The Workshop: Language resources for the classroom was presented across the country at four different institutions: University of Pretoria (2 July 2019), North-West University (4 July 2019), University of the Free State (5 July 2019) and Stellenbosch University (8 July 2019). This workshop forms part of the ICELDA node’s collaboration with SADiLaR. Scholars with great stature in this field from different universities, including the University of Pretoria, North-West University and the University of the Free State, as well as KU Leuven and the University of Antwerp in Belgium presented the workshop.
The programme, among others, included the following topics:
- an introduction to applied linguistics, and the fields of syllabus and course design;
- digital tool development for the language classroom, explaining the added value of online language learning and support;
- best practices concerning summarising as a component of transactional writing and developing presentation skills whilst making use of multimodal teaching methods; and
- assessment explaining the purpose of tests (achievement, proficiency, progress, placement and diagnostics), including how one can move from a more generic language test to a more specific one in an online environment.
All sessions ended with a round table discussion where the audience interacted with the presenters and discussed how their own teaching methods can be adapted to make use of blended and/or multimodal learning methods in the classroom with these type of resources.
