Fostering a Mind-set of Continuous Growth:
Recruitment, Motivation, Lifelong Learning
Brian James Baer Theresa A. Minick
Kent State University
October 15, 2016
Our Goals
Discuss opportunities to impact the trajectory of the learner, whereby students take ownership of a future that includes multiple languages and teachers view their role as extending beyond the classroom
Setting short-range and long-range goals
Increasing and focusing motivation to reach the goals
KSU Student Programs
Regents STARTALK Foreign Language Academy (FLA)
FLA was founded in 2007 from a grant from the Ohio Board of Regents
FLA became a STARTALK program in 2008
KSU Student Programs
Summer component
Four-week residential program
Immersion in the target language
Academic Year follow-up component
One Saturday a month (9AM-3PM)
Blended-learning
4 college credits upon completion (Elem II)
Funded through the CCP program
Who are our FLA students?
Rising juniors and seniors in Ohio high schools
New learners of Mandarin Chinese, and Russian
Setting Goals
If you had to encapsulate the goals (1-2) of your program, what would they be?
Setting Goals Why set goals?
Allow us to prioritize in our decision-making
With our goals in sight, all our actions become purposeful—they should all contribute to reaching the goal(s)
If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t figure out how to get there
Setting Goals
Setting Goals
Goal-setting is a key attribute of effective teachers and directors
Requires regular reflection to determine whether we are meeting our goals or not
Requires flexibility in adjusting our practice to meet our goals
Setting Goals
Short-range vs. Long-range goals
Short-range goal: help students successfully complete our STARTALK summer program
Long-range goal: What might a long-term be?
Setting Long-range Goals
OBR-mandated long-range goals:
Improve success at college by providing high school students with a collegiate experience
Create a cadre of teachers of critical languages
Target the “squishy middle”
How do we do implement these goals?
Long-range Goals
Create a cadre of teachers of critical languages
Discuss with students what makes a good teacher
Be explicit about your pedagogy so that students understand what goes into teaching
Invite a K-12 teacher to speak to the students about teaching as a career
Provide information about teacher education programs and procedures for licensure in your state
Setting Goals
Your long-range goals should help shape every aspect of your program from recruitment to instruction and beyond
Our long-term goal is to set these students on the path to advanced-level or professional-level proficiency.
What are some things we can do to help meet that long-range goal?
Long-range Goals
Connect students early on with career paths (application; career talks)
Connect students with opportunities for continued study after STARTALK (build bridges: NSLI-Y, choosing a college, connecting with native speakers)
Teach strategies that encourage persistence (set expectations)
Fostering MOTIVATION to achieve our goals
Intrinsic: How do you think the motivation of a student changes over time?
Extrinsic: What can program directors / lead instructors / curriculum designers do to foster motivation?
Fostering MOTIVATION through RECRUITMENT
We select students who express a desire to pursue a career involving the use of foreign languages (or undecideds)
We select students who express motivation to study a foreign language based on their application essay
Fostering MOTIVATION through INSTRUCTION (TBI)
Defining TBI
TBI focuses on the use of authentic language and on asking students to do meaningful tasks using the target language.
Such tasks can include visiting a doctor, conducting an interview, or calling customer service for help.
Assessment is primarily based on task outcome (in other words the appropriate completion of real world tasks) rather than on accuracy of prescribed language forms.
Which is a task?
Sample 1: Today we’re going to learn how to form and use the imperative mood. It’s also called the command form.
Sample 2: Today we’re going to learn how to order food in a Chinese restaurant.
What makes a good task?
Keep it REAL!
Make it HOT!
Keep it real!
Goal-oriented: the task has a clear end
The goal is non-instructional (not grammar driven): language is only a means to an end
The goal is real-world oriented
Goal is learner-centered: Students should be directly invested in the goal (Know your students interests!)
Tasks make use of authentic materials: the level of the task should be adjusted, not the language of the authentic materials!
Make it HOT!
An effective task should engage Higher Order Thinking:
LOTs
Remembering - Recognizing, listing, describing, identifying, retrieving, naming, locating, finding
Understanding - Interpreting, Summarizing, inferring, paraphrasing, classifying, comparing, explaining, exemplifying
Applying - Implementing, carrying out, using, executing
95% of the questions students were asked to answer were at the lowest level of cognitive activity: recall
HOTs
Analyzing - Comparing, organizing, deconstructing, Attributing, outlining, finding, structuring, integrating
Evaluating - Checking, hypothesizing, critiquing, Experimenting, judging, testing, Detecting, Monitoring
Creating - designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, devising, making
Sample Activity A
The teacher reads a list of random Russian words and asks the students to write them down. The purpose of this novice-level activity is to improve listening comprehension and writing in Russian.
Sample Activity B
How is a country’s foreign policy reflected in newspaper coverage?
Students are given Russian newspapers and, working in pairs, make a list of all the countries named on the front page. The students compare their answers with those of the rest of the class to make a master list and then mark those countries on a map of the world.
Students then discuss how this list of countries might differ from the countries most frequently mentioned in U.S. newspapers, and why.
Educational Goals
Overt goals: to learn about Russian foreign policy and about geography
Covert goals: to practice reading in Russian and locating necessary information; to practice writing in cursive; to learn the names of relevant countries and cities in Russian; to feel comfortable with non-edited texts
Role of Technology
Fostering motivation through technology
Fostering long-range goals and lifelong learning through technology
Fostering MOTIVATION through Technology Tools
Task-based instruction integrated with technology
Real world skills and technology
Fostering LIFELONG LEARNING through Technology
Fostering MOTIVATION through interaction with Native Speakers
Face to Face Online via Skype
Fostering MOTIVATION through interaction with Native Speakers
Teacher participants as sympathetic Native Speakers
Native Speakers as visitors
Connecting with Native Speakers in the community (field trip)
Connecting with Native Speakers online
Communicating with Native Speakers
Student Quote:
They know the language better than we do and to actually know that they could understand us was amazing. If we were having trouble speaking they would also help us try to figure out the word we were trying to say. Being able to speak to native speakers, and then they being able to understand what you are saying and vice versa, is a progress marker in this program. It shows that you are learning and that you should not give up if you messed up, they understood the meaning of what you said anyway!
Long-range Goals: ASSESSMENT
Tracking our Graduates:
University Language Study (Flagship programs, etc.)
Study Abroad (NSLI-Y)
Career paths
Student Quotes
I learned with what methods I learn best. I also learned the vast number of opportunities with foreign languages that I did not know about before and want to take part in.
It's not an easy thing to learn a language, but it's one of the most rewarding and useful things one can do.
I am prepared for college and have formed good habits and a good attitude about academics.