ENCOURAGING STUDENT COLLABORATION,
NEGOTIATION, AND ENGAGEMENT IN
MEANINGFUL AND RELEVANT ENVIRONMENTS
Nicole Mills, Ph.D.
Harvard University
mills@fas.harvard.edu
Overview of Presentation
• Our students today: “Net-geners”
• Constructivist Learning
• Experiential Learning
• Traditional vs. Experiential Learning models
• Social turn in second language acquisition
• Implications of Situated Learning Theory
• Global Simulation Curriculum Format
• Overview: Beginning French II Global Simulation Curriculum. Paris, France.
• Proposal and Exchange: Global Simulation Curriculum in Shiraz, Iran
• Course Themes & Grammar objectives
• Interactive Memoir assignments
• Oral Exam topics
• Student-centered in-class activities
• Final play
• Constructivist and Experiential learning revisited
Net-geners or Generation Z
• Birthdates in the 1990s and 2000s
• Increased use and familiarity with
communications, media, and
digital technologies
• Highly participative.
• Participate frequently in online
interaction, collaboration, and
exchange
• Grown up within social
communities (Facebook, etc.) and
therefore thrive in collaborative
and creative learning
environments (Larry Rosen)
The “Net-Geners”
• Net-geners tend toward independence and autonomy in their
learning styles, which impacts a broad range of educational
choices and behaviors, from “what kind of education they buy”
to “what, where, and how they learn” (Carlson, 2005)
• This more independent learning style has grown out of the
ingrained habits of seeking and retrieving information from the
Internet, which marks a striking contrast to previous
generations of students, who tended to acquire information
more passively from authority figures (Tapscott, 1998)
CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING
How can we effectively engage our students, the
“Net-Geners,” in the foreign language classroom?
Characteristics of Constructivist Learning
• Learner-centered
• Embedded learning in complex, realistic and relevant environments.
• Provide for social negotiation as an integral part of learning
• Encourage ownership and self-direction in learning
• Provide adequate time for learners’ investigation and in-depth
engagement.
• Action oriented where language is learned through collaboration and
creativity
-Dewey, Kolb, Vygotsky (Driscoll, 2000)
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
How do we provide opportunities for students to
experience real, meaningful tasks and experience using the
language in the classroom?
How can we connect foreign language learning with life?
Characteristics of Experiential Learning
• Learners are active, responsible participants – not passive responders
• Students are proactive rather than reactive
• Creating motivating and engaging contexts for learning
•
Promote self-directed learning, autonomy, and choice in the learning process
• Create opportunity for imaginative and inventive thinking
• Develop learners’ social and interpersonal skills
• Provide opportunities for collaborative and cooperative work
• Encourage authentic language use which involves the learner
• Bring learner in touch with real-life language use, involving a meaningful reason for doing
different tasks (why are they reading the text? Why are they listening?)
- David Nunan, Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
TRADITIONAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING?
Traditional vs. Experiential Learning
View of learning
Traditional
Experiential
Transmission of knowledge
Transformation and use of
knowledge
Power relation
Emphasis on teacher
authority
Teacher as a learner among
learners
Teacher’s role
Providing mainly frontal
instruction
Facilitating learning (small
groups), collaboration
Learner’s role
Relatively passive recipient
of information
Active participation,
largely in cooperative small
groups
- David Nunan, Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching
Traditional vs. Experiential Learning
Traditional
Experiential
View of curriculum
Static, hierarchical grading,
predefined
Emphasis on process, selfinquiry, social and
communication skills
Control of process
Mainly teacher structured
learning
Emphasis on learner,
learner choice, selfdirected learning
Evaluation
Product-oriented
Process oriented, selfassessment
- David Nunan, Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching
Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition
• The social turn in second language acquisition places the language learner in
the role of a participating social agent in the language acquisition process
(Block, 2003; Thorne & Payne, 2005).
• A key feature of this view, grounded within sociocultural theory, is that higher
order functions develop out of social interactions.
• The current conceptualization of poststructuralist identity in SLA research
suggests that language learning needs to be conceptualized as both a social
and cognitive process. (Pavlenko, 2001).
*Students learn through interaction*
SOCIAL TURN IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
How can we encourage students to be more
social and interactive in the foreign language
classroom?
Tenets of Situated Learning Theory
• People learn by participating in communities of practice
• The authenticity of the environment is important
• Learning is experienced through relationships and interactions
• Learning comes from a variety of sources, not only from the teacher > de-
centering common notions of mastery and pedagogy
- Lave & Wenger, 1991
GLOBAL SIMULATION
How can we develop a curriculum that encourages
the establishment of community, relationships,
social interaction, and authentic opportunities for
learning?
Global Simulation
Global Simulation: Students create a fictive yet culturally grounded world,
assume the role of a self-developed character, and collaborate with fellow
community members (Magnin, 1997)
• Simulated cultural immersion
• Students assume a character identity and collaborate as creators, inventors of
their world and community
• Language learning activities are contextualized (role-plays, oral presentations,
writing assignments, etc.)
• Frequently ends in the creation of a product (novel, performance, etc.)
• Contexts: Hotel, Business, International Conference, Building, etc.
Advantages of Global Simulation
“The role of the learner is no longer to listen and regurgitate information but to
pull content together, negotiate meaning, reflect on learning, and come up
with an appropriate final product.”
- Dupuy, 2005
“Students can engage in learning in ways that allow them more or less to forget
that they are doing so.”
- Levine, 2004
“Global Simulation validates [students’] sense of self in the process of cultural
exploration and importantly allows students’ cultural and linguistic learning
to proceed primarily experientially in ways that approximate life. This sort of
language learning experience facilitates higher motivation…”
- Levine, 2004
Global Simulation Application:
Beginning French II Curriculum
In Beginning French II, we will explore the relationship between Self and Other
with emphasis on the Other –in particular, the Parisian Other. By engaging in a
simulation of life in Paris, we will explore the construction, the evolution, and the
complexity of Parisian identity through French and francophone texts, images,
film, advertisements, articles, and songs.
Description of Global Simulation Project
“For this project , you will
become the tenants of a Parisian
building, located in the
Montmartre quarter and you will
write a book of your memoirs
of the events in the building. As
such, you are going to pretend
to be a French or francophone
person living in France. You will
develop your own character and
tell the story of his/her life in
the first person.”
Adapted from Mills & Péron (2009)
Beginning French II Course Objectives
• In conjunction with the course theme, you will explore various facets of
Parisian identity. As a result of this exploration, you will be able to engage in
simple conversations about people, places, relationships, and personal life
and interests. You will begin to be able to:
• speak and write in the past, present,
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
and future tenses
make suggestions
express emotions
Express opinions
Extend, accept, and refuse invitations
Give advice
Make travel arrangements
Express hypothetical situations.
Beginning French II Curriculum
• Classroom content: Paris & Montmartre
Stereotypes of French and Parisians
Montmartre Quarter and La Place du Tertre
Lodging in Paris, exploration of Parisian apartments
Relationships and love in Paris
Activities, sites, transportation system in Paris
Different quarters of Paris: Marais, Montmartre, Latin Quarter
Film: Amélie
Les Beaux Arts – artists of Bateau Lavoir, Harlem in Montmartre, Fête de la Musique
in Paris, Comédie Française (Le Malade Imaginaire), etc.
• Media: Television, Film, Newspapers
• Love stories: Paris je t’aime film clips
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Integrated Grammar Review
• Passé composé / imparfait
• Relative pronouns / Question formation
• Future / Conditional / Subjunctive
• Direct and indirect object pronouns
Adapted from Mills & Péron (2009) . Intermediate level
curriculum developed at Upenn with Mélanie Péron
Memoir Chapters
Memoir 1: Self-portrait
Present a description of your character in the first person.
Write a description of the Montmartre quarter and his/her
apartment in the building. Be careful to avoid stereotypes.
Include housing vocabulary, direct and indirect object
pronouns, and –ir verbs
Memoir 2: Narration
A fascinating story. You decide to visit one of your neighbors
from the building. While drinking a cup of tea (or a glass of
wine?) your neighbor tells you an intriguing story about two
of your neighbors. Is it a sad story? A love story? A dramatic
story? Narrate this story using the past tenses, pronominal
verbs, and vocabulary associated with relationships and love.
*Adapted from Mélanie Péron’s Immeuble description
**Discussion Board & Social Networking Group
Memoir Chapters
Memoir 3: Dialogue
One of your neighbors (who you don’t particularly like) invites you to
do an activity in Paris. What activities does he/she suggest? In what
quarters of Paris? What forms of transportation do you take and how
do you get there? In dialogue format, recreate the conversation
between you and this character. Use different question formations,
expressions of necessity, the future tense, and relative pronouns.
Memoir 4: Persuasion
You decide to spend the day at the Centre Pompidou with your
neighbors from the building. While looking at the artwork such as the
Instruments de Musique by Braque or Fontaine by DuChamp, you hear a
loud scream. Later, one of your neighbors was found murdered in the
dumpster behind the museum! In his/her hand, you find a note with
the message “Querelle des Universaux.” The rumors run wild in the
building and each neighbor has their own version of what happened.
Recount the story using the subjunctive and expressions of doubt,
necessity, volition, and emotion and fine arts vocabulary.
*Adapted from Mélanie Péron’s Immeuble description
**Discussion Board & Social Networking Group
Interactive Memoir Chapters: Collective Identity
• Students can break free from traditional and expected roles and inhabit different
chosen roles and identities in their global simulation writing assignments (Mills &
Péron, 2009)
• L2 global simulation writers may experiment and creatively write their persona into
the text (Mills & Péron, 2009)
• Discussion boards are instrumental in developing a collective identity that can
empower a community of learners (Spiliotopoulos & Carey, 2005; Burbules, 2000;
Iam, 2004)
• Discussion Boards encourage equal participation from all members of the
discussion board community (Ortega, 1997)
• Students’ fears are allayed when they compare their writing to that of their peers at
a similar level of writing proficiency (Spiliotopoulos & Carey, 2005)
• Students begin to learn how to interact with different types of people within a
community (friends, family members, elders, strangers, enemies, etc. )
Global Simulation Integration & Assignments
•
Réunion des Locataires: Exchange of “Happenings” in Building
• Integration in-class Activities:
• Interview for apartment rental in immeuble
• Collective development of a love story between two neighbors
• Presentations of artists from the Bateau Lavoir in Montmartre. Description,
analysis, exchange and discussion of paintings
• Discussion of representation of Paris and Montmartre in the film “Amélie”
• Centre Pompidou: Debate on modern art
• Trial for neighbor’s murder
• Oral Exam role-plays: Immeuble Context (partner dialogues/ role-play/ debates)
• Quizzes: Task-based and set within the Immeuble context
• Skit: Epilogue and Final chapter of life in the Immeuble
Adapted from Mills & Péron (2009) . Intermediate level curriculum developed at UPenn with Mélanie Péron
SHIRAZ, IRAN?
How can we adapt the global simulation format to
the Persian context?
Shiraz, Iran
• Leading center of the arts
and letters
• Presence of many artists
and scholars
• Known as the city of
poets, literature, wine, and
flowers
Images from http://windowsoniran.wordpress.com
COURSE THEMES
What are possible course themes within the Shiraz
context?
Possible Course Themes
Cultural Themes
Functions
Grammar
Stereotypes of Iran and
Iranians
Describe people (physical
characteristics, personality
traits, etc.)
-
Housing in Shiraz
Talk about where they live
Make suggestions
Describe settings
- Compound verbs
- Direct object markers
Cuisine in Shiraz
Order food at a restaurant
Express what food one likes
and dislikes
- Negation
- Question formation
- Subjunctive
[comparisons among Iranian
& American practices]
Nouns: plural vs. singular
Present tense
Adjectives
Comparative and
superlative
Possible Course Themes
Cultural Themes
Functions
Sites/Activities in Shiraz Extend, accept, and refuse
Atigh Jame' Mosque
invitations
Qur'an Gate
Eram Garden
Neighborhoods and
transportation in Shiraz
Abivardi
Farhang Shahr
Ghasrodasht, etc.
Film:
“Kish-o-Mat”
Iranian film, filmed in
Shiraz
Ask for directions
Talk about public
transportation
Give advice
Express opinions about
film
Discuss representation of
Shiraz in film
Grammar
- Imperative
- Prepositions
- Adverbs
- Review/ Recycle
previously reviewed
grammar points
Film: Kish-o-mat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZcIlBrdft8&feature=results_main&play
next=1&list=PL09C42CECBE49FA3F
Possible Course Themes
Cultural Themes
Functions
Grammar
History of Shiraz
Pre-Islamic, Islamic period,
Iranian revolution
Narrate events in the past
tense
- Active vs. passive voice
- Past tenses
Arts in Shiraz
Gardens, Mosaic work,
Poetry, Carpet-weaving
Describe and analyze arts
and crafts
Express hypothetical
situations
- Hypothetical sentence
structures
- Future tense
Shiraz today
Media and the electronic
curtain, sanctions, politics,
US/Iranian relations, etc.
Express emotions
State opinions
Express hypothetical
situations
- Subjunctive vs. indicative
- Conditional tense
- Review: hypothetical
sentence structure
MEMOIR CHAPTERS
Within the proposed course themes, what types of interactive
memoir chapters could be assigned?
Possible Memoir Chapters
Memoir 1: Self-portrait
Present a description of your character in the first person.
Write a description of the city of Shiraz and his/her apartment
in the building. Be careful to avoid stereotypes. Include housing
vocabulary, present tense, adjectives, comparative structures,
and direct object markers.
Memoir 2: Dialogue
All of the tenants from the building decide to go to the Shater
Abbas restaurant for dinner. You can’t wait to enjoy mashed
aubergine, kebabs, freshly baked bread, barley soup, and saffron
flavored rice. While at the restaurant, you comment on the
décor in the restaurant and then talk about what you like and
dislike on the menu and what you would like to order. Then, a
lively discussion arises among the neighbors. Recreate this
dialogue among the neighbors. Incorporate cuisine vocabulary,
negation, and question formation.
*Adapted from Mélanie Péron’s Immeuble
description
**Discussion Board & Social Networking
Group
Possible Memoir Chapters
Memoir 3: Description
The weather is beautiful and one of your neighbors invites you
to do an activity in Shiraz. What sites do you see? What
neighborhood do you visit? How do you get there? What
transportation do you take? Describe this outing with your
neighbor. Incorporate vocabulary associated with
transportation and activities and use the future tense, the
imperative, various prepositions, and adverbs.
Memoir 4: Narrative
You visit one of your neighbors, an elder who lives in the
building, and he/she tells you about life in Shiraz before the
Revolution. Included in his/her description is a discussion of
the Shiraz arts festival and a comparison of life today and in
the past. How does he/she narrate this story? Incorporate
vocabulary associated with art, the active and passive voice, the
past tenses, hypothetical sentence structures, and the
subjunctive.
*Adapted from Mélanie Péron’s Immeuble
description
**Discussion Board & Social Networking
Group
INTEGRATION, ASSIGNMENTS, AND
CLASS ACTIVITIES
What are different learner-centered assignments and
class activities that you could envision in this
context?
Possible Class activities
• Tenant meetings:
• Discussion and exchange among characters after writing memoirs
• Defend or provide reason for actions
• Agree and disagree with other characters’ comments
• Make suggestions
• Express emotions
• Creation of characters (introduction of culturally relevant individuals)
• Son of Shahriyar Mandanipour (famous contemporary writer)?
• Descendant of Saadi, a 12th and 13th century poet born in Shiraz?
• Student Projects
• Creating a weekend excursion to the ruins of Persepolis outside of Shiraz with
your neighbors. Explore transportation, food/restaurants, activities.
Possible Class Activities
• Student Role Plays
• You and a fellow neighbor discuss what you did in Shiraz over the weekend
• You and a fellow neighbor compare and contrast your current living situation.
How does his/her apartment differ from yours? How is it similar?
• You and a fellow neighbor are preparing a dinner for your friends. Discuss the
menu and what dishes you will prepare. Then, decide what you will need to buy
at the market.
• Student Presentations
• Different neighborhoods in Shiraz
• Philosophers, scholars, and poets in Shiraz
Oral Exams
• Midterm oral exam (partners)
• Role-play dialogue among “neighbors”
• Instructor question/answer with student
• Character
• Apartment
• City of Shiraz
• Relationships with the neighbors
• Final oral exam (partners)
• Informed discussion among “neighbors” (topics provided in advance)
• History of Shiraz
• Shiraz today
• Arts in Shiraz
Possible Final Play
As the final project for the course, you will write and perform a play
in which you play the role of your character. In this play, you will
act out the concluding chapter of life in Shiraz. What secrets are
revealed? What happens to the characters in the building? How
would you like to conclude this collectively developed storyline?
Incorporate cultural references and the grammar reviewed in the
course. Use costumes, props, and sets. Be creative.
CONSTRUCTIVIST & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Does the proposed curriculum adhere to the
principles of constructivist and experiential
learning?
Characteristics of Constructivist Learning?
• Learner-centered
• Embedded learning in complex, realistic and relevant environments.
• Provide for social negotiation as an integral part of learning
• Encourage ownership and self-direction in learning.
• Provide adequate time for learners’ investigation and in-depth engagement.
• Action oriented where language is learned through collaboration and
creativity
-Dewey, Kolb, Vygotsky (Driscoll, 2000)
Characteristics of Experiential Learning?
• Learners are active, responsible participants – not passive responders
• Students are proactive rather than a reactive
• Creating motivating and engaging contexts for learning
•
Promote self-directed learning, autonomy, and choice in the learning process
• Create opportunity for imaginative and inventive thinking
• Develop learners’ social and interpersonal skills
• Provide opportunities for collaborative and cooperative work
• Encourage authentic language use which involves the learner
• Bring learner in touch with real-life language use, involving a meaningful reason for doing
different tasks (why are they reading the text? Why are they listening?)
- David Nunan, Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching
QUESTIONS
Nicole Mills, Ph.D.
mills@fas.harvard.edu