Fostering Reflective Writing and Interactive Exchange

through Blogging

Lina Lee University of New Hampshire

llee@unh.edu

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign LanguagesHynes Convention Center, Boston, MA

November 20, 2010

“I never teach my pupils; I

only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

--Albert Einstein

21st Century Learning

Transform your classroom into a creative learning space and provide the opportunity for students to collaborate.

Welcome to 21st Century

Learning

Part 1: Blogs

What is a ?

Weblog (website) – online diary/journal Single or multiple authors Postings in a reverse chronological order Read postings and make comments Link to other sources Instant publishing Social networking

Why ?

Learner autonomy Decision-making; transparency; accountability

Reflective thinking Personal and social space

Collaborative interaction Collective intelligence through exchange

Immediate feedback Responses and comments

Types?

Native speakers’ blogs – reading skills and cultural perspectives

Voice blogs – listening and speaking skills Group/class blogs – collaborative writing Exchange blogs – intercultural learning Personal blogs – reflective writing and

interactive exchange

Let’s

Reflective Writing Personal blogs over a 14 week period

Spanish 631 (fifth semester Spanish)

Participants – 17 undergraduate students

A four-skill integrated approach– Teacher-assigned and free topics

– Two 150-200 word entries per week

Web 2.0 technology – Blogger, Podcasting, iMovie

Four-Skill-Integrated Approach Assigned readings from Revista textbook Free topics Listening to podcasts– Notes in Spanish

http://www.notesinspanish.com– Cody’s Cuentos

http://www.codyscuentos.com/ Speaking practice – 3-4 minute oral recordings for “Tertulia”

Topics for Each Type of Task

Assigned Readings• “Another circle” • “Four scientific formulas for

happiness” • “ TV garbage” • “I was my own path” • “Ten minutes”

Free Topics • Women’s rights • Red Sox in Boston• Country music • Swine influenza A (H1N1) in

Mexico

Listening to Podcasts• Energy saving • Facebook• Eating out and fast food• Adoption• Smuggling

 iMovie: Oral Recordings• Ideal personality• Use of imagination • Immigration • Euthanasia • Globalization

Free topicFree topic

FreeTopic

Free Free Free topic

AssignedReading AssignedReading

AssignedReading

Listen to Podcasting

Listen to Podcasting

Listen to

Podcasting

Oral Recording via

iMovie

Oral Recording via

iMovie

Ratings of Task Types

Students’ Comments

Role of Feedback Linguistic feedback from the instructor

–Fluency vs. accuracy

–Focus-on-form

–Error correction Peer feedback on the content

–Reflective thinking

–Affective support

Ratings of Feedback

Podcasting:Spanish Food

“Tapas”

Podcasting:Spanish Food

“Tapas”

Assigned Reading

Reflective Thinking: Facebook

“Your point was interesting. I have never thought

about the parents. My mom has a facebook but

She only uses it to post family pictures. I agree

that facebook is a wonderful tool for us to

connect with people. However, I think people

spend too much time online. Also there is not

much privacy. I actually prefer email.”

(translated to English - podcasting)

Affective Support: Energy Saving

“I really enjoyed reading your entry about having

New York City go dark after Earth Hour. I did not

know about this and I think it is a great idea to

shut off the lights to save energy. I wish people

would turn off the light when they leave the room.

We wasted too much energy in this country. Well

done!! Matt.” (translated from Spanish - free topic)

Comments on Readings

“Most people made similar

observations about the readings and

some of comments were repetitive. I

did not find this assignment

engaging and useful.”

Comments on iMovie

#1 “Making voice recordings was time

consuming because it took a lot of time to

upload a video to Blogger.”

#2 “I did not feel comfortable making voice

recordings in the language lab and the quality

of the recordings was not very good.”

Comment on Linguistic Issues

Linguistic Improvement (Week 3)

El año pasado mi familia hizo un viaje a europa. Este fue mi primer viaje afuera de los estados unidos y mi primera vez en un avión. *Estuve muy emocionada y *tuve mucho miedo también. Cuando llegamos a Barcelona, *fueron casi las once de la tarde. Nos quedamos en Barcelona tres días y … Al final, *era muy contenta con la experiencia.

Linguistic Improvement (Week 8)

Me gustaban mucho estos podcasts. Empecé mirar la tele española y a veces, es muy dificíl comprender. La historia que Mariana y Ben hablaron [era] muy interesante. Un hombre [robó] muchos bancos y la policía no [pudo] cogerlo por 15 años. El hombre [llevaba] una peluca y [tenía] armas. La policía descubrió que robó casi 600,000 euros y mató dos guardias civiles.

Goals of Blog Projects

Four-skill approach to task-based instruction Less-structured controlled tasks Meaning-oriented interaction Focus-on-form reflection Community building

Teacher role in critical thinking process

For more information Lee, L. (2010). Fostering reflective writing

and interactive exchange through blogging

in an advanced language course. ReCALL,

22(2), 212-227.

PowerPoint: Look for ACTFL2010 http://lleeunh.wordpress.com/my-blogs/