Faapi 2010

PAMELA V. ARRAR ÁS

FAAPI 2010

Effects of Telecollaboration through E-forums on

Language Learning and Motivation

DOWNLOAD MY RESEARCH PAPER AT:

HTTP://TINY.CC/ARRARAS2010FAAPI

Let’s be green!

Virtual Backpacking &Cultural Bridges

What exactly is telecollaboration? a. definitionb. types c. models

The Study

a. Rationale & Contextb. Purposec. Research Designd. Findings

Lessons learned from this study:a. How to get startedb. Reliable sites with ready

made projects & more info

Agend

a

What is telecollaboration?

“The use of Internet communication tools by internationally dispersed students of

language in institutionalized settings

in order to promote the development of (a) foreign language linguistic competence and

(b) intercultural competence.” (Belz, 2003).

Types of telecollaboration Warschauer (1997)

One-to-one telecollaboration. Eg. International Email Tandem Network.

Many-to-many telecollaboration: Shared students’ publications (such as is the case

with wikis or newsletter). Comparative investigations involving both groups

of students' cultures or issues of interest. Collaborative creation and exchange of folklore

compendia, oral histories and other projects. E-forums (my field of research )

Models of telecollaboration

E-Tandem (European Union) Reciprocity: both learner & expert role. Autonomy: high level of self-discipline and learning skills required.

The Cultura Model (MIT) Stage 1: Questionnaires designed to reveal basic cultural differences(native

language). Results compiled and presented side by side. Stage 2: Analysis of questionnaires in the classroom (target language) with the

teacher's guidance. Stage 3: Exchanges and forums. Students from both groups meet in online

message boards accessible to all participants. (either language as long as they can get their message across).

Stage 4: Analysis of the forums in the classroom and analyze both the language and the content of the exchanges.

Stage 5: Broadening of fields of exploration and analysis. Students are provided with other related target language resources which allow them to better understand the culture of their partners. They later on discuss these new findings and conclusions with their partners online.

TheStudy

Rationale: Scarcity of research on:

e-forums, at the secondary school level, learning each other’s languages.

Context: Public high school students in

Argentina and USA. Satellite internet available at

school. Ages 16-18 Participation compulsory In Villalonga: 2 Classes, 29 sts in

all. In USA: 70 students from 3

classes.

Why? What? How?

Providing opportunities for authentic communication with native speakers of the L2 for BOTH sets of students.

E-forums (Moodle)Both L1 and L2 used.

The Project

Language learners post

message in the L2 forum, (in

L2), and include two questions for

the native speaker students

to answer.

Native speaker reads message

and replies, answering the questions. (in

L1).

Language learner reads

and reply , continuing the

conversation, in the L2.SAME CYCLE

HAPPENS IN BOTH FORUMS

– ONE IN SPANISH AND

ONE IN ENGLISH

In the frame of Burden & Williams' definition of motivation, does telecollaboration through e-forums motivate the students? If so, how?

What are the observable effects of this particular project in the students' language learning skills and performance?

What insights can be gained from this experience regarding organizational aspects of projects of this kind?

Motivation:

“A state of cognitive and emotional

arousal, which leads to a conscious

decision to act, (CHOICE) and

which gives rise to a period of

sustained intellectual and/or

physical effort (PERSISTANCE &

EFFORT) in order to attain a

previously set goal.”

Purpose / Research Questions

My Research Paradigm: The educator doing research

Research Methodology (According to Brown’s characteristics for

primary research 2004)

“Set of basic beliefs […] that dealswith ultimates or first principles. Itrepresents a worldview that defines

for its holder, the nature of theworld, the individual's place in it,

and the range of possiblerelationships to that world and

its parts […] The beliefs are basic inthe sense that they must be

accepted simply on faith; there is no way to establish their ultimate

truthfulness”(Guba & Lincoln, 1994)

Data type: quantitative (questionnaire, grades) and qualitative (feedback slips, forum contents, interviews).

Data collection methods: non-experimental. No control group. Survey research.

Data analysis methods: statistical as part of the process, but overall interpretive.

Intrusiveness of the study: leaning towards non-intervention. Students did the project subject of this research as part of their regular course of studies.

Selectivity: non-selective. All sts who participated in the project were included in the study.

Reasoning: inductiveContext: natural. The study was carried out

in the classroom.

Research Design

Findings: Motivation

Findings: Motivation

1. English at school only (5 sts) 3.8

2. English at language academy (1 st) 4

3. Finished at language academy (3 sts) 3.3

4. Dropped out of language academy (5 sts) 2

Table 1How motivated are you to learn English due to this activity?

On a 1-4 Likert scale (1=not t all – 4 very motivated) Out of 14 informants (voluntary)

STUDENT FEEDBACK

Findings: Motivation

1. English at school only and dropout sts (21) 2.78

2. English at language academy (4) 2.12

3. Finished at language academy (4) 3

Table 2Average of total number of posts in all forums – Out of 29 students

(minimum required: 2)

EFFORT & PERSISTENCE

Findings: Motivation

Pamela says: “¿Hubieras participado de la misma manera si

la participación en el proyecto no era obligatoria y con nota?”

Student says: “si, ya q como ingles particular

lo había finalizado hacia un año estaba medioolvidada en el idioma entonces pude volver a

aplicar lo q ya había aprendido”

Findings: Language Learning

Reading Writing Vocabulary Grammar Use of dictionaries

and other resources

1. English at language

academy (4 sts)

2.4 2.7 3.25 3 3

2. Dropped out of

language academy (5 sts)

3 3.2 2.8 2.6 3

3. English at school only

(5 sts)

3.6 2.8 3 2.6 3

Total averages 2.8 2.9 3.01 2.73 3

Table 5Students' perceptions of progress – Likert scale (1-no progress 4- a lot of progress)

Findings: Language Learning

Findings: Language Learning

First term Second term Third term

8.46 8.76 9

Table 8 – Class A average of all writing scores

Findings: Language Learning

Communicative competence: One student manifested she tried to use a more formal register when communicating in Spanish with the American students as she realized that slang was probably difficult to understand for them.

Intercultural awareness: Several students mentioned that they liked the project as they were able to “see things for ourselves” and “learn about how another culture is firsthand”. They also said it helped them dispel prejudices.

Learning strategies: Students manifested using several learning strategies. Data was tagged and classified according to Chamot (1994) with these results: Self monitoring: A student mentioned that she tried to write better after reading how well the

other students wrote in Spanish. Self management: A student mentioned that they found that they had to be able to do things by

themselves, as the teacher “is not inside the computer with me” and they had to find ways to get the message across.

Compensation strategies: once the students discovered they could post pictures, they used them to compensate for their lack of descriptive vocabulary. They included photos of their schools, themselves, etc.

Getting started…

Spend time training yourself in the technological tools you are going to use. Choose tools based not only on your skills, but also on: those of your peer at the other school, the skills of the students, the technological capabilities of both schools and groups of

students.

Do not assume that your students will be able to handle the project just because they are supposed to be “digital natives”. The skills required for language learning are very different from the ones they have developed for social use.

Getting started…

When looking for partner classes, pick a colleague who… …shares your same technical skills …shares your overall objectives for the projects, …is willing to spend time on the project.

Assign enough time for each stage of the project make sure you include time before the interaction to

prepare the students for the project… …and after the telecollaboration itself in order to allow

them to process and reflect on what they have learned.

Getting started…

Decide on how you will assess the project Make sure that you set a minimum number of

interventions for each student in order to promote interaction. For example, if using forums you could establish that

each student has to post three comments and that each comment needs to address another student’s questions as well as posting new questions to keep the conversation going.

Getting started…

If the other group is learning your students’ native language, decide on a method to ensure that both languages are used in the forum. Separating forums is a possibility, but students tend to

participate in their L1 forum most. Another possibility is requesting that 50% of each

message is written in each language, as the E-Tandem Network recommends.

If you’re mostly interested in developing your students’ reading skills, Cultura’s model of only L1 writing might be suitable.

HTTP: / /WWW.EPALS.COM

HTTP: / /FLATCLASSROOM09-3 .FLATCLASSROOMPROJECT.ORG/

HTTP: / / IEARN.ORG

HTTP: / / IEARN.ORG/PROJECTS/PROJECTBOOK.HTML

HTTP: / /WWW.GLOBALSCHOOLNET.ORG/

Good places to start looking for projects and

partners…

[email protected]

TWITTER: PAMELAARRARAS

WWW.PAMELAARRARAS.COM.AR

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