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Content Type: 3
Title: Pragmatics in the Community
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By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
The teaching and learning of interlanguage pragmatics, or the interpretation and expression of meaning, is of fundamental importance to human interactions. Miscommunications that occur as a result of mismatched meaning can, sometimes, be avoided, and other times significantly reduced through pragmatic skills. One key challenge is what to teach when it comes to pragmatics. While resources are available in languages like Spanish (http://carla.umn.edu/speechacts/sp_pragmatics/home.html) or Japanese (http://carla.umn.edu/speechacts/japanese/introtospeechacts/index.htm), other languages are more challenging. So, what do we do where no materials are available? Exploring the community and helping learners develop meaningful observation skills can be key. As they explore, they collect their own data and begin to focus on critical pragmatic information. This week’s Activity of the Week is one way to help facilitate the exploration process.
While they engage in their own data collection, it is important to help learners keep the following in mind:
- What they observe is just that, what they observe. This does not mean it will apply always or is reflective of everyone who speaks that language. Rather, the purpose of the task is to build observation skills and see how the findings can be applied to their own learning experience.
- Help learners use the information they glean in a meaningful way for them. This means they may model what they observe exactly or might decide to deviate. Critical to the process is their ability to observe, analyze, and then extend this experience to their own.
- Have fun! Encourage learners to share what they are doing. This often sparks conversation as people tend to enjoy talking about language and the way things are done. If it doesn’t fit the context, this fact can be helpful to share with learners as well.
Happy Exploring!
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 3
Title: Building Relevance for Learners
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By Stephanie Knight, CASLS Assistant Director
Relevance promotes learning. This statement, though simple and perhaps even obvious given the plethora of educational frameworks and resources that exist to promote relevance for students (e.g., Understanding by Design, Project-Based Learning, the International Baccalaureate, Games2Teach, authentic assessment (Wiggins, 1989 and 2011), LinguaFolio, and career academies) can be difficult to systematize in a classroom. After all, the fact that there is an implicit hierarchy in the teacher-student relationship serves to undermine the centrality of the learner in most formal educational spaces. However, this difficulty is not insurmountable. To promote learner relevance, consider these three factors when designing your class.
- Context: Context is as critical for decoding language as it is for promoting learning. Consider, for example, a lesson on describing one’s self to others. If learners are taught about how to say “to be” and how to make adjectives agree, they can engage in the task, but it is unlikely that they will find it relevant or personally authenticate their learning. However, if they dissect a variety of scenarios in order to learn the language function (e.g., describing one’s self when meeting for the first time, describing one’s self with someone with whom trust has been built, and describing one’s self at a job interview), the act of describing one’s self is likely to be personally salient.
- Inquiry: Provide learners with space to inquire and to create knowledge in the classroom. Consider the aforementioned lesson about describing one’s self. In a class discussion, learners could compare and contrast a short videos in the target language of a person describing him- or herself to a peer and a person describing him- or herself to an interviewer. This comparison would require learners to note observations about language, power dynamics, and social cues, propelling the learner beyond mere grammar and vocabulary acquisition. Additionally, since learners could potentially lead the discussion with their observations of the language at hand (with the teacher filling in and explaining what they are unable to dissect), knowledge creation in such a scenario is likely much more agentive than it is passive.
- Empathy: Humans oftentimes have diverse reactions to observed objects. An awareness of and appreciation for these diverse reactions is critical for learners to find relevance in the work that they are doing, particularly in language coursework in which they are exposed to a variety of cultural norms, practices, and expectations. Otherwise, any content that is potentially political (e.g., climate change, gender identity, and racial identity), content that should be embraced and explored, will likely alienate some learners from full participation in the classroom. Teachers should avoid this potential pitfall by using simulations such as those embedded in many video games or role playing activities in which learners are exposed to and experience diverse perspectives.
Establishing personal relevance for learners throughout a school year is not accomplished by considering any one of these factors once, but rather with their thoughtful integration throughout a course of study. As they are considered and implemented in the classroom, learners are likely to take ownership of their learning and feel empowered to use the content of a language classroom in the manners that they find most meaningful, manners that are certainly as diverse as the learners themselves.
References
Wiggins, G. (1989). A true test: Toward more authentic and equitable assessment. The Phi Delta Kappan. 70 (9). 703-713.
Wiggins, G. (2011). Moving to modern assessments. The Phi Delta Kappan. 92 (7). 63.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: InterCom Editor Lindsay Marean Earns Faculty Promotion
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Congratulations to InterCom editor Lindsay Marean for her promotion to Senior Research Assistant I!
Lindsay is the reason that you’ve received an InterCom issue every Monday morning since she joined our staff in 2006. Even while on remote wilderness vacations, Lindsay ensures that InterCom always arrives in your inbox. Lindsay also shares news and resources related to language education on our social media profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
While InterCom and CASLS’ social media may be the most visible projects at CASLS that Lindsay works on, she’s often contributing to other curriculum and instruction initiatives. In 2014, she co-taught our STARTALK Swahili College Readiness Academy. She observed lessons taught by the co-instructor in the morning and then had interactive activities ready for students in the afternoon.
Lindsay also supports educators across the country, including STARTALK program directors and instructors, as they implement LinguaFolio Online and Pulsar into their curriculum. Lindsay provides technical and pedagogical support for CASLS’ e-portfolio services, answering questions and providing guidance.
Lindsay’s primary passion is indigenous language revitalization. She is active in documenting and revitalizing Potawatomi, her heritage language, and Pahka’anil, a California indigenous language. She works as a linguist with the Owens Valley Career Development Center to record, transcribe, and analyze texts by fluent Pahka’anil speakers, using this information to write a grammar of the language aimed at a community audience. Lindsay also occasionally teaches summer professional development classes for the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI).
Prior to her role at CASLS, Lindsay served as a practicum supervisor for second language instruction in the middle/secondary program at the University of Oregon’s College of Education and as a Spanish and English teacher in North Bend, Oregon, and Drummond, Montana.
CASLS is grateful to have Lindsay on our team. Congratulations on a successful promotion process!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 5
Title: CASLS Awarded Gold Certification in Green Office Program
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The Center for Applied Second Language Studies recently earned a Gold certification from the University of Oregon Office of Sustainability's Green Office program. The Green Office framework recognizes offices that adopt best practices in sustainability, commit to reducing impacts, and measure their performance on a scorecard that examines prerequisites such as recycling and proper disposal of hazardous materials, energy use reduction, materials management to minimize consumption, purchasing low-impact and environmentally friendly products, transportation to and from work and for business, event planning, and disaster preparedness.
Beginning last fall, under the leadership of office specialist Kim Larsen, IT associate Fazil Parappurath, and business and financial development coordinator Linda Ellis, CASLS staff has increased our awareness of what we can do to minimize our negative impact on the environment.
"It’s great to work in an office with a staff that is on board with sustainable practices, where everybody sees the importance of our environmental impact and is willing to make choices on that basis," says Kim, who initiated and led the process of earning certification. We are proud of our small office's attainment of Gold certification, which is the second-highest of four possible levels. We’ll see what we can do to attain the top level next year!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Title: June Issue of Language Magazine
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The June 2018 issue of Language Magazine is available online at https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/06/11/june-2018/
In this issue:
Bringing a Dying Language Back to Life
Brigid O’Rourke describes how a Harvard instructor has introduced seventh graders to the world of Gullah
Making Connections That Count
Roberto Rivera explores the vital connection between social and cultural competence—for both students and teachers
The Agency of Artificial Intelligence
Peter Foltz, Eric Hilfer, Kevin McClure, and Dmitry Stavisky explain what artificial intelligence (AI) means for the teaching of language and literacy
Catering to Individual Differences
Kevin McClure explains how developments in neuroscience can help students receive the instruction that they alone require
Interview
José A. Viana , assistant deputy secretary and director Office of English Language Acquisition, U.S. Department of Education, shares his goals with Daniel Ward
Accelerating English and Math on the Go
Amanda Cuellar shares the benefits of learning via smartphone for adult English language learners
The Bilingual Advantage in the Global Workplace
Mehdi Lazar identifies the four traits that give bilinguals a competitive edge
Source: Language Magazine
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Title: Book: Immersion Education: Lessons from a Minority Language Context
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From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783099832
Immersion Education: Lessons from a Minority Language Context
By Pádraig Ó Duibhir
Published by Multilingual Matters
The body of research in this volume offers a detailed account of the success of young immersion learners of Irish in becoming competent speakers of the minority language. Taking account of in-class and out-of-class factors, it examines the variety of Irish spoken by the pupils, the extent to which the Irish spoken deviates from native-speaker norms, the degree to which pupils are aware of and attempt to acquire a native-like variety and the extent to which issues of identity and motivation are involved. The results highlight the limitations of an immersion system in generating active and accurate users of the language outside the immersion setting and will help immersion educators to gain a greater understanding of how young immersion learners learn and acquire the target language. The findings are placed in the context of other one-way immersion programs internationally with a particular focus on minority language settings, and make an important contribution not only to our understanding of the Irish issues, but how the Irish situation can be placed in a broader scholarly and socio-political context.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783099832
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Title: Book: Recent Perspectives on Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching
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From https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/462793?format=G
Recent Perspectives on Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching
Edited by Mohammad Ahmadian and María del Pilar García Mayo
Published by de Gruyter
The last three decades have witnessed a growth of interest in research on tasks from various perspectives and numerous books and collections of articles have been published focusing on the notion of task and its utility in different contexts. Nevertheless, what is lacking is a multi-faceted examination of tasks from different important perspectives. This edited volume, with four sections of three chapters each, views tasks and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) from four distinct (but complementary) vantage points. In the first section, all chapters view tasks from a cognitive-interactionist angle with each addressing one key facet of either cognition or interaction (or both) in different contexts (CALL and EFL/ESL). Section two hinges on the idea that language teaching and learning is perhaps best conceptualized, understood, and investigated within a complexity theory framework which accounts for the dynamicity and interrelatedness of the variables involved. Viewing TBLT from a sociocultural lens is what connects the chapters included in the third section. Finally, the fourth section views TBLT from pedagogical and curricular vantage points.
Visit the publisher's website at https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/462793?format=G
Source: De Gruyter
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Title: Book: Developing C-tests for Estimating Proficiency in Foreign Language Research
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From https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/78668
Developing C-tests for estimating proficiency in foreign language research
Edited by John Norris
Published by Peter Lang
This book explores the development of C-tests for providing efficient measures of foreign language proficiency in eight different languages: Arabic, Bangla, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Researchers report on how C-test principles were applied in creating the new language tests, with careful attention to language-specific challenges and solutions. The final, five-text C-tests in all languages demonstrated impressive psychometric qualities as well as strong relationships with criterion variables such as learner self-assessments and instructional levels. These test development projects provide new tests for use by foreign language researchers, and they demonstrate innovative and rigorous test development practices in diverse languages.
Visit the publisher's website at https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/78668
Source: Peter Lang
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Title: Call for Proposals: WAESOL Conference
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Source: WAESOL
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Title: Call for Proposals: Midwest Association for Language Learning Technology 2018 Conference
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From http://mwallt.org/event-2894486
Midwest Association of Language Learning Technology 2018 Fall Conference
Saturday, October 13
Michigan State University
University of Kansas
University of Minnesota
This conference will be of particular interest to all K-12 and post-secondary language instructors, to individuals affiliated with media centers or language labs, and to individuals interested in any facet of language learning technology.
Attend the conference at one of the 3 host sites, a hub near you, or virtually.
Proposals are sought for sessions on topics relating to the teaching of languages and cultures using technology. Deadline September 1, 2018. Submit a proposal at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfz1HVMK4Iln-oyIANdQuXzSE-KN7NGl6pNjjIXFMVaFiRdCQ/viewform
Universities or language centers at least four hours from all of the host sites are invited to volunteer to host a “hub”, which will participate virtually in the conference and also provide some structure for social interaction outside of the presentations. Deadline August 15, 2018. Submit a proposal at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJNQILk3kU6achVIDt9jENTTh7iZtYPURVNeTgdqsOLpnoiw/viewform
Source: MWALLT
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