Russian english workshop world-call2013
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This document summarizes a research workshop on task-based telecollaboration between Russian and English speakers and the development of strategic competence. It discusses how online collaboration can help develop intercultural strategic competence, including metacognitive, cognitive, social, affective, and compensation strategies. The document then summarizes several studies on collaboration between Russian and American students that show collaboration helps improve language skills, cultural competence, and motivation through increased strategy use, including planning, feedback, and social interaction.
Russian english workshop world-call2013
- 1. Russian-English Workshop: Research in task-based telecollaboration and strategic competence acquisition KONSTANTIN SHESTAKOV, OMSK LAW ACADEMY LONNY HARRISON, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
- 2. Intercultural Strategic Competence (ISC) A set of techniques that are consciously employed by a speaker to overcome linguistic and cultural breakdowns in intercultural communication.
- 3. Intercultural strategic competence (ISC) Metacognitive strategies planning, monitoring and evaluation of language learning activities Cognitive strategies identification, retention, or retrieval of elements of the target language Social strategies interacting with other learners, a teacher, or with native speakers Affective strategies regulation of learner motivation, emotions, and attitudes Compensation (modification) strategies verbal and nonverbal actions taken to compensate for the gap of knowledge of the target language
- 4. SLA Interaction hypothesis Input is provided by an expert, the learner’s output as a learning trigger is not taken into account. The learner’s role is passive at the ‘input stage’.
- 5. Initial input & output LC1 & LC2 mismatch awareness intake LC2 native Strategies Modified input & output New output, new input expectations Meaning negotiation Rich points Active learner (LC1 native) Strategic competence in NS-active learner communication Metacognitive Cognitive Social-affective Compensation
- 6. TBL as a condition to ‘activate’ the learner Authentic (real-world related) language learning tasks encourage the learner not to focus explicitly on the structure and the rules of the new language but rather on the meaning and context of communicated messages.
- 7. Traditional Communicative Approach vs. Task-Based Language Learning Learning stages Teacher-centered approach Learner-centered approach Production Focus on form Focus on meaning Input salience Highlighting structures Becoming aware of rich points Comprehension Input adaptation Compensation strategies
- 8. Categories and structure of telecollaboration tasks Information exchange Comparison and analysis Collaboration and product creation (O’Dowd & Waire 2009) planning Asynchronous contact with the partner Cognitive, metac ognitive strategies collaboration Synchronous meeting with the partner Social, affective strategies production Post meeting work on the task Cognitive, metac ognitive strategies presentation Presentation of the outcome Social, affective strategies reflection Reflection on task accomplishment Metacognitive strategies
- 9. Research on telecollaboration Previous research shows that online telecollaboration contributes to development of: Learner autonomy (Kessler and Bikowski, 2010) Linguistic competence (Ware and O’Dowd, 2008) Intercultural and sociocultural competence (Furstenberg et al., 2001, J.Belz, 2004) Online literacy skills (Guth and Helm 2011) Teachers' awareness about online project management (Dooly, 2008) Translation skills (Chen, N.-S., & Ko, L. (2010) Confidence and motivation (Wu et al, 2011) Compensation and communicative strategies (Tavakoli et al. 2011, Íñigo Yanguas 2010, Ahari et al. 2012, Lam 2006, Oxford, R.L. (1989)
- 10. Media richness theory (Daft & Lengel 1986) Decrease in effectiveness of communication • Ability to handle multiple information cues simultaneously • Ability to facilitate rapid feedback • Ability to establish a personal focus • Ability to utilize natural language Face to Face Communication Video For um Synchronous Audio Video Conference Face-to-Face Communication Text Chat Email Forum
- 11. Media naturalness theory (Kock 2005)
- 13. Student interactions on the Webilang site Student Native speaker instructor Autonomous activities Native speaker student Projects Courses Exercises
- 14. The Webilang Site Architecture Blogs LMS Virtual classroom
- 15. Synchronous communication in a virtual classroom
- 16. Asynchronous communication in blogs
- 17. Blog instructions on the use of communication strategies
- 19. Interactive exercises on communication strategies Request to repeat/paraphrase Express/evoke personal interest
- 20. Omsk Law Academy/Drake University Communicating Abroad Project 2-3 synchronous carefully planned meetings per semester 12 Russian students, 8 American students 3-4 meetings per semester, 60 min each Information exchange tasks: talk about your university, your city; ask your partner questions about the same topics. Presentations: «My city» «Education», «Power distance», «Russian fatalism»
- 21. Conversations in a virtual classroom Triads Pairs
- 22. Research into the effect of international collaboration on students' metacognitive strategies Experimental group (Omsk Law Academy students) Control group (students of other Omsk universities) Language proficiency intermediate intermediate Year of studying 2nd 2nd Learning environment Blended (classroom + virtual) Traditional classroom Previous experience of communication with native speakers in a virtual environment Yes (2 semesters) No Number of participants in the experiment 13 8 Virtual environment Moodle, email, Webex Meeting Centre email, Webex Meeting Centre
- 23. Research Question 1: focus on metacognitive strategies Query: How do metacognitive strategies affect students’ performance in communication with a native speaker? Method Students were given the following tasks: 1) Write an email to your native speaker partner; suggest a topic you would like to discuss, ◦ and schedule a meeting in WebEx. 2) Converse with your partner in WebEx. 3) Write a report about your conversation to a MOODLE forum.
- 24. Communicative strategies & online literacy skills used by students e- experimental, c- control group e c Explanation of cultural realia + + Code switching (use of the native language) + + Simplification and/or generalization + + Paraphrasing + + Checking comprehension + + Repeat and request to repeat + + Asking partner for clarification + + Evoking partner's personal interest + + Establishing common interests + + Use of pre-planned presentations, videos, pictures + - Use of the chat box (and other online literacy skills) + - Use of online resources (dictionaries, links, web pages) + - compensation social-affective metacognitive cognitive
- 25. Discussion Experimental Group (EG) used metacognitive strategies (planning the meeting, preparing materials) 90% of students reported feeling confident and comfortable while communicating with a NS Control Group (CG) o no direct evidence of students using metacognitive strategies o only 30% of students felt comfortable while talking to a NS o 70% felt anxiety, fear, lack of confidence
- 26. Conclusions Factors that made a positive impact: students’ familiarity with technology previous experience in collaboration with native speakers use of metacognitive strategies Strategic competence and online literacy skills decrease difficulties in communication in the target language. Regular collaboration with NS’s in a virtual environment decreases anxiety and fear during intercultural communication. Students who have experience in communicating with NS’s use a wider range of communication strategies.
- 27. UTA-Omsk Law Academy Translation Workshop Description 8 Russian and 7 American students 12 group meetings and 3 individual meetings during interpretation classes Met in virtual classroom and Second Life Role play translating tasks Students played roles of: 1) situational dialogue—in a souvenir shop, business meetings, virtual excursions etc. 2) interpreters for these negotiations
- 28. Role play in Second Life Oral translation classes in a video conference
- 29. Query: Is there a correlation between students’ use of social and collaboration strategies and the quality of translation output? Method EG: 13 participants (2 semesters of translation studies) CG1: 7 participants (6 semesters) СG2: 8 participants (2 semesters) 1) students of EG and CGs translated a Wikipedia article, Russian to English 2) EG students contacted NS partners, received corrective feedback 3) EG also worked collaboratively in Google Translator Toolkit Students of CGs translated on their own; neither had contact with NS’s Research Question 2: focus on social strategies
- 30. Research data Groups Number of language & translation study hours before the experiment Average score of translation quality in each group EG 366 59 CG 1 1058 55 CG 2 366 21
- 31. Discussion EG outperformed CG2 EG achieved similar results to CG1 Explanation o EG students discussed translations with NS’s asynchronously and synchronously o NS’s pointed out linguistic mistakes and provided clarifications EG students shared translation memory in Google Translator Toolkit
- 32. Conclusions Translations by the EG were not better than those of CG2 Thus: The collaborative project does not lead to significant gains in linguistic competences in the short term. However, students acquired social strategies that were used to accomplish the linguistic task effectively.
- 33. UTA-Omsk joint course description Students enrolled in separate courses: at OLA a class studying English at UTA a class studying Russian One hour-long session per week consisted of a professor-led virtual meeting via videoconference between students at OLA and UTA to practice spoken Russian and English and to share in cultural experience. Two other synchronous classes were spent at each school preparing for the virtual meeting.
- 34. Asynchronous meetings between partner pairs were assigned for cross-linguistic and cross-cultural practice. Partners conversed in a virtual meeting space and shared multimedia technology to work on assigned translations and other active learning tasks. UTA-Omsk joint course description
- 35. 15 Group meetings 3-4 Individual meetings
- 37. Research Question 3: focus on the affective component Query: How does regular collaboration with native speakers affect students’ motivation as part of their social affective strategy? Method A survey was distributed, which included the following questions: 1) On a scale of 1 - 10 how likely are you to a) take a similar language course in the future? b) recommend this course to others?
- 40. Survey results, cont. 2) Did you feel that you had more or less opportunity to practice your language skills in this course, compared to other language courses you’ve taken? 3) How did you feel about interactions with your classmates and overseas partners during group and private meetings a) at the beginning of the course; b) at the end of the course? 4) What was the most challenging aspect of the course and how did you cope with it? 5) What were the most and the least usefu----l assignments?
- 41. Were the course expectations met? How did you feel about interactions with your classmates and overseas partners during group and private meetings a) at the beginning of the course; b) at the end of the course?
- 42. Challenges reported by students • Connecting with partners (time difference) • Communication (undeveloped language skills) • Technology (connectivity problems) • Homework (preparation time) • Motivation mismatch (different educational standards in organization and evaluation)
- 43. Tasks and opportunity to practice language skills What were the most usefu----l assignments ? 55% students reported communicating with native speakers 45% mentioned presentations (especially on ‘History’ and ‘Student life’) Wh--at were the least useful and why? o the chapters in the book and writing in the blog received the most controversial evaluations, for example: ‘The Wordpress blog was the most effective because everyone was able to use it and you could read their blogs to see what they talked about with their partners. I liked that the most, but it was also the least effective because not everyone posted on their blog, thus making it pointless.’ Did you feel that you had more or less opportunity to practice your language skills in this course, compared to other language courses you’ve taken? 85% reported they had more opportunity to practice language skills in this course than in other language courses.
- 44. Online affective strategies Online affective strategies included: • using humor for topic discussions and in presentations (reducing anxiety) • structured tasks (reducing anxiety) • choosing topics relevant to students' life (relevance/motivation) • getting in contact with a NS partner via email and videoconference (self-confidence, motivation) • blogging, reporting on communication with a NS partner (self-confidence) • collaborating with overseas partner in a shared multimedia workplace— blog, whiteboard, chat (attention/motivation) • goal orientation through creating a product (relevance/motivation)
- 45. Discussion 40% of students felt anxious and nervous before the group meetings started; at the end of the course all of them overcame their fear 80% of students were very excited before one-to-one meetings and about 40% felt frustration at the end of the course Explanation o The main obstacle for one-to-one meeting was matching students’ schedules, while group meetings had a fixed meeting time. o Second, students were able to prepare better for group discussions (usually presentations). o Third, group meetings were better structured than one-to-one meetings, which seemed a safer format for low-language-proficiency students. o Finally, group meetings had more potential for ‘psychological arousal’. There were more opportunities for interaction: with the Russian and American teacher, the groups, the one-to-one partner. This environment offered diverse and non- standard emotional exchange.
- 46. Conclusions The majority of students were satisfied with the course. The essential components for students' satisfaction (and as a result, motivation to learn the language) with the course were: a) topic relevance to students' interests b) opportunity to communicate with NS partners c) opportunity to work and present a product
- 47. Conclusions, cont. The collaborative project contributed to students' self confidence but with limitations: more opportunities should be afforded for creating an environment for group work and a sense of belonging to a community. Failure of one of the partners to cooperate diminishes personal control and reduces confidence. Level of anxiety decreases significantly when students are afforded regular and fixed meetings with a more structured task.
- 48. Research Question 4: focus on cognitive strategies Query: How does students’ employment of cognitive strategies in collaboration with native speakers affect text interpretation? Method Students were given the following text interpretation task: 1. Translate the poem and describe the cultural references on your own or from consulting the Web. 2. Hand in the preliminary work to your professor. 3. Meet with your partner(s) and ask them to help you with the translation and the cultural references. 4. Complete the translation and fill in the missing cultural references with the help of your partner. 5. Hand in or publish in the blog the edited version of your translation and cultural comments.
- 49. Preliminary results Before the meeting After the meeting Student 1 8 22 Student 2 9 24 Student 3 12 19 Student 4 8 15 Student 5 7 20 Student 6 8 20 Student 7 11 21 Student 8 15 19 Student 9 16 20 Student 10 15 20 mean 11 20 Number of culture references students were aware of before and after meeting with a native speaker
- 50. Conclusions Students who employed a set of cognitive and social strategies: o experienced decrease in the cognitive load involved in referencing, searching, and analyzing information necessary for text interpretation. o provided significantly more cultural references than the students who either didn’t meet with native speakers or than themselves, before they met with their partners.