Intended Learning Outcomes & Target Learners
This learning module is for adult learners who have successfully completed Intermediate studies in Finnish or have equivalent skills (B2 level). It is specifically aimed at those students who have completed Finnish as a Foreign language courses 1 - 9 at the Open University in Finland.
These nine intensive and grammar-focused courses cover all of the Finnish grammar but often leave learners with poor communication skills in Finnish. As a long time instructor and online course developer at the Open University in Finland, I recently designed an online course for them that focuses on solidifying and further developing advanced learners' Finnish language skills.This learning module, "Advanced Finnish Through Content," is an adaptation of that course. Some content of the original class was left out to make a lighter version of it for this assignment. Using a variety of authentic, meaningful, and stimulating readings and videos, Advanced Finnish Through Content helps learners develop their speaking, reading, listening and writing skills, and build vocabulary. Students will also be exposed to colloquial Finnish through the videos and learn more about Finnish culture.
Learning Objectives
After successful completion of the course:
- Learners will be able to express their opinions, both in writing and speaking, more accurately in a wider variety of topics
- Learners will be more confident in reading and listening to authentic Finnish sources
- Learners will be more accustomed to colloquial Finnish
- Learners will have a deeper understanding of the Finnish culture
Assignments & Assessment
In each module, students will complete:
- reading and listening exercises
- submit an oral or written assignment (bi-weekly)
Learning is assessed with open-ended questions for the reading and listening comprehension assignments. This assessment is recursive. The instructor gives written or oral feedback on the assignments focusing on fluency, vocabulary, and grammar. The assignments are not graded with points, numerical, nor letter values, but instead the instructor's personalized qualitative feedback guides the student's individual learning journey. The emphasis is on practicing and learning.
Learners complete oral assignments via a user-friendly and intuitive video tool called VoiceThread. The instructor gives students personalized verbal feedback for each assignment. All written assignments are completed in the learning management system, and the instructor provides written feedback on them. There is also one oral presentation that students need to give feedback to their peers' speaking skills. For this assessment, learners use a modified Qualitative Aspects of Spoken Language Use rubric from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR (Council of Europe, 2020). The rubric can be found in section three in this learning module.
As an online course, this learning module promotes new ways of learning and assessment such as the following points illustrated by Dr. Kalantzis in her video lecture:
- Ubiquitous learning - students can access this learning module anywhere and anytime as all the course content and assignments are online.
- Active knowledge-making - learners complete multiple versions of their oral presentation video based on peer and instructor feedback. This assignment is an example of reflexive-ergative pedagogy, as discussed by Cope & Kalantzis (2015). Learners are getting feedback on their project from their peers and the instructor, and creating knowledge instead of memorizing facts.
- Multi-modal learning - students are exposed to various learning activities with text, image, video, and sound using the learning platform and a multi-modal presentation tool called VoiceThead.
- Recursive feedback - learners get formative feedback as they go in every section of this learning module not only in the end of the module.
- Collaborative intelligence - learners share their work and knowledge with peers on the discussion board and on VoiceThread, and learn from each other.
- Differentiated learning - learners get personalized written and oral feedback from the instructor that corresponds to their language level needs (Education at Illinois, 2018).
Learning Theories
The guiding learning theories for this module are Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (1978) and Krashen's second language acquisition theory (1982). The sociocultural theory of human learning posits that learners acquire language when they interact and collaborate with other speakers. In this module, learners communicate with peers and the instructor in every section, both orally and in writing. They are also provided with authentic learning materials that support learners' language development, such as videos, texts, and audio materials.
The learning materials in this module are optimal or comprehensible input since they are slightly beyond learners' current language level making language acquisition possible according to Krashen's input hypothesis (1982). In addition to reading and listening inputs (receptive skills), learners get to practice their productive skills (output), writing and speaking, as well. In each section, students either write an update or make an oral presentation, and comment on each other's work.
Materials Required & Anticipated Duration
Advanced Finnish Through Content is a six-week course where each module represents a week of instruction. There are no textbooks; instead, the learning material consists of authentic readings and videos available on the learning platform. Students will need to have access to a computer and an internet connection to complete the assignments.
