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Challenge of Meeting the New 2+/2+/2 Requirement with a Focus on Listening

CSU Monterey Bay

IST520 Dr. Fischer

February 18, 2017

Group 2:2

Younga Machorro and Ilknur Oded

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Task: Help students in reaching Level 2+ and beyond in Listening

Objectives:

Build listening proficiency higher than the standard for passing listening tests
Build true proficiency rather than doing test preparation
Use the target language in and out of the classroom.
Build knowledge about the target language culture in all FLO subject areas
Discuss current issues in the target language culture
Use the current authentic language rather than textbook-like language
Provide students with learning strategies that will help them improve their listening proficiency

Approaches:

Behaviorist/Guthrie: Prevent students from building a bad habit. Implement flipped classroom
concept. Assign vocabulary and authentic text related to the listening topic as an assignment the
day before an authentic listening activity. Complete challenging authentic listening activities in
class and provide guidance and feedback as needed. Skinner: Use technology for more
immediate positive reinforcements for both homework and in-class activities (e.g. SmartBoard
apps, online quizzes with feedback embedded, iPad apps, etc.) Make suggestions to the students
for specific improvement strategies and provide reinforcement for effort instead of focusing on
performance. Design homework and instruction that is not confusing or overwhelming so that
students can complete it successfully, which can act as a natural reinforcer. Use counseling
statements for punishment or negative reinforcement fairly and consistently according to
regulations.

Behaviorist/Cognitivist: Gagn. Implement Gagnes nine events of instruction during listening

activities in class. Gain students attention and inform them about the objectives of the specific
listening activity. Stimulate recall of prior learning through activation of schemata (e.g. if the
listening is about accidents, asking have you ever had a car accident?). Present authentic
listening audio. Provide guidance during the activity. Elicit performance checking the answers to
comprehension questions and provide feedback as needed.

Social-Cognitivist: Bandura. Post an authentic listening audio on Sakai and ask students to gist
the audio in groups. Provide model answers for the gisting activities and provide additional
audio/video links for students who might be interested in the topic.

Vygotsky: Recognize the fact that students might have different educational backgrounds. Be
mindful of the fact that some students (e.g. students who have recently graduated from high
school) might lack the background to fully comprehend the context of the high-level authentic
listening texts. Allow students who have more background knowledge (e.g. officers) to help the
young enlisted through pair work/group work activities.
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Constructivist: Post an audio on the Sakai discussion forum and ask students to comment on each
others posts. Allow students to collaborate on a project related to the listening audio file. (e.g. if
the audio is about tourism, the students, in groups, create flyers about a tourist destination in the
TL country)

Scherer/Schumann: Present new and current authentic audios/videos via Web 2.0 tools where
each student sees what they are contributing and what others are contributing. Make sure that
authentic listening materials that you select are appropriate for the students proficiency level and
they can cope with it.

Online Collaborative Learning Theory: Have students work in groups and have meaningful
interaction online. Have students contribute to knowledge building through collaboration and
discourse.

Presentation:

Establish environment by presenting current authentic materials using videos, articles,

and links to the target language websites by using Sakai, Smart Board and Web 2.0 tools
(Guthrie). Model appropriate responses for the tasks that you design (Bandura)
Present novel materials through audio or visual elements in a way that several parts of the
brain are activated (the Other Brain, Gredler Human Brain chapter)
Make sure to select novel and thought-provoking listening materials that are relevant to
students interest areas (Schuman/Scherer Model)
Have students attend a webinar where a FLO subject area expert in the TL country speaks
as a guest speaker (Online Collaborative Learning Theory)
Practice/Production:

Have students write a learning plan which includes listening strategies that they plan to integrate
(Bandura)

Have students keep a learning journal to promote self-regulation (Bandura)

Have students work on problem-solving in simulated authentic tasks through mini-immersion

activities; include listening materials as clues to solve problems (Constructivism)

Have students debate on a topic that is controversial in the TL culture; have students watch a
debate show on the topic as a model beforehand to prepare for the debate (Bandura)

Have pairs or groups of students listen to a listening material and write what they heard down in
a OneNote live document, compare their answers with those of other students, and keep listening
and writing until they get as much information as they can (Vygotsky)

Production/Posting:
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Have students write summaries of listening materials they learn each day and post them on their
Sakai blog (Vygotsky)

Have students post their writing on a current topic in the TL country on the Sakai discussion
forum and make comments on other students writing (Vygotsky, Online Collaborative Learning
Theory)

Have students keep a v-log and post it on their Sakai blog

Participation/Collaboration:

Have students work on a group project and post the product in a Sakai wiki (Constructivism;
Communities of Practice/Wisdom)

Have groups of students select an authentic article/report and teach other students through LIFT
or share it in a class activity (Communities of Practice/Wisdom)

Have groups of students compile a core vocabulary list for each FLO subject area using a wiki
on Sakai (Communities of Practice/Wisdom)

Have groups of students post listening resources they consider good in a Sakai forum with the
reasons why they recommend the resource, and have students comment on each others
recommendation (Constructivism, Online Collaborative Learning Theory)

Theories not used: Piaget was not used here. Piagetian theory is not really applicable in the
DLI context because it was mostly concerned about the nature of knowledge and the stages of
cognitive development. DLI students are generally adults ages 18 and above and, as Gredler
(2009) noted, the focus of Piagetian theory is the various changes in thinking that develop from
infancy through adolescence as the individual accommodates his or her strategies of
understanding the world to that reality (p. 22).

REFERENCES

Gredler. E. (2009). Learning and Instruction, Theory into Practice, 6th Edition. Pearson/Merrill
Prentice Hall: New Jersey.Gredler, M