The New Interactivity in Chinese University Classrooms

The New Interactivity in Chinese University Classrooms

Michael Rost Li Gong 2012

Awakening the Dragon

OverviewPART 1 Introducing Interactive Language Teaching • Background concepts in English education in China

• Shifting emphasis to communicative English in Chinese universities

• 6 areas of improvement targeted

• 4 new “approved” curriculum designs

• How new methodologies are reshaping perspectives on interaction & communication

• Teacher training perspectives: What areas of ‘support’ do teachers need most?

PART 2 Teacher Training • Research design: Questionnaire to 220 universities; Interviews 25 teachers

• Findings: Current perceptions of teachers – what is needed now?

• Recommendations for 3 key areas of teacher development and support

• Questions and Comments

• Follow up : www.latcomm.com/blog/NEIE

Michael Rost [email protected]

Li Gong [email protected]

http://www.latcomm.com/blog/NEIE

mailto:[email protected]


PART 1: INTRODUCING INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

BACKGROUND: IMAGES OF ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINA

“

• positive role models • mythical spirituality •“against all odds” motivation

• group learning • unyielding belief • tenacious effort


• teacher-centered• mastery of material• “cathedral of learning”


Education stands out from all government roles in terms of scope and complexity and is of paramount importance to the nation….- Li Langqing, Vice Premier for Science, Technology and Education

• charismatic leaders• reform policies• rallying cries


The Reforms

• 1992 Internationalization and Communication

Decentralization and Fairness

• 2002 “Correcting the 6 Fundamental Errors”

“Making a Choice”

2002: THE 6 RECOGNIZED “ERRORS”

1. Teacher centered

2. Focus on reading-writing

3. No teacher choice, no innovation

4. Negative washback effect of test system

5. No teacher research

6. Lack of investment in teacher development

The Choice: 4 “Methodologies”

What does “interactivity” mean? Learner interacting with … PEOPLE

COMPUTERS INSTRUMENTS DATA ENVIRONMENTS SIMULATIONSGAMES VISUALIZATIONS MEDIA CLIPS TEXTSSYMBOLSSOFTWARE

Dimensions of “interactive” learning

Extending the interaction hypothesis

…any action initiated by a learner requiring a response from another person, a medium, or a system…in order to complete a learning task… choosing the type of interactivity that is best for reaching a learning goal….

Support from the AL community

(Tsou, 2005) communication development through participation, personal engagement, taking the initiative

(Chappelle, 2008) communicative negotiation is the attempt to solve a communication problem

(Seedhouse, 2009 ) …promote user-mediated action that leads to performance of task goals.

(Thorne, 2009) CMC is equivalent to PP negotiation at the psycholinguistic level

(Rivers, 1987) Making learning more participatory and communication oriented

(Breen, 1989) Task is the actual pedagogy during which acquisition is triggered…

(Kumaravadivelu, 1994) ‘Maximize learning opportunities through interaction’

6 types of interactivity in NEIE

• Online interactive instruction with LEI software (conversation partner, tutor)

• Media “encounters” with course media

• Community online interactions w/ classmates

• Collaborative projects w/ classmates

• Classroom tasks w/classmates, teacher

• Coaching sessions w/teacher

To do anything well depends entirely on the competence of the people involved ,and without them, any guiding principles or policies, no matter how well formed, will get nowhere… “ (Li, p. 5)

Part 2: teacher training

Research Method

• Initial Research: What areas of teacher development are needed?

> Survey

> Interviews

The Research Method

Question 1 . In your view, what are the most beneficial forms of interaction in NEIE for promoting communicative English?

• Active self-learning (.44)

• Interactive exercises online (.29)

• Active participation in class (.24)

• Feedback from teacher (.14)

The Research MethodQ 2: What kinds of interaction in the classroom facilitate learning of communicative English?

•Group discussion (.63)

•Role Play / Conversation repetition (.24)

•Communication tasks (.27)

•Listening/Viewing exercises (.12)

The Research MethodQ3: What kinds of online interactive learning

facilitate communicative English?

• Speech recognition feedback (.63)

• Dialogue repetition (.27)

• Pronunciation tasks (.22)

• Listening/Viewing exercises (.12)

The Research “Result”

• What problems still need to be addressed?

(1) How to coordinate online and classroom learning

(2) How to support teacher’s role in new classroom structure

(3) How to get students to participate / express themselves in classroom

Issue 1: How to coordinate online and classroom learning

• Separate tasks

• Form study groups

• Create “game structure” for completion of all tasks

• Teach “autonomy strategies”

Issue 2: How to support teacher’s role in new classroom structure

• Add Individual Coaching Sessions.

• Teacher “lectures” on learning strategies

• Provide “gaming” structure for coordinating online-classroom learning

Issue 3: How to get students to express themselves…

• Communicative task design (not T-S interactive questioning)

• Training in oral proficiency rubrics

• Active communication strategies as “scored”

• Student Group Projects every unit

Questions … Comments

• Download article and presentation:

www.latcomm.com/blog/NEIE

• Contact:

Michael Rost [email protected]

Li Gong [email protected]

http://www.latcomm.com/blog/NEIE



The New Interactivity in Chinese University Classrooms

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