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Good discussion of "authenticity" -- what makes a text authentic or not?

"Authentic" appears to mean: naturally produced by authentic source for communication in a native setting. What concerns me is that the call for "authentic" dates back to perhaps 20 years ago? We are still claiming it is important, yet we scaffold authentic text often to the point that they loose their intrinsic challenge.

In their study of 10 multilingual undergraduate students, they say they expected texting to be a regular practice, but "what we had not anticipated was the range of valuable uses and substantive gains afforded by texting."

"Music is a wonderful tool to integrate into your teaching repertoire, especially if you are a foreign language teacher."

This sounds fun! I would love to try it next year!

An article written by the founder and CEO of ThingLink in which she discusses the main arguments for interactive visual media in online learning, examples and best practices for creating visual learning materials for students, and ways students can use interactive visual media (ThingLink) to document and share their learning. She shares numerous ways teachers and students could use ThingLink with examples.

An article written by the founder and CEO of ThingLink in which she discusses the main arguments for interactive visual media in online learning, examples and best practices for creating visual learning materials for students, and ways students can use interactive visual media (ThingLink) to document and share their learning. She shares numerous ways teachers and students could use ThingLink with examples.

A very complete article about the advantages of using images and learning. I really want to learn how to use thinglink now.

More Spanish text info

"This (free) resource includes ideas on how to work with texts in online/remote teaching that Emily Hellmich has used in her own classes. Whenever possible, she includes links to examples and to templates that you can use yourself."

Excellent! I am planning to use most suggestions for my intermediate German lesson

Nice resources. I have not heard of Actively Learning. But I have used screenomatic and Edpuzzle together. It worked well.

Lots of good ideas. I would like to look into Actively Learning. Sounds like a great resource. Pear Deck is another one I would like to try. I agree that the virtual pen pals sounds like fun, as does having students text in Spanish and send you screenshots. They already have tons of personal experience with that already.

There is quite a few posts about Wallwisher on youtube. I wanted to share this one because the author explains how to use the tool to entice students to create an extended text that they can share with other students for comments. Combining the post-its to paragraphs and an overall texts is also a great way to look at text strucure overall. He also introduces another tool Middlespot which looks even more suitable for story telling. Check it out!

carlatech13

A blog post by Chuck Tryon that describes a video annotation tool. He also mentions a text annotation tool by the same company (SocialBook).

This is a great interpersonal activity, although I would imagine student reactions to it may vary. For instance, some students (like me) may find it stressful not to write things down. On the other hand, not writing things down takes the pressure off for being "perfect" and puts the attention on the spontaneous nature of the interpersonal mode.

From the website:  (and there is a companion website, see below) In spite of the proliferation of online learning in higher education, creating online courses can still evoke a good deal of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those who need to create them. Essentials of Online Course Design takes a fresh, thoughtfully designed, step-by-step approach to online course development. At its core is a set of standards that are based on best practices in the field of online learning and teaching. Pedagogical, organizational and visual design principles are presented and modeled throughout the book and users will quickly learn from the guide's hands-on approach. The course design process begins with the elements of a classroom syllabus which, after a series of guided steps, easily evolve into an online course outline. The guide's key features include: a practical approach informed by theory clean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page one clear and jargon-free language examples, screen shots, and illustrations to clarify and support the text a Companion Website with examples, adaptable templates, interactive learning features, and online resources a checklist of online course design standards that readers can use to self-evaluate. Essentials of Online Course Design serves as a best-practice model for designing online courses. After reading this book, readers will find that preparing for online teaching is, contrary to popular belief, a satisfying and engaging experience. The core issue is simply good design: pedagogical, organizational, and visual. Companion website:  http://www.marjorievai.com/WEBSITE-CONTENTS.html

Abstract This study contributes to the body of research that aims to understand the relationship between online communication and foreign language (FL) learning, in particular when teachers seek to provide authentic opportunities for interaction for their learners. The study was motivated by efforts made in the New Zealand context to overcome the geographic limitations of interaction between FL learners and native speakers. We report on the findings of an exploratory study into an online reciprocal peer tutoring program established to enhance the FL learning of a group of beginner eleven-year old students of Spanish, with particular focus on the benefits of written corrective feedback. The project aimed to examine the processes by which students tutored each other in the online environment as they responded to each other's texts. The analysis of the students' messages focused on (1) the aspects of language corrected by the tutors, (2) the frequency with which tutors accurately identified and provided input on errors, (3) the types of feedback provided by the tutors, and (4) what the learners did with the corrections and feedback. The findings indicate that the students were willing to contribute to peer correction and used different strategies and correction techniques to foster attention to linguistic form, although they were not always capable of providing accurate feedback or metalinguistic explanations.

"Abstract Despite its obvious importance, it appears that in many foreign language programs, oral practice is not given as much time and attention as it deserves. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that foreign language professionals recognize the need for more oral practice, but do not have at their disposal a convenient means to provide it. An online oral practice/assessment platform, Speak Everywhere, has been developed to fill this void. It allows instructors without special computer knowledge to quickly create video-based speaking exercises and quizzes for their students to work on outside the classroom. The instructor can access the oral productions that the students submit to the system, and grade them or give individual feedback on them either in text or audio or both. Using its flexible and easy-to-use authoring sub-system, it is possible to create exercises of various formats (e.g. Q&A, repeat after the model, structure drills, role-play, and oral reading)."

"More writing courses than ever are being taught online, and effective online writing instruction requires teachers to communicate deliberately and clearly in order to have productive relationships with their students. In The Online Writing Conference: A Guide for Teachers and Tutors, former chair of the CCCC Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction Beth L. Hewett articulates the how and why of one-to-one online writing conference pedagogy. Complete with an instructor's study guide and informed by the principles set forth in the CCCC Position Statement of Principles and Example Effective Practices for OWI, her updated text provides examples and transcripts of synchronous and asynchronous instructor-student interaction, targeted lessons, and conferencing action plans that help instructors hone their pedagogical practice, from formatting comments to showing regard for students."

Tudini's new book takes a Conversation Analysis approach, which is new to online Second Language Acquisition. It provides observable, previously undocumented insights into how native speakers and learners pursue the learning of foreign language and culture during online text chat.

I do audio slideshows as an end-of-semester project in my level 2 class, but I have only ever used PhotoStory. PhotoStory is loaded on our language lab computers so that students do not have to register or create any types of accounts. These resources seem to be just as easy, however

"This is a step by step guide on how to use Teacher's Pet, a fantastic toolbar for Microsoft Word or Open Office which cleverly uses macros to create language learning exercises in a matter of clicks. A wonderful timesaver for busy teachers, Teacher's Pet is ideal for preparing paper worksheets instantly or for using on the interactive whiteboard as a starter or plenary. By simply highlighting some text and clicking one of the exercise types on the toolbar's dropdown menu, you can produce activities which practice vocabulary revision, grammar, reading comprehension, spelling and dictionary skills."