Traning teachers on interactional competence in an online environmentA methodology

Resumen

It is no surprise that teachers need to be able to successfully transmit a given content to their students. However, this is not the only thing that is expected they do as the term “communication” entails not only being able to express ideas, but also adjusting the “speech to the needs of their interlocutors” [1, p.191]; therefore, teacher-students interaction is sought. Walsh [2, p.2] reinforced this idea, applying it to the language classroom scenario, by stating that most of what happens there “is concerned with individual performance rather than collective competence”. Face-to-face classroom interaction may be fostered and reinforced by the use of the teacher’s non-linguistic semiotic resources, such as kinesics and paralanguage. Thus, teacher’s awareness and development of multimodal literacy are central in any educational setting. However, in an online classroom where synchronous videoconferencing lectures are given, the use of these communicative resources is constrained by the virtual context. Additionally, it is frequent to find teachers that lack training on interactional competence (IC), and multimodality as part of it, and that are not even much aware of it.The objective of this paper is to present a methodology in which the interaction between students and teachers is set at the centre of the learning process so as to train teachers on their IC in an online classroom. In order to promote quality learning opportunities, it is vital to focus on our own IC as teachers in the classroom [3], regardless of the context. Even though we also need to take into account the fact that this competence depends on the context in which the classroom takes place, some features may be promoted and enhanced in any given scenario. Thus, this paper aims at presenting a methodology to help teachers on establishing or improving their IC and multimodal awareness in an online environment.The methodology is based on a training and counselling process that analyses how interaction is carried out during online live broadcasted lessons at university. To analyse this, teachers will be the ones self-analysing their IC, by watching their own classes and completing a form, before being evaluated by an external agent and, finally, establishing a counselling meeting in which concerns, doubts, and guidance are shared and offered. This training methodology could be applied to any context in order to determine the initial IC level of teachers and guide them through the process of reaching a competent one, as well as to enhance awareness and development of teachers’ multimodal literacy.