Second Annual Instructional Innovation Conference

Teaching languages with iChat

Giovanna De Appolonia

Department of Romance Studies

Video Conference for Language Learning

between professor and student in distance language courses

between two students from different countries, one of whom is a native speaker

between a whole language class and one or more native speakers

Experience A

A homework assignment

An in-class review of the questionnaire

The videoconference– Students asked the native speaker

personal questions – Students asked cultural related questions

Experience A: Students’ Feedback

“Enjoyed hearing her speak.”

“Exercise was great!”

“Neat to hold a basic conversation with someone in Italy.”

“Interactive and engaging exercise!”

“Taking the language outside of the class makes it feel more real.”

“Good way to practice with speaking and listening.”

“Being in Italian I, there was a lot that I did not understand, but I was

also surprised by how much I did understand!”

Experience B

A homework assignment

An in-class review of the questionnaire

The videoconference– Students asked general questions– Students asked food related questions– Native speaker asked questions to the

students

Video

Positive Results

Allows direct contact with the target country Allows native speakers to show things A good way to practice with pronunciation Can be held on regular in-class hours By videotaping the video chat students can

evaluate their communication skills Can be experimented at ALL LEVELS of

language learning

Limitations

Technical problems and failure of connection

Expensive technical equipment needed on both sides

Different time zone between Italy and the US

Lack of people to interview