Entrevista – Suldery Campo / Resguardo La Cilia – La Calera / Miranda,

The centrality of the teacher was the norm in the traditional ESL classroom for an extended period. Indeed, many language-teaching methods such as grammar translation and audiolingualism reflected this notion. As Bivens and Taylor (2008) observe, traditional learning is:

“Premised on the assumption that students are empty vessels that need to be filled up with information. The flow of information is one way, from teacher to students. The teacher controls the...experience, while the role of the student is to receive knowledge passively (p. 282)”.

However, the advent of educational technology has helped to create more flexible learning environments, which offer the learner a wide variety of materials and sources of information and give more opportunities for active engagement and autonomous learning. To this extend, the role of the teacher has changed from being the “sage of the stage to the guide in the side” (Tella,1996, p.6). Little (1990, pp.11-12) comments that “it is not easy for teachers to let learners to solve problems for themselves: for that takes time and there is always so much ground to cover. Committing oneself to learner autonomy requires a lot of nerve”.

Ely and Plomp (1986) defined the new technological dimension in the teacher’s role as a teacher who becomes a guide (Barnett, 1993), a resource expert (Willets, 1992), a resource provider and a mentor (Pennington, 1996) and enumerated competencies that should have teachers who implement CALL technologies in their classes. Chapelle (2003, p. 31) stresses the need for computer expertise in language teachers and notes that teachers need to “engage in innovating teaching and assessments using technology”.

60 Voller (1997) classifies the teacher’s role into three categories: teacher as a facilitator, teacher as a counselor and teacher as resource. The term facilitator of learning is widely used in the literature alongside autonomous learning and includes two complimentary roles (Holec, 1985), namely, technical support and psychosocial support. The technical support provided by the teacher includes helping learners set objectives, planning, organizing and evaluating their learning and finally, helping learners to acquire the skills needed to carry out their independent language learning. The psychosocial support provided by a teacher as facilitator includes: motivating students towards the development of a sense of responsibility for their own learning, avoiding manipulating, being non-judgmental and raising awareness of the necessity for autonomous life-long learning.

The new teacher’s role does not only involve a pedagogical dimension but also a technological one. In this new setting of blended, hybrid or fully online learning environments the teacher has to take into consideration additional layers of learning experience that are related to the human-computer-human interaction environment (Desjardins, 2005). Particularly, the instructor should secure the authenticity of learning activities (Herrington and Parker, 2013). Including students in an authentic learning context, giving them the choice of authentic learning activities, allowing them to take risks, collaborate and reflect on their learning is of primary importance. Flint and Johnson (2011) concur, and indicate, “if students do not see the relevance of a task, they get frustrated and annoyed” (p. 74).

Additionally, the teacher needs to raise students’ awareness of their active role and encourage them to take ownership of their own learning (McCarthy, 2013). Co-developing assignments, authentic assessment, peer feedback and reflection should be an integral part of the learning curriculum. Chen, Wang, Yang, Lu, and Chang (2013) refer to a “digital playground” (p. 172), and they state that ideal and interactive learning activities have ten basic design elements, including, “real world relevance, ill-defined problems, sustained investigation, multiple perspectives, collaboration, reflection, interdisciplinary

61 perspectives, integrated assessment, polished products and multiple interpretations” (p. 173).

A key aspect in the new teacher role in promoting autonomy in ESL classroom is the ability to take advantage of innovative technology tools and carefully evaluate the software before integrating it to the curriculum. Teachers should be aware that not all students benefit equally from multimedia technologies. Individual differences and learning styles should be taken into consideration to teach effectively in a blended or online class where the focus is on supporting individualized modes of learning with optional forms of cooperation (Dalsgaard & Paulsen, 2009; Paulsen, 2003, 2008).

Another task in the new teacher’s role is a positive attitude towards the integration of CMC technologies in second language (L2) classroom. Lack of motivation and enthusiasm on the part of the teacher can negatively affect students’ attitude and lead to the failure of the curriculum (Claxton and Murrell, 1987). Teachers’ positive attitude towards educational technologies may be affected by various causes such as: the lack of resource access, technological challenges, institutional traditions, etc. The teacher needs to act not only as a facilitator but also as an integrator (implement digital technologies responding to learners’ diversity), as a researcher (being able to access electronic resources and tools for language analysis), as a designer (construct CALL materials), as a collaborator (corporate with other teachers and learners) and finally as an evaluator of software and critical choice of online information (European Directorate General of Education and Culture, 2003).

To address authenticity and autonomy in a digital environment and invite students to become co-designers and critical collaborators in social learning environments it is essential to promote two important elements for engagement in network communities: peer feedback and reflection.

As McCarthy (2013) states, “one of the distinctive characteristics of the millennial generation is the desire for continuous feedback and rewards for

62 achievement, and they continue to seek feedback both in their studies and the workplace” (p. 81).

Incorporating reflection in assignments and learning tasks is vital to ensure that students not only engage critically with the theory but they understand how it applies in their own practice, (McCarthy, 2013, p. 83).

The world is changing around us and education will not be immune to these shifts. Learners in the twenty first century have been web consumers for much of their lives and they now demand more than lectures. They want learning experiences that support participation and promote interaction and collaboration with their peers. As a result, many educators need to implement in the ESL curriculum the tools and technologies that the new Web (Web 2.0) provides to create a rich and collaborating learning environment. This section described the changing role of the teacher in the technology era. Next section analyzes the efficiency of blended learning model in transforming 21st century learners’ educational experience.