Transcript Slide 1

From National Educational
Standards to Language Use
Sally Sieloff Magnan
University of Wisconsin-Madison
[email protected]
Philosophy of the Standards
p. 7
• “The United States must educate
students who are equipped
linguistically and culturally to
communicate successfully in a
pluralistic American society and
abroad.”
The National Standards of Foreign
Language Education
• From a task Force: ACTFL, AATs (1996)
• Goals for Foreign Language learning K-16
• “What students should know and be able
to do with the foreign language”
FIVE Cs: National Standards
• Communication. Communicate e in
languages other than English face-to-face,
in writing, and across texts
• Cultures. Gain knowledge and
understanding of other cultures
• Connections. Connect with other disciplines
and acquire information.
• Comparisons. Develop insights into the
nature of language and culture.
• Communities. Participate in multilingual
communities at home and around the world.
Education week, November 1995
“It’s amazing to think that exactly 100
years ago, we were making virtually the
same recommendations …but this time
around…it is no longer a committee of 10,
but some 10,000 teachers at the fore of
promoting rigorous academic standards in
languages ranging from Latin to Spanish
to Thai.”
(Christine Brown, chair of task force)
Impact of Standards
• Influence on framing instruction
• Publication in pedagogical journals
ACTFL volumes, Foreign Language
Annals, Hispania, Die Unterrichtspraxis,
Northeast Conference, Central States
Conference, Modern Language Journal
• Questionable extent of curricular revision
Working conclusions
1. They are based on well-accepted notions
of what is important in teaching.
2. The content standard of “knowing how,
when, and why to say what to whom”
relates well with communicative
language teaching.
Content Standards for Successful
Communication
“knowing how, when, and why to say what
to whom”
=
all the linguistic and social knowledge
required for effective human-to-human
interaction
Communicative Competence
Dell Hymes (1964)
• An individual’s competence to use
language effectively is intimately linked to
his or her knowledge of social
considerations:
– Setting
– Participants
– Goals of the communicative activity.
Bachman (1990)
• language competence
– organizational competence
(grammatical, textual)
– pragmatic competence
(illocutionary, sociolinguistic)
• strategic competence
• psychophysiological mechanisms
Celce-Murcia et al.
Model of Communicative Competence
(1995)
FIVE Cs
Which C is primary?
• Standards say Communication
• “A communicatively competent individual
combines knowledge of the language system
with knowledge of cultural conventions,
norms of politeness, discourse conventions,
and the like, in order to transmit and receive
meaningful messages successfully.” (p. 40)
Teachers: Communication and
Culture of equal importance
Administrators: Culture most
important
(Bartz & Singer, 1996)
COMMUNICATION
INTERPERSONAL. Students engage in
conversations, provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions, and exchange
opinions.
INTERPRETIVE. Students understand and
interpret written and spoken language on a
variety of topics.
PRESENTATIONAL. Students present information,
concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners
or readers on a variety of topics
Which C is primary?
• An argument for culture.
Wisconsin Standards
Another Working Conclusion
• Through the Communication modes, the
Standards maintain an interrelated
distinctness between communication and
cultures, while recognizing the importance
of both.
The interdependency of language
and culture
• Languaculture (Ager, 1994)
• Lantolf (in press) extends the
concept to language learning and
instruction
Galbreath, Jernigan, & Moore
(1997)
1. Much culture teaching came from
unplanned, casual comments
especially on products and practices.
2. Films helped students glean
information on practices and products
3. There was little evidence of
instruction on perspectives.
4. Cultural concepts were not evaluated.
5. Different instructors handled culture
differently.
• Third space
• Interculturality
• Multiculturalism
• Vs. communicative
competence
Vygotsky, Essence of mind
Sociocultural Theory
(1978+)
• Language begins in material and social world.
• By participating in communicative activities with
more capable members of a community, we acquire
communicative competence.
• In acquiring language, we transform linguistic
symbols into individual knowledge, as we acquire
the world view embedded in it. This internalization
constitutes psychological growth.
Standards and SCT
“Language and communication are at the
heart of the human enterprise” (S, p.7)
To relate in a meaningful way to another
human being, one must be able to
communicate” (S, p.11)
Human development cannot be
separated from social context.
Language acquisition “occurs as a result
of meaningful verbal interaction …
between novices and experts in the
environment.” (Schinke-Llano, 1995, p. 22,
quoted in Gifford & Mullaney, p. 14)
Standards highlight learning as doing.
“Active use of language is central to the learning
process; therefore, learners must be involved
in generating utterances for themselves. They
learn by doing, by trying out language, and by
modifying it to serve communicative needs.”
(S, p. 37)
Vygotsky sees learning as the result of mediation
in joint problem-solving.
Mediation
• Knowledge is co-constructed through
mediation using verbal, visual, or physical
using tools
• More competent members assist others
• Meaning-making resources are carriers of
sociocultural practices and knowledge
(Wertsch, 1994)
Activity Theory and SCT
• Activities shape abilities and
skills
• Expectations bring issues of
identity to play
(Engeström, 1993)
–
Which C is primary?
Positioning
the Community Standard
“Goal five [Communities] looks beyond
the classroom and focuses on the
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS of what
has been learned in the secondlanguage curriculum.
(Valette, 1997, p. 23).
Implementations of the Community
Standard
• Extracurricular “international” summer language
Camp (Lally, 2000)
• Email exchanges (Torii-Williams, 2004)
• Online chats (Darhower, 2006)
• Online gaming or MMOGs such as World of
Warcraft (Thorne, 2007)
Meme:
Zomn:
Meme:
Zomn:
Meme:
Zomn:
Meme:
Meme:
Zomn:
Zomn:
Meme:
Meme:
Zomn:
kak dela?
:))) normalno :)))
if I may ask, what did I say haha, I'm not quite sure
how r u :) ///
what does normalno mean? good?
i sad goooooood :)))
alright =)
do you speak any languages besides russian?
yeap ... english :)) ... n studing spanish ..
per aspera ad astra :) ?
through our endevours, to the stars =)
nice phrase
i like it too
Thorne, forthcoming
View of the General Public
Advisory board (individuals outside the
language teaching profession) believed
that
"participation in multilingual/multicultural
communities, was the raison d’être for
foreign language study”
(Phillips 1998, p. 32).
Features of a community
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Membership
Shared location
Shared cultural practices and values
Interpersonally meaningful relationship
Collective goods and resources
Commitment and reciprocity
Sense of identity
Sustain duration
(Thorne, 2007)
On community
• A “normal member of a community” has
knowledge of many aspects of communicative
systems. He “will interpret or assess the
conduct of others and himself in ways that reflect
that knowledge.”
• “The knowledge acquired by different individuals
is identical, despite identity of manifestation and
apparent system.” (Hymes,1972, p. 282)
Community of Practice
(Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998)
• People come together in social groups for
a common endeavor.
• These groups shape identity by exercising
power over members to conform with or
change social patterns of interaction.
• Participation in communities of practice
becomes the fundamental process of
learning.
Community Standard
• 5.1 Students use the language both within
and beyond the school setting.
• 5.2 Students show evidence of becoming
life-long learners by using the language for
personal enjoyment and enrichment.
Darhower suggests addition to
Community standard
• 5.3 “Students engage in intercultural
communication in the target language
by becoming active participants in a
community of speakers of the
language” (2006, p. 96)
FIVE Cs
Wisconsin Standards