BLC Fellows Instructional Development Research Projects
Building Bridges Across Cultures: Intercultural Service Learning
Amelia Barili, Lecturer, Spanish & Portuguese
In our troubled global world and our diverse communities, our students need to develop positive attitudes, skills, values, knowledge and understanding towards people with different world views and to collaborate in common projects with them to develop a shared sense of humanity. Intercultural Service Learning teaches students a new kind of competence that can be developed both in the classroom and in the community. As language teachers, we are in an ideal position to not only instruct students in communicative competence but also educate them to become responsible and fully engaged global citizens, serving those most in need.
Download Amelia’s handout as a PDF
Developing a Hybrid Intermediate Korean Language Course: Goals, Models, Results
Junghee Park, Lecturer, East Asian Languages & Cultures
In this talk, I will describe an ongoing joint project with Minsook Kim to develop an intermediate Korean hybrid course replacing the five days of in-class instruction with three days of in-class instruction and two days of online activities. I will discuss the goals of the course, demonstrate online activities, and discuss a survey of students we conducted in Intermediate Korean, where some of our online activities were piloted.
Download Junghee’s presentation as a PDF
Download Junghee’s handout as a PDF
Representing a Foreign Culture: Cultural Learning During Study Abroad
Claire Tourmen, Lecturer, French
What do we learn about a culture when we travel abroad? In this research study, I adopted a Piagetian perspective to understand how students represent a foreign culture before and after study abroad. I contacted four UC Berkeley students who did not initially speak French and who were not familiar with French culture, and I interviewed them before and after one semester abroad in France. I will analyze the origins and evolution of their representations of French culture as they were shaped by their experience abroad.
Download Claire’s handout as a PDF
Developing the Online Korean Placement Test (Phase II): Norming Test, Analysis, Revision and Addition of Test Items
Kijoo Ko, Lecturer, East Asian Languages & Cultures
Korean language instructors spend much time and effort evaluating students’ proficiency to place them at the proper level. Online placement testing would improve this process by automatically and instantly grading and analyzing students’ test performance before the semester even begins. This talk will report on the second phase of developing the online Korean placement test using the BOLT (Berkeley Online Language Testing) interface. I will address the process of norming tests, analyzing the data, and revising previous items as well as adding new items. I will discuss the challenges as well as the successes of the project, and will offer suggestions to those considering developing an online placement test.
Download Kijoo’s presentation as a PDF
Download Kijoo’s handout as a PDF
Friday, May 3, 2019
3-5 pm, B-4 Dwinelle Hall
This lecture is sponsored by the College of Letters and Science.
Berkeley Language Center * B-40 Dwinelle Hall #2640 * https://blc.berkeley.edu * (510) 877-4002