Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Gjr Volume 22 Number 2 Fall 2009, Elizabeth Pendergraft, Elizabeth Lilly

The Georgia Journal of Reading Archive

The Georgia Journal of Reading's Fall 2009 issue theme is 'Literacy Theory Into Practice: What is Working' and includes:

Message From the Editor by Elizabeth Pendergraft (pg. 5)

Organically Grown: Development of the Georgia State University Urban Literacy by Clinic Lori Elliott and Nancy Lee Daily (pg.6)

University-School Partnerships: A True Story of How They Work and Who They Help by Loleta D. Sartin and Vicki Luther (pg. 9)

An Efficient Reading Diagnosis and Effective Intervention Plan Provides Answers for Parents and Teachers by Sallie Averitt Miller and Jeffery T. Conklin (pg. 15)

The Five Components of Reading Workshop: Preservice …

Empowerment Through Collaboration

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 44

Establish Your Presence In The Blogosphere: A Guide To Blog Development For The Foreign Language Classroom, Peter Swanson, Patricia Early

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As the wave of technology progresses, the static Web page has given way to the Weblog (blog) as a medium for delivering information. The blog has moved the technology forward with its bidirectional communication ability. This article discusses the evolution of blogs, important considerations when establishing a blog presence, and directions for creating blogs. Online examples are given to guide the reader.

A New Look At Translation: Teaching Tools For Language And Literature, Catherine Fountain, Anne Fountain

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Does translation have a place in the modern language or literature classroom? This article argues that as long as translation is recognized as a distinct skill rather than a path to language acquisition it can and should play a role in language instruction. The rising popularity of Web-based machine translation (WBMT) sites among students points to a need to help foreign language learners better understand the translation process. Along with a discussion of how instructors can minimize inappropriate use of WBMT, the article provides examples of how translation in the proper context can be used productively to teach both language …

Using Blogs To Enhance Foreign Language Instruction, Carol M. Semonsky, Susan Boutier, Zachary Jones

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This article provides suggestions for the content and organization of foreign language course blogs. One French teacher and one Spanish teacher describe how they used their blogs both for course-specific information and for enriching specific units of instruction from high school textbooks. How-to information and practical considerations are discussed, and data from a student attitude survey are provided.

The Scolt Assessment Project: Working Smarter Not Harder, Greg Duncan, Lynne Mcclendon

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It is mid-July in one of the hottest locations of the southeastern United States. Forty teachers have shown up, some willingly and others under pressure, to participate in five days of professional development and with the requirement that they must create products by the end of the experience. This scenario was the backdrop in which foreign language teachers from Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia, began their journey to learn about performance-based assessment. What happened over the course of those five July days in 2007 was nothing less than remarkable. This article describes that experience.

Careers And Languages, Lynne Mcclendon

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In selecting the theme for the 2009 conference, the SCOLT Executive Board wanted to emphasize the need for languages outside traditional career paths and the ways that language professionals can contribute to those careers; thus was born the idea of “Empowerment through Collaboration.” The SCOLT Board invited spokespersons from non-profit agencies and business organizations to share information about their need for languages via special collaborative sessions during the conference. This article describes recent collaboration resulting in legislation to empower the language community. It concludes with a series of interviews with individuals whose careers outside the language profession require language skills. …

Preparing Students For The Teacher Licensure Exam: It’S More Than Just The Content, Jana Sandarg, Judith Schomber

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Licensure exams have become one of the most important factors in teacher certification. Test-takers often are presented with obstacles as they attempt to pass the licensure exam, such as discrepancies between test format and best practices in the classroom, lack of sufficient practice for productive skills sections of the exam, and ignorance of test-taking strategies. This article addresses ways to overcome these obstacles and proven strategies to enhance performance on licensure exams. In addition, the article addresses the need for the entire profession to become involved in the preparation of students for licensure exams, including guidance in locating resources and …

The Center For Economic Development And Support For Foreign Language The Keynote Speech At Scolt’S 2008 Conference, Mike Petro

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The Center for Economic Development (CED) published a report study on education for global leadership focusing on why business leaders are concerned about the lack of international studies and foreign language instruction in our schools and how some in business are responding to the challenges resulting from the lack of skills. The CED report lays out ways to bring about change and the prospects of bipartisan support of these programs.

Drama In The Classroom And Improved Academic Performance, Dennis R. Miller Jr.

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Educators are generally aware of the importance of using authentic texts reflecting real-world situations in the language classroom. Tarone & Swain (1995) argue that contextualized materials that reflect nonacademic settings are highly beneficial in the language classroom and increase student proficiency. This article examines the effects of using an unedited Nicaraguan play on student self-esteem and motivation by comparing second-semester Spanish classes that performed the play to those that did not. Three very different student environments are examined: a large, primarily White state university; a men’s correctional facility; and a private, historically African- American college. All students involved in the …

An Analysis Of The Teaching Proficiency Through Reading And Storytelling (Tprs) Method, David Alley, Denise Overfield

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Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) is a popular method for teaching world languages that largely abandons textbooks and grammatical exercises in favor of short, humorous stories paired with physical movements. This article provides an historical context for the TPRS method, a summary of the method’s procedures, and a description of the current status of the TPRS movement. Finally, the article considers the method in light of recent second language acquisition research in an effort to establish theoretical support for the enthusiastic claims of its proponents. The study reveals that TPRS has more in common with older language teaching …

Technology For Oral Assessment, Patricia Early, Peter B. Swanson

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With recent developments in multimedia recording, researchers have begun to investigate the use of technology in oral proficiency assessment. This article addresses the benefits and ease of using seven different multimedia tools to assess P-16 students’ oral language proficiency and compares traditional methods of in-class oral language assessment to out-of-class recordings. Additionally, the authors discuss the potential benefits of using technology to lower students’ affective filter, to provide teachers with a digital portfolio of student progress, and to increase instructional and preparation time.

The National Security Language Initiative And Less Commonly Taught Languages, Elvira Sanatullova-Allison

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In response to the events of September 11, 2001, and subsequent international developments, President George W. Bush introduced in 2006 the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). The NSLI identifies a number of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) as critical-need foreign languages and aims to further strengthen national security and prosperity in the 21st century by dramatically increasing the number of Americans studying these languages. To achieve this goal, under the direction of the President, various governmental agencies have developed a comprehensive national plan to expand U.S. foreign language education beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout formal schooling and into …

The Belgian Connection, Lisa Signori

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The land known today as Belgium is home to many important historical and cultural icons that many associate with France. Charlemagne, Jacques Brel, René Magritte, Georges Simenon, and even the ubiquitous “French” fries, all have an intimate Belgian connection. When one thinks of Francophone cultures, however, the focus normally turns to Africa, Québec, the Caribbean, perhaps Switzerland, but almost never to Belgium. This article presents a cultural unit on French-speaking Belgium that illuminates the country’s linguistic and cultural geography, its history, politics, arts, and gastronomy. In addition to these basic culture capsules, the article offers suggestions for teaching and for …

Languages For The Nation

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SCOLT Dimensions Volume 43

The Teacher Work Sample In Foreign Language Education, Marat Sanatullov

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Based on a sample WebQuest, the article analyzes how the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) and the preparation of foreign language practitioners can be implemented in light of contemporary theory, research, practices, and expectations for foreign language teaching, learning, and teacher education. The TWS framework emphasizes the integration of contextualized, proficiency-oriented, and assessment-driven communicative tasks, technology, and learners’ multiple intelligences in the classroom.

Technoconstructivism And The Millennial Generation: Creative Writing In The Foreign Language Classroom, Edwina Spodark

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The Millennial Generation is different from the generations of foreign language students who have preceded them. In the classroom, Millennial students prefer collaborative learning, the use of technology, a peer review/support/connection, structure, hands-on learning, and opportunities for personal creativity. This contemporary generation needs teachers to adopt a more relevant methodology to reflect their understanding of and respect for the information mindset that students bring to the classroom. Given these traits, the most effective methodology for their learning environment is one that blends the pedagogical practices advocated by social constructivism with the benefits of educational technology that speaks directly to the …

Connecting A Standards-Based Curriculum With Student Performance And Assessment, Rosalie Cheatham

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This article presents an approach to revising foreign language course and program assessment so that expectations for student performance and achievement in a standards-based curriculum reflect real-world contexts in which students learn to perform communicative tasks likely to be encountered in the target culture. Recognizing that many students choose to learn only the material that will be tested, this approach provides rationale and techniques to link instruction, practice, and assessment so that students will be motivated to use appropriate language and relevant technology to communicate on a variety of topics applicable to the target culture. Developing assessments that reflect accurately …

Ncssfl’S Linguafolio Project, Jacque Bott Van Houten

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On a Goethe-Institut-sponsored trip to Germany in 2001, world language consultants (a term that has now replaced that of supervisor) of several state departments of education were so inspired by the potential for improving and recording student learning they saw in using the European Language Portfolio that they immediately set about to create a similar tool for American students. This effort resulted in the self-assessment, reflective-learning tool, LinguaFolio. Five states—Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia— are now collaborating to orient teachers to LinguaFolio and guide them in its use. The first part of this article describes the five-state …

From Practice To Profession

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SCOLT Dimensions Volume 42

Misperceptions Of Attitudes Toward Language Study, Carolyn Gascoigne

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This study provides a glimpse into the attitudes of current incoming college freshmen toward foreign language study and language requirements, as well as practicing teachers’ beliefs about their students’ opinions of and reasons for foreign language study. The results demonstrate that language educators tend to misdiagnose students’ attitudes and beliefs and that educators place an undue emphasis on instrumental types of motivation for foreign language study.

Germany’S Multiracial And Multicultural Issues, Catherine T. Johnson

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This article presents suggestions for teaching high school and college-level students in the United States the challenges Germany faces as it attempts to adapt to its increasingly diverse population– racially, ethnically, and culturally. The article shows how the instructor can draw on American students’ experiences with and views on immigrants and minorities in their own country, allowing them to more clearly understand and relate to the similar issues Germany faces as it deals with its immigrant and minority population. Historical, legal, statistical, literary, and factual information concerning immigration and minorities in both Germany and the U.S. are presented, as well …

Representation Of Latino Culture In Introductory High School Textbooks, Patricia Thomas

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As Latinos continue to be the fastest growing racial minority group in the U.S., the many dimensions of Latino culture have become increasingly important as elements of the Spanish language curriculum. This study focuses on textbooks as a major resource in cultural instruction, examining how Latinos and Latino culture are represented in Spanish textbooks at the introductory level. In general, the Latino presence in the U.S. is presented as an important part of the Spanishspeaking world. Historical context regarding how specific Latino communities were established is sometimes limited, as is discussion of certain current economic, political, and identity issues. A …

Maya And Nahuatl In The Teaching Of Spanish: Expanding The Professional Perspective, Anne Fountain, Catherine Fountain

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Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by millions of people 500 years after the initial period of European conquest. The people who speak these languages and the customs they continue to practice form a rich cultural texture in many parts of Spanish America and can be important components of an instructor’s Standards-based teaching. This article discusses the influence of Maya and Nahuatl languages and cultures on the language, literature, and history of Mexico and Central America. Examples of this influence range from lexical and phonological traits of Mexican Spanish to the indigenous cultures and worldviews conveyed in texts as …

Integrating Stories With Multimedia Into The French Language Classroom, Marat Sanatullov, Elvira Sanatullova-Allison

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Standards, proficiency, theory and research, and instructional approaches can guide teachers in integrating stories with multimedia in a foreign language classroom, as the authors demonstrate through the adaptation of a Haitian folk story for novice and intermediate learners of French. The article also gives practical recommendations for foreign language teachers to help them effectively integrate stories with multimedia in their classrooms and introduces the PEPPrepare, Explore, and Practice–model, which defines the essential steps of the use of stories with multimedia.

Student Perspectives On Foundation Issues In Articulation, Nike Arnold

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Articulation has been an important issue for our profession since the 1960s. In order to improve the transition from high school to college, administrators and practitioners have often focused on coordinating instructional content. Such an approach, however, might neglect the underlying causes of articulation problems. This article addresses the foundational issue of instructional approaches. Interviews with several students enrolled in a transition class at a large state university showed that their high school classes were often fundamentally different in terms of homework, vocabulary and grammar learning, use of the target language, the degree of independent learning, in-class activities, classroom participation, …

A 21st Century Approach To Integrating Culture And Communication, Rosalie M. Cheatham

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This article presents an approach to revising classroom instruction in order to integrate the second language standards of culture and communication throughout the second language program. It is designed to assure that today’s students are able not only to survive linguistically in the target culture but also to develop cultural awareness and to appreciate its importance for them as world citizens. Guided by some of the principles of the theoretical framework of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Integrated Performance Assessment (Glisan, Adair-Hauck, Koda, Sandrock, &Swender, 2003), this approach enables students to acquire culturally relevant knowledge …

Engaging Students In The L2 Reading Process, Marcia L. Wilbur

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This article will consider a necessary departure from more traditional paradigms, where speaking skills are the primary focus and in which reading is viewed as something intermediate or advanced learners do with authentic literature once they have mastered a particular level of grammatical structures. Instead, reading will be considered as an important component of L2 instruction that, when included along side other input modes, can enrich students’ second language acquisition. Concepts and strategies on which to build classroom practices as well as practical suggestions for implementing pre-, during-, and post-reading activities are included. Considerations that place learners at the center …

Flteach Project: Online Database Of Model Lessons With Cultural Content, Jean W. Leloup, Robert Ponterio

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Foreign language teachers are busy professionals who could benefit from ready access to educational materials that address the Standards for Foreign Language Learning and are also useful to their own particular curricula. This article will explain a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that provides such access through the creation and development of an online database of FL lesson plans that are Standards-based, follow sound pedagogical models, use authentic materials, and focus on cultural content. The article describes the project rationale, the structure of the database, and procedures for submitting lesson materials. Pedagogical models (Interactive Model for …

Uses Of Blogs In L2 Instruction, Zachary Jones, Bernice Nuhfer-Halten

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Blogs are one of the newest tools in L2 instruction. This article offers a brief overview of the literature on blogs in L2 teaching and an outline of how they can be used in class to encourage language production and cultural awareness in learners. Also detailed are conceptual and practical concerns related to these activities. Finally, an overview is presented of what students think of using blogs, and a few topics are proposed for further research.