Cultivating Connections:

• Barbara Lindsey
  Director, Multimedia Language Center, University of Connecticut
• Kevin Gaugler
  Assistant Professor of Spanish, Marist College
• David Marini
  Graduate Fellow in Italian, Trinity College
• Audrey Sartiaux
  Graduate Fellow in French, Trinity College
  
  

Project Goal & Objective

"Change . . . will accelerate," declares ACTFL in Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1999) "if we succeed in addressing the central issue that sets the stage for the future: the preparation of new teachers of all languages at all levels within our schools" (p. 15). This presentation focuses on three semester-long projects at the University of Connecticut that were designed to support graduate teaching assistants in the incorporation of the National Foreign Language Standards within their teaching. An integral component of this project was the synthesis of the Standards' goals within a four skills plus culture curricular framework.

The project's objectives for the participants were threefold, namely:

a) to select appropriate technologies that promote the development of core skill areas within the broader context of the Standards' five goal areas

b) to foster the development of critical, ongoing, reflective practice through a process of inquiry, application and evaluation

c) to extend participants' experiences through the sharing of knowledge and skills with their colleagues

• Each TA devoted one half of a Teaching Assistantship to work on individualized project for one semester
  Prior experience and comfort level with technology and technology integration varied
  
  
• Required readings and reflections
  Readings integrate content, learning and pedagogy
  Reflective practice supports development of solid experiential base
  Brubacher, John W., Charles W. Case and Timothy G. Reagan. Becoming a Reflective
  Educator. How to Build a Culture of Inquiry in the Schools. Corwin Press, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, California, 1994. pp 22-23.
  
  
• National Foreign Language Standards served as framework for projects
  "Knowing how (grammar), when and why to say what (vocabulary) to whom"
  Grammar and vocabulary as tools in the process of communicating in meaningful and appropriate ways with speakers of other languages
  
  
• Focus on action research with final project and evaluation
  Technology used to solve a problem or enhance the foreign language learning environment
  

Materials for Teaching Assistants

Microsoft Word needed to download the following:
TA Interns Project Template
Journal Entry Template
Pre-Implementation Teaching with Technology Checklist
Post-Implementation Teaching with Technology Checklist

Adobe Acrobat Reader needed to download the following:
Student Survey Template

Projects

Kevin Gaugler

Audrey Sartiaux

David Marini

Using Email to Lower the Affective Filter and Promote Extended Discourse

• First Semester Introductory Spanish Course
• Assigned topics to discuss on electronic threaded discussion forum
• Use as pre-speaking activity to lessen anxiety, foster sense of community and practice grammatical constructions without penalty

Current Work at Marist College
Spanish 105
Spanish 106
Spanish Language and Technology Practicum



L'Education Parlons-en! Using Video as a Presentation Tool

• Advanced Conversation French Course
• All materials found on the WWW
• Used email as a pre-speaking aid
• Culminating activity for semester: a cross-cultural report on higher education
• Videotaped interviews with native speakers
• Videotaped panel discussion with classmates
• Edited film to be shown to students of French
  

Video Project on the Web

Current Work at Trinity
Le Club Français
The French club web page containing related links used by Trinity French language courses

Le tradizioni della tavola italiana

• A web-based unit on traditional Italian cooking
• For intermediate level courses
• Standards serve as organizing frame
• Four skills focus of assessment
  

TA Reflections

"The most helpful aspect of the project is that one is actively engaged in the teaching process. Whether it would be technology based or not, one's teaching improves when one is given stimulating reading materials that lead to the questioning of one's approach to classroom instruction."

"It was interesting for me to surf the Web for useable sites in the target language, and I found my students' findings even more exciting...I think that what I mostly liked was the discussions and argumentation that these sites and/or articles elicited. For even if some of the topics were quite abstract and removed from their everyday concerns, the students always found a way to conect them to themselves."

"I appreciated my colleagues' comments and suggestions concerning the way I could use the discussion forum within my class..."

"...for most messages posted on the discussion forums the grammar and spelling were despicable. I do not know if it was because students were not graded, but even after demanding them to make an effort, the level was still below what could be expected and certainly not at the level of their papers. Moreover, the length of their messages were quite short. Nevertheless, they enjoyed commenting on one another's postings and it certainly helped start the discussion in class."

"During the semester I became more aware of the teaching possibilities provided by technology and the Standards. I could have students use the Internet to search for topics related to their own interests and write compositions with the help of the information found on the Web. The five "Cs" philosophy also helped me to focus more accurately on the fact that students work and learn better, that is more gladly, if they are invited to work inside a context that really matters for them."

• Colleagues source of support and guidance
• Planned to share experiences and their projects with colleagues
• Project led to other innovative ideas
• Instructor as learner improves teaching

Student Assessment of Project

Spanish 181
12 out of 16 students indicated that the ideas of their peers were interesting to them

12 out of 16 indicated that the internet activities helped them in subsequent class discussions

11 out of 16 clearly saw a connection between web assignments and their course work

12 out of 16 found creating accents frustrating

A minority (4) felt the internet work should have been graded, 5 were neutral and 7 agreed it shouldn't

French 251
4 out of 5 (1 abstained) said that current events on the Internet was the most useful to them

5 out of 6 agreed that the topics they read and wrote about on the Internet were interesting

3 out of 6 agreed with the statement that using the Internet helped them realize that they could communicate with people other than their instructor and be understood

5 out of 6 agreed that doing internet activities on class topics first made discussing them later in class easier and more comfortable

All felt using the discussion forum helped with their classroom performance

Bibliography

Conoscenti, Michelangelo. "Technological Learning Environments: From Theory to Practice." Nexus: The Convergence of Language Teaching and Research Using Technology. Calico Monograph Series, 4. Ed. Kathryn A. Murphy-Judy. North Carolina: CALICO,1997. 112-121.

Hayasaka, Keiko, M. Horiuchi and M. Yoshida. "Talking About Myself on the Internet: A Survey on StudentsÕ Experience with the Internet." Fleat III: Foreign Language Education and Technology. Ed. Peter Liddell. B.C. Canada: University of Victoria,1997. 73-80.

Kassen, M. A. and Higgins, C. J. "Meeting the Technology Challenge: Introducing Teachers to Language-Learning Technology." Technology-Enhanced Language Learning. Ed. M.D. Bush & R. M. Terry. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company, 1997. 263-286.

Kern, Richard G. "Restructuring Classroom Interaction with Networked Computers: Effects on Quantity and Characteristics of Language Production." The Modern Language Journal 79.4 (1995): 457-476.

Kidd, Marilyn. "Obstacles to the Implementation of CALL in the Curriculum." Fleat III: Foreign Language Education and Technology. Ed. Peter Liddell. B.C. Canada: University of Victoria, 1997. 187-198.

Olsen, Solveig. "A Plea to Graduate Departments." Foreign Language Annals 31.4 (1998): 501-504.

Meunier, Lydie E. "Affective Factors and Cyberteaching: Implications for a Postmodern Pedagogy." Nexus: The Convergence of Language Teaching and Research Using Technology. Calico Monograph Series, 4. Ed. Kathryn A. Murphy-Judy.North Carolina: CALICO, 1997. 122-132.

Moeller, Adeiline J. "Moving from Instruction to Learning with Technology: Where's the Content?" Calico Journal 14, 2-4 (1997): 5-13.

Murphy-Judy, Kathryn. "Literacies for Foreign Language Learners in the Information Age." Nexus: The Convergence of Language Teaching and Research Using Technology. Calico Monograph Series, 4. Ed. Kathryn A. Murphy-Judy.North Carolina: CALICO, 1997. 133-144.

Phillips, June K. "Media for the Message: Technology's Role in the Standards." Calico Journal 16.1 (1998): 25-36.

"Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century." Executive Summary. ACTFL
http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324

Swender, Elvira and Greg Duncan. "ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners." Foreign Language Annuals 31.4 (1998): 479-491.

Wang, Xinchun and Rebecca Hurst. "An Empirical Study of Computer-Assisted Class Discussion: Effects on Social Interaction and Group Dynamics." Fleat III: Foreign Language Education and Technology. Peter Liddell, ed. B.C. Canada: University of Victoria, 1997. 431-448.

Warschauer, Mark. "A Sociocultural Approach to Literacy and its Significance for CALL." Nexus: The Convergence of Language Teaching and Research Using Technology. Calico Monograph Series, 4. Kathryn A. Murphy-Judy. North Carolina: CALICO, 1997. 88-97.

Warschauer, Mark, ed. Virtual Connections: Online Activities and Projects for Networking Language Learners. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center,1995

Wyman, William James. "Internet and Foreign-Language Instruction: A Report from Behind the Front Lines." The IALL Journal of Language Learning Technologies 26.1 (1993): 26-33.