Dr. Valérie Gauthier - HEC School of Management
Jouy-en-Josas, France
GAUTHIER@gwsmtp.hec.fr

1. Introduction

As language teachers and trainers, we cannot ignore the definite need to reform our teaching strategies and methods if we are to listen to our prime source of employment: our students. And it is high time we listened to what our students have been screaming out in their own way (by being largely silent in the classroom) because with one voice, those students are saying: « we want something new, something different ». One attempt to answer this shout may be to open up to new pedagogical approaches to teaching languages which would include educational technologies not as a substitute to classroom teaching but as a complement to a then more qualitative face to face teaching.

Based on a series of recent and current experiments and research in the field of Educational Technology (E.T.), this paper aims to show how Information Technology can serve the teaching of languages and of English in particular by offering a wide range of opportunities to practice the language in real life and cross-cultural settings.

To improve our teaching of English in a school like HEC school of management, the leading business school in France, we will stress the four main following objectives around which all our measures of restructuring have been organized:

1. To include a high degree of realism in the use of language and exclude the « artificial » ¹ nature of learning
2. To motivate the students around concrete personal projects
3. To diversify the resources and the sources for the language practice and learning and make ET and IT an integrative part of the learning process
4. To develop and broaden the cross-cultural encounters at the home school, abroad and via the use of E-mail and forums on the internet (IRC, chatrooms, visioconferences, etc.).

1.1. Languages are not a «subject »

Our basic principle rests on the assumption that languages are not a subject like mathematics or marketing for example. In effect, talking another language means having another look upon the world around us, seeing, living understanding and analyzing things differently. We also find that foreign language courses are a very rich moment of expression and exchange for the students where they can express their ideas, emotions and feelings freely, nearly like an object they would be looking at because they are using words in a tongue which is not their mother tongue and therefore has less emotional impact on their message. Hence, when the context is right, that is when the reticence connected to the fear of being judged, corrected or laughed at because of language mistakes, the students open up and can talk about themselves, which is something they rarely if ever get an opportunity to do in other courses.

It must be stressed here that the French education system, in spite of recent attempts to reassess the importance of foreign languages ², leads in its very structure to a passive mode of learning. In effect, the number of students per class averages 30 to 35 pupils, which in itself prevents all oral communication and exchange from happening. Notwithstanding the fact that most teachers are French natives and exchange programs are just beginning to pick up. ³

In the case of HEC, the majority of the student population functions in English at an advanced level ⁴, which involves an awareness of cultural issues as we will see later. This is due to the fact that our students are recruited on the basis of a highly selective entrance examination in which languages have their importance (two compulsory foreign languages for both written and oral exams). ⁵

As can be seen on the following five-point scale, 80 % of our students fall in the « advanced » and « bilingual » categories:

1.2. Being « operational » ⁶

One of our requirements at HEC is that all students must be "operational" in at least one foreign language including English. The word « operational » can be defined by five landmarks:

1. To understand any native speaker regardless of accent.
2. To know and understand the values and behaviors attached to a « language/culture » ⁷.
3. To be able to negotiate, convince an audience, solve problems and make decisions.
4. To master oral presentation skills (market studies, reports, etc.) and written skills (reports, articles, etc.).
5. To obtain a minimum score of 800 points on the TOEIC scale.

2. The role of Educational Technology

This is where Educational Technology comes into place with a very specific aim: to optimize language learning. Hence, E.T. can be perceived as a set of tools used for a pedagogy adapted to individual needs offering assets in four main directions: firstly, a diversification of teaching methods (diagnosis, follow up, tracking, assessment, etc.); secondly, an optimization of language training with tutoring and project management; thirdly, greater attention to communicative competence with « contact hours » between the teacher and the student, and finally, a more qualitative teaching and learning.

To illustrate the potential enhancement of teaching methods, we will focus on the use of Internet in the classroom.

2.1. The Internet offers three main applications in teaching

One first main application is the possibility for individual search with browsers before class: students gather information on American universities for example and come to the class meeting to share the results of their search, compare and discuss it with other students. This kind of assignment gives an opportunity for the students to be active in their search and to fetch documents which they find interesting because they have selected them for a reason and because the web site of a university on the Internet is something dynamic and interactive with images, sounds and videos. This approach makes the assignment lively and gives that sense of realism which is our primary objective in the reform of language teaching at HEC.

A second application is in the use of Internet as a source of information in class to analyze the quality of a Web site in a given sector and to elaborate a comparative grid for example. To be successful, this application requires computer access for the students in the classroom and teacher guidance on specific sites. After some experience in this kind of courses, the students can start building their own criteria for the analysis of the sites and work in groups to compare and share their impressions. The positive impact of this kind of courses is for the students a strong feeling of being active in their language activities, active to the point that they end up speaking English without even thinking about it. To my mind, this is the best sign of a successful course: when students function naturally in the language, including among French students. Because the source and the environment are in English and because the students take an active part in their learning and practice, setting goals for themselves and structuring their research on their own, they don’t feel the need to go back to French and function directly in English.

The third range of applications of Internet in language teaching is the use of forums and other chatrooms for communication and exchange across the net. One example of such activity is « The International Tandem Network » built as part of a European research project to set up teams of students to interact via the net in foreign languages. But there are many other services along the same lines available on the Internet which can contribute to the development of language practice outside the classroom, namely IRC, chatrooms or Listservs which allow students to engage in communication and interact in English with anyone connected and interested in a particular topic. Once given access to this medium, the students do not need assignments to communicate and write in English; they go and do it on their own, which is another good sign of « active learning » ⁹.

But on-line educational technology is not only Internet and we also use e-mail as a tool to develop communication. Indeed e-mail offers a wide range of complementary applications.

2.2. E-mail for communication in two directions

First of all, we use e-mail for internal use by connecting teacher & student outside of the classroom and between sessions of a given course for advice, assignments, tutoring, information and dialogue on the one hand, but also for distance correspondence and tutoring with students who are away on exchange programs or internships for example.

The second direction is external communication by connecting cultures via individual and personal exchange with foreign correspondents or by organizing collaborative work on projects directed by our French students and involving the participation of foreign correspondents as we will see later in this paper.

Those two axes presenting the different applications of E.T. in language teaching show the wide potential of applications in a new and diversified pedagogy. However, such applications cannot take place without some general principles which we will address now along three main points: 1. Taking levels into account and offering "tracks" adapted to the levels; 2. Developing opportunities to practice outside the classroom; 3. Replacing language learning in its reality by direct contacts with native speakers at all levels of work and research.

Let us now develop those principles in their concrete application within the design of the English programs at HEC School of Management.

2.3. First pedagogical implications of ET

2.3.1. Taking levels into account

The regular diagnosis of the students can be done thanks to the use of software like « Winkwiz » which give a score on tests comparable to the TOEIC. The asset of this type of evaluation is that the students can go and practice anytime they want in the resource center and at the speed they want. If they have one hour ahead of them, they can set the program for a one-hour test; if they’d rather practice only oral comprehension, they can choose to do so in a training mode and so on. The flexibility of the program and its accessibility give a student the opportunity to work individually and according to their needs and personal requirements.

Then, regular work can be determined by a specific track based on the diagnosis, which allows for real individual consideration whereas in the traditional classroom setting, little attention can be paid to individual progress. But the use of E.T. in such a structure also allows for regular guidance, tutoring and advice to the students alongside with self-study and autonomous work under supervision and tracking thanks to a software called « NetControl ». This software gives the teacher an opportunity to look at the students’ work, correct, give oral or written feedback, assign new tasks and training plans at any time he or she wishes. It is installed on the computers in the Language Resource Center and the student simply turns it on and enters his or her name before doing the assignment. The system then records everything the student does and saves the work to be assessed by the teacher. It also allows the student to leave messages to the teacher and to engage in a dialogue about his/her work.

As a result of all these new technical and technological devices, we offer to our students a more qualitative teaching with more intensive courses and more focus on oral competence in the classroom. The on-line guidance via E-mail is also a real asset for the development of better relationships between teachers and students with more attention paid to individual needs, as we will see later. But let us now move on to our second major principle in the reform.

2.3.2. Practicing outside the classroom setting

Such practice can take on a variety of forms such as work in resource centers on CD-Roms, films and videos, tutoring individual tracks, e-mail correspondence or the use of Internet, newsgroups and forums. Each of those activities are non exclusive and complementary to face to face encounters, meetings, discussions and classroom teaching. But there is one last principle which is fulfilled by the use of E.T.

2.3.3. Making practice more "real"

Realism in a language classroom can be achieved through activities that are easy to develop thanks to the use of e-mail and Internet; we will name just a few in passing: permanent contacts and dialogue with foreign students (e-mail), information at the source and in real time with regular updating (Internet), possibilities of collaboration on projects to be conducted in collaboration with foreign students abroad (e-mail), visioconference (Proshare).

These principles were used as a basis for the creation of a new generation of courses, the first one being an elective in English called « Collaborative Work through the Internet ».

3. « Collaborative Work through the Internet »

The aim of this course is to train the students in using the Internet to collaborate on a common project in a cross-cultural context. It involves research on the different sites of the net (or elsewhere) to gather specific information as well as the use of electronic means of communication (E-Mail and possibly PC-based video). Teams of students from different institutions, schools and/or universities across the world and particularly within the CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) network or other places are constituted.

Teams of French students are constituted and their primary goal is to come up with a topic for their projects. Each team has to collaborate to write a final report on a subject chosen by the French team with agreement of distant partners after negotiations; the project design and management will also lead to an oral presentation in class with Powerpoint slides.

One particularity of the course is that it is taught by two teachers: a colleague who is specialized in Information Technology and conducts research with a project developing the use of PC-based video (Pro-Share) with Intel; during the course, my colleague develops the technical aspects of the tools (Internet, browsers, hypertext documents, HTML, Java, PC-based video...) and helps students with project management. As the second teacher, I focus on the linguistic and cross-cultural aspects of the course: writing of e-mail messages, analyzing data found on the Internet, negotiation with distant partners, narrowing down of the topic chosen for the project, definition of the tasks and sharing of the work between team members (including distant partners).

After a presentation of the course design and structure, we will show the impact it has on the students and on the teacher-student relationship.

3.1. Course design

Following are the five course objectives:

1. To learn how to use resources accessible through the Internet
2. To train the students to work in teams and collaborate through electronic media
3. To get in touch, communicate and work with students of different cultural backgrounds
4. To learn project management techniques
5. To improve linguistic communication skills both in writing and oral competence in the context of a multinational project.

All those tasks imply a new range of teaching methods and a new mode of learning, encouraging new behaviors from both teachers and students. The key word is interactivity. In effect, the course is highly interactive and students participate actively. It also leaves a lot of room for autonomous work and initiative. The students are responsible for carrying out their projects to terms within the constraints assigned. The teachers are there to help upon the needs and demands of the students rather that « feeding » them with information and knowledge which might not be relevant, appropriate or to the point. The fact that there is a demand from the students creates an atmosphere of exchange. We, teachers, are there to help and facilitate the tasks of the students. The guidance then received is perceived as a friendly hand.

The course also includes formal presentations of the different tools and the teachers provide help when necessary so that each student and each team can use properly the different communication tools. All class meetings (once or twice a week), presentations and negotiations with distant partners are held in English, including when French team members communicate with one another. The writing of a report and that of e-mail messages in English helps develop a concise use of the English language in a writing form which comes close to oral communication.

The personal investment and work occurs through the writing of the e-mail messages, the research on the Internet, the collaborative writing of a report, and preparation and delivery of the final oral presentation on Powerpoint. To achieve their goals and accomplish their tasks, the students must have a strong personal investment and motivation. It is a challenge to carry out this kind of project over a period of only seven weeks and the students take on the challenge as we will see now in the evaluation of the course as it actually runs.

The seven sessions for the course can be summarized as follows:

1. Introduction + presentation of the tools & correspondents
2. Project management/cross-cultural issues
3. Discussions about the work done with distant partners/help with analysis, classification and interpretation of data
4. Oral debate about cross-cultural conflicts experienced and analysis of E-Mail impact
5. Based Video demonstration + hypertext documents and introduction to html language
6. Writing the projects reports and presentation techniques (Powerpoint, written and oral skills)
7. Oral presentations

3.2.1. Tasks analysis

Among all the tasks assigned for the course, one of the most difficult is choosing a topic for the project. The idea was first to give them a list of tentative themes the students would choose from. But we soon found out that there fields of interest were rather distant from our preoccupation and since we felt a fundamental need to rely on their interest, we let them choose their own subjects. The following grid presents our proposals versus the students’ final choice

Teachers’ proposals

Students’ topics

Presenting the CEMS network by writing specific Web pages for its existing www/site. The social and cultural impact of the www explosion and/or of ProShare's market penetration. What are the existing and potential applications (education, project management, strategy) of Computer Assisted Cooperative Work? Analyzing the spectrum of applications of the Internet type for firms. Carrying out a comparative study of the different business schools curricula in the field of computer applications in Management and the use of New Computer technology.

Travel agencies on the net: a comparative analysis Comparing Web sites for major firms to determine qualitative criteria Marketing Music on line The image of business schools over the Net: A comparative study Victor Hugo on-line Can the net help find a job? Religion on the net. IRA: army or terrorists?

There is obviously a wide range of possibilities and the role of the teacher is to help students find a « suitable » topic, that is one which first and foremost raises interest for the students (primary cause of success or failure) but also one which can be carried out. Hence it is essential to narrow down the topic to a manageable size/content. We once had a group of three students who changed their minds several times before agreeing on a topic, which created a sense of insecurity as the other groups were moving along while they felf they were left behind.

As teachers, we made a point to design a series of tasks to be covered for a successful project. We designed seven of them which served as a guidance to check whether the different teams were on track or not:

1. Find a topic of interest which is manageable in the context of the course
2. Allocate responsibilities for the tasks
3. Agree on schedule
4. Accomplish the tasks
5. Define and discuss the table of contents of your report
6. Communicate the deliverables of each task to each international member
7. Discuss the final deliverable

From a linguistic standpoint, the writing of messages is very helpful in understading different modes of communication as each message will have to vary according to the aim to be achieved. If the aim is to inform, the message will be simple and clear in its content and structure. If the aim is to convince, the style will be direct and concise with specific vocabulary and appropriate terminology. And when the student’s purpose is to negotiate, it is important to use the partner’s words and expressions with subtlety and to reach common points. For each situation, the writing must be adapted and carefully planned.

For example, the primary aim to be achieved by the students is simply to inform their audience about their project, which implies a series of questions to be answered prior to writing the message. For example, the studetns should ask themselves: who am I addressing? What is my aim? and What will my audience gain from this experience? Such questions help sensitize the students to the notion of audience which is so important in an English speaking context whereas it is largely absent in the French mode of writing and formal speaking. ¹⁰

The class sessions are mostly devoted to team work under the supervision of the teacher who is there to guide and coach the teams, providing help and advice when needed in any given area. This position of a teacher/supervisor/partner/coach can be disconcerting for some because the attitude and role depends on the student and varies according to needs. In practice, this form of teaching involves a high degree of flexibility and the ability to solve problems and find answers to questions that are not necessarily prepared or anticipated. Sometimes, I do not have the answer to a question and must improvise or rely on other students for help, or contact friends via e-mail to find a solution. But it is also interesting to see that some complex problems can be solved on the spur of the moment thanks to the connections and networks available, the most important thing then being to have the right address and the best contacts.

Between each face to face meeting with the students, class reports are sent out to the students by e-mail. Those reports are a way to keep in touch with the teams and to encourage them to communicate outside of the classroom setting. It is a form of presence which the students appreciate because, as they say « it’s good to know you’re there, just in case we need help ». Such comments are very frequent and the students appreciate the fact that they can « talk » even by e-mail.

3.2.2. Students comments

Debriefings and interviews about the course after it is over result fall in two main lines of comments: those concerning the team and the personal or individual comments. A selection from those comments shows the positive impact of the methodology of the course on the students’ evaluation:

Team comments

Personal comments

« We liked the contact within the team » « We thought we’d never make it » « We had a hard time to agree on a topic but once we started, things went very well » « Negotiations with distant partners were very complex » « Being a team helped understand messages and analyze data from the Internet » « We’re glad we weren’t alone because we got caught up in some web sites that were really odd » (the group on religion) « We ended up speaking English among ourselves without even noticing it »

« I felt for the first time that I could really communicate with a teacher » « I enjoyed the privacy of our conversation on e-mail between courses » « When I read your first message to me, it was like receiving a personal letter, then I felt I was talking to you face to face when reading or writing a mail » « It was really helpful to be able to contact you at any time with e-mail » « There was a sense of continuity because I could write each time I had a question or a problem »

Such comments will lead to two main remarks: first of all, it must be stressed that HEC students are not used to working in teams and often see team work as a way to cut their investment in a project so that in the end one students does most of the work for the others. In the case of this course, such behavior was largely absent because the challenge would have been too big for one person and because it is THEIR topic and THEIR responsibility to carry their projects to terms. Therefore, we feel that such courses develop a real team spirit and a real sense of responsibility.

In effect, the relationship I have with the students in this kind of course is always more productive and communicative in both quantity and quality. It is also more genuine and the effectiveness of the students’ oral presentations is another sign of accomplishment. The level of those presentations can be characterized as « professional », all of them using Powerpoint as a tool and the students getting their point across to the audience very clearly. One group managed to report tehir findings on the critical and comparative analysis of different web sites for major multinational corporations to a firm in which one of the students had a part-time job. This team acted as a consultant to the firm, giving recommendations for the creation of a website on the basis of their analysis. Ultimately, this is the kind of realism we want to give to the courses so that the validation of the students’ projects does not rely exclusively on the teacher’s evaluation, but also on outside feedback such as that of a corporate partner interested in the subject.

Making the students use English out of the classroom through the use of e-mail shows them that speaking English is not only useful for internal communication with a teacher and the contact with foreign students is a real incentive. Yet, the studetns also discover that English can be used in a professional environment by way of presentations on the basis of their work done under the supervision of the teacher. We can then see the changes involved in the relation between the students and their teacher as the latter becomes a guide, a supevisor, a coach and a partner in a process which implies some work in the classroom and much work OUTSIDE the classroom. Such evolution in the role of the teachers accounts for a definite need to change the reality according to which a teacher is paid on the basis of the hours spent in the classroom. The increasing number of hours spent by the teacher to work with his or her students outside the class setting implies indeed a shift in the mentalities in the teaching profession and elsewhere. Without a new system of recognition and remuneration, the teachers will eventually get burned out for working so hard.

Therefore, with all the potential of Educational Technology in mind, we should not ignore some of the limits that all new technologies bear and address those limits so as to better control and use them for better EFL teaching.

4. Conclusion: limits and perspectives of E.T. applications

4.1. The conditions of success

From a technical standpoint, the prime condition to a successful use of the Internet in language learning is the training of students to the use of the tools: how to use browsers, what are the existing servers, how not to waste time in searching for information on the Web. One should bear in mind that most French students have had no access to Internet upon arrival on the HEC campus. ¹¹ The second essential point is to anticipate and if necessary solve technical problems (Access systems, downloading, etc.); such problems frequently occur and sometimes disrupt the organization of a course as when downloading takes too much time or when the lines are busy or, even worse, when we encounter connection problems. Yet, when technical problems don’t arise, students must learn to control and filter the mass of information in order to get to what they need.

Finally, one essential component for a good English course using the Internet as a source of information and communication is time management for a course can easily go by and escape the control of the teacher if he/she does not adjust to the variety of levels, subjects studied, and computer knowledge of the students-- France is a case in point in that domain as some students are admitted at HEC at the average age of 20 without EVER having used a computer in their lives, which is unthinkable in the US.

As for internal e-mail communication, the conditions of success of are first and foremost the initiation of the students; then it is the role of the teacher or trainer to maintain the relationship and encourage connections. In effect, it is our responsibility as language teachers to ensure the continuity and regularity of the contact with the students. Whenever a student sends a mail, for any reason, the answer from the teacher must be prompt and accurate. To take my own example, I make a point to open my e-mail first thing in the morning when I get to the office and to answer all the mails I have (around 10 every day on the average).

Things are quite different for INTER use of E-mail although the training of the students remains a priority; second comes the giving of addresses of correspondents to start the process, then students soon find their own partners via forums and other chat zones, so that in the end, the use of E-mail for Cross-Cultural communication faces the same problems as the use of the Internet such as the handling of technical and technological problems (compatibility between countries, sharing of data, network configuration, etc...).

As a conclusion, I would like to stress the importance of a balance of strengths and powers to maintain the necessary degree of flexibility and adjust to the variety of needs and methods of both teachers and students. There have been experiences in France whereby, whether people liked it or not, everyone HAD TO turn to and rely exclusively on new technologies with or without training. Such experiences haven’t proved very successful so far, mainly because information and training were not appropriate and flexible enough to adjust to the different populations. And in the context of the French education system; one should be aware of the fact that if many 20 year-old students from educated families are not familiar with computers, it is even more so the case among 40 to 50 year-old language teachers! Hence, the concept of teaching should evolve toward the notion of guidance, advice, or even coaching to give more autonomy and more responsibility to the learner without diminishing the value of the teaching but by redirecting it with a more qualitative dimension which should be better adapted to individual needs.

4.2. A Teaching in Movement

The following scheme will conclude this article by showing that the role of educational technologies in language learning is an unending process, a teaching in movement which will continue to grow and evolve in relation to three components: the technology, the products and the global service (teachers and schools). Those components first affecting the supply through new models (Digital Versatile Disks, CD-Roms with graphics in 3D, more qualified teachers, and so on ...) will then affect the demand by increasing the needs and expectations of the « customers » who sometimes may be considered by some as « consumers » but who remain our prime and only source of employment: our students. And it is for them, our students, that we must adapt our teaching methods to make language learning a positive, active and constructive experience.

To optimize the different types of training by best exploiting the new technologies

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Easterby-Smith M and D Preston, 'Internationalizing European Management Schools Through Faculty Development' in European Management Journal, 9, 3: 301-305. (1991).

Fowler H. Ramsey, The Little Brown Handbook, third edition, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1986)

Gauthier V, Approche théorique et pratique de la traduction poétique à travers la poésie d’Elizabeth Bishop, dissertation, (University of Paris III, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Comparative Literature Department, 1995)

Gauthier V, 'Teaching Presentation Skills to HEC students: A shift in mentality' in Babylonia, 2/1997, edito dalla Fondazione Lingue e Culture, Comona, Switzerland. (1997)

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Hagège C, Le souffle de la langue: voies et destins des parlers de l’Europe (Paris : Editions Odile Jacob. Réédition 1994, Coll. 'Opus ' 1992).

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Hofstede G, 'Cultural Constraints in Management Theories' in Academy of Management Executive, 7, 1: 81-95. (1993)

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Foot notes

¹ The word is used by the students themselves to describe their use of English in the classroom, that is when French students speak English to French students.

² See Claude Hagège (1996) L’enfant aux deux langues. Paris : Editions Odile Jacob, 297p.

³ “Much has been said about the problems of the English and French in learning any foreign languages. Not only do both countries start with the disadvantage of natural chauvinism, but the French are very unwilling to speak other languages because of their desire to maintain French as a credible international business language ... Even when schools make significant investments in language training for their staff, they are unlikely to get much practice in speaking with visiting foreign students unless a significant amount of teaching is done in foreign languages - and this is likley to be unpopular with most visitors simply beacause they have come especially to strengthen their ability in the language of the host country ” (Easterby-Smith, Preston, 1991).

⁴ By « advanced » we understand an 800 point score on the TOEIC scale. Such scores reflect the students’ ability to communicate quite effectively in English, their level of proficiency being even higher in reading and writing.

⁵ For more detailed information about the « concours » exams to French Grandes Ecoles in business, see Valérie Gauthier, « Teaching Presentation Skills to HEC students: A shift in mentality » in Babylonia, 2/1997, edito dalla Fondazione Lingue e Culture, Comona, Switzerland.

⁶ This word refers to the students’ ability to communicate verbally and in writing in a variety of contexts and situations such as negotiations, meetings or casual conversations.

⁷ This word refers to the fact that a language cannot be isolated from its context and words have a meaning in the cultural context in which they appear or are used.

⁸ By « language space », we mean all the dimensions which surround a language: the culture, history, reading, literature, etc. The term is used and explained in my dissertation on the poetics of translation (see bibliography).

⁹ We will call « active learning » any activity of learning which takes place on a voluntary basis or in which the student directs and controls the process through which he practices the language.

¹⁰ See Valérie Gauthier, « Teaching Presentation Skills to HEC students: A shift in mentality » in Babylonia, ibid.

¹¹ A survey is being carried out at the moment within the school to give specific statistics on the HEC population.

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