CASLA through a social constructivist perspective:

WebQuest in project-driven language learning

Vassiliki Simina andMarie-Josée HamelCCL, UMIST, UKvsimina@hotmail.com mjhamel@ccl.umist.ac.uk

Presentation plan

Background and aim Overview on constructivism

– General definition– Focus on social constructivism– Principles and implications CASLA

Conditions for successful:– Learning– SLA– Conditions juxtaposed

Characteristics of the ideal:– Socio-constructivist environment– CALL environment– Characteristics juxtaposed

WebQuest– As one example of good practice– Definition and characteristics– Examples

Conclusions

Background and aim

MSc in CALL dissertation Mandate: investigate the contribution of constructivism in CALL Aim of the research:

– Suggest a model (expansion) which will allow for the description of the characteristics of an ideal social constructivist CALL environment promoting conditions for successful SLA

– Find potential existing examples of good/best practice Results of initial investigation are presented today Further research remains to be done Constructive feedback is welcome!

Overview on constructivism

Historical account– Socrates:

Maieutic– Vico/Kant:

Knowledge precedes reasoning– Piaget:

Cognitive stages of development– Vygotsky

Socio-cultural cognitive development– Bruner

Discovery learning– Dewey

Experiential learning

Overview on constructivism

General definition:– A theory of learning– Central tenet:

learners construct their knowledge on their own: – by associating new with prior information– through experience and reflection upon experience

– A procedural/cognitive model– Theory concerned with how knowledge is constructed– Focus on the learner and his mental/cognitive operations while

learning– Learner’s participation in the process/control over the

process

Overview on constructivism

Focus on social constructivism (Vygotsky 1978) Key concepts:

– Social interaction Thinking subject and realm of the social are interconnected

– Socio-cultural cognition Context as essential for construction of knowledge Language as a common mean to mediate knowledge

– Zone of Proximal Development Scaffolding

– Collaboration to achieve self-reliance

Principles and implications for CASLA

Knowledge is constructed by the individual based on his own experience

Learning is an active process where the learner’s mental constructs are enlarged/modified to fit his experiential world

The focus is on the learner’s interpretation of the real world

Implication – Approaches like problem-solving and discovery allow the

learner to explore the real world and make sense of it on his own

Principles and implications for CASLA

Social interaction supports the construction of knowledge

Scaffolding process is core Language is fundamental in social

interaction Implication

– Approaches promoting collaboration and autonomy allow the learner to actively participate in socially situated contexts

Socio-constructivist conditions for successful learning

Vygotsky (1978)– Learners should be provided learning data within their zone

of proximal development hence directing them to become more self-reliant

Driscoll (1994)– Provide complex and relevant learning environments that

incorporate authentic activity– Provide for social negotiation– Allow access to multiple perspectives and multiple modes of

learning– Encourage student ownership in learning– Emphasize self-awareness of knowledge construction

Conditions for successful SLA

Chapelle (1998 and 2001):– Ideal (comprehensible) input/output

Interaction (Gass 1997)

– Cognitive (Skehan 1998) Provide a range of target structures, etc.

– Socio-affective (MacIntyre et al. 1998) WTC

Conditions juxtaposed

Common grounds– variety of materials/multiple representations– interaction in collaborative learning– self-monitoring

Expansion– allowance for learner’s constructions– consideration of individual differences in cognitive characteristics of

learners– promotion of social interaction for negotiation/multiple representations of

meaning – Provision of comprehensible input in authentic environment facilitating

associations with prior knowledge– emphasis on scaffolding process and autonomy rather than directed focus

on form and meaning

Characteristics of the ideal socio-constructivist environment

– A socio-constructivist environment that facilitates knowledge construction (Jonassen 1994) by:

Providing multiple representation of reality Representing the natural complexity of the real world Focusing on knowledge construction, not reproduction Presenting authentic tasks Providing real-world, case-based learning environments, rather

than pre-determined instructional sequences Fostering reflective practice Enabling context and content dependent knowledge

construction Supporting collaborative construction of knowledge through

social negotiation

Characteristics of the ideal socio-constructivist environment

An environment that fosters:– Cognitive apprenticeships

Modelling, scaffolding, coaching, exploration, articulation and reflection (Conway 1997)

– Situated learning or cognition Task-based, project-based and content-based learning

(Warschauer and Healey 1998)

– Collaborative learning Learners work together towards a common goal

Characteristics of the ideal CALL environment

A CALL environment that provides (Chapelle 1998):– Plenty of ideal input/output– Opportunity for focus on form and meaning– Opportunity for noticing errors– Modified interaction between learner and

computer

Characteristics of an ideal socio-constructivist CALL environment

– Learner-centred learner free to make his/her own interpretations teacher as a facilitator

– Authentic context-rich, experience-based activities

– Social interaction sharing of multiple representations, reflection and monitoring opportunity for negotiation (social/meaning)

– Scaffolding manipulation of attention (focus on meaning/form) collaboration to achieve aims

WebQuest

An example of good practice An information gap resolution model (Felix

2002)– A model where social interaction is fostered by

collaborating and co-operating in meaningful exchanges through authentic information gaps

– A model that seeks to achieve maximum connectivity and student engagement

– It involves contextualised language and research tasks– It stimulates creative simulations

WebQuest

Definition– “an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all

the information that learners interact with comes from the Internet” (Dodge 1995)

Description– six essential components:

– introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation and conclusion

WebQuest

Characteristics– content in context– project-based– convergent (problem-solving) task – motivational elements– group/solo activities– single discipline or interdisciplinary– adaptable– multimodal – authentic assessment– integration of Internet in curriculum

WebQuest

Main sites:– http://www.webquest.org/– http://www.webquestuk.org.uk/

Some examples:– Discover London WebQuest– Guess Who’s Coming For Dinner– The Job Of Your Dreams WebQuest– This Mission Is Possible– A Visitor’s Guide To The Solar System– many more

Conclusions

Future work– need for a more solid and robust constructivist

theory of language learning – Model in progress…

– empirical research– Investigations/evaluations

References

CHAPELLE, C. (1998). “Multimedia CALL: Lessons to be learned from research on instructed SLA”. Language Learning & Technology, 2 (1): 22-34.

CONWAY, J. (1997). “Educational technology's effect on models of instruction”, electronic version available at <http://copland.udel.edu/~jconway/EDST666.htm>.

DRISCOLL, M. P. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

DODGE, B. (1995). “Some thoughts about WebQuests”, electronic version available at <http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html>.

GASS, S. (1997). Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

References

FELIX, U. (2002) “The web for constructivism approaches in language learning”. ReCALL, 14 (1): 2-15.

JONASSEN, D. H. (1994). “Thinking technology”. Educational Technology, 34 (4): 34-37.

MACINTYRE, P. D. et al. (1998). “Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: a situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation”. The Modern Language Journal, 82: 545-62.

SKEHAN, P. (1998). A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

VYGOTSKY, L. S. 1978. Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

WARSCHAUER, M. AND HEALEY, D. (1998). “Computers and language learning: An overview”. Language Teaching, 31: 57-71.