Engaging Students on Facebook: Instructor as Mediator & Guide

1. Engaging Students beyond the Classroom:Instructor as Mediator & Guide on Facebook NEALLT 2012 “Teacher Roles and Practices in Technology-Enhanced Instruction” Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA March 30 - April 1 Presented by Luba Iskold, Ed. D Muhlenberg College

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction: • Research related to the use of SNSs for SLA • Research on development of L2 Identities • Why Facebook? • Potential benefits and possible drawbacks • Instructor roles: researching conceptual frameworks for teaching • Cognitive apprenticeship • Situated cognition • Alternative vs. real identity profiles • Classroom examples • Academic benefits and limitations • Student reactions to class-related FB experiences • Conclusions

3. Research Related to SNSs & SLA • With Web 2.0, 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’s (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)

4. Research on Development of L2 Identities • Performing identities’ is the central activity on SNSs where users “write themselves into being” (Atkinson, 2002) • 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  • SNSs are characterized by “radical expansion of possibilities for artistic expression” (McBride, 2009)

5. Choosing a SNS: Why Facebook? • 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

6. Facebook for Class: Student Challenges • 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

7. Facebook for Class: Instructor Challenges • Should the instructor be included? • Do students find it awkward? • Is there a difference between communicating with an authority figure via email vs. a SNS? • Do SNSs undermine instructor’s authority? (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2007) • 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

8. Instructor as mediator, facilitator and guide: Researching conceptual frameworks for teaching

9. Cognitive Apprenticeship • Apprenticeship - an approach to education used since ancient Greek and Roman eras • Two types of apprenticeship: manual and intellectual • Cognitive apprenticeship - suggested by Collins, Brown, and Newman (1989): • Content is presented in realistic and authentic contexts • Sequence of instruction progress from difficult to complex • Sociology of instruction focuses on functioning in a social environment

10. Teaching and Learning within a Cognitive Apprenticeship Framework Instructor Roles: • Providing support • Offering hints • Giving feedback • Asking questions • Fading the support as the learner’s performance improves • Encouraging • Praising

11. Teaching Strategies (Hosenfeld et al., 1996) • Modeling • An expert is carrying out a task so that students can observe and build a conceptual model of the process • Coaching • Observing students while they carry out a task and offering hints, feedback, reminders, directing attention to specific aspects of tasks • Scaffolding • Providing support when students are carrying out a task • Articulation • Getting students to articulate their knowledge or reasoning • Reflection • Enabling students to compare their own problem-solving processes with those of an expert (or peers) • Exploration • Pushing students into a mode of problem-solving and decision-making

12. Situated Cognition (Choi and Hannafin, 1995) • Providing enabling experiences in authentic contexts • Enabling active learning • Cultivating learning process vs. learning outcomes • Exploring content from multiple perspectives • Understanding how, when, and why to use knowledge in various situations • Emphasizing cultural knowledge

13. Conceptual Framework for Situated Learning Environments Important components: • Context • Content • Facilitation • Assessment

14. Forms of Facilitation: • Modeling • Scaffolding • Coaching • Guiding • Advising • Collaborating • Fading • Using cognitive tools

15. Suitability for teaching with SNSs ??? • Textbook materials enable learners to access existing representations of content • SNSs • Enable learners to create their own representations of content • Encourage active learning • Stimulate active engagement of students in the learning process • Provide opportunities to internalize information • Require facilitative rather than didactic teaching • Facilitation is more continuous and less directive than in traditional instruction • Knowledge is better transferred to new real-life situations

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

17. Examples of Tasks: • Develop an imagined L2 identity • Provide physical and personal descriptions • Converse about daily routines • Discuss likes and dislikes, hobbies • Discuss events and places • Clarify unclear words and phrases • Predict and extend plot development • Ask clarification questions

21. 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)

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

23. 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 • Learn to avoid indulging in uncritical narcissism as in “me-me-I-I-I” (Thorne & Payne, 2005) • Integrate new knowledge and other’s perspectives into one’s personal experience

24. Limitations • Because 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 images are perceived differently than plain text

25. Conclusions • Use SNSs projects that can support course objectives • Explain the connection to students • Discuss upcoming projects and potential problems • Specify expected quality and quantity of communication • Develop brief tasks tied to topics covered in class • Provide corrective feedback only in individual messages

26. 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, collaboration, 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.

27. Contact Information: Dr. Luba Iskold 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