Computer-Assisted Training And Platforms to Upskill LSP Teachers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Computer-Assisted Training And Platforms to Upskill LSP Teachers

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

European trends towards inscreasing academic and professional mobility and expanding markets have led to the need for European citizens and workers with specialised language skills, i.e. languages for academic or occupational purposes, as opposed to general purpose language skills. Concomittantly to the multiplication of language for specific purpose (LSP) courses, both in tertiary and adult education, the increasing need for LSP teachers should have fostered an increased need for LSP teacher education but the lack of specific training offered to both trainee and practising language teachers is consistently pointed out in published research, with LSP teachers having to learn « on the job ». It therefore seems that policymakers’ assumption is that general language teacher education is enough to equip language teachers with the skills necessary to teach LSP classes in spite of researchers noting, amo,g other things, that the approaches and methodologies are quite different. Still, with the notable exception of Howard & Brown’s 1997 collective volume, LSP teacher education has so far received very little attention in published research in Europe and beyond as well as in previous European projects.
In addition, as noted by several researchers (Delcloque 1997, Belcher 2017, Sarré 2021), LSP teaching can greatly benefit from the integration of digital technologies, even more so than general language teaching. This obviously supposes that LSP teachers have been trained in integrating these tools and approaches into their own teaching.
The CATAPULT project aims to use innovative methods (in the forms of a MOOC and a Community of Practice Platform) to address this dual need, that is to offer training on both the specific approaches to LSP teaching and the integration of digital technologies in the teaching of LSPs to both practising LSP teachers and language teacher educators. The CATAPULT project targets European language teachers involved in LSP teaching. The project’s target groups are therefore primarily (1) LSP adult educators (freelance language teachers offering training to professionals in the industry) (2) LSP teachers in Higher Education Institutions (as this is also a context where LSPs are commonly taught) (3) language teacher trainers. The outcomes of the project also aim to contribute to the modernizing of language teacher education programmes across Europe, which explains why teacher educators involved in initial language teacher education and continuing professional development (CPD) are one of the project’s target groups.
The project has enabled more than 600 European language teachers to develop professionally through the MOOC developed by the consortium, and nearly 250 LSP teachers to join the community of practice gathered on a specifically designed platform in order to pursue their professional development throughout their career.
Coordinated by Sorbonne University, the CATAPULT project involved the expertise of five partners in Finland, Germany, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands.
The partnership started with analysing both (1) the needs of potential employers of LSP teachers and (2) the training needs of European LSP teachers. On the basis of this inventory, a complementary study of the existing training courses in the partner countries as well as of national competence frameworks, and a meta-study of scientific publications on the teaching and learning of LSPs, the consortium then drew up a common competence framework for the European LSP teacher. In order to help teachers develop some of the identified competences, online training modules were then developed and delivered on a dedicated MOOC. By developing an online environment for a community of practice of European LSP teachers, the consortium wanted to give LSP teachers the opportunity to continue their lifelong learning once they had completed the MOOC. Finally, the quality approach was a concern of the consortium throughout the project by the development of evaluation grids and specific procedures, by the implementation of accreditation procedures for the trained teachers and by a quality audit of all the project outputs.
Thanks to an impact study of the tools and materials developed, the consortium was able to produce a number of recommendations for political decision-makers for better recognition of the specificities of LSP teaching and the integration of relevant training. Some of these recommendations have already been put into effect locally, in particular through the integration of LSP training modules in initial teacher education based on the content of the CATAPULT MOOC.
In the longer term, it will be LSP learners (adults and students in Higher education in particular) who will benefit from the pedagogical expertise of their LSP teachers who will make the most of a number of digital technologies.

Project Website

http://catapult-project.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 281673 Eur

Project Coordinator

SORBONNE UNIVERSITE & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Web2Learn
• International Certificate Conference e.V.
• Technology Enhanced Lifelong Learning Consult
• TURUN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
• UNIWERSYTET PEDAGOGICZNY IM KOMISJI EDUKACJI NARODOWEJ W KRAKOWIE