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Content Type: 1
Title: The Human Lottery: Perfect for Interpersonal Speaking!
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From http://teachinginthetargetlanguage.com/
In this article, read about an activity called the Human Lottery. The article claims this activity to be perfect for getting students speak while staying in the target language. Other games are also mentioned such as: bingo games and scavenger hunts and links to them. This bingo activity can be used to reinforce a variety of vocabulary or grammatical structures, such as likes and dislikes, past events, and daily routines.
To read the full article, visit http://teachinginthetargetlanguage.com/the-human-lottery-yes-you-read-that-correctly-perfect-for-interpersonal-speaking/
Source: Teaching in the Target Language
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Title: Understanding Digital Translators and Their Value in the World Language Classroom
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By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
The use of machine translation, most prominently Google Translate, in the world language classroom has received a great deal of attention. Some fervently support the need to prohibit the use of digital translators, citing instances of writing where learners enter a text in one box and turn in whatever the machine spits out on the other. However, others have explored the ways in which translation, and more specifically, digital translation can be used in the world language classroom. These include, for example, corpus-based translation activities (Zanettin, 2010), issues related to improving beginning writing courses (Garcia and Pena, 2011) and language courses more generally (Kelly and Bruen, 2015), and exploration of translation in languages for academic purposes (Groves and Mundt, 2015).
As we continue to explore the role of one’s first language in InterCom, this week’s topic focuses on building the skills learners need to effectively utilize machine translators in multilingual contexts, which can be likened to similar experiences in helping learners navigate their interactions with bilingual dictionaries. Critical to the use of digital translators is an understanding of when, and when not, to use digital translation as a communication tool. Moreover, this role can also include language analyses and access to information not previously possible (e.g., semantic analysis of a lexical item as related to other elements of the machine learning engine or the use of translation as related to a corpus of language). Here we explore three ways digital translators can be put to good use for building one’s multilingual repertoire.
- Consider the different types of translation people do. This can include formal translation of literary texts, the creation of community resources, and/or the understanding of online content (e.g., what happens with the autotranslate feature in Facebook). Have learners analyze the choices a translator might make and ways in which language structures were modified to communicate meaning and not word-for-word translation. This can be especially helpful for learners who are struggling not to look of each word one-by-one.
- Utilize the multimodal features of Google Translate beyond text translation (i.e., on the fly image or video translation and/or voice transcription). This might be an individual task such as decoding meaning through image translation, recording what worked and what didn’t. More on how this feature works can be found in in this video. Alternatively, a community-based activity could ask learners to find someone in the community and have a conversation in a language they do not know just using Google Translate and then take notes on their experience. Either activity will highlight both the limitations and the advantages of digital translation in properly communicating meaning.
- Find bad examples and correct them while also finding good examples to showcase. Analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of using a digital translator can strengthen students abilities to use the tool as a resource without creating a crutch. Instead, consider the role a digital translator might play in a multilingual life outside of the classroom can enable learners’ abilities to make informed, meaningful choices.
References
Garcia, I. & Pena, M. (2011). Machine translation-assisted language learning: writing for beginners, Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24:5, 471-487, DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2011.582687
Groves, M., & Mundt, K. (2015). Friend or foe? Google Translate in language for academic purposes. English for Specific Purposes, 37, 112-121.
Kelly, N., & Bruen, J. (2015). Translation as a pedagogical tool in the foreign language classroom: A qualitative study of attitudes and behaviours. Language Teaching Research, 19(2), 150-168.
Zanettin, F. (2009). Corpus-based translation activities for language learners. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 3(2), 209-224.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Avoiding L1: Examining the Language Norms of Your Relationships
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By Lindsay Marean, InterCom Editor
Our March InterCom series focuses on the use of student first language (L1) in language learning. This focus may be shocking to world language teachers, who work hard to adhere to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ recommendation that “language educators and their students use the target language as exclusively as possible (90% plus) at all levels of instruction” (ACTFL, 2010). It may also be shocking to indigenous language activists, who have likely been told to “Leave English Behind” when learning with a master speaker (Hinton et al., 2002). However, the position that one’s L1 is a powerful tool for L2 and content area learning isn’t new to teachers of English learners in the United States; Arizona has recently been in the news for rolling back a rigid English-only requirement for English learners, following similar movement in California in 2016. The recent celebration of International Mother Language Day on February 21 also highlights a valorization of the language(s) that students bring with them to their learning.
We hope that last week’s Topic of the Week article addressing a “monolingual ideology” in the classroom, along with the examples of instructionally appropriate L1 use in last week's Activity of the Week have started a process of critical reflection on teachers’ and students’ language goals as well as how languages are used in multilingual communities. Next week, we’ll explore beneficial use of digital translation tools for language learning, and we’ll wrap up our March series with a discussion of how L1 use can facilitate target language acquisition “in the wild.”
Today, however, we explore another side of this nuanced issue: why and how to encourage learners to avoid L1 use in language learning. Here are some reasons that teachers and learners may benefit from avoiding their L1:
- Using L2-only can help diagnose gaps in L2 proficiency. If you always switch to L1 in certain situations, you may not realize that you are lacking some L2 vocabulary, structures, or pragmatic awareness that are called for in those situations.
- Some language contexts include an ideological stance that supports L2-only use. For example, many indigenous language learners seek to avoid the use of an externally-imposed L1 with colonial roots, especially in targeted cultural and spiritual contexts.
- Although the majority of the world’s population is multilingual, many language learners can realistically expect to encounter situations where the L2 is the only shared language. Practicing L1 avoidance can help prepare learners for these situations.
- L1 use may undermine the some language learning strategies. For example, students who fall back on L1 during study abroad miss out on a lot of target language input and use. Personal goals like “speak Spanish only for 30 minutes each day” are also easier to follow and assess than more nuanced goals like “speak Spanish when I happen to know how to say something and the other speaker seems receptive.”
Given these and other reasons for some L1 avoidance, how can we do it? Fortunately, most practicing language teachers are already well-aware of successful techniques, exemplified in blogs such as Tuesday’s Tips for Staying in the Target Language and Teaching in the Target Language. Common strategies include choosing tasks and content that are appropriate to a learner’s current proficiency level; scaffolding tasks; using images, realia, gestures, and the space around our bodies to make meaning clear (see Justin Slocum Bailey’s blog post series on this latter topic); doing frequent comprehension checks; and establishing a shared classroom culture where students are motivated to use the target language and they feel safe doing so.
In my experience, these strategies work well in contexts where L1 avoidance is already an established part of the relationship between participants. For example, my high school Spanish students weren’t especially surprised when I spoke Spanish to them and expected them to speak Spanish back to me, whether in the classroom or when I saw them out and about in public. However, it’s not surprising that those same high school students needed my constant prompting to speak Spanish to each other, having grown up speaking English with each other. Young indigenous language activists who seek to learn their language from an elder relative may also find that it feels unnatural to speak a different language when they’ve been speaking English together for the young person’s entire life. In this case, I suggest using strategies that change the language of the relationship, or that create space for the L2 in relationships. Here are some approaches to try:
- Be explicit: talk together about how this might feel unnatural, and agree to work together to change the language dynamic in your relationship.
- Record your interactions: recording your interactions in the L2 conveys the value you place on L2 use in your relationship; if you listen to the recording later and take notes on new words and structures, you further reinforce to the other person the value of using L2 (see Hinton et al., 2002).
- When one of you slips into L1, try to restate it in L2. This is a gently way to shift back into the language you’re working to learn.
- Zahir (2018) describes a specific technique for reclaiming domains in your daily life for target language use in which you choose locations and activities that you decide ahead of time will be L2-only times or spaces.
Regardless of your language teaching and learning situation, you will benefit from reflecting on the language norms that you and those you instruct have for your relationships, and from thinking explicitly about why and how you might go about changing those norms.
References
ACTFL (2010, May 22). Use of the target language in the classroom. Available from https://www.actfl.org/news/position-statements/use-the-target-language-the-classroom.
Hinton, L., with M. Vera, N. Steele, & AICLS (2002). How to Keep Your Language Alive: A Common Sense Approach to One‐on‐One Language Learning. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books.
Zahir, Z. (2018). Language Nesting in the Home. Hinton, L., Huss, L., and Roche, G., Eds. The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization. New York: Routledge.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Book: TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy
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From https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.12
TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy
Edited by Virginia Samuda, Kris Van de Branden, and Martin Bygate
Published by the John Benjamins Publishing Company
Bringing together experienced classroom researchers and teacher educators from different countries where tasks are playing an influential role in language education, this collected volume critically explores how task-based language teaching (TBLT) research can engage with pedagogy, and how TBLT pedagogy can engage with research. A defining part of the TBLT project has always been a dual concern – both with the nature and use of tasks in language teaching, and with empirical research to guide and support classroom practitioners, the two concerns suggesting a central and reciprocal relationship between research and pedagogy. However, this relationship has at times been unbalanced, and its centrality has sometimes gone by default, problems which this volume aims to address. The introduction proposes criteria to improve the congruence between the research base of TBLT and the concerns and terms of reference of classroom practitioners. Using a range of methodologies, the individual chapters illustrate and explore different aspects of this theme. The book will be of interest to all those wishing to further their understanding of – and/or investigate – the use of TBLT in educational contexts.
Visit the publisher's website at https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.12
Source: John Benjamins Publishing Company
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Title: Book: Identity in Applied Linguistics Research
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From https://bloomsbury.com/us/identity-in-applied-linguistics-research-9781623564667/
Identity in Applied Linguistics Research
By Lisa McEntee-Atalianis
Published by Bloomsbury
This book provides a broad survey of historical and contemporary treatments of identity in various branches of Applied Linguistics, identifying common themes and areas for future research. The volume explores theoretical and methodological approaches and features detailed empirical accounts and case studies. The book not only presents current debates in Applied Linguistics and related fields but also the theoretical and practical implications of studying identity from various perspectives and disciplinary approaches. It also offers researchers a new approach to the study of identity: 'The Dynamic Integrated Systems Approach.' As such Identity in Applied Linguistics Research is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, and academics and practitioners working on issues of identity.
Visit the publisher's website at https://bloomsbury.com/us/identity-in-applied-linguistics-research-9781623564667/
Source: Bloomsbury
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Title: Book: Comunicación Mediada por Tecnologías
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From https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/comunicacion-mediada-por-tecnologias/
Comunicación Mediada por Tecnologías: Aprendizaje y Enseñanza de la Lengua Extranjera
Edited by Marta González-Lloret and Margarita Vinagre
Published by Equinox Publishing
This Spanish language volume (English translation of the title: Technology Mediated Communication: Learning and Teaching Foreign Languages) responds to the needs of Spanish speaking practitioners in the area of Second and Foreign Language Learning who are interested in integrating technologies in the classroom but may not be fluent readers of English. The volume offers a balance between chapters of pedagogic and of research nature which covers the main areas of technology-mediated communication, including different technologies, methodological perspectives and language learning goals in different educational settings. It provides a tool to encourage practitioners to engage students in virtual communication by offering examples of best practice and current research studies on the uses of computer-mediated communication for language learning that have been gathered from different countries, educational contexts, and institutions.
Visit the publisher's website at https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/comunicacion-mediada-por-tecnologias/
Source: Equinox Publishing
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Content Type: 1
Title: Call for Proposals: 42nd Annual OIEA Conference
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Source: University of Oregon
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Title: 2019 Chicago Language Symposium
Body:
From https://languagesymposium.publish.uic.edu/
2019 Chicago Language Symposium
Learning modules that integrate ACTFL’s 21st century skills
April 13, 2019
University of Illinois at Chicago
Keynote address: Rebecca Rubin Damari, University of Maryland
Integrating ACTFL’s 21st Century Skills into the World Language Curriculum
Visit the conference website at https://languagesymposium.publish.uic.edu/
Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
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Title: 2019 Northern California Regional CATESOL Conference
Body:
From https://www.norcalcatesol2019.com/
2019 Northern California Regional CATESOL Conference
Cultivating Teaching and Learning for Tomorrow
May 11, 2019
Petaluma, CA
Learn more and register at the conference website: https://www.norcalcatesol2019.com/
Source: CATESOL
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Title: Summer Institute: Dimensions of the Middle East
Body:
From https://islamicstudies.duke.edu/summer-institute
The Duke Islamic Studies Center, Duke University Middle East Studies Center, and Qatar Foundation International present a summer institute for 6-12 educators:
Dimensions of the Middle East
A Summer Institute for Educators
Sunday, June 23 - Friday, June 28, 2019 | Duke University
40 teachers from across the country will join together this summer for a five-day institute designed to introduce teachers to different dimensions of the Middle East. From social movements to geopolitics to cultures and more, teachers will deepen their understanding of both the historic and modern Middle East. Participants will learn from scholars and community experts, engage with readings, and participate in experiential learning activities. Throughout the institute, participants will reflect on integrating content learned into the classroom.
Application Deadline: Sunday, March 24
For full details, go to https://islamicstudies.duke.edu/summer-institute
Source: Duke University
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