Spanish in Texas:Open learning tools for exploring language diversity

Rachael GilgJacqueline Larsen SerigosAdriano Trovato

November 22, 2014 | ACTFL Annual Convention & World Languages Expo | San Antonio, TX

http://www.coerll.utexas.edu

Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning (COERLL)

Agenda

1. Introduction to the Spanish in Texas Project

2. Introduction to Language Variation

3. Resource 1: The SpinTX Video Archive

4. Resource 2: Spanish Grammar in Context

5. Variation in the Language Classroom

6. Open Education

7. Discussion, Q&A

Goal: To make publically available authentic data about variation in Spanish as spoken in Texas

• for research (sociolinguistics)

• for education

Encourage teachers, students, and the public to view local varieties as a resource.

The Spanish in Texas Project

The Process

• Participants: Undergraduate students at UT Austin and their Spanish-speaking family, friends, or acquaintances in communities around Texas

• Format: 30-40 minute interviews, using sampling of a large set of questions (~75) from NPR Storycorps(Historias)

• Language: Spanish and mixed

Resources

For researchers:• Access to authentic language

data (videos, transcripts, annotations, etc.)

• Documentation of tools and methods.

For educators and students:• SpinTX Video Archive• Spanish Grammar in Context

http://www.spanishintexas.org

Where are you from?

Language Variation

Language VariationAge

Gender

Social Factors

Region

Language VariationAge

Gender

Social Factors

Region

Uptalk?

Language VariationAge

Gender

Social Factors

Region

Language Variation

– Ethnicity

– Social Economic Status

– Register

Age

Gender

Social Factors

Region

What would you call this in Spanish?

Me veo usandopalabras en Spanglish...

parquear, mixtear, cachar,

Lexical Variation https://www.coerll.utexas.edu/spintx/video/1556

Pronunciation Variationhttps://www.coerll.utexas.edu/spintx/video/376

Siempre va a sermucho trabajo, mucho esfuerzo

Me dijo — vení, Esteban, acá

Grammatical Variationhttps://www.coerll.utexas.edu/spintx/video/638

Sociolinguistics

• Language in context

• Language Beliefs

– “Do you speak American?”

– “Is technology ruining our language?

Language Variation in Texas

Yo me esforcé para agarrarbecas

Nos podían hacer discipline más que ahora.

A free and open video archive for teachers & learners• 550+ video clips from 60 speakers living in Texas• Clip length between 1-4 minutes• Fully transcribed, captioned, and annotated• Videos can be downloaded and shared• Teacher-friendly search and tools for activity

development

Video Introduction to SpinTX

Watch intro video.

http://coerll.utexas.edu/spintx

Browse for Variation

Presenting Language Variation in the Classroom

• Selection– Teacher selected clips

– Student selected clips

• Presentation1. Brainstorm

2. Observe

3. Reflect• How does this differ from the textbook? Is there variation

like this in English?

4. Produce

Spanish Grammar in Context The Creation

• Descriptive Grammar VS PrescriptiveGrammar:

– What people say, not what you should say

¡Esto no se dice!Se dice ... en vez de...

Spanish Grammar in ContextThe Creation

• Descriptive Grammar VS Perscriptive Grammar:– What people say, not what you should say

• Accurate but Concise– Easily accessible for teachers and learners– Suitable for both quick consultation and deep review

Authentic Examples– Video excerpts from the Spanish in Texas Corpus– Audiovisual examples

Authentic Video Examples

• Authenticity

• Audio, video, and text to address different learning styles

Focus on Variation

• Considering different registers, dialects, and styles

Focus on Variation

• Considering different registers, dialects, and styles

Focus on Variation

• http://grammar.spanishintexas.org/pronouns/subject-pronouns/

Poll

• How often do you hear sentences likethese:

–¿Comistes?

–¿A dónde fuistes anoche?

–¿Escuchastes lo que pasó?

http://grammar.spanishintexas.org/verbs/preterite/

Resources for In-class and Homework Activities

Reference grammar and useful tables

Quizzes for practice and comprehension check

Quizzes

• Grammar

• Vocabulary

Quizzes

• Grammar

• Vocabulary

• Listening

Quizzes

• Grammar

• Vocabulary

• Listening Comprehension

• Reading Comprehension

• Prompts for Written Expression Tasks

Quizzes

Variation in the ClassroomDiscussion

• What is the role of variation in the

classroom?

– What is Standard Language?

– Variation from what?

– Which kinds of variation can be useful for our students?

Variation in the Classroom Discussion

How do you address it? Does it need more

or less emphasis?

• How much time do you actually spend to

address variation? Should we spend more

time on it? When?

– Time constraints

– Institutional constraints

Variation in the Classroom Discussion

• Changing teaching approaches so that

you constantly address variation

– Mi abuelita los llama "cholos"

– En mi pueblo le dicen "realtor"

Variation in the Classroom Discussion

• What is the role of variation in the classroom?

• How do you address it? Does it need more or

less emphasis?

• Changing teaching approaches so that you

constantly address variation

• How could you incorporate variation using the

resources we showed you?

COERLL’s Mission

National Foreign Language Resource Centers:

Improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in K-12 and higher education settings.

COERLL:

Produce and disseminate Open Educational Resources (OER) for the teaching of foreign languages.

What are Open Educational Resources?

“a universal educational resource

available for the whole of humanity”

(UNESCO, 2002)

CC: BY-SA Opensourceway http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/6555466069/

Open educational

resources (OER)

are teaching, learning,

and research

resources that reside

in the public domain

or have been released

under a copyright

license that permits

their free use and

repurposing by

others.”

License Undetermined http://davidwiley.org/

- Dr. David Wiley (Lumen Learning)

Creative Commons LicenseSome Rights Reserved

www.creativecommons.org

Benefits of Open Licenses

Users allowed to:

Copy and distribute

(don’t have to ask permission from the copyright holder)

Legally download and publish

(don’t have to rely just on linking)

Adapt and customize the material

(in most cases)

CC: BY-NC DoimSioraf http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleanslatephotography/7899423426/

Many Types of OERTeaching and Learning Materials

• Open Textbooks (Digital / Print-on-Demand / physical copies)

• Open Courseware (Presentations, Recorded Lectures, Lecture

Notes, Syllabi

• Classroom activities, lesson plans, assessment

• Homework and practice exercises

Authentic content in the L2 (texts, video, audio, images, realia)

Public Domain Content: http://www.flickr.com/photos/osucommons/3529534404/

COERLL’s OER

• 16 languages

• Full language courses (French and German

Links & Contacts

Spanish in Texas: http://www.spanishintexas.org

COERLL: http://coerll.utexas.edu

Thank you! Any Questions?