In what way technology can enrich a course for specific purposes?
A case study based on a French for Specific Purposes course for Hotel and Tourism, designed for Cyprus University of Technology Language Centre
The integration of technology in language courses became a trend nowadays aiming to develop more complete and efficient courses in terms of materials, task and feedback delivery. This presentation aims to trace the essential steps followed in order to design a French for Specific Purposes course and to select online materials and tools. The research is based on a blended French for Specific Purposes course, designed for Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), Language Centre. The pilot testing was conducted during the fall semester 2014 with a group of 5 students studying at the CUT department of Hotel and Tourism Management. The students were false beginners, but they were considered as beginners since they have taken French courses in secondary school, 5 to 7 years ago.
A literature search and review, as well as an online research in other Language Centres around the world was conducted in order to identify the nature of blended French for Specific Purposes courses for Hotel and Tourism, the level of students, the materials and course books used. Interviews were also made with professionals of this sector who work in Cyprus. These interviews provided important information to make needs analysis and identify the specific tasks that should be assigned to students.
The main aim was to develop a course based on an action-oriented and a task based approach and enriched by tools and materials, which promote the learning process and assimilation. The curriculum design followed the guidelines proposed by integrative CALL and was based on Constructivism (Koohang, 2009) - Connectivism (Siemens, 2008, 2004) and the Cognitive theory of Multimedia learning (Mayer, 2009; Sorden, 2005).
A focus will be given, during this presentation, on how the selection of materials and tools was decided and on their pedagogical significance to the learning process. The materials were uploaded on a course designed on the Moodle platform to support the teaching procedure. The materials consisted of word documents, online activities, online websites, images, videos etc. The Moodle forum was used in order for the students to deliver their tasks and for the instructor to provide the formative assessment. Further attention will be addressed to the task selection in meeting the students’ professional needs and finally the presentation will give emphasis on the way the tasks were delivered and on how the assessment was conducted. The role of the instructor/tutor in the learning process will be raised and the problems occurred will be identified. Further suggestion, possible improvements and recommendations will also be mentioned based on personal observation, on students’ comments during the course and on their responses to a questionnaire given at the end of the course. The data analysis was based on qualitative and quantitative measurement methods.
A case study based on a French for Specific Purposes course for Hotel and Tourism, designed for Cyprus University of Technology Language Centre
The integration of technology in language courses became a trend nowadays aiming to develop more complete and efficient courses in terms of materials, task and feedback delivery. This presentation aims to trace the essential steps followed in order to design a French for Specific Purposes course and to select online materials and tools. The research is based on a blended French for Specific Purposes course, designed for Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), Language Centre. The pilot testing was conducted during the fall semester 2014 with a group of 5 students studying at the CUT department of Hotel and Tourism Management. The students were false beginners, but they were considered as beginners since they have taken French courses in secondary school, 5 to 7 years ago.
A literature search and review, as well as an online research in other Language Centres around the world was conducted in order to identify the nature of blended French for Specific Purposes courses for Hotel and Tourism, the level of students, the materials and course books used. Interviews were also made with professionals of this sector who work in Cyprus. These interviews provided important information to make needs analysis and identify the specific tasks that should be assigned to students.
The main aim was to develop a course based on an action-oriented and a task based approach and enriched by tools and materials, which promote the learning process and assimilation. The curriculum design followed the guidelines proposed by integrative CALL and was based on Constructivism (Koohang, 2009) - Connectivism (Siemens, 2008, 2004) and the Cognitive theory of Multimedia learning (Mayer, 2009; Sorden, 2005).
A focus will be given, during this presentation, on how the selection of materials and tools was decided and on their pedagogical significance to the learning process. The materials were uploaded on a course designed on the Moodle platform to support the teaching procedure. The materials consisted of word documents, online activities, online websites, images, videos etc. The Moodle forum was used in order for the students to deliver their tasks and for the instructor to provide the formative assessment. Further attention will be addressed to the task selection in meeting the students’ professional needs and finally the presentation will give emphasis on the way the tasks were delivered and on how the assessment was conducted. The role of the instructor/tutor in the learning process will be raised and the problems occurred will be identified. Further suggestion, possible improvements and recommendations will also be mentioned based on personal observation, on students’ comments during the course and on their responses to a questionnaire given at the end of the course. The data analysis was based on qualitative and quantitative measurement methods.