Page 86 - Linguistically Diverse Educational Contexts

LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS
students from the University of Malaga studied intercultural linguistics and the other group studied English philology with a teaching profile. Two chapters from the aforementioned textbook (Units 4 and 5 from Module 2) were implemented at both institutions. The course was created so that it could be adapted to the given group of participants. Much of the content in the coursebook is open, as the course aims to move from passive to active, inclusive, and participatory learning by giving learners a voice and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in language teaching, learning, and assessment. In the assumptions made when developing this course, I presupposed that it could be learner led/co- created and thus activities could take place in a variety of ways rather than just following a pre-planned course of action.
The aim of the preliminary study described above was to answer the research questions posed and to formulate conclusions about the actualised learning potential of learning materials used in two different cultural contexts.
The authors of the study, employed as researchers and academic teachers, were aware of the possibility of undertaking new explorations towards building new forms of language learning and were ready to undertake research and reflection in action. Nevertheless, and this should be emphasised, they were also bound to their university teaching culture, which certainly posed a challenge to some extent because the new course represented a departure from established norms, and patterns of behaviour. On the positive side, the researchers had different cultural experiences, which made them aware of these limitations and open to new learning, change, and reflection with regard to the social roles of teachers, learners, language, and communication. It seems that such conditions are conducive to authentic change and counteract apparent change and conformism159, because becoming aware of the ambiguity and discursiveness of our methodological assumptions opens us up to new and more exploratory research160. However, both the understanding that a teacher does not have to choose the "best" educational method to work with students and to organise the entire educational process from beginning to end, and the realisation that it is not the method that influences educational outcomes, but rather the conscious choice of the method that subsequently influences student learning161, have been challenging, as detailed course planning and the setting of educational outcomes are rooted in both our professional practice and student expectations. Modification of a form of education requires knowledge of many educational approaches, methods, and techniques and the ability to apply them spontaneously during classes (in this case online). Changing the way we think about the educational process requires a different perception of the didactic objectives in favour of the learners acquiring the independent ability to learn the content and understand the meanings in the foreign language so that they can direct their own learning162.
The context of distance learning in which the initial research was conducted changed the daily educational practice and the rules that guided it. The use of digital tools was not a problem in the classes conducted, as this form of education had already been going on for a year, and we had all learned to use them. However, among the students in both research groups it was clear that they were tired of the current situation and of studying online, which certainly affected the level of engagement during the classes. During the study, we tried to exploit the potential of digital tools in teaching and
159 Jastrzębski, 2015.
160 Klus-Stańska, 2010, pp. 35–49. 161 Hattie, 2012, p. 84.
162 Ibid.., p. 96.
71