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Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal English for librarians: Preparing Italian librarians for international communication

Article information: To cite this document: , (2009),"English for librariansPreparing Italian librarians for international communication", Development and Learning in Organizatio An International Journal, Vol. 23 Iss 3 pp. 27 - 29 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14777280910951595 Downloaded on: 17 January 2017, At: 22:25 (PT) References: this document contains references to 1 other documents. To copy this document: [email protected] The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 467 times since 2009*

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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (2008),"Developing an English course for in-service librarians: The advantages of blended learning", Library Management, Vol. 29 Is pp. 777-788 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917378 (2011),"Using English as the common corporate language in a German multinational", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 3 9 pp. 892-913 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090591111185574

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Review article

English for librarians

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Preparing Italian librarians for international communication

t is a reality of current academic internet discourse that it is increasingly conducted in the English language. As the internet continues its exponential growth, it has become an invaluable forum for the sharing of ideas and information in a global community. The problem arises for those in various fields and disciplines who do not speak, read or write English. This has been a problem addressed among in-service librarians in Italy: non-English speaking librarians are at a disadvantage when communicating with foreign libraries and vendors, or accessing research and debate on their own discipline. Matilde Fontanin’s (2008) article, ‘‘Developing an English course for in-service librarians’’, describes the creation and delivery of an English language course for such workers by the University of Padua.

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Context and justification There has been increasing demand for English language courses from Italian librarians in recent years. This demand is fuelled by several factors: international communication between libraries is overwhelmingly conducted in English; there has been an increase in foreign residents in Italy, from 1,356,590 in 2001 to 2,670,514 in 2006; and information on the development of e-resources on the internet is mostly available in English. For these reasons, among others, the Italian Library Association (AIB) organized and developed courses in English instruction for librarians. Working librarians, however, are not traditional students, as they have to balance work and learning commitments. The course-developers had to take this into consideration, and over time, through continuing trial and error, constructed a course around a collaborative online teaching forum. Taking its lead from the AIB, the University of Padua CAB (University Library Centre) designed a course for development on a national level for a group of their in-service librarians.

Course organization and aims The course was constructed along the following lines: B

Three two-day workshops.

B

Four weeks’ distant learning over the Moodle online teaching platform.

B

A final day to draw conclusions.

This schedule was planned in order to interrupt the daily working lives of the librarians as little as possible, and to avoid the unnecessary absence of many of the participants. The initial activity was a face-to-face workshop. As Fontanin points out, face-to-face interaction

DOI 10.1108/14777280910951595

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VOL. 23 NO. 3 2009, pp. 27-29, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS PAGE 27

within a largely distance-education framework is an important catalyst to students’ motivation to learn, personalizing the process and breaking the ice between classmates and the instructor. The subsequent distance-learning was made as collaborative as possible through the online teaching forum. The creation of a successful virtual classroom, using wikis, blogs, audio-clips, and pages of information available to students, encouraged a collaborative learning environment, a crucial factor in learning a language. The initial aims of the course were to teach and encourage the speaking, reading and writing of English by the participants, not necessarily to a fluent or academic standard, but to the point of comfort when researching online or communicating with customers or other libraries. Beyond this point, it was hoped that their subsequent confidence in English would encourage participation in international conferences, contributions to academic journals in English, and the preparation of EU project proposals.

Activities and content

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To learn a language effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to interact with other students and speakers. This means that the learning of vocabulary and grammatical rules is fortified by their application in everyday use, thereby stimulating confidence. This is a challenge in distance-learning, but one that was addressed by the course designers. The content of the course can be broken down into three main components: 1. The library web site, which provides information and resources to help students with technical aspects of the language. 2. ‘‘Participating in international conferences/events’’, in which oral simulations of conference papers were presented, and guidelines as to how to reply to calls for papers. 3. ‘‘Preparing EU projects and writing academic papers/articles’’, in which the emphasis was placed on academic-level English writing and reading EU project guidelines. Students were guided through these stages by the instructor, repeating and practicing as they went. The course could be tailored to suit the particular language-level of each student; if a student was struggling with a particular section, the instructor could introduce a guided activity to help them, such as a multiple choice or a fill-in-the-gaps exercise. This material was always available to the students on the web site. The overall purpose of this course-design was to introduce new vocabulary and terminology, and to promote practice in order to instill confidence in the students. The workshops were held in a classroom with internet-connected PCs, so students could work individually at their own pace through the comprehension and listening activities. The content of the exercises revolved around library systems and working environment, and encouraged practice discussing their own working experiences. For example, they were asked to describe their own libraries, their jobs, and the facilities available to them. They were then asked to examine and critically discuss other library web sites, sharing their views in the online forum. Such activities were supplemented with glossaries related to the library world. Finally, the skills learned through the portal were put to practice in the face-to-face

‘‘ To learn a language effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to interact with other students and speakers. This means that the learning of vocabulary and grammatical rules is fortified by their application in everyday use, thereby stimulating confidence. ’’

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‘‘ Among the positive feedback were indications that the course was very relevant to the working lives of librarians in an online and international environment; that tutor support was helpful and timely; and that interpretation (understanding the material and being understood) was good. ’’

lessons with the instructor, in which students were asked to read printed material, to listen and discuss library podcasts, and Youtube videos about libraries and librarians.

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Feedback After the pilot workshops, questionnaires were distributed to students to receive feedback on the courses. The results were helpful and informed further course-development. Among the positive feedback were indications that the course was very relevant to the working lives of librarians in an online and international environment; that tutor support was helpful and timely; and that interpretation (understanding the material and being understood) was good. A problem that was encountered – a problem that blights many such classes – was poorer peer-support and interactivity. A solution suggested by Fontanin is that activities be broken up into smaller groups, and that it is made a requirement of the class to communicate among peers. The greatest achievement of the class, however, was the creation of a learning community through the portal: even though many of the participants worked together in the same library, the online community allowed a different environment for communication and interaction. This is because the blended learning strategy (mixing distance learning with face-to-face interaction) is based on the sharing of ideas and collaboration. As Fontanin suggests, peer-support and tutor guidance encourage the practice of what is being learned, and with language-learning, practice is essential. Also, the class demonstrated that blended learning pedagogy is ideally suited to learning in and for the workplace.

Keywords: Teaching, Librarians, English language, Workplace learning, Italy

Comment This review is of ‘‘Developing an English course for in-service librarians’’, by Matilde Fontanin, of the University of Trieste, Italy. It is a long and in-depth study of a pilot course in teaching English to working librarians, to help integrate them into international and online debate and academia. It provides useful information in contemporary distance pedagogy, particularly that aimed towards working students.

Reference Fontanin, M. (2008), ‘‘Developing an English course for in-service librarians’’, Library Management, Vol. 29 Nos 8/9, pp. 777-88, ISSN 0143-5124.

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