MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature
Digital teaching and learning a language: One-to-one English lessons on Skype
Master’s thesis
Brno 2019
Supervisor Author
Ailsa Marion Randall, M.A. Bc. Veronika Beranová
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Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou práci bakalářskou vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.
V Brně dne Veronika Beranová
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Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Ailsa Marion Randall, M.A. for her professional recommendations and encouraging attitude in the process of writing. Secondly, I am thankful to Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. who offered practical advice on the formal aspect of the thesis. Lastly, I would like to give my big thanks to all respondents who allowed me to complete the thesis and to my friend for her valuable advice.
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Abstract This master’s thesis attempts to provide a survey of relevant and extensive data on the nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype. I divided the thesis into two main parts. The theoretical part poses current conditions of technologies in society and in education. It also deals with the characterization of Skype as the software tool and the introduction of prime features of the one- to-one English lessons on Skype. The survey was mediated through an online questionnaire of which results I analyse in the practical part.
Key words One-to-one lesson; The English language; Skype; Digital technologies; Digital education.
Anotace Tato diplomová práce se snaží poskytnout výzkum, který obsahuje podstatné a rozsáhlé údaje o soukromých Skypových hodinách anglického jazyka. Rozdělila jsem práci do dvou hlavních částí. Teoretická část popisuje současné podmínky technologií ve společnosti a ve vzdělávání. Také se zabývá charakterizací programu Skype a představením hlavních znaků soukromých Skypových hodin anglického jazyka. Výzkum byl zprostředkován skrz online dotazník, jehož výsledky analyzuji v praktické části.
Klíčová slova
Soukromé doučování; Anglický jazyk; Skype; Digitální technologie; Digitální vzdělávání.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction ...... 7
2 Digital society ...... 9
2.1 Kranzberg’s laws applied to the 21st century ...... 9
3 Digital education...... 12
3.1 Digital portable devices ...... 13
3.2 Digital content ...... 15
3.3 Assessment, evaluation, feedback ...... 17
3.4 Digital flipped classroom ...... 18
3.5 Online education ...... 19
4 Digital divide ...... 21
5 Digital competence ...... 23
5.1 Digital competence for citizens ...... 24
5.2 Digital competence for educators ...... 25
5.3 Digital competence for learners ...... 26
6 Skype ...... 28
6.1 Facts about Skype...... 28
6.2 Variety of Skype purposes ...... 29
6.2.1 Leisure ...... 29
6.2.2 Business ...... 30
6.2.3 Learning ...... 31
7 One-to-one English lessons on Skype ...... 33
7.1 Impulses for one-to-one English lessons ...... 33
7.2 The nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype ...... 34
8 Survey ...... 39
8.1 Questionnaire ...... 39
8.2 Respondents ...... 40
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8.3 The questionnaire, section 2 – Personal information about respondents ...... 41
8.4 The questionnaire, section 3 – Experience of respondents with one-to-one English lessons on Skype...... 43
8.5 The questionnaire, section 4 – The nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype in reality ...... 45
8.6 The questionnaire, section 5 – Organization of Skype lessons ...... 55
8.7 The questionnaire, section 6 – Digital content ...... 59
8.8 The questionnaire, section 7 – Respondents’ learners ...... 65
8.9 The questionnaire, section 8 - Additional data ...... 70
9 Conclusion ...... 73
10 List of references...... 76
11 List of appendices ...... 83
12 List of figures ...... 86
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1 Introduction
Digital technologies commonly appear in education nowadays. Teachers that are making an effort to effectively implement the technologies into the classroom are, unfortunately, facing technological challenges, though. Still, education distinguishes its innovative forms of online teaching and impresses us with a variety of digital tools that facilitate teaching and enhance learning. Accordingly, it may seem that any other distinct form of online teaching could offer a similarly developed learning environment, but one-to-one English lessons on Skype provide both teachers and learners with highly beneficial and attractive conditions that lead to a significant improvement of the learners’ level of English. As much as I am aware, there is not research on such a specific topic. Most writings discuss one- to-one English teaching and online teaching separately and do not focus on a combination of them. It indicates that the public lacks relevant and thorough data on the lessons as a whole.
Thus, the aim of the master’s thesis titled “Digital teaching and learning a language: One-to-one English lessons on Skype” is to carry out an analysis of a survey of which outcomes will presumably establish new understandings of one-to-one English lessons on Skype and extend knowledge bases on this area. The survey was designed as an online Google questionnaire. I carefully restricted the sample of respondents to people who gained experience with Skype lessons.
Firstly, the theoretical part shows a bond between technologies and society. If technologies have a considerable impact on today’s life and mindset, it is plausible that people perceived technological innovations similarly in the past. Thus, I will attempt to describe real examples of that bond on Kranzberg’s laws.
Secondly, education benefits from technologies but teachers are likely to face troubles such as the digital divide or constant technological development. I will then list a number of digital devices and content utilized in teaching, provide two forms of online teaching common in schools, and bring definitions of assessment, feedback, and evaluation. I will also emphasize the gravity of the digital divide that could be eliminated by digital education. Teachers could decrease the divide by updating their digital knowledge which is known as digital competence. I will explain why competence is necessary to be updated.
Thirdly, the theoretical part concentrates on Skype as software, its basic and advanced services and purposes for which Skype is normally used. It is followed by the subchapter about
8 the nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype. The chapter attempts to administer characteristics of the one-to-one teaching and online teaching separately and combine them. I will highlight the main differences between classroom group teaching and private one-to-one teaching and compare the online lessons with face-to-face teaching.
The analysis of the survey represents the foundation for the practical part. I will try to approve or disprove a set of objectives of the thesis based on the results of the survey. Even though there is an abundance of articles on the Internet looking at the Skype lessons, their content tends to be too brief. Thus, the main objective lies in the elaboration of the detailed characterization of the one-to-one English lessons on Skype. The lessons are characterized by their benefits and downsides. Another objective relies on personal experience of respondents with the lessons that will reveal real-life situations. In the case of a lack of data on a certain topic, I try to make objective assumptions. One of the objectives of the thesis is also to put forward diverse alternatives to Skype as the video conferencing software and to enumerate a list of beneficial online materials shared by respondents.
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2 Digital society
The chapter is devoted to the background of technologies spreading in society. It is mainly focused on laws captured by Melvin Kranzberg in the 1980s and attempts to demonstrate examples of current events and situations.
The modern digital age provides us with unlimited opportunities to accelerate and enhance our seemingly ordinary life. Even though people refuse to acknowledge the genuine reality, that may sound a bit stern, technologies have a massive impact on our social interactions, shaping our attitudes and consuming our time. People subconsciously subordinate entire thinking to technologies. Therefore, if technological ground-breaking innovations have been developing since the 20th century, people in the past were influenced equally and, thus, history has been shaped by technological development. Historians do believe that technological inventions are the causative element of historical changes. One of the historians who devoted research to technological involvement in education was Melvin Kranzberg, a Calloway Professor of the History of Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kranzberg’s contribution can be seen in Technology and Culture, a journal of which he was a long-time founding editor. Kranzberg adopted an illuminating approach to the technologies immersing into society. He made use of the opportunity at the meeting of the Society for the History of Technology in 1985, which he collaborated in building it, and introduced six laws with the technological-societal focus called Kranzberg’s laws (Kranzberg, July, 1986).
2.1 Kranzberg’s laws applied to the 21st century By addressing these laws, Kranzberg intended to develop people’s awareness of the interrelationship of technologies with changes in society on the basis of long-time observations. Because the strong leverage of digital innovations upon the society was stressed in the research, Kranzberg indicated even the technology’s autonomy and labelled the technology as the essential factor that gives shape to our lifestyles, values, and other social elements. In comparison, Lynn White, Jr. (as cited in Kranzberg, July, 1986), opposed to Kranzberg’s ideas giving an argument that technology merely enables us to open a door to a new digital world that does not necessarily have to be open. As for the laws, they are briefly explored in the rest of the chapter.
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Apart from the fact that technology is said to function autonomously and to have even broken free from human control, Kranzberg characterizes the technology as neither good, bad nor neutral. And how to elucidate the first law on a contemporary example is an easy task. According to Turner (2018), who applied 1986 Kranzberg’s laws in the modern world, online social life lived through Facebook can act as a descriptive example. Thanks to this online social communicative service, individuals can keep up with the world faster and easier than ever, choose their true friends which, though, inflicts a division of society into like-minded groups of people. The same consequences happen with using more up-to-date application Instagram which is helping us share experiences and build our perfect image. Whether a user of Facebook or Instagram, the important thing is not to become overwhelmed by other people’s lives as they share minimum data about themselves, usually the positive one (Kranzberg, July, 1986).
“Innovation is the mother of the necessity” (Kranzberg, July, 1986). The second law can refer to the model of the current relationship between companies offering best-developed technologies and consumers, the target of companies, striving for the technologies. Turner (2018) applies this law to today’s usage of a mobile phone. One can hardly live without the mobile phone because the feeling of the connection with and acceptance by the society, which dictates popular trends, becomes essential. Nowadays, one would say that having a smartphone is at the cutting edge in the world society which leads to the necessity of possessing one. So, companies attempt to construct newer and better smartphones in order to satisfy their consumers’ needs which also arouses competition between companies aiming at the innovation of products. This cycle can relate not only to smartphones but to any product in the marketplace (How competition works, n.d.).
Let us use the example of the mobile phone once more for the third law. It is greatly technologically innovated at a fast pace, but the device usually cannot function self- sufficiently. It needs to be charged with the charger, protected from external or internal threat thanks to the mobile case and the virus-protection programme, or its storage extended via SD1 memory card. The third Kranzberg’s law is saying that the technology comes in big and small packages has just been described on the mobile phone, as the big package, and the components necessary for trouble-free functioning of the mobile phone, standing for the small package (Turner, 2018).
1 SD (n.d.) stands for ‘secure digital’. It is a type of a memory card thanks to which data can be stored in devices like digital cameras, mobile phones, music players etc.
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The fourth Kranzberg’s law is said to be more complex than other laws. It takes non- technical factors into account that affect the process of dealing with technical discrepancies. It is the human factor personified by an entrepreneur and the human labour force. Coopersmith (December 20, 2018) illustrates the law on technological manufacture. Such an entrepreneur must be skilful, hardworking and reliable to successfully operate a company and resist the stress and presumptive failure because he, as a chief manufacturer, is occasionally exposed to unexpected technical errors during manufacture of a product. A successful entrepreneur does not rely entirely on himself and is even not able to solve the troubles. It is technologists who are endowed with professional skills and knowledge to solve the troubles and their opinions should be appreciated and seriously considered. However, plenty of technologists play the role of advisors, not deciders, and automatically follow orders imposed by authorities, instead of remedying the failure by following existing proved solutions. Even though an exact example is not depicted, the description still applies to the current chaotic world based on the power over which companies compete (Coopersmith, December 20, 2018).
The technological history is more relevant than the history itself, as Kranzberg stated in the fifth law. Coppersmith (2018) explores the essence of this law and claims that the present is closely tied to the past, thus, to the history from which people draw inspiration. Technologies appear to be inevitable in the modern world and so the history of technology shadows the general history and builds itself every day, linked to people’s demand for the constant technological innovation (Kranzberg, July, 1986).
The sixth law may remind people of a principal case. It has been the human who came up with technologies and, thus, he is responsible for the history of technology. On one hand, designing inventions regularly is a completely natural process of improving the quality of life. On the other hand, people keep forgetting who demands the inventions that always bear plausible negative consequences with them (Kranzberg, July, 1986).
As was seen, the Kranzberg’s laws are still relevant to the current greatly developed digital age, despite its genesis thirty years ago. And even though Kranzberg backed up the laws with illustrative clashes discussed in the 1980s, the age provided us with events familiar to us. Significantly, the chapter offered the idea that technological innovations will always influence society and advance the level of lifestyle as well as generate a few unavoidable hatches.
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3 Digital education
In this chapter, there are technological trends in education summarized and examples of digital devices and digital contents presented, used in the face-to-face and distance class teaching. Each device and content may probably cause technological hatches when applied into classes and, thus, they are discussed through its benefits and downsides. There is one subchapter devoted to assessment tools, both traditional and alternative adapted to the digitalized education. The last two subchapters present technologies used in practice, specifically a digital flipped classroom and online courses and both are teaching methodologies.
Schools adopt an integrated approach to technologies which they attempt to implement in classes to keep up with the digital society. Education extended with technologies brings both advantages and disadvantages to both teachers and students. Teachers are provided with unlimited resources accessible online. They may assess students better and faster by diagnostic tools and collect more information on students in real time. Thanks to students’ familiarity with digital tools being used for communication in a more interesting world out of school, communicative technologies could be used to apply their habit in learning. Technologies may promote ways to attract, train and support a varied teaching force, too. As for students, Carrier, Damerow and Bailey (2017) highlight students’ increased motivation and interest in learning thanks to which they stay focused along with expanding the learning time (Spector, April, 2013).
With reference to disadvantages, Spector (April, 2013) identified four critical challenges that teachers and students are likely to encounter when using technologies. First, the rapid technology development complicates maintaining of the digital media literacy to all participants of an education. Therefore, teachers and students ought to regularly educate themselves about current technological trends. Second, forms of an evaluation of students have changed as well, which create a real difficulty for teachers who tried to find new evaluation metrics that would suit the current digital age. Without such metrics, students cannot effectively track their progress and improvement that stands for the prime focus in assessment. Third, online universities and programmes make online education approachable and more attractive in comparison with traditional universities that have to make an effort to engage students. Fourth, devices, tools, resources, and information are the elements of technology that are evolving at a rapid pace. However, as was said in the first challenge, it is challenging to be up
13 to date. Overall, great challenges linked to operating with technologies in education are posed to teachers and students who may successfully tackle the hatches and competently handle the information and communication technologies, hereafter cited within the text as ICT (Spector, April, 2013).
3.1 Digital portable devices Teachers facilitated their teaching first with computing. It relies the manipulation with software and hardware systems on a desktop computer, being the most familiar technology in education, operating as the medium for accessing the Internet. Fulton and Honey (2002) present three models of computing which arise a degree of variety in computing tools. Besides the desktop computer, they include ubiquitous computing existing in different forms, such as laptop computers or tablets, showing the potential for their smaller size, portability, and wirelessness. The least developed and employed model is an immersive technology entering the virtual world and game-based learning. The multimedia systems in today’s education are limited to mere two communication channels – visual and audio. With immersive technologies, students use a virtual reality headset and then employ all five human senses and are said to achieve a deeper perception of learning content. The immersive education runs the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 3D games and other immersive technologies (Technicolor Experience Center, July 14, 2017; Fulton and Honey, 2002).
Along with models of computing, teachers tend to connect mobile technology devices with a classroom, too. It is the most used device among students who carry the devices to school every day which merely opens a window of opportunity for educators. Teachers then are not concerned with explaining how to work with the device because students are already familiar with their devices, which they constantly use. Educators may profit from faster and cheaper sharing of materials and resources via digital classrooms or online platforms. These digital platforms make learning even more engaging and interactive and students can benefit from feedback given by the educator immediately in the classroom (Mupinga, 2017).
In contrast to the benefits, educators express a sign of reluctance to allowing students to learn in the classroom via mobile devices because they ask themselves whether they still profit from the educational innovation or lose students’ attention. Students are likely to attract their attention to social media that is characteristic of a constantly refreshing online reality and that is something students as digital natives, named by Prensky (October, 2001), refuse missing.
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Therefore, it is questionable if students still improve their language skills or are easily distracted and attached to their device. Talking of issues among students, not all students come from a high social class or live in rural areas which are aspects that may eliminate these students from the classroom (see Chapter 4). Teachers can figure out how to face the distraction by setting a mobile technology policy that is greatly embraced in most schools nowadays (Mupinga, 2017).
A webcam is a small but fundamental digital device for teachers enabling students to produce language with peers at a distance. Nik Peachey (as cited in Carrier et al., 2017) assigns usage of the webcam to a synchronous online teaching as an alternative to the face-to-face classroom which may pose obstacles like the necessity of the user’s Internet connection or the limitation of the space. On the other hand, the webcam does not isolate either teachers or students from each other as they can see each other or can be seen, and the teacher can choose an appropriate distance in front of the webcam in order to show physical flashcards or use gestures (Carrier et al., 2017).
We should acknowledge the popularity among teachers of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) incorporating a data projector. This digital learning diminishes the barrier between the teacher and students because the teacher stays in front of the classroom but interacts with students doing activities on the IWB. It stimulates students’ motivation, active participation, collaboration and a better understanding of the content by personal experiences. Moreover, there is no need for printing materials that can be projected on the large-screen display via the data projector. The interconnection between the board and the computer enables the teacher to switch the content from a video to a text, for example. Overall, despite a few teachers’ barriers with IWB’s manipulation and its underutilization, learning with the interactive whiteboard is fun and creative (Wong, Teo, & Choo Goh, October, 2014).
Among other aiding technologies appearing in schools belong digital textbooks that enhance the learning environment, students’ digital and language literacy and increases enjoyment. An interactive whiteboard that is occasionally called a smartboard has its cousin rarely occurring in schools. It is the smart table that stimulates more simultaneous interaction that can manage up to forty touch points at a time. Even though schools undoubtedly adopted other rare digital devices different from those mentioned above, unfortunately, there is not enough space to present them (Blackburn-Dwyer, August 4, 2016).
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3.2 Digital content Digital devices are used as the medium for displaying a digital content which is clearly outlined by the European Framework for the Digital Competence for Educators (Redecker, 2017), that is presented subsequently in Chapter 5 - online information, websites and platforms; multimedia content consisting of images, audio, video; learning materials; online games and quizzes; educational software, applications and programmes; virtual learning environments, and social networks. However, it would be impossible to demonstrate examples of all digital content formats listed above and, thus, a brief list of the common digital content enhancing education is captured.
An enormous source of materials represents the Internet itself which teachers may browse to find an appropriate worksheet, an online publication or a textbook that is barely available in a library or find a handful of imagery, audio or video materials. In relation to the Internet, class materials can be shared through cloud storage and document-sharing technologies such as Google Drive, One Drive driven by Microsoft, or iCloud by Apple. With the focus on Google applications package, once a Google account is created, the user has access to Google Drive. Slavkov (2015) constructs all its essential functions including “document creation, storage, synchronous and asynchronous sharing, editing and commenting, revision histories …, document-specific real-time chat, and various distribution options across audiences and platforms” and collaboration of students and instructors on drafts “being in the same document simultaneously” (p. 83). The latter function can be utilized in a writing activity during which the instructor monitors the writing process of a student even though both are in a different place. A student can be assigned a writing activity in pairs submitted in their own folder or collaborate with all classmates to contribute to a document in a preassigned order. Apparently, Google Drive is endowed with functions facilitating the learning process for educators and students (Slavkov, 2015).
Referring to Google applications package, teachers can back up their class with Google Classroom which is tailored to a specific class. It was designed for creating, organizing and finding work and sharing ideas that would be collected in one place. It seems to be trendy among thousands of teachers who are excited about this digital classroom. “I distribute a Doc through Classroom, where all kids can work on the Doc together, at the same time. I project it on the board to facilitate quick discussion,” says Daniel Brennick, a science teacher in a middle school in Florida (as cited in Bukola, August 7, 2018). In addition, Ekaran (January 27, 2018) provides a list of similar digital classrooms - Edmodo, Socrative, Scratch, or Khan Academy.
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Carrier et al. (2017) pinpoint another digital pillar of a class or an online course which is ClassJump and Moodle. Moodle functions similarly to Google Classroom where students can access classroom materials, such as presentations, documents, or online resources. Students may resolve their doubts in debate forums enhancing communication among classmates. The design of Moodle allows the teacher to present course syllabus, requirements and recommended literature, and set assignments and tests submitted on Moodle. Overall, due to the impressive variety of digital classrooms, it depends totally on the teacher which one will support their teaching (Carrier et al., 2017).
Today’s smartphones are endowed with functions identical to those on the computer. The mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) can be reached in mobile language learning applications (LLAs). Duolingo is the prominent free LLA that offers its English-speaking learners to choose from a wide range of languages, concretely sixteen, to learn and practise a new language. The whole learning process totally depends on learners. They can learn at home, on a bus or elsewhere, choose the amount of time they want to spend on practicing per day, i.e. the daily goal, or how they aim to practise the language (translation, matching, pairing, listening, speaking) that allows them to practise a particular language skill. Duolingo is a smart application that reminds learners of an incomplete daily goal and traces crucial mistakes and, in case of a typographical mistake, gives a reminder about it but, on the other hand, does not explain grammatical rules. Furthermore, the app stimulates competitiveness among learners becoming friends and competing against each other. Despite its simple use and extensive choices, Duolingo is criticized for several features. A learner cannot copy any dialect as it uses a computerized voice. Speakers of rare languages are not able to use this app at all because first, they need the knowledge of another more prevalent language. Still, Duolingo remains the most used and attractive LLA among all (Nushi and Eqbali, 2017).
Video conferencing technologies connects English learning with the world, either in the face-to-face classroom or in online teaching. One approach recommends the students to communicate online with students around the world. That should result in improving their language skills via interaction with native speakers. A teacher needs particular devices to establish a virtual lesson, specifically a webcam, headphones, and microphones along with the Internet connection. The lesson becomes nearly as realistic as the face-to-face class. But Peachey (as cited in Carrier et al., 2017) poses challenges of managing the lesson through FaceTime and Skype for both teachers and students from which the most frequent is digital literacy. Equally, remote teachers may need to undergo special training to acquire an extended
17 skill set. To the exclusion of personal interaction, teachers must engage learners virtually and handle a variety of technology. Yet, the virtual lesson was successfully adapted to plenty of classrooms illustrated on examples in 5.2.3 (Carrier et al., 2017).
3.3 Assessment, evaluation, feedback Assessing students slowly advanced to the next level provoked by the appearance of technologies in education. Especially assessment tools started being digitized. Also, because the terms are often mistakable, it would be wise to give an explanation of each and show differences and links between them.
Mousavi (as cited in Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010) defines an assessment as making an estimate of the level of an attribute of a person. A teacher may play the role of a coach and give incidental or unplanned comments on student’s performance or feedback such as “Good job!” or “Excellent performance!” This form of assessment if labelled as an informal assessment. The comments or feedback should be non-judgemental in comparison with a formal assessment that is rather systematic. The latter assessment is linked to activities designed to test students’ skills and knowledge. A teacher’s appraisal of student’s success ensues from this assessment.
Another sorting of the assessment directs at the formative and summative assessment that is generally known terms. Students are naturally assessed during the whole learning process when they form their skills and knowledge through making a presentation, for example. The formative or ongoing assessment attempts to offer them help to encourage their learning growth. Again, it is partly dependent on feedback which marks that an informal assessment is formative. At the end of a course or a unit, a summative assessment looks back at the learning process and measures or summarizes what students have learned and how well. It may involve evaluation but not necessarily. To compile a list of examples of assessment, tests account for prevalent assessment instruments. Brown and Abeywickrama (2010) state specific types of tests – achievement test, diagnostic test, placement test, proficiency test, and aptitude test. In addition, the assessment from another perspective exists as a peer-assessment, self-assessment that is strongly promoted, or teacher-assessment.
Language assessment has experienced several issues in the last thirty years but managed to develop its forms greatly. Armstrong (1994; as cited in Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010) distinguished a traditional and an alternative assessment which are mingling. The standardized
18 exams alternatively occur in continuous long-term assessment and discrete answers become more open-ended and creative. Many other distinctions were established. As was said in Subchapter 3.1, a computer was one of the first digital devices utilized in a classroom. With the rise of technologies in education, computer-based assessment aroused delivered in either small-scale or standardized tests that involve thousands of students. Except for TOEFL that has included a written assignment, most of them, though, consists of fixed, close-ended questions (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
Assessment seems to be superior to both evaluation and feedback. The evaluating process may be described in a succeeding example. A student obtains a certain number of test scores which corresponds with a certain result. A teacher then ascribes a meaning to the scores, thus the result, that may be evaluated as successful or failed. Evaluation is not identical to testing but may cover a part of an assessment test. An appraisal is another form of evaluation (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
Feedback constitutes a subset of the assessment as well and its explanation is captured by Peachey and Stannard (as cited in Carrier et al., 2017). It is information about the students’ performance during the lesson and suggestions for how to improve and consolidate their learning. Teachers can give a number or a grade as feedback or spend more time to write constructive feedback that is praising the strengths and highlighting weaknesses. Gardner’s statement (2012) stresses that detailed feedback is more likely to keep students motivated. He also says that feedback intervention is most powerful when provided directly in the learning process at the task level. However, students are said to scarcely read text feedback for its vagueness and shortness, and, for this reason, teachers should preferably give regular oral feedback and even more frequently during online teaching (Carrier et al., 2017).
3.4 Digital flipped classroom A flipped classroom makes use of both digital devices and software. It is a teaching approach notably known for gaining significant advantages from access to technologies. Besides its key features lying in the shift from the traditional teacher-centred classroom to the flipped student-centred classroom, Slomanson (August, 2014) explains that students are encountered with the materials, that would be traditionally taught by a teacher, prior to face- to-face class time which gives students the space for asking challenging questions and providing and receiving feedback from classmates and the teacher. The classroom draws
19 benefits from digitally created materials that can occur in a variety of formats, such as a video or an audio record, an article, a podcast, a presentation narrated by an expert or the teacher, and other digital formats. Teachers, though, should consider trying this flipped classroom approach because students need to have convenient access to the materials which concerns Internet access. Mehring (as cited in Carrier et al., 2017) puts forward one crucial suggestion for the EFL flipped classroom. Because the focus is put on the communicative skills, it is important not to omit some other language elements of the traditional English classroom (Carrier et al., 2017). In addition, both students and teachers who experienced the flipped classroom noticed positive progress. Students felt more engaged in the learning, enjoyed the interactive and dynamic learning environment and achieved a higher average score. Regarding teachers’ opinions, they welcomed the shifted learning environment, recognized students’ greater mastery of information and its retention. Despite the usual initial confusion of a newly approached classroom being implemented slowly, the teachers proved the great success of the flipped classroom (Carrier et al., 2017).
3.5 Online education Two forms of online education can be distinguished. Firstly, there is the class in which teachers and students interact face to face and take advantage of technological tools within the classroom so as to teach and learn in a digitally aided environment. A flipped classroom, introduced in previous Subchapter 3.3, is one example. Secondly, education leaves the space of the classroom and enters the online world. In such a learning environment, teachers interact with students via digital content, such as Moodle. The latter online education will be set out as follows.
Online teaching and learning have revised its design since the nineties when online education has been set up in educational institutions. Mason (2001) takes an insight into the early online teaching growing in the last decade of the previous century and elaborates a theory which stresses three elements of the online courses: “Asynchronous group and individual messaging, access to course materials, and real-time interactive events” that form the pillar for the online courses (p. 2). The greatest benefits of the online environment captured in Mason’s article are groups of distance students working together online, using materials from websites worldwide, “unlimited, interactive, time-independent discussions”, easy electronic assessment, or destroying the barriers of the classroom, opposed to its lesser downsides such as impersonal
20 attachment of the educator to students, providing activities overlapping all the curriculum areas, or having difficulty to find the right motivation for students (2001, p. 4).
Following formats of online education partly resemble Mason’s interpretation of online teaching and learning models. Firstly, students at the university are very familiar with online voluntary courses as they plausibly participated in one or more. The courses are usually constructed on an online written interaction between the teacher and the students which logically excludes a video chat or a face-to-face interaction. They are treated as complementary courses that are attended for the sake of either improving a certain part of knowledge or gaining credits. Secondly, the first massive open online courses seemed to overwhelm mainly the public in 2008 as they are accessible online and mostly free of charge. So-called MOOCs initially stemmed from a connectivist approach before the advent of an updated transmission-based approach toward learning. However, according to the interpretation of Hockly and Dudeney (as cited in Carrier et al., 2017), the latter design labels a teacher as an expert of the course who is in total charge of the learning process. Students acquire only transmitted expert’s content in Duolingo, for example, or the English Town driven by Education First. (Penfold, October 13, 2015) Despite the expert-centred learning approach of the MOOCs, they are expected to yield improvements by 2020 (Carrier et al., 2017).
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4 Digital divide
Technologies do bring dozens of advantages and facilitation. To be realistic, though, they have also inflicted the divide among groups of digital users and non-users. The digital divide widens reasonably between people who were literally born with a mobile phone in a hand and those who came into contact with technologies in advanced age. Prensky (October, 2001) diversifies these two groups by naming them digital natives and digital immigrants and explores their relationship which is commented below.
According to Prensky (October, 2001), school is the most apparent place where these two various groups encounter. Students represent the natives who presumably belong to one of the two last generations, either Generation Y, children born from the early 1980s through the turn of 2000, or Generation Z, children born since 2000 until now, growing up in an environment surrounded by technologies, predominantly mobile phones and computers, functioning primarily as socializing, communicating and providing-information tools. These children and young adults become “native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet” (Prensky, October, 2001, p.1). Owing to the easy access to the Internet, they happened to lose the habit of critical thinking and ran out of patience.
In comparison, students are still admired by teachers, who look up to them, for their skillful manipulation with devices and being naturally accustomed to the online world. Teachers are amazed at how students can employ their digital skills to be more creative and faster. Teachers claim that students have not changed rapidly but are shocked anyway because they fail to understand their intimate attachment to devices and the excessive unnecessary usage of them during their free time or a meeting with friends. From the natives’ perspective, teachers are seen as outdated pre-digital language users who are not really into habits of working with technologies (Prensky, October, 2001).
The clash between digitally native students and digitally immigrant teachers indicates that the divide is mostly caused by themselves. Both live in bubbles, in which their own standards do not correspond with each other and that results in their refusal to accept and respect the preferences of another bubble. Moreover, Adell (October 28, 2015) admits that student digital natives hardly have a grasp of the social ecosystem even though they foster a general awareness of how technologies work. As for the school digital immigrants, they had better keep up with always developing digital age. If both students and teachers were able to take into account each other’s habits and embrace a deeper understanding for each other, they
22 would create a friendly coexisting environment in a classroom in which all would profit from sharing knowledge and experience.
Along with these two digitally oriented groups of students and teachers, digital immigrants can be personified by another social group which is parents that are often digitally illiterate. The misunderstanding between a child and a parent stems from the intensity of an attachment to technologies and contrasting opinions on digital importance in life (Prensky, 2004).
The divide may appear on a different basis. Regardless of the age, children and young adults being born as the Generation Y or Z may feel like digital immigrants or simply immigrants to technologies if they are not exposed to technologies in their close surroundings, such as family background or a circle of friends. The reason may lie in a poor socioeconomic situation of the family or a total disinterest in technologies (Prensky, October, 2001).
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5 Digital competence
This chapter gives an insight into a digital competence that has changed its content and requirements throughout the last twenty years. An overview of frameworks focusing on digital competence is given and divided into three groups according to their target group – citizens, educators, and learners.
A minority group of teachers is said to refuse the implementation of digital tools into the classroom and they justify their negative attitude by the lack of information and experience. The rapid development and expansion of technologies undoubtedly make an urgent demand for teachers to improve their teaching skills to be able to carry out an online classroom. In other words, the professional development of teachers has not been more crucial. An educational professional, whether teaching in a school or giving a one-to-one lesson, should acquire a certain complex of skills and knowledge for careful manipulation with technologies. The recent concept of technology-related skills is commonly identified as digital competence. It is explained elaborately by Ferrari (2012) as:
the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, abilities, strategies, and awareness that are required when using ICT and digital media to perform tasks; solve problems; communicate; manage information; collaborate; create and share content; and build knowledge effectively, efficiently, appropriately, critically, creatively, autonomously, flexibly, ethically, reflectively for work, leisure, participation, learning, and socialising. (p. 30)
Generally speaking, this exhaustive and complex definition means that being considered digitally competent necessitates not only person’s profound digital understanding and information needed for the average citizen but also essential social and emotional aspects to be able to well inform oneself in digitalized society (Ilomäki et al., 2011). In addition, the term digital competence is often interchangeable with digital literacy, even though the literacy is used longer than competence as in media literacy (described as digital media literacy in Chapter 3). Alternative terms are used, such as Internet skills, ICT skills, or 21st-century skills. They can be suddenly replaced by another term, though, owing to constant social and cultural changes and evolution of new technologies.
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5.1 Digital competence for citizens The digital competence has been evolving rapidly in the last two decades and has been elaborated in a number of digital frameworks and platforms. The first general elaborations were aimed at all citizens. The following historical sequence draws up a scheme of crucial frameworks: 1997: European Computer Driving Licence2 established by the ECDL Foundation 2005: the OECD Definition and Selection of Competencies Project3 2013: the first Digital Competence Framework for Citizens known as DigComp 1.0 (Ferrari, 2013) 2016: the first updated version of DigComp 1.0 - DigComp 2.0 (Vuorikari, Punie, Carretero, & Van den Brande, 2016) 2017: the last updated version of DigComp 1.0 - DigComp 2.1 (Carretero, Vuorikari, & Punie, 2017)
The primary focus of attention of the DigComp Frameworks has been on the advancement of the citizens’ digital competence contributing to the well-functioning society that is aware of the growing importance of and a proper manipulation with technologies. The society, though, cannot function well if it remains in ignorance about them. Therefore, European countries have implemented the DigComp Framework for building the teachers' digital competence within the professional development, for example in Spain, Portugal or Lithuania (Vuorikari et al., 2016).
The DigComp Framework has served as a primary source for composing other areas for distinct groups of users. Thanks to this specification of the framework, consumers are provided with the Digital Competence Framework for Consumers and become skilled in using digital content safely and assertively in the marketplace (Vuorikari et al., 2016).
All three digital competence frameworks were grounded upon five fundamental competence areas further splitting into twenty-one specific competences. A citizen can follow
2 A world leading computer skills certification. The programme gives a definition of the skills and competencies that a user needs for using a computer. It has been used in over 100 countries in order to test the digital knowledge of people across ages. (ECDL Foundation, n.d.) 3 Shortly DeCeSo. The project identified three key areas: the use of tools interactively, an interaction within heterogenous groups, and autonomous acting (OECD, 2005 May 27)
25 the scale of proficiency levels in order to discover his or her level of digital competence and regularly improve digital skills from the foundation level, through intermediate and advanced to highly-specialized. The DigComp 1.0 consisted of these four levels that DigComp 2.1 broke down into eight proficiency levels specifying each of the four levels in two parts. The specification related to the autonomy of the citizen in a particular competence and complexity of tasks. With the emphasis on the latest framework (Carretero et al., 2017), the competence areas are these:
Information and data literacy Communicating and collaboration Digital content and creation Safety Problem solving
5.2 Digital competence for educators Chapter 3 pointed out the delicate relationship between teachers and technologies facing the existing technological discrepancies. Under consideration, these discrepancies may be easily solved by teachers who acquired digital competence which is closely dealt with in this chapter. Besides the DigComp for Citizens and DigComp for Consumers, the digital competence aimed at educators has not lagged behind. It has been identified in tens of policy and steering documents, journals and handbooks, strategic leadership, and teaching practices. Before the international handbook on a digital competence for teachers was released, EPICT, the European Pedagogical ICT Licence, offered the ground integrating the basic ICT skills and training with pedagogical elements of ICT in a training course for teachers. It was based on a professional, high-quality development programme that was run successfully at a national level. In 2004, a majority of teachers did not reach a high level in digital competence and that is why it had to be supported. It lasted one year but thousands of teachers, Czech teachers included, participated in favour of improving their ICT skills applied in teaching (Pedagogical ICT Licence, n.d.).
The first digital competence programme aimed at educators was constituted in 2008 by UNESCO, called the ICT Competency Standard for Teachers. It attempted to specify teachers’ competence in six areas and centred on the required computer skill. Moreover, it set up a foundation for the international digital skills programme EIPASS examining teachers in
26 hardware and software, services of the Internet, or curricular-teaching programming (Taddeo, Cigognini, Parigi, & Blamire, June, 2016). Joint Research Centre that operated under the control of the European Commission carried out the research in digital competence framework for citizens and did not remain reluctant to formulate it for educators as well. Consequently, since 2017 the European education is supported with the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators, that aims at evidence-based policy, boosts the technological innovation in education and specifies digital skills and competences of educators. Because the school environment may expose educators to unexpected situations, they must be endowed with a set of skills, abilities, attitudes, and knowledge to be able to solve obstacles. Moreover, the current digital society obligates educators to become role models for students and show them the proper manipulation with technologies unmanageable without the teachers’ knowledge. Thus, the framework focuses on twenty-two digital competences defined in six areas – professional engagement, digital resources, teaching and learning, assessment, empowering learners, and facilitating learners’ digital competence, which is the single area focused on learners’ digital competence. The level of educators’ digital competence is determined according to stages of learning progress on the scale from A1 to C2. Overall, the framework is very thorough in description and examples and it is accessed now in various languages, Czech included (Redecker, 2017).
5.3 Digital competence for learners Various frameworks were focused on learners and their digital knowledge. A few of them function both as a framework and an educational or assessment tool. For illustrative purposes, here is a brief overview of selected interesting platforms embracing the digital competence for learners of all ages (these are not chronologically ordered):
the MediaLit Kit established by the CML4 targeted at adults the Digital Competence Assessment5 targeted at secondary school students
4 The CML stands for the Centre for Media Literacy. A basic framework introducing five concepts and directs its attention to deconstruction, construction and participation of learners in media. (Ferrari, 2012) 5 Part of a larger project “Internet and Schools: Problems of Accessibility, Equality Policies, and Information Management”. Besides defining the digital competence, the project is based on tests. (Ferrari, 2012)
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eSafety Kit6 targeted at 6- to 12-year-old children and their parents And many more.
6 It is not only a framework, but also a tool to keep learners aware of safety issues on the Internet and attempts to connect parents, carers and children with these issues. (Ferrari, 2012)
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6 Skype
The aim of the chapter is to introduce a brief history of Skype and characteristic services and areas of usage in which Skype facilitates the communication – leisure, business, and learning.
6.1 Facts about Skype Skype represents the oldest and best-known video chat programme in the world. It is a Voice over Internet Protocol service, shortly VoIP, which enables registered users to call each other for free and cheaply over the Internet. It has its genesis in 2003 when Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark founded the software and developed it in Estonia where the majority of central offices are still located. Before the advent of Skype purchased and operated by Microsoft in 2011, it was acquired by eBay and Silver Lake investor group, respectively. Skype was gradually adapted to all computer software and phone systems and newly developed devices back then such as Linux, all Windows operating systems, Apple operating system, and Apple devices, Android, and launched on TV. A Skype user may currently make a call even with Alexa through Amazon devices in certain countries. Its popularity may be demonstrated on the number of concurrent Skype users that incredibly arose from 100 thousand in 2004 to 250 million users in 2012 and hundreds of millions of people nowadays (The Skype Team, November 19, 2018; The history of Skype, 2012)
The expansion of Skype comprises a myriad of services. Making a free video and voice one-to-one calls in real time is the most used service, along with sending instant messages in a chat room and sharing materials in the same place. Skype removed communication barriers because members do not have to pay attention to seconds nor minutes spent on calling and they even do not have to live on the same side of the world. They can still make international Internet calls, it only depends on the quality of their Internet access. Even though a called person is not available on Skype, they can be sent a pre-recorded video message. If a member strives for better services, they pay a regular fee for Skype Premium account and profits from making group calls, ringing a phone number and sending SMS through Skype. Its latest innovating feature enables members to speak different languages at the same time and still be understood due to translating their content by Skype translator (Unuth, 2018).
Skype.com introduces its further services. When members speak the same language during a video and voice call, their dialogue may be captured in subtitles so as to catch all
29 information. Members may share presentations or holiday photos, for example, by sharing a screen. All these services prove why such a remarkable number of people want to use Skype.
6.2 Variety of Skype purposes Skype may be used for different sorts of purposes driven by people’s needs and demands. Also, we are living in the digital society in which it is natural to make calls with anyone and everywhere. These three purposes are leisure portraying ordinary usage of Skype, a business helping workers improve work communication and learning to stress a practical application of Skype in a class.
6.2.1 Leisure Skype is ordinarily used for the leisure purpose to communicate with a close circle of friends and family members. The software did break down the barriers in distant communication and enabled people to let others know about their safety or experiences earlier than on the day of their homecoming. As a result, people appear to be less reluctant to travel to remote places for an extended period thanks to the possibility of a free online connection. A young nurse got inspired by her family and decided to undertake her life mission as a volunteer on one of the international hospital ships. Her longing for improving medical skills, increasing life limits and, chiefly, helping other people contributed to her accomplishing the admirable goals. She managed to share an intriguing and memorable experience with her family through Skype and did not grow away from them (The Skype Team, December 7, 2017).
In relation to the family, a number of its members merely corresponds with the number of family events. On one hand, a wedding, a regular family meeting or a celebration may be organized way in advance so that everyone will be able to participate. On the other hand, sudden circumstances may influence initial decisions. Those who cannot manage to arrive do not necessarily have to immediately accept their absence there. Instead, they may simply participate in the event by making a Skype video call and the distance no longer hinders them to enjoy the time and collect new memories, albeit virtually (The Skype team, March 21, 2018).
Skype has the potential to strengthen the family bond and even to handle and build up a long-distance relationship. Despite less satisfactory conditions, a few couples seemingly overcame the distance issue and kept in touch with each other, while being separated by thousands of kilometres. A particular couple proved to others that they refreshed their relationship by a daily online communication by which both were in the picture about prime
30 life changes and moments. They benefited from Skype video calls and stayed together even after a long-time separation and online communication resulted in living together after several years (The Skype team, February 13, 2017).
The Skype Team released an abundance of stories similar to those narrated above. The amount of them approves Skype of a valuable role in our either ordinary or busy lives and of great simplification of the communication.
6.2.2 Business Skype.com set up and lately improved its services in the business and professional environment, too. It assists entrepreneurs and manpower with a collaborative tool. It is called Skype for business. Moreover, because Skype is included in Office 365, it is recommended to purchase this package with applications thanks to which you may enhance the quality of communication in an online meeting and support the labour-intensive work. Along with Office apps, the platform is equipped with equal basic services for calling, messaging and sharing as a basic Skype account, but is supplemented with extra services and other specific platforms.
Skype for business was launched in 2014 with the vision of improving the productivity of people so as they could spend their working time effectively. An external stimulus for its foundation came from a technical complexity of connecting with customers and was simplified and unified on the platform. One of the extra services gives a possibility to arrange an online meeting for up to 250 people who can join simply by entering a shared link accessible on any device (The Skype Team, November 11, 2014).
Regarding recruitment, a job interview may not be one of the pleasant events of the day considering thorough preparation of a speech, choosing adequate clothing, or breaking unbearable suspense. But Skype Interview platform transforms the typical workflow into a stable condition with an integrated code editor. Unlike the face-to-face interview, an interviewee can keep track by having a sticky note with keywords near the laptop to minimize slurred speech. Some people are also less nervous about clothing when preparing for a Skype interview because they “dress professionally on the top and casual on the bottom” (The Skype team, July 18, 2016). Trying out one’s speech on a camera alerts people to parasite words or extensive pauses that can be avoided later during the interview. In short, the Skype interview is said to convey a lasting impression (The Skype team, July 18, 2016).
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6.2.3 Learning Skype classroom, launched in 2010, symbolizes a community of teachers, educators and guest speakers from around the world who can contact each other and enrich classes with shared content. A class may be enhanced by one of the four activities, namely ‘Skype lessons’, ‘Mystery Skype’, ‘Virtual trips’, lectures given by ‘guest speakers’. Teachers may choose from a variety of Skype lessons created mostly by other teachers or search for a specific lesson by category, age group, and language. It implies that teachers are partly in charge of creating the lessons but may draw inspiration from collections handpicked by Skype as well. Learners can build their competitiveness by playing the Skype game at distance with other learners, that develops learners’ “cultural awareness, critical thinking and geography skills” (The Skype team, October 19, 2016). Enjoyment can increase with a virtual visit of a remote place thanks to researchers who travelled around the world and recorded interesting landscapes and sites. These virtual field trips enliven oral presentation, give a first-hand experience to learners and bring visual insight into the real world. Learners can obtain accurate information directly from a guest speaker who is an expert in his/her field. On the basis of the activities, one of the great benefits of the Skype classroom is an intense involvement of learners into their own learning (The Skype Team, October 19, 2016).
Several specialists concentrated their research and work on strategies on how to implement Skype in classrooms. Terry Heick is one of the specialists on digital technologies in education, besides his other specializations, who has founded an online platform Teacher Thought publishing interesting articles aimed mainly at teachers about digital technologies applicable to classes and ideas about how to implement them effectively. Heick (January 16, 2019) reveals tens of ways how to run a Skype-based classroom. He involves into his list of ideas the practice of a foreign language described on a real example from a university course. Students at Marquette University in Milwaukee have experienced mutual teaching and learning of two languages in an online environment with students being located in a different school situated in a different country, or sometimes even a continent. To be exact, a student from Milwaukee connects with a student from a school in Spain on Skype in a regular English class and they teach each other their mother tongue, English and Spanish. This student-centred teaching methodology allows students to have first-hand experience and knowledge transmitted by a native speaker by which students improve their speaking skills. Also, it is said that students having experienced this class are more interested in language learning and international issues. The teacher in such a class remains important anyway because he adopts
32 the role of a facilitator and an advisor when students struggle with Internet hatches, for example (Russling, August 16, 2007).
The Skype-based classroom apparently appealed to more teachers. Jill Croft, a teacher from Covington School in California, connected her class through Skype, both aurally and visually, with a class of Joseph D’Ambrosio who is a teacher in the Farm Cove Intermediate school in New Zealand. American pupils looked extremely excited about Skyping with pupils from a distant continent that they almost jumped out of their seats. They extended their cultural knowledge when listening to New Zealand pupils singing their national anthem both in English and Maori. Croft added that pupils had the opportunity to travel virtually out of their classroom to New Zealand. A demonstration, for example, of a New Zealand earthquake and reactions of pupils were edifying (Skype, July 3, 2013).
We can draw the tentative conclusion from the worldwide reputation of Skype in the classroom that remote teaching and learning evolve into a preferred way of education within the digital age.
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7 One-to-one English lessons on Skype
We now turn to Skype utilized out of the classroom. The major focus of this chapter and the whole thesis is put on Skype functioning as a digital tool for a learning and teaching purpose in one-to-one English lessons.
Before the nature of the one-to-one English lessons on Skype is discussed and supported by a theoretical background in Subchapter 7.2, Subchapter 7.1 offers an analysis of the potential impulses for the growth of such lessons illustrated on the digital education in schools.
7.1 Impulses for one-to-one English lessons Generally, the development and the concept of learning the English language depends on a variety of aspects. De Bot (2007) describes this dependence in a comprehensible way: “the socio-political setting is changing and so is the position of English in the world. In addition, the positions of language teaching institutions and teachers are changing and so are perceptions of what constitutes learning” (p. 274). In other words, learning English is closely related to social elements, i.e. people and their needs and demands, political factors, which constitute policymakers, and the way how English is taught in schools. By De Bot’s description (2007), both English learners and ordinary people less interested in learning the language have their share in a considerable impact on the English learning concept. To begin with the English language itself, it represents the world most spoken language and people, whether individuals or groups, who can speak this language open up themselves unlimited opportunities available at every corner in the world. Continuing farther backward, it is the language that most employers require from applicants for a job position in their company. As Paulston said (as cited in De Bot, 2007), “job opportunities create language learning” (p. 274). The author points out that people need to be acquainted with the purpose of learning the language before starting. Academics support this idea saying that learners must be fuelled by their own personal motivation. In relation to learning the English language, educational institutions used to be in overall charge of transmitting the language. Even though the time has changed in recent years and learners now tend to partly learn the language out of the classroom, De Bot (2007) shows a survey carried out on English language learners in European countries showing truth. Results of the survey reinforce the importance of schools in the language learning process and put a high value on other sources such as media that seem logical in the current digital age. The
34 education forges ahead indeed with digital teaching and makes determined attempt to change the traditional teacher-centred language teaching to a new concept of teaching characteristic of student-centred learning, focus on content rather than form, interactional approach rather than frontal, and autonomous development rather than control (De Bot, 2007). On top of that, teachers are given attractive options of teaching methodologies that may facilitate the whole teaching and learning process and, moreover, transfer a part of the control over the process on students. The flipped classroom, presented in Chapter 3, is one of the teaching methodologies in the contemporary teaching that pursues a goal to centre a class on a student and, thus, leave the traditional teacher-centred class. Other similar teaching methodologies are problem-based learning or project-based learning. In brief, the former methodology poses a complex problem to students that does not result in a single correct answer but incites groups of students working collaboratively to find out what they need to know to solve the problem. A latter methodology is an approach driven by students and stimulated by an enquiry. Bell (July 8, 2010) reveals that when a question is developed by students, they present discoveries by creating a project. Teachers are facilitators in both teaching methodologies (Hmelo-Silver, September, 2004). The preceding facts make proof of suitable and attractive educational environment for learning English. There are, though, few arguments that uplift the one-to-one English lessons out of class. Parents are apt to be in two minds about the significant improvement of their children’s level of the English language because the school English classes do not provide a sufficient amount of time and space for improving individual needs. Thus, they are willing to search for a professional English freelance teacher or a language school and pay extra money for one-to-one English lessons, that may occur in a virtual form. These arguments will be supported in the succeeding subchapter that foregrounds characteristics of both one-to-one teaching and online teaching that may look as effective as the classroom English teaching or even give the impression of the stronger appeal for learners.
7.2 The nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype Starting with a broader teaching concept, one-to-one teaching determines a specific number of participants in the teaching and learning process, specifically two – one teacher and one learner. Wilberg (2002) indicates that teaching individuals became very trendy for a high number of students who, along with non-students, opted for it to learn a foreign language. It shifts the focus onto the conversation between the two participants, thus a dialogue. The author
35 further underlines a basic working paradigm: “In one-to-one teaching, the emphasis is on the student providing the content, and the teacher providing the form. This means a basic paradigm radically different from the traditional present – practise – produce of much classroom language teaching” (p. 13).
The initial step is to choose a teacher that comes under the learner’s or his/her parents’ competence that maximizes the chance to take a liking to the teacher. Thanks to the freedom of choice, the learner may enjoy a privilege to meet a native speaker. During lessons, the entire attention of the teacher is devoted to one learner which stands for the greatest benefit. The teacher favours all learner’s needs which best satisfies learners with specialized needs along with individual abilities, whereas a class English teaching is anticipated to involve more than two learners who may compete for the teacher’s attention. In a one-to-one lesson, it is more plausible that the teacher creates a closer relationship with the learner due to the time and space in such an intimate environment which may become less intimidating for shy learners and novice teachers. But a group class does not have the capacity for sharing ideas and feelings of all learners. When teaching English to a group, class content normally suits learners of all levels that do not emphasize deviating levels. Because a learner is one and only in the one-to-one lesson, the teacher tailors the course to the individual’s interests, experiences and knowledge which may lead to entering into interesting discussions and focusing on specific and specialized vocabulary. Also, the teacher can make minor or major changes in the course programme to comply with the learner’s new or evolving requirements or his/her mood on a day. The learner becomes autonomous and independent and can easily gain control over the learning process that the teacher may transfer to him. He chooses the pace of the lesson and may play part in decision-making such as choosing the location or, in case of the online lesson, the learner may choose a day and an hour that conforms him/her. Thus, the one-to-one course seems to be much more flexible. One benefit that may enjoy both class teachers and private teachers is an unlimited number of online resources (Osborne, 2015). Naturally, both the teacher and the learner are exposed to challenges in the one-to-one environment. The course requires a profound preparation of both lesson plans and authentic materials to meet the learner’s needs which, consequently, may be considered as time- consuming and exhausting for the teacher at the beginning. In contrast to the abundance of online resources, there is an evident lack of English materials for a one-to-one course that does not simplify the situation either. Textbooks are too general to suit the specific needs of the learner. Wilberg (2002) continues that ordinary teachers are simply not prepared for such an
36 intense private course because they are not trained to teach individuals. Because a one-to-one course increases in intensity for both the teacher and the learner, it may result in learner’s frustration from the inadequately tailored lesson, for example. Another stimulus for discomfort may come from the feedback that should be given similarly as with school students. Despite the downsides, this kind of setting enables both to identify the problems and solve them as soon as possible (Osborne, 2015). In reference to the feedback, the term was described in Subchapter 3.3 in connection to classroom teaching and will be compared with giving feedback in a one-to-one English lesson on Skype in this subchapter. It constitutes an essential component of the lesson as well. The lesson grants the teacher with the possibility to monitor one learner at a time, not a group of learners as in a group teaching, and easily recognize learner’s specific difficulties in the language. The feedback should balance the merits that are indicated at first with slips, mistakes, and errors. So, the establishment of the feedback resembles the one in classroom teaching that is not equipped with a sufficient amount of time to address it. That is the advantage of the one- to-one lesson with the two mere participants who may spend extensive time on careful discussion based on the feedback transmitted sensitively to the learner. Osborne (2015) observes four different methods of giving feedback that a teacher could plausibly apply to classroom teaching. The first method is an oral correction, recommended in the classroom teaching, which a teacher can use for a quick intervene providing the correct word. But the learner should not lose the train of thought. However, role-plays and discourses, for example, are activities that require the active involvement of two participants. Logically, as the teacher is bound to participate, he/she may apply the second method which is an audio-recording the student. They can listen to the record later together and focus on the learner’s successes and mistakes. The third method advises teachers to video-record the students during any activity. The fourth method is oriented to the written record summarizing the learner’s performance during the whole lesson in the noted in feedback sheets. The teacher may keep all sheets and refer to their content at any time. They are informative and transparent. Feedback was attributed to assessment as a subordinate form among other instruments. The one-to-one lesson can be successfully tailored to the learner’s needs on the basis of these assessment tools - well-designed pre-course questionnaire or a placement test. Thanks to testing all language skills before the course starts, the teacher will know the approximate level of the learner helpful for writing the course programme. When the course begins, Osborne (2015) demonstrates feedback as the prime form of assessment and shines a light rather on an
37 evaluation. The teacher together with the learner should work on regular evaluation of the learner’s progress through planned tutorials. Simply, the tutorials track specific language areas and the learner’s achievement in each of them. The author observed that the tutorial enables the learner to express any kind of dissatisfaction with the lesson in a more convenient way in contrast to oral expression. In connection to another huge advantage, according to Osborne (2015), a one-to-one course is not limited by the age of the learner which means it is suitable for adults as well as young adults and children. The lesson can be tailored to any needs, whether the learner strives for the acquisition of the business English or aims to attend the lesson as a supplement to a class English, for example. The course does not have any other limitations because it is relevant for a teenager, an executive student7, a supermarket buyer or a university student. The teacher, though, must pay attention to what materials are used because a child will naturally not adopt vocabulary in advanced articles or understand a message of lengthy videos. Furthermore, such a lesson with a child may be very demanding as the child have difficulties in concentrating a longer time. Thus, the teacher should repeat instructions, give demonstrations and involve movement and interesting activities. The choice of activities then varies with young learners who are believed to be more concentrated and independent. They would surely appreciate working with technologies but could not bear doing an activity that was demanding for them. The process of tailoring each lesson may be exhaustive but it positively influences the outcome (Osborne, 2015). It seems that one-to-one English lessons make an interesting offer for all learners of the English language who long for a teacher’s constant care and faster improvement in the language due to the focus of the lesson on the learner who may set the pace and enjoy the entire time devoted to him/her. Concerning online teaching, it represents a distant alternative to the ordinary class in which learners meet face to face. As we have seen in Subchapter 3.4, the online teaching emerges abundantly in the education and requires having a digital device, i.e. a webcam, and creating a digital environment via video conferencing technologies like FaceTime or Skype. This form of teaching is sometimes labelled as a remote or distance teaching and an online learning environment of which awareness and demand have arisen together with “rapid developments in information and communications technology”, “societal changes”, and “the
7 Osborne (2015) explains that an executive student stands for a business English student who is already employed.
38 current growing demand for global education offerings” (White, 2003, p. 1). Distance teaching may occur in two formats. In a synchronous distance learning, participants are located in a different place but learn at the same time and carry out real-time communication via technologies. While an asynchronous distance learning happens in a different place at a different time which does not urge learners to participate and respond at a certain time but gives them time to think and reflect. In relation to complex one-to-one English lessons on Skype, it corresponds with the former teaching (White, 2003). Online teaching has resembling characteristics with one-to-one teaching. Except for the fact that participants of a distance course - a distance language professional and a distance learner - are physically distant from each other and make use of new technologies to be able to interact and communicate, the learner’s autonomy is crucial and central in both courses. In class teaching, the autonomy of learners has been evolving dramatically as it was rather teacher-focused owing to which teachers often struggled with engaging individual learners in order to build on personal learning autonomy (White, 2003). Kozar (2012) made a contribution to one-to-one English lessons taught on Skype and identified them as private language online lessons. Their connection combines attractive and beneficial characteristics for learners of the English language. It is learners who choose “where, when and how they learn” that brings them a great comfort (White, 2003, p. 23). The new technologies serve as a great aiding tool that greatly facilitates interaction and collaboration between participants and moves them to a higher professional level. Kozar (2012) confirms that free synchronous technologies, such as VoIP tools, promote the growth of private online teaching in which learners can better achieve desired learning outcomes and are assumed to be used more extensively both in a public and a private sector.
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8 Survey
The practical part provides extensive and empirical data on the one-to-one English lessons on Skype of which data were collected through a questionnaire obtained from a number of respondents.
I adopted a stance that a one-to-one English lesson on Skype is in growing demand nowadays because of the fast-digital age and people’s serious interest in the English language improvement. Owing to its rapid increase of popularity and extension, it is a commonly discussed topic that, though, remains poorly explored and backed up by information resources of which quantity is still insufficient. As a result, both teachers of English and learners suffer from these consequences the most. Teachers, moreover, are not aided with a professional development focusing on teaching English online to individuals. This argument presents the prime motive for completing this thesis. I aimed to collect genuine data concentrating on the process, benefits along with drawbacks, and attitudes of respondents toward the one-to-one English lesson on Skype so as to enlarge the public awareness and knowledge of its settings.
8.1 Questionnaire The survey was designed through a Google questionnaire and divided into nine sections. Two sections are eliminated from the analysis. The initial section introduces respondents to the content of the questionnaire and the final section, i.e. the ninth one, concludes it all. These sections are solely informative and do not focus on collecting data. Thus, none of them are included in the following analysis. Remaining seven sections create the main body of the survey and contain its principal data that will be analysed. Regarding of questions in the questionnaire, there were occurring various types of questions. The most frequent type was a close-ended question because I wanted to generate a limited set of responses that could be coded easily in the analysis and simplified the process of replying for respondents. They were either multiple-choice, permitting choosing one answer, or checkbox questions, allowing to choose more than one answer. On the other hand, the aim of the survey was to retrieve information and personal experience of respondents with one-to-one English lessons on Skype to supply all teachers teaching on Skype with beneficial and profound data on the illuminating teaching concept. The aim was achieved through open-ended questions in which respondents gave a brief answer or answered thoroughly in several sentences. I am aware of the fact, from my own experience, that filling in a questionnaire may be time-consuming which stimulated
40 skipping some questions. Because I wanted to assure myself of survey rich in answers, most of the questions were the obligatory answer. In addition, titles of the following subchapters involve the word section which refers to a section in the questionnaire, not to a part of the thesis.
8.2 Respondents Talking of the human element, the final number of respondents participating in the survey reached twenty. The survey targeted at a specific group of respondents who were associated with teaching English, especially having any experience with one-to-one English lessons on Skype. I took the deliberate decision to keep the analysis anonymous on account of maintaining the objectivity of its results and that is why I did not opt for an interview that is more personal and the acquaintance with respondents is inevitable. One reason for my decision arose from the fact that I have a closer relationship with some of the respondents as they are my colleagues and classmates at university. I gained the fair number of respondents thanks to this close connection because my colleagues forwarded the questionnaire to potential teachers educating virtually. So, people I do not know most probably participated in the survey, too. It is important to say that the results put forward specific ideas of a low percentage of teachers teaching English on Skype because the sample of respondents was small-scale and random, considering all people teaching English on Skype.
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8.3 The questionnaire, section 2 – Personal information about respondents The first section contained two items of personal information about respondents. They revealed merely their sex and approximate age within a certain age range. This subchapter corresponds with the section “Information about you” in the questionnaire.
The predominating sex of respondents was female, specifically fourteen women among respondents. I may demonstrate a valuable input clarifying this unequal proportion of sexes in general education.
Figure 1. The sex of respondents.
According to OECD (2017, February), the teaching profession is strongly affected by gender imbalances of which rate has increased greatly throughout the last decade. The teaching profession was generally occupied mostly by women from pre-primary to tertiary education on average across OECD countries, the Czech Republic included, depending on the subject matter and the level of education.8 OECD released newer research in 2018 which affirms this fact again and suggests reasons for the feminisation of the teaching profession. Firstly, women are more likely to study the tertiary education which administers higher chances to earn the tertiary degree, frequently required of novice teachers, for example. On the other hand, if male teachers acquire that level of education, they become less attracted by the teaching profession which stands for the second reason. The research found out that female teachers earn either equal or
8 The research carried out by OECD (2017, February) observed and captured the data in specific years – 2005, 2010 and 2014. It shows that teachers in science, mathematics and technology are rather male. Men also dominate in higher levels of education, especially in tertiary.
42 higher average actual salaries compared with other full-time women. Whereas the average actual salaries of male teachers account for “between 77% to 88% of the average earnings of other full-time …men” (OECD, 2018, p. 28). That is why more women among teachers appeared in the survey than men which widens the gender gap in education. Paradoxically, this gender issue contradicts the potential of education that should guarantee equality among pupils and students but seems to fail it among teachers.
We may solely relate these findings focused on institutional education to one-to-one English teaching. But they still represent stimulating arguments explaining the high number of female respondents in our survey.
Figure 2. The age groups of respondents.
The age range of respondents was extensive. To deliver all plausible age groups, respondents could choose from five groups. None of them affiliated to the youngest age group ranging from 0 to 20. As we can see on the graph, young adults reaching 20 to 30 years old weighed up the rest of respondents falling into older age groups, i.e. 30 to 40 and 40 to 50 and more.
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8.4 The questionnaire, section 3 – Experience of respondents with one- to-one English lessons on Skype This subchapter, known under the title “You as an English teacher” in the questionnaire, attempted to find out more information about:
Respondents as teachers of English in one-to-one lessons on Skype, especially their teaching habit The topicality of giving online lessons on Skype Amount of experience Professional support Attitudes toward online lessons
Respondents first disclosed a piece of information about the importance of English teaching on Skype in their work life. In other words, the information related to the way how they teach English and what part of work life is assigned to it, namely a freelance English teacher (or self-employed), an English teacher in a language school, an English teacher in a company, teaching English as a sideline, and other options.
It must be said that this question was a checkbox that allowed respondents to select more than one option. Six of them made multiple selections, but no more than three options at one time. Three respondents simultaneously work freelance, teach in a language school and in a company. The combination of three teaching concepts does not look unmanageable to me in the work life. Teachers in a language school tend to teach English even in companies within the purview of the language school in order to help workers improve their level of English or comply with a special request of the company. As we have seen in Subchapter 7.1, Paulston (as cited in De Bot, 2007) expressed the opinion that workers were encountering English in their job which promoted their language skills. Supposing the teachers are to spare time, are eager to transmit their knowledge, lack money or any other personal reason, they partly work as freelancers as well as our three respondents.
Along with the three respondents mentioned above, other seven selected the freelance English teaching who apparently favour self-employment and self-management of the time and lessons.
Two respondents offered additional answers that were not included in the elemental set of options. One respondent taught both in a primary school and in a language school but the
44 second one replied with a single answer because he/she taught merely at university. We may estimate that the latter respondent either teaches an online course on Skype at university or used to teach English on Skype and, thus, no longer devotes her time to it which sounds likely because 40% of respondents gave a negative answer to the second question whether they still teach English on Skype or not.
The question focused on training addressed a surprising result. Exactly two respondents acquired training for Skype teaching. We draw our attention to an answer of the respondent who participated in CELTA which stands for Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. In short, this most highly regarded course, in this category, intends to educate teachers, both novice and experienced, about teaching English to students having a mother tongue different from English. Trainers transmit “the essential skills and knowledge” along with “hands-on teaching practice and observation of experienced teachers” (CELTA, n.d.). I may make an effort to give a rough estimate of the respondent’s notice based on the design of the course. We may discover in the CELTA book for trainees (Thornbury & Watkins, 2007) that unit 22 focuses on differences between group and one-to-one teaching. Assuming that all CELTA courses are designed almost identically, the respondent supposedly gained information about one-to-one English lessons on Skype in connection to this unit.
Respondents expressed their distinct attitudes toward one-to-one English lessons on Skype in this section, particularly their personal appeal for them. Their answers, though, will be analysed together with similar answers in the following subchapter.
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8.5 The questionnaire, section 4 – The nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype in reality Data on the nature of the one-to-one English lessons on Skype were retrieved in this section named as “About English lessons on Skype” in the questionnaire.
Several questions focused on an akin topic and, thus, incited respondents to give nearly identical answers. For this reason, I will analyse answers to six questions all at once from which two were originally involved in section 3 in the questionnaire. These questions collected a list of characteristics, both affirmative and negative, of one-to-one English lessons on Skype that respondents regarded as defining and basic. To be more specific, they probed for information about:
Whether they liked or disliked the lesson and why did or did not (two questions, section 3) The description of the nature of the lesson Reasons why they thought learners were willing to pay for the lesson Advantages Disadvantages
The analysis in this subchapter is carried out on the basis of advantages and disadvantages. For better orientation, one can recognize advantages by underlining and disadvantages by a bold face. Several answers were considered as both an advantage and a disadvantage by respondents and these are both underlined and bold.
Regarding the type of questions, the process of filling in the questionnaire was simplified because two questions were close-ended and checkbox. Remaining four questions were open-ended as I wanted the respondents to expose explicit and detailed answers about their experience with Skype lessons.
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Figure 3. The popularity of one-to-one English lessons on Skype among respondents.
The analysis begins with depicting a graph showing lessons’ popularity among respondents. It is evident that a bulk of respondents enjoyed English lessons on Skype. It may mean that the outnumbered group of respondents emphasized the disadvantages of the lessons or did not teach English on Skype anymore. Still, the prevailing popularity will be supported by open-ended affirmative answers elaborated in succeeding paragraphs which will be compared with negative opinions.
Respondents repeatedly mentioned that Skype lessons saved the time as it did not require travelling or commuting to a café or a library, places that one respondent presented. Another respondent accurately conveyed favour to online teaching as opposed to face-to-face lessons that complicated finding a place for the lesson every week. Furthermore, she said that if a student demanded preparation for a language exam, they normally met face-to-face once a week which slowed down the learning process and prevented the teacher from thorough preparation of the learner. She passed on a piece of advice that expressed one more respondent, centred on combining online lessons with face-to-face to practise easy topics and discuss more difficult materials, respectively. We do not know whether they met regularly twice a week, each time in a different environment (virtual and in-person). But I acknowledge that I regard teaching one learner both online and in person as a highly innovative approach which tells more about know-how of the respondent. Based on her profile in the questionnaire, this young woman seems to be a teacher with wide experience as she has been teaching English on Skype for 5 years as a freelancer and we may instinctively assume that her advice is valuable.
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A graph below shows, for the most part, the advantages of one-to-one English lessons on Skype. Specifically, it manifests that all but one respondent appreciated that Skype lessons did not depend on travelling. We may then deduce that the predominance of this answer implied that teaching online saved the time generally.
Figure 4. The advantages of one-to-one English lessons on Skype.
20 19 18 17 Figure 6. The disadvantages16 of one-to-one English16 lessons on Skype.Figure 7. The advantages of one- to-one English16 lessons on Skype. 14 12 10 8 7 7 7 6 number of respondents 4 2 2 1 0
advantages
Note. There is a reason for the distinction between letters. Options that were originally provided in the list of advantages are written in the uppercase. Additional options that respondents gave are in the lowercase.
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In relation to saving, one of the debated advantages was a low cost of Skype lessons. An approximate third of respondents thought that the lessons came cheaper than face-to-face lessons. One respondent said that he/she did not have to waste money on petrol. Similarly, respondents deemed the lessons cheaper for learners, meaning teachers can charge more money for face-to-face lessons due to spending money on petrol and time on travelling which is eliminated in online lessons. Personally, I did not reduce the cost of my Skype lessons as I did not consider it necessary. But I agree with respondents that the Skype lessons save money for learners who may be young adults possessing a low amount of money or children whose parents pay the lessons. However, the parents would be rather willing to pay more money for the sake of their children’s language improvement and better job opportunities.
We now turn our attention to comfort and flexibility of one-to-one English lessons on Skype because they directly followed from the first advantage, i.e. saving the time. In addition, Skype lessons were labelled as convenient in answers by some respondents which is a synonym for comfortable.
No fewer than three quarters of respondents identified Skype lessons as both comfortable and flexible from the point of view of bringing advantages and exerting attractions. Teaching online allowed a few respondents to feel more relaxed because they enjoyed the freedom of teaching in the comfort of their home and encountering the learner virtually which excluded a physical interaction. The teacher bothered neither with finding a place for the lesson nor with cleaning his/her place. A couple of respondents expressed satisfaction with unnecessity of cleaning a flat or a room to arrange an ideal place for undisturbed face-to-face learning of English. If I consider the face-to-face teaching at teacher’s home, it may still be convenient for the teacher, less for the learner because of commuting, but may intervene the teacher’s privacy to a slight degree. But when the lesson is held virtually, the convenience applies to both participants.
Subchapter 7.2 revealed the nature of one-to-one English lessons in person which Wilberg explained as a learner becoming the centre of the lesson. Osborne (2015) emphasized that a one-to-one lesson is suitable for shy learners and novice teachers due to the total focus on the learner. But two respondents looked at it from a different standpoint. They concluded that learners, especially beginners, may feel shy and nervous even during face-to-face lessons on the account of the teacher’s 100% attention to him/her. The uncomfortable feelings, though, may be swallowed by the interaction and communication with the teacher facilitated virtually
49 through Skype. One possibility of how to make the lesson even more comfortable for those extremely anxious learners is to switch off the webcam which is considered by respondents as both a benefit and a drawback. Affirmative and negative answers to the issue of the webcam will be extensively explored in Subchapter 8.6.
The flexibility is reflected best by the time management and planning of all lessons in a week which are benefits plausibly implied in a respondent’s statement: “It is a flexible way of working”. Respondents did not give details and, so, I may draw a simple example. It may happen that a learner cancels the face-to-face lesson at the last minute. When waiting for the learner in a specific place, the teacher is unlikely to be prepared for an hour gap between lessons, unless it is the last one. I found it hard to devote the fairly short amount of time to a different subject matter or to arrange a short meeting with friends. During the Skype lesson, the reverse is true, and it does not spell big trouble to the teacher who may flexibly do household chores or comfortably relax at home.
Comfort may be attributed to Skype lessons also owing to the access to teachers from around the world with which agreed 17 respondents (see Figure 4). It may stand for a learner’s asset, but it may be perceived as access to learners from around the world. A respondent demonstrated a situation in which a teacher residing in New York may teach virtually a learner from Brno. It does not sound irrational at all. We may develop a bond between a one-to-one lesson and Skype classroom, disclosed in 5.2.3. Teachers implemented Skype into the classroom so as to allow pupils to meet experts on a specific field and encounter pupils all over the world. Thanks to the virtual class, pupils increased cultural awareness and gained first-hand experience and information. The same enhancement applies to learners in the one-to-one lesson who can encounter. A certain number of respondents acknowledged that learners were willing to attend and pay extra English language lessons, but they were not liable to spare time during a week. Children and young adults were naturally believed to be engaged with daily studying for various subject matters and may live far from language schools located in bigger cities or from the teacher. Adults presumably tackled all sorts of duties at and after work. There is no doubt that all learners, regardless of their age, have to manage their time carefully which leads to a Skype lesson, a realistic, comfortable and flexible alternative to language learning applicable to the current fast digital age an accessible from either home or work.
On the other hand, some respondents started feeling overly comfortable or, in other words, lazy and solitary. To draw a tentative conclusion, the Skype lesson happens in two
50 places, distant from each other, between two participants who are bound to their computers as a digital means for communication and to a stable internet connection, rarely accessible anywhere. One respondent pointed out that he/she was always sitting which corresponds with my conclusion. Thus, it became unnecessary and impossible to leave one’s home and socialize with ordinary people in public.
With reference to the distance, the online teaching did not prevent teachers from visual demonstrations but limited the demonstration and manipulation with real objects which posed an obstacle to creating some activities (see Figure 5). The issue will be analysed in Subchapter 7.5 and compared with the digital content.
Another drawback lies in the considerable distance between the teacher and the learner which made the online teaching more comfortable and flexible indeed, but, at the same time, built the relationship between them impersonal, according to opinions of more than a half of respondents. On the next page, I include a graph in light of providing a general overview of disadvantages frequently chosen by respondents.
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Figure 5. The disadvantages of one-to-one English lessons on Skype.
16 Figure 8. The number of learners15 taught by respondents at a time.Figure 9. The disadvantages of one- to-one English lessons on Skype. 14 14 12 12 11
10 9 9
8
6 4 number of respondents 4 3 3
2 1 1 1
0
disadvantages
Note. There is a reason for the distinction between letters. Options that were originally provided in the list of disadvantages are written in the uppercase. Additional options that respondents gave are in the lowercase.
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Because it was a hotly debated issue in open-ended questions, I reinforce the brief answers from the close-ended question with several detailed answers of respondents about the degree of the personality of the lessons:
“It’s very impersonal. “
“…, I find teaching on Skype quite impersonal…”
“They are more impersonal type of teaching and learning to me.” (sic)
“They are less personal …”
“Sometimes, it is harder to make a real connection with the student if you do not get to speak to them in person.”
“There’s not such a ‘warm’ atmosphere as in person lessons. “ (sic)
“Some students miss “the real” contact, …”
“I prefer face to face lessons because they seem more personal to me.”
As we can see, the impersonality is apparently caused by the means of communication and interaction between participants. Respondents might think of the Skype lesson as impersonal from all sorts of reasons. First, both the teacher and the learner may not recognize their personal characteristics fast as in face-to-face lessons that would enable one respondent to monitor precise facial expressions or uncover natural imperfection. Second, virtual communication may lack the real effect of learning which was proved by two respondents. Third, people always feel more guilty when they cancel a face-to-face lesson and, logically, they try to make up for the teacher’s lost time and money by putting energy and making effort during following lessons. This general assumption may be true for face-to-face lessons, but scarcely for Skype lessons. To one respondent’s disappointment, learners did not have a guilty conscience about cancelling an online lesson as it required sending an email. Owing to the impersonal online relationship, the learners might not feel a bond of affection for the teacher. To enhance respondents’ aforesaid reasons, we may assume that the fourth reason for the anticipated impersonal Skype relationship could lie in learner’s hesitant decision on liking the teacher. The learner may learn about the teacher mainly from the communication which was labelled as the essential part by Osborne (2015, see Subchapter 6.2). But it may not be enough for review. In one-to-one lessons, the rapport between the teacher and the learner is said to influence the process and outcomes of learning. Pierson (May, 2013) said that if learners do
53 not get along with the teacher, they will hardly learn anything from him/her. And that may also cite a valid reason why respondents deemed the Skype lesson strongly impersonal.
In contrast, the teacher can seemingly build a personal relationship with the learner even in Skype lessons. Three respondents held opinions that strongly or neutrally opposed to the drawback of impersonality meaning they plausibly did not tackle the issue. The Skype lesson was assimilated to the face-to-face lesson by one respondent who did not observe any significant difference between them. The opposing opinion was further proved by another respondent who simply declared that he/she managed to establish a close friendship with the learner. The third respondent put forward this opinion: “The Skype lesson is what you make it. It can be focused on any area of English that needs to be practised”. The respondent did not resolutely uphold the argument but made clear that how the lesson was set relied on the teacher.
If we look back at the graph of disadvantages, respondents mostly struggled with technical difficulties. 75% of respondents were frustrated by the bad Internet connection which is particularly vital in a Skype lesson being established through the Internet. One respondent labelled the lesson as stressful due to difficulties with accessing the Internet. We may suppose that the poor access then launched a chain reaction because it was interconnected to other functions. When the Internet access did not work properly, it probably influenced transmission of voice and picture on a webcam that was suddenly discontinuous and frozen, respectively. In these uncomfortable situations, teachers should understand the problem and fix it as soon as possible or find an alternative solution, as one respondent stated, to be able to continue in the lesson. Fixing technical difficulties in a lesson that functions thanks to the Internet may be quite challenging. Thus, the importance of the digital competence of teachers emphasized in Chapter 5 is evident.
On the other hand, it is noticeable that a small part of respondents was digitally competent to an adequate degree. One respondent dealt effectively with the technical difficulties and suggested switching from the computer to the phone in the moment of weaker Internet signal. The suggestion is rational because the Internet is said to be fast enough to make a video call (Teaching English using Skype, n.d.). The digital competence involves skills and abilities to handle digital devices and content, together with mental processes such as critical thinking, creativity, autonomy. A comparable statement of one respondent will be directly quoted: “None of these [technical difficulties] seem to be an issue for me and my students. All
54 these "disadvantages" can be managed and fixed if the teacher has enough experience and leadership skills.” So, the respondent is obviously digitally competent.
35% of respondents praised the Skype lesson based on the great possibility to simply use the technologies which may imply that they were enthusiasts for the latest digital innovations. The same number of respondents appreciated the access to unlimited online materials. Technologies as a source of materials will be discussed later in Subchapter 8.5.
I will conclude the subchapter with further general characteristics of the one-to-one English lesson on Skype that I found in answers. Respondents specified the lesson as dynamic, fast, effective, high-impact, stress-free, interactive, fruitful, and fun. Communication created the lesson more impressive. Some respondents claimed that they became more organized. Additionally, one respondent did not give any answer to the question about the nature of the lesson because he/she did not understand it which confirms the fact that the six questions did not significantly differ from each other and could have been formulated variously.
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8.6 The questionnaire, section 5 – Organization of Skype lessons Respondents were asked in this section about how they organized their Skype lessons. Specifically, they answered to questions addressing:
The number of learners they taught at a time The place where they used to teach The digital device they used to make a Skype call Pieces of software different from Skype they might use The webcam either switched on or off and justifications for their choice
The section did not strive for collecting lengthy responses from respondents and included mostly closed-ended questions that prompted respondents to answer briefly.
First, I will refer to the data reflecting the nature of one-to-one English lessons on Skype examined in Subchapter 7.2 because they represent the theoretical basis that will be compared with the first set of answers providing the genuine facts about the number of learners taught at a time. Wilberg (2002) said that teaching individuals became popular for all sorts of reasons, but the greatest benefit lied in the low number of participants in the lesson, i.e. the teacher and the learner. In relation to the answers, all respondents had a major experience with teaching one and only learner at a time grounded on a graph below (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. The number of learners taught by respondents at a time.
I TEACH ONE LEARNER AT A TIME (100%) 20 I TEACH A PAIR OF LEARNERS AT A TIME (10%) 2 I TEACH MORE THAN TWO LEARNERS AT A TIME (5%) 1 0 5 10 15 20 25
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The graph shows that two respondents taught a pair of learners, i.e. two, at a time. To give a greater insight into the teaching of these respondents, one respondent mentioned he became a freelance teacher of English, teaching comfortably from home, whereas the second one revealed she gave lessons in a company but carried out lessons from home as well. This low number of respondents proves the Wilberg’s view that the ideal learning environment is created by two participants (see Subchapter 7.2). On the whole, I suppose I would struggle with teaching two learners at a time on Skype, let alone teach more than two that one respondent specialized in.
I may elaborate particular information from the previous paragraph linked to the place of teaching that stands for the second question of the section. Apart from other points, Subchapter 8.3 scrutinized answers denoting that Skype lessons were comfortable according to 80% of respondents. In this section, 90% of all respondents were used to teach at home. If we consider those respondents who voted in favour of both the comfort of the lessons and teaching at home, there were fifteen respondents with this combination. We may then presume that 75% of respondents found the lessons comfortable by reason of teaching from home. Nevertheless, few respondents did not firmly cling to the comfort zone at home and were open to teaching in public places such as the base of work and educational institutions, namely university. Nobody opted for places of café or a restaurant which is not entirely surprising because they are characteristic of louder noise level that could constantly interrupt the Skype communication.
It is noteworthy that Skype might be of great benefit to the teacher since the software is quick and easy to adjust to the lesson. Indeed, two respondents expressed their positive feelings about the adjustment. Moreover, it appears to run most efficiently on the laptop computer which is the digital device used by all twenty respondents to manage an online lesson. Reasons for the choice were not stated but might be deduced easily. The laptop computer usually has a built-in webcam in comparison with the desktop computer that might require the repetitive setting of the separate digital device indispensable to the lesson. Also, the teacher may promptly move in case of a sudden weaker Internet signal as the laptop is portable and, in most probability, light. The portability may signify a key feature for those respondents who occasionally teach on Skype at work or at the university as was shown in the previous paragraph. All in all, the benefits of using the laptop computer for Skype lessons clearly justify the respondents’ choice opposed to one respondent who acknowledged being on a mobile phone during the lesson and three using the desktop computer.
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Regarding the webcam, respondents were asked about whether they switched it on or off during the one-to-one English lesson on Skype. The question is justifiable because whether teachers can see learners or not may make a dramatic difference. More than half of respondents preferred the camera switched on for the plausible reason that they may see learner’s facial expressions revealing their current feelings and mood. I go along with this 60 % of respondents. Even though learners may wear deadpan facial expressions, they still clearly demonstrate how relevant, effective or entertaining the lesson is. One respondent opted for switching in the webcam to check a learner’s attention during the whole lesson but inclined to occasionally switch it off. He did not want the learners to view his personal space from the very first Skype lesson and kept it switch off until they got to know each other very well or not at all.
It sounds a bit surprising to me because I assumed that learners are those who strive for greater privacy. Two respondents supported this assumption as their learners explicitly preferred their own privacy and asked for switched off webcam which implies that they were given the option to decide whether webcam was switched on or off. This third and the last option chose seven respondents who let their learners make the decision. We may get an insight into the organization of the lesson of the remaining five respondents via their answers.
I already stated in Subchapter 8.5 (p. 50) that Skype lesson generally lacks the physical contact between the learner and the teacher that may be comfortable for nervous and shy learners. The lesson may become more comfortable due to the exclusion of both the physical and the visual contact, by switching off the webcam, which focuses on the voice. Specifically, the voice accounted for the most important element of the lesson for one respondent who was the mere teacher making her own decision to switch off the camera and, thus, did not let the learner decide.
As she taught English on Skype for seven years already, she experienced troubles that persuaded her to settle on the oral communication with which struggled other three respondents. As was said in Subchapter 8.5 (p. 53), three quarters of respondents labelled Skype lessons as problematic in consequence of a bad Internet connection, and discontinuous transmission of the voice and the picture on the webcam. They all may be the cause of the poor quality of the picture which probably compelled the respondents to continue in the lesson without the picture. On the other hand, the teacher may face troubles with creating a close relationship based solely on oral communication in the light of the increase of the impersonality.
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Whether switched on or off, one respondent articulated a clear comment on teachers of English and their obstacles in Skype lessons: “You are never sure if the student does not have the material lying around and is not just reading them, though camera on helps.” The response originally referred to the disadvantage of the Skype lesson, but, at the same time, provided a practical suggestion for teachers. Because the relationship of the teacher and the learner is already so distant, teachers were implicitly advised to switch on the webcam.
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8.7 The questionnaire, section 6 – Digital content The Skype lesson is inseparable from digital devices, that were analysed in the proceeding subchapter, and digital content that is the aim of this subchapter. The section is named “Your online space and content” in the questionnaire and attempted to find out:
Whether respondents prepared lesson plans Which online platform they used to create, store and share materials What kind of online materials they used generally Websites used to create activities as specific examples of online materials Whether they mostly created their own materials, sought for them on the Internet, or asked colleagues to share their materials On what language skills they focused
The subchapter will be enhanced with a set of answers to the question about software tools respondents tended to use along with Skype. It is analysed in this subchapter because the question is rather linked to the digital content, albeit being a part of the previous questionnaire section.
Software tools may function as social networks and commonly enable people to hold a videoconference. 60% of respondents considered Skype adequate for online lessons meaning they did not desire to try out different software. The other side of respondents explored an offering of distinct software tools through which they alternately ran the online lesson. One option of a video conferencing tool, approved by a single respondent, is not entirely different from Skype as it is merely an advanced Skype account for business. She embraced even the employment of Microsoft teams Meeting and Appear.in that I perceive, perhaps incorrectly, as rarely recognized among people. She targeted at teaching adults that clarifies her choice of the unique tools and I will attempt to briefly introduce both.
I will concentrate on Microsoft Teams Meeting because I was inquiring to learn more about it. Functions if the tool is demonstrated in the online English lesson. It is an application that creates a workspace for a close circle of participants. The teacher may create a private team for every learner in which they can interact and collaborate in a space inaccessible to others unless they are permitted by the teacher. It does not distinguish between users of different
60 operating systems9. Along with basic texting and sharing materials, every team is automatically interconnected with Office apps, a document library to store learning materials, a mailbox, a calendar, or a OneNote notebook, and may be enhanced with further applications available in Microsoft store. An online lesson may start spontaneously in the conversation or through a fixed meeting that the teacher creates, and the learner has to join. The latter video might be beneficial for those struggling with time management and must be reminded. Furthermore, respondents who were used to teaching a pair or a group of learners at a time would benefit from it via running a group video call for up to eight people. In addition, it is said to gradually replace Skype for business for its capabilities. (Jacobsen, January 1, 2019).
Despite the diversity of the app’s services, there is not an adequate space to scrutinize them more. Still, I firmly believe that Microsoft Teems Meeting has to amaze everyone working on a team project, collaborating with co-workers easily and certainly for online teachers as well.
Google Hangouts belongs to one of the familiar applications that one respondent adopted, and three respondents alluded to it, defining Google documents. We cannot say with certainty that they had Hangouts in their mind, but we may work on a supposition that they handled Google documents to enhance the lesson with online materials. Surprisingly, respondents who liked using more video conferencing tools exposed other examples of them, namely Zoom, Scribblar, Discord, WhatsApp, and Webex. However, the tools will not be introduced closer for identical reasons as the scrutiny of Microsoft Teams Meeting.
9 Even though it is established by Microsoft, Teams are provided for desktop users of Windows and Mac, and mobile users of iOS and Android (Jacobsen et al., July 5, 2018).
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Figure 7. The overview of online platforms used by respondents.
ONE DRIVE (25%) 5 GOOGLE DRIVE (60%) 12 AMAZON DRIVE (0%) 0 DROPBOX (10%) 2 EDMODO (0%) 0 TEACHABLE (0%) 0 CONVERTKIT (0%) 0 ZIPPY COURSES (0%) 0 I SEND MATERIALS BY EMAIL (50%) 10 SKYPE/OTHER CHAT ROOM (50%) 10 iCloud (5%) 1 Google documents (5%) 1 My materials on my blog (5%) 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Note. There is a reason for the distinction between letters. Options that were originally provided in the list of online platforms are written in the uppercase. Additional options that respondents gave are in the lowercase.
I may follow up with online platforms that respondents adopted to create, store and share materials with learners. Twelve respondents inclined to Google Drive. Apart from Google Hangouts outlined in the previous paragraph, Google services were already portrayed in Subchapter 3.2 (pp. 15-16), specifically Google Drive and Google Classroom utilized in digital education. We are driving at terms connected to Google services that may throw us into confusion over differences between them. Thus, emphasizing the differences would be appropriate.
Alghini (March 19, 2013) simply explained the terms. “Google Docs is the web-based editing programme that allows users to create, share and edit documents through a secure networked system.” He continued that Google Drive is a more contemporary innovation and functions as cloud storage where a user can store the Google Docs, including documents, presentations, music, pictures, or videos.
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As far as I understand, both Docs and Drive then come under Google applications (see Appendix A). Additionally, Google.com launched a new paid cloud under the title G Suite aiming at businesses.
The interconnection of Google applications apparently made a good impression on 60% of respondents. But the graph displays that many respondents appreciated the rich list of online platforms as they enabled learners to achieve materials via more than one medium. Still, respondents stuck to simplicity and sent materials in a chat room, Skype or various, or emailed them to learners. Among others, there appeared an unusual medium in the form of a respondent’s blog that may discharge a function of storage of all materials.
We now progress to the specific content that completes the lesson, i.e. lesson plans, online materials, and websites. Generally, no fewer than ten respondents were used to preparing lesson plans of all activities opposed to six who embraced a relaxed approach and occasionally wrote down the plans, and one who did not waste time on the preparation at all. A teacher should be carefully prepared for immediate sending materials created beforehand. Otherwise, the lesson could get confused, both for the teacher and the learner. That was the advice of one respondent. In contrast, respondents determined the main priority to the preparation of activities. Naturally, respondents sought for needed information to create activities largely on the Internet, similarly relied on their knowledge but barely requested colleagues for their materials.
Specifically, a learner was highly likely to practise the language by filling in a worksheet according to all but one respondent that was mostly supplemented by pictures and articles. More than 50% of respondents then let learners watch videos or listen to songs, less to podcasts, by means of YouTube and TedTalk videos. Learners could easily boost their vocabulary in Quizlet, that employed twelve respondents, or practised giving explanations via Half crossword, used by seven. Some respondents insinuated dissatisfaction with popular websites and rather immersed in browsing the Internet. They managed to find useful websites supplying teachers of English with worksheets freely accessible – espressoenglish.com or onestopenglish.com. However, there seems to rise hesitations in transmitting knowledge through presentations and improving reading skills by reading books. Supposedly, the activities may easily present information to learners, but their creation consumes plenty of time to teachers.
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I approve of the combination of various learning styles to comply with learners’ needs as much as possible. In short, the most common model of learning styles represents the VARK model standing for visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic. Drago and Wagner (2004) explain that every learner gives preference to a different learning style or to a combination of learning styles that are described as different approaches of individual learners to learning. The learning environment then should be adapted to a variety of learning styles to achieve success. In lessons of the respondents, combining various learning styles is apparent, though we cannot declare if their intention stemmed from them.
With reference to learning styles, respondents could focus on three out of four learning styles because stimulating the kinaesthetic learning style became unfeasible. Demonstrations were very limited due to the distance and the limited shot of the webcam as one respondent complained. I openly admit that I got frustrated during the first Skype lesson as I could not work with real objects to demonstrate an example. A number of respondents identified with the frustration deriving from the lack of creating cards and writing or drawing on a whiteboard. In other words, teaching visual and physical aids were completely eliminated or replaced by online tools that could not engage a tactile learner of one respondent in any way. On the other hand, online tools are consistently improving and equip teachers with alternative online whiteboards, for example, that one respondent very enjoyed using.
Figure 8. Language skills emphasized in the lessons of the respondents.
SPEAKING (100%) 20
LISTENING (65%) 13
READING (60%) 12 language skills
WRITING (25%) 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 number of respondents
Last but not least, the last question was interested in a language skill that respondents emphasized in their lessons, namely speaking, listening, reading, writing. They probably fostered awareness of limited capabilities of Skype such as physical demonstrations or
64 technical difficulties and put the prime focus on one language skill, that was speaking. In the case of the weaker Internet signal that deteriorated the quality of the picture, respondents could still maintain oral communication. A few respondents even highlighted speaking when they described the nature of the lesson: “More focused on speaking, …”. Speaking is interlinked with listening language skill as learners ought to listen carefully what is expected of him/her by the teacher or to be able to understand song lyrics or a message of the TedTalk video. The teacher, in turn, should attentively listen to the learner’s discourse in order to evaluate him/her later. Listening symbolized the second essential language area in online lessons of respondents. However, the lesson is tailored to the learner’s needs and demands who may strive for practicing another language area. That was a reason why reading language skill took the third position just after listening. It is not a surprising outcome because respondents liked to use articles as activities (p. 62). Apart from articles, learners surely needed the language skill when reading instructions of tasks.
It is evident that respondents gained considerable experience with searching for valuable online materials. Thus, I can recognize their effort to create an efficient, attractive and enjoyable online lesson that a learner may appreciate. Fortunately, it could diminish the digital gap between digital natives and digital immigrants (see Chapter 4) thanks to teachers’ updating of digital skills and keeping up with the current digital age.
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8.8 The questionnaire, section 7 – Respondents’ learners The subchapter delineates analysis of answers under the section “Your learners” in the questionnaire. Answers uncovered real data on:
A type of learners according to an age that respondents taught Whether they used to give homework to learners Feedback Assessment Recognition of learners’ joy from the lesson
First, there is a point to be noted about the graph below. Age limits to all age categories included in the question were not strictly defined for a reason. I reckoned the chosen terms, i.e. children, young adults, adults, seniors, as explicit enough even though I was aware of the fact that each respondent could set the limits differently.
Figure 9. Learners of respondents according to an age.
CHILDREN (30%)
YOUNG ADULTS (40%)
ADULTS (90%)
SENIORS (15%)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
The typical learner of eighteen respondents was an adult and a low number of respondents also targeted at young adults. I adopted an opinion that adults were exposed to a foreign the English language at work and were required to adopt a certain language level. Consequently, they searched for a private English lesson to swiftly improve needed language skills. Or adult learners who perhaps were not gifted with languages tended to begin learning the language again and again. These are false beginners. Another assumption clarifying the high number of adult learners is based on age biological circumstances. Young learners are believed to easily adopt a new language, whereas becoming fluent in a language is nearly impossible for adults. The view may not be a falsehood for some adults, but researchers claimed
66 it was too generalized and, thus, particularized the viewpoint. Chacon (May 3, 2018) confirmed that even late learners were able to achieve a native-like performance which indicates the obvious possibility for adults to speak English on an advanced level.
Teaching children and seniors was seemingly not so well-liked by respondents or learners of the target age groups rarely desired to learn English. Children may spend most of their weekdays in school and engage their spare time doing homework, studying tests, or devoting to hobbies. There remain little time and energy for attending an out-of-school language lesson. Still, children may be attracted by the innovative learning option in the form of Skype lessons and make use of digital skills in online lessons. In the case of seniors, it is safe to say they do desire to slow down in retirement. Their capacity to employ technologies may be reduced which does not apply to the three senior learners. Also, people are willing to pay for such lessons on account of accessibility, flexibility and efficiency, stated by one respondent.
Needless to say, two respondents favoured teaching merely the youngest learners, i.e. children, but one gained bad experience of teaching them on Skype. He would not recommend teaching especially tactile learners, as was foresaid in Subchapter 8.7 (p. 63). Because the second respondent was a primary-school teacher, she naturally kept lecturing the same age group. In contrary to priority age learners, four respondents taught learners of all ages. Yet, three of them stopped teaching learners on Skype because one experienced one-time Skype tandem learning Czech-Spanish and another preferred the more personal face-to-face lessons.
Regarding the subsequent question, learners of 65% of respondents were sometimes given homework and 30% had to do it every or almost every time because these respondents apparently wanted them to practise learned knowledge after the lesson. It is, of course, essential to invest into learning more than one or two hours per a week on the lessons so as to achieve the desired goal which may be accomplished better through extra practice in online applications such as Duolingo (see Subchapter 3.2, p. 16).
Respondents were asked about feedback and assessment that will be examined together as feedback is a kind of an assessment tool. All but one respondent made a point of giving feedback to learners. But opinions of all respondents on the assessment were dissimilar as less than 50% of respondents carried out the assessment. Because respondents were bound to give reasons how they assessed their learners or why they did not assess them, the two distinct outcomes will be examined on their brief responses.
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A piece of information may lead to a balance of the unequal outcomes. Talking of responses to the assessment, six respondents marked oral feedback as an appraisal of the learner’s performance. Some of them concluded the lesson with the feedback and others claimed to provide it continuously, thus as a formative assessment. Because the online lesson is mainly based on oral communication, it is not such surprise that respondents opted for the oral feedback, recommended against the text one in Subchapter 3.3. But I must admit that I expected a few written feedbacks from respondents. Three out of the six respondents fell into the group who disagreed to give an assessment. It is plausible that these three respondents did not regard oral feedback as an assessment tool such as a test that they resented using in order to deviate from classroom testing.
On the other hand, there were respondents who administered a test in their lessons that were assessing the learner. One respondent responsibly organized three types of tests during a language course that we may easily estimate. Logically, a course started with a placement test that was followed after a progress test done after a number of units or classes and concluded with an end-of-course assessment testing all language skills again. The sequence of tests looks suitable for a course taught in a language school which does not correspond with the respondent’s job, though. She had to apply the course programme on a group of adult workers in a company that she attended. I assume that the adults set language goals that they wanted to achieve, and they might successfully achieve them due to the respondent’s responsible teaching approach.
An experienced male freelancer, that I introduced in connection with the CELTA courses (see Subchapter 8.4), were used to preparing regular performance reviews for his learners after three, six and twelve lessons. The model slightly resembles the former course programme except for the absence of the placement test. But the learners were assessed by the performance review which is totally a different form of assessment. It functions as feedback that appraises an individual’s performance. A job performance review, for example, is a private meeting of an employer and one employee whose job is critically evaluated. It is often one- sided, but the employee should express the concerns as well. To adapt the example to the respondent’s assessment method, the respondent made notes about each learner’s strengths and weaknesses that he discussed with them regularly (Performance review guidelines, n.d.).
If we attended lessons of another respondent, we would write a revision test based on materials that we have focused on before. But if we chose a respondent that did not praise the
68 assessment, we would probably be evaluated orally, or we would have to ask for an assessment. Sometimes, there is no need for assessment as the learner’s demands may aim at practising speaking and the teacher may make a decision to omit the formal assessment. Still, a learner will acquire more knowledge if he/she enjoys the lesson. And that was the last question of the section.
Figure 10. The joy of learners of respondents from the lessons.
For the first time, all twenty respondents came to an agreement about the recognition of the learner’s joy from the lesson. Eventually, learners were expressive enough in their behaviour that they simplified the recognition to respondents. They manifested their current attitude toward the lesson and the teacher by both non-verbal and verbal communication. The non-verbal communication gave a strong hint about the learners’ feelings and mood through facial expressions, a tone of voice, an intonation pattern and a body language. So, when the learners were happy, excited or enthused, they were likely to smile or laugh. Perhaps, the level of their energy and active interest could tell teachers that the lesson was not boring. From all the age groups defined at the beginning of the subchapter, children tend to reveal most their opinion on the lesson because they barely feel embarrassed. While young adults or adults may hesitate by reason of maintaining the serious image. Moreover, they might feel bad for admitting that the lessons did not meet the learners’ needs or the teacher was not convenient.
The success of the lessons may be normally discovered via learners’ acquired knowledge. It falls into both non-verbal and verbal communication. Teachers in one-to-one lessons can observe the language improvement of learners from the very beginning thanks to which the teachers occasionally modify the lesson programme to meet new needs.
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Talking of non-verbal communication, learners expressed their genuine feelings by giving oral feedback to respondents. The lessons of a few respondents were interesting enough that they got grateful thanks for teaching the learners. That is the greatest compliment a teacher can receive from learners for all the hard work, effort and patience. Some learners were asked to evaluate the lessons. I assume that those respondents could not recognize whether the learners liked or disliked the lessons. Enthused learners, though, showed their effort by asking additional questions to a discussed topic. This learners’ attitude signifies that they immersed in learning and were eager to know much more.
These facts confirm that the respondents mostly succeeded in the lessons because they created a close relationship with the learners which allowed them to gradually become relaxed, uncover secrets and be honest with each other.
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8.9 The questionnaire, section 8 - Additional data The eighth section concludes the analysis of the survey with collected personal stories of respondents that happened in their one-to-one English lessons on Skype. Respondents were not obliged to contribute to this section. Thus, there were nine respondents who shared their stories voluntarily.
The stories significantly enhanced the survey because they illustrated the veracity of the lesson from the respondents’ perspective. One story demonstrated the general characteristics of the lesson and did not convey any additional information. Thus, I will cite eight stories to maintain the originality of them:
“One student of mine was really creepy, I cannot explain why, but it was extremely uncomfortable for me to teach these lesson. I find skype English lesson creepy in general watching each other on the camera, I do not know why.” (sic)
The respondent might find the lesson creepy owing to the impersonality of the relationship with the learner. It mostly relies on eye contact and communication and, thus, the respondent might miss the physical, more personal contact.
“A recent trend I noticed – students (who are not really motivated to improve, but usually are “forced”) find it easier to quit lessons by sending an email. I believe the absence of personal contact makes people feel less obligation than a face-to-face lesson.” (sic)
I commented on this respondent’s opinion already in Subchapter 8.5 (p. 49). Again, the impersonality hindered the bond between the teacher and the learner. If one person fails within a group, the whole group will shoulder the blame. But the single learner in the one-to-one lesson is responsible for his/her own actions unless the lesson is carried out online. In that case, the learner seems to get careless.
“I hate bad connection! “
The statement directs at the disadvantages of the lesson. The respondent openly showed her biggest mishap she faced during the lessons. Her nerves were sometimes on edge.
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“In November 2018 I decided finish cooperation with one of my students. The student and I had around 20 Skype lessons together. Getting rid of this student was a very strange thing to do and it took some courage to do so as I’ve never done this before. I’ve been teaching languages and consulting salespeople and leaders for 20 years. The student was far too egocentric and kind of an smart alec. He wouldn’t follow much of my and my colleagues’ advice when we were trying to help him. The trust between me and him was never established. I failed but I learned a lesson. Next time I meet a similar type of person, I’ll use a different approach and get it right “(sic)
I look up to this respondent for his courage. I was not encouraged enough to discontinue lessons with one young learner several years ago. Our meetings gradually faded after three years of collaboration. It is peculiar that learners do not mind cancelling an online lesson, but teachers hesitate to refuse a learner or to entirely end the lessons. I suppose that novice teachers are wide-eyed at the beginning and see the light later. Some teachers naturally do not intend to give up on any learner.
“I teach a few students that have both in person and Skype lessons and they often prefer the Skype lessons because it is much more convenient and a lot of fun with online materials ”
After a bunch of gloomy stories, this female respondent strengthened the positive side of the Skype lessons. She seems to embrace a more optimistic attitude toward the expected impersonality of the lesson.
“I like meeting the students from time to time as well as just online doesn’t seem enough.”
Similarly, this respondent decided to establish teaching in a comfortable way. The combination of the face-to-face lessons with Skype ones might break the impersonal barrier, but the respondent limited herself in choosing her learners who had to live in the same city.
“I don’t really do Skype lessons, but we did Skype tandem learning Czech-Spanish and it was amazing to learn by playing some games like Pelmanism and that sort of thing…”
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I may refer to 6.2.3 introducing the Skype classroom that enabled children in school to visit a remote country and to gain first-hand experience. Californian pupils connected with pupils from New Zealand and extremely enjoyed it. So, the respondent must have fancied the tandem learning, too, if they played games.
“I hate when we agree to call at certain time and the student keeps me waiting and only later apologies that he can not make it. Or he texts right before the lesson. Making young kids keep their attention on the online lesson is difficult so I prefere to use this method with young adults.” (sic)
Once again, the dissatisfaction is evident here and it targets young children and their responsibility for learning. The respondent made it clear that she refused to teach children on Skype and chose to meet them in face-to-face lessons in which she could engage them by demonstrations.
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9 Conclusion
One-to-one teaching English on Skype is presently regarded as trendy but there is a lack of relevant materials that would extensively and firmly support its greater development.
Thus, the aim of the thesis was to delineate the thorough characteristics of the one-to- one English lessons carried out on Skype. As respondents provided valuable data on the lessons that stemmed from their personal experience, I examined these outcomes in the survey. The analysis then attempted to highlight not only the benefits of the lessons but also their downsides to maintain the critical perspective. Twenty respondents who participated in the survey were asked to fill in an online questionnaire and to answer both close-ended and open-ended questions by which I wanted to facilitate the process of answering and to incite respondents to make an elaborated contribution, respectively. I was glad that a few of my colleagues who favoured Skype teaching as well took part in the survey as I could learn from them. On the other hand, the survey was anonymous in order to keep it objective. The analysed answers of respondents remained significant for the survey but also referred to findings of researchers introduced in the theoretical part such as ideas about digital education or values of private online lessons. I contributed with my assumptions and comments, too, where enough details were not given.
Results of the first section of the survey showed that most of the respondents, specifically fourteen, were women which confirmed the general view on the high percentage of women appearing in education.
In Subchapter 8.4, I found out that the majority of respondents used online materials freely accessible on the Internet to prepare activities, but they lacked universal textbooks that would be designed directly for the one-to-one English lessons on Skype. Moreover, merely two respondents from all twenty were trained to teach English online. This is powerful evidence proving that there is a serious gap in this area and teachers are not aided with the proper professional development thanks to which they could forestall confusion and dissatisfaction with online teaching.
Subchapter 8.5 collected six questions that probed for nearly identical information. Respondents were asked to characterize the nature of the one-to-one English lessons on Skype. It resulted in a list of advantages and disadvantages that constituted the subchapter. Generally, the lessons were deemed dynamic, innovative, high-impact, stress-free and fun. The advantage
74 of saving time was emphasized and interlinked with the comfort and flexibility of the lessons. The Internet provided them with unlimited online resources that made the lessons more attractive.
In contrast to the advantages, respondents most struggled with the impersonal relationship between teachers and learners, especially children and beginners, due to the distance and the lack of physical contact. On one hand, Skype lessons were suitable for shy learners who welcomed the distance and even the switched off webcam. On the other hand, the absence of visual contact intensified the impersonality. Despite great technological improvements in online lessons, respondents did not avoid technical difficulties that hindered the lesson owing to the weak Internet connection, discontinuous picture or voice.
Skype lessons were attributed to a number of further benefits that the classroom group teaching did not have. Respondents enjoyed the settings of the lessons and were able to turn their entire attention on one and only learner, his/her learning process and specific needs. So, these answers proved the validity of the Wilberg’s theoretical ideas presented in Subchapter 7.2 saying that teaching one learner is highly beneficial.
I was amazed by the extensive enumeration of online platforms and websites presented in Subchapter 8.7 thanks to which respondents retrieved online materials and got inspired. Services of Google applications showed its universality and efficiency according to respondents who created, stored and shared online materials via Google Drive and Documents, and made a call via Google Hangouts that sometimes established the online lessons, along with Skype.
The speaking language skill was prioritized in Skype lessons. The lack of physical contact eliminated the real demonstrations and usage of cards and objects, but Skype lessons had the potential to put forward conversations and speaking activities. Respondents focused on conversational activities through which English was best practised.
In reference to the design of the questionnaire, the Google form clearly summarized answers of all respondents in one overview. The system, though, hindered the process of searching for a specific answer as the creator of the questionnaire had to go through answers of each respondent separately. Due to limitations and space to speak with respondents more, I was not able to clarify a few ambiguous answers and I could not avoid occasional misunderstandings. If the survey was performed through an interview, the face-to-face
75 interaction would give me the space for asking supplementary questions. But the analysis would not be anonymous on which I insisted.
In conclusion, I am satisfied with the outcomes of the survey and I am impressed that such a number of respondents released plenty of extensive and interesting data on the one-to- one English lessons on Skype. The data also enhanced my teaching of English on Skype. I extended my knowledge in this area and found many improvements. Based on the outcomes, I believe that this master’s thesis accomplished its initial objectives and discovered gaps that should be considered in order to promote potential teachers giving one-to-one English lessons on Skype.
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11 List of appendices
APPENDIX A: Google applications
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APPENDIX B: Questionnaire First two pages - the whole section 2, the beginning of the section 3.
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12 List of figures
Figure 1. The sex of respondents...... 41 Figure 2. The age groups of respondents...... 42 Figure 3. The popularity of one-to-one English lessons on Skype among respondents...... 46 Figure 4. The advantages of one-to-one English lessons on Skype...... 47 Figure 5. The disadvantages of one-to-one English lessons on Skype...... 51 Figure 6. The number of learners taught by respondents at a time...... 55 Figure 7. The overview of online platforms used by respondents...... 61 Figure 8. Language skills emphasized in the lessons of the respondents...... 63 Figure 9. Learners of respondents according to an age...... 65 Figure 10. The joy of learners of respondents from the lessons...... 68