Students' perceptions of their intercultural communicative competence following intercultural encounters with language assistants : a multiple case study

Le programme des langues officielles, Odyssée, existe depuis plus de 40 ans, mais aucune recherche empirique connue ne s'est penchée sur son impact sur les apprenants de L2—le plus grand nombre d'acteurs impliqués. Pour combler cette lacune, cette étude s'est penchée sur la perception qu'ont les apprenants de L2 en anglais de leur compétence en communication interculturelle à la suite de rencontres interculturelles avec des assistants en langues officielles. Une approche d'études de cas multiples a été utilisée pour recueillir des données quantitatives et qualitatives auprès d'un assistant en langues (n=1) et des apprenants d’anglais L2 (N=124) dans deux écoles secondaires de la province de Québec, situées dans une communauté semi-urbaine et rurale. L'objectif principal de cette étude était d'examiner comment les rencontres interculturelles avec des assistants en langues pourraient façonner les dimensions cognitives et affectives de la compétence communicative interculturelle des apprenants. Elle a également examiné comment les facteurs sociodémographiques pouvaient influencer les résultats. Les principaux résultats révèlent que les participants des deux écoles ont estimé que l'apprentissage avec l'assistant de langue a façonné leurs attitudes et connaissances interculturelles, mais pas dans la même mesure. Cette étude souligne l'influence potentielle des facteurs sociodémographiques sur les attitudes et les connaissances interculturelles des participants ainsi que le rôle que l'assistant de langue a pu jouer dans la formation des connaissances interculturelles des participants. Enfin, cette étude suggère que l'intersection de la compétence interculturelle et de la recherche sur les assistants de langues est un domaine d'enquête important et que les programmes de langues officielles au Canada bénéficieraient de recherches supplémentaires dans cette direction.The official languages program, Odyssey, has existed for over 40 years, yet no known empirical research has investigated its impact on L2 learners—the largest number of stakeholders involved. To address this gap, this study looked at English L2 learners’ perceptions of their intercultural communicative competence following intercultural encounters with official language assistants. A multiple case study approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a language assistant (n=1) and English L2 learners (N=124) at two secondary schools in the province of Quebec, located in a semi-urban and rural community. The primary objective of this study was to examine how intercultural encounters with language assistants might shape the knowledge and affective dimensions of learners’ intercultural communicative competence. It also considered how sociodemographic factors might influence the results. Main results reveal that participants in both schools felt that learning with the language assistant shaped their intercultural attitudes and knowledge, but not to the same degree. This study highlights the potential influence of sociodemographic factors on participants’ intercultural attitudes and knowledge as well as the role the language assistant may have played in shaping participants’ intercultural knowledge. Finally, this study suggests that the intersection of intercultural competence and language assistant research is an important area of inquiry and that official languages programs in Canada would benefit from further research in this direction

Simon Lewty: The SIGNificance of Writing

An essay on the work of Simon Lewty (b.1941) for a retrospective of his work held at Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum. I interpret his work historically, with reference to the figurative revival in Britain in the 1980s, and specifically, in relation to his unique exploration of writing as a mode of drawing and the way he makes encounters with language and letters (forming a complex drawn surface) into a vivid mode of intersubjective experiencing

Reframing the L2 learning experience as narrative reconstructions of classroom learning

In this study we investigate the situated and dynamic nature of the L2 learning experience through a newly-purposed instrument called the Language Learning Story Interview, adapted from McAdams’ life story interview (2007). Using critical case sampling, data were collected from an equal number of learners of various L2s (e.g., Arabic, English, Mandarin, Spanish) and analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (Rihoux & Ragin, 2009). Through our data analysis, we demonstrate how language learners construct overarching narratives of the L2 learning experience and what the characteristic features and components that make up these narratives are. Our results provide evidence for prototypical nuclear scenes (McAdams et al., 2004) as well as core specifications and parameters of learners’ narrative accounts of the L2 learning experience. We discuss how these shape motivation and language learning behavior

Digital Language & Literacy Narrative

The Digital Language Literacy Narrative (DLLN) focuses on informing our perspectives of language and literacy: how and why we presently learn certain mechanics of speaking, reading, and writing. Derived from societal realities--the belief that some languages are deemed “good” while others, not--this assignment strives to engage students in critical thinking and reading, by gaining practice as both the reader and writer in order to explore their own experiences and to understand how social differences can affect one’s own literacy

Didactic innovation in teaching the English Language in the skill of speaking focuses on fluency through the creation of a video tour about touristic places in Carazo, with students from the 11th grade at Corazon de Maria high school, located in El Aguacate neighborhood (Jinotepe), in the term from March to November 2015

The purpose of this research is to provide innovative methodological strategies that can be used by the teacher to encourage oral activities to improve fluency and interaction in the classroom. It will be implemented in the English classroom of Corazon de Maria High School in Jinotepe-Carazo in the academic year 2015 with a population of 11 students in the eleventh grade. Using different strategies and tools such as class observations, interviews with the teacher and students, a survey and classes that were implemented, the research reveals that is a challenge for the students to achieve fluency in English classroom due to some factors that affect their second language such as a lack of vocabulary, speaking practice, and confidence as well as pauses when they speak, pronunciation, fillers, etc. Our classes were implemented to 11 students from Corazon de Maria High School and consisted of: short presentations, role plays, music, warm up‟s related to speaking, and repetitions of short speech in front of cell phone camera. From the results, we could identify that students were enthusiastic with the use of the technology and they got involved to create an excellent final project providing a good speech in the video, collaborating with each other to accomplish a common goal This is a qualitative research, because we gathered data from the real environment; we observed the problem situation and gave details of the real context. Also it is exploratory, because we used a video recording as a project that is enjoyable and fun to motivate students to develop their abilities and skill through the creations of the video getting everyone involved. Keywords: Communicative language approach, oral interaction, fluency, strategy, oral communication, speaking, didactic innovation