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Content Type: 5
Title: Helping STARTALK Programs Document Student Learning by Mandy Gettler, CASLS Associate Director
Body:
Since 2008, CASLS has been helping STARTALK programs across the country document student learning, a key element in demonstrating the impact short-term language study can have on students' language skills and intercultural understanding. STARTALK requires programs to incorporate LinguaFolio Online, provided by CASLS, into their curriculum. This year, we're helping make using LinguaFolio Online easier than ever.
- An easier signup process that doesn't require registration codes.
- Program directors can select CanDo statements specific to their STARTALK program.
- Program directors can enter customized CanDo statements that match the curriculum template.
- Students will only see the CanDo statements that staff select as relevant to their program.
- Staff can more easily review student work, confirm students' completion of CanDo statements, and access student evidence.
We hope those of you in STARTALK programs will love these new changes, and we will continue to make improvements to LinguaFolio Online in subsequent years. If you have an improvement you'd like to see, let us know by emailing us at info@uoregon.edu or telling us on Facebook or Twitter.
CASLS developed LinguaFolio Online in partnership with the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC).
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 3
Title: Online Translators – Can they be helpful?
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by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Online translators, and their capability of dealing with larger amounts of text, present a new challenge for learners and language teachers. It is not uncommon to hear an instructor lamenting a composition that has undoubtedly been created using online translation. However, despite the valid concerns of many, recent research has indicated many ways in which online translators can be used strategically to enhance language development.
Engaging learners in tasks that make explicit use of online translation for learning can be especially powerful. A number of possible activities can lead to meaningful use of online translation. We highlight four below. See Polio (2008) and Jin and Deifell (2013) for more detailed description of each.
- Ask learners to analyze a text that has been translated into their native language from a target language text. This can include discussion of patterns. Beginning and intermediate learners can be given texts to read and analyze. What are the common errors translators make? What is good and bad use? Furthermore, advanced learners can be asked to correct a text originally produced by a translator in the target language.
- Have learners research multiple sites to ensure the most accurate meaning. It is important to encourage learners to check multiple sites to ensure the most accurate meaning, especially in the case of complex structures or advanced level content. Learners report this as a common strategy they already use (see Jin and Deifell, 2013), but is also worth explicitly exploring to help reinforce the lack of one-to-one correspondence between many words and phrases. The most commonly used sites reported by learners include Google Translate and wordreference.com.
- Teach learners to use online translators to explore grammar questions and come up with their own solutions. For example, what pronouns or prepositions are most commonly used with certain phrases? What structures most accurately portray actions in the future?
- Use online translators to explore pragmatics. For examples, how are common requests realized or in what ways is implicature missing from online translations.
Regardless of one's teaching and learning context, a myriad of online dictionaries and translation tools are available. Teaching learners to use them in meaningful ways can have positive results and, ideally reduce their misuse in the language classroom.
References
Jin, L. and Deifell, E. (2013). Foreign Language Learners' Use and Perception of Online Dictionaries: A Survey Study. Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(4), 515-533.
Polio, C. (2008). Making the most of online translators in foreign language classes. CLEAR Newsletter, 12(2), 1, 4.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Meaningful Use of Online Translators
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When used properly, online translators have immense potential for language learning.
Objective: To aid learners in productive and meaningful use of online translators.
Resources: Meaningful Use of Online Translators
Procedure:
- Work with learners to make a list of advantages and disadvantages of online translators.
- Assign learners the task of exploring online translators and learning skills for using them in meaningful ways. See the Meaningful Use of Online Translators resource sheet for student instructions.
- Have learners share their experiences and revise the original list of advantages and disadvantages.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 2
Title: July Theme: Professional Development
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Our theme for July is professional development. Many of us are between school years, and now is a good time to think about career-long learning, how to fit professional development into busy schedules, how to learn from other language teachers, and how to track your development as a teacher. We hope you enjoy our contributors’ articles this month.
Source: CASLS Announcement
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Content Type: 1
Title: Book: French through Corpora
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From http://www.cambridgescholars.com/french-through-corpora
French through Corpora: Ecological and Data-Driven Perspectives in French Language Studies
Edited by Henry Tyne, Virginie André, Christophe Benzitoun, Alex Boulton, and Yan Greub
Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing
This book offers a series of studies that come together in their concern for furthering an understanding of the French language, of its uses, its forms, its variation, and its acquisition. Other than contributing to a general understanding of French, this book also addresses the use of corpora for the study of language and the links between tools, methods, analyses and applications. What data are used, and how? What are the underlying theoretical and/or methodological considerations? How have these changed our way of formulating linguistic descriptions? What are the implications for descriptive accounts of French today? What are the applications of corpus studies? These questions (and many more) are addressed here in a series of scholarly contributions grouped into four broad areas: diachrony, syntax, sociolinguistics, and the learning and teaching of French.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.cambridgescholars.com/french-through-corpora
Source: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
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Content Type: 1
Title: Book: Language Policy Processes and Consequences
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From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783091935
Language Policy Processes and Consequences: Arizona Case Studies
By Sarah Catherine K. Moore
Published by Multilingual Matters
This book traces the recent socio-historical trajectory of educational language policy in Arizona, the state with the most restrictive English-only implementation in the US. Chapters, each representing a case study of policy-making in the state, include:
• an overview and background of the English-only movement, the genesis of Structured English Immersion (SEI), and current status of language policy in Arizona;
• an in-depth review of the Flores case presented by its lead lawyer;
• a look at early Proposition 203 implementation in the context of broader educational ‘reform’ efforts;
• examples of how early state-wide mandates impacted teacher professional development;
• a presentation of how new university-level teacher preparation curricula misaligns with commonly-held beliefs about what teachers of language minority students should know and understand;
• an exploration of principals’ concerns about enforcing top-down policies for SEI implementation;
• an investigation of what SEI policy looks like in today’s classrooms and whether it constitutes equity;
• and finally, a discussion of what the various cases mean for the education of English learners in the state.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783091935
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Title: Book: Multilingualism and Mobility in Europe
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Multilingualism and Mobility in Europe: Policies and Practices
Edited by Kristine Horner, Ingrid de Saint-Georges, and Jean-Jacques Weber
Published by Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
How do individuals experience multilingualism and mobility in the context of Europeanization and globalization? The contributors explore language-in-education policies and family language policies, as well as the complex interface between multilingualism and space. They provide fresh insights on key issues in sociolinguistics, multilingualism and language policy via discussion of rich qualitative data. The multiple sites analyzed in the chapters are located in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Hungary and Moldova. Some of the chapters dealing with France, including one about the overseas French territory of La Réunion, are written in French.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=78682&concordeid=264892
Source: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
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Title: 2014 Miami University Conference on the Teaching of Languages
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Miami University Conference on the Teaching of Languages
2014 CONFERENCE
Rejuvenating Language Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Friday, October 10th, 2014, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Miami University Voice of America Learning Center
7847 VOA Park Drive, West Chester, OH 45069
• Attend sessions designed to enhance the teaching experience
• Learn about current trends in language teaching and assessment
• Share language teaching experiences for today’s classroom
• Network with experienced and new language teachers
• All languages welcome: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, etc.
For full details and to register go to http://miamioh.edu/muctl
Source: Miami University
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Title: Article: The Unfortunate Monolingual American
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From http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2014/07/the_unfortunate_monolingual_american.html
The Unfortunate Monolingual American
By Kaitlin Thomas
July 3, 2014
While foreigners are hungry to learn English in order to succeed within American borders, statistics suggest that the same cannot be said for Americans attempting to keep up in a competitive global market that is more and more housed in nations where English is not the first, or even the preferred, language. … Simply put, American disinterest in acquiring language skills to adapt to linguistic and cultural situations in which they find themselves is hurting an entire nation's likelihood of maintaining a predominant role in 21st century world matters.
Read the entire article at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2014/07/the_unfortunate_monolingual_american.html
Source: Education Week
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Title: Arabic Pinterest Page
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The Association for Language Learning has a Pinterest page for Arabic teachers. Get new ideas at http://uk.pinterest.com/alllanguages/arabic
Source: Pinterest
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