Open Languages Research ForumOpen UniversityApril 29, 2014

Social Networking for Language Education and the

Making Of

Marie-Noëlle Lamy, Open Univeristy

Katerina Zourou, Web2Learn

Outline of the talk

Part 1: What the collection offers

• many (too many?) differing approaches to SN for L2 research and teaching

• yet emergence of common themes and learning/teaching problems

Part 2: The ‘Making of '

Concluding remarks

• a common focus on the empirical

• a variety of theoretical frames

• a variety of research methodologies

• a variety of conceptions of L2 learning

• a variety of conceptions of Social Networking

Part 1 : what the collection offers

What emerged from the studies?

•two overarching themes: identity, community

•learning issues: degree and locus of control

•learning sett ing issues: porous walls; assessment

•data collection issues: porous walls (again!); observer bias; ephemerali ty

Part 1 : what the collection offers

Participant

TaskTechnology

Part 1 : what the collection offers

Networked tasks,teacher- or student-createdInterl inked technologies

Core and other participants

Redefining components

Selecting the most suitable chapters

• An “invitation-only” CfP addressed to CALL researchers with some experience in social media for language learning

Deliberate choice of a selective CfP due to the novelty of the concept/lack of empirical data to date

• Round 1 of selection based on abstracts (18 submitted)

• Round 2 based on improved abstracts (6 rejected)

Authors (or groups of) acknowledged to submit a full paper

• Round 3 based on full papers: 8 accepted papers from 11 submitted

Part 2: the Making of

Reasons for rejecting abstracts and papers

• Vague understanding of the concept of “social networking” (main reason)

• Confusion between “interaction” and “social networking”

• Digital contexts that neither had social media characteristics in themselves (Moodle, vir tual worlds, immersive games, online classrooms) nor were shown to have led to networking

• Lack of evidence-based papers (contributions on “the potential” of SN in a language learning context)

• Off-topic contributions

Part 2: the Making of

Problems with f ine-tuning concepts

Social networking easily confused with similar concepts such as:

•Telecollaboration

•Interaction from a language learning perspective

•Interaction through commonly used digital tools such as Moodle (social networking seen as a form of online communication) )

Part 2: the Making of

Social networking: disambiguating the term

3 features of social media set by Tim O’Reilly and his team (2007):

•user par ticipation (user engagement in content creation)

•openness (ability to network with anyone)

•network effects (viral capacity)

Our claim: social networking as an activity encompassing all those features

O'Reilly, T. (2007). "What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software". Communications & strategies, nº 65. pp. 17-37.

Part 2: the Making of

Social networking: disambiguating the term (2)

Taking social networking in i ts most informal/less directive definit ion

Emphasis on:

•Bottom-up and user-oriented practice

•Networking in informal ways/ less directive ways than in institutional contexts

•Learning with peers but also with any user across social media

VS learning settings where interaction, tools and objectives are “prescribed” by a teacher or CALL researcher

Interest in digitally enhanced situations where formal and informal learning occur (OU students attending a language course and communicating also through FB: how social networking affects language learning)

Part 2: the Making of

Lessons learnt

1. Make a CfP as precise as possible. For CfPs containing new concepts: have some crit ical readers and engage them in a more formalized way

2. Ask potential authors to accompany the abstract with a footnote explicit ly specifying HOW they wil l address the central topic of CfP. Mention that if this is not made clear, the contribution wil l be rejected

=>frame the process before the first word is written.

Part 2: the Making of

Concluding remarks

Doing SNs research through SNs?

Publishing options?

Tools?

Crowdsourcing culture?

Marie-Noëlle:

http://fels-staff.open.ac.uk/m.n.lamy

http://lamymn.wordpress.com/lamy-publications/

Katerina:

@web2learn_eu and @languages_web2

http://web2learn.eu/