A case study of developing student-teachers' language awareness through online discussion forums

A case study of developing student-teachers' language awareness through online discussion forums

• Mok, Jane Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Language Awareness, 22(2), 161-175, 2013

Great Britain

Routledge

2013

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FD Application of Communicative Media, IT in Learning & Teaching
• F Learning & Teaching
  • FA General Teaching Strategies, Different Instructional Methods
• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GB English Language

Second Language Teachers Computer Assisted Instruction Language Teaching Methods Teacher Education Applied Linguistics Non-Native Language Instruction (Languages Other Than English)

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

A major challenge for language teacher educators working in the area of teacher language awareness (TLA) is to develop pedagogical approaches that will go beyond merely enhancing L2 teachers' knowledge about language by enabling them to make the bridge between the declarative and procedural dimensions of TLA. This paper sets out to investigate the effectiveness of using online discussion forums to develop the language awareness of a group of student-teachers of L2 English in Hong Kong. Through content analysis of the 18 discussion threads initiated by these novice teachers, the research team found that despite the different reasons they had for posting their discussion topics, most of them had used extensively the e-learning platform to request help regarding the two dimensions of TLA, and that their reflections showed a strong tendency to move from the declarative to the procedural dimension of TLA. The study, though exploratory, has enhanced our understanding of learning to teach by opening up a small window for people to understand how TLA affected the teacher behaviour of this group of student-teachers during their teaching practice. The study also shows the research potential of using online discussion forums to understand teachers' language awareness development.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2012.680467]

• English

Journal Articles

• 09658416

• 10.1080/09658416.2012.680467

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/7f367d63

2014-05-29