Uwe Baumann

• The Open University

This collaborative research project sought to determine the attributes, skills and expertise/knowledge needed by distance language teachers. The first phase of the project explored tutor perspectives using discussion groups, questionnaires, interviews and a yoked-subject technique. Statements and categories of expertise were identified, elaborated...

Although the skills and attributes, needed for classroom language teaching, have been extensively researched and generic competencies for distance teaching have been defined, the skills required for effective distance language teaching have received little attention, other than with respect to online language learning. The study reported here repre...

The nature of the skills and competences needed by tutors teaching students at a distance has been approached in a number of different ways. What has received less attention are the particular skills and competences needed to teach languages at a distance. The paper will review the background literature, which served as a context for a project carr...

This chapter reports on a research project undertaken with advanced distance learners of German at The Open University in the UK (OUUK). The broad aims of the project were to assess the learners' knowledge of German-speaking countries, their attitudes towards Germany, and their perception about their learning and their course. The chapter focuses o...

The article describes a research project undertaken with advanced adult learners of German at a distance at The Open University, United Kingdom. Their gains in intercultural competence were investigated by looking at how far the students met the prescribed learning outcomes, their knowledge items, language skills, attitudes towards Germans and thei...

This article outlines the background to, and progress on, a project based on work carried out at the Open University UK (OUUK). The aim of the project is to articulate the attributes and expertise required by tutors of languages in distance education. A review of the literature on the roles and competencies required for tutors operating at a distan...

About the Book: Developing Writing Skills in German, is a unique course designed to improve the reading and writing skills of intermediate students of German. Presenting a wide range of authentic written materials, the book aims to develop reading strategies and the ability to write texts of various types - essays, articles and reviews - while impa...

About the Book: Developing Writing Skills in German, is a unique course designed to improve the reading and writing skills of intermediate students of German. Presenting a wide range of authentic written materials, the book aims to develop reading strategies and the ability to write texts of various types - essays, articles and reviews - while impa...

This edited book is the first collection of studies to be published dealing specifically with the teaching of languages at a distance. It contains contributions from language teaching professionals working all over the world, and covers a variety of languages. Based on practical experience and research, it includes work on learner autonomy and supp...

About the book: Beginning to learn a completely new language can be a daunting prospect. Success with Languages is designed to help all students develop the skills they need to become an effective language learner and to make the most of language study. Written by experienced language teachers at the Open University, this book offers undergraduates...

The focus in change management in both commercial organisations and academic environments often takes place at the strategic level. However, change management has an impact at all levels of any organisation, including the operational one. This paper uses the German programme at the Open University in the UK (OUUK) as an example of the way in which...

This article describes research which sought to define the needs, motivation and objectives of adult students studying German at a distance with the Open University. Two objectives were to gauge how much knowledge about Germany the distance students gained over the study of a course, either directly from the materials or as a result of increased aw...

This article compares the performance of students starting German ab initio with the performance of students who had completed A level in German on the BA Modern Languages degree at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Eleven years' worth of results were analysed to discover whether there is any significant difference in performance between the...

About the Book: Developing Writing Skills in German, is a unique course designed to improve the reading and writing skills of intermediate students of German. Presenting a wide range of authentic written materials, the book aims to develop reading strategies and the ability to write texts of various types - essays, articles and reviews - while impa...

The OUUK has been teaching distance courses in languages for more than ten years. Students learn by means of specially-designed course materials, increasingly web-based resources and through direct interaction with tutors, who provide personalised feedback on the students’ assignments as well as offering tutorials for communicative practice. The ro...

What skills, knowledge and attributes do distance language teachers need? How do these differ from classroom teaching? Although the requirements for teaching a range of subjects at a distance and for classroom language teaching have been examined, few studies explore the nature of the distance language teachers role, despite increasing numbers of d...