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Content Type: 2
Title: New and Improved LinguaFolio Online
Body:
A new and improved LinguaFolio Online will be greeting you in the fall. New features include easier navigation, quicker ways to capture and upload evidence, improved teacher report screens, and the ability for teachers to reset students' passwords. Now that's something to look forward to!
Source: CASLS
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Title: Intercultural Communicative Competence and Computer Assisted Language Learning
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Marta Tecedor Cabrero is an assistant professor in the department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures at Texas Tech University. She specializes in the study of computer-based tools and second language learning, in particular with regards to the intersection of language, social interaction, and task-based instruction.
Being proficient in a foreign language means being able to communicate successfully with native speakers of that language. In addition to the traditionally recognized competences —grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic (Canale & Swain, 1980; Swain, 1983)— learners also need to have culture specific knowledge as well as cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills to interact appropriately and effectively in the target language, what has been called Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC).
A model for ICC
There are several conceptualizations of ICC, but the most widely used model today is Byram’s (1997), which identifies three components to interact successfully in intercultural situations: attitudes, knowledge, and skills.
According to this model, “attitudes” refer to awareness of one’s own cultural perspectives and openness and curiosity to learning about new beliefs, values, and perspectives on the world. “Knowledge,” on the other hand, refers to awareness and understanding of how individuals and groups interact in both one’s own and the interlocutor’s culture. Lastly, “skills” means the ability to discover and interpret cultural phenomena—including one’s own—and to operationalize all three components of the construct in a real time interaction.
As can be seen, one of the particularities of Byram’s model is that it requires an awareness and understanding of one’s own culture as a first step to communicating effectively in cross-cultural situations.
Approaches to the teaching of ICC
While most foreign language practitioners and theorist agree on the importance of providing ICC education, the question of how this education is best carried out is still debated. Overall, two models can distinguished: the Social Skills Approach and the Holistic Approach.
The Social Skills Approach assumes that the goal of instruction is to teach learners how to pass by natives of the target culture, that is, to teach skills for cultural assimilation leaving one’s own culture values and perspectives aside. In this approach, instruction includes a repertoire of cultural facts, formulaic expressions, and advice on how to behave appropriately in specific situations.
A more popular approach, the Holistic Approach, is based on the assumption that the goal of instruction is to develop positive attitudes towards others, promote empathy and reduce ethnocentric viewpoints. In this approach, instruction consists of providing learners with the necessary tools to analyze and interpret cultural phenomena.
The development of ICC
Current research on the development of Interactional Competence distinguishes three stages in the process of acquisition. First, intercultural awareness arises when the learner can notice and compare differences in the products, practices, and perspectives of two or more cultural group. Then, intercultural understanding comes about when the learner begins to attribute possible explanations to the target culture phenomena. Lastly, intercultural awareness is achieved once the learner can communicate in the target culture context successfully.
ICC and Computer Assisted Language Learning
The use of computer technology provides an essential contribution to the development of ICC in today’s foreign language curriculum. The Internet and so-called web 2.0 tools facilitate access to an array of authentic materials (e.g., newspapers, movies, T.V. programs, songs) through which knowledge of the target culture and its perspectives can be acquired and/or augmented. More importantly, many of these computer-mediated tools also afford the possibility of engaging in intercultural communication with native speakers of the target language.
These exchanges can follow several models—class-to-class telecollaboration, e-tandem exchanges, or one-to-one exchanges in one language only—and take place asynchronously, in media such as email, blogs, wikis, or synchronously via chat or videoconferencing platforms.
Current research in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has shown that telecollaborative interactions can be effective in helping learners acquire ICC. However, these exchanges are not without problems. The literature also documents numerous instances of communication breakdowns, misunderstandings, and frustration between interlocutors due to, among other things, problems with the technology, netiquette, and/or undeveloped ICC (Kramsch, 2009). As with all instructional models, then, the role of the teacher is crucial to the success of internet-mediated ICC instruction. It has been suggested (O’Dowd, 2007) that the success of telecollaborative exchanges often depends on instructor’s familiarity with the technology, as well as his/her ability to act as model and coach.
References:
Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.
Kramsch, C. (2009). The multilingual subject. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O'Dowd, R. (2007). Evaluating the outcomes of online intercultural exchange. Munich: Langenscheidt.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: Chinese Flagship Colloquium & Graduation
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On May 19 the Chinese Flagship Program held its annual Spring Colloquium where faculty, staff and students met for student presentations and awards. Students from Chinese 399, 422 and 445 presented on various topics such as health and food, as well as presenting hilarious sock puppets and singing beautiful Chinese songs. At the end student awards [photo below] were distributed for Community Commitment, Most Improved, and Leadership, and two awards were given for most helpful Graduate Mentor.
The Colloquium comes just before University of Oregon students get ready for the end of spring term and graduation on June 13. We wish all graduating seniors best of luck in their future endeavors!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Title: New Expert Guides from the Canadian Modern Language Review
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The Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes introduces a new online feature – Expert Guides – where experts in the field of second language(L2) teaching and learning answer common questions aimed at helping teachers better understand their students. These bilingual expert guides are open access and free to read.
Why do some students learn additional languages faster than others?
Pourquoi certains élèves apprennent-ils plus vite que d’autres?
Philippa Bell, Université du Québec à Montréal
http://bit.ly/cmlrFAQ1
What is the best age to learn a second/foreign language?
Quel est l’âge le plus approprié pour apprendre une langue seconde ou étrangère?
Carmen Muñoz, University of Barcelona
http://bit.ly/cmlrFAQ2
UTP Journals. Expert Guides - New open access online feature from Canadian Modern Language Review. LLTI listserv (LLTI@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU, 16 May 2016).
Source: LLTI
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Title: Book: Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas
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Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas
Edited by Serafín M. Coronel-Molina, Teresa L. McCarty
Published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Focusing on the Americas – home to 40 to 50 million Indigenous people – this book explores the history and current state of Indigenous language revitalization across this vast region. Complementary chapters on the USA and Canada, and Latin America and the Caribbean, offer a panoramic view while tracing nuanced trajectories of "top down" (official) and "bottom up" (grass roots) language planning and policy initiatives. Authored by leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, the book is organized around seven overarching themes: Policy and Politics; Processes of Language Shift and Revitalization; The Home-School-Community Interface; Local and Global Perspectives; Linguistic Human Rights; Revitalization Programs and Impacts; New Domains for Indigenous Languages
Visit the publisher’s website at https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Language-Revitalization-in-the-Americas/Coronel-Molina-McCarty/p/book/9780415810814
Source: Routledge
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Title: Book: Cognitive Perspectives on Bilingualism
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From http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/210679?format=G&rskey=wFFVVZ&result=1
Cognitive Perspectives on Bilingualism
Edited by Monica Reif and Justyna A. Robinson
Published by de Gruyter Mouton
Only 15 years ago bilingualism was somewhat outside the main debates in cognitive linguistics. Cognitive linguistics had, to a large extent, taken for granted the fact that language is embodied in our experience. However, not much attention was given to questions of whether any changes to our language repertoire alter the way we perceive the world around us. A growing body of recent research suggests that one cannot understand the cognitive foundations of language without looking at bi- and multilingual speakers. In this vein, the present book aims to contribute to the existing debate of the relationship between language, culture and cognition by assessing differences and similarities between monolingual and bilingual language acquisition and use. In particular, it investigates the effect of conceptual-semantic and pragmatic properties of constructions on code choice and code switching, as well as the impact of bilingual and bicultural education on speakers’ cognitive development. This collective volume systematizes, reviews, and promotes a range of theoretical perspectives and research techniques that currently inform work across the disciplines of bilingualism and code switching.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/210679?format=G&rskey=wFFVVZ&result=1
Source: de Gruyter
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Title: Book: Starting Over – The Language Development in Internationally-Adopted Children
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From https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/tilar.18/main
Starting Over – The Language Development in Internationally-Adopted Children
Edited by Fred Genesee and Audrey Delcenserie
Published by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Internationally-adopted children are a unique population of language learners. They discontinue acquisition of their birth language when they are adopted by families that speak other languages. Their unique language learning history raises important practical, clinical and theoretical issues. Practically speaking: what is the typical language learning trajectory of these children after adoption and what factors affect their language learning: age at adoption, country of origin, quality and nature of the pre-adoption learning environment, and others. They also raise important theoretical questions: How resilient is their socio-emotional, cognitive and language development following adoption? Does their language development resemble that of first or second language learners, or something else? Do they experience total attrition of their birth language? Are there neuro-cognitive traces of the birth language after adoption and what neuro-cognitive processes underlie acquisition and processing of the adopted language; are they the same as those of monolingual native speakers or those of early second language learners? And, how do we interpret differences, if any, between adopted and non-adoptive children? Chapters in this volume by leading researchers review research and provide insights on these issues.
Visit the publisher’s website at https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/tilar.18/main
Source: John Benjamins Publishing Company
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Title: Call for Contributions: Politics of Research in Language Education
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From http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-2218.html
This volume problematizes research in the field of language education as inherently loaded and political in nature. The book does not aim to tackle the interconnections between research and politics as such, as for example is the case in Kaplan and Levine’s (1997) edited collection. Rather, it intends to revisit language education research as essentially political in almost all its aspects and elements in themselves, including topics, methodologies, settings, participants, data, and analysis, as well as funding, publishing, and the teaching of research methodology. Potential chapters are invited addressing ontological, epistemological, sociocultural, political, economic, institutional, etc. aspects of language education research in terms of prevalent research topics, dominant methodologies, peer review and publication, funding, teaching research methodology, etc.
Potential contributors are invited to submit a 300-word proposal to the co-editors by June 15, 2016.
View the full call for contributions at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-2218.html
Source: LINGUIST List
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Title: Call for Presentations: Virtual Conference for German Teachers
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From https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/spr/unt/ver/vir.html
The Goethe-Institut and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) present GETVICO the Virtual Conference for German Teachers in the US and Canada to take place on September 17, 2016.
GETVICO is a modern platform for German teachers to exchange ideas on methods and materials.
Make plans now to participate in this free online conference — connect from home with German teaching professionals across North America.
A wide range of presentations will be offered, focused on six thematic strands with an open call for abstracts. The conference will also offer three themed panels: “Continuing Education Programs”, “Studying in Germany”, and “The German American Partnership Program”.
The organizers are currently seeking speakers to present interesting examples from their classrooms or methodological and didactic approaches on any of the topics to be covered during the conference.
Abstracts are due by May 30, 2016.
For full details go to https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/spr/unt/ver/vir.html
Source: Goethe-Institut
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Title: Call for Proposals: The Language and Social Interaction Working Group (LANSI)
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The 6th annual meeting of the Language and Social Interaction Working Group (LANSI) will take place at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, on October 7 and 8, 2016.
Call for proposals
LANSI brings together scholars and students working on naturally-occurring data within the broad area of language and social interaction. In keeping with the LANSI spirit of diversity and dialog, the conference organizers welcome abstracts from colleagues working on a variety of topics using discourse analytic approaches that include but are not limited to conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and critical discourse analysis.
Deadline for electronic submission is May 31, 2016.
For additional information and to submit an abstract, please visit: www.tc.edu/lansi
Reddington, E. [BILING] LANSI CFP Deadline May 31. BILING listserv (BILING@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU, 16 May 2016).
Source: BILING
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