EFVET CONFERENCE PRESENTATION 2016

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VET STUDENT IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION WITH EFL AND GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION

Pekka PakkalaKeskuspuisto Vocational College

EFVET CONFERENCE 2016 VALENCIA SPAIN

PEKKA PAKKALA

(Master of Arts, qualified vocational special needs teacher, doctoral researcher) teaches English as foreign language in Keskuspuisto Vocational College, Finland

THE STARTING POINT…

Isolation of core subjects and EFL from vocational studies?

Special needs contexts that accentuate the requirement for cohesion and holistic approach?

Witness the 3 year arc; What factors are involved? What happens? How are these happenings constructed into a story?

Herein lies a narrative!

QUESTIONS FOR A DOCTORAL RESEARCH….

Identity is a product of narrative process (Hall 1999)

Learning is a product of this process (Ropo 2009)

A narrative process creates reasons and context for rules and principles (Bruner 1986)

This contextualisation is essential to EFL; all learning requires a context

Google GAFE Classroom provides a platform for contextualisation

IDENTITY AND LEARNING

THE RESEARCH PROJECT EXAMINES THE CONSTRUCTION OF VOCATIONAL

STUDENTS´ PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES…

THE AIM OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INTEGRATE EFL AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS LEARNING…

… AND TO PROMOTE A SENSE OF PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH

… AND COMPREHENSION OF PROCESSES…

I USE THE STENCIL TO APPLY THE

DECORATIVE PAINTING ON THE WALL. THEN I

SPRAY THE PAINT.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SENSE OF CONTINUITY AND PERSPECTIVE

The aim is to create learning environments that ad-vance signification and identity construction on three levels:

1. Autobiographical or individual level (Who am I?)2. Social level (What am I, where do I belong?)3. Cultural level (What kind of world do I live in?

(Yrjänäinen & Ropo 2013)

THEORETICAL CONTEXT

GOOGLE CLASSROOM AS A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT DISPLAYS NARRATIVES…

NARRATIVES OF PROFESSIONAL EFFORT AND ACCOMPLISHMENT

I AM FINISHING THE DECORATION WITH A BRUSH…

NARRATIVES OF POSITIVE PROFESSIONAL SUBCULTURE

ALL THE REMAINS OF ADHESIVE TAPE MUST BE REMOVED…

… WITH A CUTTER. ISN´T IT LUNCHTIME NOW?

NARRATIVES OF POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

NICE WORK!

NARRATIVES OF CO-OPERATION AND INTERACTION

NARRATIVES OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

IN A NUTSHELL, NARRATIVES OF EMPOWERMENT