In this study, we compared the impact of audio-, video-, and text-chat interaction on target language use during online learner-learner interaction and on learner affect amongst adolescent learners of German as a foreign language. Repeated measures and ANOVA analyses revealed a high percentage of target language output in all conditions for all four tasks, especially in text- chat. Audio-chatters produced the most output and used the most meaning negotiation, compensation strategies, self-repair and other-repair strategies. Learners in all conditions gained in enjoyment, willingness to communicate and self-efficacy. Anxiety reduced for text-chatters. Task effects partly determined the quantity of L2 output, while condition effects determined meaning-oriented and form-focused processing.
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Interaction in the target language (TL) is essential to foreign language development (Swain, 1985, Long, 1981). Meaningful tasks are thought to evoke interaction between learners (e.g. Pica, Kanagy & Falodun, 2009). However, even in a task-based curriculum for German, Dutch secondary school learners barely used the TL during task preparations (Author, 2018). Interviews (ibid.) revealed that these learners were embarrassed to use the TL in a face-to-face setting. Therefore, we investigated whether learners’ use of the TL can be increased by using online interaction tools, which tend to decrease learner anxiety and promote willingness to communicate (WTC). In an experimental study involving German (9th grade) as a foreign language, we compare the effects of audio-, video-, and text-chat interaction on the quantity and quality of learners’ TL use during online task interaction and subsequent oral F2F task performance. Students were randomly assigned to three preparation conditions: audio-, video, and text-chat. The experiment was spread over a period of six weeks: Week 1: pre-tests (vocabulary size; experience with digital tools; ratings of WTC, self-confidence, enjoyment; intro/extraversion).Week 2-5: learners performance of four 20’ online tasks in pairs. Week 6: Post-tests (paired oral F2F task; productive vocabulary test; ratings of WTC, self-confidence, enjoyment). Learner output was analysed for both quantitative as qualitative production measures. F2F oral tasks established whether gains obtained during online interaction transfer to F2F interaction. Questionnaires were used to establish whether there are significant differences between the three modes of communication on learners’ ratings of self-confidence in, enjoyment of and willingness to express themselves in the TL, and whether these ratings vary for introverted and extraverted learners. During the session, preliminary results from this study were presented
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Background: Collaboration between Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) and parents is considered best practice for children with developmental disorders. However, such collaborative approach is not yet implemented in therapy for children with developmental language disorders (DLD) in the Netherlands. Improving Dutch SLTs’ collaboration with parents requires insight in factors that influence the way SLTs work with parents. Aims: To explore the specific beliefs of Dutch SLTs that influence how they collaborate with parents of children with DLD. Methods and procedures: We conducted three online focus groups with 17 SLTs using a reflection tool and fictional examples of parents to prompt their thoughts, feelings and actions on specific scenarios. Data were organised using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Outcomes and results: We identified 34 specific beliefs across nine TDF domains on how SLTs collaborate with parents of children with DLD. The results indicate that SLTs hold beliefs on how to support SLTs in collaborating with parents but also conflicting specific beliefs regarding collaborative work with parents. The latter relate to SLTs’ perspectives on their professional role and identity, their approach towards parents, and their confidence and competence in working collaboratively with parents.
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Secondary school physical education (PE) teachers are continuously challenged to find ways to support students learning and motivate them for an active and healthy lifestyle. To address this complexity, continuing teacher professional development (TPD) is key. Technological tools can facilitate the effective delivery of TPD in this context. Successful implementation of this technology, however, is not self-evident. Based on the general aim of effectively integrating technologies in the educational process and focusing on the needs of educators, this study examines how the evidence-based theoretical TARGET framework for creating a motivating PE learning climate might be embedded into a digital professional development tool for PE teachers, useful in everyday practice. It presents a case study in which a multidisciplinary team of researchers, designers, and end-users iteratively went through several phases of need identification, idea generation, designing, development, and testing. By using a participatory approach, we were able to collect contextualized data and gain insights into users’ preferences, requirements, and ideas for designing and engaging with the tool. Based on these insights the TPD TARGET-tool for PE teachers was ultimately developed. The most prominent characteristics of this tool are (1) the combination of an evaluative function with teaching strategy support, (2) the strong emphasis on ease of use due to the complex PE teaching context, (3) the avoidance of social comparison, and suggestions of normative judgment, and (4) the allowance for a high level of customization and teacher autonomy.
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Purpose: Most speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with children with developmental language disorder (DLD) do not perform language sample analysis (LSA) on a regular basis, although they do regard LSA as highly informative for goal setting and evaluating grammatical therapy. The primary aim of this study was to identify facilitators, barriers, and needs related to performing LSA by Dutch SLPs working with children with DLD. The secondary aim was to investigate whether a training would change the actual performance of LSA. Method: A focus group with 11 SLPs working in Dutch speech-language pathology practices was conducted. Barriers, facilitators, and needs were identified using thematic analysis and categorized using the theoretical domain framework. To address the barriers, a training was developed using software program CLAN. Changes in barriers and use of LSA were evaluated with a survey sent to participants before, directly after, and 3 months posttraining. Results: The barriers reported in the focus group were SLPs’ lack of knowledge and skills, time investment, negative beliefs about their capabilities, differences in beliefs about their professional role, and no reimbursement from health insurance companies. Posttraining survey results revealed that LSA was not performed more often in daily practice. Using CLAN was not the solution according to participating SLPs. Time investment remained a huge barrier. Conclusions: A training in performing LSA did not resolve the time investment barrier experienced by SLPs. User-friendly software, developed in codesign with SLPs might provide a solution. For the short-term, shorter samples, preferably from narrative tasks, should be considered.
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In today’s foreign language (FL) education, teachers universally recognise the importance of fostering students’ ability to communicate in the target language. However, the current assessments often do not (sufficiently) evaluate this. In her dissertation, Charline Rouffet aims to gather insight into the potential of assessments to steer FL teaching practices. Communicative learning objectives FL teachers fully support the communicative learning objectives formulated at national level and embrace the principles of communicative language teaching. Yet, assessments instead primarily focus on formal language knowledge in isolation (e.g., grammar rules), disconnected from real-world communicative contexts. This misalignment between assessment practices and communicative objectives hampers effective FL teaching. CBA toolbox The aim of this design-based PhD research project is to gather insight into the potential of assessments to steer FL teaching practices. To this end, tools for developing communicative classroom-based assessment (CBA) programmes were designed and implemented in practice, in close collaboration with FL teachers. Rouffet's dissertation consists of multiple studies, in which the current challenges of FL education are addressed and the usage of the CBA toolbox is investigated. Findings reveal that assessing FL competencies in a more communicative way can transform teaching practices, placing communicative abilities at the heart of FL education.
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Lean Production (LP) can be regarded as a design approach in search of a theoretical foundation. In this paper we show that Lowlands’ Sociotechnical Design Theory (STSL) could function as such a foundation. To reach this goal, we first describe STSL as a system theoretical reformulation of Original Sociotechnical Theory (OSTS). Then, we introduce the Toyota Production System as the origin of LP and the challenge it poses for the academic field of organization design. This academic field should (1) assess LP’s success, (2) generalize it by embedding it in more abstract concepts and theories in order to be able to (3) re-specify it for different manufacturing and non-manufacturing contexts. Next, we give an exposition of STSL as a structural design approach based on developments in system theory. At last, we reformulate lean production in STSL terms and so show that LP is a subcase within the more general theory of STSL. We discuss the merits of both approaches and clarify some misunderstandings of lean both outside and inside the lean community. Embedding LP in the more general language of STSL should enable us to discover similarities and differences, to start a process of mutual learning, to integrate diverse design approaches in a theory of organizational design and to add content to redesign proposals of for example the health care system as proposed by Porter and Teisberg (2006) and Christensen et al. (2009). We quote extensively from the lean literature (to convince our sociotechnical friends) and embed both STSL and LP in the broader literature on organization design. We hope this adds a new perspective to the one given in the Operations Management literature on LP. Again, mutual learning is the goal.
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In a class or group of twenty children, - statistically - one child has a developmental language disorder (DLD). For children with DLD it is very difficult to keep up at school. The problems in the language also easily lead to miscommunication, which can cause behavioral problems. The timely recognition of a DLD is of great importance for early treatment. This way you can prevent or reduce problems at school, at home and in the children's leisure time. At the moment, children with DLD are not always identified early.Problems in language development can be identified early, for example at the age of two by child health workers. Parents, kindergarten teachers and elementary school teachers can also identify problems in children's language development. This requires a language screening instrument that can easily determine whether a child's language is 'at risk' or 'not at risk'. Early identification of language problems is important, but until today children are still missed. In this dissertation I present a new instrument for the identification of problems in the language development of children from one to six years old, the Early Language Scale (ELS). I also describe the development of the milestones in the language development of children, how good the current screening at the age of two at the health care office is and what parents think of this language screening. The ELS appears to detect DLD in young children well and can therefore make an important contribution to the detection of these problems at the primary health care.
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ion of verb agreement by hearing learners of a sign language. During a 2-year period, 14 novel learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) with a spoken language background performed an elicitation task 15 times. Seven deaf native signers and NGT teachers performed the same task to serve as a benchmark group. The results obtained show that for some learners, the verb agreement system of NGT was difficult to master, despite numerous examples in the input. As compared to the benchmark group, learners tended to omit agreement markers on verbs that could be modified, did not always correctly use established locations associated with discourse referents, and made characteristic errors with respect to properties that are important in the expression of agreement (movement and orientation). The outcomes of the study are of value to practitioners in the field, as they are informative with regard to the nature of the learning process during the first stages of learning a sign language.
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This paper reports on CATS (2006-2007), a project initiated by the Research Centre Teaching in Multicultural Schools, that addresses language related dropout problems of both native and non-native speakers of Dutch in higher education. The projects main objective is to develop a model for the redesign of the curriculum so as to optimize the development of academic and professional language skills. Key pedagogic strategies are the raising of awareness of personal proficiency levels through diagnostic testing, definition of linguistic demands of curriculum tasks, empowerment of student autonomy and peer feedback procedures. More specifically, this paper deals with two key areas of the project. First, it describes the design and development of web-based corpus software tools, aimed at the enhancement of the autonomy of students academic reading and writing skills. Secondly, it describes the design of three pilots, in which the process of a content and language integrated approach - facilitated by the developed web tools - was applied, and these pilots respective evaluations. The paper concludes with a reflection on the project development and the experiences with the pilot implementations.
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