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Content Type: 1
Title: Research Summary: Gap-fill, Sentence Writing or Composition for Vocabulary Learning
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From http://www.eltresearchbites.com/
Leo Selivan summarizes a 2017 article by Di Zou in which the effectiveness of cloze exercises, sentence writing, and composition writing is compared for vocabulary learning. The results: "Participants in the composition writing group got the highest scores on the test (15.9), followed by the sentence writing group (12.3) and the cloze exercise group with the lowest score (8.3). Predictably, the delayed post-test yielded slightly lower scores in all three groups but the order remained the same with the composition writing group in the lead." Read the full research summary at http://www.eltresearchbites.com/201711-gap-fill-sentence-writing-or-composition-which-task-leads-to-better-vocabulary-learning/
Source: ELT Research Bites
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Title: CALPER's Corpus Portal Updated
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Our sister LRC the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research has maintained a corpus portal for some time; this portal serves as a gateway to information and tools for teachers to use corpus data in language teaching, learning, and assessment.
The site has recently been updated and is available at a new web address: http://sites.psu.edu/calpercorpusportal/
Source: CALPER
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Title: Technology Resources for the World Language Classroom
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From http://catherine-ousselin.org/technology.html
French teacher Catherine Ousselin’s technology website is a well-organized collection of resources. Find workshops, blogs and Twitter chats to follow, tools for curating and collaboration, sites that generate activities or allow learners to interact in the target language, and more.
Explore this website at http://catherine-ousselin.org/technology.html
Source: Catherine Osselin
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Content Type: 3
Title: Intentional Student Reflection in the World Language Classroom
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Diante always did his work. He studied hard for exams, always corrected the points of language marked in red pen on his writing, and practiced for oral exams. In fact, he had always done well with languages. As he improved his proficiency, he started realizing he was making the same mistakes over and over again and, in retrospect, hadn’t really thought much about it. In talking with his instructor, he realized he knew much more about language then he originally thought. Many students are in the same place as Diante. Intentional reflection as part of the learning process can help improve this scenario and can add depth and meaning to the learning process. Reflection can, and should, be part of daily classroom work. This can be done in a number of ways. For example:
- Ask learners to self-evaluate their abilities on classroom learning targets at the beginning and at the end of each class session. As this process becomes systematized, they can then start to deepen their reflection to include how well they are meeting each objective.
- Use a portfolio to collect evidence of student work and engage learners in the reflective process as part of that process (see lfonetwork.uoregon.edu for additional resources related to reflection and portfolio work). Assessment on the reflection process should include more then a completion score and, instead, require learners to address key features of their own process.
- Use peer discussion as a means to reflect on patterns, quality, proficiency levels, and context.
Regardless of the format one takes, intentioned integration of learner self-reflection can deepen learning, improve learning outcomes, and transform the learner experience.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Developing Self-Evaluation Skills for Writing through Peer Review
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By Misaki Kato, CASLS Fellow
In writing classrooms, process writing (where the focus is on the process of planning, developing, and revising students’ drafts rather than just the final products) has become one of the major approaches that instructors employ to develop students’ critical thinking and writing skills (Graham & Sandmel, 2011). In such classrooms, peer review is an important opportunity for students to reflect on their own writing processes. While the goal of the peer review process is for students to help one another to improve their drafts, a critical barrier exists to utilizing this in classrooms; students seem to value and trust their instructor’s feedback much more than their peers’ (Nelson & Murphy, 1993). This is problematic because instructors have limited time and resources to give each student detailed feedback frequently throughout the course. So how can instructors convince students that peer review is useful to develop their own writing skills?
One way to convince students that peer review is worthwhile is to focus on the benefits of giving feedback rather than receiving it. The key is to shift the focus from encouraging students to revise their drafts based on their peers’ feedback to taking advantage of the reviewing process itself (e.g., Berg, 1999; Lundstorm & Baker, 2009). The ultimate goal is to develop skills to critically review/revise their own papers through practicing giving critical feedback to their peers’ papers. Below, I suggest simplified steps for effectively implementing peer review where the focus is on developing their self-evaluation skills.
(1) Discuss benefits of and concerns about peer review: Have students explicitly acknowledge any potential benefits and discuss concerns about peer review before encouraging them to do something they potentially have doubts about. After the discussion, introduce the idea that there are benefits for giving rather than receiving feedback. Explain that if students have experiences reading peers’ writing critically, they should be able to do the same for their own writing too (Lundstorm & Baker, 2009).
(2) Practice giving feedback: Have students review the same writing sample together and help one another come up with comments. Have students focus on just a few basic features (e.g., how easy to identify a thesis statement, whether the introduction paragraph has sufficient background information, and whether the sources are correctly cited) when doing peer review for the first time to keep the task manageable.
(3) Do peer review: Students (a) exchange drafts with a partner, (b) write comments, (c) exchange comments orally in class (before exchanging the written comments). In step (a), after students read the draft, they could summarize it out loud to make sure that the writer communicated the main argument clearly to the reader (if not, the reader could include which part was not clear in the written comments in the following step). In step (c), it is important that students discuss comments with the peer to clarify any written notes or points.
(4) Evaluate own papers: Students evaluate the same features in their own writing that they evaluated in their peers’ drafts. The focus of this activity is not so much about how to incorporate the peers’ feedback, but rather to have students analyze their own paper critically.
The effectiveness of this protocol is enhanced by repeating steps 2-4 throughout the course. Training students to be critical reviewers will have long-term benefits such as making them become more autonomous and independent writers who take their readers into consideration (Tsui & Ng, 2000) and take responsibility for their own writing.
Note: This Topic of the Week was adapted from Kato (2015).
References:
Berg, E. C. (1999). The effects of trained peer response on ESL students' revision types and writing quality. Journal of second language writing, 8(3), 215-241.
Graham, S., & Sandmel, K. (2011). The process writing approach: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Educational Research, 104(6), 396-407.
Kato, M. (2015). Developing self-evaluation skills through giving peer writing feedback. ORTESOL Journal, 32, 70-72.
Lundstrom, K., & Baker, W. (2009). To give is better than to receive: The benefits of peer review to the reviewer's own writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 18(1), 30-43.
Nelson, G. L., & Murphy, J. M. (1993). Peer response groups: Do L2 writers use peer comments in revising their drafts?. Tesol Quarterly, 27(1), 135-141.
Tsui, A., & Ng, M. (2000). Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments?. Journal of Second Language Writing, 9(2), 147-170.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Reflecting on Learners’ Own Writing Skills through Peer Evaluation
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By Misaki Kato, CASLS Fellow
In this activity, students will practice giving critical feedback to other students’ introductory paragraphs and use the same critical reviewing skill to revise their own work. This particular activity (and material) is designed for students with intermediate writing skills.
Objectives: Learners will be able to:
- Use specific criteria to evaluate the introductory paragraph for an argumentative essay written by a peer.
- Examine and evaluate their own introductory paragraph based on the same criteria used in the peer review.
Mode: Presentational Writing
Materials:
- Peer feedback sheet for introductory paragraph
- Sample introductory paragraph
- Students’ own introductory paragraphs
Procedure:
- Explain to students that they are going to review an introductory paragraph of an argumentative essay. Give students the peer feedback sheet and review the questions together.
- Analyze 1: Give students the sample introductory paragraph. Students individually read the paragraph and fill out Part I of the peer feedback sheet. Since this is a quick review, give the students five minutes or less.
- Analyze 2 and Share: Have students compare their responses in Part I with one another (either in pairs or groups. Then, ask for students’ responses as part of a class discussion.
- Analyze 3: Students individually read the same sample paragraph again and fill out Part II of the peer feedback sheet. Students can take more time to fill this part of the feedback sheet (10-15 minutes or more, depending on your students’ reading level).
- Analyze 4 and Share: Have students compare their responses in Part II with one another (either in pairs or groups). Then, students share their responses with the whole class. You may want to project the sample paragraph on the screen during this step.
- Extend 1: You can skip this step if there is time constraint. Give the students another copy of the peer feedback sheet. Students exchange essays with their partners and fill out the peer feedback sheet for their partner’s introductory paragraph. Then, students exchange feedback with one another (here, make sure that students are talking, not just reading their partner’s written comments).
- Extend 2: Give student another copy of the peer feedback sheet. Students read their own introductory paragraph and fill out the peer review sheet. In the next class, students turn in the peer review sheets (their peers’ and their own evaluation of their introductory paragraph) and their revised introductory paragraphs.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 1
Title: Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange
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From https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Publications/Open-Doors-2017
Open Doors, supported by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, is a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the United States, and U.S. students studying abroad for academic credit at their home colleges or universities.
The 2017 Open Doors data was released on November 13th. You can peruse the data online at https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data and read the executive summary at https://www.iie.org/Why-IIE/Announcements/2017-11-13-Open-Doors-2017-Executive-Summary.
The full report is available for purchase as a book: https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Publications/Open-Doors-2017
Source: IIE
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Title: New Issue of Canadian Modern Language Review: Indigenous Language Teaching, Learning, and Identities
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From http://www.utpjournals.press/toc/cmlr/73/4
Volume 73, Number 4 of the Canadian Modern Language Review (November 2017) is dedicated to the theme "Indigenous Language Teaching, Learning, and Identities." Articles in this issue:
Beautiful Words: Enriching and Indigenizing Kwak’wala Revitalization through Understandings of Linguistic Structure
Trish Rosborough, chuutsqa Layla Rorick, Suzanne Urbanczyk
Transformational Bilingual Learning: Re-Engaging Marginalized Learners through Language, Culture, Community, and Identity
Shelley Tulloch, Adriana Kusugak, Cayla Chenier, Quluaq Pilakapsi, Gloria Uluqsi, Fiona Walton
Translanguaging on Facebook: Exploring Australian Aboriginal Multilingual Competence in Technology-Enhanced Environments and Its Pedagogical Implications
Rhonda Oliver, Bich Nguyen
Ten Years of Mi’gmaq Language Revitalization Work: A Non-Indigenous Applied Linguist Reflects on Building Research Relationships
Mela Sarkar
Syilx Language House: How and Why We Are Delivering 2,000 Decolonizing Hours in Nsyilxcn
Sʔímlaʔxw Michele K. Johnson
The Role of Pronunciation in SENĆOŦEN Language Revitalization
Sonya Bird, Sarah Kell
Négociation et reconfiguration des identités en classe de Langues et Cultures Nationales au Cameroun
Gilbert Daouaga Samari, Léonie Métangmo-Tatou
Access these articles at http://www.utpjournals.press/toc/cmlr/73/4
Source: Canadian Modern Language Review
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Title: Book: Lexical and Conceptual Awareness in L2 Reading
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From https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/78001
Lexical and Conceptual Awareness in L2 Reading: An Exploratory Study
By Jennifer Schluer
Published by Peter Lang
The book explores the novel field of lexical and conceptual awareness in L2 reading from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. The theoretical part consists of a thorough literature review of the key terms. The empirical part presents an in-depth analysis of L2 learners’ lexical and conceptual awareness/challenges based on text and worksheet data as well as 110 hours of video material. In total, data from 156 L2 learners participating in video-taped collaborative reading scenarios and the corresponding stimulated recall sessions have been analyzed in a primarily qualitative manner. The results demonstrate the multidimensionality of the two major constructs and highlight learners’ need for further support. Theoretical, methodological and practical recommendations are provided.
Visit the publisher’s website at https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/78001
Source: Peter Lang
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Title: Book: Zooming In: Micro-Scale Perspectives on Cognition, Translation and Cross-Cultural Communication
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From https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/80018
Zooming In: Micro-Scale Perspectives on Cognition, Translation and Cross-Cultural Communication
By Wojciech Wachowski, Zoltan Kövecses, and Michał Borodo
Published by Peter Lang
This book explores the influence of culture and cognition on translation and communication and brings together revised versions of papers delivered at the First International TransLingua Conference, organized in 2015 by the Institute of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics and the Department of English at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The volume investigates various languages and cultures (including Japanese, Hungarian, English, Czech, Polish, German and Swahili) and examines a range of linguistic and translation issues from a micro-scale perspective. Alongside these case studies, it also includes reflections by two internationally renowned scholars, Elżbieta Tabakowska and Zoltán Kövecses, on the interplay between language, culture and cognition and the influence of collective and individual memory on translation.
Visit the publisher’s website at https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/80018
Source: Peter Lang
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