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Strand 2 - Evaluation of intercultural learning
Abstract
I will give a report on the one-week trip of my students (year 8) to Parkside School in England . This was one of the activities undertaken within the COMENIUS project of Gymnasium Stolzenau ( Lower Saxony ). Several teaching units were developed to prepare the students before their trip and accompany them during and after their week in England . In order to evaluate the students' intercultural learning processes we worked with questionnaires, learner diaries, and interviews.
Biographical information
I am a teacher of English, French and Economy and used to teach at Gymnasium Stolzenau ( Lower Saxony ). During the last two years I coordinated a COMENIUS project with partner schools from England , Poland , Romania , Italy and Spain . Since August I have worked at Gymnasium am Silberkamp in Peine ( Lower Saxony ).
Abstract
The session is designed to address first, the issue of what exactly intercultural competence means to us and how it connects with the things we do in the classroom to facilitate student learning. Then we will consider the things we can identify to evaluate and our reasons for this. Finally, we shall explore the different ways we can integrate ideas about evaluation into the everyday classroom learning experience and how in turn this can become part of a formal curriculum of learning.
When teachers and others think about evaluation we usually first think about judgement about success or failure, something which is separate from teaching. It is more difficult to see evaluation integrated as part of the process of learning and understanding that can provide positive evidence of language use, topic knowledge and skills.
Biographical information
I have worked in different countries and now teach international students at a UK college. I am also involved (with partners from Holland & Poland) in an EU project concerned with xenophobia: creating materials, evaluation activities and a framework to apply them within the classroom setting.
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Abstract
Traditionally, Intercultural Competence (IC) is viewed as a complex of cognitive, affective and behavioural factors. For the purposes of the different disciplines which benefit from IC, various other components have been suggested, e.g. academic and research skills, awareness of statistics etc. The workshop will introduce a classification of the components of Intercultural competence for the purposes of assessment at University level. Factors, such as the students’ research bias and language level will be addressed, inasmuch as they affect the assessment criteria. Indicators of success for each component will be discussed and a number of assessment procedures suggested, such as project assignments, tests, and various types of writing. The effectiveness of each procedure will be illustrated with material produced by University students. The above is the result of over ten years' teaching at University and teacher-training level, experimenting with assessment ideas, discarding some approving others.
Biographical information
Assistant professor at the New Bulgarian University; Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics from the Bulgarian Academy of Science; Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Culture from Strathclyde University in Glasgow, UK; co-author of A Course in Intercultural Competence for Language teachers, A Curriculum for Teaching Culture, a book on developing Intercultural Competence through exchange programmes, edited by Byram (Multilingual Matters 2001)
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Abstract
Intercultural sensitivity or competence are still fuzzy and even controversial concepts. Consequently there is a large variation of teaching strategies. In addition to that, only a few approaches are concerned with the assessment of the success of culture learning. In order to legitimate, evaluate, diagnose and optimise intercultural teaching and learning processes, appropriate and valid instruments for the assessment of intercultural sensitivity or competence are necessities, which in the long run will contribute to a clearer definition of what intercultural sensitivity and competence could mean.
In the context of the project “DESI” (Students’ achievements in German and English – an international perspective) an instrument is going to be developed for the assessment of intercultural competence based on Bennett’s development model of intercultural sensitivity. The method underlying the instrument and first results will be presented.
Biographical information
PhD Psychology, Uni Heidelberg. Senior researcher at the Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung, Frankfurt am Main. Interests: Learning from an intercultural point of view; acculturation; intercultural competence; (international) evaluation of learning outcomes. Projects: modules “intercultural competence”, “learning achievements of students with non-German mother tongue” in DESI (Deutsch-Englisch-Schülerleistungen-International), European bank of anchor items for foreign languages
Strand 3- Teacher training in intercultural learning
Abstract
Computer-mediated intercultural communication in the foreign language classroom, e.g. in the form of an e-mail project, is a good way of getting into contact with peers from different cultural environments on an individualised basis (Yashida 1996) and can also be a way of fostering intercultural competence with pupils. Organising a rich learning environment like an e-mail project, however, places high demands on teachers and learners alike.
How can student teachers be trained to organise such an environment so that they are aware of potential pitfalls and can optimise their pupils' development in intercultural learning?
The present paper reports about an innovative form of tele-collaboration in foreign language teacher training that is based on learning by doing
Biographical information
Dr. Karin Vogt is a teacher trainer at the University of Education in Heidelberg . Her research interests include intercultural communication and intercultural learning, tele-collaborative language learning, vocationally-oriented language learning and teaching young learners.
Abstract
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) plays an important role in many European schools. The workshop will focus on the following aspects:
- How can intercultural learning be fostered in Content and Language Learning?
- How do teachers have to be trained?
Biographical information
Research assistant at the University of Kassel (Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Foreign Language Research/Intercultural Communication) in the Comenius project MOBIDIC (Module einer bilingualen Didaktik und Methodik des Sachfachunterrichts für die Lehrerbildung), teacher at a grammar school in Kassel, Research interests: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Language Awareness, Intercultural Learning, Evaluation. PhD: Fehling, Sylvia. (in press). Language Awareness und bilingualer Unterricht: Eine komparative Studie. (Dissertation). Frankfurt : Peter Lang.
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Abstract
The session will give information on the aims, the content and the organizational framework of a joint inservice teacher training project of the Thuringian Institute for Inservice Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media (ThILLM) Bad Berka with the British Council and the Norwich Institute of Language Education ( NILE ). Under the aim and title “Making intercultural learning work in the EFL classroom” 15 English subject advisors worked in the project in Norwich and Bad Berka/Thueringen between September and December 2004. The idea was to develop teaching strategies, task formats and a range of materials that enable teachers to implement into practical classroom procedure the Thuringian curricular ideas and the KMK Bildungsstandards für die erste Fremdsprache requirements of intercultural learning.
First results, experiences as well as materials developed during the two courses are presented in the session.
Biographical information
Helga Dreher: EFL teacher at a secondary school for 25 years; since 1992 with the Thuringian Institute of Inservice Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media in Bad Berka. Main working areas: INSETT, the professional development of and support for regional English subject advisors, curriculum development, central examinations
Adelheid Kierepka: worked as an EFL teacher at a secondary school and at the didactics departments of the universities of Jena and Erfurt ; since 2002 at the Thuringian Institute of Inservice Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media in Bad Berka. Main working areas are teaching English in primary school and the transition from primary into secondary school.
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Abstract
Based on the experience of several seminars on intercultural learning taught to student teachers at the University of Rostock , this workshop will start with a brief introduction of my approach to intercultural learning in pre-service training. In this approach, I have tried to combine reflections on the goals of intercultural learning with examples of specific methods and media. In the workshop, the reflections on the goals will function as a warm-up, involving a short presentation and group discussions. Then two practical examples of materials will be introduced and discussed with regard to their potential as sources of cultural information and starting point for the development of cultural awareness. One material will be film (e.g. About a Boy ), the other one music video clips. Our work with the materials will focus on the challenges and limitations these materials hold and on various learner activities and their effects. I will provide experience and ideas from my work with student teachers, and participants will be invited to share their own experience with the group. We will conclude with an assessment of my approach as well as the materials and methods.
Biographical information
G. Linke worked as a secondary school teacher for English and German for several years. Later she rejoined the university, received her PhD in Applied Linguistics in 1987, then turned to the field of Cultural Studies and was appointed Professor for Cultural Studies and ELT at the University of Rostock in 2002. During most of her career, she has been involved in pre-service as well as in-service training of teachers, with a special interest in the teaching of culture.
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Abstract
As a teacher trainer for English, I feel responsible for including the intercultural component into any kind of teacher education. In my presentation I will describe the evaluation and the redesign of the Cultural Studies component in an existing ELT enrichment course for primary teachers in my federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the basis of recent research of Intercultural Communicative Competence in the fields of Foreign Language Education and Intercultural Communication Training. The presentation contains basic course design considerations for objectives, contents, methods, material and assessment. Sample tasks and activities illustrate these considerations.
For reasons of a common history and educational experience this topic could be relevant for similar courses all over Eastern Germany .
Biographical information
Teacher trainer for English at primary and secondary level at the Landesinstitut fuer Schule und Ausbildung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (LISA), Germany . Master in Education (MEd) in English Language Teaching. Special interest in intercultural learning.
Abstract
Working in PRESETT and INSETT, and observing teachers in their school contexts, raises many questions when considered alongside directions in intercultural approaches. The idea is to allow discussion of such approaches looking out from the perspective of school FL classrooms, including such issues as
- the integration of IC into production as well as reception cult awareness and skills
- the value of IC for students' future use of English
- the role of IC in classes of ‘disadvantaged', poor and disaffected students
- learner autonomy, learner-based teaching and other methodological approaches
- FL syllabuses vs. the general curriculum, and the cross-curricular potential
- what can FLT offer the field of intercultural communication?
- in consequence how to prepare teachers on PRESETT and INSETT courses?
Experience from the work of teachers and students will be used to illustrate these issues in the discussion.
Biographical information
I have been working in Poland since 1991 in secondary and tertiary education. For the last 5 years I have been running the ‘culture component' on the Polish national postgraduate teaching diploma (Studium Podyplomowe) - which has led to more than 50 written diplomas - as well as having run 4 BC summer schools producing online intercultural materials. In addition I have taught on INSETT courses and in PRESETT (my main job) in Lodz .
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Abstract
This talk will focus on the impact of cultural factors on how language test instruments and assessment procedures function, particularly in the context of communicative approaches to language teaching and learning which imply an unavoidable intercultural dimension. We will explore key areas where cultural variables are significant, particularly in relation to ethical considerations and fairness, examining evidence from the history of testing and assessment. We will see how different cultures can generate different models of language ability, and consider the effect of different constructs on the validity and reliability of particular approaches to assessment. We will examine the potential for cultural bias in the choice of modes of assessment, in test design, in assessor behaviour, in testee/examinee behaviour, in topic and task choice and in age and gender.
We will consider the impact of cultural norms on the assessment of productive language ability; of the norms of discourse on the assessment of spoken language ability; of attitudes towards interruption, dominance and maintenance on the definition and interpretation of assessment criteria. We will explore attitudes to cheating, to the relative merits of knowledge and skills, to preparedness versus spontaneity, to formal accuracy as against creativity.
We will consider cultural variability in areas such as test anxiety and the implications of societal norms of control for the adoption of more ‘progressive' modes of assessment, e.g. self-assessment, peer assessment and portfolio assessment.
Finally, we will consider the implications of all of these issues for the suitability of national and international tests and exams for particular purposes and contexts.
Biographical information
Dave Allan is Director of NILE, a specialist teacher development institute in Norwich , UK , which has trained some 5,000 teachers from over 50 countries in the last 5 years. A 'Fellow' of the University of East Anglia , Chair of MATSDA, Deputy Co-ordinator of the IATEFL TEASIG and an author for OUP, he has worked regularly in Germany for over 20 years.
Abstract
Intercultural communicative competence is unlike almost any other subject learned or taught in school or university. It involves not simply cognitive development, nor the mere acquisition of skills, but deals most meaningfully with affects, attitudes and behaviours. As a construct, it is complex and multidimensional.
That the construct is also to some degree problematic becomes fully apparent only when we consider how it may best be assessed. For the assessment of what is most central to ICC is fraught with moral and technical difficulty. How can we measure – at any other than a purely individual level – the benefits of inhabiting a “third place”, let alone what constitutes effectiveness in doing so? How can we test affective responses to another culture? And should we even seek to do so? To what extent is it the purpose of an educational establishment to bring about behavioural change, other than in specialised institutions, with a specific responsibility for rehabilitation or therapy.
In the light of these difficulties, this paper reviews successive schemes and suggestions for the assessment of intercultural competence, spanning almost three decades and seeks to propose a way forward in terms of a best practice which will capture ICC at its most fundamental, be technically feasible and ethically defensible.
Biographical information
Dr Tim Lewis is a Lecturer in French in the Department of Languages at the Open University. From 1993 to 2001, at the University of Sheffield , he developed and disseminated Tandem Learning in U.K. Higher Education. He is interested in collaborative and dialogic learning. He was joint editor of Autonomous Language Learning in Tandem ( Sheffield : Academy Electronic Press, 2003), for which he co-authored a chapter on `Tandem Learning and Intercultural Competence'. |
