teaching a french oral communication course online:
TRANSCRIPT
Teaching a French Oral Communication course online:
Resources, challenges, and students perceptions
Solène InceogluAustralian National University
2016 FATFA-SAFTA
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Background• Pronunciation instruction has been shown to improve some aspects of second language (L2)
learners’ pronunciation– Empirical studies have been conducted in laboratory settings (e.g., Thomson, 2011)
– In traditional language classrooms (e.g., Saito, 2012).
• Increasing demand for online course delivery (e.g., Goertler, 2011)
• How online pronunciation instruction can affect second language speech development.
• How can we teach pronunciation / oral communication online?
• What are some resources? What are the challenges? How do students perceive the course?
Setting• Technical university in the US (East coast)
• Minimum language requirement: 2 semesters of French
• 16 students enrolled– US English, Chinese (x2), Spanish (x2), Arabic (x2) Malay, heritage learner from Haiti.
– Majors: Game design, Engineering (mechanical, software, electrical, industrial), Biomedical science, International business
• 16-week semester
• Mostly asynchrounous
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Goal of the course and requirements- will have developed oral fluency and accurate pronunciation in French and increase their abilities to communicate orally on familiar and unfamiliar topics.- will hear and understand spoken French with greater ease.- will know how the sounds of French are produced and how they differ from their native language.- will be familiarized with spoken French, the differences between oral and written French, language registers and dialects/regional accents.- will have a better knowledge of French and Francophone culture though exposure to authentic media.- will have reviewed grammar and vocabulary through exposure to diverse topics (videos, podcasts, texts…).
• IPA assignments 10%
• Speaking tasks 20%
• Listening tasks 15%
• Pair work (x3) 15%
• Midterm oral exam 10%
• Final group project 20%
• Final oral exam 10%
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Resources: Camtasia: screen recorder and video editor
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Weekly recorded lessons on:Syllable, stress, intonation Occlusive, fricative, liquid consonants
Liaison and enchaînement Oral, nasal, semi-vowels, schwa…
+ socio-cultural focus
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Resources: “Conversations”
Importance of interaction in SLA + method of assessment.
Mock face-to-face conversation
Promote listening and speaking
Enhance spontaneous speech
Audio-visual benefits (vs. audio recording)
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Resources: Conversations
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Students’ names
Students’ names
Facebook: cohort
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Video-recorded self introduction at the beginning of the semester:
Promote a sense of cohort (classroom experience)
Assess students’ oral skills
Facebook: class management
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Class announcements(also on class website and per email)
Facilitate pair work / group project management
Facebook: generalities
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General feedback to the class re pronunciation
errors
Reminders
Technical issues / questions raised by
students
Pair work oral assignments
• 3 assignments (+/- 10 min)
• Different partner each time
• Different topics (related to weekly focus)
• Some prompts already provided + students’ input
• Recorded and sent to instructor (software)
- scheduling, partner not showing up
+ connection with classmates, someone new each time, oral practice
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Skype: midterm and final oral examsPossible because of small group (#16)
+Face-to-face conversation interaction + negotiation of meaning/form
-Students not showing up (forgot)
Technical issues / bad quality
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+ office hours
Weekly homework handout• IPA transcription
• Listening comprehension
• Phonetics question
• Prompts for pair work...
• Time management!
• Save as pdf – correction / feedback with Drawboard
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Final project• Select a movie extract (about 5-
minute long)
• Transcription
• Dubbing activity: Be able to synchronize one’s speech with the lip movements of the actors/actresses(fluency and accuracy)
• Difficulties:
- monitoring progress
- group work
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Students’ perceptions at the end of the course
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OUI
Oui,
beaucoup
Oui, un peu
I think my comprehension of
transitions between words and
when to apply and not apply
them has improved vastly
Polishing up on
vowel/consonant
pronunciations
I think that I can speak
faster and more correctly
when reading something
I feel I have especially improved on keeping
certain consonants silent
Students’ perceptions: difficulties with liaisons and enchaînements
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14.3%
7.1%
35.7%
28.6%
14.3%
Je ne sais
jamais les
utiliser
Je sais
toujours
très bien
les utiliser
Je ne sais
jamais les
utiliser
Je sais
toujours
très bien
les utiliser
53.3%
13.3%
6.7%
Week 1 Week 16
Students’ perception of online courses
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Not comfortable
at all
Very
comfortableNot comfortable
at all
Very
comfortable
• Time flexibility• Possibility to
review lectures• Not feel shy in
front of classmates
• Very specific feedback
• Less stressful setting
• Time flexibility • Go back and forth /
review lessons
• No immediate feedback• No face-to-face interaction, awkwardness• No possibility to learn from classmates’ errors• Possibility to get lazy (not attendance)• Easy to forget due dates• Technical issues
• Miss going to class / no face-to-face
• No possibility to ask for immediate clarification (lecture)
• Group work difficult to manage• Easier to focus in class
Beyond the classroom...
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When recording myself in general and listening to my own voice and seeing my face sometimes I hate listening to it again. Also
would hate listening to my own voice so I would be very
intimidated and hesitant. This class gave me confidence in my voice, not only for French but in general and that's something I can take with me for the rest of
my life. As a future interpreter, this is very important to me. Alors, merci, merci beaucoup! :)
