Speaker: Joan Kelly Hall, Pennsylvania State University (United States)
Keynote Title: How Current Understandings of Language and Culture (should) Inform L2 Pedagogy

Joan Kelly Hall is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University where she teaches courses on second language acquisition theories and research, classroom discourse research methods, and language socialization. She is also Director of the Intensive English Communication Program and the affiliated Center for Research on English Language Learning and Teaching. Her research focuses on the interactional foundations of second and foreign language teaching and learning and her work appears in journals such as Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingualism, Linguistics & Education, Modern Language Journal, and Research on Language and Social Interaction. She is the author of two texts, Teaching and Researching Language and Culture, 2nd ed(2011, Pearson) and Methods for Teaching Foreign Languages (2002, Prentice-Hall), and several edited volumes. Professor Hall is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the American Association for Applied Linguistics.

Abstract

In this presentation, Dr. Hall aims to lay out the major underpinnings of contemporary thought on two concepts considered to be at the heart of L2 pedagogy: language and culture, and consider their implications for L2 pedagogy. Current views consider language to be fundamentally dynamic, provisional, grounded in and emergent from its locally situated uses in culturally framed and discursively patterned communicative activities. Culture is considered to be equally dynamic, comprised of constellations of dispositions and expectations that are continually recreated in the myriad intellectual and practical communicative activities constituting our daily lives. After presenting an overview of current understandings, Hall will explore implications for language pedagogy with a specific focus on dialogic inquiry, a pedagogical approach that considers teaching and learning to be an integrated, collaborative and purposeful process of knowledge construction. She will conclude with specific recommendations for redesigning L2 classrooms.

This address was co-sponsored by the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) at Pennsylvania State University.

Plenary Addresses

Speaker: Carl S. Blyth, University of Texas at Austin (United States)
Plenary Title: Preparing Language Teachers to Teach for Intercultural Competence: The Promise of Cultural Linguistics

Carl S. Blyth (PhD, Cornell University) is Associate Professor of French Linguistics and Director of the Center of Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) at the University of Texas at Austin. His research includes computer-mediated discourse, corpus linguistics, cross-cultural and intercultural pragmatics, interactional sociolinguistics, and pedagogical grammar. He has published on metalinguistic awareness, native and non-native role models for language learning, narrative discourse, pedagogical norms, stance taking in interaction and open models for educational publishing. A proponent of Open Education, he is developing an open-source application for annotating texts to facilitate collaborative approaches to L2 reading. He is the former series editor of Issues in Language Program Direction.

Abstract

This presentation is based on the premise that language teachers must deepen their understanding of the language/culture interface before they can successfully teach for intercultural competence. It is argued that cultural linguistics is a promising framework for helping teachers conceptualize “language as culture,” a prerequisite for understanding intercultural competence. A new field, cultural linguistics is a blend of anthropology and cognitive linguistics. More specifically, cultural linguistics represents a theory of culturally defined mental imagery. The term imagery applies not only to visual images, but also to any perceived experience. Research has shown that language education focuses primarily on the linguistic code while largely ignoring the target community’s interpretive frames. As a solution, cultural linguists have recently suggested that language education should strive to foster meta-cultural competence, that is, the knowledge that different cultural groups may conceptualize experience differently. To that end, this presentation demonstrates three activities for raising teachers’ meta-cultural awareness. All three activities employ heuristics to help teachers view language as a culturally embedded, cognitive activity. The first activity demonstrates the concept of semantic frame by comparing lexical associations for the same word in the target and native language community as found in the Cultura archives. This activity helps teachers understand that word meaning depends on life experience and thus differs from person to person. The second activity focuses on the concept of interactive frame that refers to the speaker’s global understanding of a given speech event. Interactive frames are key to determining cultural expectations for communication. The third activity asks teachers to observe and analyze how learners collaboratively construct the meaning of a foreign text in real time using Web-based annotation tools. This activity underscores the idea of reading as an interpretive process guided by cultural frames of reference.

This presentation was co-sponsored by the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Speaker: Maria Carreira, California State University, Long Beach (United States)
Plenary Title: Heritage Language Teaching: Bridging the Gap between “what is” and “what should be”

Maria Carreira is professor of Spanish at California State University, Long Beach and co-director of the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA. She is co-author of four Spanish textbooks including Sí se Puede, for heritage speakers. She is also associate editor of Hispania and chair of the SAT Spanish committee. Her research focuses on Spanish in the US and Spanish as a heritage language. Her recent publications focus on Differentiated teaching, assessment in heritage language teaching, community language programs in Spanish, and the state of Spanish in the US in a capacity-opportunity-desire paradigm (LoBianco 2008). Her forthcoming book, Voces: Growing up Latino in the US, is an annotated collection of writings by Latino youth on their experiences in school, home, and their communities of residence.

Abstract

How well matched are the linguistic needs of heritage language (HL) learners with the pedagogical practices of language programs at the post-secondary level? Two studies of the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC) provide some answers to this question and identify areas of development for the field of HL teaching. The first study, a national survey of 1800 college-level heritage language learners from a wide range of language backgrounds, offers an unprecedented look at the linguistic profiles, goals, and attitudes of these students. The implications of this study for teaching are twofold. On the one hand, the existence of significant commonalities between HL learners suggests a set of common core principles of heritage language teaching. At the same time, differences between individual learners and groups of learners underscore the need for variable approaches. The second study, a national survey of some 300 post-secondary language programs, documents common institutional practices and perspectives surrounding heritage language teaching. As in the learner survey, however, the existence of significant language and program-specific differences argue against one-size fits all approaches. The study also identifies practical impediments that constrain heritage language teaching (e.g. low enrollments, budgetary constraints, lack of materials and trained instructors, etc.), as well as innovative solutions by programs for dealing with these impediments. A side-by-side comparison of the two studies reveals a gap between “what is” and “what should be” in heritage language teaching. Bridging this gap requires a multidimensional approach, which involves (1) identifying common principles of heritage language teaching that hold across all institutional contexts and languages; (2) identifying the parameters of variation that arise when teaching learners from different backgrounds and when dealing with different institutional constraints, and (3) identifying best practices for responding to this variation. The studies cited yield important insights on all three fronts.

This presentation was co-sponsored by the National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC) at the University of California – Los Angeles.

 

Speaker: Toni Theisen, ACTFL President 2013, Loveland High School (United States)
Plenary Title: Activating Communication: Focusing Lenses

Download Toni Theisen’s presentation slides

View additional resources on Toni Theisen’s wiki

Toni Theisen, the 2013 ACTFL President and the 2009 ACTFL Teacher of the Year, teaches French at Loveland High School in Loveland, Colorado where she is also the district WL Curriculum Supervisor. A Google Certified teacher, she is also a National Board Certified Teacher with a M.A. in Foreign Language Teaching and French and a M. A. in Education of Diverse Learners. Toni has presented many workshops on Multiple Intelligences, Differentiated Learning and 21st Century Technology. She recently chaired the 2009 revision of the Colorado Standards for World Languages and served as the co-chair for the revision of the National Board for Professional Teacher Standards for World Languages. Her honors include the ACTFL Nelson Brooks Award, The Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the SWCOLT Outstanding Teacher Award. As an ACTFL Executive Board member, Toni served as the program chair for the 2004 and 2005 annual conference.

Abstract

How does fostering appreciation for diverse worldviews enhance skills for global citizenship? Is it true that the more learners encounter and engage with other worldviews, the more they develop compassion, empathy, and understanding? How can we use focusing lenses to guide thinking when creating instruction?

Can an old unit “going to a café” be changed to a thematic unit on food and hunger that focuses on interpersonal tasks integrated to create a meaningful cultural context? How can images, videos and other technology encourage learners to critically think of solutions to real-world global issues on environment in innovative ways? We will explore these questions through the lenses of an UbD designed thematic unit and the concepts of the ACTFL 21st Century Skills Map.

This presentation was co-sponsored by the Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon.

This session arises from an international impact study and a literature survey that explored indicators of intercultural success. Clearly, language proficiency alone is inadequate and other abilities are also essential, just as other competencies without host language proficiency are also insufficient. Language educators must expand their role to promote development of intercultural communicative competencies (ICC) to ensure that students are able to communicate as well as interact effectively and appropriately in other cultures, just as interculturalists must also broaden their work to address host language abilities.

In this workshop, language educators and interculturalists explore how language and culture form our initial worldview and how each language-culture (LC) shapes a different view of the world. Given the pervasive role of our LC1, the questions arise: how to transcend and transform that initial paradigm later in life? And what abilities are needed to do so?

Participants explore multiple dimensions of ICC – definitions, characteristics, components, developmental levels, and the role of language during intercultural contact. A curriculum model is presented to ensure all areas are addressed – language, interactions, and behaviors. Participants then experience techniques that embed small “c” cultural aspects in every lesson unit. Finally, multiple strategies for measuring and monitoring their students’ ongoing ICC development are considered.

Audience: Language educators and interculturalists, all levels

As language educators respond to the call to action in the 2007 MLA report to target transcultural/translingual competence in the language classroom and study abroad professionals attempt to answer administrative demands for intercultural learning in study abroad, many seek a framework for how this competence can be developed. The challenge lies in extracting practical curricular designs for the “difficult-to-pin-point nature” of intercultural learning (Sinicrope, Norris, & Watanabe, 2007). This workshop will provide a brief, yet critical, overview of the theoretical underpinnings of intercultural and transcultural competence as outlined by scholars in SLA, the humanities, and study abroad literature (Kramsch, 1993; Byram, 1997; Seidl, 1998; Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003; Schulz et al., 2005; Vande Berg, Paige, & Hemming Lou, 2012; Wildner-Bassett, 2008). This workshop draws from this brief overview in order to derive practical applications for developing intercultural competence pre-, during, and post-study abroad. In order to truly understand the practical extensions of theories of intercultural competence, attendees will participate in a number of shorter and longer intercultural simulations. In these intercultural simulations, participants will assume the roles of cultural actors with varying values and beliefs, simulating what it can be like to participate in an intercultural encounter. Additionally, participants will be introduced to examples of intercultural pedagogy at various levels of the academic curriculum, before brainstorming and collaborating on materials that can be used in their own classrooms.

Longwood University’s interdisciplinary General Education Summer Abroad in Valencia, Spain, attempts to sensitize students to cultural differences, to engage students to a higher degree in historical inquiry, and to develop Spanish language skills by weaving together three General Education requirements in an immersion setting. Courses in History, Intermediate Spanish, and an English Advanced Writing Seminar merge their activities to provide an exploration of history and culture in the historic city of Valencia, Spain.

This workshop will present a model for Longwood University’s program that attendees may use to design their own programs abroad to foster intercultural competency. Presenters will provide definitions of intercultural competency, and will describe how their program differs from most study abroad programs, achieving a measure of intercultural transformation and Spanish language skills growth among students. Handouts will be provided, as well as a website with links to the handouts and PowerPoint.

After completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Design a study abroad program to develop intercultural competency involving two or more disciplines that fits their institution’s curriculum and responds to their strategic plan;
• Plan travel and logistics abroad within their institution’s framework for study abroad;
• Plan for publicity, student recruitment, and student preparation for study abroad;
• Create syllabi and course activities for the development of intercultural competence, in which a substantial number of activities intersect among courses;
• Design assessment activities to measure growth in intercultural competence, student engagement, and language skills development.

This workshop will introduce participants to TIARA (The Interactive Annotated Reading Application), an online software developed in conjunction with the CERCLL Hypermedia Texts Project, which allows instructors to upload texts and easily create a variety of different annotations in the form of additional texts, images, audio files, and videos. The workshop leaders will share lessons and pedagogical principles that they have developed while implementing the software in the teaching of language, cultural literacy, and critical language awareness. The sample texts will be in Arabic, Portuguese, German, and Turkish, but teachers and researchers working in all languages are welcome. During the second half of the workshop, participants will get an opportunity to work with the software on their own, either developing possible lessons for existing texts housed in TIARA or beginning to create new texts of their own.

A patchwork or “pieced work” is the art of sewing together small pieces of fabric into a larger design. These pieces, in different colors and shapes, can become rare works of art when sewn together. Our classrooms provide all the materials necessary to make a multicultural, quilt. The key component is the master crafts-person who can put it all together – the teacher that draws on all the many colors, shapes and cultures and facilitates the creation of a unique work of art. Awareness, dedication and practice are required for this activity to be successful.

In order for language teachers to be able to help students develop multicultural competencies, they must first have a personal foundation to work from. By providing participants with opportunities to share their culture and building on the activities within this workshop, we scaffold a foundation that participants will able to use as a springboard for developing their own community of multiculturally competent students.

In this all-day workshop, we set the stage for a classroom community that can learn from each other. Participants will interact in hands-on exploration of techniques and activities that focus on development of multicultural community in the classroom. The first half of the day includes three activities surrounding cross-cultural, community-building that can be used as-is or adapted for each teacher’s professional toolbox. After lunch, participants will build upon the morning experiences to develop multiculturally relevant materials and lesson planning ideas that they can take home with them and apply within their own classrooms.

Participants will leave this workshop with a workbook that includes activities used in the workshop, a resource list and a framework of how to include experiential learning in their own classrooms.

Audience: Pre-service and experienced language teachers at all grade levels and those interested in facilitating the development of multicultural classroom communities.

For years the profession has been, repeatedly, calling for the teaching of intercultural competence, stressing how it should be a central feature of world language education and teacher preparation. The National Standards calls for teachers to prepare students to demonstrate an understanding of the “relationship between the practices and the perspective of the cultures studied” (p. 50). The 2007 MLA report challenges the profession to redefine the goal of the undergraduate language major to help students develop “deep translingual and transcultural competence” (pg. 3). The on-going challenge for teachers, and teacher educators, is how to translate these big picture ideals into the everyday reality of our own classrooms. In their Fall 2010 Foreign Language Annals article, “Using Images as Springboards to Teach Cultural Perspectives in Light of the Ideals of the MLA Report,” Gwendolyn Barnes-Karol and Maggie Broner presented a framework for teaching students to analyze images (cultural “products”) as a point of departure for exploring target culture “perspectives” and developing intercultural competence through a variety of authentic texts. In this workshop, Barnes-Karol and Broner will give an overview of their framework and how it can be adapted to a number of different settings and languages. They will share the curricular reforms that they have implemented at their institution to make their curricula more culture/content centric. Participants will have a chance to try out a step-by-step process using texts and tasks developed and/or adapted for Barnes-Karol and Broner’s classrooms. Then participants will have the opportunity to apply the principles of the approach to sets of images pertinent to various languages and levels of instruction. The goal is to illustrate how participants can take small, concrete, steps that can make the development of intercultural competence a central aspect of language education.

Audience: secondary and tertiary language educators, those interested in Teacher pre- and in-service education

References: National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, 3rd revised ed., Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, 2006.

“Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World,” 2007, http://www.mla.org/flreport

This workshop was sponsored by the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota.

Views of culture within the context of FL teaching have gradually shifted from notions of culture as a unitary, stable object associated with a particular target language and/or national context toward understanding culture as an “interpersonal process of meaning construction” (Kramsch, 2003, p. 21). This more recent view calls for culture-teaching to move beyond a mere focus on factual knowledge about language, institutions, and objects (Arens, 2010, p. 322) and instead to expose learners to the multitude of identities associated with particular languages, their histories, and the manner in which these identities are constructed through language and other modes of communication.

One approach conducive to the development of interculturality from this viewpoint is a pedagogy of multiliteracies, which defines literacy as an ability to understand and participate in a variety of discourses from the standpoint of particular social roles (Gee, 2011). From a multiliteracies perspective, meaning-making occurs across multiple modes and genres, and involves ongoing negotiation of the specific identities and social contexts in which texts are created and interpreted.

This workshop presents a curricular project designed for second year college French using a multiliteracies, genre-based framework for instruction of language and culture through the French language. The project, Global Simulation, in which students adopt character roles for the duration of the semester, aims to develop students’ awareness of how language forms are linked to social identities and purposes.

This workshop will be delivered in three parts. Part one will consist of a description of the project including a discussion of multiliteracies approaches, a brief history of Global Simulation, and an overview of the project implementation. Part two will consist of a mock teaching sequence in which sample texts, assessments, and Web 2.0 tools are presented. Finally, in the third segment, participants will engage in guided activity planning to develop an instructional module framed in multiliteracies pedagogies. Participants are encouraged to bring tablets or laptops.

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) developed a program to instill Intercultural Skills in the Staff and Faculty in which participants traveled to Mexico or Asia to be immersed in a foreign culture. This workshop outlines the unique structure of the course, environment and activities to accomplish the change needed to effectively engage interculturally. Workshop participants will be shown an integrative experiential learning model and the key success factors that need to be present in order to mitigate risk as a cost effective process for creating Intercultural Competence in faculty, staff or students.

In 1999 Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) was strengthening its brand as Canada’s Portfolio College by recognizing student learning experiences in the international community. The development of flexible learning pathways was at the forefront of this institutional strategy with the dual objectives of a) recognizing prior learning and b) attracting international students. One of the identified key success factors was the development of Intercultural Competence. NSCC needed faculty and staff to have these skills to support our foreign students. Also, employers were looking for these skills in graduates of NSCC’s advanced diploma program in International Business.

NSCC’s Strategic Plan recognized the need to create a global outlook in its curriculum, student learning, and employee experiences. The College committed its resources and focus to ensure an inclusive learning environment that “meets students where they are” and thereby honors the unique background and potential of each learner and the diversity of cultures in our global community. To accomplish this, a global outlook needs to be infused into academic curriculum, co-curricular and extra-curricular student learning experiences, in addition to the professional development and learning opportunities of front line employees.

Findings/Insights: Recognizing this, the School of Business developed a Field School for NSCC Students, Faculty and Staff. NSCC partnered with Educational Institutions in Mexico and Asia to create a program where faculty, staff and students would live, work and study international business culture for a three week period. Each year the program became more robust, and feedback indicated it was a meaningful experience for all participants. Moreover, the Field School program achieved the objectives set out in the international strategies of NSCC, NSCC International and NSCC School of Business. The unique structure of this program saw staff, faculty and students of NSCC become interculturally effective, culminating with them working with learners of another culture!

Audience: This unique field school was developed by faculty for faculty, staff and students. It is intended for administration and interested faculty and staff. It is a cost effective process for creating Intercultural Competence in faculty, staff or students.

This is a hands-on course on how to effectively use the latest communications technology, the Internet’s Web 2.0, for second language (L2) and culture teaching. These tools include everyday familiar platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., as well as blogs, wikis and podcast. In this workshop we will consider how to use these new technologies to enhance and liven up the classroom environment. As a social phenomenon, language is acquired and used through interaction, in an array of contexts for a multitude of practical purposes (Firth & Wagner, 2007). Web 2.0 allows for a broad array of activities that can situate learning in context and foster interaction. This workshop is intended for, but not limited to, instructors of any foreign language, regardless of their familiarity with computer-mediated tools.

Studies have shown that Web 2.0 tools enrich the classroom setting by 1) exposing students to real texts and cultural artifacts in the target language (Warschauer & Grimes, 2007); 2) allowing real and meaningful communication with peers and native speakers (Garrett, 2008); 3) motivating the students and giving them a sense of authorship (Sykes et al., 2008); 4) transforming students into active learners, collaborators and explorers (Thorne, 2008); 5) developing intercultural competence (Elola & Oskoz, 2008). A literature review will be followed by a demonstration of practical uses of these tools. The workshop will define what Web 2.0 platforms are available, which ones to choose according to the intended pedagogical goals, why, and how to set them up, maintain them, and integrate them into foreign language teaching.

The second part of the workshop will demonstrate “hands-on” activities to stimulate higher levels of critical thinking among L2 communities of practice (Wenger, 1996). Participants in the workshop will experience language acquisition from the perspective of today’s Digital Native students who intake and process information in non-linear and multimodal ways (Prensky, 2011). The central tool of choice will be Facebook. The activities will show a variety of practical ways to guide classroom discussions, grammar/vocabulary/culture lessons in ways that continue outside of class. English will be used as the L2 of choice for the workshop and the focus will be on dialogism. While hovering around Facebook as a “central hub” we will discuss how to use videos, articles, chat, threads, PowerPoint presentations, images and games that enhance the learning experience and promote a more meaningful engagement with the topics studied.