International Higher Education Teacher Award ^2024/25

It is assumed that Values and Knowledge Education method complies with some teaching peculiarities of a foreign language. VaKE can be considered as an integrative teaching approach since it is flexible for teaching the four basic language skills together with the moral connected and dilemma-based aspects. The method with its characteristics is relevant to the criteria for the field of languages in Georgian Standard Classification framework of Education. The method provides the learners with the aspects of reflecting on values and their implementation diversity in specific situations, critical thinking, the possibilities to work in groups and autonomously, the questions to discuss and the possibility to get the knowledge relevant to the topic. The method was implemented at European University in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the teaching process was primarily led in an online regime with zoom platform. The EFL group was at upper-intermediate level with law, psychology and IR program students. The students mainly struggled with the productive skills of the target language. During the method implementation the students were encouraged to speak about the topics in the target language, listen to their peers speaking in English, read the information in the target language and write the arguments for the debates. The method could bring the real-life connected aspects into the virtual classroom in terms of giving the floor for discussing the topics related to UN goals of 1. achieving gender equality and empowering all women (phase1),2.Promoting peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development and build effective institutions at all levels (phase2) and 3.taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impact. The students worked on these problematic topics in the target language and could improve the language skills while discussing the real-life situations though it was fully virtualized. The students learnt how to be collaborative, work in groups, facilitate to the group with the individual contribution and think critically. The implementation of the VaKE method made the teaching process more student-centered especially in the third phase and be tightly connected to the Georgian ISCED for a Language Acquisition part which outlines the collaborative learning, autonomous and group works, searching for the applicable information, active learning, student-oriented teaching, discussions and debates, as the primary teaching methods.

Methodology

Orienting on student-centered teaching methods and developing outcome-centered teaching courses became challenging in an online regime. Following the backward design principles, how we teach is more important than what we teach (Wiggins and McTighe: 2005). Besides this, a service design becomes active and noteworthy while planning the course (Schneider: 2012) since it is the core aspect university programs and courses differ from each other. The VaKE method was introduced by the authors from Saltsburg in 2019 within the ERASMUS + Project – CURE. Although the method was initially intended to be used in the teacher training sphere, it was chosen to be implemented in the upper-intermediate EFL course at European University. The VaKE method differs from other teaching methods with its unique characteristic - uniting the values and the knowledge education in a dilemma-based learning style (Patry, Weyringer. 2007). Dilemma-based discussion is devoted to stimulating forming thoughts and opinions among the students. The VaKE as a didactical approach combines eleven steps to follow: 0. Preparation, 1. Introducing dilemma 2. First decision 3. First arguments (dilemma discussion) 4. Exchanging experience and missing information 5. Looking for evidence 6. Exchanging information 7. Second decision (dilemma discussion) 8. Synthesis of results of the discussion 9. Repeating the 4th through the 8th, if necessary 10. General synthesis and 11. Generalization (Patry. 2018). Although the original form of the method does not cover the phases as the parts of the method, the working process revealed the absolute necessity for it, which could be considered as an additional tool for the method. Considering the method implementation process at European University, it can be divided into three parts – Depended, Semi-dependent and Independent. The three phases were aligned to the EFL course and took three weeks, one for each phase. Phase 1 - Depended. Following the method stages, the process started with introducing the first dilemma topic and the instructions for the activities. The first topic was - Gender equality. The students watched an introductory video on the topic and were asked a dilemma question - Should Malala return to her country to protect women’s rights? (Why, Why not?). According to the VaKE stages, the students had to be divided into pro and con groups and start working on the dilemma question. At first, the students were not actively involved in the process, as they expected it to be just for listening, though after the dilemma question, they were provoked to voice their opinions as the case was about a real, young girl. After dividing into two groups, they were given clear instructions on preparing for the first debates and searching for the exact information on the topic. The task did not appear easy to fulfil since they had to read the material in the target language and were given topic related new vocabulary to use while the debates and write down the possible arguments in the target language. At the next meeting, the students started expressing their thought about the topic, though frequently applying the language code-mixing. They mostly used the mother tongue, especially when proving their statements with emotions. With the teacher facilitation, they tried to form the opinions in the target language and use the new vocabulary. Following the method stages, after the debates they were told to change the groups if the opponent group’s arguments had influenced them. The group preparatory working process was held in the zoom breakout rooms and the teacher facilitated each group. At the next stage, students were given a task as homework to work on for the second debate, with the teacher’s online facilitation, and they had to represent their improved arguments in zoom. The next meeting was noisy, full of emotions and much more informative. The last stage of the first phase was the generalization which helped the students expand their views and generalize the specific topic on a broader horizon. After finishing the first part of the method implementation, the students were more intensively involved in the zoom classroom activities. However, they still used the first language for communication even between each other and read the information for the arguments in their mother tongue - Georgian. At this stage the students were dependent on the teacher’s instructions and facilitation. Phase 2 – Semi-dependent. At the second stage, the students were offered two possible topics to work on, though they were warned to speak only in a target language and read the material in English. The topics were about: 1) a Political situation – A voting process during the election and Ecological problem – 2) Natural resources and Humans. The students chose the first one, and the dilemma question was - Should the president be chosen by the people or the parliament in Georgia? The question caused a deep interest among the students, and the first debate was emotional and spontaneous. The students were given a vocabulary relevant to the topic, and the groups in the breakout rooms in zoom needed less facilitation during the working process. The teacher reminded the importance of using the target language even during the group discussions. The facts of the language code-mixing were less. At this phase, the students were semi-dependents since they needed less facilitation from the teacher. The stages were the same as was in the first phase. During the second debate, the students' interaction was higher than previously. The generalization stage of the phase caused the interest among the students, and it was resulted in choosing the third theme to work on, and initiating the next topic. Phase 3 – Independent. The students started working on the topic they had chosen independently – Climate change and its impact. The teacher put the dilemma question - Should we fully replace electricity with solar power to stop climate change? Now the two groups of students started looking for the information to be ready for the debates for the next zoom meeting. The argumentations of the students were stronger and the target language was intensively used during the working process. The students listened to the opponents’ arguments in the target language and were ready to answer them in English. They wrote down all the arguments they needed for the debates in English. For the next debate, the students’ groups were well equipped with relevant topic information and more frequently used the new vocabulary. The generalization stage of the phase was interesting since it allowed the students to connect it with the world climate problems and be much aware of these issues.

Tools, equipment, technology used

The zoom.us was used as the main tool for the method implementation since it allows the students’ groups to work separately in an online regime. mentimeter.com was chosen for offering the dilemma topics and allowing the students to state their topic choices at each phase. As for the preparatory working process, the students actively used online bilingual dictionaries and the official sites for specific topics such as un.org (women’s rights), nationalgeographic.com (climate changes) and cesko.ge (Election administration of Georgia). Prezi.com was applied at the last stage of generalization at each phase, when the students presented the final versions of their argumentations in a PPP form. The application was a new one for the students though they, the digital natives, had no obstacles in working with it.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

Working on the civic education topics in the EFL class could successfully form a model for the future combination of the different teaching aims. In this specific case, the method which is oriented on values and knowledge education could contribute significantly to EFL skill improvement aspects. The innovative method brought the real-life context into the class and provided the students with a comfortable environment for productive implementation of the language competences. After each phase, the students could speak more fluently in the target language. The code-mixing was reduced to the minimum at the second phase, and the students could exclusively use the target language at the third phase. After each phase, the students could boost the lexical fund – the students used new terminology or the vocabulary connected to the topic; worked in groups; improved the quality of the productive skills in terms of writing and speaking in the target language; were motivated, active and intensively involved in the speaking activities. The aspect of motivation played a crucial role as the motivation, whether intrinsic or extrinsic reflects on success or failure in speaking activities (Deci and Ryan. 2001). The method implementation could raise a civic education among the students and motivate them to apply the language competences they had been accumulating because of lack of motivation.

Lessons learnt

The aspects of code–mixing were identified as the main obstacle during the working process. The fact of using L1 together with L2 is considered as a natural phenomenon in EFL class by some authors (Turbull &Arnel 2002, Ellis. 2013…) while others are sharper in their expressions and support the policy of using only target language – L2 (Bouangeune 2009, Skela 1998…). Using the mother tongue is mostly avoided at the upper-intermediate level. The whole process of the method implementation was full of emotions, and the working process mainly was spontaneous, which caused the frequency of the mother tongue usage. Generally, the frequency of using L1 in EFL classes commonly depend on the aspects of a language variety in class. A) When the class is monolingual (M), and the teacher is also a speaker of the same (S) language (L), or shortly it is MSL class, there is a high chance of using L1 by both sides (a teacher and a student). B) When the class is monolingual, but the teacher is not the speaker of the same language (MnSL), communication is established only in English. C) When the class is multilingual and the teacher is an English(E) or user of another language - (ME) the communication between students and the teacher is exclusively in the target language – English (L2) (Kilanava: 2018). The code-mixing problem was acute during the method implementation as the class was MSL, though it could be facilitated and controlled by the lecturer at each stage and phase.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

The innovative method of VaKE will be beneficial for the HEI programs that aim to develop the value-oriented teaching courses and provide the students with civic education connected outcomes. The method is flexible and well fits with the different teaching courses where collaboration, group work, debate, discussion and the aspects of a constructive lesson are applied as the tools for achieving the program/course outcomes.

Promotion of best practice

The VaKE method is planned to be disseminated in various ways. European University group of the Jean Monnet project has scheduled the teacher training sessions for the Georgian State school teachers and the VaKE method is considered to be one of the training modules for raising the awareness on European values at different school subject level. Using the VaKE method in EFL classes is the topic for one of the chapters in VaKE handbook planned to be published in 2022.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• National level

Implementing the VaKE method in the HEI teaching courses is valuable at the institutional and national levels since the mission of European university successfully correlates with the national priorities. European University, where the VaKE method was implemented is the institution based on European values and focused on sustainable development whose mission is to promote personal fulfillment and creativity of local and international students and academic staff by developing their critical thinking, innovative and academic skills; offer high quality and student-oriented higher education; care for development of society in terms of social responsibility, promote tolerance, mutual respect and intercultural dialogue.

6.1 Digitalization

• Other:

  Digitalizing the face to face teaching method

Reasoning: Transforming the face to face teaching methods into the virtual forms of functioning is challenging though an inevitable fact. Today, in the era of digitalization, the digital immigrants- teachers have to teach the students – digital natives through digital technologies. Using the new tools for the teaching method implementation are not rare. The course outcomes and goals stay the same while the forms of delivery constantly change.

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6.2 Internationalization

• International projects/research results embedded into course development and T&L

Reasoning: The method was introduced within the ERASMUS + Project – CURE. The method implementation was a kind of dissemination of the project mentioned above, though it was developed differently in some ways. The method initially does not cover the aspects of phases, though during the implementation process, it was created depending on the students' activity and motivation.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• NOT RELEVANT

Reasoning:

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6.4 Sustainability

• Sustainability goals are addressed in the course(s)

Reasoning: Bringing the real-life connected topics with the dilemma- based question are oriented on improving the values and civic education awareness among the new generation who starts building the future in the auditoriums at a theoretical level but realizes them in a real society. Today dilemma-based teaching style is important for every sphere of human activity as we will have to answer the questions such as: Should we replace human with a robot and reduce the human labor?

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Mariam Kilanava	kilanava.mariam@eu.edu.ge