#language pedagogy

[speaknahuatl]

Last day of 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 (𝗡𝗜𝗟𝗜) 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 - Experienced Track Teachers at the University of Oregon!

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

started down a train of thought about how language survival and revival would be assisted by cheaper courses and classes, and then about how it should just be free, and then about how it should actually be incentivised, and then realised I just wanted ALL education to be not only free but incentivised so that people weren't choosing between education and work and we could focus our societal energies on giving people more knowledge and skills and it would probably improve a lot of things

but also in the meantime irish courses should be cheaper/free for those who didn't get a chance to learn at school tbh

[max1461]

Like seriously. Here's the not-at-all-research-based max1461ist "how to run a language class" checklist:

At least five hours a week. Make the class either long or frequent. Two hours a week is like, essentially pointless.

Basic shit that is sadly getting less common: use a textbook, teach grammar explicitly, have vocabulary lists for students to memorize, etc.

Assign a very large volume of relatively easy homework. There should be homework due every class day. Good problems to assign are conjugation exercises, single sentence translation exercises, and past the intro level, readings + comprehension questions. Again, exercises should be individually easy but very large in volume; language is learned through repetition. Yes, this makes the work "boring". Sorry.

Similarly, have small tests and quizzes frequently. Weekly or semiweekly. Each should test that week's material and be short (10 or so questions).

If possible, homework and tests should be entirely pen and paper based, and free response rather than multiple choice. The act of physically writing things down is huge for memorization.

Have some method for students to get conversation practice. E.g. smaller class sections or "labs" or whatever, ideally lead by native speakers, where students engage in relatively free conversation on a topic chosen by the instructor. Point students to opportunities outside of class to connect with native speakers and get conversation practice. Ideally set up some sort of recurring social context in which natural conversation between students and native speakers can happen regularly. For instance, a dedicated study lounge or dining area where only the target language is allowed, and to which both students and native speakers are invited.

Admittedly, there is some element of ra ra school pride behind much of this list; this is essentially how the language classes at my undergrad institution were organized, and I believe they are better than probably 90% of college level language classes in the country. But there's also an underlying theory of language learning here: that successful language learning is almost entirely about volume and nothing else. Language learning is one of the few activities where I think time spent on practice is almost directly proportional to skill, and the points above are designed to maximize practice of the four basic skills involved in language use—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. And anecdotally, I can attest that this style of class really works. The problem is it is resource intensive, on the part of the student, the professor, and the institution. So it basically never gets done to its fullest extent.

[koko-online]

On Comprehensible Input

Disclaimer : I am not disagreeing with the comprehensible input theory of language acquisition within the context of the science of linguistics. This post is about a tumor that has grown off of it into the 'science' of pedagogy. Regardless, this is more of a vent post against current instructional strategies than anything. I am not citing any sources, most of what is here is anecdotal.

For those unaware, language classes in K12 have changed a lot since you were in school. Many decades ago, it was primarily a text translation course. Then it became what most of the readers probably had, a course integrating vocabulary and structures into conversational performance. Today, as has been pushed for the last decade or so, we are 'encouraged' to teach with what pedagogy scam artists call a comprehensible input based curriculum.

This largely involves an immersion class with a heavy focus on reading and listening (especially in the novice level) with multimodal texts to guide understanding. To give you an idea of the efficacy of this strategy, almost zero students have achieved a "passing" (4/7) score on the IB DP Language B exams in my district since our coordinator started pushing this. My heavily lauded predecessor at this school had 2s and 3s across the board last year, students on their fifth year of language acquisition.

My current fifth year students have a vocabulary of maybe 200 words, mostly cognates.

I can think of a few reasons why this becomes the case.

Immersion classes at the middle/high school level have a tendency to devolve into the dominant language of the school. Infants learn this way because it is their primary method of communication and interacting with the world around them. In class, the students' dominant language is spoken by everyone in the room (from whom students are constantly seeking validation). This is especially a problem when taking into account class sizes of 30+ students who largely do not even want to be there.

The curricula that are available are weak, untested (scientifically), and teacher-created. Teachers are not curriculum designers, neither by training nor by time allotted. What results is a mish-mash of ideas half-executed, with wide, gaping holes in student knowledge. My Language B coordinator literally just threw a random assortment of various difficulty beginner reader books (one is a story about a capyabara wearing boots, for example) at me with no materials, no guide, no placement within a curriculum. This is not an effective foundation for a high school student's language journey.

Comprehensible Input as a theory is a description of how language is acquired, it is not a prescription for curriculum. Refusing to take into account the differences between someone whose job, 24/7, is exclusively to understand the language enthusiastically, compared to someone who is in a class against their will for maybe 160 minutes per week is ludicrous.

The de-emphasis on output, especially in the beginning levels, leaves students without the tools and muscle memory to become proficient speakers later.

Recently, I have been studying Toki Pona.

Reading the official text, I learned very quickly and very effectively. I made flash cards, read about grammatical constructions, did translation exercises, and assigned myself conversational tasks to practice what I could. Writing very short stories, skits, practicing common dialogue patterns. It has been really fast and effective.

About halfway through the book, I decided to install a game called Toki Pona Island. A self-proclaimed comprehensible input strategy to acquiring the language. I have played for hours, and the only word I have meaningfully retained is alasa (look for, quest, seek). And it is an entire game ABOUT alasa. Every character says it constantly and I had to look it up about 50 times before I forced myself to remember. Even then, while writing this, I originally wrote it as asala before I looked it up for accuracy. So, in effect, nothing was meaningfully learned.

[official-linguistics-post]

how best to convince someone to learn sumerian instead of japanese

doesn't it sound exciting to always have a dearth of pedagogical resources?? you'll always be on your toes!

[toiletpotato]

I think one of the things that bugs me about Duolingo's redesign is how similar it feels to school now.

Previously we were able to hop around subjects and do that as we please, but now it is a linear path organized into sections and units and lessons, just like the way a lot of languages are taught in schools- something it seemed Duolingo wanted to differentiate itself from.

Getting rid of the forums/locking them was also a strange move, as with the general move of the internet having things be behind walls (either of a discord or now private reddit page).

From a pedagogical perspective I suppose I can see the reasoning behind making the tree more linear as there are some things that ought to be taught before other topics- you wouldn't learn the subjunctive before you learned how verbs work, for example. However, especially regarding the asynchronous/self-study nature of Duolingo when combined with the gamificafion aspect, I think that it hinders it. With the old design, you could pick whichever topic you had unlocked that interested you, but now it forces learners into this predetermined path. So, if someone is not jiving with a topic, then it may ultimately be antithetical and cause them to not learn that day or lose their streak. This is especially prevalent with the hearts design because it can be rather disheartening to try and try again only to have to wait a set number of hours on a topic you just want to power through.

The streak of it all also is not helpful from a casual language learning perspective due to the incessant notifications- it becomes less about learning a language and more about pleasing the bird- much like perfect attendance in schools. A student should not feel pressured to put their health (mental/physical) at risk as then their learning will falter! You cannot learn effectively if your other essential needs are not met (shout out to Maslow's hierarchy).

It would be interesting to see Duolingo move to a week-based streak/attendance model, or reward the learner/user for what they have done, rather than what they haven't (ex. You did two lessons/practiced twice this week- that's awesome!). If they really must maintain the streak aspect, consider making it biweekly- so long as the user does something in a two week period, they are rewarded.

Now, would this potentially affect their learning statistics about how x number of hours = x semesters in university? Maybe! But learning isn't a race. You never finish learning. I started learning Spanish over seven years ago and I am not done. However, this race to fluency is a larger issue with how language learning is marketed (ex become fluent in Spanish in x number of days!) that is honestly unfair to the brand new learner. Fluency exists in levels, but this isn't an easy thing to "market" since most folks want an end all be all, they don't really like ambiguity.

This isn't to try to turn anyone away from language learning- it started as me making a fuss about Duolingo being strange and ended up... well this. Please learn a new language- for fun! You can learn it casually, picking up a few survival phrases (which are GREAT), try and read your favorite book, or watch a TV show!!

Language is all around us, it is ever changing and wonderful, and I think it is really neat.

[viking-badger]

It's so funny to confirm kids' theories like.

Literally translated "speed bump" in Croatian is "lying policeman" so when I was a really young kid I was just. Wow there's a policeman lying down in the road and we're driving over him. He's obviously dead then. Does that mean that these are policemen's graves?

And I just asked my dad if speed bumps were cop graves. He said "Yeah* and continued to drive the car. I was thinking like. Whoa. Why didn't anyone tell me that before. And proceeded to believe it for years.

[atlasisntdead]

Just a little update, I realized recently I don't wanna study what I'm currently studying in college, I'm applying to study spanish instead but I gotta pass the entrance exam which should be a piece of cake but we'll see since I don't have a lot of time.

[bidisasterevankinard]

Uni wants to kill me

[faitsansorganes]

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LINGUISTS NEED TO ADOPT GLOTTODIDACTICS (1) AND NEOSEMANTISM (2) FROM THE POLISH GLOTTODYDAKTYKA AND NEOSEMANTIZM IMMEDIATELY. THESE TERMS GO HARD

1: applied linguistics as specifically concerns the teaching and learning of a language

2: an emergent meaning of an already existing word; this meaning is awkwardly included in the much broader term "neologism" in English

[summergoodwife]

So, preface: I'm American, IDK if you were referring to ASL here so sorry if not. Anyway!

One of my favorite but most exhausting topics to think about is how to interest kids in learning new languages, especially kids growing up in monolingual, English-speaking households. Cause I tell you, there is a cultural issue in the US (and in England at least, according to my English friend) where people believe that anyone worth speaking to knows and uses spoken English. So they don't need to learn any other languages. I wanna know how we break through that, because I've thought of a lot of ideas but none of them really seem good. I'm trying to find studies, teachers' experiences and opinions, etc. but the process is slow.

I would love to live in a place where kids, and everyone else, find it worthwhile and exciting to commit to learning Sign Language.

idk man. i just think itd be really cool if sign language classes were mandatory throughout primary school. yeah because it would make communication with deaf kids and autistic/nonverbal kids much easier. and those kids would be accessible to the others so they could make friends and have healthy relationships. yeah. and kids would eat that shit up man. like their own little secret language? they love that.

[speaknahuatl]

Cuitlahuac A. Martinez, Nahuatl Language Learner and Teacher + Indigenous Language Activist

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Last, but not least!

Group 6: Boosting Student Motivation - Bola & Marie

Bola and Marie wrapped up our student-led presentations with a bang! Their presentation covered some tools to make our classrooms more engaging that made educational use of popular technology applications. From Duolingo to Minecraft, they expertly showed us how to make applications work for us in the education system, which again aligns with the Five Pillars of Online Pedagogy, which calls upon us to allow students to develop mastery of tools and use what they know to demonstrate learning.

I often do not like breakout rooms. Forced discussions often end up with me doing most of the work, usually as the only one with their video and audio on. It is more isolating than collaborating. However, the breakout room I was in was likely the most helpful group I have had yet. We were tasked with discussing Duolingo, and I expressed that my knowledge extended only so far as my kids' obsession with maintaining their streak. This opened the dialogue for others to share that they did not use it, and they asked questions about my children. I shared that it is motivating; they like to compete, and most of our family fights are over, one or more needing to “Save my Streak!!!!” precisely at bedtime. A classmate asked if I had noticed an improvement in oral language acquisition, and I shared a story with them. My wife has taken our kids to her school, where someone who speaks Spanish would be. She thought they could try out their knowledge, and while they were great at their “canned” phrases, moving beyond the common conversational phrases was unsuccessful. The learning extended as far as knowledge about words and memorized phrases. A classmate shared that his friend was obsessed with the platform and had a streak 4 times the length the streak my kids had, and said he also had limited ability in open dialogue format. Fun fact: when I shared this with my teenage son, he vehemently denied it and said he could speak fluently to anyone. I laughed. Not my best parenting moment, but honestly, his viewpoint is inaccurate.

We took our discussion back to the larger class, and we all echoed the same sentiment. These tools are great as additional educational components but cannot replace learning. They are great for precisely the topic of this presentation - Boosting Student Motivation. They cannot take the place of education.

[baublefobbersleuth]

Pour Me a Draft of Heartsick with a Shot of Hope

New marker. “For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.” (Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida) I knew an English professor who remarked during the season of final exams that it was time, once again, to see how badly he had failed his students. I loved that an academic identified, at least rhetorically, as the tested one and not the master. I…

[russenoire]

this explains a lot.

it explains people struggling so hard with figurative language that their first impulse at reading evocative, lyrical prose is ridicule. or bewilderment. unless folks were lucky enough to attend private schools or schools in wealthy zip codes, no one's been tasked with writing book reports, or sorting through literary fiction and verse for meaning and style and historical relevance for some time now. NCLB cut students off from years of practice with critical thought, analysis and synthesis of knowledge before they get to high school. i don't even know that essay writing is being taught in lower grades anymore.

it explains why so many people under 30 have trouble reading my handwriting (a neat mix of cursive and manuscript that i've been praised my entire life for). cursive writing stopped being taught in the US when i was in high school. while american grade school curricula are slowly reinstating it, this means an entire generation of people now can't read historical documents unless they're transcribed into print. (oh, and history classes also saw the axe in a lot of places. it's just basic literacy and maths proficiency, because these can be easily quantified.) NCLB cut students off further from the country's past.

NCLB and the damage it wrought make me mad enough to spit nails. we'll be feeling it here in the US for a long while.

I was today years old. That is disgusting.

No Child Left Behind is one of the worst things to ever be incentivized in schools. It was signed into law when I was 14. Reading Rainbow was my show as a kid. LeVar Burton played a big part in why I became an avid reader to date. The joy of it. It's an adventure around the globe and through different time periods without stepping on a plane or time machine.

Children parrot behavior. In grade school, I always wanted to read the same amount of books as my teachers (50 books) and managed to double that each year. Before No Child Left Behind, book fairs and Scholastic catalogs were a serious matter like your grandma's Fingerhut catalogs. Libraries were (and still are) a wonderland.

Reading comprehension and proficiency in schools has been declining for decades. A crisis. The joy of books isn't pushed anymore and I'm always saddened by it. It's one of the reasons why I post my book reviews and recommendations on here, as well as posts from others to encourage reading and (novel) writing. Kids will parrot your behavior while the education system sadly fails to return as that example.