HASE ONLINE COLLOQUIUM

Certificates of attendance will be electronically sent to all participants

https://www.enl.auth.gr/hase

14:15-14: 30 Closing remarks

10:00-10: 15 Welcoming remarksAspasia Velissariou, Professor, Chair of the Department of English Language and Literature, National & Kapodistrian University of AthensAndreas H. Jucker, Professor, President of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE)Vasiliki Markidou, Associate Professor, President of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE)

13:30-14:15 Kia Karavas & Jenny Liontou, Associate Professor & Assistant Proferssor , National & Kapodistrian University of AthensUniversity students going online during the COVID-19 pandemic: experiences from a blended delivery course model

12:45-13:30 Joanna Nijakowska, Professor, University of WarsawInclusive online classrooms: boosting student wellbeing

12:30-12:45 E-Coffee Break

11:45-12:30 Christina Nicole Giannikas, Adjunct Lecturer, Cyprus University of TechnologySending our Teachers into the Wild: What we learned about preparedness during COVID-19

11:00-11:45 Dina Tsagari, Professor, Oslo Metropolitan UniversityTeachers’ Assessment under COVID-19: Challenges and Prospects

Programme

10:15-11:00 Nicos Sifakis, Professor, National & Kapodistrian University of AthensDistance learning for hard times: coping with the emergency remote teaching reality—an EFL teacher’s survival guide

09:30-10:00 Getting connected

PROGRAMME

Distance learning for hard times: coping with the emergency remote teaching reality—an EFL teacher’s survival guideNicos Sifakis, National & Kapodistrian University of AthensIn this paper I discuss the principles and processes involved in the specific distance education mode known as “emergency remote teaching” (ERT) that has emerged in the past 12 months as a result of the measures enforced in educational institutions around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I define ERT as a specific form of distance education that is large-scale and compulsory and incorporates alternative and largely unplanned methods for delivering instruction. My focus in this paper is the domain of teaching English as a foreign language. First, I discuss the importance of recognizing the following three preliminary constraints:a) the distinct nature of teaching and learning in the distance education mode, with particular reference to the emergent and emerging ERT reality;b) the impact of the subject-matter taught on the overall distance education experience;c) the key role that the attitudes of all stakeholders play, and, in particular, those of teachers’ and students’.My interest in this paper is drawing attention to the issues and concerns that teachers of English should be aware of in designing distance education lessons that can be tailored to the ERT specifications. More specifically, I refer to:• participants’ engagement with the technical component (online platforms; online and offline modes of instruction);• course design and lesson planning constraints;• differentiating instruction and assessment.

Abstract

With the global outbreak of COVID-19, educational institutions and teachers worldwide have encountered challenges in implementing assessment in different educational levels. The disruption of the pedagogical process has made it necessary for the majority of countries to take measures for pedagogical continuity online. Despite the sudden shift occurring in many settings to online teaching, little is known about teacher assessment practices and challenges during the crisis. In line with the newly emerging body of research on the move to remote teaching and assessment, this presentation explores the new assessment realities and requirements added during the COVID-19 period by examining the range of assessment measures and practices taken in different countries in primary, secondary and higher language education. An online survey was administered to teachers to scrutinize in addition to examining possible applications of online assessment. The presentation will discuss the findings as well as theoretical and practical implications for teachers’ language assessment literacy in times of crises when the adoption of online assessment may become a necessity rather than an option.

Teachers’ Assessment under COVID-19: Challenges and Prospects Dina Tsagari, Oslo Metropolitan University

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the field of ELT in various ways. As a result of the closure of schools, teachers and students have had to rapidly adapt to remote teaching. The need to create learning environments for students implied decisions, choices and adaptations in order to meet not only the expectations of the language learner, but also the requirements of the wider educational community. The rapid, unexpected and ‘forced’ transition from face-to-face to remote teaching has entailed a number of challenges and constraints, but does it entail surprise? The purpose of this presentation is to discuss findings of a case study conducted during a teacher education program and just before the COVID-19 outbreak in the Republic of Cyprus. It concentrates on digital literacies and digital preparedness of candidate EFL secondary state school teachers. The findings indicate why practitioners were not prepared for a new scenario of language education, and how the current situation has forced them to adapt to a new norm they were not equipped to face. The presentation aims to provide an evidence-based perspective that could attend to the gaps in the system that is holding EFL teaching in state schools back; but most importantly, the presentation aims to provide information on how goal-oriented training will help student teachers understand the characteristics, the processes, the outcomes and the implications of the digital world in their language teaching that go beyond emergency online practices.

Sending our Teachers into the Wild: What we learned about preparedness during COVID-19Christina Nicole Giannikas, Cyprus University of Technology/CG Education & Research Consultancy

Abstract

In the context of global Covid pandemic teachers are facing new challenges relating to creating remote inclusive learning environments and establishing new forms of pedagogical relationships with their learners. In some countries schools are open but many young people around the globe continue to learn from home on a full or part-time basis. We can witness how crisis has created opportunities for learning new skills and triggered creativity both in teachers and students. However, it can also potentially induce negative emotions, lack of engagement and accomplishment (when students are not absorbed by meaningful and joyful activities), unhealthy social relations (lack of belonging to school), or digital burnout, all of which contribute to poor student wellbeing. Learning away from school can be a meaningful inclusive experience as long as teachers respond to diverse educational needs of their learners, including learners with specific learning difficulties (SpLDs). Some of these needs are specific to home schooling, for instance dealing with social isolation, varying access to technology and technological capabilities. All language learners are unique, special and different, and, like in the case of face-to-face teaching, there is no one-size-fits-all in distance learning. Inclusive teachers understand and remove existing barriers to online learning, but, even more importantly, they are able to design online learning spaces in a way that these barriers might not even exist. In this talk I will refer to removing barriers in home schooling students with SpLDs by employing the principles of universal design for learning and differentiated instruction. I will provide some practical tips on how to make our online classrooms more welcoming and inclusive spaces for students with SpLDs by employing student-centred approach and enhanced student engagement, which in turn can support their wellbeing despite social isolation.

Inclusive online classrooms: boosting student wellbeingJoanna Nijakowska, University of Warsaw

Abstract

The abrupt global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in all fields of education. The shift to online learning and teaching practices shocked the majority of the language education community who had to become familiar with online resources and adjust their teaching approaches overnight. As regards tertiary education, during this emergency period, university students had to move away from the traditional classrooms to new online learning environments and contexts diverse and dramatically different from each other, which has significantly changed the way in which students engage and learn. Given the circumstances, our presentation reports on the findings of a survey that aimed to provide valuable insights into university students’ behaviours, emotions and perceptions associated to online learning during the pandemic and their experiences from a blended delivery course model with elements of a flipped classroom. The ultimate purpose of the present study was to explore and identify factors that influence university students’ engagement in online learning (e.g., technical skills, communication skills, student attributes, etc.) and the features of learning environments that influenced engagement (e.g., physical context, social cultural context, technology context, instructional context, etc.) in order to propose specific digital technologies that might foster university students’ engagement (e.g., virtual labs, synchronous tools, collaborative tools, assessment tools, etc.) alongside face-to-face instruction in the post-COVID era. To this end, reference will be made to university students’ reactions to online resources during the pandemic and to their opinions regarding the possible use of specific online tools in the post-COVID period. Our findings are expected to shed some light on the challenges university students faced while receiving synchronous and asynchronous instruction while reflecting on any lessons that can be learned from such an emergency teaching and learning situation.

University students going online during the COVID-19 pandemic: experiences from a blended delivery course modelKia Karavas & Jenny Liontou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Abstract

Nicos Sifakis is Professor of Teaching English for Specific Purposes in the Department of Language and Linguistics of the Faculty of English Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds a BA (1st Class Hons, 1990) in Computational Linguistics and a PhD in Language and Linguistics (1994) from the University of Essex (UK). From 2003 to 2020 he served as a faculty member of the Hellenic Open University (HOU), where he acted as director of the Postgraduate Programme titled “Teaching English as a Foreign/International Language.”His research interests include intercultural communication and pedagogy, teaching and researching English as an international lingua franca, language teaching methodology, distance education, adult education and teacher education. His research papers appear in many international refereed journals (among others, Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, ELT Journal, English for Specific Purposes, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language and Education, System, World Englishes), edited collections and conference proceedings.

Meet our Speakers

Meet our Speakers

Dina Tsagari. PhD, is Professor in the Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. She has also worked for the University of Cyprus, Greek Open University and Polytechnic University of Hong Kong.Her research interests include language testing and assessment, materials design and evaluation, differentiated instruction, multilingualism, distance education and learning difficulties. She is the editor and author of numerous books, journal papers, book chapters, project reports etc. She coordinates research groups, e.g. CBLA SIG – EALTA, EnA OsloMet and is involved in EU-funded and other research projects (e.g. KriT, DINGLE, ENRICH, TALE, DysTEFL, PALM, etc).

Meet our Speakers

Joanna Nijakowska is a University Professor in the Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education, University of Warsaw, Poland. She holds a PhD in linguistics. A teacher trainer, specialist in second/foreign language acquisition and didactics, psycholinguistics and learning difficulties, she runs teacher training courses and workshops for ELT students and practitioners. She has authored and edited books (including Dyslexia in the Foreign Language Classroom) and research papers on dyslexia and effective foreign language classroom practices, effectiveness of foreign language training as well as foreign language teachers’ professional development needs, concerns and beliefs about inclusive teaching of students with specific learning difficulties. She was an initiator and co-ordinator of the award-winning (European Language Label 2014, Success Story 2016) international DysTEFL and DysTEFL2 projects (Dyslexia for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language), co-financed by the European Commission. She co-authored the award-winning (ELTons 2014) DysTEFL and DysTEFL2 foreign language teacher training materials on inclusive instructional practices with neurodiverse foreign language learners.

Kia Karavas holds a doctorate from the University of Warwick where she taught EAP for a number of years and from 1993 to 1999 was lecturer at the Centre for English Language Teacher Education. She is currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of English Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, co-coordinator of the Pedagogic and Teaching Competence Programme, scientific coordinator of the Teaching Practice Course and Mentor Education programme and assistant Director of the RCeL (Research Centre for Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment of the University of Athens). Within the wider context of the research, evaluation and development work undertaken by RCeL, Kia Karavas is responsible for the training of oral examiners and markers for the KPG exams in English (Greek state language proficiency exams) and for the development of the KPG speaking test in English. She was a member of the working group for the development of the Integrated Foreign Languages Curriculum and scientific coordinator of the training programme for the implementation of the IFLC in pilot schools. Her research interests include language teacher education and development, curriculum evaluation, implementation research. She has publications in these areas in local and international journals.

Meet our speakers

Meet our Speakers

Christina Nicole Giannikas holds a PhD in the field of Applied Linguistics. She is an education and research consultant and has worked with publishers, Ministries of Education and educational institutions worldwide. Christina also works in Higher Education where she lectures courses in Applied Linguistics and is an experienced teacher trainer of pre-service and in-service teacher education programs in Cyprus, Greece and the UK. She specializes in the areas of early language learning, age-appropriate digital pedagogies, digital literacies, assessment, and Teacher Education. Christina has edited and authored a number of books, journal papers, book chapters, and teacher education articles and has been invited to present her work across Europe, Asia, and the United States. For the last four years, Christina has been serving as Chair of the EuroCALL Teacher Education SIG and recently became the EuroCALL National Contact for Greece. She is an invited research collaborator of FLETATIS (Foreign Language Education through Applied Technologies) and EnA research Group at OsloMet.

Jenny Liontou is Assistant Professor at the Department of Language & Linguistics, Faculty of English Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Specialising in the area of Applied Linguistics and ELT Methodology, she holds a Ph.D. in English Language & Linguistics with specialization in EFL Testing & Assessment from the same faculty. She has worked as a research assistant and expert item consultant for various national and international examination boards. She has made presentations in national and international conferences and has published papers in the aforementioned fields. Her current research interests include theoretical and practical issues of EFL pedagogy, testing and assessing foreign language competence and corpus-based teaching and assessment practices. Her recent publications include chapters in edited volumes by Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Peter Lang Publishing Company and Cambridge Scholars Press, along with articles in international peer-reviewed journals (European Journal of Special Needs Education, International Journal of Applied Linguistic, International Journal of English Linguisticς, Journal of Modern Education Review, Teaching English with Technology, Research Papers in Language Teaching and Learning).

Meet our speakers

Members of HASE automatically become members of ESSE, entitling them to: •Automatic registration in the electronic and regular mailing list for all latest news on conferences, publications and other matters of academic and professional interest •Reduced participation fee for conferences and events •Free participation in the (semi-)annual seminars directed towards people working in public education and in the private sector •A bi-annual copy of The Messenger, the journal of ESSE • Eligibility for the annual Book Award (monograph) •Eligibility for the graduate student Bursary, which Greek graduate students have repeatedly won in the past, as well as the researcher bursaries for all other categories •Networking with and among other colleagues, professionals in English Studies, and equivalent European scholars or institutions

The Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE) was founded in 1990 in Thessaloniki. It welcomes membership from scholars (Professors, Lecturers, graduate students, private scholars, teachers of English) who are involved with English studies in a wide range of areas, from literatures in English, comparative literature, critical and cultural theory, film and media studies and theoretical and applied linguistics. One of its main aims is to establish contacts, both personal and electronic, with scholars working in these areas in other European countries, linking us, in other words, to over 30 national associations that comprise ESSE (The European Society for the Study of English, www.essenglish.org). Another aim is to maintain current and establish new links among scholars in English studies within Greece itself. Since its inauguration, HASE has held regular conferences, alternating between Athens and Thessaloniki.

SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Organizing CommitteeVasiliki Markidou (Associate Professor), President of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE)Katerina Kitsi-Mitakou (Professor), Vice-President of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE) Jenny Liontou (Assistant Professor), Secretary of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE) Anna Hatzidaki (Lecturer), Treasurer of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE)Anna Despotopoulou (Professor), Member of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English (HASE)in collaboration with the Bilingualism and Psycholinguistics (BiPsy) Lab, Department of English Language and Literaturehttp://en.enl.uoa.gr/facilities-and-resources/bilingualism-and-psycholinguistics-lab-bipsy-lab.html