CHAPTER I

AN INTRODUCTION TO ELT CLASSROOM INNOVATION

1. Definition of Innovation
The word “innovation” is derived from the Latin verb innovare, which means to
renew. In essence, the word has retained its meaning up until today. Innovation means to
improve or to replace something, for example, a process, a product, or a service.
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, it is important to distinguish
innovation from reform and change (Figure 1.1). Most of the literature defines
innovation as the implementation not just of new ideas, knowledge and practices but also
of improved ideas, knowledge and practices (Kostoff, 2003; Mitchell, 2003). Innovation
is thus different from reform or change, which do not necessarily mean the application of
something new, nor do they imply the application of improved ideas or knowledge (King
and Anderson, 2002).
Figure 1.1. Comparing innovation, reform and change
Innovation Reform Change

Transformation or alteration that

Implementation of improved Structured and conscious
Definition may be an intended or unintended
ideas, knowledge and practices process of producing change
phenomenon

Produces change (though in Is historical, contextual and

Key characteristics Implies novelty and brings benefits
some cases only little or none) processual

Process, product, marketing

or organisational Differentiated by pace (continuous
Types Radical, incremental or systemic or episodic) and scope (convergent
Incremental, radical or or radical)
systemic in form

Source: Cerna, L. (2014), “Innovation, governance and reform in education”, CERI Conference background paper, 3-5 November 2014,
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/CERI%20Conference%20Background%20Paper_formatted.pdf.
 Huerta Melchor (2008) suggests that reform is only one way of producing change;
it implies a special approach to problem solving. Sometimes changes in organizations are
key parts of a reform but other reforms may produce little or no change. Change may be
an intended or unintended phenomenon, whereas reform is a structured and conscious
process of producing change, no matter its extent. Reforms can occur in political,
economic, social and administrative domains and contain ideas about problems and
solutions and are typically understood as initiatives driven from the top of a system or
organization.
Many definitions of innovation are used in different contexts and disciplines
although for statistical purposes, the most widely accepted definition of innovation
comes from the Oslo Manual (OECD/Eurostat, 2005). This defines innovation as “the
implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process,
a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices,
workplace organization or external relations” (see Box 1.2). In this definition,
implementation refers to the introduction of a product to the market, or the actual use of
processes, marketing methods and organizational methods.
Box 1.2. OECD definitions of innovation

The current edition of the Oslo Manual identifies four types of innovation:

Product innovation: the introduction of a good or service that is new or significantly improved with respect to its
characteristics or intended uses. This includes significant improvements in technical specifications, components and
materials, incorporated software, user friendliness or other functional characteristics.

Process innovation: the implementation of a new or significantly improved production or delivery method. This
includes significant changes in techniques, equipment and/or software.

Marketing innovation: the implementation of a new marketing method involving significant changes in product design
or packaging, product placement, product promotion, or pricing.

Organisational innovation: the implementation of a new organisational method in the firm’s business practices,
workplace organisation or external relations.

Source: OECD-Eurostat (2005), Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, 3rd Edition,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264013100-en.

This definition has been widely applied to the private sector and can also be
applied to education with small modifications. Educational organizations such as
schools, universities, training centers, or education publishers could introduce
1) New products and services, such as a new syllabus, textbooks or educational
resources; 2) New processes for delivering their services, such as the use of ICT in e-
learning services;
 3) New ways of organizing their activities, such as ICT to communicate with students
and parents; or
4) New marketing techniques, e.g. differential pricing of postgraduate courses.
These new practices are intended to improve the provision of education in one
way or another, and therefore should be regarded as improvements. However, the notion
of “improvement” in many public services, including education, can be elusive and the
use of this definition has been challenged. The perception of improvement depends on
the perspective of the stakeholders, who may wear several hats: consumer, citizen and
taxpayer. Assessing the success of companies in the private sector by profit, sales or
growth is widely accepted: ultimately they have a single bottom line which prevails over
any other objectives. By contrast, whether public organizations stay in business or close
is usually a political decision rather than a market sanction. Public organizations are
assessed on multiple objectives, such as increased quality, equity, coverage and
efficiency, which are less commensurable and can even conflict with each other.
As a result, improvements in education can be perceived differently depending on
which objective is examined or on the point of view of the observer. Moreover, cultural
values, social policies and political goals can mean countries priorities these objectives
differently. Priorities can also change over time as circumstances and citizens’
expectations change. This has consequences for the validity and limitations of the
indicators that need to be gathered. Ideally, innovation indicators in the education sector
should be linked to specific social and educational objectives such as learning outcomes,
cost efficiency, equity or public satisfaction. Innovation should also be measured at
different levels and, where no objective measurement can be made, according to
different stakeholders’ perspectives.

2. Innovation in Education
In the last few decades, innovation in general has been increasingly regarded as a
crucial factor in maintaining competitiveness in a globalized economy. Innovation can
breathe new life into slowing stagnant markets, and act as a mechanism to enhance any
organization’s ability to adapt to changing environments (Hargadon and Sutton, 2000).
Both policies and theories on innovation have mainly focused on the business sector
(Lekhi, 2007). Businesses need to innovate in order to keep up with their competition by
introducing new products or services, improving the efficiency of their production
processes and organizational arrangements, or enhancing the marketing of their activities
in order to guarantee their survival.
 Innovation in education is a highly contentious issue. Talking to education
ministers one quickly gets the impression that education systems in general are very
reluctant to innovate, and that there is strong resistance to change among teachers.
Education is sometimes perceived as one of the most conservative social systems and
public policy fields. But talking to teachers gives one the opposite idea – that there are
too many changes imposed on them without much consultation or the necessary
preconditions for successfully implementing change. In some countries, innovative
change has been implemented without the care and diligence needed or the appropriate
prior testing, experimentation and evaluation. Furthermore, as Seemann (2006) phrased,
innovation in education in terms of technology does not only mean creativity in
designing materials or technologically-enhanced material design nor it’s just a topic of
discussion in theory or philosophy of teaching; rather, it does exist in practice and it does
affect the output of the education with present expected innovative qualities and skills in
individuals by the employers.
As a system, education would benefit from having a well-designed innovation
strategy. Contrary to common belief, education is not innovation averse: the amount of
change in education is comparable to similar public sectors, and education professionals
consider their workplaces to be as innovative as the economy at large. Despite this,
education has not managed to harness technology to raise productivity, improve
efficiency, increase quality and foster equity in the way other public sectors have.
Innovation policies in education have often focused on fragmented issues or on the
wrong goals, sometimes driven by a concern for quick wins, but without sustainable
gains in the long run. Well-designed innovation strategies in education could leverage
the potential of new technology and, with the right kind of policy mix, can contribute to
both more efficiency and better outcomes for quality and equity.
 Improved measurement must be the foundation of innovation in education. Based on
a solid definition of “improvement” at different levels in the system, regular data
collection should assess changes over time in improved pedagogical and
organizational practices.
  Education needs a strong and efficient system of knowledge creation and diffusion,
extending from scientific research into teaching and learning, to the more applied
bodies of knowledge in the teaching profession and knowledge entities in the
system.
 While innovation in education is not synonymous with the introduction of digital
technology, innovation strategies should include the smart implementation and use
of technology in a way that leverages their potential for better teaching and learning
practices. This will be dealt with in subsequent chapters of this book.
 Effective innovation strategies in education must include an appropriate governance
model: identifying key agents of change and champions, defining the roles of
stakeholders, tackling pockets of resistance, and conceiving effective approaches for
scaling and disseminating innovations.
 Finally, innovation in education requires strong evaluation. Without a broad and
widely shared culture of evaluation, innovation in education will remain stuck at the
level of well-intended but isolated pioneering efforts. Finding out what really works,
what doesn’t and why is key to developing a body of knowledge that can guide
future innovations.
Besides being a field of innovation in its own right, education has also a key
relationship to innovation at large: as a system developing the skills for innovation in
economies and societies. Recent accounts of innovation and innovation strategies have
emphasized the importance of the skills needed to start, disseminate and implement
innovation. Critical thinking, creativity and imagination, on top of strong subject-based,
and social and emotional skills, are key to the success of innovation. Education policies
need to cover developing these skills as a matter of key importance. Entrepreneurship
education is a good example of a setting in which such skills can be fostered and
nurtured.

3. The Importance of Innovation in Education

Under the light of literature provided until now, innovation in education can
roughly be defined as the ways of coming up with alternative ways of ensuring
behavioral change in individuals if/when the current way (learning theory/learning
task/teaching method/learning approach, etc.) Furthermore, the two old terms of teaching
and learning seem to be replaced by the novel terms of innovation and self-regulation. It
is logical to think that, in a world where the individuals are transforming the world and
being transformed by the global world, old teaching methodologies, beliefs and ways are
more like to have no practical use soon. Shavinina [26] defines innovation in education
as interference in educational activities of students for raising them as innovative adults.
With too much emphasis on the relationship between innovation and curricular and
instructional activities, on the other hand, the relationship between innovation and
Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) cannot be underestimated.
Kampylis, Bocconi and Punie [12] classifies the interrelated nature of innovation,
technology and curriculum by stating that the role of ICTs must be disruptive which is to
result in the transformation of teachers’ and students’ roles and innovation in
pedagogical aspect which can eventually be ensured through a transformation in values,
practices and infrastructure. This may partly be the case; however, focusing on the
ultimate goal of teaching and schooling, innovation, which is when the student has a
behavioral change, he has got what he came for in the first place. Moreover, innovative
strategies serve as an alternative to the traditional strategies which may be outdated or do
not attract the students’ attention any longer. Schneckenberg [24] suggests a
complementary function of ICTs in a way to implement innovative educational concepts
to the classrooms. Simplicio [27] emphasizes that dramatic changes are required in the
three elements of teaching, which are the content, method of teaching and assessment.
The key to these changes is the trio of teacher, curriculum and the educational settings.
Burnard [4] mentions about the necessity of curriculum and assessment -related research
that will bring about innovative practices to teaching.
Thus, Cerna [7] stresses that innovative activities are taking place in schools and
classrooms where talented and creative school leaders are driving innovation in
education. Shapiro, Haahr, Bayer and Boekholt [25] suggests that an unconventional
learning setting can be provided with a representation of a problem from real- life setting
with the introduction of problem-based learning.
So, how importance are innovation in education?
1. First of all, educational innovations can improve learning outcomes and the quality
of education provision. For example, changes in the educational system or in
teaching methods can help customize the educational process. New trends in
personalized learning rely heavily on new ways of organizing schools and the use of
ICT.
 2. Education is perceived in most countries as a means of enhancing equity and
equality. Innovations could help enhance equity in the access to and use of
education, as well as equality in learning outcomes.
3. Public organizations are often under as much pressure as businesses to improve
efficiency, minimize costs and maximize the “bang for the buck”. Mulgan and
Albury (2003) argue that there has been a tendency for costs in all public services
to rise faster than those in the rest of the economy, and education is no exception.
While this could be attributed to Baumol’s “cost disease” (see Chapter 6),
inherent to any public-service provision which faces ever-rising labour costs and
limited scope for transformative productivity gains, this may also be due to a lack
of innovation, (Foray and Raffo, 2012). Innovation, then, could stimulate more
efficient provision of these services.
4. Education should remain relevant in the face of rapid changes to society and the
national economy (Barrett, 1998: 288). The education sector should therefore
introduce the changes it needs to adapt to societal needs. For example, education
systems need to adopt teaching, learning or organizational practices that have
been identified as helping

4. Innovation in ELT Classroom

The blast of technology has changed the way that we teach. It has moved our
students to become researchers and basic scholars, expecting them to break down a
daily barage of information. Nowadays, the utilization of technology, for example,
internet sites put on-line by free, independent and self-get to language learning
fluctuate impressively in the amount and sort of information (Budianto, 2008). So as
to manage this innovative technology, we should keep up high learners expectation
and set up our students to effectively take an interest and contend in an highly
specialized society. This task is both tremendous and energizing.
According Bull and Ma (2001), technology gives offers boundless assets to
language students. Harmer (2007) and Gençlter (2015) underscored that teachers
ought to urge students to discover suitable exercises through utilizing PC technology
so as to be effective in language learning. The utilization of appropriate mechanical
materials can be valuable for students. As indicated by Harmer (2007), utilizing PC
based language exercises improve helpful learning in students.
 The utilization of technology has become a significant piece of the learning
procedure all through the class. Each language class as a rule utilizes some type of
technology. Technology has been utilized to both assist and improve language
learning. Technology empowers teachers to adjust classroom exercises, along these
lines improving the language learning process. Technology keeps on developing in
significance as a device to assist teachers with encouraging language learning for their
students. Technology has consistently been a significant piece of teaching and
learning condition. It is a fundamental piece of the educators' calling through which
they can utilize it to encourage students' learning. At the point when we talk about
technology in teaching and learning, the word 'combination' is utilized. With
technology being a piece of our regular day to day existences, the time has come to
reevaluate incorporating technology into the educational plan and expect to insert
technology into teaching to help the learning procedure. In other words, technology
turns into a fundamental piece of the learning experience and a noteworthy issue for
educators, from the earliest starting point of getting ready learning encounters through
to teaching and learning process (Eady and Lockyer, 2013).
Thus, implementing technology in language learning especially English will
be very beneficial both for teachers and learners since it will make the students are
encouraged more to study. According to Gilakjani (2013), the utilization of
technology has the extraordinary potential to change the current language teaching
strategies. Pourhosein Gilakjani and Sodouri (2014) accentuated that through utilizing
technology, students can control their own learning procedure and approach numerous
data over which their teachers can't control. Technology has a significant job in
advancing exercises for students and significantly affects educators' teaching
techniques. On the off chance that educators don't utilize advancements in their
teaching they will always be unable to stay aware of these technologies. Hence, it is
significant for teachers to have a full information on these technologies in showing
language abilities (Gilakjani, 2017; Solanki and Shyamlee1, 2012).
Building up students' information and aptitudes appropriate to PC technology
gives value of opportunity, paying little heed to students' experience. In spite of the
fact that students have been naturally introduced to a innovatively rich world, they
may not be skillful clients of technology (Bennett, et al, 2008). Furthermore, simply
giving access to technology is not sufficient. Important turn of events of technology
 based information is huge for all students so as to augment their language learning
(OECD, 2010).
Furthermore, at present time ELT has entered its new phase of evolution where
inventions are emerging almost on daily basis. The application of digital technologies
has turned into "normalized" (Bax, 2011) in present time. The use of electronic
devices such as computers, tablets, laptops, smart phones has become a matter of daily
routine. These digital devices are influencing all disciplines of learning in general and
ELT in specific. Now, these devices have found a prominent place in ELT and have
been proving as interesting and fruitful tools.
Hence, it is ELT which has evolved to great extent due to the technology.
Traditional methods/approaches to teach English language are wedded and
intermingled with technology in such a way that it seems impossible to keep them
separate. Therefore, a new phase of ELT has come into view due to digital
innovations. CALL has been in practice for almost 30 years and now it is leading
towards ICT (Information and Communication Technology). From CALL (Computer
Assisted Language Learning) to MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) is
another remarkable development in ELT.
The availability of bundle of applications, designed programs on smart devices
are playing a vital role in ELT. Computers, internet and WiFi have shaped English
language teaching to such an extent that there is influx and bombardment of new
tools, techniques and methods. The authenticity and reliability of these applications
are also taken into consideration in ELT. Many organizations offer a lot of smart
devices applications, materials and tools to be used in ELT.
British Council offers many useful applications (Learn English Apps, 2013) to
learn English. Some of them are LearnEnglish Grammar (UK edition), LearnEnglish
Grammar (US edition), LearnEnglish Audio and Video, My WordBook 2, Elementary
Podcasts, LearnEnglish Sorts World, Sounds Right, Johnny Grammar's Quizmaster,
60 Second Word Challenge and Premier Skills. These applications provide pack of
diverse activities to learn English.

5. The Main Barriers in Innovation

The main barriers facing innovation can be broadly grouped into three categories
Carless, D. (2013):
1. Teacher-related: lack of teacher ownership or understanding of the innovation;
change not congruent with existing teacher values and beliefs; negative attitudes,
often engendered by the additional workload entailed; teachers are often
emotionally bound up in existing practices; and change can be personally
threatening.
2. System-related: poor communication and lack of mutual trust between change
agents and frontline implementers; putting too much emphasis on the intricacies of
the innovation itself and not enough on consideration of how it could be
implemented; lack of appropriate resources to support the innovation; insufficient
professional development and support for teachers; failure to bridge the gap
between rhetoric and reality; cynicism engendered by previous failed attempts at
innovation; failure to align a pedagogic innovation with the requirements of high-
stakes examinations.
3. School-related: lack of supportive culture for change; conservative forces within a
school; lack of support or understanding from senior management; inadequate
school-based resources; student difficulties in adapting to teacher change,
particularly if the rationale has not been persuasively articulated.