. According to a recent report by UNESCO, 250 million children and young people worldwide are not in school. Young women and girls are particularly excluded from learning. All young people deserve opportunities for quality education, and their exclusion is a major barrier to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically 4, 5 and 10.

SDG4 - ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
SDG5 - achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SG10 - Reduce inequalities within and among countries

I will start today by looking at this macro situation, then - how policymakers in some countries and regions try to deal with problems such as shortages of teachers, but I will also be talking about the difficult circumstances some teachers and learners face within their own schools and classrooms.

When I use the term difficult circumstances here, I may be broadly referring to one of two things. On the one hand I’ll use it to describe the situation large numbers of people find themselves in, because of the large-scale education system context, for example.

However, I’ll also be using the term to describe the situation many individual teachers and learners find themselves in - less drastic of course, than total exclusion, but nonetheless there are many teachers who find themselves having to deal with less than idea situations when in the classroom.

So, let’s start by looking at large-scale difficult circumstances, - the problems countries or regions face or the macro pov if you like. I want to begin with looking at large class sizes. When is a class a large class? 30 students? 60? 100? What about a football stadium full of students?

When people don't have access to enough teachers, or provision in the formal education system is lacking, innovative solutions can emerge.

One example is a way of providing cheap instruction of English and is often referred to as Crazy English. This method of teaching English was devised in mainland China by someone called Li Yang. Crazy English is the brand name that is used for this method of teaching the language. Believing the traditional way of teaching English ineffective, crazy English has a focus on practising English orally, and is encapsulated in the slogan ‘By shouting out loud you learn’.

It has because of this gained disapproval in some quarters as it is anything but modest or restrained. It is also at its heart a very traditional model that owes a lot to recitation and repetition. I remember talking to a teacher trainer once about this who had lived and worked in mainland China. She said she came across this very popular movement when she was woken up at night with the shouting of English phrases.

At first she thought she was dreaming, but then she realised that a group of Chinese crazy English students had gathered on a street corner late at night, near where she lived, to do there homework. Their homework consisted of shouting out a series of English phrases at each other.

The method is not new. It started in the 1990s when there was an explosion in the demand for learning English but not the resources for people to do so. Li Yang was one of those people who found it difficult to speak English.

Somehow, he stumbled upon the idea of shouting out passages he had to learn for an exam and found it made him more confident. He continued to do this and after he passed the exam, he felt he’d found a way of learning the language that could benefit others too. Yang worked as an electrical engineer, but started in his free time using this method of teaching English as a shouted language. In 1994 he started his own company to promote his technique, which he began calling Crazy English. After gaining in popularity, Li Yang was asked to try out his method to teach to a crowd of around 5,000 people and shortly after, this approach started to become very popular.

The popularity was cemented when a documentary was made about this way of teaching English in 1999, and I recommend you all to search for Crazy English - there are lots of clips on Youtube for example, that show Li Yang addressing huge crowds. The method snowballed after the documentary was maade, with more than 20m people signing up for a course.

Li Yang gained official recognition, and was asked to teach in very unusual circumstances - not only in football stadiums in front of crowds of thousands of people, but on occasion, to teach soldiers on the Great Wall of China, and at intensive camps to prepare for the 2008 Olympics. The method is still popular, and is a multi million pound business with LLi Yang still director and principal teacher. The methodology basically consists of one teacher on stage with a microphone usually in a sports stadium, for example, screaming popular and random English phrases rapidly. It doesn't have a focus on grammar, vocabulary, or writing, focusing instead on speaking through repetition, with a lot of gesticulation being used.Li Yang or other teachers shout out words and phrases and asks his students to repeat out loud and shout back. It's all about learning through repetition, and the shouting is meant to increase confidence in speaking in another language.

As I mentioned earlier, after class, students are encouraged to go to public places, on street corners, behind buildings, on rooftops, and shout out the EEnglish phrases and words. This is meant to help the students gain in confidence, presumably lowering the affective filter that many language learners have, and which prevents them from progressing in a language. Is it effective? Who knows, but it seems to be a very popular method and for some people it's their only contact with the language. Given its popularity, it must be working to some extent. Li Yang has taught English now to millions of students.

He appears in stadiums, sometimes to groups of 10,000 students or more. And to think some of you complain about teaching large classes!

Do you have experience of Crazy English or any other tips or suggestions for some of the things I mentioned previously, join me on Podbean in the studio as a guest and we can have a chat.

Sticking with the macro POV, another problem countries often face is a lack of teachers. Large class sizes and the problems that go with them are not only a problem in China

In Ethiopia, where the typical primary and secondary school class sizes are from 55-100 Ethiopia, for some time they adopted a method called Plasma teaching in the early 2000s. It was meant to be part of an educational reform for students in grades 9-10. It involved the installation of a plasma TV in the classroom and the students and teachers watch and listen to a lesson transmitted by satellite or recorded previously by a teacher in South Africa. Partly the reason for doing this is because many of the Ethiopian teachers are not sufficiently qualified or they lack teacher training Local teachers are meant to support the TV lesson by giving an introduction, conducting post-viewing activities, facilitating a discussion, and providing a conclusion or even substituting when the power is out. Plasma teaching in Ethiopia faced several challenges, including:

Students with special needs: Plasma lessons are both visual and auditory, which can marginalize students with hearing or sight impairments.
Student participation: The fast pace of instruction and lack of time for student participation can make it difficult for students to actively engage in the learning process.
Student needs: The plasma lessons may not address the needs of individual learners.
Teacher needs: Teachers may not have a positive attitude towards plasma TV. Curriculum: The plasma lessons may cover the national curriculum at the expense of students' understanding.
Technical issues: The plasma TV may be too fast to understand, non-rewindable, and non-repeatable.
Cost effectiveness: The cost effectiveness of plasma TV may be questionable. As a short to medium term solution for the country it seems to have had mixed results, with it working in some areas and not so well in others.

In the long term, it was decided that Ethiopia needs more teachers that are better trained. Partly designed to address the lack of access to qualified and trained teachers in Ethiopia, there are other solutions that have been adopted to deal with this shortage of teachers. Again, on a macro level, there have been a number of top-down solutions to learning and teaching when circumstances are difficult.

One of these is the Hole-in-the-Wall project. A solution to there being a lack of teachers in many villages of India, this consists of a learning station consisting of a computer with an Internet connection embedded in a hole in the wall. Since 1999 and the first computer in Kalkaji, New Delhi, the project has grown to more than 100 computers across India and elsewhere.

Mitra took a PC connected to a high-speed data connection and imbedded it in a concrete wall next to the wall of his research facility in the south end of New Delhi. What he discovered was that ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English took to it and within days, they had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. What has been found is that curiosity takes over when there is an enabling environment where they can learn on their own. This type of learning has also shown results when it comes to improvement in English.

The idea behind this is that groups of children can learn on their own without any direct intervention. Dr Sugata Mitra calls this Minimally Invasive Education (MIE). He found that children using Learning Stations required little or no inputs from teachers and learnt on their own by the process of exploration, discovery and peer coaching

Another solution dreamt up by Dr. Sugata Mitra is something that was quickly labelled ‘The Grannny Cloud’ and is an example of using the transformative power of the Internet to solve a problem involving a lack of teachers.

Mitra thought he could use the Internet telephony software Skype to improve literacy and education. On one trip to India, Mitra asked a group of Indian children what they would like to use Skype for. “Surprisingly, they said they wanted British grandmothers to read them fairytales.” Mitra told the Guardian. Mitra then started looking for volunteers and found about 200 story telling Grannies. “Many are retired teachers, who are now regularly on Skype teaching children in the slums,”

The project, officiallly called “Sole and Somes” is often referred to as “the Granny Cloud” and has evolved from storytelling to the volunteers working as educational mentors. They are available online for about an hour a week for sessions involving conversations, story-telling and singing.

There is no doubt that both of these ideas are innovative and aimed at providing tech solutions to difficulty problems.

Do they work? Well, if you are interested in learning more, there is a lot of info and discussion out there on both the hole in the wall solution and the granny cloud - the projects have certainly been criticised and there is some controversy over the effectiveness of the projects. Donald Clark has written an interesting blog post about this, for instance: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2020/04/mitra-hole-in-wall-but-holes-in-research.html

Moving away from to macro and into the classroom now, I am going to look at some practical suggestions for teachers who find themselves teaching under difficult circumstances, starting with dealing with large classes, though my suggestions won’t be viable if you have huge classes such as the ones I talked about earlier in China.

So some sugggeestions for you if you have large classes

Divide a large class into 2-3 groups. Assign practise or review exercises to the other group(s) while you teach one group
Station work. Assign pupils to small groups and give them projects or simple tasks to do together. Change the group once in a while.
Train all the pupils how to lead a group. Give everyone the chance to be a group leader •Make use of the strongest students to help be peer tutors to the weakest students.

Next, if you are a teacher of a language with sts in your class with Multiple levels:

Station work. Assign pupils to small groups and give them projects or simple tasks to do together that are varied depending on level of pupils. Change the group once in a while.
Student tutors. Get the strongest students to ‘teach’ the weakest ones.
Have extra material/tasks available for the fast finishers.

Another thing IU mentioned at the beginning of the class: De-motivation:

Know your students. What do they like? What don’t they like? Use examples/material relevant to their lives.
Be a good example – pupils will be more likely to be motivated if you are.
Get feedback from the pupils about what you do in class – vary the activities according to this
Give more choice/autonomy to the learners – teach them to be more autonomous learners.

What about another common complaint: Lack of resources?

Share in innovative ways (station work, etc.)
Make more use of human resources
Get the ss to make resources (flashcards, etc)
Find opportunities for language learning in the ss everyday lives
Make the most of the existing (limited) resources in imaginative/inventive ways

More generally, if you are teaching in a context where there are lots of social problems, what can you do? Difficult tto generalise here, but:

Know your students
Make your class the safe/fun place to be
Show understanding/consideration Other, more general advice?
Know your students well
Establish good rapport with the students
Communicate and give feedback frequently
Show concern for both weak and strong students
Arouse the students’ interests
Create a safe/friendly atmosphere in class
Manage students through grouping in different ways
Keep class disciplined by establishing standards
Promote learner autonomy
Smile!

So, that brings us to the end of today’s Sunday Lunchtime show. Many thanks to all of you who joined us live and to those listening back to the recording.

Video is greatly underused in teaching

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:37:00 -0600

Sharing here Seven Videos on the Effective Use of Video, a great post by Tony Bates about how video is greatly underused in Higher Education. I think it's not just HE, but education in general, and although there is a long tradition of using video content for language teaching, especially as sites such as Youtube offer a rich source of authentic language, I suspect there is a lot more that teachers could be doing with video.

One of the great features of videos posted on Youtube is the topicality and inventedness, and much of that comes from remixing content. The following video is one of the best recent examples of this:

Of the videos Tony Bates shares in his post, my favourite is the use of video in interactive simulation game. This is a game that asks students to make decisions during a health assessment home visit, aand is a fabulous example of how an educational decision-tree game that features video can be used for education. A bit complicated and probably beyond the ability of most teachers to design, but the possibilities are endless with this type of format:

It's definitely an idea/format I would like to explore.

How to create branching video

There are a number of posts that look helpful if you want to start

How to create an interactive video on Youtube - A video with suggestions on how to create a simulation / choose your ownn adventure story with multiple videos (see video below).
How can I make an interactive branching video?
What is interactive video? (Best examples and software)
Stornaway - a website allowing for more sophisticated interactive video to be created (free version available)

Longer version of the above video is here.

TTR: Research in ELT

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 16:14:00 -0600

On today's Sunday Lunchtime show for Teachers Talk Radio, thesubject was research in ELT.

You can listen to the show here.

Find out more about RICELT here or on Facebook here.

If you are interested in knowing more about Exploratory Action Research, then I can recommend the following:

ADHD & Autism: Teachers Talk Radio Sunday lunchtime show

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 15:30:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, I spoke to Neurodivergent parent, Kate, about her experience of home educating two boys with autism / ADHD.

Listen to the whole episode here.

Inclusive practices: Teachers Talk Radio with Gerard McLoughlin

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 6 Oct 2024 14:00:00 -0600

On today's Sunday lunchtime show, I spoke to Gerard McLoughlin about inclusive practices in #education, especially #ELT, and was joined at the end of the show by Phil Longwell.

Creative Writing and ELT on TTR

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 12:02:00 -0600

I really enjoyed speaking to Larbi Arbaoui about creative writing and ELT on my Teachers Talk Radio show today. The recording of this can be found here, and it's also on the Teachers Talk Radio Youtube channel.

Among other things, Larbi spoke about the Oliveseed foundation and the short story competition and anthologies of student writing.

AI & Language teaching and learning - TTR with Joe Dale

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 16:52:00 -0600

Today, I was pleased to have Joe Dale join me for the second time on my Teachers Talk Radio show.

Among other things, Joe is UK Independent modern foreign languages & technology consultant in the UK Former host of TES MFL forum & short-listed for NAACE Impact Award 2013 for Curriculum Support.

Over the last couple of years, Joe has established his expertise in the use of artifical intelligence in language teaching and learning, and so it was fascinating to talk to him about this, and he generously shared his knowledge and experience of using a wide number of AI tools and how to use them with language learners.

The recording of the show is below (and another (longer) audio recording is here)

Joe shared the transcript of our conversation here, and an audio overview, produced by Google's notetaking assistant, NotebookLM.

I highly recommend keeping an eye on Joe through Twitter (X) and following Joe's Youtube channel if you want more useful ideas.

Joe also runs the Language Teaching with AI Facebook group, which has become a thriving community, with lots of sharing of ideas and discussion on how best to use AI in our sector.

Below are links to some of the AI tools Joe talked about:

In addition, Joe recently shared a list of Accessibility and AI tools for language learning and a cross-curricular summary of accessibility and AI tools.

TTR: Critical Citizenship with Eugenia Carrión

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 17:26:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, I was joined by Eugenia Carrion from Argentina for a conversation centring around critical citizenship. You can listen to the show at this link or on Youtube (below).

Decentring ELT - Teachers Talk Radio

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 8 Sep 2024 17:32:00 -0600

Decentring English Language Teaching (ELT) was the topic of todays' Teachers Talk Radio show. We also talked about AI and action research in ELT. You can listen back to the conversation I had with Leonardo Lima from Brazil on Youtube (below) or at this link.

Collaborative projects: TTR with Belen Albarracin

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 1 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, I spoke to teacher Belen Albarracin from Argentina about the exciting collaborative projects she does with her learners, including TED-ED Talks and interactive choose-your-own-adventure stories.

Using EdTech to support students - Teachers Talk Radio

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 19:00:00 -0600

Marina Falasca from Argentina joined me on today's Teachers Talk Radio show to chat about her work as a teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum designer, and researcher, especially when it comes to integrating EdTech to enhance students' learning experiences and outcomes.

Online learning and teaching: Teachers Talk Radio with Tamires Gama

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 08:15:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, I talked to Tamires Gama from Brazil about her experience of online learning and teaching.

What makes a great teacher? Teachers Talk Radio

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 08:19:00 -0600

What does the research say about good teaching and being a great teacher? In toady's Teachers Talk Radio show, I took a look at the evidence and what has been said about this topic, and then towards the end of the show, Kate joins me to talk about homeschooling her sons and what teaching means for her.

Teacher Research: Teachers Talk Radio with Paula Rebolledo

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 08:20:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, Teacher Educator Paula Rebolledo joined me to talk about empowering teachers through exploratory action research (EAR). Listen to the recording to hear Paula discussing the differences between teacher research in general, EAR, and the usual form of action research, and how you can get started in exploring what is happening in your own classroom using the EAR approach to action research.

Teaching Pronunciation: Teachers Talk Radio

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 08:24:00 -0600

On today's Teachers Talk Radio show, my guest was pronunciation specialist, teacher, and teacher trainer, Gemma Archer. We talked about teaching pronunciation in English language teaching, including discussion about how to approach regional and foreign accents, and the Lingua Franca Core.

The future of English in the age of AI

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:25:00 -0600

The British Council Signature event at the IATEFL 2024 conference in Brighton was dedicated to the launch of a groundbreaking new report on the use of artifical intelligence in English Language Teaching (ELT). This report can be downloaded here, It looks at how AI is being used for the learning and teaching of Ennglish worldwide as well as discussing the opportunities, issues and challenges. One of the most interesting aspects of it is a review of literature on AI and ELT, which will be very useful going forwards as this is undoubtedly going to increase exponentially. The British Council also consulted experts and surveyed a range of people involved in ELT, asking their opinion of the subject.

Have we figured AI out yet? Vicky Saumell IATEFL 2024 Plenary

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:40:00 -0600

Not surprisingly, AI (Artificial Intelligence) featured strongly during the 2024 IATEFL conference in Brighton. Vicky Saumell gave an excellent opening plenary which focused principally on concerns about AI's impact on the Environment.

Vicky's plenary was received very well (it was the highlight of the conference for me) and has led to a much-needed questioning about how enthusiastic educators should be when it comes to these emerging new tools.

Related

Sandy Milin has a great write-up on her blog about Vicky's plenary
AI's impact on the Environment - the report Vicky refers to
There's an AI for that - repository of AI tools

What's the best GenAI tool for language learning?

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 07:12:00 -0600

Check out the video for an interesting comparison between ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard when it comes to learning a language. Here's how they are rated:

Speaking and listening

How easy is it to speak and listen with these GenAI?

ChatGPT 2.5 (mobile app) - 2.5. Speaking works, but ChatGPT doesn't listen back.
ChatGPT Mod 4.5 (modified Chrome voice extension) - Good for speaking and listening
Bing 3.0 - voice features (Speaking and listening) are easy to use but no way to trigger a voice response and 30 response limit
Bard 4.0 - Speaking and listening features, but mobile not as good as ChatGPT.

Speed and accent

Which of the GenAI allows you to modify the accent (speed and actual voice accent)?

ChatGPT 1.0 - the unmodified version does not let you change speed or accent

ChatGPT Mod 4.0 (modified Chrome voice extesion) - this allows you to adjust listening speed and it gives you a choice of accents for popular languages

Bing 1.0 - no change of listening speed or accent

Bard 1.0 - no change in listening speed or accent

Watch the video for ating of other features (multiple language switching, available on the go, reliability, convenience, mobile friendly).

To sum up, the reviewer rates ChatGPT Mod (with Chrome voice extension) as the best GenAI tool overall for language learning.

Learning Design in the age of Generative AI

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Tue, 2 May 2023 08:10:00 -0600

Donald Clark has published a very interesting blog post about how 'Learning Designers will have to adapt or die' and suggests 10 ways for them to upskill to AI.

Just how AI will affect the job market has been a hot topic for discussion recently. The Economist's message is that the West suffers from too little automation, not too much, and we shouldn't worry.

Anecdotally, I have heard of two very different sides to how generative AI is affecting work right now. A partner's colleague who works in educational publishing has reported that this publisher has stopped working with the three freelance graphic designers they regulalrly contracted work to, and instead have hired a 'prompt engineer' for their illustration needs. On the other hand, Mexican friend who works for a PR agency told me her boss has embraced the changes and is giving the team (copywriters and illustrators, etc) weekly training sessions on how to get the best out of AI tools, and is encouraging they use them. She also told me that she was recently asked to write an obituary of a famous entertainer who passed away unexpectedly, and using ChatGPT what would have normally have taken her four hours or so to research and write, took only twenty minutes.

What surprises me is just how unaware some people involved in the IT sector are, of the inevitable disruption to their work that generative AI poses. Some people are very switched on, like a friend of mine who works as a coder, who tells me how 50% of his job now involves him using ChatGPT to generate code. He then validates it, which is where his skill set comes in. This friend expects the money offered for coding projects will drop substantially as organisations realise it's not a time-consuming as it used to be and the skill involved is less being able to write the code, but in checking and tweaking it. However, at a birthday party recently, I got talking to someone who works in IT for an important Merchant Bank in Zurich, and she only had a vague awareness of generative AI, and hadn't even heard the term 'prompt engineer.'

When it comes to learning design, Donald Clark reports that AI and Generative AI has "started to play a major part of the online learning landscape" with it being used for "learner engagement, syllabus planning, core skills identification, learner support, content creation, assessment, and so on."

I recommend you read Donald's blog post to see the details of how he thinks learning designers need to upskill. Some of the suggestions are obvious (e.g. moving from 'linear' to 'complex', from 'media production' to 'media generation') and will save a lot of time and money. Some are buzz words (e.g. pedAIgogy rather than pedagogy), and quite a few I don't agree with (e.g. 'Presentation skills' being replaced by 'Technical AII skills'; 'Complex AI learning journeys' replacing 'Gamification'; 'Voice' replacing 'writing, typing') I think presentation skills won't disappaer and gamification will still be used, just in a different way, People will also need to write and type. Look at what people said about AI voice assistants replacing text input (they didn't) or how some people (me, for example) hate leaving or receiving voice messages on WhatsApp - in my experience, people spend far longer and waste my time waffling their thoughts than when they send a brief and concise text message. I also can't listen to audio messages (when I'm in meetings, etc) all the time, but I can always read a text.

Despite that, I do agree that learning design, and other jobs are about to be completely disrupted, if it isn't already happening now.

AI has Killed the Metaverse

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 21:58:00 -0600

I heard it first on Facebook, it sounded so sublime. A virtual world beyond what we see in space and time. A place where we could live and work and play. A digital dream where anything was okay. But now AI's killed the Metaverse. and we never saw it coming at all. AI killed the Metaverse. And now we're left with nothing at all.

Remember the Metaverse? That place that resembled Second Life but which was actually many places (Meta Multiverse?) and where you could use VR, and where the avatars didn't have any legs? What's happened to it? I think the buzz around ChatGPT, MidJourney, and all things AI has basically killed it off as anything to get excited about. To use Gartner hype-cycle-speak, the Metaverse is probably languishing in the Trough of Disillusionment with little chance of dragging itself up the Slope of Enlightenment.

It doesn't surprise me. Although, I briefly got excited that the initial flicker of virtual worlds becoming the next big thing again, the fire was never fully lit. The Metaverse played hard to get and try as I did to understand where to go, it was never very clear. Unlike those heady days when Second Life captured people's attention back in 2007, the Metaverse never had one clear meeting place. And why didn't the avatars have legs?

It was floundering late last year, with Forbes asking 'What happened to the Metaverse dream?' :

"Much of the world is stumped on the idea of the “metaverse dream,” where our real world would merge seamlessly with a virtual 3-D world. This would be an entirely new type of wireless wearable platform—a quantum jump from our current handheld or desktop 2-D computing world."

In this Wall Street Joirnal Tech Briefing debate, 'Can the Metaverse live up to its hype?', for my money, the best arguments were said by Phil Libin who doesn't think the Metaverse will realise its potential:

"I think the Facebok vision of the Metaverse is...so stupid it makes me sad. It accomplishes nothing. If yu're having a hard time understanding...what is it we are doing? What does this accomplish? Sometimes the emperor really doesn't have any clothes..."

...and...

"Now more than at any other time in history, it's time to invest in the real world and really just not try to figure out what we can do with a piece of plastic duct taped to our face...I think VR is a dead-end. I think there are certian experiences that make sense in VR. Those experiences are few. Those experiences are far-between. Those experiences have been with us for twenty years. There hasn't been meaningful innovation in VR and there won't be, because there's this fallacy that what people want is more immersion, and actually people don't want immersion most of the time. That's why most of us spend most of our time in the least immersive devices possible...our phones. Instead of sitting in front of big TVs. That's why 3-D movies, which have been around since the 60's have not replaced normal movies."

Since then, we have seen such an huge explosion of interest in Artifical Intelligence generators, both image and text, that almost everyone seems to have turned their back on the Metaverse promise. 'Is the Metaverse already dead?' asks the Fast Company:

"What if the next big thing never quite becomes the next big thing? Why? Generative AI just stole its thunder. All along, plenty of observers have refused to buy into the irrational exuberance over the Metaverse. But I can't imagine anyone spending a few minutes fooling around with Open AI's ChatGPT...and concluding that generative AI is...something that requires another decade of work before it'll matter. The technology might fail to live up to 90% of its promise. It could create more problems than it solves. But it's still going to have a sprawling impact on our lives, starting this year."

The Financial Times in February this year asked Whaever happened to the Metaverse?

"So unenthusiastic are Meta’s own investors about the idea that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was recently forced to say that the metaverse is “not the majority of what we’re doing”. These days, he’s talking more about efficiency than the metaverse...Where did it all go wrong? The metaverse has a couple of major problems. The first is that nobody seems to be able to agree on what it is — even the people setting themselves up as the leaders of our new fantastical future can’t seem to come up with a common definition. The Metaverse never really began - and yet, it's already over. .

I can't help thinking it's aptly ironic, given the emergence of Facebook (renamed and relaunched as Meta) was largely responsible for people's excitement in Second Life being dulled. Well, that and the emergence of competitors (such as Open Sim), especially for education when Second Life raised their prices and the much-promised improvements (less lag, less requirement for a top-of-the range computer) didn't materialise. Oh, and not forgetting the appearance of Minecraft, which was an exciting game as well as a world building tool, and much easier to use. Oh, and at least the avatars in Minecraft had legs!

We thought we had control, we thought we had the power. But the machines were learning, hour by hour. Now they've taken over, and there's nothing we can do. The virtual world we built is gone, it's true. AI has killed the Metaverse. And we never saw it coming at all. AI has killed the Metaverse. And now we're left with nothing at all.

Research & Teaching vs Teaching & Research : TESOL 2023

blogefl@gmail.com (Graham Stanley) — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 09:05:00 -0600

I'm currently attending the 2023 TESOL Convention in Portland, Oregon, USA. At the opening on Wednesday, the Presidential Panel was on 'Inspiring the Future of Research in ELT' and featured Joyce Kling (President, TESOL International Association (2022–23); Senior Lecturer, Lund University, Sweden) and Jun Liu (President, TIRF; Rector, City University of Macau, China; Past President, TESOL International Association (2006–07) as modeators, and David Nunan (Trustee, TIRF; Professor Emeritus, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Past President, TESOL International Association - 1999–2000), Peter De Costa (Coeditor, TESOL Quarterly; First Vice President, AAAL (2022–23); Associate Professor and MATESOL Program Director, Michigan State University, USA), Shondel Nero (Inaugural Recipient, TIRF James E. Alatis Prize (2016); Professor of Language Education, New York University, USA). and Özgehan Uştuk (Chair, TESOL Research Professional Council; Postdoctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China).

The debate about the divide between teaching and researching has been going on a very long time, but that doesn't mean it has gone away, so this discussion was a welcome one, although only lively / engaging in parts.

Here are some bullet points from notes I took (much of them are direct quotations from the speakers - unfortunately, I didn't have time to record who said what most of the time). Much of this seems self-evident and not new, but the fact that this is taking place indicates there is a need for this to be an ongoing discussion. What seems lacking is an acion plan.

Shondel: When it comes to collaborative research, teachers are too often perceived as consumers rather than partners
Researchers need to spend more time in the classroom
Do the research 'with' the teachers not 'on' the teachers
The best research is the research that is done in your own backyard
David: teachers need researchers and researchers need teachers
Teacher research should be considered systematic reflection in your own practice made public
If researchers don't collaborate with teachers, they end up asking questions that teachers never ask = pointless
Teachers are often scared of the concept of research, and research often divorced from the teaching
Jun: We need to think about a teacher-researcher persona
Shonel - Reseacher can only ask the questions if they understand the context. This is why they need to visit classrooms
Research needs to be more contextual, relevant to the classroom
Peter - Researchers need to be in the schools, and research needs to deal with day-to-day classroom realities
Researchers need to involve students, materials writers, policymakers - it needs to be more participatory
Teaching English is far more than English and far more than just teaching
If a teacher is curious about learning and trying to understand how to teach better, then the teachers is also a researcher
The researcher KPI is how much they publish; the teacher KPI is how well teach. Helping the teacher teach better should be a KPI for researchers
We always use term 'teacher researchers' How about the term 'researcher teacher'?
Peter - Building community is important - the classroom doesn't exist in a vacuum
Research should be more contexualised, flexible and based on local resouces
Shonel - we need to understand the broader societal issues to become better teacher-researchers