Conference 2023: Regular and Panel Sessions

Thursday, June 8 Panel Presentation AI-based Tools and Instructed Language Learning: What Role Should They Play? Robert Godwin-Jones, Carl Blyth, Kimberly Vinall, Emily Hellmich and Mandy Lau Tools powered by artificial intelligence are all around us, but their use in the classroom has been controversial. This panel will explore advantages and pitfalls of integrating AI tools into instructed SLA, focusing on the following: machine translation, voice assistants, and immersive technologies. Neural-network-based AI tools offer powerful tools, but concerns include implied/embedded socio-political orientations, native speakerism, and limited diversity in data collection/analysis. Ethics and authenticity/originality highlight pedagogical issues. The panelists, drawing from both experimental studies and theory-based analysis, will address practical uses of AI-tools in instructed SLA, as well as implications for the future of second language learning. Examining Teacher Beliefs towards Technology-mediated, Plurilingual and Action-oriented Approaches Geoff Lawrence, Hiba Ibrahim and José Luiz Ortiz Soria Language education that strategically leverages technologically-mediated approaches that engage learners’ linguistic and cultural resources is crucial for communication in today’s transnational societies. This presentation presents preliminary findings from the first phase of a study that is examining language teacher beliefs, concepts of teaching effectiveness, and technology-mediated, plurilingual, action-oriented approaches across three Canadian provinces. Using a design-based, mixed methods approach that integrates Q-methodology to examine subjectivities among participant beliefs, findings will showcase teachers’ beliefs regarding technology-mediated practices and curricular innovation. Factors informing post-pandemic teacher agency in adopting linguistically inclusive technology-mediated practices will be discussed along with research and teacher education implications. Languaging while Gaming in a Virtual World Lin Zhou This paper showcases the design of a pedagogical drama game called Mission Husky, and demonstrates how the game, being played in a virtual world environment-Second Life, involves students in self-directed learning, engages them in authentic speaking activities, develops their digital literacy and critical thinking skills. Building on the design philosophies, the paper focuses on the fusion of these two original projects–the pedagogical drama game and the virtual world, presents the new affordances generated by the fusion for students during the learning process, and analyzes the interactive and multimodal gaming ecology in which students assumes both a gaming role and a member role in the virtual world. Effectiveness of Duolingo English Courses in Developing Reading and Listening Proficiency Xiangying Jiang and Ryan Peters Online language courses have seen accelerated growth but evidence of their effectiveness based on standardized measures remains lacking. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the reading and listening proficiency outcomes of Duolingo learners at the completion of A2 content in its English course for Spanish speakers and English course for Portuguese speakers. The STAMP 4S test by Avant Assessment was used for testing, and findings demonstrated that Duolingo learners reached Intermediate High in reading and Intermediate Mid in listening at the end of A2 in both courses and with both scoring systems (STAMP levels and scaled scores). Using Quest-based Learning to Increase Asynchronous Participation and Motivation among University Students David Julien Quest-based learning is a gamified methodology in which materials are learned through the completion of competency-based tasks. This presentation showcases action research aimed at using quest-based learning to increase asynchronous participation and motivation among university EFL learners in a b-learning program. A custom-built learning tool was administered to 8 volunteer graduate students over a 3 week period. Results suggest that quest-based learning had a positive influence on learner participation, with 75% of students exceeding expectations. Semi-structured interviews indicate that the tool’s methodology, relevant content and context, and game objectives activated cognitive, affective, and behavioristic motivational factors. The results of the study have implications for both asynchronous and synchronous language teaching. Total Immersion for Teaching and Learning of an Additional Language (Lx) Meei-Ling Liaw, Keven Doyon-Lacasse, Djibril Dieng and Sabrina Priego A group of teachers of an additional language (Lx) participated in a project allowing them to have hands-on experiences teaching lessons in IVR environments. They took turns playing roles as teachers and students and had reflective discussions after each teaching. The teaching and discussions that took place in the IVR environment were video-recorded. Based on the Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL) proposed by Makransky and Petersen (2021), the affordances of IVR for the teachers’ learning were identified by analyzing the recordings and their responses to the post-project questionnaire. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications are drawn. The International Language Chat Consortium: Developing a VR Network of Informal Practice Partners Randall Sadler, Uliana Ovsiannikova and Yao Zhang This presentation describes the ongoing evolution of an International Language Chat Consortium (ILCC) seeking to connect university language programs worldwide to engage in informal language chat via custom spaces created in the VR app Spatial. The presentation will provide a review of the benefits of informal language learning, followed by a description of the current state of the ILCC and how it functions. Next, the presenters will demonstrate the ILCC areas in Spatial, giving attendees a URL that they can use to join for exploration during this segment. Finally, the presenters will discuss how other universities may be involved. Promoting a Sense of Classroom Community Online through Project-Based World Language E-Learning Shayna Katz This qualitative study investigates the relationship between collaborative project-based e-learning and a sense of learner belonging, as well as their impact on motivation and academic achievement in online Spanish and Portuguese World Language and education courses at a university in Hawai’i. The modes and amount of interaction, and duration of the small-group projects are also examined. The results reveal an important relationship between small-group projects, a sense of learner belonging and e-learning. To conclude, pedagogical implications are suggested for the use of project-based learning to establish a sense of community and social presence essential in an online classroom. Eliciting Spontaneous Target Language Output via Extempore Grant Castner One of the hardest parts of output-based assessments is ensuring spontaneous language from students. Extempore is a language assessment platform that instructors can use to measure proficiency across all four skills and all three modes of communication. Its features, including timing parameters and integrity safeguards, also allow instructors to create assessments that elicit spontaneous speech or writing from students. In this presentation, attendees will see various applications of the Extempore platform in a world language classroom, from sample formative assessments, practice activities, to high-stakes oral and written prompts. A Short-Term Study Abroad Study: Discovering Students’ Cultural Competence Tendencies by Examining Pragmatic Interactions in Mexico through Instagram and WhatsApp Timothy Ashe, Jr. Study abroad/immersion environments often provide an ideal environment where students are exposed to interactions in a variety of contexts where their language skills are put to the test in both long and short spontaneous exchanges. In this study, the author analyzes how 9 students from a large university in the U.S. Midwest discuss certain cultural issues focused on Mexican identity and artifacts through a series of technology mediated tasks. The author employs ethnographic theories and analysis to review different conflict-based interactions in peer-to peer and peer-to-native speaker exchanges in Spanish through a pragmatic lens. Examining Speech Acts in Interaction during Immersive Virtual Reality Collaborative Gameplay Carla Consolini and Naiyi Xie Fincham Immersive virtual reality (IVR) holds promising potential for developing pragmatic tasks for world language learners. This presentation reports on initial results from an ongoing project that aims at identifying and leveraging the affordances of existing IVR applications for facilitating L2 pragmatic development. Following a pragmatic-discursive approach to examining speech acts in interaction, presenters will share findings from analyzing participants’ performance and negotiations of speech acts during two collaborative IVR tasks, and their perceptions of IVR-mediated communication. Pedagogical implications will be also discussed based on insights into the benefits and drawbacks of IVR environments for L2 pragmatic and interactional competence. Affordances of Technology to Transform the Language Classroom Jessica DeMolder and Camellia Hill While many instructors use technology in the language classroom, not all understand how to take advantage of its affordances to transform the language learning experience. In this session we will discuss multiple frameworks that can be used to direct decisions on what technologies to use, when to use them, and how to implement them across multiple modalities including online, blended, and bichronous online for language instruction. Create Engaging Language Activities Using the “FUNemployed” Model Phill Cameron and Alfonso Sintjago IALLT SessionLearn about the FunEmployed Model and the various ways it can be used in the classroom. The model allows for games to be played in any combination of physical and online classrooms, and the randomness of jobs and qualifications adds replay value while pushing learners to come up with their responses in the moment. In this presentation participants will learn about how the game model was adapted and deployed across multiple courses in 2020-2022.This presentation welcomes both instructors and instructional support staff, who will receive guiding templates to create their own versions of the game. Have It Your Way: Local vs. Online Teacher Training Exchanges Catherine Clements Peer exchanges for teacher training are done regionally and internationally, though students seldom can choose which modality they prefer. This session describes a collaboration between a US university’s TESL students and local and international multilingual partners in which the teachers in training were allowed to choose whether to collaborate with partners via in person or virtual exchange. The results compare the experiences of the participants in the two modalities and show surprising differences between the groups. Conversing with Conversifi: The Case of Spanish Pragmatic Development Kimberly Morris Considering the importance of pragmatic competence for successful communication, it is crucial to harness available technologies to support L2 students’ pragmatic development. This study explores the pragmatic development of 45 university L2 Spanish learners who received explicit instruction coupled with six conversation sessions with native speakers via the online platform, Conversifi. Analyses of student surveys, reflections, and an oral pre/post discourse completion test (DCT) confirmed the effectiveness of Conversifi in fostering students’ meta-pragmatic awareness, which resulted in significant gains in pragmatic competence on the pre/post DCT. This study empowered students to engage with global Spanish-speaking communities in ways that are typically not possible within traditional classroom walls. Panel Presentation Mavericks of Mind – Experimentation in Social CALL: A Five Year Retrospective and Vision for the Future Christopher Daradics, Stephanie Knight, Gabriel Guillén and Thor Sawin Since 2019 CALICO members have engaged with us in experimental praxis around a shared vision for language learning products that address learners’ social and ecological needs (Heil, Wu, Lee, & Schmidt 2016; Guillén, Springer & Sawin, 2017) and an interest in innovative commercialization strategies conducive to more person-centered and ecological language learning applications and platforms. This panel will showcase the resources, opportunities for change, and actionable steps participants and international experts have identified with an emphasis on (1) strengthening intersections between instructed SLA, design, and development and (2) outreaching to non-academic partners for collaboration around high quality language learning. Panel Presentation CALICO Committee on I.D.E.A. (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) Liudmila Klimanova and Kathryn Murphy-Judy Based on the work of the 2022-2023 CALICO Executive Board Sub-committee and its four subgroups on I.D.E.A., this discussion session announces a new initiative within CALICO to foreground the issues of diversity, inclusion and access in CALL and seeks broad input from the membership on what should be the CALICO position and its eventual initiatives in inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility. The Language Learning Impact of Immersive 3D-based Game vs. 2D-based Game Masato Kikuchi This presentation will present a study that compares the learning outcomes of immersive 3D-based game and those of conventional 2D-based game. An immersive 3D virtual world (VW) escape-the-room game has been constructed within Second Life to practice language comprehension and production of transitive and intransitive verb constructions in Japanese. Two learners are initially locked in two separate rooms. They need to communicate in the target language to escape their own room (e.g., “Is your refrigerator door open?”—“No.”—“Please open it.”, etc.). The learning impact of immersive nature of VW-based communication will be discussed. Fairy Tales VR: A VR-informed Writing Task with Young Learners Robin Couture-Matte This presentation showcases a classroom project on the...