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Title: A Look at Learner-directed Language Learning
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By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Sarah walks into the classroom and looks around. She notices the typical materials for seasons, days of the week, and classroom supplies, but something more catches her attention. As she looks around, she notices a display of local hangouts, fun museums, video games, and even a few cookbooks with neat recipes. She is curious as she sits down. Today, her instructor begins by letting them know he has some things they may or may not be interested in over spring break. Their challenge is to rest and have fun. “I won’t be grading you on any of this and you don’t have to turn anything in, but I wanted to share some things you might be interested in.” With that, all are given time to peruse the options. Sarah is exited and unsure; she figures she’ll look a little and then just get on to spring break. However, as she is moving toward her next course, she notices an event on slam poetry with a special guest from Italy. She immediately adds the info to her phone, knowing that, especially since slam poetry is a favorite of hers, she will go to the event. From there, the rest is history, Sarah dives into multilingual slam poetry and becomes part of the community. Under the conditions for exploration without oversight, she jump started her learning and directed her own expertise building to meet her interests and needs.
Learner-directed behavior is just that, learning that happens because a learner wants to find out more, not because they have to. As we explore learner-directedness this month, we move beyond the notion that learner choice is enough to create the conditions in which learners feel empowered and motivated to engage without teacher facilitation. Three principles guide our exploration of learner-directed language learning.
- Inspiring learner-directed behavior means doing more then just giving small choices on the topic of a graded paper or the option of one of three units to complete. The scenario above would have been entirely different had the instructor required the students to do two of the activities over break and turn in something proving they had done it. Instead, offering consistent resources to catalyze exploration can create the conditions for meaningful exploration.
- Reflection is key. Whether directed by the learners themselves or an outside observer, such as a teacher or peer mentor, the opportunity to reflect on the experience adds depth and meaning. Making time for reflection without evaluation or assessment in language classes is a powerful means to encourage learner-directed behavior. Moreover, formal classroom instruction can help build the skills necessary for meaningful reflection by engaging learners in thinking routines (i.e., reflective, deep thinking activities) designed to build the skills needed for independent learning and exploration. That is not to say facilitated reflection is necessarily superior to that which learners can, and do, do on their own.
- Learner-directed behavior is the goal, not an extra credit assignment. While oversight, grading, evaluation, and feedback are very valuable, their role should be to facilitate participation in the multilingual world. A focus-on the skills needed for learner-directedness should be embedded throughout the course, not just in peripheral activities. Deep learning experiences can, and in a perfect world, do, occur outside of formal classroom contexts. Instructors have a unique opportunity to help learners to find them.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Book: Useful Assessment and Evaluation in Language Education
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From http://press.georgetown.edu/book/languages/useful-assessment-and-evaluation-language-education
Useful Assessment and Evaluation in Language Education
Edited by John McE. Davis, John M. Norris, Margaret E. Malone, Todd H. McKay, and Young-A Son
Published by Georgetown University Press
The specific—and varied—ways in which assessment and evaluation can impact learning and teaching have become an important language education research concern, particularly as educators are increasingly called on to implement these processes for improvement, accountability, or curricular development purposes. Useful Assessment and Evaluation in Language Education showcases contemporary research that explores innovative uses of assessment and evaluation in a variety of educational contexts.
Divided into three parts, this volume first examines theoretical considerations and practical implementations of assessment conducted for the purpose of enhancing and developing language learning. Part 2 addresses novel assessment development and implementation projects, such as the formative use of task-based assessments, technology-mediated language performance assessment, validation of educational placement tests for immigrant learners, and the use of assessment to help identify neurolinguistic correlates of proficiency. The final section of the book highlights examples of argument-based approaches to assessment and evaluation validation, extending this critical framework to quality assurance efforts in new domains. Adding to research on traditional and conventional uses of testing and evaluation in language education, this volume captures innovative trends in assessment and evaluation practice that explicitly aim to better inform and enhance language teaching and learning.
Visit the publisher's website at http://press.georgetown.edu/book/languages/useful-assessment-and-evaluation-language-education
Source: Georgetown University Press
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Title: Book: Feeling It: Language, Race, and Affect in Latinx Youth Learning
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Feeling It: Language, Race, and Affect in Latinx Youth Learning
Edited by Mary Bucholtz, Dolores Inés Casillas, and Jin Sook Lee
Published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Feeling It brings together twelve chapters from researchers in Chicanx studies, education, feminist studies, linguistics, and translation studies to offer a cohesive yet broad-ranging exploration of the issue of affect in the language and learning experiences of Latinx youth. Drawing on data from an innovative social justice-oriented university-community partnership based in young people’s social agency and their linguistic and cultural expertise, the contributors are unified by their focus on a single year in the history of this partnership; their analytic focus on race, language, and affect in educational contexts; and their shared commitment to ethnography, discourse analysis, and qualitative methods, informed by participatory and social justice paradigms for research with youth of color.
Designed specifically for use in courses, with theoretical framing by the co-editors and ethnographic contributions from leading and emergent scholars, this book is an important and timely resource on affect, race, and social justice in the United States. Thanks to its interdisciplinary grounding, Feeling It will be of interest to future teachers and to researchers and students in applied linguistics, education, and Latinx studies, as well as related fields such as anthropology, communication, social psychology, and sociology.
Visit the publisher's website at https://www.routledge.com/Feeling-It-Language-Race-and-Affect-in-Latinx-Youth-Learning/Bucholtz-Casillas-Lee/p/book/9781138296800
Source: Routledge
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Title: Book: Language beyond the Classroom
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From http://www.cambridgescholars.com/language-beyond-the-classroom
Language beyond the Classroom: A Guide to Community-Based Learning for World Language Programs
Edited by Jann Purdy
Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Language beyond the Classroom is an edited volume of essays that offers detailed, how-to guides for developing, implementing, and evaluating service-learning programs for a variety of languages. Contributions here present civic-engagement programs for several languages, including French, German, Russian, and Spanish, with curricula that can be adapted to any language program. The authors of each essay engage with the growing pedagogical emphasis on experiential learning, providing theoretical and practical advice, including syllabi, for language educators. Language beyond the Classroom is a timely exploration of the variety and richness of service-learning in language instruction, and contributes to a 21st-century emphasis on community engagement and cultural contextualization in second-language pedagogy.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.cambridgescholars.com/language-beyond-the-classroom
Source: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
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Title: Call for Papers: East Coast Organization of Language Testers 2018 Conference
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From https://sites.google.com/site/ecoltaelrc/home
ECOLT 2018
Conference theme: Traditions of Language Testing Innovation
Friday, October 12 - Saturday, October 13, 2018
Princeton, New Jersey
The organizers would like to encourage presentations that emphasize and explore the value of:
(a) Traditions of quality assurance, validity and ethics in language testing
(b) Innovations in language assessment design, use and evaluation
Proposal Receipt Deadline: Wednesday, May 4, 2018
View the full call for papers at https://sites.google.com/site/ecoltaelrc/call-for-papers
Source: ECOLT
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Title: Call for Presentations: Participation, Equity and Inclusion: L2DL Digital Literacies (L2DL) Symposium
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Participation, Equity and Inclusion: L2DL Digital Literacies (L2DL) Symposium
October 15-20, 2018
University of Arizona
Call for Digital Presentations:
Digital media have changed the ways in which we communicate and connect and thus have also pushed us to reshape how we teach and learn languages. Within discussions of second language learning/teaching and biliteracy development, the educational potential of digital media is often cast in celebratory tones. The 2018 L2DL symposium aims to contribute to and expand these discussions by considering the ways in which technologies can not only enable new forms of interaction, authorship, and access, but also the ways in which participation in digital spaces is rarely full and equitable, but is more often than not fraught with questions of access, legitimacy, and symbolic power.
ABSTRACT DEADLINE: May 21, 2018
View the full call for presentations at http://l2dl.arizona.edu/l2dl-2018-cfp/
Source: CERCLL
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Title: WAFLT-COFLT PNCFL Conference Scholarship
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Thanks to generous support from ACTFL, the Pacific NW Council for Languages (PNCFL) is happy to provide two scholarships for each member state (AK, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY) to attend the WAFLT-COFLT (PNCFL) Fall Conference, to be held in Portland, OR October 12-13, 2018 at the Jantzen Beach Red Lion. All applicants must be current members of their member state (which automatically includes PNCFL membership). The scholarship covers a FREE 8-hour Workshop and lunch on Thursday, October 11 and FREE basic conference registration for Friday and Saturday, October 12-13. All scholarship recipients will need to cover their travel costs, including airfare, lodging, parking, and meals. The Thursday workshop includes lunch, but no other conference meal is covered by the scholarship. All applications must be received by May 1, 2018. Applications will be reviewed by the PNCFL board and scholarship winners will be notified by May 20, 2018. Scholarship winners will receive information via email with instructions on how to register for the conference and how to purchase conference meals if they would like to purchase them.
Apply at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9S-MzalR08RH3yqLt9eP-CzA49qATP-AgWZ76WyIhJyjkvQ/viewform
Learn more about PNCFL at https://pncfl.wordpress.com/
Source: PNCFL
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Title: Podcast Series: The Language Classroom
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From https://resources.fueleducation.com/podcasts
The Language Classroom is a new podcast series from Fuel Education. Episode 1 focuses on proficiency levels, Episode 2 explores can-do statements, and Episode 3 deals with curriculum design. Access all of the podcasts at https://resources.fueleducation.com/podcasts
Source: Fuel Education
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Title: Course: Teaching for Global Understanding in the 21st Century
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Teaching for Global Understanding in the 21st Century
July 16-20, 2018
Natick, Massachusetts
Educators are increasingly aware that the challenges of our changing world will require students to think and learn in new ways. In addition to teaching core academic content, our schools need to cultivate key skills: global awareness, critical thinking, media and ICT literacy, collaboration, intercultural communication, data analysis, and civic engagement. This course will explore the importance of such skills and build a case for re-envisioning how we prepare students for an interconnected world. Participants will examine the critical global issues that affect our lives, including globalization and the global economy, environmental challenges, health, and human rights. These issues require interdisciplinary approaches and solutions; as such, this program focuses on how to integrate global thinking and topics within all content areas and grade levels, including social studies, STEM, the arts, and information sciences. All K-12 educators and administrators are encouraged to join this course to consider how to bring global understanding to their students and school community.
For full details go to https://www.primarysource.org/for-teachers/courses/teaching-for-global-understanding-in-the-21st-century
Source: Primary Source
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Title: Successful Thai Language Learners
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From http://womenlearnthai.com/
Who learns Thai? What has motivated them and what are the keys to their success? Find out in these interviews with successful Thai language learners: http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/learn-thai/successful-thai-language-learners/
Source: A Woman Learning Thai
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