As part of EU efforts to promote mobility and intercultural understanding and the designation of language learning and multilinguialism as an important priority and element in Europe’s competitiveness, the EU2020 Strategy to open up education through new technologies, the aspiration to be united in diversity and to get a more competitive labour force, joined to the observed lack of trainings and tools addressing oral communication techniques (too focused on grammar issues), Speak App project will contribute to improve the oral communication skills of EU adults in foreign languages. In this regard, the main objective of the project is (with the support of ICT) to improve the oral communication skills of adults in foreign languages through training and cooperation between equals, putting special emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge when communicating in a foreign language and on the promotion of face to face contact between adults willing to have a conversation in a certain foreign language with other people with good command of such language. Thus, the project (through constant feedback and testing) will give content and develop a series of online tools so that adults (especially adult education staff), on the one hand, can be trained in a series of key aspects, potential topics and tips related to the conversation in a foreign language, while, on the other hand, can become a learning and contact area where any person willing to improve his/her oral communication skills in a foreign language can interact and have a face to face communication with native or high level speakers in order to improve their practical domain in such language. The project will develop 3 main outputs, addressed to both the adult education staff and to all the adults willing to improve their communication in a foreign language: - A Guidelines document for effective oral communication in foreign languages, which will highlight, based on a previous research at EU level, the different subjects that must be taken into consideration by adult educators for the proper teaching of oral communication in foreign languages,. - Online courses on oral communication in foreign languages: 4 courses on oral communication in 4 of the most representative EU languages (Spanish, Portuguese, German and English), wich will contain a series of useful contents for the practical use of the language in different situational contexts and that will be freely accessible through an e-learning platform. - Open-access supporting and innovative interactive tools for the acquisition and improvement of oral communication skills in foreign languages, with an user friendly e-learning platform on which online courses will be hosted and an innovative Web/Mobile Application for language interaction, as contact area where people willing to improve their oral communication skills in a foreign language can complement the knowledge acquired in the online courses and interact with other peers. Adult education staff (educators, teachers, mentors, peers, language providers, or prospective individuals interested in developing their labour path in adult education) will increase their capacity for the provision of foreign languages, with especial focus on oral communication techniques, tips and strategies. By extension, this will also suppose an improvement in adults oral communication, which will lead to improve, among others, their cultural and intellectual background, their mobility prospects and their employability potential due to the importance of languages in today’s economy. In the long term, this project will help contribute with EU targets regarding linguistic competences by making possible that more than 1,000 users can benefit from project outputs and get their oral communication skills improved, which will help them broaden their labour, studying and mobility prospects, as well as their cultural background.
Context: As part of its efforts to promote mobility and intercultural understanding, the EU has designated language learning as a prominent priority. Multilingualism is a crucial element in Europe’s competitiveness since the Barcelona objective 2002/2008. One of the objectives of the EU’s language policy is that every European citizen should master two other languages in addition to their mother tongue. Language competences mostly involve reading, listening and writing skills, but: verbal communication is equally important, nonetheless not in the focus yet. As part of the EU2020 Strategy related to "Opening up education through new technologies", this project will help address this issue by providing (through ICT) open-access resources to teaching and learning contents for adult learners. Objectives: Main objective of Speak-app project has been to improve the oral communication skills of adults in foreign languages and cooperation between equals, putting special emphasis on increasing verbal skills and motivations of learners to speak up, but also framework conditions of educators. The course has had an especial focus on oral communication techniques, tips and strategies and also in helping participants to increase their capacity and confidence for a more active involvement into educational and lifelong learning activities. Participants: Primary target group: adult education staff, namely: educators, teachers, mentors, peers, language providers and prospective individuals interested in developing their labour path in adult education. Secondary target group: all adults willing to improve their communication skills in foreign languages will benefit from the project. The course and the app are open for registration to any person interested on the topic. Stakeholders: the stakeholders have included adult training organizations, non-formal training providers and other educational organizations and institutions. Undertaken Activities and project results During this project, partners have developed the following results: - Online course in 4 languages with tools for oral communication addressed to teachers, trainers, educators and any other person interested on the topic. - Elearning platform for hosting the elearning course. - Web-app that allows students to get in touch with other foreign students with similar language levels and interests. - Two research documents, one as a: Guidelines for effective oral communication in foreign languages, focused on best practices for language learning through ICT tools and a Analysis: expert interviews with language teachers on effective oral communication in foreign languages, each partner interviewed 5 language teachers to know more about the everyday situations they face on their lessons and what training materials and tools they feel they could need or use. Research documents were planned on submission form but not funded. During kick-off meeting partners decided that some research was needed, so it was integrated as an activity for the development of Intellectual Output 2 and due the potential interest of participants to know the results and other opinions from trainers and teachers, it has been published and disseminated. The course is structured in 4 training modules. The topics and approach have been decided based on the results from the research phase. The modules are: Module 1: Human motivational learning theories. Module 2: New didactic approaches for language teaching in virtual learning environments. Module 3: Andragogic approach and virtual environment. Module 4: How to use Speak-app The course has been developed in English and then translated into the national languages of project partners (Spanish, Portuguese and German). Impact: 126 participants in multiplier events 117 students enrolled on the elearning platform and on the app 2785 people impacted by the dissemination actions made by partners. (More information on dissemination section) 17 teachers and trainers interviewed. Long-term benefits: Trainers and teachers in foreign languages will benefit in the long term as the course will remain available for at least 5 more years. The app will also remain available for five more years from the end of the project. To increase the project dissemination, an article has been posted on EPALE webpage, as a free resource for any person interested on the topic. As most partners will continue working on different Erasmus+ projects, they will continue to disseminate the results and will encourage other entities to make use of project results.