This session by Peter Bannister, Dr Alexandra Santamaría and Dr Elena Alcalde Peñalver took place at the online Future of English Language Teaching Conference (FOELT), organised by Trinity College London and Regent’s University London. You can learn more about the annual event at trinitycollege.com/FOELT.
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Summary
This eminently practical workshop aims to explore the ever-increasing range of generative AI (GenAI) tools as a means of pedagogical enhancement in Teacher Education. Amidst the present climate of uncertainty, anguish and astonishment amongst key stakeholders fuelled by the mediatic doomsday predictions for education which intensify with every startingly swift Gen AI update, the speakers aim to demonstrate ways in which such developments can be used to the teacher’s advantage, particularly in the language learning classroom.
After a brief theoretical overview on the current state of play in scholarship and praxis, participants will be invited to get to grips with some of the other titular fantastic beasts on offer and engage in a range of different activities together to experience first hand the potential benefits of such tools for teaching practice from pedagogical innovation to materials creation. The application of GenAI to personalise not only teaching materials but the entire didactic experience in the function of individual learner needs and difficulties will be explored together with tools which enable practically effortless learner data analysis and subsequent evidence-informed pedagogical approach implementation in a multitude of diverse learning contexts.
Furthermore, hands-on experience in the creation of lesson plans, bespoke communicative and integrated skills learning materials elaboration and uses for assessment will also be offered to workshop participants. Throughout the workshop participants will be asked to take a critical stance on the Gen AI outcomes of the interactive practical activities and their validity for Teacher Education; they will thus leave with practical ideas and strategies which they may be able to integrate in their own teaching practice going forward. The workshop will conclude with a reflective discussion on the potential benefits and shortcomings of Gen AI for Teacher Education and the developing role of the teaching practitioner in this new landscape.
About the presenter
Peter Bannister is a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the International University of La Rioja, Spain. In addition to a decade-long career in ELT and EAP in the UK, Spain and China, he has published and presented nationally and internationally on diverse matters such as SoTL, gamification in Higher Education, L2 (critical) listening pedagogy and assessment, and the role of EAP in transnational education partnerships. At present his research currently focuses on generative AI in EMI didactic settings and its implications for teaching, learning and assessment, he has a number of forthcoming accepted international publications in press to this end.
Dr Alexandra Santamaría Urbieta holds a PhD in Tourist Translation from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and currently works as a lecturer and researcher at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (Spain). She has shared the results of her research in the fields of translation, technological innovation in education and English language teaching at several conferences and through numerous publications.
Dr Elena Alcalde Peñalver is an Associate Professor at the University of Alcalá and holds a PhD in Translation from the University of Granada (Spain). She has teaching and research experience at national and international levels in the field of foreign languages.