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Content Type: 1
Title: Why Some People Find Language Learning Harder Than Others
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From: http://www.lingholic.com/people-find-language-learning-harder-others/
Very interesting article from Sam Gendreau, a polyglot, writer, and M.A. student in International Affairs, who writes for lingholic.com. This could be a good article to share with your students in some way, either reading it together or discussing the key points, particularly if you have students who are on the "I can't do this" mindset. As with all resources, pre-read the article to determine its appropriateness for your context. This article, which is based on research gleaned from interviews, books, and TED talks, examines the differences between a "growth mindset" and a "fixed mindset" and how this could affect language learners' perceived abilities of learning a second language.
Access this article: http://www.lingholic.com/people-find-language-learning-harder-others/
Source: lingholic.com
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Title: TOEFL Grants and Awards
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The deadline for applications for TOEFL Grants and Awards is February 15th, 2015. Awards are available in a variety of categories and provide funding for activities, projects and research in the field of international education and foreign or second language assessment. Among them are the Small Grants for Doctoral Research in Second or Foreign Language Assessment (http://www.ets.org/toefl/grants/doctoral_research_grant_second_language) to help students complete the research for their dissertations in a timely manner. The others include:
TOEFL Board Grants (http://www.ets.org/toefl/grants/board_grants)
TOEFL International Speaker Grants (http://www.ets.org/toefl/grants/international_speaker_grant)
Library and Resource Center Award (http://www.ets.org/toefl/grants/library_resource_center_award)
TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award (http://www.ets.org/toefl/grants/outstanding_young_scholar)
Applications received after February 15th will be considered for the next application deadline in October.
For more information about the awards, please visit www.ets.org/toefl/grants.
Douglas, D. [LTEST-L] TOEFL Grants and Awards. LTEST-L listserv (LTEST-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU, 8 Jan 2015).
Source: LTEST-L
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Content Type: 4
Title: Authentic Listening Task: How-to Videos
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by Renee Marshall, CASLS Curriculum Consultant
When creating listening tasks for the language learner, it's always important to think about what types of listening tasks L1 speakers do in their everyday lives. For example, if you wanted to know how to cook the perfect omelet or fried egg, you might go to YouTube and watch a How-to video. You wouldn't answer a short true/false or multiple-choice questionnaire about it though—instead you would follow along with the video and make the omelet or fried egg yourself. In this activity, pick a short How-to video and have your L2's follow along. If they've understood the directions, they will have a (yummy!) completed product at the end. While I chose cooking How-to videos here, you can also easily adapt this to any How-to video. Whatever video you chose, you may want to review pertinent vocabulary beforehand (for example, for cooking review food and measurement vocabulary) and/or provide a helpful vocabulary list for students.
Objective(s):
Students will be able to follow directions in a How-to video in order to make scrambled eggs.
Resources: How to cook handout
You will also need whatever your chosen video requires in order for your students to complete the task.
Possible videos to use:
English- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9r-CxnCXkg (Jamie Oliver shows you how to make scrambled eggs 3 different ways- "English, French, and American")
French - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg6ZtBUYI5E (Make the 'perfect' fried egg)
German - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXh5mdsoQGc (Make easy rice pudding)
Spanish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM3ZMS4Pe-s (Make an omelet – stop video at 2:45)
Procedure:
- Have all necessary items for the task on a counter waiting for students to come and get what they need when it's time.
- Have students watch the How-to video once through. Pass out the How to Cook handout to all students.
- Watch the How-to video again and have students fill out the handout. You may need to pause the video and clarify/help at certain points. (if you have short periods, you can do steps 2 and 3 the first day and then the actual cooking on the second day)
- When students are done with the handout, review as a class.
- Have partnered or grouped students come and get the items they need and set up their cooking areas.
- Play video again while students follow along and complete the task. You will need to pause the video after each step so students have time to complete each one.
- When done, enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Note: Food and eating habits are very cultural – before, during and/or after the cooking How-to video there may be a good "teaching moment" where you can bring up and discuss certain cultural norms around cooking and eating in the target culture.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: Catching Up with CASLS Research Director Linda Forrest by Deborah Cooke
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Research Director Dr. Linda Forrest has been part of the CASLS team for nine years. She leads the center's research initiatives, and many in the center consider her a "full service" employee, coordinating everything from human subjects proposals to the collection and analysis of data to the publication of research reports. Although the research projects at CASLS have certainly changed over the years and with it the research questions, Linda has been rolling up her sleeves and digging in data.
And as much as she loves data, Linda most enjoys working with the people at CASLS. "Everyone is committed to making CASLS a great center for improving language teaching and learning," she shares. "They're nice people, too!"
Her favorite project to date has been developing the National Online Early Language Learning Assessment (NOELLA). NOELLA is a four-skills assessment designed for students in grades 3-6 studying Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.
Outside of CASLS, Linda works on genealogy, both traditional research and the new field of genetic genealogy. She's tested most of her family members' DNA to help determine if the family's historical stories are true or not.
If she could visit any place in the universe - and bend time a bit - Linda would return to Tuscany circa 700 B.C. and study the Etruscans who were living there at the time. Their culture and language was an important influence on Roman civilization and the Latin language. Linda would like to find and study their documents, most of which have been lost.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 5
Title: Meet CASLS Visiting Scholar Qiu Yu
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Qiu Yu is visiting us this year from Southwest University in Chongqing, China. She arrived in Eugene in August and is spending a year working with our Chinese Flagship program. Her primary research interest is Content-Based Instruction; at Southwest University one of the courses she teaches is Economics and Trade - taught in English to English learners. Here at the University of Oregon she is able to observe Chinese language learners in content area classes that are taught in Chinese - an enlightening experience from her perspective as a native Chinese speaker watching students acquire Chinese. She is also researching ways to use the CBI approach with her post-graduate English students in China. “English is a tool for you to learn more information about your subject,” she says. A year with no teaching obligations is also giving her time to write a second edition of her book English for Economics and Trade.
Ms. Yu and her son, who is attending a local elementary school this year, are enjoying the quiet atmosphere and green spaces in Eugene as well as the opportunity to be immersed in English language and Oregon culture. We are grateful to have her as part of the CASLS family.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 3
Title: Assessing Listening Comprehension with an IPA (Integrated Performance Assessment)
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Kathy Shelton is a World Language Education Program Specialist for the Ohio Department of Education. She has 25 years of experience teaching French in traditional and online programs.
Using an IPA to guide instruction
Does anything strike more fear into world language students than having to answer comprehension questions based on an authentic video or audio? The speed of the language, the random vocabulary, the unfamiliar accent—that overwhelming feeling of not understanding anything is enough to intimidate even the most confident student.
Using an IPA to guide instruction can help reduce the fear-factor of listening to authentic language. Guided by the learning goals for the unit, the teacher develops IPA tasks that will provide evidence that students have achieved the desired communicative goals. The teacher then uses the IPA to plan the learning experiences for the entire unit. Information on creating an IPA can be found here.
Step One: Finding appropriate authentic resources
When searching for authentic resources, several factors will be considered:
1. Is the resource age-, level- and context-appropriate? Is it well-organized, with contextual support or visuals?
Use resources that have already been vetted by educators: the Ohio Department of Education’s Model Curriculum has authentic resources submitted by world language teachers, organized by target language. Other language websites such as Pinterest and FL Teach also offer lists of authentic resources.
2. Is it real-world and interesting to students?
Choose online resources that appeal to your student population: radio broadcasts, commercials, tourist ads, music videos, news clips, game shows, films, movie trailers, or television programs.
3. Could the resource be used across many levels of learners?
Use excerpts from the resource: for novice learners, focus on getting the gist of a segment that contains cognates, slower speech or familiar content. Use longer or more difficult excerpts for intermediate learners.
Step Two: Creating listening tasks for the IPA
Listening comprehension questions will go beyond a “fact-finding mission” and push students to use higher-level thinking skills. Based on the ACTFL interpretive tasks template (2013), comprehension questions can include literal comprehension (key words, main idea, supporting details) and interpretive comprehension (organization, meaning from context, inferences, author’s perspective, cultural perspective). Guidance for developing IPA interpretive tasks can be found here.
Step Three: Scaffolding listening comprehension during formative practice
The summative listening task in the IPA informs the type of formative practice the students will do throughout the unit. The formative assessments will be similar to what the students are expected to do for the IPA. For example, if the IPA listening comprehension is based on a publicity video for Disneyland Paris, then the formative practice might entail watching promotional videos for other French amusement parks or tourist attractions. Other ideas for meaningful listening tasks can be found here.
To help students develop their listening skills, teachers can scaffold the listening process by first pre-assessing students’ prior knowledge of a topic and then gradually requiring more in-depth comprehension as they watch or listen to a resource several times. The process would be streamlined as the students become more advanced in their listening skills. This listening activity for Level 1, created by Spanish teacher Sherri Higgins, shows how to scaffold the listening process while viewing a promotional music video for the city of Valencia, Spain.
By using an IPA to guide instruction, develop formative tasks and assess listening comprehension, teachers can successfully help students continue to move along the proficiency continuum.
References:
Adair, Glisan, Troyan. Implementing Integrated Performance Assessments. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2013
Ohio Department of Education Model Curriculum for World Languages, 2014: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Ohio-s-New-Learning-Standards/Foreign-Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum-Framework
Shelton, Kathleen & Higgins, Sherri (2014, April). “Cultures…the Other Standard! Integrating authentic cultural resources into your communicative activities.” Presented at the Ohio Foreign Language Association Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Promotion of Valencia with Pharrell Williams' "Happy"
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Our Activity of the Week is contributed by Sherri Higgins. Spanish students engage in listening activities associated with a video. Download the activity here to use in your Spanish class or to use as a model for creating other similar activities for any language. This activity serves as a model for scaffolding instruction as part of an Integrated Performance Assessment, as described in this week's Topic of the Week by Kathy Shelton.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Title: Language, Literacy and Diversity
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From http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415819053/
Language, Literacy and Diversity: Moving Words
Edited by Christopher Stroud and Mastin Prinsloo
Published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Language, Literacy and Diversity brings together researchers who are leading the innovative and important re-theorization of language and literacy in relation to social mobility, multilingualism and globalization. The volume examines local and global flows of people, language and literacy in relation to social practice; the role (and nature) of boundary maintenance or disruption in global, transnational and translocal contexts; and the lived experiences of individuals on the front lines of global, transnational and translocal processes.
The contributors pay attention to the dynamics of multilingualism in located settings and the social and personal management of multilingualism in socially stratified and ethnically plural social settings. Together, they offer ground-breaking research on language practices and documentary practices as regards to access, selection, social mobility and gate-keeping processes in a range of settings across several continents: Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415819053/
Source: Routledge
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Title: Subtitles and Language Learning
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Subtitles and Language Learning: Principles, strategies and practical experiences
Edited by Yves Gambier, Annamaria Caimi, and Cristina Mariotti
Published by Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
This book is meant to provide a scientific and educational guide for researchers, language professionals and students of applied linguistics. The collected articles incorporate past and recent research on the use of subtitles as foreign language learning tools, and describe some interesting teaching/learning experiences carried out by university scholars and school teachers to test the effects of subtitles/subtitling in tutored or untutored foreign language learning contexts.
It provides examples with didactic feedback on the use of interlingual, intralingual and reversed subtitled audiovisuals from the early eighties up to 2013. The opportunities offered by such multimodal, inter-semiotic learning aids are acknowledged to facilitate self-study and promote digital literacy, yet the pedagogical context, be it physical or virtual, always plays a prominent psychological role, which affects foreign language acquisition.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=81529&concordeid=431529
Source: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
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Title: 7th Collaborative Online International Learning Conference
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From http://coil.suny.edu/page/call-presentations-7th-coil-conference
Invitation and Call for Presentations for the 7th COIL Conference
The Expanding Landscape of COIL Practitioners, Networks, and Hubs: What's Next?
March 19 - 20, 2015
SUNY Global Center, 116 E. 55th St., NYC
Deadline for Proposals: January 20, 2015
By reimagining education as a networked phenomenon, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) provides co-taught learning environments in which students gain valuable cross-cultural competence and experience collaborative engagement with international peers. With continued expansion of practice, and growth of research on the COIL model across institutions, this year's conference will explore paths through which COIL is reaching new audiences, new regions, and new networks.
This Year's Themes and Topics include:
- Student Perspectives and Voices from COIL Exchanges and Experiences (accepted students will be offered complimentary conference registration)
- New Ways to Link Institutional COIL Efforts: Regional Networks and Hubs
- Role of COIL in Integrating Intercultural and Global Dimensions into the Curriculum
- Best Practices for Growing, Sustaining and Normalizing COIL
- What We Can Learn from Initiatives Similar to COIL from Outside the U.S.
- COIL as a Portal for Increased Participation in Study Abroad
- Role of Language and Language-Learning in COIL
- Challenges and Benefits to the Ongoing Teaching of COIL Courses
- COIL as a Venue for Digital Literacy, Virtual Teams and other 21st-Century Skills
- Power Differentials and Hegemonies in COIL Collaborations
- Global Citizenship, Service Learning and Social Justice through COIL
- Researching COIL: Theoretical Frameworks and Methodological Approaches
- Making Pedagogically Informed Choices About Technology in COIL
- COIL as a Community: How Can We Systematically Share What We Have Learned?
- COILing Pre-University Ed: Opportunities/Challenges at CCs, FATECs and CÉGEPs
To learn more and to submit a proposal, go to http://coil.suny.edu/page/call-presentations-7th-coil-conference
Source: SUNY COIL Center
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