Abstracts

In this session we discuss these two central ideas on student engagement and motivation in online classes:

1. Personalise topics 

By asking students to respond to the thematic content of the course in a personal manner, we increase the possibility of participation that can lead to student-centred research and project work with associated language practice.

2. Activities to develop student agency

Student agency should be synonymous with online learning and, indeed any learning. If the student is productively engaged, the student is learning. If we offer choice, then there is a greater chance of students taking on responsibility for their own learning.

I will be showing example activities based on English File 4th Edition and your active participation is most welcome!

In the presentation, I will address four areas of learning skills and metacognitive strategies that teachers can develop among their students, in order to make them more effective in managing their own learning. This is particularly important in the context of blended learning.  The four areas are:  Firstly, how do they plan and organise their learning? Secondly, what are effectively learning habits and strategies, and how can your students develop the ones that work best for them? Thirdly, what can they do to maintain motivation when learning at home?  And finally, how can they become better at monitoring and evaluating their own learning?  For each area, we will look at what is really needed, and go through some practical learning activities that you can use with your students to help them develop those skills.

Ms. Dinara Karimova will present 10 easy and fun game-like activities that can attract university students’ attention and increase their engagement both during online and offline classes. She will share her own teaching experiences as well as the students’ reactions to these activities. She will demonstrate which physical objects as well as online platforms and websites can be used to arrange them. These activities can be used for multiple purposes, e.g. learning about the students during the first classes, introducing a topic of a speech or an essay, focusing on important ideas in texts, reviewing vocabulary, and practicing speaking and listening skills. Some of them can be completed within only a few minutes and with the help of quick students’ responses, others need an extended time frame and more active learners’ participation. They can be incorporated into the teaching and learning practices of general, academic, or ESP English courses. PowerPoint slides with a brief description of each activity and relevant links will be provided at the end of the workshop. 

Building new knowledge through interaction in learner networks is a new learning theory for the digital age. Self-regulation skills and proper patterns are required while communicating ideas with peers, via finding, processing and applying knowledge according to the theory of connectivism (Siemens, 2004). Thus, the instructor’s role is no longer limited to delivering engaging learning, but also includes providing pedagogical and technical support for students to enhance collaborative learning, pick up information that is of their academic or personal need and apply for their own progress. What is more, web applications with their multimedia formats of information exchange suit learning styles that could be employed in and outside the classroom. The presentation with demonstrate the authemtic instructions that could increase motivation of students to become active users of online applications.

Building new knowledge through interaction in learner networks is a new learning theory for the digital age. Self-regulation skills and proper patterns are required while communicating ideas with peers, via finding, processing and applying knowledge according to the theory of connectivism (Siemens, 2004). Thus, the instructor’s role is no longer limited to delivering engaging learning, but also includes providing pedagogical and technical support for students to enhance collaborative learning, pick up information that is of their academic or personal need and apply for their own progress. What is more, web applications with their multimedia formats of information exchange suit learning styles that could be employed in and outside the classroom. The presentation with demonstrate the authemtic instructions that could increase motivation of students to become active users of online applications.

 Evaluation is an important part of the educational process. It is very important to know what we assess and how we do that. It is essential to plan the assessment activity on the stage of a course design. This problem is not a new one, but in the digitalized environment a few aspects look differently. So, after providing a theoretical background of assessment, I want to talk about some challenges which I have faced teaching online.

Recorded lectures one of the big benefits of digital learning is that some of your classes will be recorded. Resources availability. Perhaps you find it easier to focus in the evenings, or you just can’t sleep and want to get some extra study in afterhours  Joined learning another one of the benefits of digital learning is that you’ll be part of a connected community. Self-study. Self-directed study is an important part of higher education. It refers to the time you spend learning away from your classes, when you’re not being directed by a teacher. Flexible choices - you’ll be able to mix and match the programs and software you use with different people, and for different activities. Written language skills. Digital learning could help you improve your written language skills. Mastering technology - you’ll have plenty of experience using software Followed progress. Digital learning doesn’t only help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, Less emissions - clean environment. It's enjoyable - as studying online is highly effective. 

Cultural identity is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and is related to nationality. How to maintain cultural identity in Kazakhstan educational institutions?

5 practical activities to implement CQ in lessons will be discussed in a presentation. The presentation could be sent if it is requested.

1. Visiting museums and art galleries

2. One-day city tour

3. Writing a review

4. Holidays festivals

5. Comparison of first and targeted languages

By equal attitudes and a friendly atmosphere in classes, teachers could improve students’ CQ, as its high level will help them perform effectively in culturally diverse situations. Also, it is undeniable that the benefits of CQ could expand into an international collaboration that involves better intercultural adjustments.

The goal is to bring up a “flexible generation” which understands the importance of its own cultural identity and is open to other cultures. The cultural context of teaching a language should be: “We are different, and all are equal”. Therefore, teachers could create a society without racism and discrimination based on cultural differences.

The presentation is aimed at covering major challenges faced while using fiction and poetry in foreign language class. The first part is devoted to considering types of literary works which can be read with university students learning foreign languages as well as levels they are suitable to be applied at, thus summarizing criteria of selecting appropriate works of literature. Furthermore, there is a sequence of tasks designed for implementing fiction and poetry in foreign language class with the description of their goals at each stage. In addition, the author analyzes some cases from her own experience highlighting advantages and disadvantages of such method in particular situations and presents the results of survey conducted with one of the groups where they provide their opinion on reading fiction and poetry both in foreign language class and everyday life. Finally, the author shows the perspectives of developing the mentioned ideas in further research. 

The paper explores some benefits of the Reading Club organized in Satbayev University for the professional development of the English language teachers. The Reading Club is a voluntary discussion group consisting of novice teachers who get together once a month to share their ideas about the self-selected short stories of the English-speaking authors. The Reading Club sessions are semi-structured and include the content-based and the language-based sections. During the first section a piece of literature is viewed as a product of a particular writer, a coherent literary text with its thematic and structural organization. During the language-based section the teachers look at a story as a material for classroom instruction. The feedback that the teachers provided in the questionnaire gives ground to assume that the Reading Club is an effective self-directed professional development activity. It enhances the teachers’ general knowledge, their language competence, pedagogical, interpretative and critical thinking skills. It also enables them to work collaboratively in the atmosphere of respect and appreciation. 

Nowadays the formation of learners’ intercultural linguistic competence can be achieved by the use of various teaching methods and tools. The information about these techniques can be accessed on different websites, as well as at various courses and accredited educational programmes. One of such effective approaches in teaching a foreign language both online and offline is the application of a situational technology. The latter is based on the modelling and implementation of real-life situations for studying purposes. These real-life situations can be of both general and professional settings. 

The main goal of applying situational exercises is to stimulate the learning capabilities of students by immersing them in the realistic settings. This immersion can be achieved in two ways: by creating real situations and by modelling artificial situations or contrived situations. Most of the textbooks include both of these types in forms of various interactive exercises, such as case-studies, projects, assignments to produce an email or other written pieces of information, etc.

In my presentation I will provide more information on the theoretical background of the situational technology, as well as share my own experience of designing and applying professionally oriented situations within the digitalized framework.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced teachers and trainers to acquire a usage of interactive online tools urgently. This process was really demanding and challenging, but at the same time helped most professionals to enrich their practical skills. Applying a dose of creativity helped teaching stuff to keep students’ motivation at a high pitch during distant learning format. But the biggest challenge for me, in particular, was conducting IELTS preparation course online. In this respect I have found an enormous perspective of Jamboard integration to the educational process, especially while teaching writing skills. (Although Jamboard can also be applied while teaching vocabulary or language development). So, I am planning to present a brief overview of Jamboard application, description of given tools there and demonstrate a practical part of IELTS writing task 1 lesson. 

Nowadays the quality education of the next generation is one of the most important issues. In this regard, in order to improve the skills of teachers there are various online webinars and free courses are organized. The teacher plays an important role in the formation of a well-developed student who is able to express himself or herself freely, convincingly, motivated, confident, systematically developed critical thinking, competent in digital technologies. During teaching, the teacher must give the necessary direction, and must not forget that the main person in the study is the student. 

In this webinar participants will understand the idea behind flipped classrooms and how they can integrate it into their own classroom curriculum. This approach has been defined as a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed.