NEALLT 2006

University of Pennsylvania

 

Technology-mediated Language Learning Beyond the Classroom

April 7 - 9, 2006

 

 

Conference Program

 

Friday, April 7


1 - 4 pm

Limited Enrollment

Pre-Registration
Required

Multimedia
Education Tech Services

in the David Rittenhouse Lab

Pre-conference Workshop

Spiraled interactions: the dynamic nature of foreign language pedagogy in a CMC environment

Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl, Cristina Frei, Ed Dixon, University of Pennsylvania

Recent innovations in technology allow foreign language learners and their instructors to interact both inside and beyond the classroom using a variety of communicative tools. As a consequence the classroom has been transformed into an extended learning environment which has had a profound effect on both student and teacher roles. In this workshop we will demonstrate a variety of computer-mediated communication (CMC) activities and discuss the relationship between in-class, online, and out-of-class learning. We will illustrate the dynamic interplay of in-class activities and online collaborations, offering participants opportunities for hands-on practice with a variety of CMC tools, such as Wimba voice boards, threaded discussions, chats, wikis, etc.

 


4:00 - 5:00

Registration

Fireside Lounge of the Arch Building (2nd floor, 3601 Locust Walk)


5:00 - 7:00

Reception

Fireside Lounge of the Arch Building (2nd floor, 3601 Locust Walk)

Saturday, April 8


8:00 - 9:00

Registration & Coffee

Outside Room 17, Logan Hall


9:00 - 9:15

Room 17

Logan Hall

Welcoming remarks

Dr. Joseph Farrell, Associate Dean for Arts and Letters

 


9:15 - 10:15

 

Room 17

Logan Hall

Keynote Address: CMC Technologies and Tasks for Teaching Foreign Languages: The shape of things to come (powerpoint presentation)

Peter A. Lafford and Barbara A. Lafford, Arizona State University

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies have begun to play an increasingly important role in the teaching of foreign/second (L2) languages. Their use in this context is supported by a growing body of research that highlights the positive effect of the negotiation of meaning and computer-based interaction on the process of second language acquisition (Gass and Varonis, 1994; Chapelle, 1998; Payne and Whitney, 2002). In addition, recent research has pointed out the importance of situated cognition (Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989) and the use of task-based activities (Doughty and Long, 2003) to allow students to acquire language in meaningful contexts for specific purposes. In this presentation, various CMC technologies will be described and evaluated (strengths/weaknesses), and their possible applications in task-based foreign language learning activities will be explored. Included in this presentation (which will go beyond the information presented in Lafford & Lafford, 2005) will be a critical overview of CMC technologies that facilitate asynchronous written and oral communication (e.g., e-mail; discussion boards, blogs, podcasts, wikis, Horizon Wimba voice boards). Also discussed will be technologies supporting synchronous written and oral communication (e.g., controlled and open chat environments, text messaging and SMS, instant messaging environments among computers, PDAs, cell phones, Wimba voice chat; internet telephone and video chat). Foreign language learning scenarios using these CMC technologies in task-based activities will also be presented and the pros and cons of these technologies will be weighed. This paper concludes with a discussion focusing on the challenges facing the implementation of these technologies (e.g., accessibility, compatibility, financial considerations) and some possible solutions to those problems.

 


10:15 - 10:45

Break ... Refreshments available outside Room 17, Logan Hall


10:45 - 11:05

Technology Showcase


Williams Hall

Room 23

A study to reclaim and reframe the role of technology in the foreign language classroom and beyond

Yoshihiko Ariizumi, Lafayette College

In spite of rapid technological development, the role of technology is still peripheral at best in our real language classroom. This study, based on a five-year action research project, suggests 8 ideas to mainstream the technology-based activity in the language curriculum. These ideas include proactive usage of entertainment multimedia (video, song, webpage, and game) to maintain uninterrupted learners, attention, redefinition of students readiness for learning new materials, synchronization of randomly shown entertainment materials with the core-curricular contents, and creative and spontaneous employment of attractive and contextual technology-producing sounds and images. The presentation starts with a brief definition of principle-based action research that the presenter advocates, followed by a demonstration of several different modes of in-class multimedia-based language activities. The 8 ideas are presented with audio- and video- sample materials.

 

Williams Hall Room 24

Dancing and singing your way through grammar

Asima F. X. Saad Maura, Haverford College

There are plenty of books and newer proposals for teaching Spanish in the context of literature. The younger generations, having been raised fully with computer games and the like, will learn better with audiovisual and technological aids. Music, certainly, is part and parcel of this "new" learning approach, for it has a deeper impact in the overall process. Popular music incorporates the pulse, the rhythm, and the heart and soul of the language. Having collected an array of popular songs as teaching aides, students experience a living expression of the language and the culture. Be it the preterite and imperfect tenses, subjunctive mode, reflexive verbs, along with struggles of social and political import, human relations, immigration, and displacement, there is always a particular song used to illustrate the subject. At the NEALLT Conference it would be my intention to show how this range of music can become a teaching strategy.

 

Williams Hall Room 25

Podcasts as Instructional Tools: Taking Language Tasks Beyond the Classroom (powerpoint)

Jenna Torres & Ryanne Araujo, St. Lawrence University

One of the challenges for foreign language educators is promoting meaningful tasks for students outside the classroom in order to increase the limited opportunities for practice and exposure to the language. Since many students of the "net generation" are already familiar with iPods and mp3s, the technology of podcasting offers extensive possibilities to increase exposure to native-language input and opportunities for student production at all levels, particularly because of the ease of recording as well as the advantages of web feed technology. This presentation of a project in progress will examine the use of podcasting with students in an advanced Spanish conversation course. In this project, students listen to and discuss native-language podcasts; in addition, they create their own series of short podcasts to which the other students must listen and respond, thus creating an information gap task over time and distance. From the perspective of a faculty member and language resource director, we will discuss the potential benefits and applications of podcasts for integrating in-class and out-of-class material, explain how to set up a podcast and web feed, present the results of a survey of language and technology use, and give examples of student work from this semester.

 

Williams Hall Room 27

Enhancing the Teaching of Language and Culture through the Use of a MOO

Jennifer Austin, Ursula Atkinson, Anne-Catherine Aubert and Karen Campbell, Rutgers University

This workshop immerses participants in the ever-expanding MOO , an online virtual learning environment emphasizing cooperative work across campuses. MOOs offer many advantages over the traditional classroom for world languages learners, including an enhanced ability for collaboration, a culturally-immersed setting, and a unique opportunity to communicate without inhibition.

In MOOs, students work together, critique each other's writing, and communicate with peers in their class, at other institutions, and internationally. The flexibility of MOO programs permits teachers and students to build virtual objects, rooms, and even cities, real or imagined, thus enriching the teaching of culture by transporting students into the target environment. Students can also transform their ’inter-language, virtual selves into anything they choose, eliminating natural inhibitions present in foreign language communication. MOOs offer all this through virtual technology commonly utilized by today's generation of language learners.

This workshop is designed specifically to give participants the tools to start creating their own MOOs. We will describe our experiences using MOOs in the classroom, give opportunities to explore established MOOs, and aid participants in a hands-on experience in MOO creation. Participants can take what they have learned and implement it in their own classrooms, integrating new technology into language teaching.

 

Williams Hall Room 29

Speak More with Less In-Class Time in a Foreign-Language Classroom

Brandon S. Lee, UNC-Chapel Hill/Terra Dotta, LLC

I taught a unique French 2X course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that made extensive use of a software program called Edufolio. One of the key differences in my French 2X course was reduced in-class time; while French 2X typically meets four times per week for 50-minute sessions, we met two or three days per week and did online work for the remaining class meetings. The online work augmented students, speaking opportunities and increased their verbal comprehension through the use of Edufolio's built-in component that allows teachers to record either audio or video questions and lets students record their own voices in response. The students were very happy when I told them they would not have to go to the language lab and could do everything from any computer connected to the Internet.

I would like to show the discussion forums, the online assessments, and the audio and video recording tools we used on a daily basis. I would also highlight how we enhanced office hours by using a real-time course tool that is part of Edufolio. Finally, I will discuss how the students performed in subsequent semesters after taking the computer section of the course.

   


 

11:05 - 11:25

Technology Showcase


Williams Hall Room 23

Promoting Language Learning Beyond the Classroom

Martine Benjamin, Princeton University

"Lost and Found in Translation." Communication and miscommunication in The Spanish Apartment by Cédric Klapisch and in Code unknown by Michael Haneke.

For a very long time, French dominated European public affairs. Now, with the recent enlargement of Europe, English is becoming increasingly the language of choice, preferred over French within the European Community, as well as among almost all member countries of the United Nations. And yet, if the question of communication between all of the member countries of the European Community and their leaders and officials has not yet been resolved, how can we expect that this problem will be less difficult for the people of these diverse nations? The new absence of borders and the freedom of travel from country to country, with no iron curtain and streamlined modes of transportation, serve to highlight new difficulties brought by mixing of cultures and mores. There is a growing need for a Code, a mode of behavior and a key for communication.

In my presentation, as in my course at Princeton University, French for the Modern World, I will show how these two directors, Cédric Klapisch and Michael Haneke, each offers in his own way a transcendent cinematic code, one that serves to unify all languages and bridge all diversities. Klapisch and Haneke chose to make a movie with different foreign actors speaking with different accents and in different languages, and each movie highlights the sense of mobility and displacement. If The Spanish Apartment glorifies the experience of going abroad to study, of meeting new people and "finding" a new language and new cultures, Code Unknown, focuses primary on the notion of "loss" of a safe heaven.

 

Williams Hall Room 24

Aprender Cantando: an Online Curriculum Supplement for Portuguese Learning

Megwen Loveless, Princeton University

This website is meant as a resource to enrich the curriculum of an introductory Portuguese language course for high school or university students. Its uniqueness stems from the sixty+ songs which are used as a baseline for the site to help students practice vocabulary and grammar. Its aim is to encourage creative and contextual learning for students by tapping into the rich diversity of Brazilian popular music. Though students may find it easy to use on its own, it is meant to provide supplementary materials (vocabulary banks, practice exercises, cultural links) in conjunction with the instructor's in-class activities. I would argue that its unique format is geared not only toward integrating cultural context into grammar and vocabulary lessons, but it actually uses the cultural context as a base from which to learn language specifics. This site seeks to provide resources that will lead students to genuinely enjoy their language-learning experience. Its design incorporates elements to combat various problems that arise in language classes (including boredom, passivity, anxiety) and to help students toward learning language and culture simultaneously.

 

Williams Hall Room 25

Promoting Oral Proficiency Via Odeo.com

Jeff Ruth and, Leonardo Teixeira, East Stroudsburg University, Sara Villa, The New School

In recent years a number of on-line tools have appeared for the improvement of oral proficiency in the second language learner. For the language instructor hoping to find the right tech tool in this area, three needs have been paramount: the ability to easily access the learner's recorded audio via the web; the ability to reply with another audio recording that extends the communicative activity or offers constructive feedback on pronunciation, etc.; and affordability. Odeo.com, a free recording and podcasting service, is perhaps the newest tool fulfilling all these criteria. This presentation describes the way that Odeo can be used to extend discourse beyond the language classroom. Three language instructors (from East Stroudsburg Univ. of PA and The New School Univ.) will offer feedback on the use of Odeo in their Spanish and Portuguese courses. Experiences from the current semester will be described, including the content of recordings (which can be supplemented by text and photos), characteristics of student replies, effect on student participation/performance during class, and impact on lab attendance by students. While results are certainly preliminary in nature, it seems clear that Odeo has a promising role for the promotion of oral proficiency in language learning.

 

Williams Hall Room 27

 

A constructivist multimedia (TBL) framework to promote the learning of Arabic

Hebatalla Elkhateeb-Musharraf, Ed.D. Princeton University

This is a constructivist multimedia methodological task-based learning (TBL) frame work to promote the learning of the Arabic language beyond the classroom. This frame work provides constructivist models for creating multimedia teaching and learning materials, power point presentations of language and culture, and digital video projects. It provides opportunities and motivation for natural language use and deep linguistic and cultural understanding in a supportive environment, creating meaningful linguistic and cultural exposure that promotes more positive attitudes towards the Arabic language and culture.

This proposal has two main components, multimedia teaching and learning materials and task based learning activities. The multimedia materials will help the learners in identifying and defining topics, recalling and activating words and phrases through visual illustrations and demonstrations that facilitate a deeper understanding related to every day real world situations. The task based learning activities will compliment the multimedia materials and introduce the learners to various topics and activate topic-related words and phrases offering opportunities to use the language they already know, and improve on that vocabulary through teacher facilitation, allowing for a closer explicit study of the many features of the Arabic language.

 

Williams Hall Room 29

Technology? What do beginning students need to learn? Japanese typing instructions from the beginning level

Atsuko Takahashi, Smith College

In recent years, teaching computer skills, particularly instructing writing/typing skill of non-alphabetical languages on computer, became a very essential skill for non-western language learners from beginning levels in order to develop their capability of language use in various contexts beyond the classroom. However, instructors often face challenges in planning a curriculum for beginning levels using technology. For example, the first year Japanese class tends to have a heavy workload in getting students to learn the unique language. Students are also still developing their handwriting skills to correctly form Japanese syllables and Kanji. Thus, instructors are reluctant to let them use computer, which automatically provides correct form of characters. These negative factors seem to limit instructors in using computers for writing in class. In this presentation, I would like to share some curriculum ideas, which I conducted in the first year Japanese in Smith College. Students appeared very animated with all the challenges and excitements of their experience of writing Japanese on computer and their discovery of uses beyond Japanese classes. Then, I discuss an effective curriculum development with technology in beginning levels in regard of the balance between authenticity and technology, as well as the structural integration of spiral curriculum.

   
 

11:25 - 11:45

Technology Showcase


Williams Hall Room 23

Understanding Distance Language Learners: the Motivation Correlation

Noelle Isenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

While the application of language learning technologies in on-campus language programs may enjoy the hybrid safety-net of traditional classroom interactions, in distance language learning contexts, instructional media and materials take on a heightened significance in maintaining student motivation and fostering eventual success. Unfortunately, across all disciplines, distance programs continue to be plagued by up to fifty-percent attrition rates which inversely correlate with learner motivation. As a non-trivial issue in the language-learning endeavor generally, learner motivation thus emerges as a factor central to any exploration of language learning contexts beyond the classroom. As a preliminary to development of fully-online German-language courses at a state university in the northeastern United States, the present study considers the relationship between motivation (as measured by Noels et al.'s 2000 Language Learning Orientations Scale Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and Amotivation Subscales) and learning outcomes (final course grade) of first-, second-, or third-semester distance learners of German-, French-, and Spanish-language courses in a traditional correspondence model. Initial results suggest that gender, age, and motivational subtypes converge to form prototypical profiles which are not only indicative of certain learning outcomes but also suggest an application of language learning technologies which may be ideally suited to attend to motivational discrepancies and flux thus addressing the attrition issue at its source.

 

Williams Hall Room 24

Teaching Contemporary French Culture with Web Resources

Duane Kight, Haverford College

Over the past few years, I have been teaching an introductory class in Contemporary French Culture using the Web. The syllabus is entirely on the Web, and presents extensively annotated versions of chapters from the textbook we are using; these exploit the full possibilities of hypertext and multimedia resources for enrichment and updating of the material so that it is truly contemporary. In addition, the syllabus features QuickTime sound files taken from French radio and QuickTime video clips captured vis Snapz. I would think that my presentation would be informative and useful on three counts: first, it would allow me to discuss the pros and cons of a Web syllabus for such a course (including justification for its being Web-based in the first place); second, it would allow me to present a model for how to organize such a course; third, it would allow me to present technical and Web resources that others may not have explored. The syllabus is available at http://www.haverford.edu/fren/dkight by clicking on the French 105 button.

 

Williams Hall Room 25

The Evolving Role of the Speech Center in New Administrative Initiatives

Sean Palmer, LaGuardia Community College- CUNY

When LaGaurdia Community College built a new digital Speech Center in 2004 to replace the old tape lab, a new world of possibilities opened up. Before this, the Speech Center's primary duty was the lab hours of the speech classes aimed at the college's large and diverse ESL population. Now, however, the Speech Center does so much more. First, it was essential in the development process of our new Speech Assessment Rubric, both in terms of technological support and the host for the norming sessions. After the Speech Assessment Rubric was developed, Oral Communication across the Curriculum was started. Finally, the e-Portfolio project is an on-going initiative here at LaGuardia. With the new Speech Center, we are able to add audio to the -ePortfolios, something that was previosuly overlooked. As new intitiatives develop the Speech Center will continue to evolve, encouraging faculty to think about new ways to incoprate speaking skills and technology into their courses.

 

Williams Hall Room 27

Maximizing Foreign Language Curriculum Outcomes through Technology: A Case of African Languages

Audrey N Mbeje, Elaine Mshomba, Esau J. Mavindizde, University of Pennsylvania

Innovative teaching strategies involving technology are frequently cited as effective in increasing student access to information and improving foreign language teaching and learning. To the extent that technology enables learning outside the classroom, the use of technology in foreign language teaching has a potential to expand the time and motivation for language learning which can substantially improve the outcomes of a language curriculum. Thus, it seems obvious to conclude that students will greatly benefit from language programs that integrate technology into their curriculum.

This presentation will discuss specific online materials targeting various levels of proficiency in African languages and how these can be used to enrich the language learning experiences of students. The focus will be on how these online materials can be incorporated into carefully designed teaching and learning activities across African languages to support receptive skills learning. The African languages project will only be used as an example; however, the model can be used to maintain instructional standards across languages in any foreign language curriculum.

 

Williams Hall Room 29

The Role of Creative Writing as an Enabling Activity in FL Language Acquisition

Erika Gilson, Princeton University

Generally writing is considered the least important, or necessary, of the language skills, to the point where this skill is not being tested at all in many instructional settings. I would like to argue that developing writing skills in the target language from the very beginning of the language learning process furthers language acquisition by letting the learner first work with, and produce, in the language without experiencing the pressures of oral production. Sample writing assignments will be shown, data on student writing collected over the years for elementary Turkish at Princeton will be discussed, and how such student work in turn is used to further extensive reading by first year students in the TL.


11:45 - 12:45

Lunch ... Room 17, Logan Hall

(included in registration fee)

 

12:45 - 1:15

Logan Hall
Room 17

A Look at WebSpeak

D. Bradford Marshall, Harvard University

I would like to propose the presentation of a new web-based audio-video authoring system designed to facilitate on-line oral communication and assessment "beyond the classroom." Using the Macromedia Flash Media Server, the WebSpeak project includes two main components that can be manipulated by both the instructor and the student without any specific technological knowledge. WebSpeak Recorder allows for the creation and evaluation of "two-way" audio and video activities. After a student has listened to or viewed a clip, he or she records an audio or video reply which the instructor may access from any on-line computer. The instructor can then leave audio, video and/or text feedback concerning the student's work. WebSpeak Discussion takes the common Internet forum format and adds the capability to post audio and video as well as text messages, which can not only be accessed individually but also played back together in the order they were posted thus recreating an asynchronous "conversation". Both projects will be available free to educational institutions, and I hope this presentation at NEALLT will enable us to promote future collaboration and development.

Williams Hall
Room 25

Self-Serve Video Recording in American Sign Language Classes

Jami Clark, Penn Language Center, University of Pennsylvania

This presentation gives an overview of the use and applications of the new private, self-serve video-recording booth that is set up at the technology center at the University of Pennsylvania. The establishment of the video booth was a successful collaboration between MMETS (educational technology center) and Penn Language Center. In essence, upon being given an assignment by their instructors, students are able to sign up for and have access to a digital recording booth to record expressive ASL assignments based on the topics of study. In turn, students can give their instructors a DVD recording of their work which is much more portable than a class‚ worth of VHS tapes and more easily and thoroughly graded than an in-class expressive assignment.

The technology has given instructors opportunity to assign more individual expressive assignments (without taking up class time). It has also allowed for students to record expressive ASL assignments at their leisure. While American Sign Language program was the primary target in the creation of this video-booth, this technology and strategies for its use can be applied to any language group.

 

Williams Hall
Room 27

Beyond Technology: Collaborations Across Classrooms, Campuses and Countries

M. Lamb-Faffelberger & Mary Toulouse, Lafayette College

The speakers will address the benefits and challenges of enhancing curriculum by collaborating with other institutions over Internet 2. Two different types of collaborations will be discussed. In the first, we will present the results of an undergraduate course on Friedrich Schiller's Die Räuber offered by German departments at four colleges (Colgate Univ., Lafayette, Vassar, and Wheaton Colleges) and institutions in Germany (Pädgogische Universität and Theater Freiburg). While the courses at each school remained autonomous, faculty and students used videoconferencing and online tools for discussion, interviews and project collaboration. In the second example, we will discuss an Internet 2 round table "event" in which biology and language students from several schools networked with speakers from the Institut Pasteur in Paris and New York to discuss global preparedness for the looming threat of an influenza pandemic. The role of the language resource center in the organization of the event will be highlighted.


 

1:20 - 1:50

Logan Hall
Room 17

Using E-Mail and Blogs to Encourage Comprehensible Output

Jocelyne Brant & Christine Foster Meloni, George Washington University

The Internet enables foreign language educators to offer their students exciting learning opportunities beyond the classroom. Key features of cyber activities are interactivity and authenticity. Research has shown that FL students engaged in electronic communication with partners produce more comprehensible output, an essential element in second language acquisition, than when engaged face to face in a classroom. Some research seems to indicate that this electronic output is of a higher quality as well. The presenters will discuss projects they have developed to enhance student language learning in cyberspace. The first presenter will discuss two e-mail projects she implemented in her university French language literature classes while the second presenter will discuss two blogging projects she developed for her intermediate ESL writing classes at a community college. Participants will receive a handout with detailed project guidelines and excerpts of student writing and a bibliography of related research.


Williams Hall
Room 25

Comics with two "i's": Comic Life, iSight, and iMovie in the Italian Classroom

Shirley Ann Smith, Skidmore College

Comic Life has a 'capture' function which allows creation of a strip in the classroom for students who have only done the first few chapters of elementary language. We used it in 101 to practice adjectives and agreement. Students were very enterprising in either taking images off the web or dipping into their Facebook files. In this presentation I shall demonstrate how to use Comic Life and how to easily and quickly develop a 10 minute exercise for the elementary language classroom.

iMovie is easy to use and allows a quick and easy application of cultural information. Students did the regional/geographic cultural reading at the end of a chapter. They looked for images on the web to illustrate the ideas in the reading and worked them into a 30 second iMovie, using a headset with microphone to record the prose that linked together the images.

iSight can be used in the Comic Life function. It can also be used to take snapshots/stills for an iMovie. It is most amazing, however, if you can get a student going abroad to take one or find one in an Internet Cafè.
I shall illustrate and show examples of each of these uses of Mac programs/functions.

 

Williams Hall
Room 27

Inflection and phonology software for a digital Sanskrit library: (http://sanskritlibrary.org/)

Peter M. Scharf, Brown University

Internet users now expect to find whatever they search for on the web in seconds. Yet those who seek information about India online find their access to digital content in Indian languages severely hampered because the seamless fulfillment of their expectations depends upon information processing technology that has developed primarily in the environment of the Roman alphabet. To enhance the accessibility of Indian language content requires progress in technologies for foreign language texts in non-Roman scripts. A collaborative project including colleagues at the University of Buffalo, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Brown is developing a digital Sanskrit library to provide a robust online environment for texts representing the cultural heritage of India. In particular, the integration of linguistic tools with Sanskrit lexica, archives of Sanskrit texts, and OCR technology will permit broad access to large number of texts in many fields in one of the world’s richest culture-bearing languages. The linguistic tools developed at Brown include inflection and phonological software constructed from a cascade of rules written using regular expressions in XML independent of any particular programming language subsequently converted into Perl executable code.

 


1:55 - 2:25

Logan Hall
Room 17

Rethinking Grammar CALL

Nina Garrett, Yale University

After decades during which grammar CALL has been limited to conventional drill materials, that paradigm must be fundamentally reconceived, because language education faces growing demand for learners with advanced (even professional) competence and that level requires comprehensive grammatical accuracy. Unfortunately grammar has been so out-of-fashion that (1) most textbooks devote minimal space to grammar explanations and examples; (2) most teachers have had little training in teaching grammar; and (3) most CALL developers assume that advanced-level learners need engagement with authentic materials and computer-mediated communication rather than "pedagogical" materials.

We know that drilling grammar forms does not result in accurate use of those forms in spontaneous language production, but almost no CALL materials address grammar any other way. I will suggest a variety of kinds of CALL materials that could help learners how to use grammar concepts and their language-specific forms for advanced-level comprehension and production. CALL could handle grammar at elementary and intermediate levels so as to give learners a better foundation for advanced-level learning, and CALL could help advanced students and their teachers both diagnose underlying grammar problems and integrate grammatical knowledge into sophisticated language use.

 

Williams Hall
Room 25

Course management systems (CMS) to promote language learning (Saito Powerpoint)

Hiroyo Saito & Yukino Tanaka, Haverford College, Ed Dixon & Jay Treat, University of Pennsylvania

Are you using Blackboard just to place course materials online? Blackboard can be used as more than just a place to hold course materials. It provides a lot of communication tools that can be used to promote language learning inside and outside the classroom.

This presentation will discuss how the language learning center (LLC) at Haverford College has been supporting creative uses of Blackboard for foreign language teaching. It will describe how the LLC conducted a Blackboard Discussion Forum and a hands-on Blackboard communication tools workshop.

This presentation includes examples of how some foreign language faculty have been using Blackboard to develop all the language skills. The Blackboard features that will be discussed include chat, journal (blog), teams site (wiki), and assignment tools. The presentation will also describe how sound software such as Audacity and Dartmouth Language (DL) Recorder are used in conjunction with Blackboard. The examples include activities that can be done both inside and outside the classroom.

 

Williams Hall
Room 27

"Virtual Embodiments: Video Games, Video Clips and Reality TV in Contemporary Spanish Narrative": Experiencing Literature Through Technology

Audrey Sartiaux & Christine Henseler, Union College

This presentation will offer a new perspective on teaching Spanish contemporary literature through the use of modern technology. “Virtual Embodiments: Video Games, Video Clips and Reality TV in Contemporary Spanish Narrative” is a course developed with the aid of a small grant to make students active participants in the analytical process of the question of identity. The three contemporary Spanish novels studied in this class, namely Ático by Gabi Martínez (2004), Héroes by Ray Loriga (1993), and Veo veo by Gabriela Bustelo (1996), illustrate the question of the construction of identity through technology. In addition to the more traditional approach of analyzing these novels in relation to critical articles on video game, video clip, and reality television, students were asked to study the effects of these technologies on the construction of subject identities as well as on their own lives, through the handling of the very technology described in the books. In short, students were put in the position of “living” the stories presented in the novels by creating their own Video clip, and playing the SIMS video game. In order to complete their assignment, they were provided with two training sessions conducted by the language center director and staff. Students were showed how to handle a video camcorder, and how to edit their short film using Pinnacle studio 9. They also received an hour long training on how to create their own Virtual Character in the SIMS video game.

In addition to showcasing the course, this presentation will briefly discuss the practical aspects necessary in the successful implementation of such a project, and render a short conclusion on the problems encountered, and the students’ response to the technology.

   


2:30 - 3:00

Logan Hall
Room 17

Supporting Foreign Languages with Revolution

Dan Soneson, Southern Connecticut State University

This session will demonstrate several utilities, developed in RunTime Revolution, that facilitate access to materials and student work.

1) Instructors supply the lab with specific oral tasks and the student lab staff uses "LabRecorder Programmer" to enter these tasks, thereby "programming" oral recording activities.

2) Instructors access this class's files and play back each student response via "LabRecorder Playback."

3) Another lab application assesses speaking, listening, reading and writing. With "TestFabrik Programmer " instructors can produce the program file for the exam themselves. The lab staff installs the finished programming file on our server, making the test available. Faculty use "LabRecorder Playback" to access not only their students' oral output but also to print written output.

4) We often videotape native speakers for listening comprehension material. We transcribe this material in order to make its contents available and accessible to all instructors who might want to use it. "Video Transcriber" allows us to play the video, pause, rewind a specific number of seconds, all the while entering text into a text field, which is then saved to a text file.

The presenter will discuss the genesis for these utilities and talk about using Revolution to help the lab function smoothly.

 

Williams Hall
Room 25

Drupal and language teaching

Bill Koulopoulos & Kevin Wong, Columbia University

Like many other institutions, Columbia University would like to empower its language faculty to make appropriate usage of technology to support their curricula. Moreover, it would like this process to be as seamless and as transparent as possible so that its faculty is not put off by the technology and can concentrate its effort on the appropriate technology to incorporate media-rich material into the language classroom.

In order to achieve these goals, Columbia University's Language Resource Center has chosen to promote Drupal, an open source content management platform, to create support websites for some of the less frequently taught languages as well as resource websites for language instructors.

Drupal allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a great variety of content on a website. Content is added as easily as typing a document and uploading files and images is as simple as attaching a file to an email. This method of content building is universal, allowing for group training and easy support.

Furthermore, Drupal offers a variety of modules and features that can further enhance the functionality of each website. One such module is the taxonomy module, which allows users to create categories and organize content by type. The module supports hierarchical classification and association between terms, allowing for truly flexible information retrieval and classification. Our goal is to implement innovative instructional approaches while remaining as cost-effective as possible.

The presentation will introduce Drupal to the audience and show how Drupal has helped the LRC meet its goal of empowering language faculty to become confident developer of web-delivered, media-rich pedagogical material. The presentation will rely on several of the websites that have recently been authored by Columbia faculty and LRC staff to illustrate the various functionalities of Drupal.


Williams Hall
Room 27

Developing Listening Comprehension Using SCOLA Online News Casts: Theoretical and Practical Considerations

Luba Iskold, Muhlenberg College

In today’s society young people increasingly learn to use media as a source of information about the world in which they live. In this context, authentic online TV news casts provided by SCOLA are a valuable resource that allows students access to authentic programming that is informative, interesting, and current. However, the decision to use SCOLA presents a challenge to students and faculty alike. Although authentic materials offer a great variety of real life language and there are convincing pedagogical reasons to incorporate such materials into language curricula, they tend to overwhelm and even frustrate students and may be impractical for teachers. Based on a review of the relevant literature, the presenter will discuss the pros and cons associated with the integration of online SCOLA newscasts into language curricula. She will explore how the theoretical view of comprehension may lead to the design of online video-based learning environments which employ listening tasks and activities that are sensitive to the ways learners construct meaning from a video text.

 
3:00 – 3:30:
Break ... Refreshments available outside Room 17, Logan Hall
 

3:30 - 4:00

Logan Hall
Room 17

Web Audio Lab: Bringing Power and Efficiency to Students and Teachers (http://lrc.cornell.edu/showcase)

Dick Feldman, Cornell University

While task-based communicative activities are surely the most valid for class use, students need opportunities out of class to repeat, transform and generate speech in a guided environment. The program described in this presentation gives students the opportunity to record their voice in response to programmed input, compare with the model and submit to the teacher. The teacher can then check the class generally for submissions, scan certain exercises or listen comprehensively to student recordings. Teachers can made text or audio comments that students receive on the web. The program has been used with beginning courses and intermediate pronunciation courses and has a wide range of applications. It has been received enthusiastically.

The presentation will first explain the rationale and need for this program, and the place it holds in a general transition to digital delivery of language learning support. Applications of the student client in Russian, Spanish, French, Korean and Chinese will be demonstrated, showing its use in supporting various pedagogical levels and approaches. The web side affords teachers a range of tools for organizing student data and viewing it at various levels of intensity. The package comprises a number of modules, but the student and teacher interfaces are relatively seamless, powerful and efficient. It does require specialized server tools.

 

Williams Hall
Room 25

Finding Cultural Resources in the Online Culture Club (http://nclrc.org/cultureclub/neallt.html)

Christine Foster Meloni and Jill Robbins, George Washington University

The Culture Club is an online environment that offers cultural resources for foreign language teachers. It consists of nine rooms: the Library, Screening Room, Music Room, Banquet Hall, Hangout, Art Gallery, Speaker‚s Corner, Computer Lab, and Teacher‚s Lounge. A new edition is published six times a year and past editions are catalogued in The Collection. The presenters will describe the types of resources available in each of these rooms and will offer ideas on how these resources can be used in the classroom. While the main focus of the presentation will be on the resources available for teachers of Spanish, French, and Italian, participants will be given handouts with examples of resources for teachers of several other languages. Feedback will be solicited from participants to make the Club more useful and more user-friendly.

 

Williams Hall
Room 27

Learning from Context: Video Based Online Instruction for Hindi and Tamil

Vasu Renganathan & Vijay Gambhir, University of Pennsylvania

We will demonstrate our Hindi and Tamil online materials that introduce socio-linguistically appropriate language and culture using a series of dialogues filmed in authentic speech situations. Language variation and code mixing are presented in a rich natural context. Exposure to verbal and non-verbal language in a variety of communicative situations allows learners to pick up subtle and unanalyzed rules of language use. Humor is an important part of these materials that makes a relaxed environment for learning. Students can access the materials at all times and work on their language development at their own pace.

The design of the Hindi and Tamil websites takes into consideration the learning needs of a variety of learners: zero heritage learners, advanced heritage learners and traditional learners. Exercises allow learners the option of responding orally or in writing. Questions are designed to develop learners' ability to read a text for different purposes: skimming, scanning, etc. For an intensive comprehension check, learners have the option to read text with or without translation and listen to dialogues with or without transcripts. For evaluation and computer mediated testing, the exercise component presents an online linear progression environment in a Wiki format for students' responses and for instructors‚ mediation. Learners‚ language samples generates a rich database for research on interlanguage development.

 

 

4:05 - 4:35

Logan Hall
Room 17

Beyond the classroom with Pogos and Web templates

Regina DeAngelo & Bradley Gano, Yale University

In the theme of "language learning beyond the classroom," we would like to describe

1. How we use technology to provide audio materials for our indpendent language study students.

The Center for Language Study's Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) program allows students to independently learn less-commonly taught languages. We do this by hiring language partners and providing MP3 recorders to capture, archive, and share authentic oral language materials. Students use the recorders to practice listening and speaking. We'll discuss our experience with the technology (specifically, the Pogo and the MuVo MP3 recorders) and the students' response to it.

2. CLS-created Web templates that instructors use for supplemental or in-class instruction

We have developed three easy-to-use Web templates that allow instructors to use video, foreign-language texts, and pictures for supplementing or enhancing in-class instruction. The idea is to provide, and to show instructors how to use, user-friendly templates for loading video, text or even an entire picture dictionary to the Web so that students have access to authentic, up-to-date, relevant and interesting learning materials. The templates have been used successfully in and outside the classroom and have been demonstrated at conferences around the country. Although we won't have time to demo all our templates, we would like to show what they look like, describe how they work, and what the instructors think of them.

We'll discuss how these initiatives show various instances of a language center using technology for beyond-classroom learning.

 

Williams Hall
Room 25

Planning and Implementing a Unified Circulation System to Maximize Efficiency

Susan Pennestri, Georgetown University

This presentation will demonstrate the online circulation system created and used at Georgetown University for managing the language lab‚s collection of media holdings, equipment items and circulation records. The application‚s features include:

- Restricting access to users with a valid university ID
- Accessing media/equipment information and availability
- Cataloguing and labeling of new materials
- Tracking patron history and usage statistics
- Automating overdue item reminders

A list of resources to get started will be provided for those interested in setting up a similar system.
Target audience: all language laboratory and media center directors and staff.

Language and level: ALL

 

Williams Hall
Room 27

Revolution for Non-Programmers, or Yes, There Is Life After HyperCard! (http://www.edvista.com/claire/rev/templates/templates.html)

Claire Bradin Siskin, University of Pittsburgh


HyperCard enjoyed a long reign as the authoring tool of choice for many CALL software developers. With the advent of the Intel Macs, HyperCard’s total demise is drawing near. However, Runtime Revolution can fill the niche formerly occupied by HyperCard, and in fact its capabilities are superior. There are versions for Mac, Windows, and Linux. One can develop materials on one platform and export them to other platforms. It is often possible to import legacy HyperCard stacks into Revolution and export them to other platforms. Color is fully integrated. Revolution lends itself very well to use in a language media center since one can record and play back both audio and video. It can be integrated with database programs and with the Internet.

The presenter has converted her “HyperCard Templates for Language Learning” into „Revolution templates.”Activities include role-playing, interactive listening, dictation, listen-and-record, playing a video clip and responding, and traditional multiple choice exercises such as picture match and vocabulary exercises. The templates can be used at any level. Language instructors can download them from a website at no charge, After minimal instruction, they can modify them to suit their own target language and purpose.

 

 
4:45– 5:30
Tour of facilities at University of Pennsylvania - if interested sign up at registration
 

7:00

Dinner @ La Terasse (Optional, pre-registration required!)


Sunday, April 9

note: all Sunday Sessions will be held in Room 17, Logan Hall


8:30 - 9:00

Coffee


9:00 - 9:30

Data-driven Foreign Language Learning

J. Scott Payne, Pennsylvania State University

Tools and techniques from corpus linguistics offer a number of insights into language use and present a challenge to conventional foreign language pedagogy. Data-driven learning constitutes a learner-centered, inquiry-based approach to language learning that places learners in the role of linguistic researchers. Using concordancers, learners query corpora (databases of naturally-occurring language) to formulate and test their own hypotheses about language use. A brief review of relevant research on data-driven learning and available concordancers will be discussed. The presenter will also demonstrate how the KWICionary, a freely available web-based data-driven learning tool developed at Penn State, can be used to support language learning in a range of contexts. The basics of corpus design as well as techniques and tools for corpus construction will be discussed.

 


9:35 - 10:15

Podcasting and foreign language education: current practices and future possibilities

Panel Lidia Agafonova, Pennsylvania State University
Noelle Isenberg, Pennsylvania State University
Michael Lipschultz, Pennsylvania State University
J. Scott Payne, Pennsylvania State University
Thomas Tasker, Pennsylvania State University

Podcasting is a phenomenon that has exploded in popularity and has sparked a great interest among many foreign language educators. Institutional-level initiatives and the work of individual teachers are beginning to document the utility of these technologies (iPods and RSS) for language education. In this panel, we will discuss podcasting as a pedagogical approach from the perspectives of students and teachers, and argue that its potential for transforming foreign language instruction remains largely untapped. In order to harness the capabilities of podcasting, it is crucial to understand podcasting as a member of a whole family of new technologies that are an everyday reality for many of today’s students, but are not integral to the life-style of most educators. This disconnect presents a number of opportunities and challenges for language instruction. To date, podcasting technologies have been employed to deliver authentic materials (e.g. native speaker podcasts or newscasts), pedagogical materials (e.g. pronunciation exercises or teacher feedback), and to facilitate the recording of student work for self-reflection (e.g. in-class role play recordings). While present applications integrate language-learning materials with additional device portability, a more conscious recognition of this portability is necessary in order to explore the potential of further applications with the vision of creating “mobile language immersion” as a less fiscally-, temporally-, spatially-, or socioculturally-constrained alternative to traditional study abroad.


10:20 - 10:55

Language Teaching Material Archives on Blackboard in the French, German, , Japanese, and Spanish Language Programs.

Panel:

Ed Dixon, University of Pennsylvania
Victoria García-Serrano, University of Pennsylvania
Yoko Makishima, University of Pennsylvania
Joyce Martin, University of Pennsylvania
Kathryn McMahon, University of Pennsylvania
Nicole Mills, University of Pennsylvania
Melanie Peron, University of Pennsylvania
Hiroko Sherry, University of Pennsylvania

Our panel will introduce various projects that utilize Blackboard sites to manage teaching content for instructors of courses with multiple sections in the Japanese, German, French, Italian and Spanish Language Programs at the University of Pennsylvania. These Blackboard sites serve a range of courses from the beginning to upper intermediate language levels. Our panel members will discuss how coordinators and instructors manage, share and collaborate on the development of instructional materials with the assistance of Blackboard.

Besides showcasing Bb sites containing materials such as video, audio, images, weekly banners, administrative documents, exams, etc., our panel will describe the process involved in developing these sites and the impact that they have had on the language programs. We will indicate the pros and cons of Bb instructor sites and how they have changed the role of the language coordinator. Panel members will discuss the extent to which the instructor sites have contributed to building stronger and more cohesive language programs and have helped to offer well organized and well coordinated language courses for Penn students.



10:55 - 11:25

The creation, distribution, and management of media files

Panel Marianne Crusius, Princeton University
Mike Heller, Montclair State University
Mike Jones, Swarthmore College,
LaShanda Lemmon, University of Pittsburgh

Discussion of how media files are created, distributed , and managed in specific settings



11:30 - Noon

Your Turn (Open Mic)

Opportunity To Ask Questions, Seek Advice, Present Issues


Noon - 1:00

Business Meeting & Lunch