Language learning as bricolage in new media environments

EUROCALL

September 10th, 2009

Steven L. ThorneDepartment of Applied Linguistics | Center for Language

Acquisition The Pennsylvania State University

Black, R.W. (2008). Adolescents and online fan fiction. New York: Peter Lang.

Thorne, S. L., & Black, R. (2007). Language and literacy development in computer-mediated contexts and communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 27: 133-160.

Thorne, S. L., & Black, R. W. (forthcoming). Identity and interaction in Internet-mediated contexts. In C. Higgins (ed.), Negotiating the self in a second language: Identity formation and cross-cultural adaptation in a globalizing world. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Remixing and fan faction

World of Warcraft

1.7 billion Internet users world wide 1 in 10 individuals in the U.S. have

started a blog 16 + million play World of Warcraft 90 + % of students use facebook &

other social media, 3-5 million new facebook users per week

Users of social media “curate” online personas (Clive Thompson, NY Times, 2008)

Big context & emerging environments

L2 education involves determining the acquisitional potential of different social practices

Re-weighting the use and exchange values of the object of educational activity

What are the possibilities for revisioning educational practice through critical recognition of new media genres and literacies?

Our challenges as researchers/educators

A talk in 4 parts

Part 1: Theoretical orientations Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) + friends

Part 2: Instant messaging, blogs, and multi-directional

flows CHAT as in interventionist and interpretive

framework Descriptive corpus analyses of language development

Part 3: Gaming and virtual environments

Part 4: Cultivating language awareness through

bridging activities

Convergent and divergent genres

Thorne, S. L. (2005). Epistemology, politics, and ethics in sociocultural theory. Modern Language Journal, 89: 393-409.

Thorne, S. L. (2000). Second language acquisition theory and some truth(s) about relativity. In J. Lantolf (ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 219-243). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thorne, S. L., & Lantolf, J. (2007). A linguistics of communicative activity. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (eds.), Disinventing and reconstituting languages (pp. 170-195). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Part 1: Cultural-historical psychology

Vygotsky’s model of mediated action

Subject Object

Mediational Means

Human activity is mediated by symbolic and material artifacts

Strong mediation and “cultures-of-use” (Thorne, 2003; Thorne & Black, 2007)

Modern cultural historical activity theory

Activity theory as heuristic: Engeström’s model (1987)

Structurationist lineage: human activity structures, and is structured by, enduring properties of the social-material world --> “ratcheting up” (Tomasello, 1999)

CHAT analyses attempt to establish systems of culturally organized practices and their interrelations -- Multiple activity systems are always at work!

CHAT = a dialectical focus on explaining & evoking human development -- research and innovation/intervention

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT)

Historical ‘invention’ of languages/genres -- processes that reify mutable, local, and contingent language use into categorical linguistic varieties (e.g., Makoni & Pennycook, 2007)

‘Language’ is the epiphenomenon of professional linguists and conservative epistemological prescriptivists

A “linguistics of communicative activity” (Thorne & Lantolf, 2007) Recuperation and extension of usage-based and meaning

centered approaches to linguistically mediated human action

It is “solely through the utterance [use] that language makes contact with communication, is imbued with its vital power, and becomes a reality” (Volosinov, 1973)

Fragments and repertoires --> bricolage

Post-language pedagogy

Part 2a: Instant messaging, blogs, & multi-directional semiotic flows:

An intervention study

Thorne, S. L. (2009). ‘Community’, semiotic flows, and mediated contribution to activity. Language Teaching, 42(1).

Designing for relevance & interpenetration

High school Spanish AP (5) and level 2 courses Pedagogical intervention: Integrating blog and

IM use Semiotic ecology that is inclusive of both

schooling and students’ broader life contexts (actual and desired)

Research focus: relation between in and out of school communication -- interactivity system analysis

Technology available at school (labs and laptop carts), public library, and home

Laminating literacies & cultures

1. Use of IM for social purposes with peers2. Use of IM for education with classmates3. Blogs catalyze interactivity system fusion

1. Everyday culture-of-use of IM

2. Educational uses of IM3. Blogs in and out of class

1. Non-institutional identities2. Student subject positions

*CHAT graphic based on Engeström 1987, 1993

Spanish as an expanded object

Student_1: “I’ve noticed that people sort of find their own style of writing blogs or IM and you sort of adopt that as you go whether it be in English or Spanish.”

Student_2: “its kinda like any conversation you’d have [with] like a friend on IM or facebook or something its like the same thing but you’re doing it in Spanish”

Student_3: “You have Spanish IMs, so being clever and using words well and you know how it is -- you have to make up a personality using words, so you have to do that in Spanish.”

Students deemphasize the particularities of any specific language and instead focus on doing things with language

Multi-directional semiotic flows

Centripetal emphasis on exogenous activity systems/language socialization practices influencing education (Thorne, 1999, 2000, 2003)

Centrifugal dynamics in evidence --> ‘school knowledge’ out to world!

Frequently using Spanish over IM when not required Posting Spanish blog entries from class to personal

blogs and translating personal blog entries into Spanish

Spanish a resource for the expanded object of becoming an engaging socially desirable interlocutor – “stylization” (Rampton, 2002), “shuttling” (Canagarajah, 2006)

Development is always fundamentally about identity (Gee; Lave & Wenger; Leont’ev; Vygotsky)

Part 2b: Use value and development: A corpus-informed assessment of L2 writing

Thorne, S. L., Fernandez, J., Yuldashev, A. (in preparation). Use value and digital literacies: A corpus-informed assessment of L2 writing.

With Julieta Fernandez & Aziz Yuldashev

Basic Tenets of Corpus Analysis

Data driven, highly empirical A grammar of use based on attested utterance

types Language structure, i.e., formulaic sequences

comprise ~60% of language use (Wray, 2002; Schmitt & Carter, 2004)

Emergent grammar (Hopper, 2002; Bybee, 2001) Grammar = observable patterns in discourse Grammar a consequence, not a precondition

-- epiphenomenal “Grammar contracts as texts expand” -->

fragments and repertoires

Corpus assessment of Spanish L2 Corpus assessment of Spanish L2 WritingWriting

Compilation of blog and IM texts from the State College Area High school district compiled March 2009

The Spanish AP corpus currently = 500,000 tokens (and growing / under construction)

For the present study, data from the academic year 2005-2006

Tracking the microgenesis of language development

Blogs -- most recurrent 2-word Blogs -- most recurrent 2-word chunkschunks

# Freq 2-w chunks translation

1 758 me gusta i like 2 335 pienso que i think that3 214 voy a i’m going to5 210 mi familia my family

6 199 la universidad

(the) university

7 185 la escuela (the) school8 184 state college state college9 178 me encanta i really like 10 169 mis amigos my friends

Blogs -- most recurrent 3-word chunks

# Freq 3-w chunks translation

1 189 no me gusta i don’t like2 93 la clase de the … class

3 82los estados unidos

the united states

4 82 me gusta la i like [feminine]

5 80 me gusta el i like [masculine]

6 78 me gusta mucho i like … a lot

7 71 en state college in state college

8 69 en la clase in the class9 67 mi familia y my family and10 62 pienso que es I think that is

Me gustaMe gusta # construction sample from corpus learner/week

1Me gusta + noun (phr.)

me gusta [mucho la comida de Tailandia]

I like [Thai food a lot]

(Carlos/week 3)

2Me gusta + noun clause

me gusta [que puedes ver todos los blogs de tus amigos]

I like [that you can see all of your friends’ blogs]

(Mercedes/week 8)

3 Me gusta + verb (inf)me gusta [mucho viajar]

I like [to travel]

(Alicia/week 3)

4Me gusta + adverb (phr.)

no me gusta [cuando hace mucho calor]

I don’t like [when it is very hot]

(Jose/week 35b)

5 A mí me gusta(n)… a mí me gusta [mirar deportes] I like [to watch sports]

(Marcos/week 11)

Uses of me gusta by week – Benito

# of uses

Weeks

Blog concordancing lines: me gusta by Isabel

Uses of me gusta by week – Isabel

Weeks

Most recurrent 2-word chunks: Most recurrent 2-word chunks: BlogsBlogs

# Freq 2-w chunks translation

1 758 me gusta i like 2 335 pienso que i think that3 214 voy a i’m going to5 210 mi familia my family

6 199 la universidad

(the) university

7 185 la escuela (the) school8 184 state college state college9 178 me encanta i really like 10 169 mis amigos my friends

Pienso que -- Alicia -- Blog

pienso que -- i think that... pienso de [esta estacion/del invierno] -- my opinion about [this season/winter] pienso en [state college] -- I think about [state college] lo primero pienso cuando pienso en la primavera -- the first thing I think about when I think about spring

Corpus assessment of L2 writing

Descriptive assessment of change in L2 writing over time

Focus on actual language use in non-testing contexts Illustrates erratic paths generally trending toward

preferred usages of high frequency expressions

Continuing Research: Application of usage-based model of linguistics/language acquisition (Tomasello, 2003)

Processes of entrenchment & preemption Formulaic sequence --> low scope pattern -->

construction Schematization and analogy

Part 3: Gaming & virtual environments

Thorne, S. L., Black, R. W., & Sykes, J. (accepted, forthcoming in 2009). Second Language Use, Socialization, and Learning in Internet Interest Communities and Online Games. Modern Language Journal, 93.

Sykes, J., Oskoz, A., & Thorne, S. L. (2008). Web 2.0, synthetic immersive environments, and mobile resources for language education. CALICO Journal, 25(3): 528-546.

Thorne, S. L. (2008). Transcultural communication in open Internet environments and massively multiplayer online games. In S. Magnan (ed.), Mediating discourse online (pp. 305-327). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Multiple stances and social identities

Sykes & Thorne, 2008

Approaches to virtual Approaches to virtual environmentsenvironments

1. Reproduction of conventional educational architectures and activities (i.e., virtual campuses, classrooms, & learning spaces)

Power point presentations One-to-many lecturing and interactional patterns Group and dyad work using written or voice chat

2. Exploration of “naturally occurring” online activity (Second Life --> French, Spanish, Italian, ESL areas; MMOs)

Virtual ethnography Social interaction, relationship development, dancing ...

3. Expansion of conventional educational spaces, tasks, and goal-orientations utilizing gaming principles (i.e., “Serious Games”, SIEs)

1. Simulations with ‘bots (e.g., pragmatics, Sykes, in progress)2. Bounded constructed spaces3. Work space for instructor- and student-initiated projects4. Support concrete goal-directed action, emphasizing

particular language functions

VEs vs. MMOs

What MMOs have that most VEs don’t Quests -- Game-specific goal-directed actions Sculpted environments designed to foster

learning-as-process (effectivity-affordance, failure states & universal success)

Score keeping, leveling, progressive access to more complexity

NPCs and in-game support resources as pedagogical forces

‘Action talk’ and high stakes scenarios: negotiation, corrective feedback, directives, argumentation, compromise, expression of frustration and encouragement, …

Complex social organization --> Groups & Guilds

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

Transnational multilingual

communication in WoW (Thorne, 2008)

Transnational multilingual communication in WoW The Setting: “This dialogue started in a valley

off the the side of a zone I was in. I was hunting baby dragons for xp when another higher level character came along and started hunting them too. I sent a message asking why they were hunting them since they wouldn’t get much xp off them anymore, and they said they just wanted the leather. I then worked out a deal with them that they would just skin the stuff I killed so I could get the xp and they would get the leather, and then they messaged me with this”

WoW and communication

1. Zomn: ti russkij slychajno ?2. Meme: ?3. Zomn: :)) sry4. Meme: what language was that?5. Zomn: russian :)6. Meme: was going to guess that7. Meme: you speak english well?8. Zomn: :)) where r u from ?9. Meme: USA, Pennslyvania10. Zomn: im from Ukraine ...….

Interactivity system resources: “just in time” learning | polyfocality

Mem IMs hometown friend from Ukraine

WoW activity system

11. Meme: kak dela?12. Zomn: :))) normalno :)))13. Meme: if I may ask, what did I say haha, I'm not quite sure14. Zomn: how r u :) ///15. Meme: what does normalno mean? good?16. Zomn: i sad goooooood :)))17. Meme: alright =)

Hometown social network

‘Ideal’ language learning conditions?

A “sociolinguistics of mobile resources” (Jan Blommaert)

Naturally occurring mixed language conversation

Reciprocal alternations of expert status Both provided explicit corrections and requests

for assistance Collaboratively assembled repair sequences Potentially enduring bond established (friend

list) -- using fragments of multiple languages to build a relationship of significance

L2 learning through game play

Jan Blommaert’s son: “Dad, I need 6 more months of Runescape …”

L2 learning through game play

Why care about informal play contexts?

The efficacy of informal play as language learning environment

Black (2005, 2006, 2008), Thorne (2009) and Lam (2004): Fanfic sites --> kids producing hundreds of pages of meaningful fiction

L2 development: Tarone & Liu 1995; Liu, 1991 --> participation in varying social contexts --> variable production of interlanguage forms and varying rate and route of L2 acquisition (English Q forms)

Bob’s language use and learning1. Teacher = - quantity (260) | - complex structures2. Peers in class = ~ quantity (2449) | ~ complex structures

(40)3. In play context = + quantity (5716) | + complex structures

(177)

Play, L2 study, and future research

Gaming the reason for FL study! University students studying Chinese,

Korean, and Russian to improve WoW play and social integration

More research needed on conditions of possibility for L2 learning in affinity spaces (Gee, 2005) like WoW

Part 4: Post-Language Bridging Activities

Language awareness

Power genres Digital

vernaculars

Thorne, S. L. & Reinhardt, J. (2008). “Bridging activities,” new media literacies and advanced foreign language proficiency. CALICO Journal, 25(3): 558-572.

Tensions between --> o Traditional emphases within the academy --

analytic rigor, epistemological and linguistic prescriptivism

o Web 2.0 as an “open source epistemology” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007) -- epistemological and linguistic pluralism

Double-bind contradiction Critical importance of high stakes power genres Emergent-contingent logics of high frequency

digital vernaculars (= stigmatized varieties (Labov; Bourdieu))

Issues and contexts

Allure (and dangers) of the digital commons

Mediated communication is not a proxy or practice environment, it’s the real thing

In some cases, how to carry out mediated communication should be the goal of educational practice

Revisioning L2 education with attention to new media literacies and convergent and divergent genres/vernaculars

The pedagogy of bridging activities

Coupling the analytic traditions of schooling with the life experiences of today’s students

Have students bring in and seriously analyze relevant examples of communicative activities and genres

The ultimate goal extends beyond language proficiency to intercultural and symbolic competence (e.g., Kramsch, 2006; Thorne, 2006)

The superordinate goal: To develop critical language awareness of the contextual variability as well as stable formations and genres

The pedagogy of bridging activities

Stylistic examination of relevant texts asking: What’s distinctive about this text? How does it compare with roughly genre

equivalent print literacy text types or equivalent texts in other languages?

How are differences linguistically and stylistically realized?

3-phase cycle approach:1. Observation and collection2. Guided exploration and analysis3. Creation and participation

Concluding pedagogical thoughts

A pedagogy of adaptation to rapidly shifting epistolary and communicative conventions

Emphasis on “strong purpose” language activities

Teacher’s role is critically important -- teachers, other students, and peers mediate the processes of meaningful language use and development of language awareness

Larger goal: To develop critical language awareness that will enable lifelong learning and participation in existing and future genres of language use

Discussion !

Steve Thornestevenlthorne@gmail.com

language.la.psu.edu/~thorne