Description
Through the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 has highlighted how ready language teaching is for Industry 4.0. Like many disciplines, language teachers have had to rapidly adapt to technology-based education systems such as online-learning (Ramirez, 2020) to support learning and teaching. Many preliminary studies have identified some of the concerns associated with the rapid shift to online learning, including skills gaps, training and technology issues (see Abdullah et al., 2020).This rapid shift to virtual-based learning has been especially challenging for early career and new language teaching staff. They need to develop professionally and gain competencies. They need to become socialized in the practices of being and becoming a language teacher, which often takes place in situ after entering the field (Ding and Bruce, 2017) and over a number of years. This paper argues that the rapid move to online language teaching as more of a norm has however had negative impacts on new language teaching staff’s socialization process.
Through a case study of three new and early career English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers at an English Medium Instruction university in China, this paper highlights the current paucity of training beyond that designed to ensure all staff are ‘technology ready’. Through individual interviews, it highlights that to maximize the virtual learning and teaching experience, new and early career training needs are being compromised as training has an almost exclusive focus on technology use. The paper shows that little training opportunity designed to develop their credentials, enhance their qualifications, or develop scholarship beyond ‘the technology’ is identified.
The paper concludes with suggestions for now training can be modified to meet the dual needs of being industry 4.0 ready, the immediate needs for greater technology utilization, as well as ensuring a smooth continuation of the socialization process of new and early career staff.
| Period | 19 Jun 2021 → 20 Jun 2021 |
|---|---|
| Event title | The 2nd International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Hong Kong, ChinaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |