By Peggy Garzaand

Greta Keremidchieva

Introduction

PfP Consortium’s Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) WG

Projects for NATO-oriented language learningE-learning

English Skills for Staff Officers (ESSO) English Language Training Enhancement Course

(ELTEC)M-learning

MoLe Mobler cards

Needs Analysis forEnglish Language Training Enhancement Course (ELTEC)

• Purpose– To identify the critical language tasks and

language shortfalls of NATO staff officers• Participants

– NATO School, ACT, Bulgarian staff officers• Methodology

– Questionnaires and interviews• Findings

– Listening, speaking, writing most critical skills– NATO abbreviations and acronyms – NATO jargon spoken by native and non-native

speakers

Task Language Skills

STANAG 6001Level

Functions Acronyms/ Abbreviations

Time Constraints

Additional Factors

Professional e-mail communication

ReadingWriting

Levels 2, 2+

–Respond to inquiries–Request assistance–Organize meetings–Communicate information and updates to a group–Assign work tasks

V/R, SA,ASAP, LTC, CPT,

CAN F, OPLAN,

IAW,AAP-6, JP 3.09.3,

COL HUN A,Bi-SC D 75-7, JCAS MOA,

OR 5

Self-paced –NATO formats and protocols–Errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation are visible

Professional telephone communication

ListeningSpeaking

Levels 2, 2+

–Request information or assistance–Follow up on tasks, request status report–Communicate specific information or give instructions

SHAPE, PfP, SOP,

HQ SACT, JFTC, NRF,

KFOR,MC, MP, ADL,

NATO PE or CE, ISAF, SACEUR

Time-sensitive

–NS and NNS (variety of accents)–Non-face to face communication

Participation in meetings

ListeningSpeaking

Levels 2, 2+, 3

–Understand briefings, situations reports, etc–Present arguments in support of decisions–Make comments/ask questions

WG, AAR, COA, SITREP, CONOPS, ROE, IED, HUMINT,FOB,UXO, DACOSOPR, PTC

Time-sensitive

–NS and NNS (variety of accents)

Communication Task/ Language AnalysisNATO Staff Officer Work

Recent NATO Research • “Cultural barriers for the adaptability of the military in

multinational operations” – Conducted by CAPT (N) Prof Yanakiev, Rakovski National

Defense Academy, Bulgaria

• Communication and cultural difficulties lead to isolation and a perception by native speakers that partners are not mission-ready

• Specifics:– Insufficient knowledge of specialized English, abbreviations

and acronyms (referred to as the third NATO language)– Native speakers do not adjust their language to the

multinational environment– Differences in the national military cultures and military

decision-making processes– Differences in leadership styles: direct (task-oriented) vs.

indirect (social, consensus-building) approaches

Needs Analysis for Medical Terminology for Multinational Missions

• Purpose– To determine if there is a need for non-specialists to know

medical terminology when dealing with medical emergencies

– To investigate the feasibility of using a mobile device to provide linguistic assistance in the field

• Methodology– Focus groups with military personnel who had deployed– Questionnaires and interviews

• Findings– Mobile devices would be very helpful, especially in

describing injuries/medical conditions in English– Medical emergencies are stressful, language fails under

stress– Pre-deployment training does not cover medical

terminology

More About the Projects

An Online Course for Enhancing Interoperability in NATO Staff Work

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING ENHANCEMENT COURSE

ELTEC

ELTEC Rationale

Enhance communication skills for professional activities

Build competence and confidence to participate in meetings

Provide learning content based on authentic communication situations

Incorporate authentic activities and learning by doing

E-learning

ELTEC

ELTEC

Course Design Considerations

NATO STANAG 6001 language proficiency scale

Authentic NATO materials Activities and feedback‒ Self-paced activities and

immediate feedback

ELTEC

ELTEC Usability Data

PfP Learning Management System (LMS): 117 + 985 = 1102 users

ELTEC is available at the NATO School LMS, at the BiH Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC), and PfP wide

NATO, JADL LMS: 818 users

Total: 1920 usersAvailable at: pfp.ethz.ch

Research Findings on M-Learning

M- learning is perceived as flexible, personalized, and engaging.

It is multimedia-based, interactive, granular, ubiquitous, and may be context-specific.

M-learning is appropriate for informal, self-organized learning, both individual and collaborative.

It could be combined with other forms of learning and training.

Other types of assistance may be delivered by mobile devices, such as on-line access to dictionaries and services, performance support in filling in the forms, multimedia information transfer.

M-learning

MObile LEarning (MoLe)

Research Project on Medical Terminology Assistance for Multinational Partners in Coalition Operations

Scenarios with picturesBites chemicals etc

MED

EVA

C

First Aid

ADL WG Project: Mobler Cards

Developed by Swiss ISNPiloting Mobler cards for use with ADL courses‒ Introduction to NATO‒Building Defence Institutions

Research Question: Can Mobler cards be used effectively for NATO-oriented language learning?

Mobler Cards Features

Always within reach, always ready to useTask-centered designCan immediately use existing question poolsSupport thinking, not guessingAllow progress not quick winsDesigned to work with any LMS as long as it

supports question pools

Mobler Cards Features

MultilingualFree and open sourceContinuity of learningQuestion types:‒Multiple choice (single answer)‒Multiple choice (multiple answer)‒Ordering questions (vertical)‒Numeric question