Connectivity: A Framework for Understanding Effective Language Teaching in Face-to-face and Online Learning Communities

Abstract

This is an exploratory paper that uses the construct of connectivity to examine the nature of effective language teaching and learning in both face-to-face and online learning environments. Broader in scope than Siemens’ notion of connectivism, the term connectivity accommodates both transmission approaches to teaching and learning and social constructivist views of teaching and learning that accord with Web 2.0’s dialogue-building and social networking tools. The paper identifies five dimensions of connectivity, ranging from the connections that effective teachers make with their students in conventional classroom situations to the ways that effective teachers intuitively seek to meld their students into learning communities in blended and distance learning environments. The notion of connectivity also focuses attention on the complex and changing roles of teachers and their relationships with their classes in both traditional classrooms and more loosely-connected, virtual learning environments. The paper concludes by suggesting that, far from being redundant in a world increasingly shaped by socially-driven online interactions, classroom language teachers have a vital role to play in building and maintaining learning communities in which students are both supportive of, and feel supported by, both their teacher and their peers.