Francis Troyan, Genre Matters in Contextualized World Language Learning, and Kristin Davin, Strengthening your Core: Practices to Support Students’ Language Development.
Fall 2019 LaTeS, November 16:
Genre Matters in Contextualized World Language Learning
Presented by Francis Troyan (The Ohio State University)
Download Dr. Troyan’s PPT here
Description: As global assessment frameworks the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, the World-Readiness Standards for Language Learning, and the Can-Do Statements have helped teachers to shift instruction and assessment toward functional ability in the target language. However, these frameworks do not describe the specific linguistic and organizational features of communication in context.
Situated within the recent scholarship on contextualized, task-based performance assessment and instruction of world languages that addresses the Can-Do Statements, this workshop introduces participants to a genre theory and pedagogy that views spoken and written texts—all instances of communication—as genres that can be made visible and systematically taught to students. Participants will learn how to integrate genre into a backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) approach for the assessment and instruction of a world language that is centered on the development of the learner’s ability to communicate in written and spoken genres.
Bio: Francis John Troyan is Assistant Professor of World Language Education at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus. A former classroom teacher of French, Spanish, and ESL, his teaching and research focus on world language teacher development, genre and functional linguistics in K-12 world language education, and teacher practices in dual language immersion education. His research has appeared in Teaching and Teacher Education, International Multilingual Research Journal, The Canadian Modern Language Review,Foreign Language Annals, and Language and Sociocultural Theory. He is a co-author of Implementing Integrated Performance Assessment.
Spring 2019 LaTeS, April 6:
Strengthening your Core: Practices to Support Students’ Language Development
Presented by Kristin Davin (University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Department of Middle, Secondary and K12 Education)
Description: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) designated six core practices that are critical for effective language teaching because they support students’ language development and occur frequently in instruction across contexts. These practices include: Facilitating target language comprehensibility, Guiding learners through interpreting authentic resources, Designing oral interpersonal communication tasks, Planning with backward design model, Teaching grammar as a concept and use in context, and Providing appropriate oral feedback.
In this workshop, participants explored these six core practices and the research base of each one. They dove deeply into two of these practices, Guiding learners through interpreting authentic resources and Designing oral interpersonal communication tasks. Participants engaged in activities that foster their understanding of how to choose appropriate authentic texts and ways to check students’ understanding of those texts. They also developed and shared oral interpersonal communication tasks that foster spontaneous communication and negotiation of meaning. Participants left this workshop with a variety of interpretive and interpersonal communication tasks that they could immediately carry out in their classrooms.
Bio: Kristin Davin is the Director of Foreign Language Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She earned her PhD in Foreign Language Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Before becoming a professor, she taught Spanish at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels. Dr. Davin’s research focuses on second language development and assessment, language teacher preparation, and the Seal of Biliteracy. Her work has appeared in journals such as Foreign Language Annals, Bilingual Research Journal, Modern Language Journal, and Language Teaching Research. She has been the recipient of two ACTFL Research Priorities grants.