Developing Instructional Materials for Developing Instructional Materials for Heritage Language LearnersHeritage Language Learners

Olga Kagan, Director, National Heritage Language Resource

Center, UCLA

June 18, 2013 UIC

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Purposeful VS Purposeful VS Incidental LearningIncidental Learning

• HLLs: incidental > purposeful• FLLs: purposeful > incidental• Incidental – ‘real life’• Purposeful – classroom• Both are valuable and crucial to

success

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What is Incidental What is Incidental Learning?Learning?

•Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities:•observation, repetition, social interaction, and problem solving (Cahoon 1995; Rogers 1997); •watching or talking about tasks (van Tillaart et al. 1998); •being forced to accept or adapt to situations (English 1999). •This natural way of learning has characteristics of what is considered most effective in learning situations: it is situated, contextual, and social. (Rogers 1997)

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Disadvantages of non-planned learning

• Not all unplanned learning is effective.• Ford and Herren (1995) and Leroux and

Lafleur (1995) highlight the hit or miss nature of incidental learning

• Conclusion: needs to be combined with purposeful learning, but the purpose may stay hidden.

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Incidental Learning and Incidental Learning and HLLsHLLs

• Why may incidental learning be useful for HL learners?

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Materials selectionMaterials selection

• Select authentic materials• Design tasks with ‘real life purposes’–building on HLLs’ strengths –From best developed to less

developed proficiencies

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Real Life PurposesReal Life Purposes

• For all three modes:– Interpersonal– Interpretive–Presentational

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““Go get the ball…”Go get the ball…”

• Incidental learning in action• RICH INPUT accompanied by a ‘real

life’ task

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Real Life PurposesReal Life Purposes

• Real life situations determine how we engage with the text (either written or aural/oral)

(H.Byrnes in The Routledge Handbook of SLA, 2012)

• Example: We don’t read a newspaper article to enjoy it, but for information or opinion; we read literature/fairytales/poems for enjoyment

• Authentic texts combined with real life purposes > tasks that are easy for students to relate to

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A job interviewA job interview

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ucmfPOBV8

• What kind of an assignment can you give students based on this interview?

• What can be the objectives?• Do students need to be literate?• What skills can you target?• What subskills can you target?• What is the real life purpose?

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Which of these tasks are purposeful, and which are

incidental?• Fill in the blanks• Answer questions provided by instructor• Write a paragraph about the interview• Listen to advice • Write down the questions or answers asked• Decide which advice is most important • Blog/internet forum: give advice • Discuss what you would like to look like/sound like at an

interview • Make a list of important vocabulary• Give examples of interviews that went well/didn’t go well

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Two Approaches

Purposeful• Fill in the blanks• Write down the questions

or answers asked• Answer questions• Write a paragraph about

the interview• Make a vocabulary list

Incidental• Listen to advice (listening

comprehension)• Decide which recomendation is

most important (speaking)• Blog/internet forum: your advice

(writing)• Discuss what you would like to

look like at an interview (description)

• Give examples of interviews that went well/didn’t go well (narration)

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A concert

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D_hguWPQE

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Assignment: Concert

• Find information about the singer• Find more songs• Transcribe songs• Sing songs

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A fairytale

• A fairytale• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SONqOAz

bZ14&feature=related

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Assignment: A Fairytale

• Watch it• Tell the version you know• Narrate the events• Think of an ending• Think how this fairytale could be “updated” to

today’s reality

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The Little Girl and the WolfThe Little Girl and the Wolfby James Thurber by James Thurber

• One afternoon a big wolf waited in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she was carrying a basket of food. "Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?" asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf asked her where her grandmother lived and the little girl told him and he disappeared into the wood.

• When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother's house she saw that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She had approached no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she saw that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.

• Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.

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Personality TestPersonality Test

• Instructions: Here are a number of personality traits that may or may not apply to you. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement. (See next slide)

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An Online Personality An Online Personality TestTest

1. I see myself as extraverted, enthusiastic. Disagree stronglyDisagree moderatelyDisagree a littleNeither agree nor disagreeAgree somewhatAgree moderatelyAgree strongly

2. I see myself as critical, quarrelsome.

3. I see myself as dependable, self-disciplined. 4. I see myself as disorganized, careless. 5. I see myself as calm, emotionally stable.

Score:

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Tasks (?)

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Macro Approach to HL Teaching

Teaching domainsNon-Heritage Learners:

Heritage Learners

Pronunciation and intonation

instruction throughout course of study

typically none

Vocabulary full range age appropriate/literary/academic/formal

Grammar micro-approach (e.g. case by case)

macro-approach (i.e. by concept)

Reading small texts, gradually and slowly increasing in volumeand complexity

fairly large and complex texts almost from the very beginning

Writing Sentence level, gradually advancing to paragraph level. The writing even at high levels of proficiency rarely approaches native ability.

High degree of internal grammar allows expansive writing assignments at early stages of instruction. Macro-approach to writing: concentrate on the content and gradually improve spelling, grammar and stylistics.

Speaking micro-approach: initially restricted to dialog, gradually progressing to monologue and discussion.

macro-approach: emphasis on monologue and discussion

Listening micro-approach: short simple texts, gradually increasing in volume and complexity

macro-approach: full range of native language input, i.e. movies, documentaries, lectures

Culture micro-approach: initially isolated cultural items

macro-approach: full range of native language input, audio, visual, and print.

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Project and Community-based Curriculum

• Incidental and purposeful learning combined:• HL learners come to the classroom from the

community with their language and cultural knowledge being rooted in the community. They need to continue to be able to function in the community while also enhancing their academic and linguistic skills. Carreira & Kagan 2011

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A community-based A community-based project (an outline)project (an outline)

• Real life purposes• Well defined outcomes• Stages of preparation – content – language

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A community-based A community-based project (a plan)project (a plan)

• Interview/preparing questions/learning to interview*• Fiction/non-fiction/video/film about the generation

you’ll be interviewing• Pragmatics/forms of address• Written journal• Oral journal• Presentation* What preparation is required?

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