Castledown Journals
Not a member yet
968 research outputs found
Sort by
From a “Sesame Street” model TA to a university TA: Investigation of an international teaching assistant’s professional identity and second language socialization over time
No full textPrior research on the professional development of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) focuses mostly on ITAs’ language skills (e.g., Rounds, 1987; Nelson, 1989) and pedagogical development (e.g., Bailey, 1984, with little investigation of ITAs’ identity formation. Nevertheless, as Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop (2004) argue, teachers’ professional identity, namely the relationship between teachers’ self-image and the teacher role they have to play (Volkmann & Anderson, 1998), is the basis for teachers’ meaning-making. Consequently, exploring how ITAs understand and develop their professional identities is essential. This study, drawing on a second language socialization perspective (Duff, 2011; Kim & Duff, 2012; Duff & May, 2017), examines how a focal ITA’s professional identity develops over time in one quarter as she teaches a class and negotiates with students during class discussion sessions, and attends TA discussions with other TAs. Data were gathered from multiple sources, including audio recordings of the focal ITA’s (“Fay”) TA discussion sessions over one quarter and a bi-weekly interview with Fay to allow triangulation of data, which were analyzed using discourse analysis. The focal ITA’s professional identity transformed through three phases-from the “Sesame Street model” to the “parent-like model,” and finally to “students’ achievement-oriented model.” Across these three phases, Fay actively constructed her understanding of her professional identity through (re)examination and (re)negotiation of the differences among several different models of teaching, some encountered back home in Taiwan and some encountered here in the United States. I conclude that Fay’s language socialization process of learning to be an ITA is a complex one which involves multiple identities and hybrid practices
Interculturality in a different light: Modesty towards democracy in education?
No full textThis article problematizes interculturality in relation to how the notion of democracy is constructed, especially in education. Discourses of democracy have become more central in “interculturalspeak” (a somewhat uncritical approach to intercultural matters), especially after the mass arrival of asylum seekers and the spread of terrorism around the world. The authors challenge the often Western-centric considerations of the Other’s democracy, through a close reading of a Chinese textbook. China seems to represent the Other par excellence when democracy is discussed. The article does not decide “subjectively” which country is better than others at “doing” democracy, especially in education. Neither do the authors wish to accuse anyone of “doing” it wrongly. What is demonstrated is that the topic of “democracy” is indeed found in China’s secondary school textbooks. The following questions are asked: Which topics are covered? How is democracy problematized explicitly/implicitly? What potential similarities are to be found with the “Western” understanding of democracy? This rare insight into discourses of democracy (the changing self; relations between self-other; citizenship, rights, duties in the textbooks) from China proposes to rethink how we see self-other in intercultural terms, to develop more intercultural modesty and to learn with each other rather than against or merely from the other
An experimental investigation of HAM, a novel mnemonic technique for learning L2 homonyms and homophones
No full textOver the past 40 years, extensive research has examined the effectiveness of mnemonics for vocabulary learning. Much of this research has investigated the keyword method (Atkinson & Raugh, 1975), which involves linking an image related to a to-be-learned L2 word with animage related to a similar-sounding L1 word. Whereas most research has shown the keyword method to be effective (Webb & Nation, 2017) with impressive long-term retention rates (Beaton, Gruneberg, & Ellis, 1995), some have questioned its usefulness, particularly due to the quality of the resulting lexical representations and extended latencies associated with recall (Barcroft, Sommers, & Sunderman, 2011, Van Hell & Candia Mahn, 1997). Other drawbacks of the keyword technique are the equating of dissimilar L1 and L2 phonemes and the difficulty in creating associations for languages with markedly different phoneme inventories. The current study presents a novel approach called the Homonym/ Homophone Association Method (HAM). It overcomes some of the drawbacks of the keyword method by associating meanings of L2 homonyms or homophones, one known by the learner and one unknown. Because the pronunciations of the L2 target words are identical (or nearly identical), learners only need to associate two distinct meanings. A quasi-experiment (N = 71) employing a within-subjects design compared the effectiveness of (1) HAM using researcher-generated associations and images, (2) HAM using self-generated associations, and (3)production practice that involved writing target words in sentences. Results on anunannounced posttest given 3 weeks after instruction suggest an advantage for HAM using researcher-generated association
Neural machine translation tools in the language learning classroom: Students’ use, perceptions, and analyses
No full textWeb-based machine translation (wbmt) tools have long been used by language learners, but until recently, their value as learning tools was limited by the limited accuracy of their outputs. In the past few years, however, the advent of neural machine translation has drastically improved the accuracy of wbmt, considerably increasing their attractiveness to language learners. Accordingly, the present exploratory study seeks to delve into students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the use of wbmt tools for English language learning. Surveys are used to collect data from 80 upperyear Korean-speaking university students regarding their use of and attitudes toward using wbmt tools. The results indicate that the majority of students use them to support their language studies both at home and at school, and for a range of purposes. Most students reported having limited trust in the accuracy of the outputs, but in general, the results reveal disparities among students in terms of their dependency upon and perceived value of such tools. Furthermore, the students evaluated the output of two popular wbmt tools, revealing evidence of struggle in terms of their ability to critically analyze their outputs. The pedagogical implications associated with this issue are discussed
Native Englishspeaking teachers’ perspectives on using videoconferencing in learning English by Taiwanese elementary-school students
No full textWith the rapid development of computer technology, videoconferencing has been widely applied for social and educational purposes. Issues relevant to the use of videoconferencing in second-language instruction have been raised and researched. However, little attention has been paid to videoconferencing projects implemented outside class for elementary school students, particularly in the efl context. To fill the gap, the current study aims to contribute to our understanding of the outof-class videoconferencing language-learning activities for young learners by exploring how 40 native English-speaking teachers perceived out-of-class videoconferencing in learning English by elementary school students in Taiwan. Data consisted of teacher responses to a post-videoconference survey with open-ended questions. Through qualitative, inductive, and interpretive analysis of the data, the study identified three emerging themes: uneven student performance, technical issues, and suggestions for the videoconferencing activity. The study contributes to our understanding of the videoconferencing experience of language teachers and broadens our understanding of implementing videoconference activities. Further research could explore teacher metacompetence (Guichon, 2009) by analyzing videotaped videoconferencing sessions
Learning analytics for language learning and teaching
No full textIf only we could know what our students were up to at any given moment in class. Who is paying attention, and who is falling asleep? Who understands the past perfect and who thinks it is about something wonderful that happened yesterday? And wouldn’t it be great if we knew who is motivated and who is ready to drop out of the course? Language teachers perhaps struggle with these questions even more than teachers in other domains, because their students are not able to communicate their preferences and needs as well as l1 speakers. Learning analytics involves monitoring student engagement and comprehension and can be used as a way to identify potential problems early on in a course. In this short article I will describe what learning analytics is, how it can work in practice, as well as its potential benefits and drawbacks for language learning and teaching
Designing a course in intercultural education
No full textThere are a number of principles to be considered in the design of intercultural education courses. The existing intercultural experience that participants have built from early childhood must be recognised as a major resource. Interculturality is a reflexive awareness of Self and Other in a crossing of boundaries which resonates with C. Wright Mill’s “sociological imagination.” A critical cosmopolitan notion of the third space concept is employed as an open rather than an intermediary space-a creatively investigative space which enables us to work on finding ourselves as new and even more enriched selves across boundaries, and where all of us are hybrid. The focus should be on self among others rather than the nature of difference between national or other large cultures. This resonates with the radical agenda of cultural studies, where there is critical intervention against structures of prejudice, with particular attention to countering what I refer to as powerful essentialist West as steward and “West versus the rest” discourses of culture. There is therefore a postmodern and constructivist interrogation of ideological constructions of the intercultural that commonly push the recognition of important cultural realities to the margins. These principles are applied along with the need to learn how to avoid essentialist blocks and choose threads from our personal cultural trajectories that draw us together. The paper concludes with suggestions for intercultural education events that apply these principles. This is written in the inclusive third person to signal a final principle that intercultural educators are joining with their participants in working out their own interculturality
An essay on internationalism in foreign language education
No full textThis essay is an attempt to introduce into the discourse of Foreign Language Education the concept and phenomenon of internationalism. It begins with an analysis of the ways in which education systems promote nationalism and “national citizenship,” and suggests that an internationalist perspective would enrich this tradition in education. It continues with a discussion of the concept and the historical phenomenon of internationalism in its various forms, and the values it incorporates. Some approaches to defining notions of “global citizenship” and their limitations are identified and the essay then argues that internationalism offers a more comprehensive basis on which to build “global,” “cosmopolitan” or other concepts of citizenship. This is then the foundation for presenting a way of thinking about Foreign Language Education as a means of promoting internationalism, which is illustrated by examples from recent practice. The essay ends with some thoughts about future directions in which the internationalist educational purposes of Foreign Language Education might be further realised
(Re)imagining a course in language and intercultural communication for the 21st century
No full textOver twenty-five years ago, leading scholars in the field of intercultural communication William B. Gudykunst, Stella Ting-Toomey and Richard Wiseman published the paper “Taming the beast: Designing a course in intercultural communication.” We revisit their work in light of renewed interest in the design and implementation of the intercultural communication (ICC) course as a key site for engaging with diversity in universities around the world. Our paper draws on Gudykunst et al.’s overview of four major issues instructors should consider in designing and delivering an introductory ICC course: (a) philosophical and ethical issues, (b) pedagogical issues, (c) curricular content; and (d) resources and teaching techniques. We draw on these four issues to conduct a critical appraisal of the current state of the ICC field and to reflect on Gudykunst et al.’s recommendations in the 21st century. We pay particular attention to the increasingly stronger links between the fields of ICC and modern/foreign language (MFL) education through the key role that language(s) play in meaning making in interaction. We therefore use the issues identified by Gudykunst et al.’s seminal work as a springboard to discuss key parameters that may assist instructors in the design of a reimagined ICC course, responsive to the crucial role of language and languages in engaging with diversity
Then and now: Themes in language assessment research
No full textThis short reflection considers major themes in language assessment research in two years across a decade, 2007 and 2017. The themes were selected after reviewing three major journals in language testing. Each theme will be described and discussed along with comparisons between the two years