Dr. Ken Beatty, Anaheim University TESOL Professor, has worked in Asia, the Middle East, and North and South America, lecturing on language teaching and computer-assisted language learning from the primary through university levels. He’s author/co-author of 148 readers and textbooks and has given 500+ teacher-training sessions and conference presentations in 35 countries.He is Series Consultant for Pearson’s StartUp.
Language Teaching: New Models, Tools, and Attitudes
Times of stress in society are known to produce political, pedagogical, and technological innovations. Sometimes, these innovations are temporary solutions that disappear with the problems that inspired them. Other times, innovations become part of the fabric of everyday life. This presentation examines new models, tools, and attitudes around teaching and learning languages: Models include completely online and hybrid classroom models; tools include social media platforms that accommodate different forms of interaction and learning opportunities, and; attitudes rethink such ideas as teacher, student, and parent roles, strategies for shifting responsibility for learning to students, and a re-thinking of assessment. Overarching concerns include teachers’ and administrators’ engagement with digital technologies that make new learning possible.