2015 Friday Sessions, May 29

Randall Sadler University of Illinois@Urbana-Champaign
Melinda Dooly Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

This presentation will discuss gathered insight from 10+ years of telecollaboration between two teacher education programs in Europe and the USA. Based on data collected over the ten years of collaboration, the presentation describes the evolution of the telecollaborative process from ‘show-and-tell’ type interaction to the current, fully integrated technology-enhanced project-based learning design, complemented with a ‘flipped classrooms’ approach. Extracts from a multimodal data set provide the framework for the discussion on the complex process the two teacher-researchers underwent as they developed their understandings of telecollaboration as an integral part of the pedagogical focus for language teacher education.

Thomas Robb Kyoto Sangyo University

Moodle’s contributed scheduler module was originally designed for school-internal student-teacher appointments but can also be used to allow students to schedule appointments with overseas Skype partners. The module in its original form, however, lacks some required features such as an easy way to view the partner’s reports of chat sessions, or a simple way to grant an extra chat make-up session. This session will explain our set-up and some special (shareable) blocks we developed to overcome these limitations.

Senta Goertler Michigan State University

Study abroad research has shown that simply being abroad is not a guarantee for the development of language proficiency and intercultural competence. This research study reports on results of language development and intercultural competence development through reflective awareness raising blogging activities in-country. While students are able to recognize some errors and mistakes in their behavior and language, some of the more salient errors to target community members go unnoticed by the learners.

Piet Desmet KU Leuven KULAK

There is a growing interest in adaptivity as one of the challenging features allowing for item-based language learning environments to become more effective and attractive. By adaptivity we understand the adjustment of one or more characteristics of the learning environment in function of the learner’s needs and preferences and/or the context. This presentation offers a global framework (1) containing a consistent typology of adaptive learning systems, (2) explaining the rationale behind adaptive systems and (3) offering first insights into the ways principles behind adaptive language testing can – to a certain extent – be transposed to adaptive language learning. ‘Adaptivity’ can relate to three dimensions: the source (adapt to what? : course/item features – person features – context features), the target (adapt what? : adaptive form representation – adaptive content representation – adaptive curriculum sequencing) and the method (adapt how? : program or shared control – static or dynamic). As to what the rationale behind adaptivity is concerned, there is a large amount of educational research demonstrating that individualized instruction is superior to the uniform approach of more traditional and “one-size-fits-all” teaching methods. Finally, we will briefly sketch how we made use of Item Respons Theory (IRT), frequently used in computerized adaptive testing, to realise adaptive item sequencing in a learning environment and how we tackled the challenge of the data set and the challenge of the algorithm.

Stephanie Link Iowa State University

For this presentation, an automated essay scoring (AES) engine was develop to assess learners’ second language writing development . Development was guided by Complexity Theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics, from which measures of complexity, accuracy, fluency, and functionality were automated. To demonstrate the accuracy of the engine, descriptive statistics, agreement statistics, and correlation analyses were calculated to compare human ratings to the automated essay score. Linguistic analysis was also conducted to investigate areas in which the AES engine could improve to enhance consistency. Results demonstrate the potential for providing learning analytics for accessible and actionable about learners and their contexts.

Harold Hendricks Office of Digital Humanities BYU

Applications providing pronunciation feedback have traditionally relied on waveform modeling, where the student is shown both a waveform produced by a native speaker and the waveform recorded by the student. This session will demonstrate a browser-based, real-time vowel visualizer application for positioning live vowel production on a simplified vowel chart and an automatic pronunciation evaluator for vowel production within words. The test case for this program has been first-year German, but the program is not language specific.

Kazumi Hatasa Purdue University
Shinji Shimoura Purdue University
Shohko Yanagisawa Purdue University

This presentation reports on research conducted on a usage of Augmented Reality (AR) place-based digital games. The games were used as a part of the second year Japanese course to supplement the regular course material. This study seeks to explore learnersf experiences with this mobile learning environment, focusing on how the game provided the environment that learners used target language outside the class, how the game may have affected their motivation, and how learners responded to the new learning environment. In the presentation, the presenters will provide learnersf reaction to the AR place-based digital game from the questionnaire.

Ulf Schuetze University of Victoria

It has been argued that meaning-focused communicative approaches to foreign language teaching benefit the learner by using technology in form of input enhancement highlighting the salience of language categories and forms (Lightbown & Spada, 1999; Long, 1996; Sharwood Smith, 1993). The project presented here tests that theory by investigating whether intermediate learners of German benefit from a particular task-type using an online tool to master the use of prepositions. Thirty intermediate learners of German participate in the study. Full results will be available in May.

Jeff Magoto University of Oregon
Deborah Healey University of Oregon

Teachers can build community relatively easily in small classes. A massive open online course (MOOC) with 20,000 participants is more of a challenge. This session will demonstrate how a language teacher training MOOC was structured and delivered to foster a sense of community and shared purpose. We will demonstrate how the course developers chose different elements in the Coursera platform, including videos, discussions, different kinds of quizzes, and peer grading. And, perhaps just as importantly, we discuss the changes we implemented to the second and third iterations as a result of instructor experience, user surveys, course evaluations, and Coursera analytics.

Gillian Lord University of Florida
Amy Rossomondo University of Kansas

We introduce an online environment for Elementary Spanish, built around concepts of structured learning in digital environments, and rooted in social constructivism. By creating a community of practice, it offers opportunities for audiences for student work and occasions for systematic reflection. The platform structures student interaction with genres of visual and oral texts to serve as contextually and culturally bound linguistic input as well as models for production to be shared with peers. We thus provide the opportunity for complex interaction with the Spanish-language texts, as well as a social place for students to share and reflect on their learning.

Su-Youn Yoon Educational Testing Service
Chong Min Lee Educational Testing Center
Melissa Lopez Educational Testing Service
James Bruno Educational Test Services
Cristen Andrews

This study provides an automated system that retrieves and filters online videos to support listening item generation. When developing test items, item writers consult real-world resources to find authentic language and situations from various fields. Online videos provide these authentic situations, but item writers must put in considerable effort to find the most useful material. To increase the efficiency of this process, we will develop a two-step automated video filtering system. The first step will be to filter out videos that are irrelevant to search criteria, and the second step will be to filter videos based on their linguistic complexity.

Nina Vyatkina University of Kansas

This study argues in favor of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) with corpus concordances using a guided induction approach at different levels of intermediate L2 proficiency. It shows that DDL is better than non-DDL for learning of new lexical items, that computer-based and paper-based DDL is equally effective, and that more DDL practice leads to more positive DDL perceptions.

Ellen Yeh Ohio University
Guofang Wan Virginia Commonwealth University

The paper will discuss the various models of virtual worlds (e.g., Active Worlds, Quest Atlantis, Second Life) that are used in ESL/EFL instruction, the impacts of virtual world learning environments on English language learning and the implications of learning of English through virtual worlds. The presentation will focus on the impact of virtual world learning environments on ELLs’ language teaching and learning in six areas: (1) collaborative competency, (2) communicative competency, (3) constructivist learning, (4) motivation, (5) intercultural competency, and (6) sociocultural competency.

Sylvie Thouesny
Linda Bradley Chalmers University of Technology

The purpose with this paper is to present an investigation of students’ written peer reviewing in Google Drive. More specifically, the students were computer science students within the area of English for Specific Purposes engaging in peer reviewing as part of their course objective. Methods applied for investigation were a combination of dynamic assessment and text analysis where the students’ commenting trajectories were mapped out. The results show that a web-based writing platform displays a rich environment for interaction and discussion of linguistic issues. The practice of using such an environment can inform language learning from a student perspective.

Frederik Cornillie KU Leuven & iMinds

Activities for tutorial CALL practice need to be designed such that: [1] they focus on meaning, so that any knowledge developed in practice may transfer to meaningful L2 use in complex skills; [2] they engender intrinsic motivation, so that learners are willing to practise outside of classrooms. This presentation reports on an experimental study that tackled these design challenges by means of mini-games embedded in a mystery story. Quantitative results show that intensive practice helped learners to develop knowledge which transferred to various follow-up tasks. We outline a re-design on the basis of qualitative observations made in the study.

Annalisa Teixeira University of California, Davis

This study aims to investigate the effect size of keyboarding with intermediate L2 Spanish students by comparing the learning outcomes of an experimental group interacting with the keyboarding (typing) feature with a control group that does not. Research questions include: (1) Do online flashcards that utilize keyboarding facilitate more successful short-term and long-term L2 vocabulary gains compared to online flashcards that do not include this feature? (2) How might the individual differences of phonological short-term and working memory interact with the main effect of the keyboarding treatment? These results have the potential to improve upon and/or validate current CALL pedagogy.

Abir R El Shaban

Many research studies have showed positive significant outcomes of educational technology use in language learning. However, the probability that technology will be adopted and used efficiently and effectively by teachers is low; this is the case even thought many education institutions spend large amounts of money on new versions of hardware and software. This low probability may stem from the lack of professional development about how to use educational technologies that might affect the adoption of technology by teachers. So in this presentation, the presenter will share her research thesis experience in diffusing educational technology.

Chris Harwood

In September 2014 an online book club activity hosted in Facebook Groups was introduced into the curriculum of a Canadian university undergraduate academic bridging course in order to encourage extensive reading amongst second language (L2) students. This paper discusses the EAP instructor’s perceptions of their participation and practice in the book club. Instructor online discourse, interviews and teaching documents are analyzed to understand the impact of instructor pedagogic choices on learner participation online.

Kayo Shintaku University of Arizona

This exploratory study investigated the role of a vernacular digital game as a pedagogical tool in a program of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). Students enrolled in the first-semester JFL program participated in the study by using a mini flash game available online and completing worksheets. A questionnaire was conducted for participants’ reflections. The results display the unique nature of Japanese digital literacies in visual fluctuations from font types. Authenticity of the game also brought out the issue of cognitive overload and positive and negative challenges for game players and language learners.

Kim Rockell University of Aizu

This research reports on the establishment of a protocol for computer assisted language learning incorporating music (CALLIM). A range of language learning techniques previously employed without the computer, are made explicit and then applied experimentally to a CALL environment. Using two Ilocano songs as example texts, the paper probes the affordances and constraints inherent this approach. In the CALL context, relentless technological innovation appears as a constant and an emphasis on sustainability and adapting effectively to changing conditions is vital. The study also aimed to identify an approach that addresses fundamental aspects of language learning that outlive changing technologies.

Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer PUC-Rio
Veronica Borges Afonso PUC-Rio / SUNY

In times of cost reduction in most universities in the world, the teaching of languages is quite threatened: in various institutions, the number of classes is reduced or even some languages are no longer offered. To counter this trend, new and creative alternatives become necessary. A pioneering experiment between the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and the State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY-NP) led the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language to 20 students from the North American university. Inferred from this experience are some favorable factors to teaching with digital media, but also some complicating elements. Aspects of the material conditions – laboratory, connection, etc; the construction and use of didactic materials, methods and class dynamics; the approach of the Portuguese language structures; and the evaluation will be presented.

Fabrizio Fornara Florida State University

Despite the increasing adoption of Twitter in educational settings, only few studies have examined its impact in the language classroom (Antenos-Conforti, 2009; Borau et al., 2009; Lomicka & Lord, 2011). The present study aims to integrate the existing body of literature by observing whether higher education students’ use of the Italian language on Twitter differs in the presence of an instructor model. A total of 93 higher education students tweeted almost daily in Italian during three months. A preliminary content analysis suggests that the presence of an instructor model positively affects students’ use of specific topical content and grammar components.

Julie Sykes University of Oregon
Frederik Cornillie KU Leuven & iMinds
Steven L. Thorne Portland State University & University of Groningen

This panel, sponsored by the CALICO Gaming SIG, will convene a moderated, open forum exploring the state-of-the-art in the field of games and language learning. Through guided exploration, the forum will synthesize relevant findings and describe existing approaches, models, and platforms. Collectively, moderators and forum participants will move toward future conceptualizations, methodologies, and implementations. This open forum event on digital gaming and languages will include guiding presentations by the moderators on select topical areas directly relevant to the research and implementation of digital games.

Karina Silva Iowa State University
Jayme Wilken Iowa State University

Along with advances in computer technology, increases in enrollment have prompted universities to provide more blended and online classes (Goertler, Bollen, & Gaff, 2012). However, international students may lack more specific skills required for their university classes. In order to better prepare international students for their academic work, the Intensive English Program at a large Midwestern university has designed and implemented a technology course for advanced English as a Second Language learners. This presentation aims at describing the program, from its design to its implementation, and discussing lessons learned.

Inigo Yanguas

The present study has a twofold goal: on the one hand, it investigates whether task type has an effect on the number and characteristics of language-related episodes (LREs) and, on the other hand, whether that effect is the same for video CMC (VCMC) and audio CMC (ACMC) groups. Results of this study will be discussed in relation to the pertinent literature in order to add to the strand of research that explores the effects of tasks on focus on form in synchronous computer-mediated communication. In addition, strategies for class implementation will be examined.

Ivan Stefano Ohio State University
Karen Macbeth
Andrew Seibert Ohio State University

A university appeal to our ESL Composition Program to facilitate fuller participation by undergraduate international students in American academic culture led to an eLearning grant and curricular collaboration across 6 institutional units. The result was the creation of an on-line digital environment that featured new ways of connectivity and writing for authentic purposes. In this presentation, we demonstrate how the on-line course delivered new curricular objectives, which included, academic writing, digital and information literacy, integrative learning, oral communication, teamwork, and intercultural knowledge and competence. This presentation will offer sample instructional materials, describe course design collaboration, and discuss technological tools.

Jennifer Borgen INTO OSU
Alexis Terrell

Today’s tech-savvy students are never without their mobile devices. Learn how to make use of this technology, proven to increase student engagement and participation, by using free online student response systems (SRS). This session will take teachers through the who, what, when, where, and why of using SRS in class.

Bailey Tzu-Hua Chen
The mixed methods study explored 23 EFL undergraduates¡¦ perceived strengths and challenges of a blended learning (BL) environment for their speaking development. Learners’ perceived speaking gains were also researched.They were asked to complete in-class speaking exercises and eight after-class online speaking tasks using an asynchronous computer-mediated voice forum. They received in-class feedback from the course instructor. Data analysis revealed the affordances of the medium, students¡¦ use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies, and in-class teacher feedback interacted to afford a supportive BL environment. Challenges were identified. Additionally, the students perceived speaking gains in speaking, especially in pronunciation and idea organization.

Bernadette Perry

The principal goal of this research is to assess the potential of a new mobile learning-tool Explorez. I created Explorez for first-year University French students in order to bridge the gap between gaming and education through quest-based learning and augmented reality. This allows us to integrate computer generated images and media in physical space. Using GPS, Explorez transforms the University of Victoria, B.C. into a virtual francophone world, where students interact with characters, items, and media as they improve their French language skills and discover their campus.

Constanza Tolosa

This study investigated how mobile technologies were used by pre-service foreign language teachers to provide feedback and to design their own tasks in a year-long course part of a postgraduate program that qualifies students to teach in secondary schools in New Zealand. Although the introduction of mobile technologies was motivating and engaging, the lecturer’s aim was to keep a strong pedagogic focus. Feedback generated in response to tasks set by the lecturer and by the students in different formats and platforms was analyzed to establish the development of the students’ language teaching competencies including use of technologies. Students’ perspectives were also collected via questionnaires and interviews.

Chris Dalessandri Owl Testing Software

With version 5.0 OWL redefines and simplifies creation of homework, quizzes and tests. While most tools increase the complexity of content creation, especially in the ever expanding and competing digital ecosystems world we must work with, why not use a tool that simplifies creating and delivering digital content? A tool that allows you to create (or borrow) engaging content for your students, OWL is a proven activity management system that allows you to assess all four modes of communication online. Use a wide variety of multimedia content and provide text and audio feedback all while maintaining test security as needed.

Mat(hias) Schulze University of Waterloo

Over recent years more language courses have been offered online. Yet, little research exists examining how students choose and transition between online and on-campus courses. We conducted an analysis of student data from three language courses offered online and on-campus over 10 years and compared these against learning success in upper-level courses in language programs. Our goals were to establish how the medium of learning (online vs. classroom) impacts an individual student’s academic success, to identify patterns in the students’ transitioning between online and on-campus courses, and to gather information about students’ course choices and their decisions online vs. on-campus.

Shannon McCrocklin Iowa State University
Technology has been hailed for its potential to empower learners to practice autonomously (see Illich, 1971) and research has shown that technology can foster autonomous learning (Figura & Jarvis, 2007; Luke, 2006). This study investigates what happens after the end of a course, examining if students continued technology use for practice and what factors influenced those decisions. The study examines two groups (one traditional face-to-face and one hybrid), both introduced to Automatic Speech Recognition in a pronunciation workshop. While both groups significantly increased in beliefs of autonomy during the workshop, differences emerged in autonomous learning behaviors after the workshop ended.

An instructor-created role-playing game (RPG) where students take on fictional identities was used to learn about Nazi-occupied Paris. The combination of historical information learned through more traditional course materials (fiction and nonfiction in a variety of media) plus the personal, emotional engagement with their RPG character, is helping students engage in higher level critical thinking skills and express more nuanced emotional, moral and philosophical stances in French while developing a more comprehensive and realistic understanding of this complex time period. This presentation will also discuss the game design features underlying the content delivery and linguistic scaffolding.

Nike Arnold Portland State University
Lara Ducate University of South Carolina

The recent push for technology-mediated learning and development of teacher standards (e.g., TESOL Technology Standards, 2011) have given new urgency to the discussion of how to prepare teachers to make effective and appropriate use of technology. This presentation describes a collaborative project conducted in two CALL teacher education courses that focuses on preservice teachers’ beliefs about CALL change over the course of the term. This multiple case study relies on concept maps, reflective blogs and lesson plans to illustrate patterns, as well as the range of views, developments and experiences pre-service teachers experienced in these CALL classes.

Stephen L. Tschudi University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Julio C Rodriguez University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Ruslan Suvorov University of Hawaii at Manoa
Hui-Ya Chuang

This session will provide an in-depth analysis of the development and implementation of an online professional development short course on technology-enabled project-based language learning (PBLL) offered to foreign language instructors, which was collaboratively designed by instructional technologists, foreign language educators, district supervisors, faculty developers and PBL experts. The analysis includes a detailed description of the affordances of PBL in language learning contexts and elucidates connections between PBLL and research in second language acquisition, instructional design, and teacher education. Design principles that emerged from this research will be discussed, emphasizing areas with potential for further research and development.

Amani Alageel

– Adopting a mixed multiliteracies (Gee, 1996; Knobel & Lankshear, 2008; New London Group, 1996) and multimodal perspectives (Jewitt, 2009; Kress, 2011; Sebba, 2011), this study examined the interplay between language use, multimodality, and second language identity on social networking sites. Online ethnography and multimodal discourse analysis helped to show how social networking with imagined audiences (Wenger, 1998; Norton, 2001) has increased three ESL learners‘possibilities for creative multilingual language practices that, enhanced by the multimodal affordances of the site, have enabled them to enact glocal identities and show off their English competency.

Aysel Saricaoglu Iowa State University

Causal explanations are indispensable in several disciplines (Foley, 2004). Due to the central role of causality in the academic world, students need to express causal relations in writing and teachers need to evaluate their causal expressions (Slater & Mohan, 2010). However, evaluating causal discourse in every draft of students and providing discourse-specific feedback is a very time-consuming task that lends itself better to automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools. This study aims to offer guidance for the implementation of such an AWE tool that addresses causal discourse in ESL academic writing curriculum to help learners better express causal relations.

Claudia Kost University of Alberta

Second-generation web tools such as blogs provide powerful opportunities for increased language practice opportunities for students. This paper presents findings of a study investigating the use of blogs for the development of writing skills in an advanced German class. Students wrote weekly blog entries to reflect on the course material in an undergraduate German Applied Linguistics class as well as their experiences participating in a community service learning project. Students’ blogs are analyzed with regard to developing writing skills (e.g., increased accuracy in grammar, style, use of idioms).

Lara Lomicka University of South Carolina
Gillian Lord University of Florida

“It’s in the syllabus” — Innovative technological tools allow teachers to redesign their traditional language syllabi with a focus on creativity and visual impact. This session uses tools like HaikuDeck, Dropmark, Wordle, Prezi and QR codes to redesign traditional syllabi, emphasizing visual and presentational design aspects. Examples are given for a variety of levels and languages, along with discussion of implementation and benefits. Participants will also discuss results of student surveys comparing the traditional syllabus with the visually transformed syllabus.

Aline Baehler New York University

Wrapped into the metaphor of the journey, life is often viewed as an initiation, a learning progress which maps, a fortiori, the learning of foreign languages. This study presents a course where students virtually relocate in a francophone city of their choice to reinvent their selves. They live together in a building that defines the social learning contract of the group, shapes its identity and its learning objectives. To coordinate the new places on-site, a customized web space (google site) ensures the mobility of the “tenants” and keeps track of their activities. Based on the evaluation of several sections of this course, we will analyze students’ feedback & progress, and problems faced by the instructors. We will show samples of google sites and self-generated activities.

Chun Lai the University of Hong Kong
Sabine Siekmann University of Alaska
Peter B Swanson Georgia State University
Steve Thorne Portland State University; University of Groningen

This discussion panel will include three presentation topics and discussion of each. 1) CALL Teacher Education and Materials Development in an Indigenous Language Context: The CALL Workshop Collaborative — Reporting on a grant to improve Alaska Native education through computer assisted language learning, this presentation will provide a rationale for using technology in indigenous language immersion settings, where little technology and culturally and linguistically appropriate applications are available. As a result of this project 16 rural teachers are developing materials and pedagogical innovations for use by Alaska Native students. The presentation will focus on the process and product of a summer intensive Materials Development class focusing on technology infused pedagogy based on the concepts of multiliteracies, funds of knowledge and place-based education. 2) Technology Considerations for the edTPA — Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia now require world language teacher candidates to complete a high-stakes teacher candidate portfolio, the edTPA, as the culmination of pre-service education. edTPA is a student-centered multiple measure assessment of teaching and in 2015 results from this portfolio will begin to impact teacher certification requirements nationwide. This presentation will focus on the edTPA requirements and what technology considerations must be taken into account as teacher-educators prepare to implement the edTPA. 3) Teachers’ Influence on Learners’ Self-Directed Use of Technology for Language Learning Outside the Classroom — Helping students to become autonomous learners who actively utilize technologies for learning outside the classroom is essential for successful language learning (Bäumer et al., 2011; Benson, 2009). Teachers, as significant social agents who shape students’ intellectual and social experiences, have a critical role to play (Deepwell & Malik, 2008; Lai et al., 2014; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008). Unfortunately, research studies have found that teachers tend to perceive themselves as having a limited responsibility for students’ learning outside the classroom and are unaware of the potential roles they could play in promoting and supporting such behaviors (Chan, 2003; Thanh Van, 2011; Toffoli & Sockett, 2013). Thus, it is important to identify clearly the various roles that teachers can play and the effects thereof so that teachers may be prepared better to exert their influence in fostering self-directed, autonomous users of technology for learning. This study generated a model of teachers’ influence on language learners’ self-directed use of technology for learning through interviews with 15 learners and tested the model through surveys with 160 learners. Furthermore, interviews with 10 foreign language teachers were contrasted with interviews with the 15 students to unravel students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the degree of teacher involvement and the specific roles teachers could play.

Nandini Sarma Carleton University
Peggy Hartwick SLaLS, Carleton University

This paper investigates the relationship between task design, spatial location and learner interactions within in a 3-D virtual environment. Students in a beginner French course were recorded as they completed two assigned tasks in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The frequency, quality and focus of participants’ interactions (verbal, gestural and physical) with each other, with objects, and with different affordances of the VLR in relation to each task were catalogued using an observation matrix (Hartwick, 2014). Our main analytic focus was on the types of interactions that each assigned tasks generated in relation to the specificities of this environment.

Christopher S Hill Ohio State University
Jack Rouzer The Ohio State University

Each year, over 1000 international students write an ESL placement composition when they enroll at The Ohio State University. ESL Programs at Ohio State is building a corpus of learner language compiled from these students’ compositions. The corpus will be a resource within ESL Programs and for anyone else around the world who could benefit from this data. In this presentation, we will describe the methodology for building the corpus, share some preliminary findings, and solicit feedback on the construction and use of the corpus.

Shannon Sauro Malmo University

This study reports on two phases of a project implementing technology-mediated collaborative fanfiction tasks in a literature and creative writing course required for pre-service English teachers at a Swedish university. Participants in each phase completed collaborative role-play fanfiction based on a missing moment from Tolkien’s The Hobbit using different technologies to author and publishe their stories. Results reveal the potential for different types of technologies to foster or hinder collaborative creative writing among a particular population of university learners for whom certain computer-mediated technologies are emergent or obsolete.

Derek Roff Esperantic Studies Foundation
Mark Fettes Esperantic Studies Foundation
Erin Piateski Esperantic Studies Foundation
Yevgeniya Amis Esperantic Studies Foundation

One of the fundamental challenges in online learning is navigating technological and social change. The challenge is multiplied when your website has a worldwide community of users, is built and maintained largely by volunteers, and aims to support not only the learning but the active use of the language. This presentation reviews the technical and organizational solutions developed over the last 11 years by the Esperanto learning website lernu.net, in order to retain and continue engaging a multilingual learning community that has grown to roughly 200,000 registered users. Ongoing challenges and implications for other online projects will be discussed.

PowerPoint Slides

Carola Strobl Ghent University (Belgium)

This paper reflects on the results of an intervention study in L2 academic writing. 76 students wrote three syntheses from written sources in collaborative groups of three, using Google Docs. The online peer collaboration had a positive effect on elaboration depth of the sources. Individual pre- and posttests reveal a learning transfer from the collaborative writing experience to individual writing behaviour. Students summarised the source texts in a more effective way to produce a coherent synthesis. However, their copy-paste behaviour did not change through the intervention. To help students find their own voice in academic writing, specific strategy training in rephrasing might be needed.

Sarah Kalert INTO CSU
Kyla Masciarelli INTO CSU

Close the gap between technology as a distraction and technology as a tool in vocabulary learning in and out of the classroom. This interactive presentation will provide classroom based research techniques to incorporate mobile devices as both collaborative and individual vocabulary learning tools.

Karina Silva Iowa State University
Jacob E. Larsen Iowa State University
Shu-Ju Diana Tai Iowa State University
Moonyoung Park Iowa State University

This presentation addresses the use of ePortfolios to stimulate inservice English teachers’ reflective practice and professional development. Four cohorts of Japanese High school teachers of English came for professional development (PD) courses in an Intensive English Program at a large Midwestern university. As part of the PD courses, participants created ePortfolios on Google Sites to document and demonstrate their learning along the PD journey. Presenters will describe their experience mentoring the teachers and the teachers’ opinions of reflective ePortfolios. Presenters will also discuss issues related to using ePortfolios in intensive PD programs, the strengths and challenges involved in its implementation.

Amy Rossomondo University of Kansas

The status of the Acceso project, an open access, web-based learning environment that structures critical exploration of the Spanish-speaking world to promote linguistic development, critical cultural literacy and intercultural learning among intermediate-level learners is reported with a focus on its implementation at the University of Kansas in a new SCALE-UP style classroom constructed specifically for the project. Innovative patterns of learner interaction (with each other and instructors, with the Acceso’s content, and with tools for collaborative content creation) afforded by the learning space are demonstrated, and results of survey data that probe student and graduate student instructor experiences are reported.

Hong Ma Iowa State University

This research project intends to evaluate a pattern grammar inspired CALL gloss tool using a systematic method of empirical CALL evaluation following Chapelle’s (2001) framework, which adopts the most current view of evaluation as an argument. Fifty students registered in a first year composition class for international students participated in this study and they were divided into the treatment group and the control group. A comparison between the two groups in terms of their performance in the pretest and posttest and the treatment group’s performance in a sentence construction activity (the treatment) and responses to a Likert scale questionnaire were used to provide evidence of the qualities of the CALL material in terms of language learning potential, meaning focus, learner fit and positive impact.

Xinchun Wang California State University, Fresno
Xia Guo University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
Le Lu University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
Shuhui Xiong University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

This study examines participants’ roles in the telecollaborative environment. Eighteen ESL teacher trainees taking a CALL course in a U.S. university and 56 freshman EFL learners from a Chinese university completed a six-week telecollaborative cultural exchange project in 2013 and 2014. Both modules consisted of weekly asynchronous discussion forums. The analysis of the transcripts, survey questionnaires, and the final projects of the 2013 Module suggest the majority of the teacher trainees did not automatically assume the teaching roles. In contrast, many EFL learners expected their teacher trainee partners to be their teachers. The participants’ cultural background plays an important part in their self-assumed roles in such online collaborative environment regardless of their real learning/teaching status designated by their course tasks.

Helene Ossipov Arizona State University
Jacqueline Mumford
Lisa Frumkes Rosetta Stone

Language teachers and the general public have no real way of evaluating the quality of digital learning tools (DLTs) in terms of effectiveness, accuracy, and ease of use. In this session, the LTLT SIG will argue that CALICO is uniquely qualified to provide such information by means of “badging,” signaling that the software or app in question possesses the qualities that make for a good language-learning program. We will argue that CALICO has the authority to “badge” digital learning tools, discuss possible criteria that can be used to evaluate DLTs, and discuss the logistics for evaluating DLTs and badging them.

Robert Godwin-Jones Virginia Commonwealth University

This session will discuss the process of re-structuring of a course in intercultural communication, revising the approach (less U.S.-centric), content delivery (an open access e-text in place of a commercial textbook), and structure (open platform replacing Blackboard). Interactions among students (from 4 countries) will include cultural questionnaires, online forums/journals, and video teleconferencing. The course features a set of online tutorials incorporating video clips, recorded lectures, self-reflective surveys, and interactive learning activities. The tutorials form the basis for creating an interactive e-text. Using open standards (HTML5, EPUB3) ensures access with minimal technology requirements, namely a Web browser, e-reader, or mobile phone.

Betsy Lavolette Gettysburg College

I developed an award-winning online version of a pedagogical grammar course that is required for undergraduate education majors as part of a TESOL minor. To help those developing similar courses, I will demonstrate the elements of the course, including the WordPress site, avatar guide, video presentations created using Articulate, Facebook discussions, and quizzes/exams in Desire2Learn. I will explain the reasoning behind the choice of tools and course design, with an emphasis on adaptability for future instructors. I will also discuss which elements of the course worked well, which were problematic, and how I suggest that future instructors improve the course.

Fenfang Hwu University of Cincinnati

Most second language teachers and researchers believe that practice in production is crucial for developing L2 proficiency. This study investigates the effects of output practice in the acquisition of Spanish past tense usages in conversations. Participants of the output group modeled their written dialogues on input exemplars, consisting of talking comics and pedagogical grammar explanations. Some also converted their dialogues into talking comics using a comic-creation tool. The study will answer questions about the effects of two output practices: dialogue-writing and comic-creation, and whether such effects are moderated by individual learner differences in language proficiency, language aptitude, and learning styles.

Lathrop P. Johnson Ball State University

One of the marvels of CALL has been ways of making second-language readings more accessible to learners by allowing electronic glosses to explain difficult words. Numerous studies have investigated different glossing modes, such as first-language or second-language definitions, images, sounds, or videos, and/or combinations of the modes, leading to commercial and open-source programs which help make glossing easier. A problem has persisted with glossing: even with glossing technology available, the instructor must go through the painstaking work of deciding which words to gloss and how to gloss them. This presentation will demonstrate that glossing can be successfully automated.

Kazumi Hatasa Purdue University
Shinji Shimoura Purdue University
Yumiko Tashiro Purdue University

This project explores the effects of physically dynamic exercises for Japanese character and vocabulary learning. A set of game-style exercises for character and vocabulary learning provides the environment where learners can play and learn foreign language at the same time. In the presentation, presenters will provide findings from the study including quantitative measures for the effectiveness of the exercises on character and vocabulary learning as well as results from learners’ and teachers’ questionnaires on the perception of the exercises. Finally, the presenters share other examples for less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Korean.

David Malinowski Yale Center for Language Study

Linguistic landscape (LL), the study of the visible representation of languages in public space, is increasingly being explored for its applicability to L2 pedagogy. However, the specific suitability and applications of technologies for learner interactions with the LL have not yet been investigated. This paper reports on several projects designed to enhance multiliteracies and symbolic competence between the target language and English, as they are visible on the streets. It reports on image capture and annotation, mashups of official maps and census data, and social media and community mapping, all used together to enhance learning and cultivate critical sociopolitical awareness.