Teaching to Learn ~ Learning to Teach Classroom Research Tools for Second Language Learning: A Case Study Based on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) in a Secondary School and a University in Ontario, Canada

Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Filosofía y LetrasDepartamento de Filología Ingles

Leveraging the L1: the role of EAL learners' first language in their acquisition of English vocabulary

Approximately one in five primary school pupils in England are classified as having English as an additional language (EAL), meaning that they routinely use, or are exposed to, languages other than English. It is commonly thought that EAL learners’ first languages (L1s) can be leveraged to positively impact their linguistic and academic development in English. However, despite an abundance of theoretical and observational evidence used to argue this position, there is little experimental evidence to clarify the extent and nature of any relevant causal relationships. This gap in evidence was revealed in the first original contribution of this thesis: a systematic review of experimental research on the educational effects of mediating primary and pre-primary multilingual learners’ learning through their L1. An extensive search of twelve bibliographic databases revealed only ten studies that met the review’s inclusion criteria. The pedagogical focuses of these studies varied, and the overall picture was unclear. However, five studies coalesced around the use of L1 as a mediating tool for teaching English vocabulary. Of these, three found that L1-mediation was associated with improved knowledge of the target vocabulary, one found an advantage associated with not using the L1, and the remaining study had mixed results. None of these studies were conducted with linguistically diverse groups of students, typical in English schools. The promising, if somewhat tentative, conclusion invited by the systematic review informed the second original contribution of this thesis: a randomised crossover trial with linguistically diverse students, comparing the effects of L1-mediated teaching and English-only teaching on English vocabulary learning. Forty EAL learners aged from 8 to 11 years, representing 14 different L1s took part. Participants watched short videos that explained the meanings of items of vocabulary taken from the National Curriculum for England. The spoken content of the videos was either in each participant’s L1 or in English. Analysis of the expressive and receptive knowledge of the target words following each condition revealed no statistically significant differences in outcomes. The implications for pedagogy and future research are discussed, especially the imperative to conduct more and better research to add clarity to our understanding of the causal relationships between different types of L1-mediation and linguistic and academic success in linguistically diverse classrooms

How to use social networking sites as a tool to support Spanish language teaching for Spanish elementary levels courses at the university level

Images replaced by URLs in submitted copySocial networking sites (SNSs) are one of the most important platforms in the development of information and communication technology (ICT). This technology motivated me to set the following main objective in this study: to provide guidelines for the use of SNSs to support language teaching activities. To reach that objective, this research starts with a literature review that discusses SNSs and their impact on language use, education, and language teaching. In the research methodology, quantitative and qualitative data from college students and instructors is analyzed through digital instruments. The data gathered looked for information to answer the main research question: how to use social networking sites as a tool to support Spanish language teaching activities for elementary courses at the university level? The results showed the students and instructors' perspectives about the use of SNSs to support language teaching. In general students and instructors are in favor of the use of SNSs in the language class. The guidelines give valuable tips and suggestions about how language instructors can use SNSs in their teaching activities in terms of what to consider when selecting SNSs, how to apply SNSs to activities and how to evaluate activities in SNSs.Includes bibliographical reference

Self-Directed Learning

This book on self-directed learning (SDL) is devoted to original academic scholarship within the field of education, and is the 6th volume in the North-West University (NWU) SDL book series. In this book the authors explore how self-directed learning can be considered an imperative for education in a complex modern society. Although each chapter represents independent research in the field of self-directed learning, the chapters form a coherent contribution concerning the scholarship of self-directed learning, and specifically the effect of environmental and praxis contexts on the enhancement of self-directed learning in a complex society. The publication as a whole provides diverse perspectives on the importance of self-directed learning in varied contexts. Scholars working in a wide range of fields are drawn together in this scholarly work to present a comprehensive dialogue regarding self-directed learning and how this concept functions in a complex and dynamic higher education context. This book presents a combination of theory and practice, which reflects selected conceptual dimensions of self-directed learning in society, as well as research-based findings pertaining to current topical issues relating to implementing self-directed learning in the modern world. The varied methodologies provide the reader with different and balanced perspectives, as well as varied and innovative ideas on how to conduct research in the field of self-directed learning

Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools

If we look at a child’s colouring book, before it has any colour added to it, we think of the page as blank. It’s actually not blank, it’s white. That white background is just “there” and we don’t think much about it. Not only is the background uniformly white, the lines are already in place and they dictate where the colour is allowed to go. When children are young, they don’t care where they put the colours, but as they get older they colour in more and more cautiously. They learn about the place of colour and the importance of staying within the pre-determined boundaries and expectations. This thesis argues that this is the setting for our mainstream, or what I have called, whitestream New Zealand schools — that white background is the norm. When we talk about multiculturalism and diversity what we are really referring to is the colour of the children, or their difference from that white norm, and how they don’t fit perfectly inside our lines. If the colour of the space doesn’t change schools are still in the business of assimilation, relegating non-white children to the margins, no matter how many school reform initiatives, new curricula, strategic plans, or mandated standards we implement. What the schools in this study have tried to do is change the colour of the space – so that the space fits the children and they don’t have to constantly adjust to fit in. New Zealand’s education system has been largely silent on the topic of whiteness and the Eurocentric nature of our schooling policy and practice. However, when I talk to senior Māori and Pasifika ‘warrior-scholars” in Te Whānau o Tupuranga and Clover Park Middle School about “white spaces” they have encountered in their schooling experience they can identify them all too easily. “White spaces,” they explain, are anything you accept as “normal” for Māori – when it’s really not, any situation that prevents, or works against you “being Māori” or who you are, and that requires you to “be” someone else and leave your beliefs behind. White spaces are spaces that allow you to require less of yourself and that reinforce stereotypes and negative ideas about Māori. Most telling of all was the comment from a Māori student that goes straight to the root of the problem, “White spaces are everywhere,” she said, “even in your head.” This thesis describes the 25 year journey of two schools and their community’s determination to resist and reject alienating school environments in favour of a relevant culturally-located, bilingual learning model based in a secure cultural identity, stable positive relationships, and aroha (authentic caring and love). While the research design is a case study, in terms of western, “white space” academic tradition, it is also a story in terms of kaupapa Māori and critical race methodology. More importantly, it is a counter-story that chronicles the efforts of these two schools to step outside education’s “white spaces” to create new space. This counter-story is juxtaposed against pervasive, deficit-driven whitestream explanations of “achievement gaps” and the “long tail” of Māori and Pasifika “under-achievement” in New Zealand schools. In the process of this research the focus shifted from how could Māori and Pasifika learners develop secure cultural identities in mainstream schools, to examining what barriers exist in schools that prevent this from happening already? As these issues became clear the language of the thesis shifted accordingly; “developing” a cultural identity was reframed as a reclamation of educational sovereignty — the absolute right to “be Māori” or “be Pasifika” in school — and “mainstream” schooling became better understood as the “whitestream.” The study hopes to contribute to the journey other schools might take to identify and name their own white spaces, and to make learning equitable for indigenous and minoritised learners

Social Knowledge Creation: Three Annotated Bibliographies

In 2012-2013 a team led by Ray Siemens at the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL), University of Victoria, in collaboration with Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE), developed three annotated bibliographies under the rubric of social knowledge creation. The items for the bibliographies were gathered and annotated by members of the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL) to form this tripartite document as a resource for students and researchers involved in the iNKE team and well beyond, iincluding at digital humanities seminars in Bern (June 2013) and Leipzig (July 2013)