| 5/9/14 9:00am Bentley 124 | Engaging Various Levels of Learners in the Same Classroom
Kimberly Anne Ditty Columbus School Finding a balance to engage middle school aged language learners can be difficult. Engaging learners of multiple levels and capabilities in the same classroom can be even more difficult, maybe seemingly impossible. By creating a blended learning experience, students can use meaningful programs and technologies to learn at their own pace to achieve proficiency and mastery. This session gives examples of tools used to differentiate the learning experience to facilitate interest and engagement in a middle school language classroom. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Bentley 135 | Writing Spanish in the Digital Age: Facilitating Communication and Collaboration
Cristina Pardo-Ballester Iowa State University In this presentation we will describe a process incorporated in online writing assignments to facilitate collaboration among students during peer-review activities. We will describe (1) the creation of an environment that suits the affective needs of learners by integrating writing activities designed to lower the affective filter, which was deemed as an important pedagogical goal (Krashen, 1982), (2) the forms of interaction between student-student, instructor-instructors, and student-instructor; (3) the integration of forums as an opportunity for self-and-other-regulation of errors and repair, and (4) the integration of grading rubrics in the CMS. Student impressions about the adopted process will be presented. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Bentley 129 | Enhancing Linguistic and Intercultural Competencies through the Use of Social Network Sites and Google Earth
Ellen Yeh Ohio University The purpose of this presentation is to explore the role of global literacy in academic settings as the effect of increasingly digital technologies is being felt across areas of teaching and learning. Digital, global democracies require global literacy skills to individuals for twenty-first century citizenship and intercultural and linguistic competencies. This paper introduces ways to enhance global literacy through the use of technology in three areas: (1) enhancing global literacy through linguistic and intercultural competencies; (2) using technology to enhance intercultural and linguistic competencies; and (3) instructional approaches for using technology (i.e., social network sites, Google Earth). |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Baker 233 | Testing Pragmatics of Computer-mediated Interaction
Iftikhar Haider University of Illinois at Urbana champaign Recent research on assessment of ESL pragmatics has largely used discourse completion tasks and closed role-plays as the main tool of pragmatic tests. Emerging computer-mediated communication based research offers new alternatives to the traditional approach for inter-language pragmatics testing. The presenter offers a new assessment framework and draws upon real life extended email discourse to discuss the pedagogical implications of pragmatic assessment of ESL students at a large Midwestern university. The study will be presented in an interactive way using audio-visual aids and handouts, and participants will take away future perspectives in assessing inter-language pragmatics through CMC. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Baker 231 | Study Abroad for Free: Foreign Language Conversation Practice in Second Life
Karen Acosta Valdosta State University This session presents the design process, goals, execution, as well as challenges and benefits of conducting a regularly scheduled, online gathering in the virtual environment of Second Life. In the Spring of 2014, the presenters will introduce a virtual language conversation club to the university community; guided conversations covering disciplines such as art, music, history, and literature. Just as in real life study abroad, students will participate in (virtual) excursions such as playing the ball game at the Maya ruins, riding a gondola in Venice, or chatting over tea in a 1900s Paris café. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Baker 237 | First Language-learning Course on Coursera: German Intro
Edward Dixon Penn Language Center The introduction of new educational spaces such as MOOCs is having a transforming impact on educational practice and leading to new creative pedagogies both within and beyond the classroom. Beyond the unique experience that students have learning language with their peers in a globally networked learning environment, this presentation will show the insights instructors gain from teaching language with technology for meaningful practice and social interaction in worldwide cultural contexts. The examples and outcomes are from the Coursera course “German Intro” that will be taught from the University of Pennsylvania in spring 2014. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Bentley 136 | To Teach Languages Online or Not To? Factors Impacting Faculty Decisions to Design and Deliver Online Courses
Joe Terantino Kennesaw State University Many colleges and universities have encouraged the expansion of online course offerings, including foreign languages. While some foreign language faculty members have openly embraced designing and implementing online language courses, others have adamantly objected. In an attempt to determine some of the motivating factors behind each of these perspectives, this study explored perceptions regarding online language courses from the faculty of one department of foreign languages in the southeast. The primary purpose of doing so was to identify and aid in better understanding the factors that motivate and impede faculty to embrace online courses. |
| 5/9/14 9:00am Bentley 140 | CALL and Integrated Performance Assessments
Gillian Lord University of Florida This session sponsored by the Teacher Education Sig features five presentations regarding technologies that can be used for integrated performance assessments (IPA) in a second or foreign language. Per the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, such assessments are the archetype for assessing the progress language students are making in achieving the K-16 standards as well as in developing their language proficiency. IPAs are a cluster assessment featuring three tasks, each of which reflects one of the three modes of communication — interpretive, interpersonal and presentational. The three tasks are aligned within a single theme or content area, mirroring the manner in which students naturally acquire and use the language in the real world or the classroom. Each task provides the information and elicits the linguistic interaction that is necessary for students to complete the subsequent task. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Bentley 136 | CALL Competency Developed and Observed in EFL Classrooms: The Impact of the TPACK-in-Action CALL Workshops
Shu-Ju Diana Tai Iowa State University The study investigated how the TPACK-in-Action CALL intervention impacted the development of teachers’ CALL competency and how CALL competencies were adopted into teaching. Participants were 24 elementary English teachers in Taiwan. Situated in a mixed methods design, data were collected from four sources: surveys, observations, interviews, and reflections. Findings indicated that the TPACK-in-Action workshops had a positive impact on participants’ development of CALL competency. CALL integration was also observed in participants’ classrooms. It indicated that observation contributed as an effective measure in understanding what CALL integration entailed. It also had theoretical and pedagogical implications for CALL teacher education. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Baker 237 | Integrating Digital Storytelling in CALL Teacher Education
Shu-chien Pan Selecting and evaluating CALL software and tools plays a vital role in a successful CALL classroom. Teachers’ reflections of these tools and course content objectives provide meaningful information about CALL software, integration, evaluation, and applications. This study examined the utilization of Digital Storytelling in reflecting a post-graduate CALL course. A mixed research methodology incorporating quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted, including a web-based survey, online text-based journals, and multimedia DS video clips to collect data. Results indicated that participants reflected their learning in diverse perspectives, such as personal learning experience, theories and course contents reflection, and software tutorial creations. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Bentley 135 | Text-Chat, Corrective Feedback and L2 Writing
Shannon Sauro Malmo University This study investigates the effect of two different types of corrective feedback (recasts and metalinguistic feedback) delivered via text-chat on the development of adult learners’ L2 writing. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for second language instruction as well as the interface of SLA and L2 writing research. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Bentley 124 | An Automated Authentic Listening Passage Selection System for the Language Proficiency Test
Chong Min Lee Educational Testing Center This study provides an automated assistive tool for listening passage generation. Listening items for a language proficiency assessment that measures business communication skills need to cover a variety of authentic business contexts, and creating a large pool of passages across a wide range of authentic contexts is a challenging task. Recently developed online resources, such as YouTube, allow students to access diverse real-life material, but few studies have focused on how to use that same material for assessment development. In this study, we will present an automated system which selects appropriate speech material for item generation from online data resources. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Baker 231 | Animation, Grammar and Assessment: A Case Study on the Acquisition of the Particle LE in Mandarin Chinese
Mingyu Sun University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee This study looks at 1) how animation can be integrated into grammar instruction and assessment in an L2 classroom and 2) reports preliminary findings on the acquisition sequence of the grammatical particle LE in Mandarin Chinese. Two groups of students were exposed to two types of instructional materials: one with animation in an online format and the other with pictures in a paper-based format. We will also share the design of the study, the challenges in using animation to learn abstract grammatical concepts, and the pedagogical implications that the acquisition sequence has on the instruction of LE to L2 learners. |
| 5/9/14 9:45am Bentley 129 | The Flipped Classroom in Foreign Language Instruction
The flipped classroom is gaining momentum, primarily in the STEM fields, but has not been widely researched in FL instruction. A pilot study was completed on the effects of the flipped classroom model in an introductory FL classroom. This presentation will focus on the design of the flipped course as well as the results of the pre- and post-test study in the areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Instructor and student opinions about the course format will also be presented as well as the progress of a follow-up dissertation study currently being conducted on the same topic. |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Bentley 136 | Assessing Motivation in Pronunciation through Online Audio Discussions
Cindy Lepore University of Alabama This presentation addresses research that investigated introductory L2 students’ motivation to focus on pronunciation development while participating in interpersonal audio discussions using VoiceThread. During the presentation, factors that affected motivation in pronunciation will be discussed along with the instruments from the study that were used to measure and operationalize the construct. Additionally, theoretical and pedagogical implications of the study’s findings will be suggested. Attendees can expect to discover how VoiceThread was used to address pronunciation development and motivation in pronunciation as well as understand more about students’ experiences using the technology. |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Bentley 135 | Creating Social Presence Using Interlanguage-CMC
Ilona Vandergriff San Francisco State University Using discourse-analytic methods, the specific aim of this paper is to document the various ways in which language learners construct and project an online social presence in informal and incidental language learning contexts. With examples drawn from a corpus of social media posts in a “Learn German” group, I offer a contextual analysis of a) cohesive (e.g., addressing interlocutors by name, creating a collective identity), b) interactive (e.g., complimenting, expressing disagreement, quoting), and c) affective (e.g., emotive communication, self-disclosure) devices to create social presence (Rourke et al., 2001; following Fabro and Garrison, 1998). |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Baker 237 | Facilitating Curriculum and Materials Development for Collaborative Teaching Communities
Susan Faivre University of Illinois This presentation will explain the evolution of the curriculum development and strategies used to create what is now a sustained, yet constantly evolving and improving, curriculum in an ESL writing program at a large Midwestern university. It will also demonstrate the collaborative online guides and the technological strategies that support them. |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Bentley 129 | Mein deutsches Abenteuer: An Online Roleplaying Game for Teaching Writing to Beginning German Students
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz Northern Illinois University Online games range in complexity and sophistication from simple, text-based narrative mazes to extremely involved, multiplayer immersive 3D virtual environments. Each game type has a variety of valuable applications for language learning, but some are better suited to specific tasks than others. Introducing a linguistically sophisticated game too early can be demotivating for the beginning learner who struggles to communicate with his or her fellow players. A better approach at online games for the beginner is one that can be adapted to a student’s rudimentary language skills. This paper reports on an online role-playing game specifically tailored to beginning German language learners. Mein deutsches Abenteuer incorporates a simple text-based narrative maze through which students navigate by writing short, increasingly complex passages in German over the course of an academic semester. |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Baker 231 | Technology for Language Learning: Current Uses among ITAs and Future Directions
Lara Wallace Ohio University Technology provides us with many ways to support English language learners (ELLs) in their study of spoken English, but what uses of technology do students perceive as helpful? Reflexive photography and in-depth interviews with international teaching assistants (ITAs) taking a required ITA Preparatory Oral Communication course inform this phenomenological study on ITAs’ experiences with technology. Specifically, this presentation focuses on what technological uses the ITAs found to be helpful and what they perceived as unhelpful in terms of improving their spoken English intelligibility. Suggestions for improved use of technology as well as directions for future research will also be discussed. |
| 5/9/14 10:30am Baker 233 | Online, Sustainable, Personal: Technology and Tasks for Language Learners
Sharon Scinicariello University of Richmond Technology offers a wealth of online resources to make language learning both personal and sustainable, but most language learners don’t know how to construct learning activities to meet their own needs. Using syllabi and examples from a program designed for independent learners, this presentation demonstrates how they are taught to create technology-based learning tasks and discusses learner reaction to this method, which demands a high level of engagement. The presenter argues that teaching learners to design technology-based tasks not only develops life-long learning skills but also helps language programs address the changing goals of today’s learners.
|
| 5/9/14 10:45am Bentley 140 | Preparing Teachers for Blended/Online Language Instruction
Merica McNeil University of Arizona As an increasing number of language classes are being offered in blended and online formats, an important question is how to prepare instructors to teach such classes effectively. This panel, which includes members of the Teacher Education and the Language Teaching and Learning Technologies SIGs, will address various aspects involved in preparing teachers to develop materials and teach a blended or online language class. Members of the panel have conducted research and have extensive experience in teaching a language with technology and in teacher education. We will try to address current issues with multiple perspectives. |
| 5/9/14 11:15am Baker 237 | Teacher-Researcher Collaboration: Technology for Bridging the Language-Content Gap
Jesse Gleason University of Florida By providing students a bridge between lower-level and upper-level courses, third-year FL courses carry a heavy responsibility: they must integrate the language-focus familiar to students at the lower-levels while simultaneously preparing them for the types of learning that they will encounter at the upper-levels. Using grounded ethnographic methods this multiple case study chronicles how a collaborative partnership between an instructor and an applied linguist facilitated the integration of two types of technology into two sections of a third-year Spanish grammar-and-composition course. Findings include four ways that technology played a key role in third-year language learning.
|
| 5/9/14 11:15am Bentley 135 | Researching Nonverbal Dimensions in Synchronous Videoconference-based Interactions
Nicolas Guichon Lyon 2 University With the growing number of language courses offered online, teacher trainers are incited to reflect on the competences required by future online teachers (Lamy and Hampel, 2007). Among these, understanding the attention to the semiotic resources at their disposal and their orchestration by teachers is crucial (McCafferty and Stam, 2008), so as to adjust teacher training to these environments and help teachers develop critical semiotic awareness. Three French undergraduate students with a B2 level in English were asked to describe four photographs in English to the same teacher via Skype. We use a qualitative approach focusing on gestures and gazes to examine nonverbal behviors in synchronous videoconference-based interactions and to explore the rhythm of the interactions. |
| 5/9/14 11:15am Baker 231 | Synchronous CMC in First-semester German
Theresa Schenker Yale University A semester-long synchronous tandem exchange was established between two first-semester German classes at a Northeastern university and two advanced English classes at a high school in Germany. The purpose of the exchange was to practice foreign language skills both in speaking and writing with native speakers of the target language. Alternating between text-based and voice-based synchronous chat, the tandems communicated each week for an average of 20 minutes. Using pre- and post-surveys, pre- and post-oral assessments, and the transcripts from the text-based chats, the study analyzed the effects of the synchronous exchange on students’ speaking skills, interest in learning German and interest in study abroad. |
| 5/9/14 11:15am Baker 233 | Language Center in 2014: Collaboration, Research and Service
Mingyu Sun University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Where are we now and where are we heading? With online development in language instruction and various challenges facing humanities in general, how does a language center adapt to the changes, survive and then thrive? This presentation will try to answer this question in the form of showcasing a few major undertakings at our language center: undergraduate research projects, online and blended course development efforts, graduate student professional development and interdisciplinary collaborations. In addition, we will discuss how we adjust our service and facility usage to fit into the campus agenda that is changing as well. |
| 5/9/14 11:15am Bentley 129 | Faculty Development: Language Learning in Online Environments
Angelika Kraemer Michigan State University This presentation describes a two-year rotation of a faculty learning community that centered on language learning in online environments. The goal of the learning community was to expand and enhance online offerings across language programs at a large Midwestern university. In the first iteration, participants created new online courses in their respective languages. In the second iteration, two groups worked concurrently: an experienced group of faculty members created online courses and also assisted less experienced faculty members from the LCTLs. This model provides an opportunity for high quality faculty development at low cost. Victories and challenges as well as implications for the creation, use, and implementation of CALL materials will be discussed. |
| 5/9/14 11:15am Bentley 124 | Tutorial CALL—Our Prodigal Son?
Mat(hias) Schulze University of Waterloo Tutorial CALL—the interaction of language learners with the computer—has changed from a mainstay in computer-assisted language learning to a fringe aspect of its research and development in the last two decades. This is in stark contrast to a renewed emphasis on instructed language learning with practice and awareness-raising activities in both applied linguistics research and practical language teaching methodology. To improve the quality of the learner computer interaction, its central components—corrective and preemptive feedback, contextualization and tailoring, and (metalinguistic) text augmentation and feature-based retrieval—need to be enhanced.
|
| 5/9/14 11:15am Bentley 136 | Cognitive Load Theory for CALL
Jim Ranalli Iowa State University Most CALL practitioners know to avoid cognitively overloading learners – for example, by pairing a complex task with complex new language – yet they may be unfamiliar with the simple but powerful theory that underlies this idea. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) offers CALL practical guidelines for planning and executing instruction in line with the key features and limitations of human cognitive architecture. This talk will outline CLT and then highlight both negative and positive implications for CALL: that is, pitfalls to avoid, as well as ways that learners can be prepared for learning activities previously considered beyond their proficiency. |
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Bentley 129 | Online and Massive, but NOT the Future of Language Learning: Further Evidence in the Case Against Rosetta Stone
Gillian Lord University of Florida The present study is among the first to empirically examine the learning outcomes associated with the Rosetta Stone program as a textbook in a class or instead of altogether. Although initial results of basic proficiency and fluency revealed no significant difference between groups, continued linguistic analysis of individual oral and written data has revealed differences in terms of basic lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge as well as proficiency. This session presents the analysis of individual and group data in order to make the case for why programs such as Rosetta Stone cannot replace language classes.
|
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Bentley 135 | Learning the Subjunctive: Effectiveness of Three CALL Strategies in Rehearsed Expository and Persuasive Discourse
Eduardo Garcia-Villada Drake University College students in an intermediate Spanish practical speaking and writing course demonstrated their expository and persuasive communication skills in Spanish in Voicethread end-of-semester projects. Persuasive and argumentative discourse demands that students develop fluency in the morphology and syntax of the subjunctive. This presentation examines student progression in use of subjunctive in subordinate clauses using three CALL instructional strategies (an online forum, a wiki, and a writing tool) that led to the final project. Evidence of student learning and effectiveness of these strategies are analyzed. Suggestions for evaluating and implementing these activities will be shared. |
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Baker 231 | The Effect of Various Word Treatments on Chinese and Russian Vocabulary Acquisition during Multimedia Language Learning
Jeongwoon Erin Kim Brigham Young University This study investigated the relationship between usage of three word treatments—glosses, annotations, and online dictionaries—and rate of vocabulary acquisition for advanced Russian and Chinese learners. Instead of human participants serving as subjects, words received various treatments, thus permitting evaluation without an inordinate number of human subjects as would normally be required. Target words in the target language videos were treated with one of three treatment conditions or no treatment. The current study sheds important light on the role of word treatment on vocabulary acquisition as well as frequency and preference for word treatment usage in multimedia language learning. |
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Bentley 124 | The Effects of Syntactically Parsed Text Formats on Intensive Reading Practices in EFL
John C. Herbert Akashi National College of Technology, Japan In this presentation, the presenter uses heat maps and gaze traces produced by eye tracking software to explain how a syntactically parsed text format might affect the eye movements of EFL students engaged in scanning, skimming, and timed reading activities online. In addition, numerical results regarding words found by scanning, topics guessed correctly after skimming, reading rates from timed reading, and comprehension scores from quizzes are discussed. The text format employed by this research is a derivative of Visual Syntactic Text Formatting and is compared to conventional block text in a controlled experiment. Pedagogical implications from the results are shared. |
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Bentley 136 | The Future of Language Learning and Teacher Education with MALL
Suzan Stamper Hong Kong Institute of Education Sponsored by the Teacher Education SIG, this presentation explores the ubiquity of mobile device ownership in teacher training for a variety of contexts to mediate and facilitate students’ subject learning and teachers’ delivery of courses. Topics will include MALL (mobile-assisted language learning), BYOD (bring your own device), and CoP (communities of practice). |
| 5/9/14 12:00pm Baker 237 | Assessment Practices, Issues, and Implications in Online Language Classes
Adolfo Carrillo Cabello Valdosta State University Assessing students’ progress in online courses poses important practical challenges concerning online proctoring and academic honesty (Howlett and Hewett, 2006). Accordingly, many universities have established testing centers, partnered with proctoring services providers, or adopted un-proctored online assessments. Our study addresses a gap in the literature on online language instruction by examining assessment practices in online Spanish courses at three U.S. universities. We report on (a) issues related to online assessment and use of remote proctoring services, (b) the effects of different online assessment practices on course design, and (c) the implications of these practices for online language teaching and learning. |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Baker 237 | In and Out the Frame: Teacher Gestures during Desktop Videoconferencing Interactions
Nicolas Guichon Lyon 2 University This research dwells on several types of data to study the production of gestures by teacher trainees when they are interacting online with distant language learners during a desktop videoconferencing interaction. The qualitative study aims to understand how teacher trainees use the affordances of the webcam to produce nonverbal cues that may be useful for mutual comprehension. The participants are three French teacher trainees who are being trained to teach online via a multimodal interface over a seven-week period via a telecollaborative project with Irish learners of French. This study will try to determine the functions of gestures in the online interaction and will explore how future French teachers adapt their semiotic resources to this learning situation. |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Bentley 136 | Automated Analysis of Causal Discourse in ESL Academic Writing and Feedback for Learners
Aysel Saricaoglu Iowa State University The significance of causal relationships between events in real life and the reflection thereof in academic writing (Kemper, 2013; Soles, 2010) has led causal discourse to be at the center of research in applied linguistics since the 1980s (Cronnell, 1981; Evers-Vermeul and Sanders, 2011; Flowerdew, 1998). However, efforts to investigate cause-effect language have dealt mainly with sentence-level analyses and have yielded isolated lexical items instead of providing more constructive teaching of causal discourse (Slater, 2004). In this study, we aim to address this gap by developing an automated writing evaluation tool that specifically addresses causal discourse in ESL academic writing. |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Bentley 129 | Perceptions of Effective Teaching and Learning in Online Language Courses
Ruhui Ni Michigan State University Despite the tremendous growth of K-12 online world language programs, relatively little is known about the quality of the programs and the online courses. This paper presents a study that examines student and instructor perceptions of effective learning and teaching in online language courses. The study elicits the opinions of both instructors and students through surveys and interviews on the different course components and the factors that they regarded as important to their online language teaching/learning experience. The preliminary analysis suggests that course communication and some contextual factors hold influence on student overall satisfaction with the course. |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Baker 233 | Top 10 Technology Tools for Foreign Language Instructors: A Condensed Rundown
Keah Cunningham University of Kansas With the ever-increasing number of Web 2.0 tools, mobile apps and free multimedia software available today, the thought of finding and selecting those best suited for foreign language instruction can be daunting. This presentation will streamline your efforts by giving you a condensed rundown of ten of the best free technology tools for foreign language instructors. Examples of what instructors can do with the tools include: extract video clips and images from a DVD; download, subtitle, combine or extract segments from YouTube videos; convert file formats; share groups of links with optional annotations; create presentations outside of PowerPoint or Prezi.
|
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Bentley 124 | Eye Movements and Peer Editing in the L2: Applying It to the Classroom
Jeff Kuhn Ohio University What do our eye movements reveal about L2 reading processes? Few studies to date have examined this phenomenon (Smith, 2010; Kuhn, 2012). The current study examines ESL students’ peer review processes as well as the transfer effects of the reviewer’s L1. This session presents the following questions: Does a student’s L1 affect what is noticed in the work of another? Is peer editing more effective when writers and reviewers share an L1? Is peer editing more effective when writers and reviewers do not share an L1? |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Bentley 140 | Successes, Failures, and Methodological Issues in the Design and Evaluation of Game-supported L2 Learning Environments
Frederik Cornillie KU Leuven Kulak Despite three decades of CALL interest in gaming, and increased attention of late, there is a stark lack of consistent empirical support for the usefulness of gaming for L2 teaching and learning. This panel presentation makes a plea for more methodological coherence in the design and evaluation of game-supported L2 learning environments. It illustrates this argument with successes and failures from three recent L2 gaming projects that relate on the development of the EFL game Trace Effects, the investigation of individual gameplay trajectories for L2 German, and the design of a mini-game environment for young and immigrant learners in Europe. |
| 5/9/14 2:00pm Bentley 135 | Online Revision and Assessment on a Beginners’ French Course: Using Learning Analytics to Understand Language Learners’ Behaviors
Helene Pulker Open University This paper will present the outcome of a learning analytics project undertaken in an open and distance learning institution and based on a French module. It will also evaluate the usability of VLE learning analytics tools for language course designers. The paper is based on the analysis of data related to the engagement of a small group of students with online tools and activities, with a particular focus on online revision activities and interactive computer-marked assignments. It also considers how the quantitative data can be related to qualitative notions such as learner behaviors regarding online formative assessment. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Bentley 124 | Examining the Relationship between Interaction and Linguistic Outcomes: Is the Online Learning Environment a Viable Alternative to Traditional Classroom Instruction for Beginning Level Language Learners?
Nicole Flesvig Bruland Florida State University Many in the field of SLA agree that interaction is a critical component in the process of second language acquisition. As enrollment in online programs has increased nationwide during the past 10 years, many post-secondary institutions have developed online course offerings, including those for beginning level foreign language courses. Although research suggests that learners benefit from both face-to-face and online real-time interaction, many courses offered by post-secondary public institutions are provided in an asynchronous online format, with no expectation of real-time interaction. Results of a recent study comparing interaction with learning outcomes in face-to-face, online, and hybrid environments are discussed. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Baker 233 | Mission Possible: Flipping an Entire ESL Composition Program
Ivan Stefano Ohio State University The flipped classroom structure is an innovative method of teaching where lectures are recorded to be watched outside the classroom and in-class time is used for discussion and skill practice. This presentation highlights the implementation of the flipped teaching method in an entire post-admission ESL composition program and how the instructors participate in it. In this program-wide project, all of the undergraduate- and graduate-level writing courses in the program are flipped and we provide technological and pedagogical support for the instructors. Flipped teaching resources that we use and survey results from students and instructors will be shared. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Bentley 135 | Repairs, Corrections, and Feedback in Text-based SCMC. Disentangling the Chaos through Conversation Analysis
Marta Gonzalez-Lloret University of Hawai’i In the synchronous computer-mediated literature we often find the terms “repair”, “correction”, and “feedback” with very similar if not identical meaning. This creates confusion for the field (Hall, 2007) and what we know about their role in SLA. This presentation identifies how these terms have been used in previous SCMC studies. It then presents longitudinal data from L1-L2 Spanish speakers engaged in text-based SCMC, microanalyzed using Conversation Analysis, to provide distinctive definitions for each according to how participants perceived them in interaction. Instances of uptake are identified and linked back to the three phenomena to find whether any of them are more closely related to learning. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Baker 237 | Promoting the Academic Socialization of International Graduate Students in a Hybrid ESL Course
Nike Arnold Portland State University This session describes research in an advanced ESL class using a hybrid format to acculturate international students into the culture of instructional technology. The online component consisted of asynchronous discussions on two different online platforms. Relying on interviews, classroom observations, teacher reflections, questionnaires and discussion transcripts, this presentation provides a description of: 1) the students’ views of the online platforms and instructional technology in general, 2) their online participation, 3) any changes in attitudes and behaviors, and 4) their perceived readiness to use instructional technology in a mainstream class. The session concludes with specific pedagogical implications based on the findings. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Bentley 136 | Assessing the Impact of an Online Pronunciation Tutor on the Comprehensibility of International Teaching Assistants
Edna de Freitas Lima Iowa State University This presentation describes a novel study investigating the effectiveness of online pronunciation instruction on the comprehensibility of international teaching assistants (ITAs). To this end, participants used a four-week online tutor focusing on specific suprasegmental pronunciation features (namely word stress, rhythm, and intonation) and were evaluated for comprehensibility before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the intervention. The presenter introduces the online tutor, discusses the main findings, and concludes with potential implications for computer-assisted pronunciation teaching and learning. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Bentley 129 | Applying Activity Theory to Digital Literacies
Ana Oskoz UMBC Following Activity Theory, this study examines learners’ approaches to traditional (narration) and non-traditional (digital stories (DS)) writing tasks in an advanced writing Spanish course. Eleven participants provided the following data: questionnaires, a reflection piece, bi-weekly online journals, the narration essays, and the DS itself. After analyzing the data, the results illustrate the learners’ (1) orientations toward the writing act, (2) their writing processes, (3) the impact of feedback in their narrations and DS development and decisions, (4) the benefits and drawbacks of the use of DS, and (5) their sense of agency in their own writing processes. |
| 5/9/14 2:45pm Baker 231 | Google-Fu: Training Students (and Teachers) to Get the Most Out of Online Translators
Matthew Duncan Wright State University In keeping with the theme of this year’s conference, the more open and online our ESL classes, the more students will persist in utilizing readily available free computer technologies to aid in their language studies. As hardcopy dictionaries and textbooks become online databases and tablet apps, students will gravitate ever further from traditional tools and aids for translation. Rather than rail against the use of online translation (Google translate, Babelfish, etc.), educators can take several steps to help students integrate these tools into their studies. Primary among these steps is training students to use online machine translation properly and effectively. |
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Baker 233 | Evaluating CALL Tools for your Context
Betsy Lavolette Michigan State University How can you systematically evaluate technology tools for use in face-to-face and online language teaching? In this presentation, you will learn to apply a five-step, iterative process for evaluating tools for your teaching context that draws on previous literature on evaluating courseware and websites (e.g., Hubbard, 1988, 2011; Jamieson and Chapelle, 2010).
|
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Bentley 135 | Investigation into the Re-appropriation of Open Educational Resources for Teaching French Beginners Online
Helene Pulker Open University This small case-study is an investigation into the re-appropriation of Open Educational Resources by teachers of French beginners in a synchronous online learning environment. By the means of analysis of examples of adaptions provided by four teachers of French beginners, it seeks to explain how the materials are re-appropriated and most importantly for what reasons. This study provides evidence of re-use and adaptation of online materials in the virtual classroom. The findings will be of interest to course developers and language teaching practitioners who seek to understand how the ready-made online teaching materials are re-appropriated by individual teachers and why. |
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Baker 237 | Needs Analysis of Language Technology Center: Needs of Language Instructors in the World of OER, MOOC and Flipped Classroom
Xiaojing Kou Indiana University This study conducts a thorough needs analysis for a language technology and pedagogy center housed in a big Midwestern university. It aims to identify the current needs of the language faculty in teaching foreign languages with innovative technologies and pedagogies to face the challenge of teaching the tech-savvy net generation and the future i-generation, as well as the new trend of OER, OCW, MOOC and flipped classrooms. The purpose is to find out how a language technology center can strategically support and proactively guide instructors in their teaching, and especially those who teach LCTLs. The analysis includes: PEST analysis of institutional environment, document analysis and interview with stakeholders, survey analysis of faculty needs, SWOT analysis and Force Field Analysis. |
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Bentley 136 | Using iPads and Blogs to Guide Future ESL/EFL Teachers in Enhancing their Teaching Practices and Learning Experiences
The study addresses the following research questions: (1) How do future ESL/EFL teachers respond to the assigned articles that guide them in reflecting on their learning and teaching practices? (2) What are the affordances enacted from the use of certain iPad applications in this new learning and teaching context? (3) How are the affordances enacted through the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications, such as blogs, realized in their own teaching practices as they design materials for ESL/EFL students? |
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Bentley 129 | Reimagining a Paper-based Curriculum for the iPad
Joe Geluso Iowa State University This paper will present how one college campus in Japan is reimagining its paper-based curriculum for iPads. The project endeavors to take advantage of the affordances a tablet offers, such as the intuitive interface, access to multimedia, third-party apps, and hyperlinks to relevant webpages. Special attention will also be placed on bringing corpus-informed materials to the tablet-based curriculum. Concrete examples comparing the curriculum’s original paper-based materials to the tablet-based counterparts will be given, as well as explanations and tips on how to get the most out of the iBooks Author app. |
| 5/9/14 3:30pm Baker 231 | The Plurilingual Competencies of Thai High School Students: Diverse Language Use in Online Contexts
Andy Halvorsen University of Oregon This presentation will look at how Thai high school students leverage their plurilingual competence within the context of social networking site participation. Specifically, the presentation will discuss the various ways in which Thai high school students engage with social media, and the factors that influence this engagement. Plurilingual competence will be highlighted as one of the key factors influencing students’ abilities to fully participate in social media online. Data will be presented in the form of detailed student interviews, as well as specific examples of plurilingualism in student writing on various social media sites. |
| 5/9/14 3:45pm Bentley 140 | Show What You Know: Digital Badges for Foreign Language Educators
Carl S. Blyth University of Texas Members of the University of Texas at Austin Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) and the San Diego State University Language Acquisition Resource Center (LARC) discuss efforts to design, implement, and assess digital badging initiatives with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) and at their respective institutions. Panelists examine various standards and rubrics to contextualize badges within the foreign language educator community. They explore the potential of using digital badges to showcase professional development achievements by displaying and validating the variety of learning that happens in formal and informal contexts.
|
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Bentley 124 | Supporting the Development of Academic Writing Skills through Social Media: Moving beyond a Formal Classroom Setting
Volker Hegelheimer Iowa State University This presentation will outline the design and development of a series of thematically related Facebook posts and activities (units) which target ESL students’ writing skills and that extend beyond what is covered in the ESL writing course. It will report on student and teacher perceptions of these units. We will share guidelines targeting the use of social media as an extracurricular activity platform for academic courses. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Bentley 129 | Creating E-books, Courseware, or OER for Language Learning with HTML5 and ePub3
Robert Godwin-Jones Virginia Commonwealth University New open standards for content creation offer opportunities to distribute language learning materials that work equally well in standard Web browsers and in e-readers. Formatting content in HTML 5 and making it available in that format as well as importing that same code into ePub3 can enable availability on multiple devices/platforms. HTML 5 incorporates features that enhance interactivity and multimedia. The ePub3 standard is based on HTML 5 and thus enables many of the same enhancements. This session will demonstrate creation of e-books incorporating features of potential interest in language learning including interactivity (drag and drop), video, and synchronized audio. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Bentley 135 | Extending the L2 Classroom through Facebook
Sherry Venere United State Military Academy This presentation highlights the value of Facebook as an extension of the L2 classroom. Cadets at the United States Military Academy, like most current college students, consider social media synonymous with daily life. By leveraging their daily use of social media, the L2 instructor expands the classroom into the social media realm through Facebook groups in Arabic, Russian and Spanish. Such groups allow instructors and cadets to exchange useful course information and resources in a location both frequent on a daily basis. In doing so, we foster a collaborative environment that increases learner autonomy and instructor awareness of cadet needs. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Baker 237 | Seven Ways to Make CALL More Intelligent. Towards the Effective Integration of NLP Techniques
Piet Desmet KULAK Our aim is to offer a tentative typology of the possible roles NLP may play in CALL, focusing hereby exclusively on written language input and output. We see at least seven possible functions for ICALL applications: (1) providing target language input, (2) providing access to resources, (3) accompanying and supporting the reading process, (4) generating exercises and tests, (5) detecting errors and providing feedback in semi-open practice tasks, (6) supporting the writing process and (7) adaptive item sequencing. For each of these functions we will offer a conceptual outline as well as illustrative applications. This will allow us to give a balanced picture of the challenges and opportunities of ICALL. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Bentley 136 | Digital Textbook Interactivity in Second Language Development: A Look at One Component in a Spanish MALL Program
Kelly Arispe Boise State University This study examines the benefit of digital textbook interactivity as a vehicle for increased output in the target language and learner strategies for Spanish L2 learners in five advanced level courses (N = 100). Results highlight overall usage, specifically, the language and frequency used to annotate, tag, comment, and exchange questions, as well as how learners tagged advanced vocabulary as a strategy to retain words. In addition, survey data highlight student perceptions and data collected from interviews with three instructors provide insights about the value of this tool as a component in MALL. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Baker 233 | Assessment of Pronunciation through the Use of Two Computational Pronunciation Variation Metrics
Iftikhar Haider University of Illinois at Urbana champaign This study explores the potential of using a new computer-mediated technique to assess the pronunciation proficiency of English language learners. The benchmark for the use of the Minimum Edit Distance Algorithm (MEDA) reflects the amount of pronunciation variation between the language learners and native speakers of English. The MEDA offers promising results to quantify the amount of pronunciation variation between utterances of words as transcribed in IPA, and can address some of the pitfalls of human rater-based pronunciation assessment. The study will be presented in an interactive way using audio-visual aids and handouts, and participants will take away future perspectives in assessing second language pronunciation. |
| 5/9/14 4:15pm Baker 231 | Fanfiction in the Language Classroom
Sally Hatfield Ohio University Although fanfiction has exploded in popularity on the Internet over the past decade, the amount of attention paid to it by language educators has been minimal, particularly in terms of classroom use. This presentation showcases one ESL instructor’s use of fanfiction in a reading/writing class in a university intensive English program over two semesters. The presentation focuses on how the instructor helps the students become familiar with fanfiction as a genre, the steps that the students go through in writing their own fanfiction, and the ways in which they share it with their classmates. Suggestions for classroom implementation are given. |