This collection offers a critical examination of online language teacher education programs (OLTE), looking at a range of issues which have informed their development and the challenges and opportunities in their implementation from a TESOL perspective.
Positioning itself uniquely amongst the growing literature at the nexus of technology and language learning, the book focuses on language teacher education programs designed for academic and professional credentials in online environments. Introductory sections provide a brief historical overview of the OLTEs as we know them today, with examples from a global range of programs toward demonstrating their theoretical and philosophical foundations. The second section of the book explores the paradigm shifts borne out of OLTE in the modes, media, and tasks employed and their subsequent impact on instructional efficacy. Subsequent chapters turn a critical lens on OLTE in raising questions around accessibility its implementation in less technologically developed environments, issues of quality measures and accreditation, and practicum concerns.
Taken together, this collection is a state of the art of online language teacher education programs and lays the groundwork for future research on the nexus of online education, teacher education, and applied linguistics.
About the Author: Hyun-Sook Kang is an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, & Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Her areas of research include language learning and practice in relation to cross-border mobility and she is Co-Editor of the Journal of Language, Identity and Education.
Dong-shin Shin is an assistant professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program of University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Her research and teaching focus on English learners' language and literacy development. She has published in the areas of multimodal composing, digital literacies, and online language teacher education.
Tony Cimasko is the ESL Composition coordinator in the Department of English at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on second language writing and TESOL. His research interests include second language writing, multimodal composition, genre analysis and learning, and TESOL professional development.
