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ELT podcasts you should be listening to

Flashback: Late 2014, a couple of colleagues and I are on Skype (yes Skype!) talking about our love of podcasts, and what we’re currently listening to. At that time, the podcast du jour was Serial, an investigative journalism podcast that addressed a possible miscarriage of justice in the US, which started in October of that year and has now been downloaded over 68 million times! A podcast which according to Sherrill, (2020) (1) helped move podcasting from a niche activity to a mainstream media platform. During our conversation, we discuss the lack of ELT podcasts, and one thing led to another and in March 2015 the first episode of TEFL commute dropped.

Flashforward: January 2023, it’s estimated that there are over 5 million podcasts with over 70 million episodes between them (2). Of that, 105 of those episodes are TEFL commute, and in the seven years since we started there is now a burgeoning ELT podcast range for teachers to get stuck into covering many angles.

Aside from their enjoyment value, podcasts are an excellent way of squeezing a little bit of continuing professional development into our busy lives. Something we can listen to, while doing something else. Listening on demand, unlike video on demand does not tie us to a screen.

ELT podcasts contain interviews which allows us to hear from renowned ELT professionals. They also give us new and differing perspectives on educational topics and provide us with things we can try out in the classroom. Space limits me from mentioning all the ELT podcasts out there, but if you’re looking for some to get started then hopefully these five will help you on your way.

 

TEFL commute

As one of the founders of this podcast, we started this with the idea of providing teachers with something to listen to on their journey to work. Most episodes are based around a light-hearted discussion inspired by a word related to education – anything from stationary to games, or grammar. As well as discussions, the podcast tries to demystify areas of language teaching, and provide activities for the classroom.

TEFLology

This is a long-running podcast about language teaching and applied linguistics. If you prefer something less light-hearted then this might be the podcast for you. Currently at 116 episodes,  TEFLology mixes episodes that bring you in-depth interviews with leading figures in the industry, and chats on areas of interest for the presenters.

Teacher Talk Radio

Technically not a podcast but a whole internet-based radio station. It describes itself as community radio station for teachers and educators. Shows go out live (from 11am to 10pm) but then each episode can be downloaded like a podcast. There are around 15 different hosts covering all aspects of education though many episodes feature ELT, and hosts such as Jane Ritter, Graham Stanley, and Harry Watters are from an ELT background.

TEFL Training Institute

Another long stay podcast having reached 200 episodes. While 200 might seem like a lot to catch up on, the podcast aims to be bite-sized, so episodes are around 15 minutes with the goal of giving ideas to teachers, trainer and managers. Episodes feature chats with people from throughout the industry, along with discussions on ELT topics.

Something rhymes with purple

Ok, so this one is made for mainstream not ELT consumption. However, most English teachers are fascinated by the English language, and this podcast deals with just that. The two hosts, well-known in the UK, spend each episode looking at words and sayings discussing meaning and origins. The weekly topics are eclectic and more than one thing they have discussed has made its way into my language classes!

If you’ve never listened to a podcast, I hope that at least one of these five will appeal to you but if not, as I mentioned at the outset, I can’t include them all so if you’re still looking for the right one for you then simply search your favourite podcast provider.

Happy Listening.

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Shaun Wilden is an education technologist who teaches and trains both face-to-face and online courses. He is the academic manager for online courses for the International House World Organisation overseeing their suite of asynchronous teacher development courses. He also teaches digital literacy as well as short courses in teaching online at the University of Oxford. His latest book, Mobile Learning, was published by Oxford University Press. In his spare time, he makes the TEFL commute podcast for teachers and plays board games.

 

 

References

(1) Sherrill, Lindsey. (2020). The “ Serial Effect” and the True Crime Podcast Ecosystem. Journalism Practice. 16. 1-22. 10.1080/17512786.2020.1852884.
(2) https://www.demandsage.com/podcast-statistics/
(3) (italics)TEFL commute: http://www.teflcommute.com
(4) (italics)TEFLology: www.teflology-podcast.com
(5) (italics)Teacher Talk Radio: https://www.ttradio.org
(6) (italics)TEFL Training Institute: https://www.tefltraininginstitute.com/podcast
(7) (italics)Something rhymes with purple: https://somethinelse.com/projects/something-rhymes-with-purple/


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Creating positive group dynamics 

A positive group atmosphere is hugely important to the success of any language class in terms of engagement. We need learners to be actively using the language in class, so we need to ensure that speaking is not associated with any kind of social risk or threat to their sense of self. Learners need to feel safe and willing to use the language with others.

However, very often, students are afraid of using the language in front of peers who they are worried may ridicule them and they are concerned about speaking in front of the teacher who they imagine is evaluating and judging them. In sum, asking learners to speak up in class can be incredibly face-threatening, especially during the teenage years, when learners are preoccupied with social standing and hyper-sensitive about how they may appear to others.

For some, being silent may seem safer and smarter than taking the risk of speaking up and facing negative evaluation or even being made fun of. So, how can we create the kind of group atmosphere in which learners feel safe, supported, and encouraged to speak up and use the language without fear of mistakes or risk of embarrassment?  

 

The key is having a positive group atmosphere among the students. However, this does not arise overnight or as the result of one single activity. There are no express routes to a good group dynamic. Rather, this emerges over time from the quality of relationships developed among peers and between teacher and students. It takes time but it is worth the investment as it can transform learner participation and language use in class.  

 

Teacher-student relationships 

For teachers, it is important to make a conscious effort to get to know your learners as individuals. This means knowing their names and how to pronounce them correctly and also finding out personal things about them such as their hobbies, interests, or favourite films or band. Micro-conversations are those little two-minute interactions you may have with a learner in the hall, before class starts, after class ends, or during an activity – these little conversations play a critical role in building up trust and rapport. It is a way for you to connect on a personal level and show you are interested in them as a person.

Another way to build trust is to be transparent in what you are doing and why. Explain the reasoning behind actions, have clear grading scales and criteria, welcome feedback from learners, empower learners to make choices where possible, and be consistent in your expectations of learners. Teachers may also share a little about their personal lives (not too much and only what is appropriate!) so that learners can see you as a real person beyond the classroom! With a good rapport between teacher and learners, they will feel safer and less worried about being judged harshly when they speak or make mistakes.  

 

Learner-learner relationships 

Learners also need to appreciate each other as individuals, respecting difference and individuality. Many of the activities in the language class enable learners to get to know each other personally, and it is good to occasionally allow students to work with diverse partners when they feel confident to do so, in order to ensure learners know as many of their peers as possible. There are other ways we can work on strengthening learner relationships, here are just a selection of ideas: 

  1. Use ice-breaker and team-building activities.

    Ice-breaker activities are designed to help people feel at ease and get to know each other when a group first forms. However, they can be used repeatedly throughout the year to ensure individuals continue to get to know each other, learn personal details about one another, have fun together, or cooperate on a shared task. Knowing others in class makes it a safer space and helps learners feel a sense of connection to one another.  

  2. Ensure learners work with diverse members of class.

    Learners tend to stick with friends for activities which is fine when they need to feel secure and strengthen their confidence. However, with low-risk speaking tasks, it can useful to deliberately mix learners up so they get to know others in class individually. For example, students can find out about each other’s hobbies, get them to learn what things they have in common, have them share photographs of things or people they love, or ask them to tell each other about a social issue that matters to them (e.g., the environment, animal rights, racism etc.).  

  3. Make sure learners feel a sense of belonging.

    Not only teachers need to know learner names and how to pronounce them correctly, but also learners need to know each other and be able to use each other’s names appropriately and respectfully. This helps a sense of inclusion and togetherness. In addition, diverse social groups represented in your class may have different celebrations that can be acknowledged as a group. To ensure learners feel a sense of belonging, the whole class could draw up a calendar of diverse social and cultural celebrations and days of relevance (e.g., Easter or Diwali or Eid or World mother languages day or World chess day or World diabetes day) – let learners suggest things to add to the calendar and ideas of how the days can be marked. This enables all learners and issues or events that matter to them to be celebrated within the group as a whole, which can strengthen everyone’s sense of belonging and also generate a shared understanding of diversity. In a classroom where everyone feels welcome and seen, learners will feel a stronger sense of security and a greater willingness to participate as a valued member of the group.  

  4. Have learners work cooperatively together on joint projects or tasks.

    Relationships can be positively impacted when learners have a shared goal and support each other in working towards it. When learners depend on each other and everyone has something to contribute, they can value and appreciate every individual’s contribution. A common task type that fosters this sense of cooperation is when learners work on jigsaw tasks or form expert groups. Here they form groups of say four. Each individual then works on a reading or research task alone. They then come back together to share what they have read or found out with the rest of the group. Together all four work on a joint task that they can only complete with the input from each and every individual member of the group.   

  5. Develop students’ empathic skills through role play or perspective-taking.

    Learners need to become empathic by imagining how another person might think or feel in diverse situations. This is a key life skill learners need not just for enhancing classroom life but also for life beyond school. They can work with stories, film extracts, poems, or photographs where they are asked to imagine how another person might feel, think, or react. Taking part in role plays also involves imagining the thinking and behaviour of someone else. Being able to switch perspectives and see the world through another person’s eyes helps learners be more supportive of peers and less likely to engage in bullying. 

  6. Have a zero-tolerance policy for any bullying or ridicule.

    If a problematic situation does arise, try to find ways to turn this incident into a discussion on empathy, perspective-taking, and respect. Do not ignore such incidents but use them as an opportunity for learning and demonstrate your insistence on respect for all learners.  

 

Reflection questions 

Here are some questions to help you think in concrete terms about your own learners and what areas you might wish to explore in more depth. As you read the series of blog posts on each of these issues, think about a specific group of learners you work with. Consider how the issues raised concern your group of learners as individuals and/or as a group and which of the suggestions you would feel comfortable working with in your setting.

  • When you think of a class you work with currently, how would you describe the group dynamic? Is there any areas of your relationship with students you could work on? To what extent do you feel all the learners know and respect each other? Are there any learner relationships activities you might want to work with? 
  • Can you think of a past class which had a fantastic, positive group dynamic? Reflecting on the class now, what do you think were the factors which contributed to this positive atmosphere? Are there any lessons you can draw from it for your current teaching groups? 

Let us know what you think in the comments, do you have any advice for other teachers who have students facing the same issues?

This blog is the start of a mini-series exploring the key issues which impact learners willingness to use language. Explore the other parts here:

Help second language learners overcome their fear of speaking

Creating a positive group dynamic

Understanding the impact of task design on learners’ willingness to speak 

Fostering a growth mindset 

Enhancing learner self-confidence 

 

 

Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area including, Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers (2015, with Marion Williams and Stephen Ryan), Teacher Wellbeing (2020, with Tammy Gregersen), and Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (2020, with Zoltán Dörnyei). She has published over 150 book chapters and journal articles and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP). Sarah is the author of this paper.


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5 Ways to Motivate Students with Classroom Technology

At one time or another, most teachers will experience a lack of student motivation in the classroom. This is especially true following the Covid-19 pandemic. The sudden shift from in-person to online learning caused many disruptions within the English language classroom. However, it also highlighted the benefits of teaching with technology in our increasingly digital world. Our paper on Using Technology to Motivate Learners found that technology can have a positive impact on student motivation.

In this article, you will find 5 ways to boost motivation by teaching with technology. We will also highlight some of the ways OUP can support you, such as through our 360° Interactive Image feature designed to seamlessly introduce technology into the English language classroom.

How can technology motivate learners?

By teaching your students to learn with technology, you hand them the tools for life-long and life-wide learning both inside and outside the classroom. Technology can improve student motivation by:

1. Enabling situated learning: Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of many students’ lives. When you incorporate technology into your lessons, you show students that learning can take place anywhere, including the digital spaces they interact with daily.
2. Offering wide English exposure: Digital learning introduces students to language in a variety of entertaining and engaging contexts. They can learn English through interacting with webpages, games, articles, videos, and many more authentic, real-world resources.
3. Personalizing learning: Many digital learning spaces, such as websites and e-books, incorporate a wide variety of interactive media and activities. This gives students enough space to explore each environment using their unique interests and experiences as a guide.
4. Teaching autonomy and competence: While exploring digital spaces, students learn to make decisions and create meaning. In doing so, they gain skills, such as digital literacy and autonomy, that will help them sustain their own learning.
5. Supporting social learning: In the age of social media, many students form social connections online as well as face-to-face. You can plan fun, socially relevant lessons by incorporating technology into group activities or encouraging students to interact within digital learning spaces. This also creates an opportunity to teach your students internet safety and productive digital socialization.

How can OUP support me in the classroom?

On our PD homepage, we offer a broad range of professional development resources in a variety of formats. Our Digital Literacies module supports you in teaching with technology and expanding your own digital literacies. We have also designed coursebooks with digital features intended to support the seamless introduction of technology into your English language curriculum.

For example, our 360° Interactive Image feature uses technology to improve student motivation in the classroom. Simple controls allow students to look around in any direction and explore locations ranging from the bottom of the ocean to the international space station. This unique form of situated learning teaches students to see the world around them as a learning space.

Hotspots click to reveal audio and video clips, articles, infographics, and more, offering students English language exposure in a wide variety of contexts. The images place students’ interests and experiences at the heart of learning by encouraging them to personalize their learning process and choose which media they will focus on. Along the way, they will gain skills in learner autonomy and digital literacy. Each image links to one of our coursebooks, providing students with group activities that support social learning. Finally, a Teacher’s Guide provides you with clear guidance on incorporating 360° Images into your lesson plans.

Learn more about 360° Interactive Images and take a free trial.

 

Stephanie Silva is an Assistant Marketing Manager at Oxford University Press. She joined the Press last year working on the Global Campaigns team within the English Language Teaching Division. She believes that language changes lives and stories inspire empathy and imagination


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Help second language learners overcome their fear of speaking

Use it or lose it! This phrase points to a key truth about language learning: We learn a language by using it. As teachers, our aim is therefore to encourage learners to become confident, comfortable speakers in the target language – not only as an end goal of language learning but also because doing so contributes positively to the learning process. The more learners use the language, the better they will become and the more confidence they will gain. Using the language successfully can trigger a positive spiral in which success creates facilitative conditions for yet more success. So, how do we get learners to overcome their fears and inhibitions?

 

In this blog, we explore what underlies learners’ reluctance to speak up in the language. In particular, we focus on core issues such as their fear of making mistakes, their worries about negative evaluation, a tendency to perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, and frustration about not being able to fully express themselves. To understand how these issues affect learners, it is helpful to consider them from two perspectives: (1) individual factors which refer to how learners feel about their language-speaking abilities and what they believe about language learning, and (2) social factors which refer to how they feel about the context in which they have to speak including the task they have to complete and people they have to talk with.

The good news for teachers is that we can positively impact both sets of factors which work together. We can take action to promote positive frames of mind among our learners which empower them to speak up, and we can also shape and design our classrooms and tasks so that they reduce learners’ inhibitions and facilitate a greater willingness to use the language.

 

This visual presents five of the key issues that hold learners back from using the language. We will briefly introduce each of them here to raise awareness of how individual and social factors can work together to impact on learners’ willingness to speak up. In five separate blogs, we will then explore each factor in more depth focusing on the active steps teachers can take to combat such inhibitory factors.

 

Aspects of the social context

Not every speaking situation is fraught with the same level of anxiety – chatting with a friend alone is not the same as giving a presentation to the whole class with the teacher assigning a grade to the performance. Understanding that the social setting matters to how comfortable learners are using the language is empowering as it provides teachers with key areas to work on. There are two aspects where teachers can take action in this regard: (1) promoting positive group dynamics (i.e., the levels of trust and quality of relationships between students as a group), and (2) reducing anxiety in the immediate speaking context (i.e., what are learners being asked to talk about, how prepared do they feel, and who are they are talking with, and who is listening? Is the focus of the task on communication or accuracy?).

 

The learner’s frame of mind about speaking

The second aspect that affects learners’ willingness to use the language is how they feel about themselves and language learning more generally. If learners do not believe practising the language is important or that they can improve their skills or that mistakes are necessary for growth, they are likely to avoid actively taking part in speaking opportunities.

To help learners develop a facilitative frame of mind which encourages them to use the language, there are three key areas we can work on: (1) Promoting a growth mindset (i.e., helping learners to understand that everyone can improve their language skills and mistakes are useful in that process); (2) boosting self-confidence (i.e., helping them to recognize their own progress and become aware of their successes, and providing support so tasks feel manageable); and (3) helping learners regulate their emotions and, specifically, lower their anxiety (i.e., teaching them about their emotions, how to recognize signs of stress, and coping strategies for managing negative emotions effectively). When learners have a positive frame of mind about using the language, then they are more likely to get speak up as they worry less about being judged and focus on the opportunity to practise their skills and communicate with others.

 

Reflective questions

Here are some questions to help you think in concrete terms about your own learners and what areas you might wish to explore in more depth. As you read the series of blog posts on each of these issues, think about a specific group of learners you work with. Consider how the issues raised concern your group of learners as individuals and/or as a group and which of the suggestions you would feel comfortable working with in your setting.

  • How would you describe the group climate in your class?
  • Is there anything you could do to further strengthen the trust and respect among your learners?
  • What aspects of task set-up do you actively consider when planning a speaking task in class?
  • In what ways do you seek to promote a growth mindset about language learning among your students?
  • How confident do you think your learners feel about their speaking in English and how might this differ across task types?
  • What do you do in class to lower learner anxiety?
  • What do you hope to gain by reading this series of blog posts?
  • What action steps will you take to try out ideas in your context as appropriate?

Let us know what you think in the comments, do you have any advice for other teachers who have students facing the same issues?

This blog is the start of a mini-series exploring the key issues which impact learners willingness to use language. Explore the other parts here:

Help second language learners overcome their fear of speaking

Creating a positive group dynamic

Understanding the impact of task design on learners’ willingness to speak 

Fostering a growth mindset 

Enhancing learner self-confidence 

 

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Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area including, Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers (2015, with Marion Williams and Stephen Ryan), Teacher Wellbeing (2020, with Tammy Gregersen), and Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (2020, with Zoltán Dörnyei). She has published over 150 book chapters and journal articles and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP). Sarah is the author of this paper.


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7 Steps for Effective Professional Development

Self-directed professional development (PD) is when teachers make decisions and take action to direct their own professional learning, exploration, and growth. There are as many ways that this can happen as there are teachers, and there can never be a one-size-fits-all approach to self-directed PD.

 

To help you think about the different ways you can take control of your development, Oxford’s paper on self-directed PD proposes a seven-step framework to guide teachers’ learning. Every individual and situation is different, so the framework does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, it works as a tool to aide reflection and provide inspiration for those wishing to engage in self-directed PD. In this blog post, I will guide you briefly through the seven steps of the framework to help you take control of your development.

 

Step 1:

The process may begin with you thinking about your own circumstances and what resources or obstacles you face in starting your own PD journey. Sometimes, we have multiple demands and commitments on our time, which leaves us little scope for engaging in PD on a larger scale. Understanding what we can realistically manage given our own time and resources is an important base from which to make further decisions about what to do, when, and how.

 

Step 2:

The second step is to consider what you want to gain from your PD. Why do you want to engage in it and what do you hope to get out of it? For example, you might have had an experience with your learners which prompts you to explore a certain teaching method, or maybe you came across a blog which has inspired you to learn more about a specific topic, or perhaps simply you feel you want to take on a new professional challenge. There are many reasons for engaging in PD, and each one opens up a whole range of different possible pathways of action.

 

Step 3:

Once you know how much capacity you have, what resources you can draw on for support, and what you are interested in, you can then start to explore options for working more on your chosen topic or project.  PD exists in many different forms, and it is worth broadening our notions of what we recognize as PD. For example, it can involve team teaching with a colleague, reading a book, following a blog, joining an online webinar, going to a one-day workshop, researching your own learners, becoming a committee member of a teaching association, keeping a reflective journal, or studying for an additional qualification. It can be something small or big; a one-off event or longer-term commitment ; a private undertaking or a team activity – PD comes in all shapes and sizes depending on your capacity, interests, preferences, opportunities, and whatever goal you have for your PD.

 

Step 4:

Once you have made your choice, it is off to enjoy it! You might work on your PD alone, or you might find a colleague to accompany you, or you may even get to know someone new in the process of taking part in a PD event. While engaging in your PD, you may make adjustments focusing more on one aspect than another depending how well you feel the approach is suiting your needs. You may even choose to change PD activity completely if you feel it does not meet your expectations. The point of self-directed PD is that you make the decisions as you are the expert in your context, and nobody knows better than you what is useful, relevant, helpful, and interesting for your professional life.

 

Step 5:

After the PD experience, it is good to reflect on what insights it has offered you for your setting – this could be in terms of practical ideas for your classroom practice or inspiration of how to manage your professional roles and responsibilities differently. Thinking over the PD experience and its relevance for you and your context is a key step to ensure it has impact. In particular, many find it beneficial to talk about ideas and suggestions with others as an outsider perspective can offer a new lens on the familiar and help us see things in different ways.

 

Step 6 & 7:

Finally, depending on the kind of PD insights gained, you may want to try out new ideas in your own context to see how things work for you in practice. When you then take stock of these experiences alone or through dialogue with others, you will see whether you need to make further adjustments or whether it perhaps even inspires you to follow-up with another new PD activity starting the cycle all over again.

 

Conclusion:

As teachers, there will always be a new topic, perspective, tool, or resource to explore. I find it liberating to acknowledge that it is impossible to know it all as an educator, and it is an illusion to aim for perfection. Every single one of us has gaps in our knowledge and areas in which we have less experience. There are always other people and different perspectives to learn from including our learners. For me, it is a joy to think that my potential for lifelong learning will never end.

 

We hope this framework may help and support you on your own self-directed PD journey. If you want to find out more or get in-depth advice to help you empower your learning and development, download our latest position paper on Self-Directed Professional Development!

 

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Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area including, Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers (2015, with Marion Williams and Stephen Ryan), Teacher Wellbeing (2020, with Tammy Gregersen), and Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (2020, with Zoltán Dörnyei). She has published over 150 book chapters and journal articles and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP). Sarah is the author of this paper.