Speaker
Description
This presentation will outline how a university course centered around students’ passions fosters real-world language competencies, classroom engagement, and agency. Students explore how engaging with a passion promotes health and well-being, sharing their insights and experiences through discussions, reflective journaling, and presentations. Attendees will gain practical insight about how designing a course around students’ interests promotes agency for personalized language learning, increases classroom engagement and motivation, differentiates learning, and honors students' stories.
References
Author. (2020). Title. In Editors’ Names (Eds.), Publication name (pp. xxx-xxx). Publisher Name. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxx-xx [Removed for blind vetting.]
Cook, V. (2002). Language teaching methodology and the L2 user perspective. In V. Cook (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 user (pp. 325-344). Multilingual Matters Ltd. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853595851-015
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9-42). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691293-003
Dörnyei, Z., & Chan, L. (2013). Motivation and vision: An analysis of future L2 self images, sensory styles, and imagery capacity across two target languages. Language Learning, 63(3), 437-462. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12005
Matikainen, T. (2015). Cultures of learning in Japanese EFL classrooms: Student and teacher expectations. In S. Horiguchi, Y. Imoto, & G. S. Poole (Eds.), Foreign Language Education in Japan: Exploring Qualitative Frameworks (pp. 103-117). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-325-4
Pavlenko, A. & Lantolf, J. (2000). Second language learning as participation and the (re)construction of selves. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 155-177). Oxford University Press.
Peterson, R. (2009). Teaching how to read the world and change it: Critical pedagogy in the intermediate grades. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano, & R. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed., pp. 305-323). Routledge.
Shor, I. (2009). What is critical literacy? In A. Darder, M. Baltodano, & R. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed., pp. 282-304). Routledge.
Keywords
agency
engagement
differentiation
passion
Short summary
This presentation will outline how a university course centered around students’ passions fosters real-world language competencies, classroom engagement, and agency. Students explore how engaging with a passion promotes health and well-being, sharing their insights and experiences through discussions, reflective journaling, and presentations. Attendees will gain practical insight about how designing a course around students’ interests promotes agency for personalized language learning, increases classroom engagement and motivation, differentiates learning, and honors students' stories.
Abstract
Learning is more effective when students explore personally relevant topics (Dörnyei, 2009; Peterson, 2009; Shor, 2009). In a Japanese survey, EFL students and teachers agreed that connecting language learning to learners’ interests is important for success (Matikainen, 2015). However, L2 instructional topics are often selected without sufficient consideration for learners’ personal goals and interests (Cook, 2002); therefore, many students might not envision discussing them outside of class. Such misalignment can result in demotivation, disengagement, and missed opportunities for meaningful social interactions important for effective language learning (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000).
It was through this lens that I previously researched using journal topics focused on students’ interests and passions (Author, 2020). I have since developed a university L2 course centered around exploring students’ passions. Students examine how engaging with one’s passion promotes well-being and share their experiences and insights via discussions, reflective journaling, and presentations. For two years, I have observed students engaging in sustained, in-depth discussions and making meaningful connections with classmates.
Instruction centered on students’ passions promotes inclusivity and agency by allowing learners of various proficiency levels to utilize existing linguistic repertoires and to consider what language they must acquire for use in personally relevant contexts (Author, 2020). Discussing topics in class that students would want to talk about in real-world situations helps them envision themselves as L2 users (Dörnyei, 2009; Dörnyei & Chan, 2013). This presentation will outline how designing a course around students’ passions promotes personalized language learning and increases classroom engagement and motivation for learning.
| Scheduling preference | Anytime on Saturday or Sunday |
|---|---|
| Title | Leveraging students’ passions for effective language learning |