2017 Friday Sessions, May 19
Friday Sessions, May 19, 2017
Session 10 8:30am – 9:00am
Games People (Don’t) Play; A Survey of Pre-Service Foreign Language Teachers and Digital Game-Based Language Learning
Carolyn Blume, Leuphana University
On the cusp of becoming teachers, current pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language are negotiating their transition from being primarily learners to identifying as teachers in a gamified world. This study examines the ways teacher candidates of TEFL use DGBLL for both their own knowledge acquisition, and their intentions to use these in instructional settings with learners. An analysis of a questionnaire administered at one German university reveals that their patterns of personal usage differ significantly from their attitudes towards instructional implementation in ways that challenge existing theories regarding the intersection of teachers’ personal and professional game-playing behaviors.
A Research-Instrumented Chinese Timed Writing and Speaking Test (TW&ST)
Qiaona Yu, Wake Forest University
Richard Medina, New Mexico Highlands University
Previous studies investigating interactions between task complexity and complexity-accuracy-fluency (CAF) of language output have focused less on both resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions. This presentation will show a designed online 45-minute Chinese Timed Writing and Speaking Test (TW&ST). TW&ST enables manipulation of multiple task complexity factors on both dimensions, including number of elements, reasoning demands, task planning and performance time, prior knowledge, and an addition of a Mandarin EI test. TW&ST enabled elicitation of both written and spoken output from L1 and L2 Chinese speakers completing tasks of varied complexity. CAF analysis illustrates dynamic interactions between task complexity and language output.
Developing a Hybrid English for International Academic Communication Course for Upper-Level ESL Learners
Silvana Dushku, University of Illinois
Jeanette Esther Pyne, University of Illinois
Blended language learning has been gaining popularity especially among upper-level ESL learners. The presenters document step-by-step a data-driven project to design a hybrid English for international communication course for international scholars, faculty, and graduate students. They include recommendations and lessons learned based on the course development and teaching experiences.
Using Virtual Worlds for Foreign Language Learning: The Emergence of Languaging as a Language Learning Affordance of These Environments
Susanna Nocchi, Dublin Institute of Technology
This paper stems from a study on the affordances of Virtual Worlds (VWs) for Foreign Language (FL) learning through an activity theoretical investigation of data collected during an Italian language course (SLitaliano) run in Second Life. The study identified a number of FL learning affordances of VWs, amongst which languaging in the FL. The scope of the paper is to present the emergence of languaging and its role as a FL learning affordance of the virtual environment. Languaging was resorted to by participants in cases of linguistic, intercultural or technical disruptions during the enactment of the FL tasks and emerged as a cluster of affordance-related actions.
Gearing Towards Large-Scale Self-assessment of Language Proficiency: How and Why
Adolfo Carrillo Cabello, University of Minnesota
Dan Soneson, University of Minnesota
Research in language assessment shows that self assessment is a tool that can increase learners’ active engagement and agency. At the UMN, delivery of the Basic Outcomes Student Self-Assessment (BOSSA) protocol has reached over 6,000 students in ten languages at seven instructional levels in two years. However, managing multiple technologies and pedagogical aspects of the protocol is a complex task for instructors. In this presentation, we discuss challenges for integration and sustainability of large-scale delivery of self assessment. We describe the development and assessment of an application built to facilitate delivery of self assessment, and report on accuracy levels.
Digital Technology and Literacy Practices Outside of the Classroom: What Do Students Think?
Jeffrey Maloney, Michigan State University
Using semi-structured interviews focused on technology use in the L2 in and out of the classroom, I interviewed 11 students enrolled in Spanish courses at a large Midwestern university in the United States. Participants were asked about their general technology habits and attitudes, and their language learning history. Interview data will be compared with responses from a larger study focused on 600 Spanish foreign language students’ technology usage habits and language proficiency to draw conclusions about what students needs and desires are. A special focus was how to encourage engagement in digital literacy practices outside of the formal learning context.
Session 11 9:15am – 9:45am
The Theorization of Learning Outcome in an Automated Written Corrective Feedback Program; What Distinguishes it from Traditional Corrective Feedback?
Taichi Yamashita, Iowa State University
The present study investigates the effects of the automated provision of corrective feedback on linguistic accuracy. Thirty ESL learners worked on a writing task with CyWrite (i.e., an automated corrective feedback program). During this task, participants had the autonomy to choose when and how to use the feedback, reflecting a self-regulated learning process. Interestingly, a comparison can be drawn to how users navigate best casinos online platforms, where the ability to make informed decisions based on available feedback—such as game rules or payout information—can impact the overall experience and outcomes. The data are analyzed in terms of how self-regulated learners become through the writing task. The learning outcome will be discussed within sociocultural theory, where acquisition occurs when learners need less help than before. The study will suggest the importance of the learning environment where learners can decide whether to refer to corrective feedback by themselves.
Lectures in Standardized ESL Tests versus Real University Lectures: Comparing Grammatical Complexity
Roman Lesnov, Northern Arizona University
There is scarcity of research into how grammatical complexity of lectures used in L2 academic listening tests compares to the complexity of authentic university lectures. To reduce this scarcity, 20 lecture scripts from the test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) official preparation sets and 12 authentic university lectures obtained from the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) were compared. The results showed that TOEFL lectures contained more features typical of textbook language and fewer “conversational” features that are normally present in authentic lectures. The implications for test developers and teachers of English for Academic Purposes are discussed.
An Investigation of ASR Usefulness For ESL Learners’ Pronunciation Practice
Idee Edalatishams, Iowa State University
In pronunciation teaching and learning, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) must work for non-native speech. This study evaluates the accuracy of Dragon and Mac Dictation for non-native speech. Intelligibility scores were calculated based on the transcription of 9 non-native speakers’ utterances by the ASR and three native speakers. Dictation identified more utterances than Dragon, but both were less accurate than human listeners. Recognition accuracy decreased with an increase in accentedness, with Dragon showing a more drastic decrease than Dictation, suggesting that while ASR can potentially assist advanced learners, it does not provide lower level learners with useful feedback.
Online Learning Affordances and L2 Complexity
Robert Blake, UC Davis
Kim Morris, UC Davis
Asynchronous video postings allow users to respond orally to a prompt and re-record their response until their best performance is attained. L2 syntactic complexity was examined in these video postings and then compared to language from their synchronous chats and written compositions. At issue here is the trade-off discussed by Robinson (2011) and Skehan (2003) between complexity and accuracy while performing language tasks. Our findings suggest that the asynchronous video recording tool affords students additional time to rehearse tasks and fosters the oral production of more complex sentences, thus helping to reshape gradually learners’ interlanguage and increase the complexity of their responses.
FanTALES: A Needs Analysis for Multilingual Digital Storytelling Tasks in 21st Century European Classrooms
Shannon Sauro, Malmo University
Frederik Cornillie, KU Leuven & IMEC
Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe University Frankfurt
This study reports on the findings of a needs analysis, carried out within the context of the FanTALES project, which explores whether multilingual digital story-telling inspired by fanfiction and gaming can meet the linguistic, digital, and intercultural learning needs and goals of secondary school learners in three European contexts (Sweden, Flanders, and Germany). Findings, relevant for teachers and instructional designers, hold implications for the development of guidelines for the design of multilingual digital storytelling tasks to foster advanced language and literary learning, digital skill development, and intercultural competence among these learner populations.
A Dutch-French e-Tandem Project: A Qualitative Analysis of Learning Outcomes
Sake Jager, University of Gröningen
This action research study presents the results of a qualitative analysis of two consecutive years of student work from a Dutch-French e-Tandem project. After a brief outline of quantitative measures of time-on-task and output, the focus will be on a qualitative analysis of reflection journals, writing assignments, and audio and video samples of the exchanges to examine how students experience the exchanges and what evidence there is of intercultural communicative competence development.
Panel Presentation 9:15am – 10:30am
Leveraging Technology for Language Teaching and Learning
Greg Kessler, Ohio University
Phil Hubbard, Stanford University
Merica McNeil, University of Arizona
This LTLT SIG-sponsored panel addresses aspects of design, selection, and evaluation of materials for blended and online learning. The first presenter discusses an online language teacher education class which included a group project, explains the instructor’s role in designing and supporting online group work, and provides suggestions. The second presenter discusses the use of authentic digital materials and participatory practices from social media for language practice. The final presenter focuses on technology and listening, covering three areas where today’s teachers need foundational knowledge and enhanced skillsets: online content curation, learner training, and control of relevant digital tools.
Session 12 10:00am – 10:30am
Building a Generic Morphological Tagger for Latin
Hans Paulussen, KU Leuven KULAK
Jan Driesen, Brepols
Jeroen Lauwers, CTLO
Véronique Suys, CTLO
Eddy Gouder, CTLO
Yannick Anné, KU Leuven
Frederik Cornillie, KU Leuven & IMEC
This presentation reports on the Taggitus project which intends to develop a generic morphological tagger for Latin. The project aims to evaluate and adapt existing taggers for Latin, taking into account the complexity of the language: rich morphology and relative free word order. The resulting tagger would be a useful tool for different types of applications, including the creation of CALL exercises and the automatic enrichment of texts. In this project, we evaluated existing taggers and their training modules, and we compiled a special gold standard corpus in order to evaluate the tagger training. The evaluation included both pure part-of-speech tagging and morphological tagging. In this talk we will present the results of the project, which shows that morphological tagging requires additional morphological resources in order to improve the accuracy of tagging Latin texts.
Plurilingual Interactions between Avatar Learning, Teaching and the Self
Geoff Lawrence, York University
Farhana Ahmed, York University
This presentation shares pedagogical insights and strategies into the use of social virtual worlds in language teaching and learning from a study examining the beliefs and practices of an avatar-learner and teacher with extensive plurilingual experiences in Second Life. It will detail perspectives on hyper-immersive social virtual worlds, their benefits, limitations and pedagogical potential through the eyes of an experienced language learner and teacher within these emerging environments. Findings will discuss how this key informant’s ‘self’ emerged through experiential transformation and how these plurilingual and multicultural experiences shaped her language teaching practice in online and also offline environments.
Digital Literacies for Language Learning and Teaching: Towards a National Framework
Francoise Blin, Dublin City University
Susanna Nocchi, Dublin Institute of Technology
Odette Gabaudan, Dublin Institute of Technology
This paper discusses the development and implementation of a national framework for the enhancement of digital literacies for language teaching and learning that seeks to address the language skills shortage in Ireland. Following a brief presentation of the Digilanguages project, it outlines the challenges met by the partner institutions in developing and implementing the framework across multiple languages and multiple HE institutions. Different implementation strategies are discussed. The paper concludes with a critical evaluation of the framework to date and of its potential impact on the much needed reform of language education in Ireland and beyond.
Lexical Bundles in Genre-based Foreign Language Writing: A Corpus Approach
Bruna Sommer Farias, University of Arizona
Corpus-based approaches provide useful tools to unveil linguistic patterns in student writing. By building a genre-based learner corpus, this investigation identifies the most frequent lexical bundles (Cortes, 2004) used by students taking an advanced composition course of Portuguese as a foreign language in a postsecondary institution. The presentation will examine the functions of these lexical bundles according to the genres produced in class, and discuss how these results can inform pedagogical instruction and materials design regarding genre-based instruction.
Creating Effective 1-on-1 Online Language Learning for Non-Traditional Students
Kimberly Cortes, Mango Languages
An effective approach for 1-on-1 online language teaching to non-traditional students requires strategies specific to the environment, the student’s learning style and specific objectives. This presentation will discuss Mango Languages’ journey on this endeavor. We will present on our new integrated, flexible, 1-on-1 online language learning solution. We will review where Mango started (as a self-paced language learning resource), why we decided to go “live,” the specific challenges we faced in creating our live courses, lessons we have learned, and where Mango Live is now.
Session 13 10:45am – 11:15am
Online Teaching Skills: What Eyetracking and Reflection Tell Us about Online Language Teachers’ Practice
Ursula Stickler, The Open University
Online language teachers use multiple skills to engage learners in speaking practice during synchronous tutorials. To find out how teachers act, where their attention is focused, and what they reflect on, this study of online language tutorials reported here combines eyetracking with stimulated reflection. The findings show that the more experience a teacher has, the more they are free to develop their own style and reflect on their higher level teaching skills; the less familiar a language teacher is with the technology used, the more technology takes centre stage as a focus of attention and of concern during teaching.
CALL for All? An Agenda for Impact, Interdisciplinarity and Innovation
Nike Arnold, Portland State University
Kathy Harris, Portland State University
Despite important advances, the field of CALL hasn’t had the widespread impact some had hoped. This presentation highlights trends in the CALL research base to encourage a shift that will make CALL research relevant to a wider audience of L2 educators and learners and expand the range of contexts for CALL research. It suggests priorities for future research and identifies opportunities for connecting with other communities of scholars and educators. A broader, interdisciplinary orientation will ultimately help enable more language learners and educators to benefit from CALL innovation.
Student-centered MALL App Development: Collaboratively Building Connections from Pedagogy to Usability to Research
Dan Nolan, University of Minnesota Duluth
This presentation offers a student-centered model for mobile language learning app development projects based on the work of faculty and students at a midwestern university. The presentation addresses both the question of how mobile language learning projects can help overcome the continuing disconnect between app development and pedagogical insight, and how pedagogical frameworks can effectively and sustainably be brought to bear in high-impact low-cost app development projects. Finally, this presentation also reports on the unique learning opportunities mobile language learning app development projects present for undergraduates collaborators.
An Analysis of Aspects of Linguistic Complexity in ESL Writing from the Perspective of Systematic Functional Linguistics
Zaha Alonazi, Iowa State University
Building on Halliday’s (1987) framework of text analysis, the current paper examined how experiential, interpersonal and textual meaning were configured in the argumentative essays of high and low ESL students’ levels. AntConc software was used to analyze both tagged and non-tagged corpora of both groups. Descriptive statistics revealed differences in the use of attitudinal adjectives, transitivity processes and thematic patterns in the writing of the higher and lower ESL proficiency levels. Chi-square test indicated that the differences were statistically significant for attitudinal adjectives but not for transitivity processes. Thematic patterns of discourse were also found to differ between the two groups.
Identity Negotiation in a Telecollaborative Context
Se Jeong Yang, Ohio State University
The study investigates the affordances of telecollaboration for English language learners’ identities. Using multiple qualitative data sources, the study shows how English language learners constructed and negotiated their identities and what factors affected this process of construction. The study also discusses how English language educators can guide learners in online language learning spaces.
Panel Presentation 10:45am – 12:00pm
Research Studies in CALL—How to Get Them Published
Mat(hias) Schulze, University of Waterloo
Bryan Smith, Arizona State University
This panel discussion, representing seven CALL journals, has been convened by the co-editors of CALICO Journal. They and the (associate) editors of Apprentissage des langues et systèmes d’information et de communication (ALSIC), Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), jaltCALLjournal, Language Learning & Technology (LL&T), ReCALL, and System will provide brief opening remarks on topics such as the criteria used for editorial decisions, the intricacies of the peer review process, and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the production process of journal articles. The panelists will then engage in a discussion with the audience, react to your comments, and answer your specific questions.
Session 14 11:30am – 12:00pm
Evaluating the Affordances that Emerge from the Use of iPads: Enhancing Creativity, Production and Collaboration?
Catherine Caws, University of Victoria
This paper will focus on the use of iPads as a tool to mediate language learning processes. Based on observational data collected over several iterations of beginner to intermediate French language courses, it explores language learning processes in environments where mobile learning is deployed in naturalistic settings, in a view to enhance creativity, production and collaboration amongst students. Discussion will focus on (a) patterns of learner behaviour, and (b) forms of affordances allowed by these interactions as per observed activities and perceived outcomes.
The Use of Mobile Devices in the Provision of Remote Feedback on EFL Teaching Practice
Christopher Allen, Linnaeus University
Stella K. Hadjistassou, University of Cyprus
This presentation will provide an overview of the results emerging from a Swedish project to provide remote feedback on video sequences filmed during EFL teaching practice in African schools. Pre-service teachers at a university in Sweden were each provided with an iPad and training in video techniques to record lessons as part of their teaching practice experience. These short videos were then uploaded to the university’s VLE at regular intervals throughout the practice, providing the instructor in Sweden with the opportunity to give regular formative feedback on teaching performance. We present an analysis of this feedback in the light of the observed progress in teaching performance as captured on the iPads.
Visualizing Engagement in Writing Processes via Integrated Keystroke Logging and Eye-tracking to Support EAP Writing-skills Development
Jim Ranalli, Iowa State University
Hui-Hsien Feng, Iowa State University
Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen, Iowa State University
This presentation describes the outcomes of the first phase of an NSF-funded research project to scale up keystroke logging and eye-tracking technologies for use in providing formative feedback on EAP students’ engagement in writing processes. After demonstrating the prototype of our feedback tool, we present qualitative and quantitative data from the first phase of a design-based research program, highlighting compensatory, technology-assisted behavioral modifications that can optimize learners’ cognitive load and thus help them attain better writing quality.
Modified Output and Accuracy Development in Teletandem: A First Look
Janire Zalbidea, Georgetown University
Meghan Birch, Georgetown University
Michael Ferreira, Georgetown University
This study aims to advance our understanding of the learning potential of video-based telecollaboration by examining how type and amount of feedback and modified output differ longitudinally among learners who experienced different degrees of oral accuracy development in one semester. Two learner groups were identified based on improvements in lexicogrammar accuracy in a picture-narration task (significant improvement or no improvement), and each group’s interactions were coded for the quantity and quality of corrective feedback episodes and learner-modified output. Preliminary results suggest that all learners engaged in recurrent negotiated interaction across sessions, but modified output was subject to substantial group variation.
Examining Chinese Language Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs, Perceptions of and Attitudes toward ICT
Haixia Liu, Michigan State University
Chin-Hsi Lin, Michigan State University
Dongbo Zhang, Michigan State University
Pedagogical beliefs have been proposed as one of the most important internal barriers to technology integration, yet very few studies have included such beliefs in a technology adoption model. This study revised the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by adding teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in the model and tested the revised model among university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in China. The revised model aimed to examine how teachers’ constructivist and/or transmissive pedagogical beliefs influenced several key constructs in the TAM (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward computer use). Survey data were collected from 202 Chinese EFL teachers and were analyzed using path analysis. Results showed that language teachers’ constructivist pedagogical beliefs have significant positive influence on the three constructs in the TAM. Transmissive pedagogical beliefs, however, did not have any significant impact on teachers’ attitude toward technology and teachers’ perceived usefulness, except for teachers’ perceived ease of use. Overall the revised model showed a good model fit when Chinese language teachers’ pedagogical beliefs were more constructivist-oriented than transmissive-oriented.
The Effects of Digital Game-based Learning on Vocabulary Acquisition
Scott Payne, McGraw-Hill Education
Dorian Dorado, Louisiana State University
In this presentation we report findings from a study examining the effects of a game-based simulation (Practice Spanish: Study Abroad) on the vocabulary acquisition of approximately 200 students taking first-semester Spanish. Five vocabulary tests during the semester measured: 1) incidental vocabulary learning (words learned in the game that were not part of classroom instruction or in the textbook); 2) vocabulary items that were covered in the textbook or classroom instruction, but were not in the game; and 3) vocabulary present in both instructional contexts. The analysis examines vocabulary scores in relation to time spent on each quest and quality of gameplay.
Session 15 2:15pm – 2:45pm
Gameplay Interactions as Ecologies for L2 Languaging
Karim Ibrahim, University of Arizona
This is a descriptive case study that examined forms of L2 use in player-game interaction that could facilitate autonomous L2 learning in extracurricular digital gaming. The researcher investigated forms of L2 use in the interactions of 6 FL learners of Arabic in the simulation management game Baalty. Informed by ecological approaches to L2 learning (van Lier, 2004), data collected through questionnaires, thinkaloud protocols, walkthroughs, gaming journals, and interviews were coded and analyzed for patterns and trends. Data analysis revealed that extramural gaming could involve dynamic and emergent forms of languaging L2 in-game discourses to inform action and manage gameplay.
Did We Learn the Lessons? Telecollaboration 2.0
Senta Goertler, Michigan State University
Theresa Schenker, Yale University
Sonja Brunsmeier, University of Education Freiburg, Germany
Carly Lesoski, Michigan State University
The diverse research on telecollaboration has provided researchers and practitioners with the opportunity to learn from others. Yet, every context is different and brings its own challenges. This project summarizes the successes and failures of an upper level telecollaboration between a German and US university over two iterations. After analyzing data from the first iteration, we: (1) revised grading criteria; (2) provided communication tips; (3) listed preferred communication tools; (4) revised tasks to (a) include common background knowledge; and (b) focus more on intercultural communication. Results from the second iteration will be compared with those from the first iteration.
The Current State of Technology Training for Graduate Teaching Associates in Foreign Language Instruction and the Introduction of the Six For Success Model (6FS): Promoting Digital Literacies and Creating a Network of Collaborators
Borbala Gaspar, University of Arizona
Chelsea Timlin, University of Arizona
Yi Wang, University of Arizona
Although technology use in FL courses has increased recently, the “why” and “how” of its use have not been directly addressed. To understand how language program directors (LPDs) and graduate student instructors (TAs) view and approach technology in their classrooms, we used two online surveys to collect information from various collegiate foreign language departments. Findings reveal discrepancies in approaches to technology between the two groups and as a result, technology training shaped by pedagogical frameworks, and professional collaboration related to technology use in FL classrooms is greatly lacking. In response we propose the Six for Success training model that creates a network of collaborators.
TasksNTools of the Essay Marking Process
Marie-Josee Hamel, University of Ottawa
This presentation will focus on the pedagogical tasks involved in the essay marking process and the technological tools that can support these tasks. Technology can optimize such a process by better controlling its consistency, increasing its reliability and eventually, contributing to the development of sustainable written corrective feedback practices. The task of annotating learners’ texts is examined and the pedagogical affordances of (error) annotators are discussed. Natural language processing can enhance aspects of the essay marking process by providing L2 writers with a more comprehensive portrait of their text complexity, accuracy and fluency.
#Instalearn: Using Instagram to Develop Intercultural Awareness
Fabrizio Fornara, Florida State University
This study aims to examine how exploring current and living representations of the target language and culture on Instagram helps foreign language students develop and raise intercultural awareness. Participants are students enrolled in a third-level Italian language course at a large research university. During four weeks, they use Instagram and GroupMe to explore posts and hashtags of foreign native speakers and to discuss the similarities and differences between their culture(s) and the target culture. The main data sources for this study are the worksheets students complete before, during, and after the activity and the GroupMe messages. These data are content-analyzed to uncover how students develop intercultural awareness.
Team Based Learning in Flipped Language Classes
Kadir Karakaya, Iowa State University
An increasing body of research has been carried out on the effectiveness of team based learning (TBL) in F2F environments in disciplines such as health sciences or medicine. However, there is little research on the implementation of TBL in flipped language classes. While most language classes aim to promote the social interactions students need for effective language learning, it is a daunting challenge to achieve constructive social interaction amongst the students in online environments. This session will report on how TBL and technology were employed in a flipped speech communication course to simulate the real-time F2F environment virtually at a distance.
Session 16 3:00pm – 3:30pm
Sharing Digitized Reading Annotations at Different Time Points: A Case Study of Taiwanese University Students’ English Reading Performance
Li-Tang, Yu, Fu-Jen Catholic University
This study examines the effect of sharing online annotations with peers at different time points on the English reading comprehension of Taiwanese English-as-a-foreign-language university students. Three reading modes were selected, consisting of not sharing annotations, sharing annotations when reading is concluded, and sharing annotations during reading. The modes were assigned to two Freshman English classes in a counterbalanced approach. All participants’ cued-recall and free-recall reading comprehension performances were analyzed and reported. To conclude the study, pedagogical suggestions concerning the appropriate timing of shared annotations in foreign-language collaborative reading tasks are provided.
Metacognitive Strategies in Ecuadorean Blended English Courses Using Moodle
Christopher Allen, Linnaeus University
We report on the use of the Moodle virtual learning environment (VLE) in the development of successful metacognitive strategies among a group of intermediate adult learners on a skills-based English proficiency course at a university in Ecuador. The presentation will focus on the role of Moodle calendar-based activities, logs, study plans, journals and discussion forums in the organization, planning, and evaluation of progress in the receptive skills of listening and reading. Results will be presented from interviews with the students describing the development of effective metacognitive strategies. A taxonomy of metacognitive strategies will be described and exemplified.
CMC Collaboration in L2 Writing: What is the Outcome?
Inigo Yanguas, University of San Diego
The present study adds to the scarce literature that investigates the quality of the L2 written outcome produced collaboratively; in particular, looking at fluency, accuracy, and complexity measures in order to compare participants’ performance in this task-based writing assignment. Students in six intact classes of fourth semester intermediate Spanish were randomly assigned to four writing groups: individual writing, collaborative writing (Skype chat in L1), collaborative writing (Skype chat in L2), and collaborative writing (no chat). In addition, an online questionnaire was administered in order to tap into students’ attitudes towards collaborative writing in general and this type of activity in particular.
Call Me a CALL Expert: Mapping the Structure of Knowledge in the Field
Jim Ranalli, Iowa State University
Stephanie Link, Oklahoma State University
Kelly Cunningham, Iowa State University
This presentation uses network analysis and bibliometrics to demystify the sub areas of expertise within the robust field of modern CALL. By modeling the field through an investigation of the last ten years of publications in the CALICO Journal and other major CALL journals, these areas of expertise become clear, helping graduate students and practitioners find their place in CALL and those developing CALL courses understand the wealth of possibilities CALL offers.
Developing Social Network Literacies of Learners in Turkish as a Foreign Language Instruction
Jonathon Reinhardt, University of Arizona
Osman Solmaz, Dicle University
The everyday use of social network sites (SNSs) involves a suite of socio-literacy practices centered on social interaction and self-presentation. Previous scholarship shows that these sites can be used for informal learning of socio-pragmatics, culture, developing learning communities, and multi-literacies. This study examines this potential of SNSs in a less commonly taught language context, in particular Twitter, by evaluating an instruction designed for 12 intermediate-level learners of Turkish at a large public American university. The results of a mixture of quantitative and qualitative measures reveal insights regarding how Turkish learners develop metalinguistic and cultural awareness, a sense of socio-collaborative and autonomous learning, and social network literacies through SNS-enhanced language instruction.
Panel Presentation 3:00pm – 4:15pm
Collaborative Authoring: The Carnegie Mellon-University of Texas French Project
Christopher Jones, Carnegie Mellon University
Sophie Queuniet, Columbia University
Patricia Kyle Mosele, University of Texas at Austin
Authoring teams at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Texas at Austin are collaborating on a course development project intended to fill a gap in internet-based language instruction by jointly creating an intermediate French course that meets the needs of faculty and students not only at their own institutions but also beyond. Based on a common instructional architecture, the “French 3 Project” creates a hybrid design which functions as a bridge course to advanced French studies in multiple institutional settings. Panelists discuss the design process, content, funding, intellectual property issues, and recent updates on this innovative work in progress.
Session 17 3:45pm – 4:15pm
Improving Chinese Speakers’ English Intonation Through Online Training Modules With Visual Feedback
Dorothy Chun, University of California Santa Barbara
Yan Jiang, University of California Santa Barbara
This presentation reports on a study of Chinese speakers who receive sustained, systematic online training on English intonation in order to improve their oral speech comprehensibility and fluidity. Learners use speech analysis software (Praat) to view and compare the visual representations of pauses, prominences and tone choices of both scripted and spontaneous speech to facilitate their perception and production skills. This study surveys the challenges with English intonation that Chinese speakers are facing, and tests the effects of the online training modules in improving the L2 learners’ intonation skills through pre- and post-tests comparison.
Professor ex Machina: Developing GOCs into MOOCs
Radmila Popovic, World Learning
Kara McBride, World Learning
Two of our constructivist online EFL teacher training courses — “Teaching Grammar Communicatively” and “Teaching Critical Thinking through Culture” — are undergoing an iterative process of course development. At each stage, the courses move from fully instructed to, ultimately, becoming massive online open courses (MOOCs) for EFL professionals from all over the world. We discuss ways in which we are addressing issues of feedback, intercultural communication, intercultural education, the quality and mechanics of peer interaction, iterative design, and the possibility of radical variation in students’ professional, linguistic, cultural, educational, and technological profiles.
Telecollaboration for Professional Purposes: Negotiating Pronouns of Address
Joseph Cunningham, Georgetown University
The negotiation of informal and formal pronouns of address is complex: a speaker’s choice reflects both the communicative context and the identity she wishes to express. In the context of computer-mediated intercultural exchange (i.e., telecollaboration), Belz and Kinginger (2002, 2003) demonstrated that informal interaction between age-similar peers affords opportunity for second language (L2) learners to attend more carefully to the social consequences of T-V use. The current study problematizes these findings by examining the negotiation of pronominal address forms between L2 learners of German and Berlin-based entrepreneurs when communicative context and identity expression do not neatly align.
CMC using Slack: Classroom Implementation and Research into L2 Development
Adriana Picoral, University of Arizona
This presentation will address the many affordances of a CMC tool called Slack (a free messaging app for teams), by describing its implementation in a university-level Portuguese as a foreign language course where most learners are Spanish-English bilinguals. The presenter will also delineate how she built two computer learner corpora: one compiled from her own students’ CMC data and another from data scraped from Lang-8, a multilingual language learning website. Analyses of the language produced by multilingual learners of Portuguese interacting in digital spaces in two different contexts, and ensuing pedagogical implications for computer-based learning will be discussed.
A Balancing Act: Blended Learning Trends in Basic Language Courses
Hope Anderson, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Digital learning is becoming increasingly prevalent in U.S. higher education, including in the social field of second language learning. In larger language programs in particular, blended (partially online) courses are gaining popularity. Through an original survey of 121 instructor and administrator participants representing 13 languages, interviews with 21 participants, and surveys of students in 4 participants’ classes, this study examines lower-division blended language courses recently taught at U.S. colleges and universities to identify trends, key themes, strengths, and challenges, and to make recommendations for the implementation of technology in language courses ranging from fully face to face to fully online.
Session 18 4:30pm – 5:00pm
Using Videos in L2 Achievement Tests: Rasch Analysis on Difficulty Effects
Roman Lesnov, Northern Arizona University
Second language (L2) listening testing remains one of the areas that has made little use of video support. Attempting to uncover video effect on L2 listening comprehension, this study employed the Rasch analysis on the listening test data from 44 high-intermediate ESL test-takers to investigate the interactions between format (i.e., video-enhanced versus audio-only), video type (i.e., context versus content), and performance on individual comprehension items. The findings suggested that test and item difficulty depended on the amount of content clues in videos. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical significance for L2 listening test developers and teachers.
Creation and Evaluation of Multimedia Materials to Promote Development of Current and Prospective International Students’ Pragmatic Competence in Academic Settings
Ananda Astrini Muhammad, Iowa State University
This work-in-progress research aims at operationalizing a pragmatic competence construct proposed by Timpe, Wain, and Schmidgall (2015) by creating and evaluating multimedia materials to teach requests in spoken and written communication within U.S. academic settings. The design will be guided by Mayer’s (2009) multimedia design principles and Chapelle’s (2001) CALL task appropriateness framework. Participants of this study will consist of current and prospective international students. Data will be collected from participants’ performance on pre-instruction and post-instruction tasks, and evaluation questionnaire answers. Results will help provide insight on multimedia materials design that promotes an effective learning environment for acquisition of pragmatic competence.
Technology as a Mediating Tool: Synchronous Videoconferencing, the Creation of a Language Laboratory, and L2 Learning
Chesla Ann Lenkaitis, Binghamton University
This study qualitatively investigates the ways in which synchronous videoconferencing, via Zoom, mediates L2 learning for thirty-six L2 Spanish participants (n = 36) over a 6-week period. Participants meet weekly in 2-3 member groups to discuss research-created topics in Spanish. Transcribed Zoom sessions are coded using researcher-created categories, via NVivo11 software, in order to analyze L2 development, group interaction, and focus on weekly topics. Results suggest that the three focus areas are dependent on several factors, including group dynamics and language level, and that the creation of an online language laboratory is a valuable tool for L2 learning and teaching.
Using Digital Badges in Professional Development of Language Instructors
Stephen L. Tschudi, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Ruslan Suvorov, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Hui-Ya Chuang, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
In this presentation, we will discuss how digital badging can be utilized to recognize and certify professional development of language instructors, and show examples demonstrating three approaches to using badges in such contexts. Furthermore, we will present some considerations related to the selection of a badging system, development of the badge metadata, creation of badge criteria, and assignment and distribution of badges. Our presentation will conclude with recommendations for implementing a badging system to promote professional development of language educators for distinct and specific purposes.
Perspectives on Flipped L2 Classes: Implications for Instructor Training
Marta Tecedor Cabrero, Texas Tech University
A growing number of institutions are migrating to flipped approaches to foreign language learning. This change has raised questions and concerns regarding instructors’ and students’ preparation. This session examines how both instructors and students conceptualize and experience their roles and how this interpretation shapes their behaviors and beliefs about learning under this new instructional model. Data were collected by way of a survey including open and guided questions and analyzed based on an exploratory content analysis approach. Implications for a training model for flipped instruction will be discussed.