Fall 2015 BLC Fellows Instructional Development Research Projects
Beyond Grammar: Revisiting Translation in the Foreign Language Classroom
Linda Louie, GSR, French Department
Translation is a negligible component of most foreign language curricula today as it is strongly associated with outdated paradigms. This talk will argue that translation deserves a more prominent role in foreign language classrooms, particularly as goals for foreign language instruction move beyond communicative competence to “symbolic competence.” After presenting a brief historical analysis of how translation has been used in language education, I will describe a scaffolded series of translation lessons I developed and piloted in Berkeley’s intermediate French curriculum. The results of this pilot suggest that translation is an ideal tool for negotiating a range of goals in language education—including grammar, literary analysis, and the development of symbolic competence.
Download Louie handout (pdf)
Surveys in Language Teaching and Research: A Personal and Professional Journey
Emily Hellmich, GSR, Graduate School of Education
Surveys are ubiquitous in all facets of life. In this presentation, I use the development and distribution of a survey for my dissertation research project as a way to reflect on how these very common—yet often misunderstood and misused—tools can be leveraged effectively in language teaching and research. After discussing some survey basics, I detail a series of lessons that I have learned in the process and share how these lessons shaped the survey itself, the results, and the research project as a whole.
Download Hellmich handout (pdf)
Teaching Russian Cultural Competence and Listening Comprehension through Video Interviews
Irina Kogel, GSR, Slavic Languages and Literatures
Driven by the goal of helping students at all levels appreciate the complex, multiple perspectives that exist among speakers of Russian, and to supplement existing video materials for Russian instruction, I spent the summer of 2015 videotaping interviews of native Russian speakers responding to various questions about their lives and values. These interviews allow students access to a wider range of Russian voices and perspectives that any one teacher can provide, while targeting the development of cultural competence and listening comprehension. In my presentation I will describe these interviews and outline some video-centered lessons I piloted this semester in the intermediate/advanced level, and discuss plans for the use of these videos in a heritage Russian class.
Download Kogel handout (pdf)
Friday, December 4, 2015
3 – 5 pm
B-4 Dwinelle Hall