Innovative teaching and learning at university: enhancing the learning
experience of Modern Languages students
Newcastle University, 27 May 2011
List of Abstracts (morning papers)
Keynote lecture: María Fernández-Toro, The Open University (OLB 2.21)
Assignment feedback in new learning environments
Feedback is essential to learning, and therefore assignment feedback plays a central role in
instructed learning. In recent years, HE institutions have been incorporating new technologies
that are resulting in significant changes in the ways languages are learnt and taught. As new
learning environments are emerging, traditional boundaries between classroom and
independent learning are becoming increasingly blurred. Much research is therefore currently
devoted to gaining a better understanding of the many ways – some helpful, some unhelpful –
in which new learning environments affect the learning experience. This paper focuses more
specifically on the role and nature of assignment feedback within the context of new learning
environments. After a general overview of the principles underlying effective feedback,
different types of assignment feedback involving written, spoken and audiographic media are
examined. A framework for evaluating assignment feedback in new learning environments is
then proposed and demonstrated using examples from language modules currently taught at
the Open University, UK. Areas for future research are also discussed. The paper concludes
with a series of recommendations aimed at helping HE practitioners understand and fully
exploit the affordances of different approaches to giving, receiving and using assignment
feedback.
Parallel sessions 1: Group A – Developing Learning Autonomy (OLB 2.21)
Annie Morton and Catherine Franc, The University of Manchester
Enquiry Based Learning in French at the University of Manchester
Since our initial Centre for Excellence in Enquiry Based Learning funded project in the hitherto
unexplored domains of French grammar and phonetics (see ‘EBL for an End to Boring Learning’,
Franc, Lawton and Morton, 2007), the Senior Language Tutors in the Department of French
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Studies at the University of Manchester have continued to promote and develop EBL in the
Manchester French curriculum. This case study will explore several projects: the embedding of
EBL in the oral French curriculum; PAGeS (Peer-assisted Grammar Revision (ebl) sessions; its
offspring ‘Creating PAGeS,’ in which students actively produce learning resources; and the Year
Abroad project currently being discussed. These initiatives span all three undergraduate years,
harnessing EBL to develop learner autonomy and sustain motivation in areas of the discipline
which are usually considered ‘challenging’ and in the context of a large cohort. We hope that
delegates will be able to learn from our experience in order to enhance provision in their own
institution, as well as having some concrete examples of EBL language scenarios that could be
adapted for use in any HE setting.
Janet Poveda, Juan Muñoz-López, Mara Fuertes-Gutiérrez and Wolfgang Keinhorst, Languages,
Carnegie Faculty, Leeds Metropolitan University
The Period Abroad E-portfolio
The ‘Period Abroad E-portfolio’ presented and demonstrated in this paper encourages students
on their period abroad to engage more fully with the culture(s) and language and to reflect on
the resulting cultural and linguistic development. It promotes independent learning, proposes a
meaningful assessment for the Year Abroad learning objectives and formalises our support to
students through our VLE whilst they are abroad.
Students reflect on their progress towards cultural adaptation through the intercultural
experiences and challenges they encounter whilst completing the task in hand. It is equally
important for them to reflect on the linguistic skills used during the activity and to self-assess
their communicative ability against the relevant descriptors of the European Common
Language Framework at regular intervals.
The e-portfolio empowers students who record, evidence and edit their task fulfillment and
cultural/linguistic reflection in the target language using a variety of multimedia formats, while
the online nature of the project enables regular feedback and mentoring by home tutors.
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Parallel sessions 1: Group B – Enhancing student learning via collaborative tools (OLB 2.22)
Adela Bond & Mara Fuertes-Gutiérrez, Leeds Metropolitan University
Enhancing students’ academic writing skills through a wiki
Many students today seem as comfortable interacting with each other online as meeting up
offline. By tapping into students’ familiarity with digital technologies, language tutors can
increase their students’ opportunities to practise their writing skills outside the classroom and
to enhance their independent learning strategies.
To this end, we have developed a wiki (a collection of web pages that can be created and edited
by any user) using a virtual learning environment that integrates tools which allow students to
share or compare their essays easily and to write collaboratively in an environment that
university students find particularly motivating and inspiring. It is divided into different sections
according to the main linguistic and stylistic features of academic writing with each section
containing different engaging learning activities. Although the resource presented is for
learners of Spanish, it can easily be adapted for use by learners of other languages.
Hélène Duranton, The University of Bristol Language Centre
“Wiki-mania”: Enhancing Student Collaborative Writing and Peer Assessment Using a Wiki
Wikis are increasingly favoured within higher education as a way to enhance collaboration
between students. In language teaching and learning, where students’ active participation is
particularly encouraged, it offers “educational developers a myriad of learning design
opportunities” (Bower, et al. 2006). This paper will present how the Wiki tool hosted on
Blackboard is used by a group of final year undergraduate students to collaboratively produce
an assessed written report focusing on one aspect of their year of study in France, with the
shared outcome of disseminating vital information and first-hand advice to 2nd year
undergraduate students preparing for the year of Study in Continental Europe. This paper will
aim to show how the flexible nature of the Wiki can, with the appropriate training and ongoing
academic and technical support, provide invaluable opportunities for students’ active
involvement in their language learning, by developing collaborative skills in the writing and
editing processes, as well as offering students a sense of ownership and of belonging to a
community. Students are encouraged to become actively engaged at various stages of the
project, from setting-up clear roles to designing and applying assessment criteria. The project
has now been running for four years during which time student feedback was collected and
used to further develop the project and add a peer-assessment dimension in 2010-2011. This
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paper will therefore discuss and analyse the data collected during the last four years, present
examples of student Wikis and discuss the drawbacks and opportunities offered by the Wiki
tool for this project in particular and in language teaching and learning in general.
Parallel sessions 1: Group C – Sanako UK workshops – 30 min., repeated (OLB 4.10)
Paul Redhead, Sanako UK
Any Time, Any Place Language Learning using Microsoft Cloud Technology
The latest Microsoft technology, The Cloud, allows students to work remotely from any
location with computer and internet connection. To make the most of this technology, Sanako
Speak is the latest Cloud compliant software which enables web based exercise creation and
evaluation of student work. This would enable student’s language skills to be evaluated before
attending University.
Parallel sessions 2: Group D – Enhancing student learning motivation through simulation
and social networking (OLB 2.21)
David Tual, Centre for Foreign Language Study, Durham University
Global Simulation in language courses for specific purposes
A global simulation can be defined as a student-centred, task-based learning approach that
provides a motivating and flexible additional element to more traditional classroom learning
and teaching activities. It has been used to teach French courses at intermediate level in the
Centre for Foreign Language Study at Durham University for a few years and is currently
undergoing close scrutiny in order to be improved and adapted to new French courses for
specific purposes. This presentation will aim to introduce the concept of global simulation to
colleagues who might not be familiar with it, outlining its advantages and the potential
difficulties attached to it. The implications it can have on the course that it is part of, including
the impact on the role of the teacher, will also be discussed before adopting a more pragmatic
approach by presenting and critically assessing some examples drawn from our previous
experience with a general intermediate French course. Finally, we will devote the last part of
the paper to presenting and discussing new ideas aiming to incorporate the global simulation
into two new French courses for specific purposes: one designed for engineering students, the
other for a cohort from the School of Government and International Affairs.
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Parallel sessions 2: Group E – Supporting and enhancing learning outside of the classroom
(OLB 2.22)
Annie Eardley, The Open University
Interactive Oral Assessment project
The Department of Languages at the Open University is always keen to explore the use of new
technologies to deliver its language courses more effectively and dynamically. Although
students are offered regular tutorials, face-to-face and online, and work through a series of
activities on DVD Rom, the practice of the oral is a crucial issue in our modules.
Following a project run in Spring 2009 in collaboration with Learnosity, we offered a two-strand
6-week free pilot module starting in October aimed at students who had just completed our
French Beginners module and at those who had just completed our level 1 English for Academic
Purposes module.
We designed a series of activities aimed at practising oral competency by using Talkback ®
(powered by Learnosity). Students accessed those on their mobile, landline or Skype or
through an iPhone App. Their recordings were immediately available on the Learnosity website
to both students and tutors who could mark and provide feedback, oral and written.
Both groups were asked to report via weekly short online questionnaires recording their
experience. Through this project, we wanted to explore the possibility of using Talkback® for
oral practice and possibly for assessment purposes.
Angela Uribe de Kellett and Sandra Salin, Newcastle University
The impact of real translation group tasks on the Learning experience of language students
This paper will present the findings and outcome of a collaborative project led by Angela Uribe
de Kellett and Dr Sandra Salin from the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University.
Both authors are interested in studying the impact real translation group tasks have on final
year students and their learning experience.
The idea was to make the students work in groups on a voluntary basis on texts provided by
charitable organisations in order to investigate the possibility of integrating real translation
tasks into the final year curriculum in Spanish and French. The aim was to give students the
opportunity to enhance their learning experience, their engagement with the wider community
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and their employability by giving a professional purpose to the task and developing key
transferable skills.
Student were given the task to translate a selection of texts individually before working in
groups to assess the impact group work can have on the translation process itself but also on
the students’ learning experience.
The texts to be translated were selected after approaching about 20 charities so the project
provided a great platform to create and develop local, national and international contacts that
will form the basis for further projects and collaborative work for the benefit of the students
involved, the university and the wider community.
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