Micro-input: Effects of an Instructor Model on L2 Student Practice on Twitter
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1) The document describes a study that examined the effects of an instructor model on student use of new grammar and vocabulary during practice on Twitter. Students were assigned to experimental and control groups. 2) The results showed that while students in the experimental group used new grammar and vocabulary more, the presence of the instructor model did not significantly influence their use. Students generally had positive views of using Twitter for practice. 3) The implications are that structured practice may be needed to consistently encourage use of new features, and that reducing activity duration while rewarding correct use could improve the Twitter practice.
Micro-input: Effects of an Instructor Model on L2 Student Practice on Twitter
- 1. Micro-Input: Effects of an Instructor Model on L2 Student Practice on Twitter Fabrizio Fornara Florida State University May 29th, 2015 CALICO 2015 - University of Colorado, Boulder
- 3. …and 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
- 4. Why Twitter? Twitter is one of the most popular social media sites in America and the most popular microblogging service (Duggan et al., 2015).
- 5. Why Twitter? (cont.) Twitter is a knowledge-sharing tool that enables users to share short texts, engage in message broadcasting, and interact with other users (Dennen & Jiang, 2012). Twitter is participatory, authentic, and immediate (Antenos-Conforti, 2009) and engage a community of users in social interactions that are similar to the ones that language instructors try to reproduce in class to foster language acquisition (McBride, 2009).
- 6. Twitter for L2 Learning Twitter can be a useful tool to integrate and support L2 instruction: • Increase students’ exposure to L2 input. • Students produce and reformulate L2 output for a real audience. • Having a real audience, students may be encouraged to use the target language for authentic communications rather than only for practice (Chapelle, 1998).
- 7. Twitter for L2 Learning (cont.) Students’ interactions on Twitter lie between asynchronous and synchronous communication. Students’ entries may model formal writing, everyday speaking, and everything in between. (Barrett, 2009)
- 8. Twitter for L2 Learning (cont.) In a formal higher education setting, Twitter for language learning has been used to foster: • Student attitude (Antenos-Conforti, 2009) • Communicative and cultural competence (Borau, Feng, Shen, & Ullrich, 2009) • Community building (Lomicka & Lord, 2011) • Interaction with native speakers (Castro, 2009) A structured practice helps increase student noticing in input and output of target language features and interaction (Hattem, 2012).
- 9. We Have a Problem Students occasionally experiment with new grammar and vocabulary, they usually prefer to use language features that they have already acquired and practiced. How can we increase student use of new grammar and vocabulary without disrupting the dynamic of the activity and losing the authenticity and spontaneity of student interactions?
- 10. Trying to Solve the Problem The purpose of this study is to observe whether the presence of an instructor model encourages student use of new grammar and vocabulary. Of particular interest is whether students who have an instructor who models L2 features recently covered in class (experimental group) use them more than students who have an instructor who models other L2 features (control group).
- 11. The question is… Does the presence of an instructor who models L2 features affect student L2 use on Twitter? The findings of this study might help L2 instructors to design microblogging tools-based learning activities that foster student authentic use of the target language.
- 13. Let’s Tweet! (cont.) Students follow on Twitter all their classmates and the researcher. Unstructured activity, no content restriction: • Reduce student anxiety and let them freely experiment with the language (Krashen, 1997). • Spontaneous, informal, and authentic communication. Student participation is graded on the frequency of postings, not the quality of their writing.
- 14. Tweeting Students Sample: • Six sections, Italian 2 course: 93 students Nonprobability, convenience sample Entire sections were assigned to one of the two conditions: • Experimental: 4 sections, 52 students • Control: 2 sections, 41 students
- 15. Collecting Tweets Data sources: • Tweets: 5000+ total • N=1121 • 650 experimental condition • 571 control condition • Pre- and post-course surveys: 92 students Data collection: • tweetdownload.net, free online tool
- 16. What the Students Say? Data analysis: • Content analysis of the students’ tweets Grammar Vocabulary Indirect object pronouns Bar, restaurant Double pronouns Cooking Adverbs Leisure activities Impersonal verbs Sports Imperfetto Health Future Clothes
- 18. Results
- 20. What About Twitter? 3.3 21.7 43.5 9.8 Twitter is a useful tool to practice Italian Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree 12 23.9 34.8 15.2 I liked using Twitter to practice Italian Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree N=92
- 21. What About Twitter? (cont.) 2.2 7.6 59.8 16.3 The activity on Twitter gave me the opportunity to use Italian in my daily life Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree 4.3 16.3 38 20.7 The activity on Twitter helped me practice Italian when I normally wouldn’t have Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree N=92 N=92
- 22. What About Twitter? (cont.) 2.2 15.2 46.7 19.6 The activity on Twitter gave me the opportunity to practice new grammar and vocabulary Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree N=92
- 23. What About Twitter? (cont.) 6.5 21.7 37 12 The activity on Twitter helped me to assimilate Italian grammar Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree 4.3 18.5 41.3 16.3 The activity on Twitter helped me to assimilate Italian vocabulary Str. Disagree Disagree Agree Str. Agree N=92 N=92
- 24. Good “Made me use Italian every day” “It forced me to speak Italian at least once a day” “helped me become more fluent” “I learned to use Italian in an everyday context rather than just in class” “It gave me a chance to practice using new grammar and vocab.” “it makes speaking italian kinda fun” “I started to think in Italian” “I like how twitter let me have a conversation with my classmates in italian that was not prompted by a textbook” “It’s an easy grade” “I like how the twitter activity got me more interested in Italian culture, not just the grammar and vocabulary” “Became more comfortable speaking and writing Italian conversationally”
- 25. Not so good “Forgot to tweet everyday” “I don't think I was engaged with the other classmates” “I don't have a smartphone” “Not getting grammatical feedback on content” “Everyone posted the same kinds of things over and over.” “People being overall negative on the assignment was annoying.” “it does not help me learn” “I don't like having to use a social media site for a class” “It can be difficult to figure out how to say what I want to say in Italian” “I didn't like being forced to tweet once a day” “I don't think it should be a grade” “Everyone just copied everyone else's tweets”
- 26. What I Learned Although students in the experimental group use new grammar and vocabulary more often than students in the control condition, the presence of a co-tweeting instructor does not significantly influence student use of these features. An unstructured practice on Twitter does not help increase student noticing in input and output of target language features. Overall, students have a positive perception of the Twitter activity – it encourages them to use the L2.
- 27. Implications for Design If we want students to consistently use new grammar and vocabulary, we should design a structured practice that encourages its use (Hattem, 2012). Structuring student-instructor and student-student interactions might encourage students to use targeted grammar and vocabulary. Reduce the duration of the activity, reward correct and frequent use.
- 28. I Have Some Questions For You • Would you use Twitter for L2 practice? • How would you structure the activity? • Would you make the activity mandatory or optional? • What can this kind of data tell us about student language acquisition? • Can similar data help answer other research questions?
- 29. Thanks #calico2015! Fabrizio Fornara ff11@my.fsu.edu @ffornara May 29th, 2015 CALICO 2015 - University of Colorado, Boulder