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Through a glass, darkly: processes and effects of teaching L3 through L2

Through a glass, darkly: processes and effects of teaching L3 through L2. Mark Hopkins HKUST Hong Kong, China. Outline. Language status and pedagogic history Background to the EDHEC programme Background to the Lang/C programme Reactions from participants Conclusions

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Through a glass, darkly: processes and effects of teaching L3 through L2

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  1. Through a glass, darkly: processes and effects of teaching L3 through L2 Mark Hopkins HKUST Hong Kong, China

  2. Outline • Language status and pedagogic history • Background to the EDHEC programme • Background to the Lang/C programme • Reactions from participants • Conclusions • Implications for L3 instruction

  3. Language of the past… & future? French was the primary language of Europe from the 18th to early 20th century, became an official language of all major international institutions + sole official language of the EU until 1973 (Economist, 2001). According to the French government “délégation générale à la langue française”, there are globally 116m learners of French, 0.5% of whom study at the Alliance Française.

  4. Language of the past… & future? In 1991 there were 2,000 foreign learners taking China's official Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (HSK); by 2004, the number of candidates had risen sharply to 360,000 with the opening of the first Confucius Institutes, and China’s Ministry of Education estimated that approx 20m people were learning Chinese as a foreign language worldwide; today the number is 40-50m. In 1996 400 (200 independent) secondary schools in the UK offered Chinese as a foreign language, compared to one in the 1960s. However, since 2010 there has been limited support. In the US K-12 students of Chinese tripled from 20,000 (2005) to 60,000 (2008); 400 high schools and 2500 elementary schools.

  5. Pedagogic history • Français langue étrangère (FLE) a colonialist project reinvented (cf EFL); Alliance Française founded at height of Empire (1883), now has 500,000 learners. • kǒngzǐ xuéyuàn (Confucius Institutes) first set up in 2004. 2014: 400 (UK = 13, US = 70) (105 countries) 1071 (133 countries) 2007: 95 (34 countries)

  6. EDHEC programme similarities EDHEC business school Lille/Nice (France) Global Business programme at HKUST Business programmes use L2 (English) as language of delivery L3 elementary course with bilingual (L3/English) instructor 1st experience of using L2 (English) to learn L3 1st experience of studying “overseas” High stakes / credit-bearing

  7. EDHEC programme differences EDHEC business school Lille/Nice (France) Global Business programme at HKUST • Previous learning of L3 was through L1 in L1 environment • L3 taught in L2 environment, with limited exposure to L3 • No previous L3 learning • L3 taught in L1/L2 environment

  8. Lang/C programme • French: World Language and Culture • Targets (false) beginners / ab initio • 3 credits / 39 in-class hours • Cultural element (20%) added in 2010 • 10 iterations / 200+ students • Generally very positive student feedback, compared with language-only courses

  9. Reactions from participants Questions 1-2:Amount of prior learning (through L1)? L1 Fr: at least 30 hours (almost all) L1 Ch: mostly zero Question 3:What are the advantages of learning through English? L1 Fr: similar word order / learn English at same time! / no difference / no advantages L1 Ch: similar vocabulary, grammar / easy to understand explanations, ask questions / learn English at same time! “Just need to do some change in words, English can turn into French easily” Question 4:What are the disadvantages of learning through English? L1 Fr: less precise explanations / need to translate from Eng to Fr / more difficult / none L1 Ch: “faux amis” (homographs), different pronunciation make it easy to confuse Fr with Eng / none “When I speak French I tend to think in English and then translate”

  10. Reactions from participants Question 5:How is the teaching methodology of your English-speaking instructor different from your prior experience? L1 Fr: greater focus on speaking than writing / more useful, learnt more in 2 months than in 7 months in France! L1 Ch: mostly N/A or no difference / expects more self-learning Questions 6-8:Would it have helped if your instructor spoke more L1? L1 Fr:Yes (more precise explanations) and No (less oral practice) L1 Ch: No (less oral practice, learn Eng at same time!) and Yes (confusing Fr with Eng) “I can get a better overall pictureof French by learning through English” “English isthe medium of learninganyway!” Questions 9-10:Amount of cultural learning of L3? L1 Fr:not enough L1 Ch:mostly enough

  11. Reactions from participants Question 11:How important is cultural learning for English? L1 Fr: quite or very important L1 Ch:not important: “English does not only belong to English-speaking countries” Question 12:Is cultural learning more important for the L3, and why? L1 Fr: Yes, because Chinese culture is “more different” / affects behaviour more “Chinese people are more culturally linkedthan English” No, because learning the language is difficult enough! L1 Ch: Yes, because French culture is “more exclusive” / important for beginners to learn / “the French really value their culture and history” “one often learns French just because one wants to go to France” No, because any language can be learnt for communication only

  12. Reactions from participants

  13. Reactions from participants

  14. Reactions from participants

  15. Reactions from participants Question 16:How important is direct L1 to L3 communication? L1 Fr: quite important or not important L1 Ch: quite important Question 17:Have any of your attitudes towards the L3 language/people/country changed since the start of the course? L1 Fr: “Chinese people have very different cultural reference points / attach a lot of importance to religion / are very weird / quite impolite / very kind but very different!” “The Chinese language is beautiful to listen to / much more useful than I expected / possible to learn!” “I cannot live in China because nobody speaks English!” L1 Ch:Mostly no changes in attitudes, but… “The French language is more beautiful / fun to learn / not as difficult as I thought / precise / complicated / easy to learn as the vocabulary size is small” “French people are romantic / easy-going / proud of their language” “France is a beautiful country with lots of great food / is terrible / “It is not easy or romantic to learn French!”

  16. Conclusions from data • Due to limited sample size (27+22 respondents), inappropriate to draw firm conclusions • Attitudes clearly changed more among the French students (1st study experience outside West?) • Differences in responses between groups were fewer than might be expected from national stereotypes  generational similarities • Among both groups, pragmatic assessments of their language worlds (relative status of English, French and Chinese) • Among Chinese group, greater flexibility (willingness to learn through English as well as L1) • Among French group, deeper understanding of the importance of explicit cultural knowledge in language learning

  17. Implications for L3 instruction 1. Language systems: • learning L3 through L3 (“direct method”) is clearly more problematic than learning L2 through L2 (or L1 through L1!) • desirability of L1-knowing instructor depends on relative proximity of L2 & L3 (as well as other factors) • status of L2 as lingua franca / “langue véhiculaire”

  18. Implications for L3 instruction 2. Learner characteristics  prior learning:

  19. Implications for L3 instruction 3. Cultural systems: • implicit/embedded in language study but can be made explicit through comparison by a bilingual/bicultural teacher-mediator • “intercultural competence” – Byram, 1997 • ideally a 3-way comparison, but especially L2/L3 differentiation if languages-and-cultures are proximal 4. Mediation: “multilingualism is a mediational system in itself,sustaining, but also mobilizingand reorganizing language user identities, relationships and possibilities for action and the relative values of languages” – Jyväskylä conference description, 2008

  20. From The Economist 22/12/07 print edition…

  21. Byram, Mike(1997), Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Hufeisen, Britta (2000),Tertiary languages with a focus on German as a foreign language.In: Rosenthal, Judith (2000),Handbook of undergraduate second language education: English as a second language, bilingual, and foreign language instruction for a multilingual world. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum, 209-229. Mediating Multilingualism: Meanings and Modalities (2008, June 2-5), University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Thomas, Jacqueline (1985),The role played by prior linguistic experience in second and third language learning.In: Hall, R. Jr. (1985), The eleventh Linguistic Association of Canada and United States Forum 1984. Columba, S.C., Hornbeam Press, 510-518.

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