![Trying new things…
Developing multimedia literacy
During this project did you do anything in VK that you
normally
do not do in FB?
◦ Trying new CMC and SNS functions:
Talking [via a SNS] to people I don’t know
Making posts on the group’s wall; posting regular status
updates;
Looking through strangers’ profiles – I actively looked up
groups and ads and talked to strangers
Typing Cyrillic on the computer
Improving my L2 readings skills by reading posts and profiles
in VK
◦ Is addiction to SNS apps bad?
I watched many more than the 3 posted videos, probably
about 2 hours worth of Russian videos just in that night –
(artifacts of culture);
The VK project resulted in an unstoppable addition to a](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/april14languagesymposiumpresentation-120423181819-phpapp02/85/Language-Symposium-2012-Developing-Task-Based-Social-Networking-Projects-The-Case-of-Teaching-Russian-in-the-L2-Classroom-30-320.jpg)
![Trying new things… cont.
Becoming aware of the social contexts in
SNSs:
Learning to be a more observant language learner:
It was really cool to be able to see how the Russian
youth interacted.
Negotiating one‟s power and place in SNS
environments:
Talking to a NS made me concentrate on my errors and
mistakes. I was conscious of my grammar so that they
[NSs] can understand me.
I actually started discussions on the groups I joined!
(playing a „social game‟ on equal terms with NSs)
Experimenting with one‟s L2 identity](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/april14languagesymposiumpresentation-120423181819-phpapp02/85/Language-Symposium-2012-Developing-Task-Based-Social-Networking-Projects-The-Case-of-Teaching-Russian-in-the-L2-Classroom-31-320.jpg)
Language Symposium 2012: Developing Task-Based Social Networking Projects: The Case of Teaching Russian in the L2 Classroom
- 1. Developing Task-Based Social Networking Projects (Russian L2 Classroom) Liudmila Klimanova The University of Iowa Svetlana Dembovskaya Loyola University Chicago Language Symposium April 14, 2012
- 2. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) Multimodal profiles The “Friends list” Interactivity (synchronous, asynchronous) Easy access to friends‟ profiles “Gated communities” Access to video clips, movies, music, advertisements Access to online groups, forums and communities Daily updates Easy (and free) access from any computer connected to the Internet
- 3. Social Networking and L2 Learning • authentic social environments • convenient venues for performing L2 identities and experimenting with multiple identities • self-authoring (McBride, 2009) • online activities – less about exchanging information, more about making symbolic gestures (Lam, 2000; 2004) • communities of practices and situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Reinhardt & Zander, 2009) • achieve expertise through the process of legitimate peripheral participation • new generations of language students – „digital natives‟ or neo- millennium student
- 4. Facebook or Target Language SNS? Facebook: More familiar to American students; The layout/functionality of Facebook is clear; hence switching to L2 does not present a big problem; “gated community” a safe social space, all members are classmates; “American” environment Target Language SNS Easy access to L1 speakers‟ profiles; cultural artifacts, authentic language use; “Home” of L1 virtual communities and groups of common interest “Real world” A cultural phenomenon
- 5. Vkontakte (Russian: „in contact‟)
- 6. Facebooking practices in L1 Preliminary survey… ◦ 32 students, aged 18-20 years old ◦ all but one student have a Facebook account ◦ on average – at least once a day to several times a day Motivations behind opening a Facebook account ◦ Practical Stay in contact or connect with old (after high school) or new friends Photo sharing, keeping pictures in one place ◦ Peer pressure Friends moving from Myspace.com For friends who were also joining ◦ Intrinsically motivated For fun, “facebook seemed interesting”
- 7. Facebooking practices in L1 What features of Facebook do you use and how often? several once a several once a once a never times a day times a week month day week Instant messaging Status updates Wall postings Private messaging Picture updates Online invitations Apps and games
- 8. Designing Vkontakte Task-based Projects From Bygate & Samuda (2009) (three conditions necessary for a task to be pedagogically beneficial for learning) ◦ Field – content (linguistic, conceptual) relevant to L2 learning objectives + the sense of the overall intended outcome and the procedures necessary for achieving this outcome; ◦ Purpose – students‟ perception of a certain instructional activity as being for their learning beyond the activity or task; ◦ Engagement - how far the students are engaged with the goals of the task; Sequencing of Vkontakte projects Observer/Guided Vkontakte user Active/independent Vkontakte user
- 9. Projects and Participants Spring 2010 (Project Duration 8 weeks, March – April) Second Semester Russian (n=26) Fourth Semester Russian (n=6) Russian speakers (a diverse group of native Russians residing in the US) Spring 2011 (Project Duration 6 weeks, March - April) Second Semester Russian (n=22) Fourth Semester Russian (n=12) Russian speakers (students in two academic institutions in Russia and Ukraine) Spring 2012 (On-going) One instructor; projects included in the course syllabus and constitute a portion of the final grade for the course; Weekly Project assignments: task completion reports, weekly surveys, weekly reflections (in L2 and in English), final reports
- 10. Task-based projects – Spring 2010 (Duration – 8 weeks) Week Assignments Description Week 1 Registration and Creation of a personal account in unguided Vkontakte Week 2 exploration Week 3 Project 1 Classified ads in Russian; write and post your ad in your profile Week 4 Project 2 VKontakte media, games, applications; Week 5 Project 3 Keypals – telecollaboration partnerships Week 6 Project 4 VKontakte groups Week 7 Project 5 Send Email Jim about Vkontakte (jimrichardson@rambler.ru) Week 8 Final report Project Surveys and réflexions Week 2-8 Status updates Update your status in your profile page at least 3 times a week
- 11. Task-based projects – Spring 2011 (Duration – 6 weeks) Week Assignments Description Spring Registration Creation of a personal account in Break Vkontakte Week 1 Keypal Project 1 Write an essay about your keypal Week 2 Keypal Project 2 Describe in writing 3 differences in the lives of American and Russian/Ukrainian students Week 3 Keypal Project 3 Interview your keypal and write a newspaper article. Week 4 Groups Project 4 Join three VKontakte groups and submit reports on each group. Week 5 Groups Project 5 Initiate and participate in a discussion on a group wall Week 6 Groups Project 6 Submit a written summary of the Final report discussion and final reflection.
- 12. Students‟ perceptions Keypal projects Groups projects 2nd semester students 2nd semester students Personal Difficult Educational Challenging Interesting Intriguing Fun 4th semester students 4th semester students Interesting Rewarding Fun Friendly Patient Inquisitive Polite Personal Difficult Meaningful Formal Time-consuming Unique Condescending (HS) Nervous Intriguing Challenging Fulfilling
- 13. Students‟ perceptions Keypal projects Groups projects 2nd semester students 2nd semester students Personal Difficult Distant Difficult Educational Challenging Uninteresting Dull Interesting Intriguing Confusing Irrelevant Fun Irrelevant Strange 4th semester students 4th semester students Interesting Rewarding Intimidating Daunting Fun Friendly Overwhelming Prompt Patient Inquisitive Helpful (HS) Unsuccessful Polite Personal Boring Tedious Difficult Meaningful Interactive (HS) Interest-peaking Formal Time-consuming Unique Condescending Frustrating Disconcerting (HS) Difficult One-sided Nervous Intriguing Challenging Fulfilling
- 14. When a task fails to fire: possible explanations (Bygate & Samuda, 2009): Processing of a larger amount of linguistic content; Lack of transparency from students‟ perspective of the potential learning experience; No clear relationship between processes of a task and an intended outcome (Why are we going this?); A task is not seen by students as contributing to their L2 learning; “how learners are endorsing the activity, and engaging with it in a meaningful way” (p.96) ?? Inadequate preparation for a real world activity by the instructor; Lack of continuous scaffolding during task completion.
- 15. Role of weekly reflection in English Instrumental in helping students re-visit weekly experiences in Vkontakte and identify and accept cultural differences; Motivational in pushing students to identify their strengths and weaknesses and eventually become autonomous learners; Informational for the instructor, revealing students‟ perceptions of Vkontakte tasks and degrees of individual students‟ engagement with Vkontakte projects;
- 16. Cultural „discoveries‟ through reflection Nicole‟s (2011) oral reflection: “I noticed that she isn‟t giving me as much personal information as she could. There were a couple of questions that I asked her, and she didn‟t respond to right away. And later she did respond to them. For example, I asked her about her family, and she didn‟t respond right away. And I was thinking: maybe this is not the way they communicate with strangers.”
- 17. Motivational reflection Aaron‟s (2011): “I realized how little conversational Russian I know and how much I still have to learn. I felt limited in my posts as I could not say as much as I would have wanted. I am not going to lie, I used Google translator a lot. I know it is often not accurate and I hope she understood most of the things I said, seemed like she did I think.”
- 18. Informational reflection Students modifying task conditions “We both write a lot in the chat rather than on the wall because it is easier for both to leave a message or two on the go when we are on our phones. There are days where we talk throughout the whole day from our phones.”(Hannah, 2011 )
- 19. Continuous Instructor Scaffolding Linguistic feedback planned by the instructor; ◦ formal vs. informal markers : a mix of ты-вы, ты verb endings and вы verb endings in the same sentence or paragraph; ◦ feminine vs. masculine verb endings because Google translate uses only masculine endings by default; ◦ the use of unfamiliar complex structures provided by online translators (very often used inaccurately); ◦ the use of false cognates;
- 20. Continuous Instructor‟s Scaffolding Non-linguistic feedback planned by the instructor: ◦ Issues related to maintaining a friendly relationship and commitment on the part of NS participants; ◦ Issues related to time difference management; ◦ Discussion of possible reasons why some students did not get responses to groups postings; ◦ Issues pertaining to the features of Russian Internet culture. Non-linguistic spontaneous scaffolding not planned by the instructor; ◦ Student‟s cultural discoveries; issues brought by students to class for whole class discussions, conflict resolution;
- 21. Evaluation and Grading Two main criteria: (1) successful task completion (e.g., posted the minimum required 3 messages and found 7 differences, posted 3 message + wrote an article with sufficient detail, posted 2 messages to groups and got at least one response) (2) accurate use of target grammar and vocabulary in Russian portions of project reflections Two steps in evaluating student reflections: (1) Instructor collected Russian summaries of the English reflections and corrected (underlined or circled) errors in target structures; (2) Guided by the instructor‟s feedback, students corrected their compositions and returned the final version to the instructor. The grade was the average between the first and the second grade.
- 22. Challenges Evaluating/Grading (what constitutes an A)?? Balance between classroom work and project work Collaboration with a paired institution Technical issues Continuous teacher presence online Timely scaffolding to prevent negative experiences
- 23. Literature Lam, W.S.A. (2004). Second language socialization in a bilingual chat room: global and local considerations. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. McBride, K. (2009). Social-networking sites in foreign language classes: Opportunities for Re-creation. Reinhardt & Zander (2009). Social networking in an intensive English program. Bygate, M. & Samuda, V. (2009). Creating pressure in task pedagogy: The joint roles of Field, Purpose, and Engagement within the Interactional Approach.
- 25. Informational reflection Students modifying task conditions “It was a little difficult choosing a topic that she was interested in for the interview. I asked her whether or not she was interested in discussing politics, movies, or music. Victoria told me that while she does not like Politics she always stays up to date on the news in Ukraine and worldwide. We ended up just talking about a variety of topics. I think that while we did not stay on one topic this week, we had a great flow to our
- 26. Informational reflection Student Engagement “The most I enjoyed this week was exploring VK. I spent hours exploring my friend‟s profile, by going through pages and pages on her wall” (Steve, 2011)
- 27. Informational reflection Students perception of task importance “The only recommendation that I have is to make sure the communication between the partners does not turn into “20 questions.” At some parts of the projects my partner would purely just answer my questions without expanding on her answers.” (Erin,2011)
- 28. Any L2 learning gains? Cultural “moments” Knowledge of L2 online culture (s) and its conventions: ◦ VK is less legitimate at times (they ask for phones numbers to verify things)… less restriction on the content of pages – a huge cultural difference – maybe it is an extension of culture?? ◦ Virtual groups are closed/ or by invitation only. ◦ VK seems to be used to connect with friends but also to make new virtual friends. ◦ Russians are way more open with what they post in groups, whereas in Facebook you have to make sure it’s appropriate. ◦ People seemed to be more formal and the groups had rules (!). People were up front with who they were and did not “generalize” their profiles. ◦ People are more active in group discussions. ◦ Most of the users in the VK groups are all women. Most of the
- 29. Any L2 learning gains? Cultural “moments” – continued L2 social networking pragmatics ◦ VK helped me understand register – formal and informal Russian “at work” ◦ Russian Internet culture – smileys - : -) (FB) to )) A glimpse into Russian identities: ◦ VK had more beautiful people on it… Russians put up their one and best picture on their profile. Maybe they are more attractive. ◦ Russians put up glamorous headshots of themselves. ◦ “free (!) access to music and videos” ◦ There is a great deal of national pride displayed in VK… . This is one major difference I noticed. I believe this is simply a refection of life in Europe.
- 30. Trying new things… Developing multimedia literacy During this project did you do anything in VK that you normally do not do in FB? ◦ Trying new CMC and SNS functions: Talking [via a SNS] to people I don’t know Making posts on the group’s wall; posting regular status updates; Looking through strangers’ profiles – I actively looked up groups and ads and talked to strangers Typing Cyrillic on the computer Improving my L2 readings skills by reading posts and profiles in VK ◦ Is addiction to SNS apps bad? I watched many more than the 3 posted videos, probably about 2 hours worth of Russian videos just in that night – (artifacts of culture); The VK project resulted in an unstoppable addition to a
- 31. Trying new things… cont. Becoming aware of the social contexts in SNSs: Learning to be a more observant language learner: It was really cool to be able to see how the Russian youth interacted. Negotiating one‟s power and place in SNS environments: Talking to a NS made me concentrate on my errors and mistakes. I was conscious of my grammar so that they [NSs] can understand me. I actually started discussions on the groups I joined! (playing a „social game‟ on equal terms with NSs) Experimenting with one‟s L2 identity
- 32. Status updates
- 33. Analysis of status updates An of average amount of previously studied and not studied vocabulary by project week (N = 317)
- 34. Analysis of status updates Linguistic and non-linguistic expressivity - encoding emotion in a status update % status updates ling/non-linguistic non-linguistic linguistic 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70