EDSE3065 Teaching Languages 2A Semester 2, 2022

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Semester 2, 2022

EDSE3065 Teaching Languages 2A

Task 1 Part 1

E-resources and appraisal

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Background context statement

My e-resource is an interactive online visual co-learning platform specifically designed for year-8 Introductory French learners in an independent selective secondary school for girls. The class consists of 20 students from upper and middle socioeconomic families, but they vary in linguistic and cultural backgrounds and about 1/3 of the students speak language other than English at home. All students have prior learning or experience in French, but none of them have a background in French and they rarely have the opportunity to speak or use French outside of the classroom. Students are in their first lesson of year 8 and have learned about numbers, countries, families, seasons, professions, physical descriptions, and leisure activities in the previous year. Besides their strong passion in learning French and French culture, students also possess a high level of digital literacy skills and can easily navigate the online learning platform owing to the schools ’ Bring Your Own

Device (BYOD) policy.

The classroom is equipped with essential equipment, including interactive whiteboards, a Smart TV, and several iPads and computers for advance request. All students have their laptops registered with the school and can access to the robust and stable network with web filtering and firewall provided by school. Students are also able to access all the e-learning materials on any devices, anywhere, and at anytime.

Links to Syllabus

The ultimate goal of the e-resources is to help students develop the language skills that enable them to use appropriate French language to describe their daily routine, as well as to enhance intercultural understanding and allow students to experience the similarities and differences between their everyday life and that of the people from French-speaking countries. When engaging with the e-resource, students will be able to reach the learning  outcomes  of LFR4- 1C,  LFR4-2C,  LFR4-4C,  LFR4-5U,  LFR4-6U  (NSW  Education  Standards

Authority [NESA], 2018a, p. 16-20).

LFR4- 1C: After learning the vocabulary and grammar structures as a whole class, students are paired up or grouped to do the exercises, such as the “wheel of time”, where one student spin the wheel and ask questions while the other answer, allowing students to “uses French to interact with others to exchange information” on daily routine. Besides exchanging information orally, students also use French to interact with others by reading and commenting the posts of their peers.


LFR4-2C: The e-resource has included Internet page, animations, and videos through which students need to “identifies main ideas in, and obtains information from texts” to complete the following tasks  such as sequencing the pictures and making a timetable.

LFR4-4C: To help students “apply a range of linguistic structures to compose texts in French, using a range of formats for different audiences”, the e-resource has provided sample structures of different texts, such as animation, letter, and vlog. Students should follow the language patterns for each text styles and learn to compose their answers in French for different purposes and audience and post on the board.

LFR4-5U: Students need to “apply French pronunciation and intonation patterns” to understand the audio information from the videos and voki. By listening to the audio, students not only improve listening skills, but also can learn and mimic the authentic pronunciation and intonation in different situations, which is conducive when students need to apply French phonetic patterns into speaking language, such as recording themselves talking about their daily routine.

LFR4-6U: Students will learn about the conjugation and functions of reflexive verbs relating to daily routine, such as se lever and se doucher, and they need to use the appropriate form of conjugation when describing or retelling  different  people’s  daily  routine,  which  aligns  with  “applying  features  of  French  grammatical structures and sentence patterns to convey information and ideas” .

Pedagogical underpinnings of the e-resource

Technology has become more and more important and prevalent in all aspects of our life, especially during the time of pandemic where people are geographically isolated and have fewer chances to interact with others in the community. Despites its distinct benefits on society, digital technology has gained its position in the education, and accomplished language teachers are required to understand how to use technology informedly and critically to support effective language teaching and learning (Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations [AFMLTA], 2005). However, having equipped with high levels of digital literacy and being skillful in technology is insufficient for constructing effective technology-based teaching. According to Scarino and Liddicoat (2009) and Koehler and Mishra (2009), technology should serve as a supplementary to the teaching and technological knowledge should connect with the content and pedagogical knowledge to reach a dynamic equilibrium. Therefore, when designing the e-resource, I needed to understand the students in terms of their developmental, social, and emotional characteristics and their linguistic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, considered the content and topic I need to teach, and learned about the usages of digital technology platforms, such as the miro board and voki, in order to design a safe, inclusive, and engaging digital learning environment that meets the learning needs of individual students (NESA, 2018b).



The e-resource, which includes a variety of self-directed tasks and free places for creative self-expression, places students in the learning center and provides more autonomy for students to actively use French to communicate with their peers, which helps improve students ’ intrinsic motivation on language learning and enhance language skills (Demir & Yurdugül 2013; Rashid & Asghar, 2016; Tawafak et al. 2018). Students ’ intrinsic motivation is further enhanced by the introduction of games and animated characters into the e- resource because they matches the interests of students in this age group and helps create an informal and emotionally supportive learning atmosphere that is conducive to reducing students ’ foreign language anxiety and making students who are afraid to talk in French in the classroom more comfortable and confident to engage with the use of target language (Chiu, Kao, & Reynolds, 2012; Franciosi, 2017; Peng, 2015; Sun, Syu, & Lin, 2017; Toffoli & Sockett, 2013; Yang, Lin, & Chen, 2018). Additionally, considering students ’ different learning preferences will affect students ’ language acquisitions and presenting information in multiple ways  helps reduce cognitive load and achieve longer retention, the e-resource has included a range of multimodal texts personalized for students, such as videos with captions and subtitles and flashcard images, to make students feel included and valued in the learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2002; Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009).

Most importantly, the e-resource with task-based activities, such as writing a letter to a French pen pal and filming a vlog in French, put students in an authentic learning environment where students engage in an actual contemporary use of the language and equip themselves with the necessary language skills to real life (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009). Also, since the platform can be accessed anywhere and at anytime, it provides students with opportunities to extend their learning and use the language outside the classroom. Furthermore, as language  learning  is  culturally  and  socially  construted,  students  can  achieve  a  better  intercultural understanding of target language and culture and interact with people in target language group, by connecting with their own cultural understanding. And this is achieved by students comparing their daily routine with that of the French people.

Rationale for the appraisal framework

The popularity of technology-based learning at the present day has prompted teachers to reconsider the complexity of teaching and education. According to Pamuk (2012), integrating technology into the classroom requires teachers to think from a multidimensional perspective and look at the dynamic interrelationship among the content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge. Therefore, the following appraisal framework is categorized based on the TPACK model in technology-based education.


As for content knowledge, I have proposed three criteria, which all linked to the syllabus outcomes. The first criterion considers the e-resource’s effects on students ’ communicative skills. According to Scarino and Liddicoat (2009, p. 16), the functions of the language are for people to “express, create and interpret meanings and to establish and maintain social and interpersonal relationships” . In other words, communicate with others and understand the world. Therefore, teachers need to ensure that students know how to communicate in the target language and engage in the authentic use of the language rather than learning a language only for passing the exams. The second criterion stresses the importance of integrating the four macro skills into language teaching and learning because the four skills are interrelated and balancing between the four skills allows students to  develop their  competences  in  communication  (Martínez-Flor  &  Usó-Juan, 2008).  The third criterion informed the relationship between language and culture. It is important for teachers to understand that language is a social practice influenced by the social and cultural contexts and learning a language involves the understanding of its cultural basis (Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino, & Kohler, 2003).

Regarding the pedagogical knowledge, the two criteria I listed focus on the understanding of students and how they learn (NESA, 2018b). The fourth criterion is based on the understanding that students are unique individuals  who  has  different  developmental  characteristics,  funds  of  knowledge,  and  learning  needs. Implementing differentiated pedagogy can improve students ’ engagement and allow students to learn in their preferred way, which can lead to higher possibility of success (Morgan, 2014). The fifth criterion consider the self-determination theory on motivation, which according to Anjomshoa and Sadighi (2015), is contribute to foreign language acquisition. When students are provided with more autonomy in learning and learn with the things they are interested in, they are more likely to gain intrinsic motivation for learning a language (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). Therefore, teachers need to consider the students ’ needs when designing pedagogy.

Finally, as for the technological knowledge, the sixth criterion recognizes the imperative for teachers to create and maintain a safe learning environment (NESA, 2018b). The NSW Department of Education (2020) has emphasized the roles of educators in supporting students ’ wellbeing and preventing them from any harmful risks. The student use of digital devices and online services (NSW Department of Education, 2021) also pointed out teachers ’ responsibilities in guiding students for the safe and ethical use of online resources. Therefore, when choosing and utilizing resources in the classroom, teachers need to be critical and carefully consider its effects on students (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009). And for the seventh criterion, technology needs to facilitate learning and too much information will add to the cognitive burden of students, negatively impact the knowledge acquisition (Mayer & Moreno, 2002). Therefore, the navigation of the website should be easily accessible for students and the instructions should also be explicit and clear for students to fully comprehend the tasks requirement.

Appraisal Framework and Appraisal

Criteria

Descriptive appraisal

Content

Does the e-resource involve

aspects or strategies for improving

students ’ communicative skills?

Yes. There are group tasks in the e-resource and

students need to communicate with their peers in

French to exchange information on daily routine. For example, students need to work in group to compare

the daily routine with each other and point out the

differences and similarities in different culture

groups. Students also communicate with others by

commenting on others ’ posts.

Does the e-resource balance

between all four macro skills (i.e. listening, reading, speaking, and

writing)?

Yes. The e-resource provides students with spaces to

practice their four macro skills:

Listening: Students need to listen to the audio and fill

in the blank; watch the video with audio to identify

and obtain main ideas and information.

Reading: Students need to read the short texts or animations to identify and obtain main ideas and

information.

Speaking: Students should upload audios in which they talk about their daily routine and film a daily

vlog of themselves in French.

Writing: Students need to answer the questions or

complete the animation in written language and write

a transcript for their vlog.

Does the e-resource involve

aspects or strategies for improving

Yes. The e-resource introduces one artist and their

represented work to students every lesson. And



students ’ understanding of the

language and culture?

students are provided with authentic videos filmed by

people from French-speaking countries, through

which students learn about the typical daily routine

of French. Students also get the opportunity to

compare their own daily routine with the French-

speaking people. However, it can further be

improved by applying more cultural elements to the design of the e-resource, such as integrating a culture

corner at the end of each lesson.

Pedagogy

Does the e-resource consider the

diversity of learners?

Yes. The e-resource has included multiple

presentation of information, including visual, audio,

and written texts, to meet the different learning

preference of students. However, the kinesthetics

aspect is rarely focus on the e-resource, with only

one strategy of walking around the classroom to

exchanging information. Besides fulfilling the

diverse learning styles, the e-resource also take into

account students ’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds and simple rather than fancy language is used for the

instruction. Furthermore, the assessment strategies

are differentiated based on the abilities of students.

For example, students with lower literacy ability are

encouraged to write answers in dot points or short

sentences rather than long paragraph.

Does the e-resource engage and

motivate students to learn the

target language?

Yes. The topic is daily routine, which is closely

related to students ’ everyday life. Besides, the e-

resource includes adapted resources that students

interested in, such as games and animations, which

helps increase their passion to learn. The e-resource

also create a comfortable co-learning environment

where students and teachers learn with and from each

other and students can reduce their foreign language

2023-08-31