Cultural narratives as enhancement of motivation through collaborative CALL

Antwerp CALL 2010: Motivation and Beyond

Jane Vinther, PhD.University of Southern Denmark

jvinther@language.sdu.dk

Background

• A networking project financed by the Danish Agency for Innovation and Research in 2009

• Networking between foreign language departments at a Danish university and a Chinese University

Setting

• Chinese side:

a written language production class (EFL)

• Danish side:

an English grammar class

Aim

That the cultural narrative may serve as an enhancer of motivation

Objective

1. Language production

2. Focus on grammar

3. Focus on meaning

Vechicles

• Collaborative learning

• Co-construction of knowledge

• Autonomy

Framework

Computer

Mediated

Communication

NEW LEVEL OF PROFICIENCYNEW LEARNING TOOLS

NEW ENERGY

COLLABORATIVE LEARNINGCO-CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE

AUTONOMY

FOCUS ON MEANINGFOCUS ON FORM

LANGUAGE PRODUCTION

CULTURAL NARRATIVE

CMC

CMC INTERACTION

AWARENESSRAISING

AUTONOMY

MOTIVATION

Autonomy

Definitions: - the ability to take charge of one’s own learning (Holec, 1981:3; cited

in Benson, 2006:22).

- the situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all the decisions concerned with his learning and the implementations of those decisions (Dickinson, 1987:11; cited in Benson, 2006:22).

- a learner’s capacity for critical self-evaluation and self-determination, an ability to take control over and responsibility for her learning. In language learning, these reflective processes are supported by the exclusive use of the target language for interaction in the classroom (Schwienhorst, 2003:428).

Awareness raising

- the negotiation of meaning, defined as various input modifications and interactional moves […] provides learners with implicit negative evidence and thus serves to benefit L2 development (Long,1996).

- there’s a central link between knowledge about the language and knowledge of the language

(Andrews, 2003).

- metalinguistic feedback seem to have higher effects than other types (Lyster, 2009; Mackay, 2007).

- explicit L2 knowledge can enhance the processes involved in the development of implicit knowledge (Ellis, Loewen &Erlam, 2006).

-

Awareness raising

- interactive tasks produce markedly more accuracy and complexity (Skehan, 2003).

- Learners involved in email interaction demonstrated increases in both accuracy and complexity of the language produced (Stockwell & Harrington, 2003).

Motivation

- integrativeness

- associated with the L2 course, the L2 teacher and the learner group

- the L2 self

- changes over time (Dörnyei, Z., 2006)

Motivation

1. Instrumental motivation.

2.An integrative motivation when a learner wishes to integrate himself within a culture of the second language group, to identify himself with and become a part of that society (Brown, 1980).

Motivation

- the ”imagined global community”

(Dörnyei, 2006; Norton, 1997)

- there may be a gap between the ambition or desire of the L2 learner to the actually engagement in learning activities

(Horimori, 2009)

The study

• email exchanges• two groups of non-native speakers (i.e.Danish and Chinese)• over four weeks• outside the classroom• no set amount of text• no set frequency• cultural narratives• focus on form

Examples of problematic structures

Major error types (by Chinese):

• Articleswe eat dumplings on the new year’s eveI don’t know how people in __ city celebrate the Spring Festivalwe don’t have __ heater here

• Modal verbs I like to introduce them all to you I may won’t say much

• Question formationI’m curious about how do you plan your timetable for the job and your studyyou can see […] how does lucky money bag look likehow you pick your English name?is it sounds like Mary?

Illustrative examples of inter-student communication relating to the task

A. Danish students: 1. I really hate to correct other peoples mistakes, especially people I don’t know so

well yet. If you want you can always correct mine as revenge. I really suck at grammar myself.’

2. Although I understand what you are saying in these sentences, they are not 100 percent correct. To correct the sentences you need to add auxiliary verbs.

3. You were right about the flaw in what I had written. It happens to me occasionally that I tinker so much with a sentence that some parts of it become complete gibberish.

B. Chinese students: 1. Here are my comments and I hope it can do some help. 2. Honestly, I’m not good at grammar. Here’s my correction on your mail. […]

What do you think? 3. I think it is a good idea to correct my mistakes directly in may email. It’s very

convenient for me to see the mistakes, too. I like this way.’

Negotiation

”What do you think?”

“There is a confusion here. Do you mean you would like to have been there, if so, here you should use subjunctive mood – ‘I would have been to many European countries’ if u mean you have been there, I think the word ‘otherwise’ is not appropriate here.”

Negotiation

• about premises for the exchange

• little about meaning

• often about topic

Examples of metalingual content

• modal verbs, auxiliary verbs• hypothetical, subjunctive mood• discussions on vocabulary• adverbs, adjectives• definite article, indefinite article• ”you have to use..”• ”it makes it easier to understand..”• ”the correct grammatical term here would be…”

Student evaluation

• they would like to continue exchanging emails

• they suddenly saw errors they never make themselves

• a realisation that grammar rules are useful

Conclusion- the students produced considerable amounts of text

- they did engage in focus-on-form metatalk

- the Danish students became aware that they had useful knowledge about grammar

- the Danish students became aware that they had shortcomings in their ability to explain linguistic points to others

- motivation to work with a genuine task outside the classroom and to continue classroom work with greater insight