View Content #527
| Contentid | 527 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | The 2004 Northeast Conference: Listening to Learners |
| Body | From: NECTFL Dear Colleagues, The second fifty years of the Northeast Conference begins with the 2004 conference. In such a complex age, it is a challenge to choose a focus. Whenever we wonder what is at the center of our mission, though, we soon return to the learner. The opening years of the 21st century provide us with more variations on the concept of the learner than could ever have been imagined when many of us were beginning our careers as world language educators: our learners are both older and younger than they used to be, they are less likely to claim English as a native language, and their reasons for studying French or Chinese or Arabic or Spanish are many and varied. Furthermore, we are also different: we are more aware of contrasts in students learning styles and backgrounds than we used to be, we are more likely to approach them through the filter of technology, and our instructional strategies reflect our efforts to respond to myriad new standards imposed from both external and internal sources. In an era of constant change, the harder it is to know our students --whether because of the diversity in their backgrounds, the many distractions in their lives, or the increasing demands in ours -- the more urgent it is that we find ways to hear what they are really saying. The ability to listen to learners and to hear their underlying messages becomes an indispensable tool in the teachers repertoire. What might we want to learn from our learners?: * What does learning another language really mean to them? * What are they really learning about other cultures (and their own)? * What do they believe about how proficient they can become? * What value do their friends and family place on linguistic and cultural competence? * What role do they see for other languages in their future lives? Harking back to the unforgettable teacher stories produced for the 1998 NECTFL Reports -- stories that emerged when teachers believed someone was truly listening to what they had to say -- we plan to base the 2004 Northeast Conference on learner stories. We hope to find students of all types who will tell and write about the surprises, the satisfactions, the frustrations, and the personal meanings they associate with language learning in all its many forms. You can help us with this important endeavor! If you have collected student feedback in journals, if you have interviewed or surveyed students, if you have completed an action research project on student beliefs or a qualitative study of how students interpret what they are doing as they learn, we need to hear from you*! If you know a student who might benefit from participation in a writing workshop to explore some of the questions listed above, we need to hear from you*! There will be many different ways to contribute to or become involved with the 2004 conference, for you and for your students. NECTFL 2004 will be less a show put on by the organizations leaders and more a collaborative effort to help construct our professions knowledge about learners. Please be a part of it! Cordially, Frank Mulhern Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association *E-mail us at nectfl@dickinson.edu for further information and to share your thoughts. For more information go to: http://www.dickinson.edu/nectfl/overview04.html |
| Source | NECTFL |
| Inputdate | 2003-09-10 21:20:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2003-09-10 21:20:00 |
| Expdate | 2004-04-16 00:00:00 |
| Publishdate | Not set |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
