New Media in Language Education

DOTS – Developing Online Teaching Skills

A training kit for language teachers which promotes up-to-date online teaching technology including bite-size activities for online language teacher training, suggestions for reflective activities and collaborative tools for sharing "self-training" experiences.

Available in English and German.

E-VOLLution – Exploring cutting edge applications of networked technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language Learning

The website and publication are targeted at teachers and teacher-trainers in VOLL (Vocationally Oriented Language Learning). They explain the background to the different aspects of ICT inVOLL, describe the steps involved in carrying out various ICT-based activities and provide practical examples and links to case studies on the VOLL website.

Available in English.

Information and communication technologies in vocationally oriented language learning

New technologies have become the predominant influence on the way we live and work at the beginning of the new millennium. The aim of the ICT in VOLL project was to consider the potential new technologies have to offer for the creation of innovative learning environments for language training for professional and specific (vocationally oriented) purposes.

Available in English.

Information and Communication Technologies and young language learners

This publication describes a project, which aimed at integrating web-based communication with a thematic story approach to teaching a foreign language to 8 to 10 year-olds. The aim was to encourage the use of the World Wide Web as a medium over which children could publish their language productions to an audience of peers from participating schools in 21 European countries.

Available in English and French.

Challenges and opportunities in language education: the contributions of the European Centre for Modern Languages - 2000-2003

This book is a reflective account of the work of the European Centre for Modern Languages, Graz during its first medium- term programme, which lasted from 2000 to 2003.

Available in English and French.

Languages for social cohesion: Language education in a multilingual and multicultural Europe

The ECML’s “Languages for social cohesion” programme (2004-2007) involved approximately 4500 language professionals from Europe and beyond. This publication focuses on key developments in language education promoted through the work of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML).

Available in English and French.

LQuest – LanguageQuests

LanguageQuests are designed to promote an integrated approach to communicative, realistic and functional second language acquisition (SLA). The work of this project will focus on the implementation and dissemination of this concept, covering methodology as well as ICT, materials development and course design and aiming especially at the potential and impact of ICT and new forms of collaborative work on language education.

Available in English.

DOTS Training Kit

The DOTS training kit is a tool for language teachers which promotes up-to-date online teaching technology including bite-size activities for online language teacher training, suggestions for reflective activities and collaborative tools for sharing "self-training" experiences.

Available in English and German.

DOTS Moodle Workspace

The DOTS moodle workspace is a forum for teachers and teachers trainers which allows them to exchange ideas and learn more about the DOTS training tools.

Available in 20 languages.

E-VOLLution: Case Study 1 - Intercultural Collaborative Learning: Creating and Marketing an EFL Online Application

Available in English.

E-VOLLution: Case study 2 - Learning Though Blogging: A Case Study with Business Spanish Students at Reykjavik University

Available in English.

E-VOLLution: Case Study 3 - Riga-Durham Webinar on Using Smartboard Technology

Available in English.

E-VOLLution: Case study 4 - Evaluation, Testing and Assessment -“May I help you, madam?” – English for Office Communication in an Adult Education Centre - The Use of Current Evaluation, Assessment and Testing Instruments

Available in English.

Information and Communication Technologies and Young Language Learners: Case Study - Implementation of the Stars Project in a Spanish English Class

Available in English.

Information and Communication Technologies and Young Language Learners: Case Study -The Integration of the Information and Communication Technologies Project in the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language (FLE) to Young Learners

Available in English.

Information and Communication Technologies in Vocationally Oriented Language Learning - Putting Theory into Practice - Using Authoring Tools

Available in English.

Go to the project website

The Educational Use of ICT in Teacher Education and Distance Language Learning

This project developed against a background of profound educational changes. The Information Age has had enormous impact on the way people learn and in it has opened new avenues to enhance the distance learning environment. The roles of the stakeholders in the teaching-learning process have evolved. Teachers have become facilitators, mediators, and enablers. Learners are encouraged to take control of their own learning and to be autonomous, although these qualities are not inherent to distance learning but rather skills that need to be developed

Available in English and French.

European Language Portfolio (ELP)

An evaluation tool used to track progress while learning languages. Portfolios can be found on the ECML’s dedicated European Language Portfolio website. Full copies of some of the portfolios are available to download.

Available in English and French.

Go to the ELP page

Using Technology in the Classroom

This video was shown at the ‘Quality Education and Languages Competences for 21st Century Society’ Conference, held in Graz in March 2014. The theme of the video is the use of technology in the classroom. It also explores how education systems are changing to accommodate a new generation of ‘digital natives’ who learn through technology.

Video available in English.

View the video

Web literacy

The essential problem for a teacher using the web is how to retain the information he/she has come across and assessed as valuable for his/her students.

Available in English.

Inventory of ICT tools and open educational resources

Freely available online tools and open educational resources for language teaching and learning. The inventory contains a list of tools that have been evaluated with sound pedagogical criteria in mind. These criteria have been developed by teachers for teachers and provide essential information so that you can select appropriate applications and use them with your learners.

Go to the inventory

BLOGS – Web journals in language education

The purpose of the BLOGS project was to adapt the idea of web journals to language educational use. The book describes how web journals can contribute to the development of writing skills and gives guidance on how to set up and run a BLOG platform. The ideas in the project were tried out by over 600 users in many countries around Europe and a platform was created and made available on the Internet with a General Public Licence.

Available in English.

European Commission Resources

Study on the Impact of ICT and New Media on Language Learning

The report presents the results of the Study on the Impact of ICT and New Media on Language Learning , which was initiated by the European Commission through its Education and Culture Executive Agency, and carried out between June 2008 and May 2009.

Available in English.

Survey of schools: ICT in Education

Based on over 190,000 responses from students, teachers and head teachers collected and analysed during the school year 2011-12, the Survey of Schools: ICT in Education provides detailed, up-to-date and reliable benchmarking of Information and Communication Technologies in school level education across Europe, painting a picture of educational technology in schools: from infrastructure provision to use, confidence and attitude

Available in English.

Key Data on Learning and Innovation through ICT at school in Europe

The study examines the evolution of ICT infrastructure in schools in terms of networks, hardware and software. It then looks at how ICT is being used in educational processes and incorporated into curricula before focusing on its role in enabling the development of innovat ive teaching methods. Finally, the crucial part played by ICT in the development of 21st century skills is assessed.

Available in English

Erasmus+ Online Linguistic Support

The Online Linguistic Support (OLS) supports language learning for Erasmus+ mobility participants. The OLS offers participants in Erasmus+ long-term mobility activities (Key Action 1) the opportunity to assess their skills in the foreign language(s) they will use to study, work or volunteer abroad. In addition, selected participants may follow an online language course to improve their competence.

Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

Go to the programme page

SpeakApps

The SpeakApps project focuses on creating a free and open source online platform that gathers ICT-based applications and pedagogies to practice oral skills online. The SpeakApps platform would thus serve a community composed of foreign language teachers and their students.

Available in 12 languages.

Consumer Classroom

Consumer Classroom is a community website for teachers bringing together an extensive library of consumer education resources from across the EU, along with interactive and collaborative tools to help prepare and share lessons with students and other teachers

Available in 23 languages.

Poliglotti4.eu

Poliglotti4.eu is a project promoting multilingualism in Europe that reports on best practice in language policy and language learning, and provides policymakers, teachers, learners and civil society organisations with a powerful toolkit for benchmarking and enhancing their activities in non-formal and informal education and learning sectors.

Available in English, French and German.

Go to the Europass website

Europass

Five documents to make your skills and qualifications clearly and easily understood in Europe: Curriculum Vitae, Language Passport, Europass Mobility, Certificate Supplement, Diploma Supplement.

Available in 27 languages.

Information and Communication Technologies in Education

ICT help us learn better, more efficiently and creatively, to innovate, to solve complex problems and access wider and more up-to-date knowledge. ICT provides everyone with flexible and accessible learning opportunities, in and outside the classroom.

Available in English.

Go to the European Commission page

EU Skills Panorama

The EU Skills Panorama is a central access point for data, information and intelligence on trends for skills and jobs across Europe.

Go to the portal page

External resources

Linguaswap ‒ European Language Label award winner 2013

European Language Label 2013 award winner Linguaswap is a moderated language swapping and learning website specifically for second level students developed by teachers in Carnew, Ireland. Visit the Linguaswap website for more information on the project.

Video available in English.

View project video

Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning

Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning (TOOL) project, funded by the European Union builds ‘blended learning’ language courses in five European languages: Dutch, Estonian, Hungarian, Maltese, and Slovene. The courses are designed at A2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference and address learners who have had an initial introduction to one of the languages and who wish to progress from a basic survival level to a higher competence. Diaspora, businesspeople, tourists, students, workers as well as people who are interested in languages, are all part of the targeted sector.

Available in 11 languages.

Interactive Technologies in Language Teaching (iTILT)

iTILT is a European project on Interactive Technologies in Language Teaching which focuses on the use of interactive whiteboards in the communicative language classroom. View over two hundred examples of classroom practice including video of class activities, lesson plans and files, and commentary from the teachers and learners involved. See interactive teaching with technology for different languages, proficiency levels, and age groups from seven European countries, helping teachers gain confidence with technology in communicative language teaching.

Available in 6 languages.

Go to the website

Information and communication technologies in the teaching and learning of foreign languages: state−of−the−art, needs and perspectives (UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE))

This analytical survey sets out to give a general overview of the availability of technology for foreign language (FL) teaching and learning today, to outline the various uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in this sector, to provide a few, selected studies of best practice, illustrating meaningful deployment of these resources, and to point towards future developments and possible implementation in the coming decade. It highlights the importance and the role of the teacher in ICT-rich foreign language learning environment and shows how such environments can contribute to cross-cultural understanding.

Available in English.

Information and communication technologies in foreign language learning (The Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton)

The following document reports on the use of ICT in primary education for the teaching and learning of Modern Foreign Languages. There is no comprehensive research framework in this particular area, and so much of the literature considered in this report is from specific projects and studies comparable with typical situations in the primary school sector. Several practical recommendations arising from an analysis of the literature are offered at the end of this report.

Available in English.

The use of ICT in the assessment of modern languages: the English context and European viewpoints (Hunt, Marilyn J., Neill, Sean Rupert St. John, (2007))

The ever increasing explosion of highly attractive multimedia resources on offer has boosted the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning of modern languages. The use of ICT to assess languages is less frequent, however, although online testing is starting to develop. This paper examines the national context for the assessment of modern foreign language proficiency in England, outlines the kinds of assessment currently available and the development of electronic forms of assessment and compares the above with the survey results of a European Union (EU) funded project on current good practice in online assessment of languages in other European countries.

Available in English.