Session 14
Panel Presentation
8:00am – 9:30am
Teacher Education SIG Presentations
Marlene Johnshoy CARLA, University of Minnesota
Mirjam Hauck Open University
Peter B Swanson Georgia State University
Melinda Dooly
This session features six presentations regarding teacher training to provide instruction online, cross-cultural mediators in telecollaboration 2.0, the differential effects of using Prezi or PowerPoint during second/foreign language instruction, the maximization of learners’ reading comprehension with teacher-created interactive texts, the exploration of the role of social presence in computer supported collaborative learning and teaching, and the INTENT project. Colleagues will be giving a series of mini presentation (between 5-10 minutes) so that there is more room for in depth discussion in the second half of the symposium.
8:00am – 8:45am
YouTube Channels as Open Language Learning Resources
Munassir Alhamami, University of Hawaii
YouTube videos have become a very helpful resource for language learners and teachers. In this presentation, the audience will explore the use of YouTube channels in education as a free resource for teaching and learning. This session will highlight the most important features to create successful language learning YouTube channels. In addition, it will present a comprehensive guide for using the available language learning YouTube videos in language learning classrooms.
Addressing Anxiety with Technology: The Application of Blogs to Better Understand Foreign Language Anxiety
Kyle Scholz, University of Waterloo
This paper bridges new insight in SLA and foreign language anxiety (FLA) with research in CALL on the use of blogs in language learning. I argue that blogs (Miceli et al., 2011) can be a tool to help learners better understand their anxious feelings about foreign language learning and use (Horwitz et al., 1986; Horwitz & Yan, 2009). Rather than theorize FLA as a situation-specific trait, I contend that anxiety must take into consideration the dynamic nature of the learner (Block, 2007). Blog postings allow learners to both discuss and share feelings of anxiety with one another. Although current blog research has examined the anxiety-reducing nature of the blog (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008), I aim to emphasize the complex role of the language learner.
Integrating Technology-enhanced Student Self-regulated Tasks into a University Chinese Language Course
Irene Shidong An, University of Sydney
This paper reports on the implementation of a semester-long task into a university lower intermediate Chinese language course. Web-based podcasting technology, ChinesePod was utilized to assist this implementation. The first part of this paper focuses on the task design informed by frameworks proposed in present literature. The second half of the paper presents and analyses data collected from an end-of-course questionnaire and semi-structured student interviews. The results reveal that the students differ in their perceptions of the same task and the ways they approach it. This in turn leads to a quality difference in their actual performance of the task. This study highlights the importance of careful task design, recognition of individual learning styles and constant rapport with students, especially when student self regulated tasks are implemented.
Educational Engineering as Research Method: Just an Ecological Paradigm Shift or a Copernican Revolution?
Jozef Colpaert, University of Antwerp
The main tenet of Educational Engineering (EE) is that the added value of a particular educational artifact is proportional to the extent to which it contributes to the creation of an optimal learning environment. EE does not focus on some inherent effect on learning emanating from a particular technology. EE defines the learning environment as a self-regulating system, a learning ecology, where more attention goes to the interplay between the components of the environment, the context and the rationale behind its design. In this presentation we will show why it is best to focus on the need for a particular technology within a well-designed learning environment, why Educational Engineering can be recognized as a research method, and how language teachers can transform their daily practice into research.
Session 15
9:00am – 9:45am
Accurate or Not Accurate – This is Not the Question!
Mat(hias) Schulze, University of Waterloo
Peter Wood, University of Saskatchewan
When it comes to linguistic accuracy of learner texts, the focus of ICALL has been on diagnosing individual errors. Our approach, however, is to score the level of accuracy of learner texts holistically. We will discuss how corpus data can be used to arrive at an accuracy measure that can be used together with measures for complexity and fluency to obtain a complex picture of individual learners’ proficiency and their second language development. We rely on a computational accuracy analysis to be able to analyze large learner corpora and to provide speedy contingent feedback in a VLE.
Enhancing Parallel Corpus Resources for CALL
Piet Desmet, KULAK
(piet.desmet@kuleuven-kortrijk.be)
Hans Paulussen, KU Leuven KULAK
(hans.paulussen@kuleuven-kortrijk.be)
Electronic text corpora have proved to be invaluable resources for language learning and teaching. Since text data are nowadays electronically available, basic structuring and exploitation has become an easy task. However, the real quality of text resources for DDL improves a lot when the corpora are further enhanced with linguistic annotations. Two levels of corpus structuring are required. The macro-level concerns the structuring of files and folders, whereas the real enhancement concerns the linguistic annotation (lemmatization and PoS tagging) at the micro-level. In order to make the data easily transferable for other applications, an open format (XML) is the appropriate packaging format. This talk will describe the different enhancement approaches possible for a parallel corpus, illustrated by samples from the DPC translation corpus used in the COBALT project.
Bridging the Gap: Bringing Interactivity to a Synchronous Distance Learning Class
Chrissy Hosea, Yale University
In 2011-2012, Yale University and Cornell University started offering a synchronous distance learning course in Dutch. This pilot course presented several challenges in terms of the technology used, course design, and pedagogy, which all had to be adapted to the new learning environment. Discussion will concern the process of implementing a series of classroom activities and technology solutions that preserve the effective interactive and communicative language learning approaches from the bricks and mortar classroom. We will also present the learners’ reactions to the distance learning context through the results of the student surveys.
Customizing Language-Learning Activities for Engineering Students via LADL
Gregory Aist, Iowa State University
Monica G. Richards, Iowa State University
Prakalp Sudhakar, Iowa State University
In order to support language learning in a wide range of languages and by learners with specific career or personal motivations, novel CALL tools and approaches are required that allow straightforward construction of language-learning activities by nontechnical people. LADL, the Learning Activity Description Language, provides a common framework including a streamlined programming language and an integrated development environment designed for use by non-programmers to enable the development of pedagogically sound interactive exercises. This presentation focuses on the use of LADL to develop language-learning activities for several test cases, including English for civil engineering students and French for engineering undergraduates.
Computer Mediated Communication Meets Social Media
Michael Bush, Brigham Young University
Technology today presents an impressive array of options for bringing the target language and culture to anyone interested in learning a second language. An examination of typical materials today, however, reveals that instruction is often based on the same technology used by the parents of today’s students: the textbook. Today’s “digital natives” thus face an approach to learning significantly different from the technological means they use in other aspects of their lives. This presentation will show how the power of story, computer-mediated communication, and social media can be combined to create a pedagogically sound language learning experience that students also find to be extremely engaging.
Session 16
10:00am – 10:45am
SLIC: Second Life as A Collaborative Tool For Graduate Teacher Training
and Developing Intercultural Communicative Competences
Anne-Laure Foucher, Université Blaise Pascal
(a-laure.foucher@univ.bpclermont.fr)
Aurelie Bayle, Université Blaise Pascal
Bonnie Youngs, Carnegie Mellon University
SLIC (Second Life InterCulturel) was a collaboration between undergraduate students of French at Carnegie Mellon University and Masters students of FLE using ICT from Université Blaise Pascal. The project’s intent was to extend the intercultural communicative competences of the undergraduates and of the graduate students as well as the teaching experiences of the latter using the synthetic world Second Life (SL). Students on both sides of the project collaborated in SL, where they were able to exchange cultural information on themes linked to the undergraduate course in asynchronous document exchanges via Moodle and during synchronous online meetings in SL.
CMC SIG Sponsored: Analyzing Multimodal CMC
Marta Gonzalez-Lloret, University of Hawai’i
Shannon Sauro, UT San Antonio
As technology evolves and the field of CMC research incorporates more multimodal communication, new issues in research start to surface: which are the best technologies to collect data, how do these impact the activities themselves, and how is data analysis transformed to accommodate and best represent the multimodality of data. This presentation, sponsored by the CMC SIG, brings together a panel of three CMC experts to discuss three new and innovative methods of CMC data collection and analysis from a broad spectrum of approaches.
Learner Interaction in Autonomous, Student-led Speaking Tasks via Synchronous Audiographic Conferencing
Joseph Hopkins, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
This paper reports on a study examining interaction of adult distance learners of EFL engaged in speaking tasks via a synchronous audiographic conferencing (SAC) tool. In light of previous findings regarding the teacher centeredness of the interaction in such environments, speaking tasks were designed to be carried out autonomously by learners in small groups, without the presence of the teacher. An in-depth analysis of 31 sessions was conducted to investigate the nature of learner collaboration and interaction. The main findings will be presented, along with implications for task design for SAC environments.
What’s So Epic About This Legend? Blending Technologies to Teach Language and Culture at Multiple Levels
Christopher Brown, San Diego State University – LARC
Evan Rubin, San Diego State University – LARC
Mana Mohtasham, San Diego State University – LARC
Written over 1,000 years ago by the Persian poet Ferdowsi, the ‘Tales of Shahnameh’ is an epic poem bursting with history, culture, and authentic language from the region known today as Iran. Due to the poetic style and complex language of this classic story, utilizing the Shahnameh in the Persian language classroom is a great challenge. By using the E-learning software Articulate, Quizmaker, BYKI, and Moodle, LARC is recreating one story of the Shahnameh epic, developing language practice tools, and comprehension activities for novice, intermediate, advanced and superior level Persian language learners.
LangBot: A Language Reference Agent for Language Learners
Scott Payne, Amherst College
Kelly Bilinski, UC Davis
Luiz Amaral, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Weijia Li, Amherst College
Aaron Coburn, Amherst College
LangBot is an innovative data-driven language learning and research tool freely available on instant messenger that logs learner behavior, self-report data, generates learner models, and tracks development of vocabulary and syntax while serving as an “intelligent” language reference agent in a conversational “wrapper.” In this presentation we will provide an update on this on-going project, including research findings to date.
A Collaborative Wikisite for Diagnosis of Spanish and English Word Stress
William McCartan, Seton Hall University
Wikinomics (Tapscott & Williams, 2006) introduced the word “prosumers” for the collaborative process whereby consumers participate in production. This session consists of an interactive presentation that includes a pb wikisite constructed for the purpose of diagnosis and instruction of word stress usage in Spanish and Standard American English and to allow for collaboration among users to develop the diagnostic process and instructional materials. The diagnostic procedure is based on inventories of word stress patterns derived from a 7,000 record Standard American English data base and a 1,500 record Spanish data base.
Designing Blended Language Learning Environments: Challenges, Pitfalls, and Successes
Sebastien Dubreil, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Rachel LaMance, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Blended language learning environments, when designed properly, enable a harmonious combination of face-to-face and online instructional formats, harnessing the best potentialities of both. Indeed, new instructional technologies afford learners and teachers a new set of pedagogical practices that, in addition to language skills, will help developing new skill sets. However, from conceptualization to implementation, the challenges and pitfalls are numerous. This presentation explores the process of moving to blended learning environments, taking into account research in CALL within the context of institutional constraints. It also discusses some of the successes and failures associated with implementation and gives examples of learners’ work.
Session 17
11:00am – 11:20am
Opening the Horizons: Young Language Learners and Telecollaborative Projects
Melinda Dooly, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Language teaching in today’s society highlights the need to redefine concepts such as literacy and communicative competence, not only in language education but across different fields of knowledge. Project-based learning (PBL) is becoming an increasingly popular and fruitful approach to achieving this unity. Project-based Language Learning (PBLL) –especially when combined with Web 2.0– is a powerful tool for enhancing the integrative development of linguistic, audiovisual and digital competences as well as the proficiencies linked to cross-disciplinary knowledge. This presentation discusses a research project (PADS: EDU2010-17859) aimed to explore the design, implementation and analysis of telecollaborative PBLL with young language learners.
Effectiveness of Using Moodle Glossary for Collaborative Vocabulary Building
Niamboue Bado, Ohio University
Vocabulary building is an important aspect of foreign language learning in the sense that it contributes to the development of fluency and reading comprehension. However, less effective techniques such as rote memorization and decontextualized mechanical drills have made vocabulary learning one of the most dreaded tasks for learners. Instructors have become aware of the problem and are taking advantage of technology to improve vocabulary learning. The present study draws insights from qualitative data collected from graduate students at a Midwestern University to argue that using Moodle Glossary for collaborative vocabulary learning improves learners’ understanding and attitudes towards French vocabulary learning.
Professional Development on Web 2.0 Technologies for Teachers of German: A Case Study
Carolina Bustamante, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
(bustamantemc@huskers.unl.edu)
The purpose of this session is to present a qualitative case study that describes a unique professional development program on Web 2.0 technologies for teachers of German using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The program was developed as an online class for teachers of German for grades 7-12 on integrating Web 2.0 tools into the language classroom, with the purpose of forming German teachers who are competent technology users and who understand foreign language pedagogy. The course aimed to improve the teachers’ proficiency in their second language as well.
Designing Error Correction Programs for L2 Writing
Jinhee Choo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sunny Lee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This paper describes a CALL program designed to address persistent writing errors made by Korean learners with advanced proficiency in English. We describe an experiment that demonstrated that the program enabled these L2 learners to identify and correct four types of persistent errors—determiners, quantifiers, passive constructions, and articles—on a post test and on a delayed post test five months later. We then discuss the elements in the program that support this result. Finally, we suggest how programs based on L2 error corpora can contribute to resolving some current issues in L2 acquisition.
Exploring the Usability of Holistic Scores in Automated Writing Evaluation
Volker Hegelheimer, Iowa State University
Yang Hye Jin, Iowa State University
Zhi Li, Iowa State University
Stephanie Link, Iowa State University
Hong Ma, Iowa State University
Recent years witnessed an increasing use of automated writing evaluation (AWE) in L2 writing classes (Warschauer & Grimes, 2008). Although the usefulness of AWE for improving students’ writing development has been broadly investigated (Wang & Brown, 2007), the influence of holistic scores on students’ revising process is under-explored. Contextualized in a Midwestern university, the present study aims to explore the usability of holistic scores generated by Criterion® in ESL writing classes and look into the relationship between teachers’ grading and AWE scoring. The implication of this study will be discussed regarding the potential of implementing AWE scoring in teachers’ final grading rubric.
Building an Online Community of Practice for Language Learning: The VidéoTech Project
Nandini Sarma, Carleton University
Helene Knoerr, University of Ottawa
This paper will describe the framework of a community of practice for language educators and report on the VidéoTech project for French language learning. Launched in 2011, VidéoTech was designed to provide teaching tools and collaborative space for FSL teachers. Based on questionnaires and data collected from the site, we will discuss user background, technology awareness, teacher beliefs and teaching practices in the context of VidéoTech and its associated tools.
Session 18
11:30am – 11:50am
Metacognitive Application of CALL to Improve L2 Pronunciation
Angel Anorga, University of Cincinnati Blue Ash
This session presents the implementation of digital voice recording through the utilization of CALL software to promote the improvement of L2 pronunciation. The results of a ten-week study are presented as a model of the application of CALL in the L2 classroom. The study describes how digital voice-recording, as a pedagogical tool, can be utilized to provide feedback to learners to facilitate the improvement of pronunciation in the target language. This session also explores how the utilization of digital voice-recording software allows promoting metacognitive practices among learners. Ten important reasons for the use of digital-voice recording will be presented.
Targeting Peer-response in an Intercultural Exchange on a Wiki Space
Linda Bradley, Chalmers University of Technology
This presentation discusses a case study where non-native English speaking students from six countries engage in an intercultural web-based exchange with native English speaking students in the US. The focus is investigating how students understand and recognize peer-response as a tool for text processing. The data consists of the students’ texts, comments and video-recorded interviews with their reflections. This combination of data makes it possible to follow the students’ reasoning about the feedback process at a very specific level. Results show that participating in a multifaceted intercultural web-based exchange is a vital experience for learners to develop their writing skills.
A Review of the Use of Script-based Tracking in Studies on Grammar Applications for Data Sharing
Fenfang Hwu, University of Cincinnati
Using script-based tracking to gain insights into the way students learn or process language information can be traced as far back as to the 1980s. Nevertheless, researchers continue to face challenges in collecting and studying this type of data. Accordingly, this paper reviews studies in which script-based tracking was used to record learning behaviors in grammar applications. The objective is to propose data sharing through data repositories as a way to ease the challenges that researchers face in collecting and studying this type of tracking data, increase the use of this type of data, and synthesize and enhance CALL research.
Web 2.0 for Language Learning: Benefits and Challenges for Educators
Tian Luo, Ohio University
This literature review study explores 16 empirical research studies that report on the integration of Web 2.0 tools into language learning and that evaluate the actual impact of using those Web 2.0 tools in language learning. In particular, this review aims to identify the theoretical underpinnings that are commonly used to frame the research, the methodologies and data analysis techniques that scholars employ to analyze their research data, the benefits and challenges scholars spotted in their research findings, and the implications in using Web 2.0 for language learning that scholars offer from their research.