Flexible learning activities fostering autonomy in teaching training

Abstract

The flexible use of digital recordings from EFL classrooms as well as online communication with teaching experts are two promising ways of implementing e-learning in the context of initial teacher training. Our research focuses on how to blend these elements efficiently with the different theoretical and practical content layers of an introductory course “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” to foster the development of critical, reflective thinking of prospective teachers of English and to empower the learners. In this paper we discuss the concept of autonomy as a course strategy and argue that enabling a student to take responsibility and to make informed choices is the main route to an autonomous learner. We introduce and analyze learning activities such as working with multimedia-based case stories that include video episodes as situational anchors and conducting an einterview. These learning activities are two formats that integrate elearning and contact learning in a directed, interactive way to foster the learner’s autonomy. The study is a follow-up of a pilot study on blended learning in a teacher training course and was conducted as action research in the 2004/05 winter semester. It combines qualitative and quantitative research methods and integrates multiple perspectives on the teaching and learning scenarios.