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Content Type: 2
Title: Last Chance to Contribute to Important Research on Study Abroad and Language Learning
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Researchers at Penn State University’s Center for Language Acquisition have extended the deadline to complete their survey, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, on the career choices and pathways of people who studied language and culture abroad as college students. They are seeking study abroad alumni to participate in a brief survey. Your participation will help inform future approaches to improve #studyabroad for U.S. college and university students.
Participate before June 1. http://bit.ly/2G4ipbJ
Source: The Forum on Education Abroad
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Content Type: 3
Title: Remix Culture
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By Christopher Daradics, CASLS Language Technician
“Remix culture” refers to the practice of using old media (e.g. language, video, audio, text, analog materials) to make new media (e.g. language, video, audio, text, mixed materials). The notion simply highlights the fact that the creative recombination of material is always at play in communication. Remixing culture is a context-aware, iterative style to communication that conscientiously reintroduces ready-at-hand, culturally significant visual symbols, sounds, and/or gesture to generate higher order communication.
A helpful way to think of remix culture is to envision a whirlpool. Think of how a whirlpool remixes the environment (water, movement, rocks) into a new, interesting, and identifiable pattern. Whirlpools emerge from the recombination of features that were already at play in the stream. They demonstrate the emergence of a dynamic stability which draws our interest and holds our attention.
In the case of human communication, remixing happens when the flow of recognizable elements (sounds, gesture, visual symbols, and media) are spun into new combinations with new meaning potentials. Memes are an excellent example of remix culture in action. Often times memes emerge from a single photo with a host of different captions (or a single caption applied to different photos). With each recombination new interest and communicative potential are generated. Over time, the captions (or photos) evolve, branch, resurface, etc. This movement is remix culture in action.
The comparison between communication and whirlpools is a helpful way to think about language because it simplifies the basic dynamics of emergent systems (which occur in both whirlpools and communication). The metaphor breaks down, however, when we consider the vast resources and intention humans bring to communication. The metaphor breaks because, unlike streams, communication is hyper-contextual, driven by conscious purpose, emotion, and a host of other subterranean features.
Students are wonderfully adept at noticing and playing with a broad range of communicative resources. By helping learners understand that communication is always a dynamically stable activity where available resources are always contextually mixed and remixed, we can help hone their skills for courageous and playful experimentation. Memes, manipulated screenshots, voiceover, humorous product reviews, “emoji codes,” and other remixed approaches at the fringe of convention encourage exploration, inspire confidence, and cultivate higher order communicators.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: CASLS Announces Intensive Online Faculty Learning Community
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The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) is committed to ongoing reflection, growth, and development. As an outgrowth of this commitment, CASLS will continue its work over the summer through the delivery of an online faculty learning community. This learning community, which is made up of practicing educators, teacher leaders, and administrators from around the county, will engage members in collective discussion, collaboration, and learning regarding embedding reflective practices in the classroom as well as into one’s own professional development.
The faculty learning community will meet the week of July 8 for one hour a day (times to be selected by participants). If you are interested in joining this learning community or nominating a colleague, please fill out this form.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 4
Title: Remix Culture
Body:
By Christopher Daradics, CASLS Language Technician
Activity Description:
This activity shows how communication is always based on prior communication and other already available material. In other words, we can say and do things because others have said and done things before us. The idea that new communication is based on old communication is called "Remix Culture." This happens on the biggest scale, such as in language class where we learn to use (i.e. remix) a language that another culture developed and practices. It is also true at the smallest scale, such as the moment you and a friend make up (i.e. remix) an inside joke based on a shared experience. In these and all cases, moment-by-moment communication is remixed from material that has come before. Remix culture is simply a description of how we do things in the world.
We remix language, as in the examples above, but also other materials. Photos, video, audio, and even analog material like things and places are among the resources we use to say and do things in the world. Memes are a good example of remix culture in action. They use recycled language and photos in predictable and surprising ways, and it is their balance of predictability and surprise that makes them interesting.
This activity is designed to help you see that even in your most casual communication you are using sophisticated, remixed communication strategies. Using remix culture conscientiously will help you gain access and participate in any target language community in interesting and contextually meaningful ways. An awareness of the mechanics of remixing will give you a lot of material to work with, even if you feel like you don’t know the language very well.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to identify knowledge they already possess about remixing culture.
- Students will be able to extend their knowledge of remixing culture into language learning.
- Students will be able to transfer their remix culture skills to their own language learning.
IPIC Dimensions: Awareness, Analysis
Procedure:
Day 1: Understand
1) In Class:
Read the activity description individually. Next, do a think, pair, share to clarify the key points:
- What is remix culture?
- What examples can students offer that illustrate remix culture in action (e.g. specific/favorite memes; remix technologies like instagram filters, manipulated screenshots, or internet comment forums; ongoing conversations with friends/family; etc.)? As a class, discuss how each example students provided involves remixing and in each case what people may be trying to accomplish by remixing the media in those particular ways (e.g. to be funny, to express an emotion, to gain something, etc.).
- How might understanding remix culture be helpful for language learning?
Observe
2) Homework:
For the next 24 hours focus your attention on noticing what had to be in place in order for the communication you witness to happen the way it did. In other words, see if you can list what resources support the interactions you see. For example, how are existing conversations, environments, documents, devices, materials, meals, patterns, schedules, etc. woven into the fabric of the interactions you witness? Make notes about the ways you notice people using linguistic and other resources to structure and remix communication. See if you can make any guesses about what you think they are trying to achieve by incorporating the specific elements they do in their remix. The idea of remix culture is very abstract and will probably feel difficult to describe and capture. The difficulty is due in part to the fact that remixing comes so naturally to us that we can hardly begin to describe how we do it. That is okay. Just notice. Be prepared to share your observations in class tomorrow.
Day 2: Analyze
1) Students reread the activity description, individually or as a class.
2) Review the homework assignment.
3) Students share their remix observations from the last 24 hours in groups and then as a class. Teacher facilitates and guides discussion to help students elaborate their descriptions of the elements at play within each of the remixed scenarios they present. Help students identify the functional nature of communication in their scenarios and how communicative resources (often non-linguistic) are leveraged to navigate activity in the world.
4) In groups, students discuss how getting good at remixing culture and leveraging the multitude of communicative resources might help people who are learning and practicing a new language and culture. Each group should come up with three specific examples of how they could (or already) use remix strategies to engage with their target context. Groups share their insights together with the class.
Extend (optional challange)
4) Inspired students can begin keeping a language journal to record interesting observations and other insights around their language growth. If this sounds meaningful to you, consider beginning with a list of resources that you could get good at remixing. What people, places, things, and activities would help you remix your way into more target language interaction? Expand on your list as you develop. Periodically, reflect on how successful you were trying to incorporate different resources into your communicative practice.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Title: Book: Narratives of Adult English Learners and Teachers
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From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781788923163
Narratives of Adult English Learners and Teachers: Practical Applications
By Clarena Larrotta
Published by Multilingual Matters
This book centralizes the narratives of adult English language learners, teachers, and trainee teachers in the development of a humanistic language pedagogy; their strengths, concerns, and stories inform this practical guide to adult literacy development and English language-culture learning and teaching. The author sets the need to educate the whole person, and to focus on the adult learner’s strengths and assets, against a background of rigorous research and practical experience. This book combines evidence-based pedagogy with a passionate belief in the centrality of the learner and the importance of education and will be invaluable to all those involved in teaching and training related to adult English language learners.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781788923163
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Title: Book: Doing SLA Research with Implications for the Classroom
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From https://benjamins.com/catalog/lllt.52
Doing SLA Research with Implications for the Classroom: Reconciling methodological demands and pedagogical applicability
Edited by Robert M. DeKeyser and Goretti Prieto Botana
Published by John Benjamins Publishing Company
This book is unique in bringing together studies on instructed second language acquisition that focus on a common question: “What renders this research particularly relevant to classroom applications, and what are the advantages, challenges, and potential pitfalls of the methodology adopted?” The empirical studies feature experimental, quasi-experimental and observational research in settings ranging from the classroom to the laboratory and CALL contexts. All contributors were asked to discuss issues of cost, ethics, participant availability, experimental control, teacher collaboration, and student motivation, as well as the generalizability of findings to different kinds of educational contexts, languages, and structures.
This volume should be of interest to graduate students in second language research, practicing teachers who want some guidance to navigate the sometimes overwhelming array of publications, and to researchers who are planning studies on instructed second language learning or teaching and are looking to make principled decisions on which of the existing methodologies to adopt.
Visit the publisher's website at https://benjamins.com/catalog/lllt.52
Source: John Benjamins Publishing Company
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Title: Book: L2 Writing beyond English
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From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788923125
L2 Writing Beyond English
Edited by Nur Yigitoglu and Melinda Reichelt
Published by Multilingual Matters
Most of what we know about writing in a second or foreign language (L2) is based on conclusions drawn from research on L2 writing in English. However, a significant quantity of L2 writing and writing instruction takes place in languages other than English and so there is a need for studies that look beyond English. The chapters in this book focus on languages other than English and investigate curricular issues, multiple languages in contact/conflict in L2 writing instruction and student attitudes toward pedagogical practices. The collection as a whole makes a valuable contribution to the study of L2 writing, and it will also prove an essential resource for instructors of second and foreign language writing.
Visit the publisher's website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788923125
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Title: Call for Papers: MOOCs, Language Learning and Mobility
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Source: The Open University
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Title: Call for Workshop Proposals: CoLang 2020
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From https://ssila.org/ssila/call-for-proposals-june-15-26-2020-colang-workshops/
CoLang 2020: Institute on Collaborative Language Research
University of Montana
June 15-26, CoLang Workshops
CoLang is an international institute for language activists, teachers, linguists, and students from language communities and academia to obtain hands-on skills in language documentation and revitalization as practiced in collaborative contexts as well as in technology and basic linguistics in community-based research contexts. The institute creates multi-dimensional networks among community language workers, teachers, researchers, and students.
CoLang organizers are seeking workshop proposals for topics related to language documentation, maintenance, and revitalization for the seventh Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang) in 2020.
Note that CoLang 2020 uses the term ‘facilitators’ instead of ‘instructors,’ as this better describes the role of the staff and the nature of CoLang workshops. CoLang 2020 aims to offer workshops facilitated by teams of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars/activists. The organizers are especially interested in finding facilitators who will work as a team including at least one Indigenous scholar/activist. They encourage those who have participated in previous CoLangs, have participated in the Natives4Linguistics workshop, are practicing community-based research, and/or have participated in the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) https://aildi.arizona.edu/— or similar Indigenous language training Institutes — to serve as facilitators or workshop organizers.
The organizers are also interested in workshops designed to have a large component of hands-on activities that will provide immediate assistance to community members and students in their work after the institute, so that they have something useful to take back to their home communities.
Deadline for receipt of proposals: May 31, 2019
View the full call for workshop proposals at http://hs.umt.edu/colang/documents/CoLang2020-call-for-workshops.pdf#call%20for%20workshops
Source: University of Montana
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Title: Call for Proposals: New England Regional Association for Language Learning Technology
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From http://nerallt.org/
Fall 2019 Conference
Language, Technology, and Language Centers as Tools of Empowerment: Strengthening Our Campuses for a Global World
October 18-19, 2019
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
NERALLT invites conference proposals that discuss projects, ideas, and initiatives to empower students to be global through language and learning technologies in the following formats:
• 30 Minute Individual/Group Presentation
• Roundtable Discussion or Panel (30 minutes, maximum of 3 presenters +15 min Q & A)
• (Electronic) Poster Session
• Workshop (1-2 hours, hands-on)
• Lightning Round Session (10- minute presentation followed by facilitated group discussion)
Abstracts are due by May 30th, 2019.
View the full call for proposals at https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yiePqXUT78-Le83-71Syd4ArrSrRcfJ/view
Submit proposals at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwfAQ5SmBcuNLaUN07PVClNbxeIj-xDLe2YoxisDecDGs3VA/viewform
Source: NERALLT
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