To engage students, a course must begin with meaningful content, and encourage interaction among everyone involved as they focus on that content. For an L2 course that emphasizes communicative skills, whether remote or F2F, this process takes place by way of “instructional conversations,” according to Meskill & Anthony (2015), that is, modeling the language, asking questions, giving feedback, structuring tasks in sequence, providing commentary and explanations, and thereby modeling the language and initiating a new cycle of conversations.
“Instructional conversations engage learners not in recitation of known answers (or punishment / remediation for unknown ones), but in thoughtful, engaging, communicative interaction.”
Meskill & Anthony, p. 17
In remotely taught classes, these conversations require a particular kind of choreography, as the instructor deploys various technological resources for presenting material and eliciting interaction.
A typical 101-102 class might include:
- a warm-up activity
- a brief overview of what the class will cover: cultural topics, grammatical points, vocabulary, discussion of an assigned reading
- an interactive task (in Breakout Rooms) that allows students to converse freely one-on-one (and with the instructor who joins the room)
- a teacher-fronted review of recently learned grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary, followed by interactive tasks that call for productive use of these elements
- teacher-fronted explanations of assigned grammar points, preferably to check comprehension of the assigned homework rather than to present it in full
- working together on a shared Google Doc to create examples, give comments and ask for feedback
- text-based examples of new vocabulary use or new grammar, viewed together via PowerPoint in Share Screen mode
- images shown via Share Screen as prompts for discussion or commentary, either for the whole group or in pairs in Breakout Rooms
- a YouTube video of a song viewed together in Share Screen mode, with students reading the lyrics in a Word file or Google Doc sent prior to the class session or distributed through Chat
- asking communicative (rather than rhetorical) questions relating to the cultural topic — or having students formulate questions in Chat, and allowing students to respond by forming a discussion thread
L2 instruction at a higher level would include many of the same elements, but dwell longer on each one, allowing students time to formulate more complex utterances, or to engage in discussion at more length.
Whatever components the instructor chooses to include, it's essential that the instructor think carefully through the clicking and linking sequences required: sharing the screen (and being sure to include sound if it involves an internet-based video); forming Breakout Rooms and assigning students to them strategically; popping in and out of the Breakout Rooms for short interactions; recalling students to the Main Session; instructing students to open their Chat window; and sending messages and documents at the right point so that students have access to them.
Reference
Meskill, C. and Anthony, N. (2015). Teaching Languages Online (2nd ed.). (Bristol: MM Textbooks).