By Barbara Dieu · July 25, 2008
Many teacher or ELT consultant blogs today either link to content listed in institutional portals or to suggestions coming from group lists, bulletin boards, conferences ,blogs, etc with the purpose of filtering and interpreting the never-ending stream of information, while suggesting examples of best practice.
At Dekita, more than giving recipes or pointing to stimulating or controversial uses of the web, we have sought to highlight such good practice by showcasing how EFL/ESL learners themselves make use of the Web environment, discuss issues that matter to them and reflect on their language learning experiences. The Exchange and the Orchard project were an attempt at facilitating connections, recording and aggregating such instances. However, they have not managed to gain momentum so we have decided to close them, at least for the time being.
Examples of open, participatory Web publishing amongst English language learners (and teachers) are still scarce, resulting in a dearth of authentic voices. Also lacking are evidence of observation, description, comparison and a critical reflection on everyday practice and learning processes. Most coordinated teacher-driven activities arising from classwork result in learner-generated content that does not seem to stretch beyond the cookie-cutter model of the standard pre-packaged coursebook topics.
What do learners have to say? What makes them tick and connect? Where can we read them and listen to their voices? What environments do_ they_recommend and why? How do they observe, describe and learn from their interaction with the diversity of people, stimuli and situations they encounter? How do they search and filter the web? What language do they use to communicate? Are they encouraged and envisage participating in the design of their learning process?
Is it possible or just useless to develop together open architectures of participation where experts, practitioners and learners mingle, guide and scaffold each other outside institutional gridlocks and gatekeepers, walled gardens, ELT methodology marketing trends and the edutainment tech consumer bandwagon?
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