Distance and Blended Learning Environments NEALLT/NERALLT Fall 2009 Joint Conference

1. Distance and Blended Learning Environments NEALLT/NERALLT Fall 2009 Joint Conference Yale UniversityOctober 30-31, 2009 Augmenting Student Social and Communicative Behavior via Experimentation with L2 Identities and Self-Authorship on Facebook Presented by Luba Iskold, Ed. D Joshua Suchow ’09 Muhlenberg College

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction: Perspectives on collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools • Research related to the use of SNSs for SLA • Potential benefits and possible drawbacks • Instructor’s role • Classroom examples • Student reactions to class-related FB experiences

3. Definition of Terms • Avatar – Graphical representation of a user • Blog – Abbreviation for “weblog” with personal entries • CALL – Computer-Assisted Language Learning • CMC – Computer Mediated Communication • FB – Facebook, a social networking site • L2 – The terms “second language,” “target language,” “foreign language” refer to languages other than English taught as an academic subject • SNS – Social Networking Site

4. Introduction: Perspectives on collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools • Users not only engage in one-way communication, i.e., access web pages to retrieve content • They engage in multi-way communication, i.e., create content, contribute, share, and collaborate • Web 2.0 is about “encouraging and enabling participation through open applications and services” (Davis, 2005)

5. Perspectives on collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools • Social-Networking Sites (SNSs) are the most convenient Web 2.0 tools for user collaboration • SNSs allow users to • express themselves • keep in touch with friends • interact with others • set up privacy specifications

6. Perspectives on collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools • SNSs typically unite people with similar interests or goals • Similar features are also found on Flickr, YouTube, Netflix, Gaming sites, Twitter, Glue

7. Reprinted from: boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

8. Research Related to SNSs • Why incorporate SNSs into class-related activities? • Society • User demographics • Magnetizing power

9. Society • Communication and identity performance are increasingly carried out via the internet using SNSs • SNSs are becoming increasingly common in the workplace and in job searches

10. User Demographics • Close to 300 million active users on Facebook • 80%-90% of people ages 20-30 participate in SNSs and have online profiles (Tufekci, 2008) • Some researchers refer to SNSs as a “civil society of teenage culture” (boyd & Ellison, 2007)

11. Magnetizing power: What makes SNSs attractive for this age group? • Observing friends’ profile updates, their likes, dislikes, and other information • Immediate reactions and comments from friends • Teenagers enjoy experimenting with identities and impression management (Tufekci, 2008) • Some researchers believe SNSs provide for safe experimentation with multiple identities (Sykes et.al, 2008)

12. Research Related to SNSs & SLA • Current generation of students has developed “new learning styles and qualitatively different thought patterns” (Thorne & Payne, 2005) • SNSs “foster the ideal language learning environment, one that encourages interaction and collaboration-the major goals, after all, or of language itself” (Lomicka & Lord, 2009) • Learning a language through interactions with others ties in with Vygotsky (1978) socio-cultural approach to learning and its later adaptation for L2 teaching and learning • Incorporating communicative acts via an SNS “could be as practical for [L2] students as teaching them how to order in a restaurant” (McBride, 2009)

13. Research on Experimenting with and Development of Identities • ‘Performing identities’ is the central activity on SNSs where users “write themselves into being”(Atkinson, 2002) • Words, photos, & media express identities on SNSs

14. Research on Experimenting with and Development of Identities • Acquiring an L2 involves the development of a new identity (Pavlenko & Lantolf) • CMC affords additive (vs. subtractive in face-to-face) experimentation with multiple identities • The nature of multiplicity is rather the “fractal” not “fragmentation” (Lange, 2007) • This model is useful for exploring L2 acquisition (Larsen Freeman & Cameron, 2008) • SNSs are characterized by “radical expansion of possibilities for artistic expression” (McBride, 2009)

15. Research on Experimenting with and Development of Identities • “Self-authorship,” i.e., remixing the self through text and media, may serve as the basis for new learning and lessons in CALL (McBride, 2009) • Using student-created materials for further learning fits with “student-centered” pedagogy • Self-authorship may lead to • more time spent on task • raise interest in and motivation for learning • result in more active student role in learning

16. Academic Benefits Students: • Learn to analyze and appreciate netiquette • Develop critical thinking about social interactions with others • Distinguish what is public and what is private • Avoid indulging in uncritical narcissism as in “me-me-I-I-I” (Thorne & Payne, 2005) • Integrate new knowledge and other people’s perspectives into one’s own experience

17. Limitations: Analysis of L1 online interactions and L2 implications • SNSs are used primarily to maintain social bonds • Exchanges are brief and frequently use simplified language, spelling, and colloquialisms • Writing does not require a “process” approach • Texts are scanned rather than read thoroughly • Messages with embedded images are fundamentally different from text-only format • Similarly, L2 SNS-based activities are different from in-class extended reading and writing

18. Student Challenges • May have personal reasons not to be ‘friends’ with someone in class • ‘Popularity contest’-may elevate anxiety and cause alienation in some L2 learners • Lack of L2 pragmatic knowledge in introductory language courses may make writing and interactions with others difficult

19. Instructors’ Challenges • Should the instructor be included? • Is there a difference between communicating with an authority via email vs. an SNS? • Do students find it awkward to interact with instructors socially? • Do SNSs undermine instructor’s authority? (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2007)

20. Instructors’ Challenges • Curricular limitations- difficulty to incorporate additional activities into syllabi • Time constraints- first learn about the technology and only then design own teaching • Resistance from more traditional instructors • Development of assessment strategies and grading parameters • Difficulty with engaging native speakers-the need to develop learner-to-learner interactions • Most importantly: How do we develop meaningful assignments?

21. Why Facebook? • Amount and content of advertising • Student familiarity with this particular SNS eliminates the need for L1 training • Ease of navigation and use • Privacy settings • Ability to set the interface and IM in L2 • Convenience: meeting social and class needs in one place

22. Examination of Building Blocks of FB Online Identity: Profile • Personal photo, other images, or an avatar (appears in all within-site communication) • Demographic information • Interests & Cultural information • Photos, Images, Music, Videos

23. Examination of Building Blocks of FB Online Identity:‘Friends’ list • Connects profiles in multiple ways • Profile-based Search: • Likes/dislikes • Schools • Common cause • Fan/friend of a celebrity

24. Examination of Building Blocks of FB Online Identity • Communication on Personal Profiles • Messages from ‘Friends’ (text, photos, images, videos) • Status Update(up to 180 characters) are posted as news feeds on ‘friends’ lists • What are you doing now? • Blogs • May be added to profiles • Contain long updates • Private messages (seen only between two users) • Within-site email • Chat or Instant Messaging

25. Examples of what was done in Russian Language and Literature Classes

30. Alternative vs. Real Identity Profiles • Extending oneself by taking the point of view of one’s respective character • Choosing among the characters may increase motivation and interest • Keeps learners away from overindulging in themselves • Student popularity in class may suffer less • Engage in further development of L2 characters • Use critical thinking and analytical skills to invent new situation and plot developments • Employ additional resources to develop characters’ attributes and ensure their authenticity • Participate in task-based experiential learning focused on online exchanges between characters • Learn how to make predictions relevant to the country where L2 is spoken • Creating stereotypes seems less dangerous (vs. collaborating in groups to create a fictitious L2 profile)

31. Facebook Pre-Survey Note. Judgments were made on 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).

32. Conclusions • Discuss upcoming projects and potential problems • Use SNSs projects that can support course objectives • Explain the connection to students • Specify expected quality and quantity of communication • Develop brief tasks tied to topics covered in class Examples: • Physical and personality descriptions • Likes and dislikes, hobbies • Daily routines • Context-based plot development • Provide corrective feedback only in individual messages

33. Bibliography Atkinson, D. (2002). Toward a sociocognitive approach to second language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 86, 525-545. boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html Davis, I. (2005, July 4). Talis, Web 2.0 and all that. Internet Alchemy blog. Retrieved December 31, 2008, from http://iandavis.com/blog/2005/07/talis-Web-20-and-all-that Lange, P.G. (2007). Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on YouTube. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1). Retrieved November 28, 2008, from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html Larsen Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18, 141-165. Lomicka, L., & Lord, G. (2009). Introduction to social networking, collboration, and web 2.0 tools. In L. Lomicka, & G. Lord, The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning (pp. 1-11). San Marcos, Texas: CALICO. Mazer, J.P., Murphy, R.E., & Simonds, C. J. (2007). I'll see you on "Facebook": The effects of computer- mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate. Communication education, 56, 1-17. McBride, K. (2009). Social Networking sites in foreign language classes: Opportunities for re-creation. In L. Lomicka, & G. Lord, The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning (pp. 35-58). San Marcos, Texas: CALICO. Pavlenko, A., & Lantolf, J.P. (2000). Second language learning as participation and the (re)construction of selves. In J.P. Lantolf (Ed.), Mediating discourse online (pp. 331-355). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Sykes, J.M., Oskoz, A., & Thorne, S.L. (2008). Web 2.0, synthetic immersive environments, and mobile resources for language education. CALICO Journal, 25, 529-546. Retrieved December 26, 2008, from https://calico.org/page.php?id=5 Thorne, S. L., & Payne, J.S. (2005). Evolutionary trajectories, internet mediated expression, and language education. CALICO Journal, 22, 371-397. Retrieved December 26, 2008, from https://calico.org/page.php?id=5 Tufecki, Z. (2008). Grooming, gossip, Facebook and MySpace. Information, Communication, and Society, 11, 544-564.

34. Contact Information: Dr. LubaIskold 2400 Chew Street Muhlenberg College, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Allentown, PA 18104 Phone: 484-664-3516Fax: 484-664-3722 E-mail: iskold@muhlenberg.edu http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/forlang/LLC/iskold_home/index.htm