In Every Crisis Lies Opportunity: Emergency Remote Teaching, Research and Future Directions

This lecture was co-sponsored by the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies 

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2020, 9:45–11:05 am 

Location: through Zoom

Watch: In Every Crisis Lies Opportunity

Lecture Abstract

The unprecedented COVID-19 has shaken up the landscape of language teaching and learning normally held in a physical class. The threat posed by “emergency remote teaching” (ERT) and its washback on language education remain an uncharted territory. How researchers bypass social distancing and gather data remotely also begs the question. This talk intends to unpack these burning issues that have impacted all the stakeholders in language teaching, learning and research. We will first demarcate ERT from standard online teaching, illustrated by language practitioners’ best practices and their empowered resilience and identity through ongoing mentoring, professional workshops and critical reflections. We will then explore how world language teacher researchers conduct studies using innovative approaches, such as online action research, online teaching practicum, social networking research, (Auto)ethnography and mixed methods. These vivid case studies foreground how teacher researchers can still rise to the occasion in the wake of crisis teaching and beyond.

 

About the Speaker: Julian C. Chen

Headshot of Julian Chen in white dotted collar shirtand bright background
Julian C. Chen is a Senior Lecturer of Applied Linguistics/TESOL in the School of Education at Curtin University, Western Australia. Well-versed in mixed-methods designs and narrative, ethnographic and participatory action research, Julian has conducted studies related to technologymediated task-based language teaching, 3D virtual environments, teacher identity and learner engagement. He has led multiple grant projects to build interdisciplinary synergy across applied linguistics, education, and STEM. His work has appeared in high-impact, flagship journals, including but not limited to TESOL Quarterly, System, Modern Language Journal, Language Teaching Research, Computers & Education, ReCALL, and Computer Assisted Language Learning.