Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Introduction: Expanding Our Educational Goals: Exploring Intercultural Competence, Alvino E. Fantini, Paula Garrett-Rucks

Dimensions

We are delighted to present this collection of manuscripts that focus on various aspects of Intercultural Competence in this Special Issue of Dimensions 2016. Our hope for this Special Issue is not only to bring attention to the innovative programmatic changes and best teaching practices presented in the following chapters, but also to stimulate discussion in the field on the convergence of the diverse terminology used for a common end goal of fostering learners’ intercultural competence. The development of language learners’ intercultural competence—or more completely stated, intercultural communicative competence—engages them in a most profound educational experience, one that will serve …

Preparing Students For The Global Workplace: The Relevance Of Languages For Specific Purposes (Lsp), Mary Risner, Carolina Egúsquiza

Dimensions

Acquiring second language and intercultural skills tied to real-world contexts is key to personal and professional success for students in today’s globally connected society. This paper defines and details the benefits of integrating a current Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) approach, which connects language learning and intercultural skills across disciplines, particularly professional schools, and prepares students for the 21st century workplace. Additionally, the paper provides an overview of the current state of LSP alongside specific resources such as a professional learning network that brings together K-20 educators interested in developing innovative curriculum for language learning that prepares students for a …

Exploring Collaborative Work For The Creation Of Interdisciplinary Units Centered On Intercultural Citizenship, Manuela Wagner, Fabiana Cardetti, Michael Byram

Dimensions

In this work we report on a collaborative project at a large Northeastern University, in which we explored how to best collaborate to develop interdisciplinary teaching units, which integrate intercultural citizenship (Byram, 2008) into world languages, mathematics and social studies sixth grade curricula. We argue for the importance of addressing current critical areas in education. After introducing a framework that allows teachers to focus on the development of intercultural citizenship while at the same time fostering skills in the diverse content areas, we report on how we worked with a group of graduate students, teachers and administrators in order to …

Service-Learning: Overcoming Fears, Connecting With The Hispanic/Latino Community, Laura Guglani

Dimensions

This chapter explores the reasons why adult Spanish language students claimed to be hesitant to participate in the local Hispanic/Latino community in a recent study on 25 students enrolled in a 400/500-level Spanish class with a service-learning component at a Southeastern university. Data come from student reflection papers, written four times over the course of the semester, analyzed through thematic content analysis. Findings indicate that students held specific fears about participating in the local Hispanic/Latino community, including fear of interacting with the community and insecurity about their ability to communicate with native speakers. The analysis of the reflection papers revealed …

Investigating Products, Practices, Perspectives In A Simulated Moving Abroad Project, Sabine Smith

Dimensions

This classroom action research explores discipline-based inquiry and learner assessment of intercultural competence in a simulated “Moving Abroad” project that is part of an undergraduate English-language survey class required of all world language majors and minors at a large public university in the Southeast. The project tasks students to adapt the ACFTL Three Ps framework (Products, Practices, and Perspectives) through simulated intercultural encounters. The study seeks to assess the ways in which the project generates evidence of learners’ development of intercultural competence and how participants perceive the project as meaningful. Data in the form of 124 student documents were collected …

Developing And Evaluating Language Learners’ Intercultural Competence: Cultivating Perspective-Taking, Kristin Hoyt

Dimensions

This study investigates the development of intercultural competence (IC) in a university French conversation class through a course module that features student ethnographic interviews with native French speakers. Data collected from 50 students across three semesters are examined through the lens of Byram’s (1997) five domains of IC and used as a framework to identify change in the development of students’ IC. This mixed-method study draws on quantitative and qualitative data from pre- and postquestionnaires along with data documenting instructional delivery. Quantitative results indicate significant change in the skills domains of IC (Skills of Interpreting and Relating and Critical Cultural …

Fostering Global Competence Among Pre-Service Language Teachers: A Comparison Of Teacher Beliefs And Practices Between Language Teachers From The U.S. And Spain, Victoria Russell, Sarah Allison, Ashley Jacobs, Kristina Wingate, Hilaria Taft

Dimensions

This chapter describes an effort to internationalize a foreign language education initial teacher certification program through a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) grant project that was funded by Valdosta State University. The purpose of the QEP grant was to foster discipline-specific inquiry skills among undergraduate students and to promote the development of global competence. With the guidance of faculty, the teacher candidates who participated in the project conducted a research study that examined teacher beliefs and practices between 18 foreign language teachers from the U.S. and 15 foreign and second language teachers from Spain. The results revealed that both teacher groups …

Web 2.0 Use To Foster Learners’ Intercultural Sensitivity: An Exploratory Study, Claire Mitchell

Dimensions

This chapter reports on a qualitative investigation on the development of adult Spanish language learners’ intercultural sensitivity while using Web 2.0 technologies to explore living abroad. Comments provided by 33 participants on wikis, Pinterest, and journal entries were analyzed using a line-by-line interpretative approach (Charmaz, 2006). Data analysis revealed that while investigating studying and living abroad using Web 2.0 technologies, learners often remained in an ethnocentric stage of intercultural sensitivity (Bennett, 1993). However, upon the completion of reflective activities, many learners began to progress in their intercultural sensitivity, demonstrating a shift away from ethnocentric thinking.

New Levels, No Limits. Special Issue: Focus On Intercultural Competence

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 51

Gjr Volume 38 Number 1 Spring 2015, Lina B. Soares, Christine A. Draper

The Georgia Journal of Reading Archive

The Georgia Journal of Reading's Spring 2015 issue includes:

Message from the Editors by Dr. Christine A. Draper and Dr. Lina B. Soares (pg. 4)

President’s Page by Dr. Beth Pendergraft (pg.5) .

Middle School Literacy Coaches: Perceptions of Roles and Responsibilities by Dr. Katie Stover and Dr. Maryann Mraz (pg. 6)

An Analysis of Teachers’ Discourse and Their Perceptions Concerning the Use of Questioning and Feedback During Reading Instruction In Third-Grade Classrooms by Dr. Marie Holbein and Dr. Jennifer Farist (pg. 15)

Reading, Motivation, and the Power of Social Relationships: Learning from Middle School Students in a Title I …

Leadership Development And Language Learning: A Foundational Framework, Sheri Spaine Long, Leanne Derby, Lauren Scharff, Jean W. Leloup, Daniel Uribe

Dimensions

The ACTFL 21st Century Skills Map (2011) proposes incorporating “leadership and responsibility” into language learning (LL). This study offers a foundational framework for combined LL and leadership development (LD) and contains a snapshot of the presence of LD in the language curriculum and observations and attitudes regarding LD in LL courses (using feedback forms and focus groups) at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in 2012. Results suggest a two dimension structure to inform LL (a) generic vs. discipline-specific LD, and (b) implicit vs. explicit incorporation of LD. Lower frequency of explicit, discipline-specific types of LD led to a …

Scolt History 1990s–2012, Lynne Mcclendon

Dimensions

SCOLT History 1990s–2012

Using Goal Setting And Task Analysis To Enhance Task-Based Language Learning And Teaching, Joan Rubin

Dimensions

This paper will focus on the contributions Goal Setting and Task Analysis can make to more effective Task-Based language learning and teaching. Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching has received sustained attention from teachers and researchers for over thirty years (Ellis, 2003; Leaver & Willis, 2004; Long, 1985; Loschky & Bley-Vroman, 1993; Nunan, 2006; Willis & Willis, 2007). It is a well-established pedagogy that includes the following characteristics: major focus on authentic and real-world tasks, choice of linguistic resources by learners, and a clearly defined non-linguistic outcome (Ellis, 2003). Important as a focus on real life tasks and authentic language is, …

Culture And Sustainability: Lessons From The Oyster And Other Metaphors, Vicki Galloway

Dimensions

The world is your oyster! proclaims a promotional poster for a study-abroad program, confirming that the oyster-as-world, like all good metaphors, has done some morphing since the days of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. Newer bands of shell material have repainted the mollusk metaphor, transforming it from ostracism, opportunism and exploitation to openness, opportunity and exploration, and thus an apt symbol for the intercultural experience. Indeed, Robinson’s (1988) definition of culture as “a system of symbols and meanings” seems to evoke the very image of the oyster’s constant production of shell layers: “past experience influences meaning, which in turn affects …

Study Abroad As Professional Development: Voices Of In-Service Spanish Teachers, Christopher J. Jochum, Jared R. Rawlings, Ana María Tejada

Dimensions

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to understand how four in-service Spanish teachers interpreted their participation in a summer study abroad program and how the experience contributed to their ongoing professional development and language proficiency. Using a multiple case design (Simons, 2009; Stake, 2005; Yin, 2009), the researchers conducted interviews, recorded field observations and collected participant journals. By analyzing these teachers’ voices, it was found that the experience revealed a newfound realization of their language proficiency and its impact on their professional practice. A salient finding of the study abroad experience was that these teachers expressed a commitment to …

Changes In Beliefs About Language Learning And Teaching By Foreign Language Teachers In An Applied Linguistics Course, Laurel Abreu

Dimensions

This article presents the results of a study on the language learning and teaching beliefs of graduate students enrolled in an applied linguistics course in a language teaching program. Ten participants completed a questionnaire at the start of the course and another at the end; their responses were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Following the course, changes were identified in the participants’ beliefs about the difficulty of learning a second language and their goals for their future students.

All That Glitters Is Scolt: 50 Years Of Language Teaching And Learning

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 50

Those Were Some Of The Hottest Days Of My Life: The Genesis Of Scolt, Pete Swanson

Dimensions

The following article recounts the creation and development of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) through the words of one of its founders, Dr. Herman Bostick. The article is not intended to tell the entire history of the founding of the organization, nor the full story of Dr. Bostick’s contributions to the civil rights movement in the SCOLT region. Instead, readers will be privy to specific moments and thoughts surrounding a man and a movement that touch Southern language teachers and students to this day. Pieced together from interviews with Dr. Bostick, it shows the world house that he …

Ncssfl-Actfl Can-Do Statements: An Effective Tool For Improving Language Learning Within And Outside The Classroom, Aleidine J. Moeller, Fei Yu

Dimensions

This article explores the theoretical foundation of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, developed by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), describes why and how to use these progress indicators in language education and reveals the value and impact on student learning when effectively integrated in the language classroom. These Can-Do statements serve as learning targets to document what learners “can do” with languages and can provide teachers and language programs with learning objectives for curriculum and unit design that are userfriendly, learner-centered and promote reflection and self-regulation …

Exploring Homework Completion And Noncompletion In Post-Secondary Language Study, Carolyn Gascoigne

Dimensions

While homework is something that language professionals often assign, based on the paucity of research on the topic, it is clearly not something to which much attention is given in terms of professional discourse or research. In the following pages, the author reviews the limited available research and describes a case study that seeks to examine what students are doing, as well as not doing, in terms of written and online homework in beginning post-secondary foreign language courses. Results are examined through the lens of self-efficacy theory. Implications include allowing for student choice in homework options, particularly for those students …

Gjr Volume 37 Number 1 Spring 2014, Lina Soares, Christine Draper

The Georgia Journal of Reading Archive

The Georgia Journal of Reading's Spring 2014 issue includes:

Message from the Editors by Lina B. Soares and Christine A. Draper (pg. 4)

President’s Page by Loleta Sartin (pg. 5)

Quantum Shifts by Gerald Boyd (pg. 6)

Literacy Coaching: Providing Leadership and Support for the Next Generation of Teachers by Katie Stover and Crystal Glover (pg. 8)

Significance of Prior Knowledge Activation: A Close Look at a Bilingual Kindergarten Student’s Response to a Poem by Alma Stevenson (pg. 14)

The Effect of Explicit Instruction with Writing Conventions Among Preservice Teachers by Laurie A. Sharp (pg. 18)

Tacky and a Tambourine: …

Fusing Language Learning And Leadership Development: Initial Approaches And Strategies, Sheri Spaine Long, Jean W. Leloup, Leann Derby, Ramsamooj J. Reyes

Dimensions

During a recent visiting professorship at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), it became clear that language faculty— both military and civilians— stated that they included leadership while teaching foreign languages and cultures.2 However, many of the same educators could not explicitly spell out their approach to doing so. This gap launched a line of inquiry about the relationship between teaching languages and leadership development. Subsequently, it sparked a grassroots effort by the faculty of the USAFA Department of Foreign Languages (DFF), including the Office of International Programs (DFIP), to form a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) to focus explicitly …

Learning In Parallel: Using Parallel Corpora To Enhance Written Language Acquisition At The Beginning Level, Brody Bluemel

Dimensions

This article illustrates the pedagogical value of incorporating parallel corpora in foreign language education. It explores the development of a Chinese/English parallel corpus designed specifically for pedagogical application. The corpus tool was created to aid language learners in reading comprehension and writing development by making foreign language texts more accessible to them. The study follows the application of this parallel corpus in two beginning level high school Chinese classes and describes the experience of both instructor and students in implementing this technology. The positive learning outcomes observed through students improvement in comprehension and composition demonstrate the value of parallel corpora …

Student Attitudes And Perceptions Of Using Facebook For Language Learning, Craig Gamble, Michael Wilkins

Dimensions

This research provides insight into Japanese students’ perceptions and attitudes of participating in activities through Facebook for language learning. In addition, the authors discuss the overall implications of and potential uses for Facebook in the field of second language learning and teaching. Ninety-seven students from three private universities in Japan participated in this study. A 26-item quantitative questionnaire using a 7-point Likert scale and an open-ended qualitative questionnaire were used in this study. The results showed a small increase in positive attitudes toward most activities for language learning following the completion of the study compared to prior perceptions, but there …

Influencing Students’ Pronunciation And Willingness To Communicate Through Interpersonal Audio Discussions, Cindy E. Lepore

Dimensions

This article discusses a study that investigated pronunciation development in second language learners by monitoring willingness to communicate variables. Students (N = 37) in a second-semester, introductory French course participated in online interpersonal audio discussions with classmates through VoiceThread. Pronunciation development and willingness to communicate were monitored through self-assessment after completing each activity. Analysis revealed that participation in the activities combined with a feedback-supported environment resulted in an overall increase in perceived pronunciation abilities that positively correlated with willingness to communicate variables. Additionally, the pedagogical benefits of using audio discussions to improve pronunciation are presented.

Extending The Classroom: Digital Micronarratives For Novice Language Learners, Felix A. Kronenberg

Dimensions

Digital Storytelling offers many advantages for language learning, especially within a project-based framework. In this article, the use of Digital Micro-Narratives is proposed as particularly useful for second language learners at the novice level. As a sub-genre of Digital Storytelling, Digital Micro-Narratives focus more on frequently updated content and continuous feedback and less on crafting a flawless final product, as is the case with more traditional Digital Storytelling. The value of Digital Micro-Narratives lies within a procedural framework that fosters agency, authenticity, the use of multiple modes and media, and which addresses individual learner differences and inspires identity formation.

Perception Of A Regional Spanish Sound: The Case Of /S/-Weakening, Angela George

Dimensions

While taking foreign language classes or interacting in the target language community, language learners will be exposed to dialectal differences. This paper addresses how adult learners of Spanish in beginning, intermediate, and advanced Spanish courses at a large US university perceived a common sociolinguistic feature of Spanish, /s/-weakening, which can vary for stylistic, gender, and geographical reasons. The implications for teaching and learning foreign languages will be addressed, noting the importance of teaching common sociolinguistic features that are salient to native speakers but less salient to second language learners.

Skype Videoconferencing For Less Commonly Taught Languages: Examining The Effects On Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety, Joe Terantino

Dimensions

This study compared students’ foreign language anxiety levels while completing oral assessments administered face-to-face (F2F) and via Skype videoconferencing for university courses delivered under the self-instructional language program (SILP) model (Dunkel, Brill, & Kohl, 2002). Data were gathered by administering a modified Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) survey (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and conducting subsequent interviews with the students. Results indicate that there was not a significant difference in anxiety levels or changes in anxiety between the two delivery methods. These findings suggest that Skype videoconferencing may be a viable alternative to F2F interviews, because it did not …

Mutually Beneficial Service Learning: Language Teacher Candidates In A Local Community Center, Susan A. Hildebrandt

Dimensions

This article reports on a project designed to provide mutually beneficial solutions to challenges faced by world language teacher candidates, their preparation program, and a local community center. The project provided opportunities for teacher candidates enrolled in a world language (WL) teacher education course to complete clinical experiences through a service learning experience at the center. Teaching Spanish to children from low-income families provided candidates valuable classroom experiences with younger learners. This article explores benefits and challenges of WL teacher candidates teaching Spanish in a local community center.

Uniting The Corps: Uniting The Core

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 49