Growing Ideas
Teach Better In*Sync vs. F2F: Pedagogies Learned During COVID-19 View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ulrike Brinksmeier
The purpose of this study is to examine the teaching and learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Are there pedagogies that worked well and can be maintained as teaching returns to the classroom? In the summer of 2020 the administration of Mount St. Joseph University announced early on that instruction during the upcoming fall semester would happen online. This meant that all face to face (F2F) classes needed to be converted to a new format. The Center for Teaching and Learning in conjunction with the Provost’s office developed a course delivery format that came to be known as In*Sync, remote learning via zoom. The author shares the successful redesign of two senior core capstone classes to the In*Sync format and the teaching methodology used in the process, Core 472: Immigration: Achievements and Perils at the Core of Our Nation and CORE 435: I Plead the Second! Examining the Role of Gun Violence in the 21st century.
Student Use of Digital Technologies for Developing Multilingual and Multicultural Competence
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zehlia Babaci Wilhite
There has been evidence in Europe and the United States a decline in multilingualism and, by extension, multiculturalism competence. Since solid proficiency in several languages, especially neighboring languages, promotes interaction and understanding with other cultures, i.e., mutual understanding, appreciative respect, and cognitive and emotional empathy - good and peaceful coexistence - the practice of multilingualism and multiculturalism is of great importance, not only with regard to a united Europe, but also to the 'United' States of America. With the rapid technological development in the field of digitization, there are numerous tools available for students to develop these competencies (e.g. learning apps, online language courses, tandem programs, etc.). However, there are hardly any empirical findings on how and whether students actually use the tools both in their studies and privately in the two cultural areas of Germany and the USA. The research questions here are located on three closely interwoven levels: Usage behavior of digital tools: When, and how often are digital tools used to build competencies in multiple languages. Representations of usage behavior: How do students experience and evaluate digital learning tools for building multilingualism and multiculturalism? From a methodological perspective, data on the above research questions is collected with the help of structured interviews. Students of the universities of Paderborn and San Francisco have been interviewed in a pilot study before an expansion of the survey to other universities is planned. The paper presents the basic theoretical assumptions of the project as well as the research methodology.
Exploring the Effectiveness of Culturally Responsive Approaches to Book Reading in Early Childhood View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Raquel Plotka, Ruth Guirguis
Early childhood is a critical period for language development, and book-reading plays a central role in this process (Bus, van IJzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995). Little research focuses on incorporating culturally responsive approaches to book-reading. The constructivist approach to book-reading focuses on asking children to identify, label, describe, make personal connections, and predictions. The performance-oriented approach consists of reading stories in an expressive manner using dramatization to maximize enjoyment (Dickinson & Tabor, 2001). Most teacher education programs focus on the constructivist approach, which is typical in individualistic cultures. However, naturalistic observations show that families from collectivist cultures use a performance-oriented approach. For example, East Indian mothers act as the main narrator while children serve as attentive audiences. Latine Mothers exhibit similar styles (Caspe & Melzi, 2008). Given the emphasis of the constructivist approach in the education system, the current study aimed at exploring effectiveness of both approaches. Thirty-seven teachers recorded themselves during book-reading. Children’s ages ranged from 3-7, 60% of the children were multilingual, and 45% identified as girls. Teachers identified their own reading approach. They scored children’s engagement using a rating scale (Weitzman & Greenberg, 2010), and scored children’s participation including how many times children asked questions, commented, or pointed to pictures (Dickinson and Tabors 2002). The results of ANOVA tests show that the constructivist approach elicited more participation, and the performance-oriented approach elicited more engagement. Implications indicate that teachers should incorporate culturally responsive practices, using a combination of approaches so children from multiple backgrounds can benefit from book reading.
If a Painting Could Speak: Teaching Language and Culture in a Museum View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cathy Culot
Globalization, colonial heritage and debt, diversity, equality and inclusiveness have become trendy terms in both the academic and political worlds. But how can students of French gain a concrete understanding of these ideas while learning a new language and culture? The arts have always been a powerful tool to teach language and culture. In addition, the past can be a guide to better understand the present. When combined, these two approaches can be an even more effective pedagogical method to teach language and culture. This paper shows how students in an intermediate-level French language course traded their regular classroom with a museum to explore Belgian culture, to refine their French language skills and to contextualize concepts such as globalization, colonial heritage and debt, diversity, equality and inclusiveness. Lessons learned from this change of classroom for a language and culture course are discussed. Finally, suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of using the arts as pedagogical tools to teach language and culture are offered.
