CALICO 2010
Conference Presentations Day Two
June 11
8:00 – 8:45
Localisation Education — Teaching Aid Toolkit
Dimitra Anastasiou Localisation Research Centre, Centre for Next Generation of Localisation
Naoto Nishio Localisation Research Centre
Enda Quigley Localisation Research Centre, Centre for Next Generation Localisation
audio recording |
Localisation is the adaptation of digital content to a target combination of language and culture, called locale. We present an educational programme which encourages children to appreciate the cultural and linguistic diversity of the world. The Localisation Research Centre at the University of Limerick, the Curriculum Design Unit at Mary Immaculate College and the Centre for Next Generation Localisation develop a Primary School Localisation Toolkit.
Alex Chisholm Learning Games Network
audio recording |
This presentation reflects on Gee’s (2007) learning principles as instantiated by language games developed within an open–source platform (ISLE). Online language learning is enabled through games and activities that are task-based with social interaction, collaboration, and competition. Activities are designed to be stand-alone, self-contained Flash modules nested within a single portal that taps the platform’s resources, makes extensive use of CMC tools, and permits performance reporting and learning path customizations. ESL materials will be showcased with an eye to illustrating the advantages of this gaming platform for the curriculum of other world languages.
An Analysis of the Spelling Errors of L2 English Learners
DJ Hovermale The Ohio State University
audio recording |
Recent studies have shown that commercial spelling correction programs perform rather poorly on learner English (Mitton and Okada, 2008; Hovermale 2008). One explanation for this poor performance is that these spellcheckers exploit patterns in native speaker spelling errors which do not hold for L2 English learners (cf.e.g. Hovermale, 2008). This study examines approximately 1500 English spelling errors made by Japanese learners of English and provides empirical evidence that learner errors do, in fact, differ in predictable ways from those of native speakers. The study provides a detailed analysis of the errors and suggests how ESL spellcheckers could use this knowledge to improve performance.
Developing a LCTL Website for a Multi-Cultural Student Body
Derek Roff University of New Mexico
audio recording |
Less-commonly taught languages face problems of access. Universities lack sufficient students for a viable learning program, while dispersed students lack local classes. The Web is an obvious resource, but many pedagogical, resource, and design decisions must be addressed. When the target learning community spans several cultures and language groups, access must include multiple languages of introduction and instruction. This presentation will explore the development of one successful learning portal, created with significant volunteer collaboration. It offers a wide array of learning materials, accessible via more than ten languages. We are developing student-accessed automatic writing evaluation tools as learning aids.
Pasi Puranen Helsinki School of Economics
Berit Peltonen Helsinki School of Economics
Lis Auvinen University of Helsinki
audio recording |
This panel presentation by a team of language educators representing English, Spanish and Swedish focuses on the use of CALL and the foreign language learning goals and teaching practices in Finnish higher education. Maija Tammelin will exemplify how blended learning and the use of technology are used to meet the institutional, national and European goals in language learning. Pasi Puranen will focus on guidance in an online environment in teaching Spanish to Finnish students. Berit Peltonen and Lis Auvinen will demonstrate how they use videoconferencing tools, language karaoke and student-produced podcasts in their Swedish courses in a Finnish context.
Arabic without Walls: A Platform for Teaching and Learning about Learning
Michael Bush Brigham Young University
audio recording |
The development of online language learning materials is expensive and must rely on unsettled theory. Work is underway at BYU to revise the successful Arabic Without Walls software in order improve instruction as well as inform SLA theory. We are revising the curriculum to achieve better integration between in-class and out-of-class activities and improve feedback to teachers regarding student preparation. Changes target online materials as well as the design of the course syllabus and schedule. The presentation will include demonstrations of architectural modifications to achieve “tool and content malleability” through openness, interoperability, and modularity for designing, developing, delivering, and evaluating courses.
9:00 – 9:45
Longitudinal Development of Language Learners: A Corpus-based Approach
Nina Vyatkina University of Kansas
This longitudinal study investigates the second language (L2) development in college-level learners of German. A written electronic corpus of learner productions elicited at dense time intervals starting from the novice level and continuing over several semesters of study is analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The focal features include selected vocabulary and grammar features. I also track how learners use the available input by modifying it and applying it to their own L2 production. The study responds to numerous calls for more longitudinal L2 research.
Linda R Lemus University of New Mexico
audio recording |
This project focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the first place-based mobile game for the learning of Spanish pragmatics in traditionally Hispanic neighborhoods in the United States – Mentira. The presentation will describe the development process of the Mentira game, including the theoretical model for learning, programming, graphic design, and piloting. It will then report on a design-based research project aimed at improving intercultural communication and pragmatic abilities in Spanish. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of future implications for pedagogy and research, as well as suggested applications to learner-created mobile games for language learning.
Google Wave Roundtable Discussion
J. Scott Payne Amherst College
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While still a preview, Google’s new communication platform, called Wave, shows great promise as a tool for language learning and research. This roundtable discussion will begin with a brief presentation of what Wave is and a demonstration of how it works. This roundtable will serve as an informational session for those who have yet to see Wave in action and as a venue for exploring how Wave could be leveraged to promote language learning and SLA research. Presenters in the roundtable will be drawn from members of the “Using Google Wave in CALL” group with the intent of fostering an open and unstructured discussion.
Jonathan Perkins University of Kansas
audio recording |
It is commonplace to refer to today’s students as “digital natives,” whose familiarity with and reliance on technology has so altered the way that they process information that their “digital immigrant” teachers must adopt new pedagogical approaches to reach them. This presentation will describe the creation and implementation of a web-based curriculum to serve the approximately 700 students enrolled in intermediate-level Spanish at the University of Kansas every semester. Student reaction, measured via a series of online surveys, will be discussed, along with insights on the relative preparedness of both students and graduate teaching assistants to adopt such a curriculum.
Webcam-based Communicative Language Learning Practice
audio recording |
If learners are going to make significant use of the language they are studying, this necessarily has to be done out of the classroom. And if instructors are to monitor such activity, it needs to be recorded and retrievable. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how a web-based virtual learning system, WebSwami, can provide language learners with realistic out-of-class communicative language practice anywhere and anytime. This is made possible through the integration of webcam technology, both receptively and productively, into a range of activities, all of which can be recorded to allow instructors to easily monitor student progress, make corrections, and provide feedback to students.
10:00 – 10:20
Gina Mikel Petrie Eastern Washington University
audio recording |
Haiyang Ai The Pennsylvania State University
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Lexical complexity, i.e., the range and degree of sophistication of L2 learners’ productive vocabulary, has been recognized as an important construct in L2 teaching and research. We present a user-friendly web-based system for automatic measurement of lexical complexity using 25 different measures of lexical density, lexical sophistication, and lexical variation that have been proposed in the first and second language acquisition literature. The system will be demonstrated with real language data to show how it can be useful to language researchers and practitioners for assessing L2 lexical proficiency and tracking L2 lexical development.
Foreign Language Learning in 3D MUVEs: How Second Life’s User Interface Influences Social Presence and Student Motivation
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz Northern Illinois University
This paper examines specific features of the 3D MUVE Second Life and their effect on social presence and student motivation in two university-level courses: one graduate-level hybrid course for foreign language teachers and one elementary-level German class which held five of its regular meetings within Second Life. Students completed surveys at the end of the semester(s), which focused on specific characteristics of the Second Life environment and on students’ perceptions of how these features influenced social presence and motivation. The nature of the courses’ online interactions and the results of the student surveys will be discussed.
Teacher Education and Professional Development: Some Strategies that are Working
Kathryn Murphy-Judy Virginia Commonwealth University
audio recording |
Language teacher education in Virginia faces many of the same hurdles as do other regions, especially where CALL is involved. One of the major problems is that the very teacher educators responsible for training new teachers, themselves lack technology proficiency and, thus, can offer little but cursory glances at various affordances and the social dimensions of their integration into FLE. I will demonstrate three projects that target global media new literacies: the Foreign Language Exchange (FLEX) of Greater Richmond, the Virginia Foreign Language Teacher Education and Development Consortium, and my WRLD 203 service learning project for undergraduates. In all three instances, the vehicles for bringing new media resources to educators are the media themselves such that the medium is the message. We use wikis, nings, blogs, Google Docs, podcasts and more to facilitate the education and professional development of teachers and teacher educators. This presentation explains the projects and the Web 2.0 media that support them.
Development of Intercultural Competence through Internet-Mediated Intercultural Discussion: The Case of American-Korean Telecollaboration
This study explores how Internet-mediated intercultural communication facilitates the intercultural competence in Americans learning Korean by looking at the questioning technique as an index. It also presents the source of communicative tensions, which emerge in written dialogue, and suggests pedagogical considerations in conducting a tightly-structured telecollaborative project.
Principles of Advance Organizer Design for Multiple-Episode Video Programs
Bernd Conrad Northern Arizona University
audio recording |
Using the TV-series “Berlin Berlin”, the presenter will show how to design advance organizers that help sustain students’ curiosity in the development of the plot. Controversial situations in a story told via video that evolve verbally can conclude visually, allowing the conclusion to remain the same kind of surprise for L2 learners that it is for native speakers, an advantage that previews should preserve. Therefore, reducing the complexity of the listening comprehension task is only one of two purposes to be served by scene previews. Examples will have English subtitles to accommodate the non-German speaking audience.
10:30 – 10:50
EFL Collaborative Opportunities in a Wiki Environment
Long V Nguyen Massey University
audio recording |
German Language Class Podcast Project at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
audio recording |
Looking for a way to make German language study more relevant and to step out of the conventional classroom setting (Morales and Moses, 2006), I introduced three different types of podcasts (Rosell-Aguilar, 2009, p.13) to my intermediate-level students at the beginning of the 2009 academic year. All three podcasts form part of the overall assessment of the course. In the middle of the year and at the end of the year, the students were given questionaires to gauge their impressions of this approach. Preliminary analysis of the survey results suggests that teaching a modern language using innovative techniques with the help of widely accepted media devices has proved popular with the students. The feedback I received was very positive and the students wish to continue with podcasts next year. Twenty-six out a total of 30 enrolled students participated in the survey. I intend to present the results of my survey in graphical form.
Language Learning Technology – Pedagogical Desiderata
Helene Ossipov School of International Letters and Cultures Arizona State University
audio recording |
Courses in technology are now, or should be, part of the language teacher’s preparation, and in fact, such a course will be part of the MAT program being developed by my institution. The content of such courses is still being developed and adjusted. Do teachers want to learn how to use various applications? Do they want to create quizzes and exercises? Do they want to learn how to use Web 1.0 and Web 2.0? In this session, I will present the results of a survey of language teachers to determine their desires based on their experience in the classroom.
Sychronous Computer-Mediated Writing in the ESL Classroom
audio recording |
This paper describes a study comparing the collaborative writing process and outcome (essay) for a class of advanced IEP learners in two instructional conditions: one with F2F communication and one with computer-mediated communication. We report results and discuss potential issues for implementation of such tools within the ESL classroom.
Ning as a Learning Environment for Self-Directed Learners
Sharon Scinicariello University of Richmond
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This presentation reports on the use of a ning to promote both learner autonomy and collaboration among students enrolled in a self-directed language program. The program’s ning allows students to share learning resources and insights about learning strategies while providing a platform for the creation of electronic portfolios to document their work. After outlining why the ning platform was chosen to address the program’s goals, the presenter will show how the ning is used and discuss student reaction. She will conclude with notes on plans to embed more ning-based activities into the program’s syllabi.
1:30 – 2:15
Oral Language Workshops: Pronunciation, Listening Comprehension, and Culture through Authentic Materials
Kara McBride Saint Louis University
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The Impact of Open-ended and Closed Tasks in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments on Learners’ Language Production
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This presentation reports on a study that investigated the effect of performing open and closed tasks under time pressure on learners’ quantitative and qualitative language production in online learning environments. Ninety-six beginning German language students participated in this study. Some of the results revealed that students working on the open task produced significantly more language than those working on the closed tasks in synchronous and asynchronous modes. Students working on closed tasks produced significantly fewer errors in the asynchronous mode than those working on the open task. No difference was found on this measure for students working synchronously. The presentation will conclude with an interpretation of the results.
Eye-tracking as a Measure of Noticing in SCMC
Bryan Smith Arizona State University
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This study examines whether eye-tracking technology can be effectively used as a measure of learners’ noticing of corrective feedback in a synchronous computer-mediated communicative environment. How the proposed measure of noticing correlates with think aloud protocols, modified output, and post-test measures of noticing will be discussed.
Testing the Effectiveness of Technology: Electronic Culture and Identity Revisited
Catherine Caws University of Victoria
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Today, electronic literacy in second language learning environments is tightly related to individual experience. In fact a successful experience with technology at home will likely lead to satisfaction with technology in the classroom. It is therefore essential to query about the sociocultural factors that are truly impacting success with CALL. Our paper will attempt to address this question by discussing a specific intervention in class with a CALL tool that we have developed over the last 3 years.
Melinda Dooly
audio recording |
Network-based communicative activities have given rise to new pedagogical opportunities for teacher training, including telecollaborative peer- and mentor-supported learning environments. This presentation will outline and analyze the different telecollaborative activities undertaken by teachers-in-training in the USA and Spain during a year-long cross-university online collaboration project. Taking advantage of technological advances, this project endeavored to update and enhance time-tested pillars of reflective teaching and case-based learning by setting up communities of practice online (via email, Zoho, Skype, and Second Life) where trainees shared personal teaching experiences related to the immediate (and required) development of their own teaching materials
Project-based Learning: A Promising Pathway to Develop Teachers’ Knowledge of CALL
Julio C Rodriguez Iowa State University
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Project-based Learning (PBL) offers unique opportunities for world language teachers to develop the complex types of knowledge they are expected to acquire to be able to effectively integrate CALL into their practice. This presentation will show how PBL was implemented in a preservice teacher course in two complementary ways: a) as a pedagogical process experienced by preservice teachers and b) as part of the content of the course. Preservice teacher products created during the course, a qualitative analysis of their reflections on the technologies used and their perceptions about their learning will be presented and discussed.
Luiz Amaral University of Massachusetts Amherst
Weijia Li Amherst College
Michael Lipschultz University of Pittsburgh
audio recording |
LangBot is an innovative data-driven language learning and research tool freely available on instant messenger that logs learner behavior, self-report data, generates learner models, and tracks development of vocabulary and syntax while serving as an “intelligent” language reference agent in a conversational “wrapper.” In this presentation we will demonstrate LangBot and discuss its architecture. We will also discuss the process of constructing corpora for each language, the development of the machine learning and NLP tools to support the interactivity and feedback capabilities of LangBot, and present data from an initial pilot study.
2:30 – 3:15
Matthew Claflin Kyoto Sangyo University
Sandra Healey Kyoto Sangyo University
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Contrasting Research Frames for Investigating CALL and Online Chat
audio recording |
In 2002, Fernández-Garcia and Martínez-Arbelaiz conducted a study examining negotiation of meaning between non-native speakers in synchronous discussions among learners of Spanish. Using a model by Varonis and Gass, they focused primarily on ‘acquisition’. In contrast, Darhower (2002) also examined the interactional features of synchronous CMC chat for Spanish learners. However, he described his work as a sociocultural case study, and focused upon ‘participation’. This presentation compares and contrasts these approaches and considers how they might be further developed to provide a richer understanding of the learning process.
Podcasting Manolito Gafotas: Research of Colloquial Spanish and Culture
audio recording |
This presentation describes the use of podcasts to promote cultural research through the reading of Manolito Gafotas. This character was created by Elvira Lindo as a radio personality and later as the protagonist in novels. The students deconstruct the character, starting by analyzing current society and language in Spain and finishing with podcasting their research. Producing these helps students to investigate the cultural aspects of colloquial Spanish language that the textbooks do not include yet is used by native speakers. These podcasts can then be accessed by anyone outside of the classroom.
Designing Tasks for New Media-literacy Skills Development in Online Language Learning and Teaching
Mirjam Hauck Open University
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Here will be presented a model for task design that draws on Halliday’s social semiotic framework further developed by Kress (2000) and others over the last decade to take account of the modes for making meaning that are available in computer-mediated communication. The presentation is informed by insights gained during a four-way telecollaborative pre- and in-service teacher training project where tasks based on this approach were used to gauge existing levels of multimodal awareness and media-literacy skills among participants.
SANSSpace Virtual Language Learning Environment
Chip Howe Chester Technical Services
SANS Inc. has taken the next step in technology for language learning with SANSSpace Version 6 VLE (Virtual Learning Environment.) SANSSpace is a web-based course content management system with tools geared to the needs of language learners/instructors. A built-in digital comparative recorder to develop listening and speaking skills is a key element. A tracking utility provides educators with details on student interaction with any variety of media files enabling instructors to assess student work and time on task. Communication tools enable easy facilitation of course materials with instructor’s directives and feedback. SANSSpace enables blended or a fully virtual language learning scenario.
3:30 – 4:15
A Blogging We Will Go: ESL College Students and Grammatical Errors
Mandy Reinig Penn State Altoona
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A Tale of Two Projects – iPods as Study Tools
Carly Born ITS Carleton College
Wendy Freeman Rice University
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Based on student experiences with classes from the Rice Center for the Study of Languages and classes in China, France and Mexico, presenters will share their analysis of the videoconferencing implementation process and discuss results of student surveys. Since little research is available yet on the use of oral computer mediated communication, there is a need to collect student videoconferencing audio/video recordings in order to assess the impact that this type of communication may have on language learning. Presenters will provide sample recordings and discuss their plans to conduct a study and integrate, more systematically, videoconferencing to the language curricula. http://lang.rice.edu/bartlett/CALICO2010.pdf
Hou Leijuan Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
audio recording |
Ever since its emergence and development, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has been widely applied to the area of foreign language teaching and testing. Oral testing is an indispensable component of foreign language testing. Validity and reliability are the kernels of a test. Based on an experiment of the author’s own classes, which follow the teaching methodology of communicative language teaching, this article purports to investigate the validity and reliability of a computer-assisted spoken English test within the framework of communicative language testing (CLT) through a series of quantitative and qualitative analyses. It also analyzes the backwash of testing and puts forward corresponding suggestions in terms of oral English teaching.
4:30 – 5:15
Helene Knoerr University of Ottawa
Larry Vandergrift University of Ottawa
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Victoria Zander University of Arizona
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This presentation reports on a project that investigated the potential for using social networking sites in the L2 classroom. Using a language socialization/community-of-practice framework, the L2-mediated social network practices of 9 intermediate ESL learners were analyzed before, during, and after a pedagogical treatment that introduced social network-based games as a means of affording L2-mediated interaction. The results of the study inform how everyday technology-mediated practices may be bridged and integrated into L2 learning environments while retaining authenticity.
An Examination of Selected Activities in a Virtual World: Practical and Theoretical Perspectives
Regina Kaplan-Rakowski Southern Illinois University
The affordances of the virtual world of Second Life allow for increasingly more creative ways to conduct foreign languages classes. This presentation features several foreign language activities in Second Life that demonstrate some of those unique affordances. Theoretical justifications for the choice of the activities are discussed with a special attention to the issues of situated cognition, color-coding, cultural connections, interactivity, and diminished inhibition. Finally, a brief demonstration of several technological features of Second Life (e.g. communication, logging, basic building) follows.
Julie Sykes University of New Mexico
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The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) for language learning is a central theme within CALL research. As innovations in CMC technologies continue to shape contexts and practices of everyday communication (e.g., social networking, multiplayer gaming), it is increasingly important to continue research in this vein. This panel, sponsored by the CMC SIG, will bring together a panel of three CMC experts to discuss future research paradigms and directions in CMC-based research.
Christine Appel Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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This presentation posits that Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) provides conceptual and methodological tools that enable us to model computer supported collaborative writing practices among L2 learners and to identify factors that promote or hinder successful collaboration. The preliminary results of an activity theoretical study of online collaborative writing carried out among 260 distance learners of English at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) are presented and discussed. Design principles for successful computer mediated collaborative writing in L2 are then proposed.