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Language Teachers as facilitators in preparing for study abroad. Fourth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence CERCLL – The University of Arizona Tucson – January 2014 Hélène Zumbihl PEARL
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LanguageTeachers as facilitators in preparing for studyabroad Fourth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural CompetenceCERCLL – The University of ArizonaTucson – January 2014 Hélène Zumbihl PEARL CRAPEL - ATILF/CNRS Université de Lorraine (France) UMR 7118
Overview • Context of teaching • Preparing for studyabroad • Organization of the curriculum • Evaluation • Learners’ autonomizationprocess • Teachers’ and students’ representations about theirroles • A new role for teachers in ICC learning • New skills for teachers • New relationshipswithstudents • New way of consideringevaluation • Languageteachers as facilitators • Integration of this new role in the curriculum • Evolutions in the curriculum • Conclusion Hélène Zumbihl
Context of teaching • Specificgroup of students, a limitednumber of students, specific type of motivation for language and ICC (intercultural communicative competence) learning • Universitylearningcontext in France with a cognitive learning style (Utley, 2004) • Theoreticalinfluence in research[Universityof Lorraine in Nancy, the cradleof theoreticalresearch on learners’ autonomy in languagelearning (Holec, 1981)] • This curriculum isrecent: a necessityto combine research about autonomy and the acquisition of ICC (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl
Preparing for studiesabroad "FL learnersneed to acquirebothlinguistic and cultural competence and FL teachersneed to help themreachtheseaims" (Elsen & St. John, 2007: p. 27) Objective: a combination of the linguistic and the intercultural with a specific organization and form of evaluation including an autonomizationprocess forstudents Hélène Zumbihl
Organisation of the curriculum Hélène Zumbihl
Evaluation Hélène Zumbihl
Learners’ autonomizationprocess • Autonomy: "the abilty to take charge of one’sownlearning" (Holec, 1981) • Aimof the curriculum: to give the keys for analyzingthe year of studyabroad • Autonomy: a key element for acquiringICC as a factor of personaldevelopment(Kenny, 1993) in the life-long learningprocess • Our objective as teachersconcernedwith ICC: to enhancelearners’ autonomy (LA) Hélène Zumbihl
Teachers’ and students’ representations about theirroles • Teachers’ attitudes and values are crucial in shaping the process of teaching and learning • LA in institutional settings inevitably requires both teachers and learners to modify their representations of these respective roles (Riley, 1989) • New terms: "Helper", "Knower", "Facilitator" and "Counsellor" (Riley,1986; Little,2003) • It implies a necessary evolution in the pedagogical relationship between teachers and learners (Rogers, 1969) • Advisers are not ‘surrogate teachers’ (Mozzon-McPherson, 2007: p.75), on the contrary, they have a “significant highly skilled role as mediators” • Developing LA does not imply"teacherlesslearning" , but ratherdifferentteacherroles (Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl
A new role for teachers in ICC learning • New skills for teachers • New relationshipswithstudents • Languageteachersas facilitators • New way of consideringevaluation Hélène Zumbihl
New skills for teachers • The objective: to enhancelearners’ awarenessof theirpersonaldevelopmentthroughcriticalthinking, collaborative learning, self-initiatedknowledge acquisition (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • To accompanystudents in theirexperientiallearning: dialogue withteachers about theiremotions (Rogers, 1969) • To guide learnersthrough the use of logbooks to enhancereflexivity • Languageteachers: concernedwith more than the knowledge and skills to learn the language, theyoftenwant to transmit the values and normstheybelieve in (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) but transmission is not sufficient, these values and normsshouldbecommunicated, mediated and developed Hélène Zumbihl
New relationshipswithstudents • Teachersshouldmanage to engage the learners and succeeds in boosting and building their confidence (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • Followinghumanistic and socio-constructivisttheories (Williams & Burden, 1997), learners as individualscannotbeseen as separatefromtheirenvironment (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) which must be taken into consideration in the interactions between teachers and learners • According to socioculturaltheories (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986), via interactive mediation, teachers or other more capable peers help learners to reachlevels of developmenttheywere not able to realizeindependently Hélène Zumbihl
Languageteachers as facilitators • For constructivists (Bandura, 1986; Bruner, 1985) learningcanbeseen as an ongoingprocess of construction and reconstruction and for learnersto become more autonomous, teachers have to facilitatetheseprocesses • A concernshared by manyeducators: teachersexpecttheirlearners to graduallyacquire the knowledge, the skills and attitudes needed for life-long development (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • The essential question ishow teacherscan help learnersmakesense of the world they are part of : • Therefore the development of LA and ICC are major pedagogical goals of foreignlanguageeducation • Throughintroducing and facilitatinginterculturallearning, teacherscan affect a learner’s motivation to learn a foreignlanguagesignificantly (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl
A new way of consideringevaluation How to develop self-assessment? • A questionnaire at the beginning of the semester for the students to help themdeterminetheirown objectives for the semester • Questions about whattheythink ICC is and differentconsiderations about interculturalrelationships • Theywill have to fill in the document regularlywithreflexivethinking about theirlearningeitherafter a course in class or after a session of autonomousworking • Students‘ self-evaluationwillbe part of the final oral exam. It shouldinvolve a personalreflection about theirlearning Hélène Zumbihl
Integration of this new role in the curriculum • Promotingdialogue and exchanges betweenstudents and teachers (anecdotes withteachers’ and learners’ experientiallearning) • Promotingreflexivitywith the logbook, connecting and relatingpatterns of thinking and behaviouracross cultural boundaries • Promoting, personalresearchthrough cultural briefing • Acceptingevolutions in the curriculum Hélène Zumbihl
Evolution of the curriculum New organisation with large groups of studentswhichinvolves a necessity to reinforcestudents’ autonomythroughdifferentmeans: • more researchworkcarried out by students • increased use of information technology • but also essential to keepteachers’ presence for exchangingpersonalexperiences and facilitatingstudents’ personalreflection Hélène Zumbihl
Conclusion • Essential to linkIntercultural communicative competencelearning and learnerautonomy in preparing for studyabroad (Jimenez Raya & Sercu; Zumbihl, 2012) • Thereforeweneed to reconsiderteachers’ roles in thispreparation • Theirskills • Theirrelationshipswithstudents • The evaluation of the workdone by students • Their new roles of mediators or facilitators It is more a question of communication, mediation and developmentratherthan transmission Hélène Zumbihl
Thankyou for your attention! helene.zumbihl@univ-lorraine.fr