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Digital Competence Assessment Survey for Language Teachers

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Learning and Collaboration Technologies: New Challenges and Learning Experiences (HCII 2021)

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Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of the digital competence assessment survey for language teachers. The survey assessed how language teachers use digital technologies, their attitude towards these technologies, their related skills and competencies, their satisfaction and training needs, and the institutional support they receive. In total, 283 language teachers from 43 countries participated in the survey. The data were collected in 2019. The results indicate that language teachers use various computer-assisted language learning instructional methods. They generally consider that digital technologies are beneficial for the classroom. The lack of training prevents them from using specific technology-based methodologies, in contrast to the lack of technical infrastructure. The majority of the participants are not satisfied with their level of digital language teaching expertise. Two-thirds of those who receive digital competency training at their organizations, report that the training sessions happen irregularly or rarely. At the same time, the majority of the teachers confirm these training to be effective and the skills they received are applied in practice. We discuss the results of the survey in relation to the previous research, policies and practical challenges of the digitalization of language education. The major contribution of the paper is a representation of the teacher’s perspective on the role of digital technologies in their practice. We assume that the new realia of teaching in the context of COVID-19 have changed the overall need in digital language teaching skills among the teachers, as well as the share of the teaching staff who teach online on a regular basis. The future work includes a new survey in order to evaluate the scope of this change.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper has been supported by the Digital Competences for Language Teachers project (DC4LT https://www.dc4lt.eu/). The project was funded by the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, grant agreement 2018-1-NO01-KA203-038837.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Mikhail Fominykh

  2. ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Elizaveta Shikhova & Daria Zhukova

  3. Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Maria Victoria Soule

  4. University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Maria Perifanou

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  1. Mikhail Fominykh
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  2. Elizaveta Shikhova
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  3. Maria Victoria Soule
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  4. Maria Perifanou
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  5. Daria Zhukova
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Correspondence to Mikhail Fominykh , Elizaveta Shikhova , Maria Victoria Soule , Maria Perifanou or Daria Zhukova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Lemesos, Cyprus

    Panayiotis Zaphiris

  2. Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies (CYENS), Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Andri Ioannou

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Fominykh, M., Shikhova, E., Soule, M., Perifanou, M., Zhukova, D. (2021). Digital Competence Assessment Survey for Language Teachers. In: Zaphiris, P., Ioannou, A. (eds) Learning and Collaboration Technologies: New Challenges and Learning Experiences. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12784. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77889-7_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77889-7_18

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