Every day the leading role of education in the confrontation and overcoming of the multiple problems that arise in today's society becomes more evident.
The world today is going through growing and dizzying transformations that determine the need for professionals prepared through an educational process that responds to the demands of a society that requires ideas and flexible, creative behaviors, a citizen with high human values, fully developed. (Master's Program in Educational Sciences. Santa Clara, 2005). One way that contributes to raising the level of professional training of teachers in the national education system and at the same time of the teaching-learning process is the link between the disciplines and the audiovisual media due to the innumerable advantages that they provide. regarding the acquisition of knowledge, development of skills by the teacher and students.In addition to enabling the enrichment by students of a broad cultural background, so that the teaching-learning processes are enriched by integrating audiovisual media into the curriculum.
The incessant development of technology, which has advanced by leaps and bounds since the appearance of the transistor in 1948 and integrated electronics, has brought humanity to a state where it is very difficult for anyone to have up-to-date knowledge in any sphere of knowledge, because the volume of information that is published is too large. Thinking then about starting to inform advanced topics to children from an early age is not a crazy idea or impossible, it is necessary and feasible, because in addition, now it is necessary to transmit much more information and knowledge at the same time than before.
Since the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies, a vertiginous change has been evident worldwide, which has led to transformations in the way of acting and thinking of the human being. These changes have been evidenced on a larger scale in the educational field where the traditional methods that were used to teach unquestionably have undergone modifications and have allowed progress in the acquisition of knowledge using a more dynamic and motivating way for both students and for teachers.
The use of ICT in classes of English as a Foreign Language, has improved their learning and improvement in students throughout history. That is why teachers have been incorporating video as a technological means in English classes to achieve better results in the teaching-learning process of it in students. However, it is a reality that many teachers, mainly in Cuba, do not use video in their English classes, because they consider that they do not have a vast knowledge of the most appropriate activities that must be carried out taking into account the level of knowledge of the students. and the type of class to be taught. Also, teachers don't have enough materials about how to use video efficiently in English classes,and this is an unfavorable aspect that must be resolved.
When analyzing what would be one of the best ways to show teachers, students and teachers in training the use of video in English classes through concrete examples of activities that demonstrate a more practical and appropriate way of using it in classes, it was decided to create a Blog that allows showing the efficient use of video in order to improve the quality of the English teaching-learning process. The blog has been inserted in the Portal del Varona since January 2009 and has been consulted by more than 140 professionals from our Institute.
That is why the main objective of this work is to socialize the results of the master's research carried out in the United Kingdom, with respect to the design of a Blog for the training of teachers, students and teachers in training on the use of video in English as a Foreign Language classes.
The author will also discuss how the Blog will be perfected as part of the development of doctoral research.
Development
Foreign language teaching has undergone significant changes in the last thirty years. The objective of teaching has expanded from teaching discrete grammatical structures to achieving communicative competence. Creative self-expression is considered superior to the expression of memorized dialogues. The negotiation of meaning has gone beyond structuralist practice and exercise. Understanding has taken on renewed importance and the contribution of a linguistic and communicative environment has become a common pedagogical imperative. Textbooks have begun to distinguish oral and written forms of language and commonly incorporate authentic texts.
These changes have been closely related to the development of technology. Foreign language teaching has been supported by technology since its inception. Language teachers using the grammar-translation method (in which the teacher explained the grammar rules and the student did translations) relied on the most traditional technology, the blackboard, the perfect vehicle for unilateral transmission of knowledge. This medium was later supplemented by the overhead projector, another excellent medium for a teacher-centered class, as well as by the initial computer programs that provided what is known as “exercise and practice” grammar exercises..
In contrast, tape recorders were the perfect medium for the audio-oral method (which emphasized learning through oral repetition). Language classes in university classrooms in the 1970s and 1980s included mandatory sessions in the language laboratory. In the late 1970s, the audio-oral method fell into disuse in part due to the poor results obtained with the use of expensive laboratories. Whether in the classroom or in the labs, repetition exercises that focused only on language forms and ignored communicative meanings had disappointing results.Beginning in the 1970s, teachers realized that the method that existed until then did not allow students to acquire the language efficiently and to put it into practice fluently since the students knew the grammar rules and their use, but nevertheless they did not achieved communication between them.
That is why the teaching of the language required more than communicative competence, achieving that the students put into practice through dialogues in pairs, group conversations and others, the theoretical knowledge learned in classes without any pressure from the teacher, without the constant fear of making a mistake in the pronunciation of the words or a grammatical error. The essence was to achieve logical and coherent communication between students. From there emerged the communicative approach which would give a change towards the communicative teaching of the language, emphasizing authentic, meaningful and spontaneous interaction of the students. (Hymes 1971 quoted in Larsen D. 2000: 121).
The teaching of foreign languages, specifically the English language, based on the communicative approach, uses teaching means that support its teaching-learning process, although its uses are still insufficient. According to Vez, José M. (2001: 277), the first important phase in the technological genesis of the Teaching of Foreign Languages is that which perceives a technology in the teaching of foreign languages as the use of certain resources that serve as complement (especially in the oral dimension of the foreign language) to the normal descriptive and grammatical development of the “lessons” of the foreign language. ”
The communicative approach characterized by focusing on the purposes of the use of the foreign language taking into account its functionality according to the conditions or situations of communicative interaction is enhanced by the proper use of ICT. Currently, its feasibility and effectiveness have been verified in praxis. The main objective of the approach lies in the development of communicative competence through group and pair interaction, achieving a process characterized by content negotiation, feedback, and the correction of errors infrequently or null. The student's roles are those of negotiator and center of the learning process, he uses learning strategies, is an active and cooperative participant, independent and creative.Therefore, this communicative approach becomes more effective if ICTs are integrated into the teaching-learning process of this language.
“In one way or another, the didactic analyzes around the process of teaching and learning foreign languages have always devoted a lot of attention to the subject of the applications of audiovisual media, language laboratories and programmed teaching, the media IT, etc. It is not only a technological invasion in the foreign language classroom, as happened in other areas of the curriculum in the 1950s and 1960s, but the first technological manifestations in DLE have to do with the progressive renunciation of exclusive magisteriality. of grammatical lessons on the foreign language to meet the demands of a demanding process with the guidelines of individual and group appropriation of the new language,with the greatest attention to those who learn and their autonomy and uniqueness of learning, to the diversification of pedagogical material, to the methodological projection of authentic materials and documents in the language in question and, above all, to a clear and determined didactic connection with the oral, situational and socio-contextual dimension of the target language of learning. ” (Vez, José M. 2001: 276). Therefore, ICTs are required to be used efficiently and systematically in the classroom. The English teacher must be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.to the diversification of the pedagogical material, to the methodological projection of the authentic materials and documents in the language in question and, above all, to a clear and decisive didactic link with the oral, situational and socio-contextual dimension of the target language learning." (Vez, José M. 2001: 276). Therefore, ICTs are required to be used efficiently and systematically in the classroom. The English teacher must be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.to the diversification of the pedagogical material, to the methodological projection of the authentic materials and documents in the language in question and, above all, to a clear and decisive didactic link with the oral, situational and socio-contextual dimension of the target language learning." (Vez, José M. 2001: 276). Therefore, ICTs are required to be used efficiently and systematically in the classroom. The English teacher should be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.to a clear and decisive didactic link with the oral, situational and socio-contextual dimension of the target language. ” (Vez, José M. 2001: 276). Therefore, ICTs are required to be used efficiently and systematically in the classroom. The English teacher should be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.to a clear and decisive didactic link with the oral, situational and socio-contextual dimension of the target language. ” (Vez, José M. 2001: 276). Therefore, ICTs are required to be used efficiently and systematically in the classroom. The English teacher must be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.The English teacher should be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.The English teacher should be the bridge that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by means of ICT, for example, a video, the use of the computer, a multimedia, educational software, web pages, blogs or wikis, that elevate the quality of the teaching-learning process of foreign languages.
One of the most innovative technological means that exists in the world and that is being inserted with more boom in educational environments is the Blog. According to del Toro (2009), a blog can be defined as a website for the publication of news or articles (called posts) in reverse chronological order (the most recent ones above), with space for comments and discussion.
This phenomenon is present in almost all societies worldwide since it determines navigation and direct exchange with specialists on various topics and through contact the contents are enriched.
The designed blog is made up of some examples of videos that can be used in English classes according to the objective and the communicative functions that you want to achieve in classes, a group of activities for students to work with in video classes. Most of the selected activities were filmed with a group of students from the University of Westminster and demonstrate in practice how the English teacher could lean on them when using the video in class. The designed activities that appear in the Blog, present a detailed explanation of the objective that the students must fulfill, how they would carry out each activity and the role that the teacher must fulfill. A video lesson was assigned for each activity, to show teachers,students and teachers in training in practice performing each one.
When the blog design process started, it was not as easy as some think, because when doing a bibliographic review regarding the design of the Blogs, they seemed to be something simple, however the instructions and the methodology about their design were not were very clear. Finally, after several bibliographic consultations and interviews, the design work began.
Increasingly the blog is making people need to know what it is about and how to use it to exchange with other people regardless of where they are, because the technologies are in a literary language, even faster than the wind itself and transmit information in seconds, which makes it possible to be constantly updated and this has only been possible due to the development achieved by science.
Each technological medium that emerges is the product of in-depth research on the theoretical level and its realization in practice that makes the theory itself feed back. According to Polanco, A. (1997) “today, we are convinced that one of the characteristics of the current moment is the indissoluble connection, the very close interaction and the mutual conditioning of society with science. Science is one of the essential factors of social development and is acquiring an increasingly massive character. "
That is why the Blog as part of the development of research has emerged to respond to existing problems that needed to be resolved. The Blog is taking a growing boom in society and in education systems. In higher education centers, the Blog is being used throughout the world as a newspaper, because once created they can perfect the content that appears in it and thus enrich it.
The Blog designed is the practical result of the Master's thesis carried out in the United Kingdom. The blog is entitled “Videos and activities to enrich English in the classroom” and has two main objectives, first to train teachers in the use of video in English as a Foreign Language classes and second to teach teachers a different way of assimilation and improvement of English through videos and a series of activities organized in three stages: the activities that are carried out before the projection of the video, that is, the preparatory ones, the activities for understanding the video and those that are carried out as extra-class work, that is, after the projection of the video.
One of the most important aspects related to the designed Blog is that teachers can keep it as a diary, because once it is created they can perfect the content that appears in it and thus enrich it. The Blog therefore has no limits in terms of knowledge, since teachers can constantly expand each of the topics that appear in it, through the search for new information, subsequent research and through contact with other specialists. The Blog has designed two different ways to establish a contact with the readers and thus know their opinions and experiences regarding the topics that appear on the Blog and about it in general.This has a link that allows them to write their comments on the Blog and the author's email also appears as a means of communication.
Another aspect related to the Blog "Videos and activities to enrich English in the classroom" is that it can be used as a Web page, giving teachers the possibility of enriching and developing their knowledge about the use of video on the Internet. The english classes. Therefore, through the Blog teachers, students, teachers in training and professionals in general can access it from anywhere in the world they are.
At the end of the Blog, the author designed a questionnaire to validate it. This was validated by a group of 30 English teachers of different nationalities. The results were very positive, showing that the blog created is a very useful and beneficial tool in terms of the development and improvement of English in students. But also the Blog enables students to form integrally, developing ethical and sociocultural values.
Its design shows teachers, students and teachers in training how to use video in classes with different activities, allowing them not only to learn about the use of the Blog, but also about its design and content.
Although its design could be perfected in subsequent research, to achieve better navigation through it and enrich the work on the Blog.
In addition to the aforementioned, the blog created is considered by graduate teachers and teachers in training of English as a very valuable means of teaching that creatively and efficiently allows them to integrate different technological means such as videos taken from the Internet site called “YouTube ”, Where current issues such as climate changes and others that arouse interest in the culture of other peoples, their music and landscapes are evident. In the Blog there are some examples of video classes filmed by the author showing activities that can be carried out with videos and the Internet that offers the possibility of illustrating and expanding the work carried out on the Blog. Therefore, through the integration of the mentioned means,The Blog is a very powerful work tool that must be consulted to enrich the teaching-learning process of English through the use of video in classrooms.
The novelty of the created Blog is related to the theory about the integration of the different technological means, with the aim of teaching teachers in training how to improve the use of video through a group of activities taking into account the type of class designed, favoring the teaching-learning process of English in any university, but in particular in the Higher Pedagogical Institutes of Cuba. That theory will be enriched in later research.
At the moment, the author is working to add other technological means to the blog in order to achieve an integrated use of some ICTs to raise the quality of the teaching-learning process of the English Language in the 1st Year of the Faculty of Languages. Foreigners of the ISPEJV.
Therefore, there is no doubt that the Blog created is a very valuable tool for training teachers in the efficient use of video in English as a Foreign Language classes.
Bibliography
Del Toro Rodríguez, M. (2009). Blogs and their use for educational purposes. Portal of the Varona.
Larsen, D., (2000).Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Polanco, A. (1997). Science Technology and Society. In Monografía.com
Vez, José M. (2001). Training in Didactics of Foreign Languages. Homo Sapiens editions. Spain.
______ (2005). Master's Program in Educational Sciences. Santa Clara, Cuba.
