Phase 1 Results and Findings:
Community, Engagement, Learning, and Attitude
Community, Engagement, Learning, and Attitude
The Affective Filter
From the very first day of class with my students, I noticed that they seemed very quiet and shy. I figured my students would eventually open up as they got to know me and each other. After several weeks, however, my students still seemed to unwillingly participate during class commentary. They would look away when I asked for volunteers, and even those who did volunteer tended to speak so quietly that I could hardly hear them. One morning a student came into my classroom well before the bell rang. I decided to ask him what he thought of the classroom atmosphere. His response was, “it is scary”. “What is scary about it?” I asked. “Well, we have been studying other subjects from the time we started elementary school. But Spanish is completely new and foreign. It is so easy to make mistakes. And we don’t want to look bad by making mistakes.” As the teacher, could I blame him? My students had started learning a subject for the first time--not just any subject, but a foreign language. This was a subject that would require my students to step out of their comfort zone and practice orally in order to develop communicative proficiency.
This student’s feedback is representative of the classroom environment in which we worked and learned prior to allowing my students to collaborate in groups through technology during the cooking-show project. According to Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis, students acquire language faster and more efficiently when they do not feel threatened or humiliated (Sparks et. al, 1996). My students needed to feel safe in the classroom before they could openly practice their Spanish in spite of their lack of language mastery.
From the very first day of class with my students, I noticed that they seemed very quiet and shy. I figured my students would eventually open up as they got to know me and each other. After several weeks, however, my students still seemed to unwillingly participate during class commentary. They would look away when I asked for volunteers, and even those who did volunteer tended to speak so quietly that I could hardly hear them. One morning a student came into my classroom well before the bell rang. I decided to ask him what he thought of the classroom atmosphere. His response was, “it is scary”. “What is scary about it?” I asked. “Well, we have been studying other subjects from the time we started elementary school. But Spanish is completely new and foreign. It is so easy to make mistakes. And we don’t want to look bad by making mistakes.” As the teacher, could I blame him? My students had started learning a subject for the first time--not just any subject, but a foreign language. This was a subject that would require my students to step out of their comfort zone and practice orally in order to develop communicative proficiency.
This student’s feedback is representative of the classroom environment in which we worked and learned prior to allowing my students to collaborate in groups through technology during the cooking-show project. According to Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis, students acquire language faster and more efficiently when they do not feel threatened or humiliated (Sparks et. al, 1996). My students needed to feel safe in the classroom before they could openly practice their Spanish in spite of their lack of language mastery.
Community
I found that as I shifted away from a traditional approach and allowed my students to work collaboratively through technology, my students felt safe asking and answering each other questions; they also felt comfortable approaching me with questions they normally would not ask me. In response to my student feedback form, one student said, “I feel that the sense of classroom community has increased because we have communicated outside of school, and there is now a sense of friendship rather than just being classmates. I think the sense of classroom community has increased because technology and the Internet connect us together in general.” From my literature review, I had also learned that both student-centered learning and cooperative learning approaches can have a "positive effect on teacher-student and student-student relationships" (Dorneyi, 1997), and this began to ring true as my students and I progressed through the Cooking Show project.
I found that as I shifted away from a traditional approach and allowed my students to work collaboratively through technology, my students felt safe asking and answering each other questions; they also felt comfortable approaching me with questions they normally would not ask me. In response to my student feedback form, one student said, “I feel that the sense of classroom community has increased because we have communicated outside of school, and there is now a sense of friendship rather than just being classmates. I think the sense of classroom community has increased because technology and the Internet connect us together in general.” From my literature review, I had also learned that both student-centered learning and cooperative learning approaches can have a "positive effect on teacher-student and student-student relationships" (Dorneyi, 1997), and this began to ring true as my students and I progressed through the Cooking Show project.
On several occasions, I would take an hour during the evening to check-in with my students’ progress on their cooking show recipes, step-by-step instructions, and presentation scripts. As I logged-in to each group’s Google Doc, I would often find students working in live time with each other, collaborating on ideas and sharing the work load. When my students noticed that I was in the session, they would begin to ask me questions as well. Prior to this project, my students would rarely approach me with their questions before and after class. However, connecting with my students via technology seemed to break the barrier between us. While they were still relatively unfamiliar with the language, I had met them on a learning platform with which they were familiar, and by so doing, they felt comfortable asking me questions they normally wouldn’t ask.
The recurring theme throughout my students feedback regarding the effect that collaborating via technology had on the classroom was that they now felt a stronger bond with their classmates, which helped them feel more relaxed, and this in turn created a better learning environment. This was also in line with what I learned about Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis in terms of how “student engagement increases and students acquire language faster and more efficiently when they do not feel threatened or humiliated” (Sparks et. al, 1996). The following student response to my feedback form strengthens these findings: “The sense of classroom community definitely increased… A LOT. It provided an opportunity for everyone to spend more time together and thus help form a better bond, thus causing a better sense of relaxation, which in turn provided a better sense of community and ultimately a better learning environment.” This feedback also coincided with the data I collected by scoring my students’ work against my rubric in terms of their pronunciation, volume, and fluency. As students seemed more at ease with each other and with me, they spoke more confidently, fluidly, and accurately.
The recurring theme throughout my students feedback regarding the effect that collaborating via technology had on the classroom was that they now felt a stronger bond with their classmates, which helped them feel more relaxed, and this in turn created a better learning environment. This was also in line with what I learned about Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis in terms of how “student engagement increases and students acquire language faster and more efficiently when they do not feel threatened or humiliated” (Sparks et. al, 1996). The following student response to my feedback form strengthens these findings: “The sense of classroom community definitely increased… A LOT. It provided an opportunity for everyone to spend more time together and thus help form a better bond, thus causing a better sense of relaxation, which in turn provided a better sense of community and ultimately a better learning environment.” This feedback also coincided with the data I collected by scoring my students’ work against my rubric in terms of their pronunciation, volume, and fluency. As students seemed more at ease with each other and with me, they spoke more confidently, fluidly, and accurately.
In terms of feeling more connected as a class, I had learned in my literature review from Warschauer that students who are allowed to use technology and work collaboratively feel more connected to their classmates as they “engage in real, as opposed to contrived, communicative acts” (Stepp-Greany, 2002). The day my students presented their projects not only helped me connect with my students on a deeper level, but it helped me see my students from a new perspective. Not only did their personalities shine through in their presentations, but a number of groups also chose to create dishes that are representative of their diverse ethnic a cultural background. For example, members of one particular group have parents who emigrated from India, and sharing that part of their lives with us granted us a window into their lives and backgrounds that they would normally not have the opportunity to share with their classmates and teacher. The following student feedback is a reflection of this finding: “I think the community has increased because everyone has gotten to know everyone much better. Sharing our videos gave us a chance to see sides of our classmates that we wouldn't normally see."
Engagement
My students are used to a relatively traditional classroom environment; i.e., the classroom is primarily teacher-centered with a focus on direct instruction and independent, summative assessments in the form of paper and pencil. Prior to the cooking-show project, I would often find students dozing off and or working on assignments from other classes. As I stepped back from the teacher-dominant role and allowed my students to work collaboratively on their cooking-show projects, I found that my students brought a new level of energy and creativity to the class. In terms of my students’ rubric scores, the majority of my students received full points for their group participation and levels of creativity that they put into their projects. This was in line with studies on collaborative learning that show how using technology to work collaboratively enables students to “learn faster” and “to write more creatively” (Stepp-Greany, 2002).
As I listened to my students’ discussions, I could feel their excitement. Their discussions would range from what technology they could use for their videos to the different types of food recipes they could experiment with. One group was particularly interested in cars, and I overheard them discussing how they wanted to convert their cake into a racecar by adding wheels on the sides and a wing on the back. In response to my feedback form, one student said, “working collaboratively with my peers through technology helped me interact constantly with them. I was constantly helping and sharing my ideas with my peers.” My students seemed to remain engaged from the beginning of this project to the very end. When I asked my students via my Google Form how using technology to collaborate with each other affected their engagement, I found in their responses a recurring theme of while the technology was “familiar”, they were learning in a “new way", which made the project "fun and engaging".
My students are used to a relatively traditional classroom environment; i.e., the classroom is primarily teacher-centered with a focus on direct instruction and independent, summative assessments in the form of paper and pencil. Prior to the cooking-show project, I would often find students dozing off and or working on assignments from other classes. As I stepped back from the teacher-dominant role and allowed my students to work collaboratively on their cooking-show projects, I found that my students brought a new level of energy and creativity to the class. In terms of my students’ rubric scores, the majority of my students received full points for their group participation and levels of creativity that they put into their projects. This was in line with studies on collaborative learning that show how using technology to work collaboratively enables students to “learn faster” and “to write more creatively” (Stepp-Greany, 2002).
As I listened to my students’ discussions, I could feel their excitement. Their discussions would range from what technology they could use for their videos to the different types of food recipes they could experiment with. One group was particularly interested in cars, and I overheard them discussing how they wanted to convert their cake into a racecar by adding wheels on the sides and a wing on the back. In response to my feedback form, one student said, “working collaboratively with my peers through technology helped me interact constantly with them. I was constantly helping and sharing my ideas with my peers.” My students seemed to remain engaged from the beginning of this project to the very end. When I asked my students via my Google Form how using technology to collaborate with each other affected their engagement, I found in their responses a recurring theme of while the technology was “familiar”, they were learning in a “new way", which made the project "fun and engaging".
Learning
As my students are used to a more traditional style of learning Spanish, their daily classroom assignments and formative and summative-assessments also reflect a more traditional style of assessing student learning. For example, my students are generally required to practice what they are learning in class by writing and speaking isolated sentences that are disconnected from a greater context. They lack opportunities to practice what they are learning in a more cohesive-style of speaking and writing in the form of a short story, an essay, and or a narration of a real-life experience. Therefore, developing communicative, interpersonal, and presentational skills in Spanish tend to be lacking. Studies show that a key factor in improving language learning outcomes is the “elimination of strong teacher dominance”, which enables students to express themselves more freely, “resulting in a larger quantity and better quality of communication” (Stepp-Greany, 2002). And further studies show that the use of technology for collaborative learning purposes in a foreign language classroom has a positive effect on students’ linguistic development (Stepp-Greany, 2002). The cooking-show project gave my students an opportunity to work collaboratively while developing their ability to use the language cohesively.
As my students progressed through the project, I was so impressed with the quality of their writing. They had produced cohesive scripts that flowed beautifully. This was in line with what I learned from Beauvois, whose studies have found that students who are allowed to connect and collaborate with other language learners via technology tend to use more complex sentence structures (Stepp-Greany, 2002). This finding was further strengthened when I analyzed my students rubric scores in terms of the quality of their writing and speaking; I found that the average score of my students’ grammar, required structures, vocabulary usage, pronunciation, volume, and fluency was above 85%, which was 5% higher on average than their scores from before we began this collaborative project. I also noted that my students used the language in ways that were “riskier” than normal. For example, they would insert words and phrases that they had not learned from me but from the Internet at large. This greatly impressed me as my students were normally confined to the language from the textbook. They had taken advantage of the opportunity to develop communicative proficiency at a deeper level.
As my students are used to a more traditional style of learning Spanish, their daily classroom assignments and formative and summative-assessments also reflect a more traditional style of assessing student learning. For example, my students are generally required to practice what they are learning in class by writing and speaking isolated sentences that are disconnected from a greater context. They lack opportunities to practice what they are learning in a more cohesive-style of speaking and writing in the form of a short story, an essay, and or a narration of a real-life experience. Therefore, developing communicative, interpersonal, and presentational skills in Spanish tend to be lacking. Studies show that a key factor in improving language learning outcomes is the “elimination of strong teacher dominance”, which enables students to express themselves more freely, “resulting in a larger quantity and better quality of communication” (Stepp-Greany, 2002). And further studies show that the use of technology for collaborative learning purposes in a foreign language classroom has a positive effect on students’ linguistic development (Stepp-Greany, 2002). The cooking-show project gave my students an opportunity to work collaboratively while developing their ability to use the language cohesively.
As my students progressed through the project, I was so impressed with the quality of their writing. They had produced cohesive scripts that flowed beautifully. This was in line with what I learned from Beauvois, whose studies have found that students who are allowed to connect and collaborate with other language learners via technology tend to use more complex sentence structures (Stepp-Greany, 2002). This finding was further strengthened when I analyzed my students rubric scores in terms of the quality of their writing and speaking; I found that the average score of my students’ grammar, required structures, vocabulary usage, pronunciation, volume, and fluency was above 85%, which was 5% higher on average than their scores from before we began this collaborative project. I also noted that my students used the language in ways that were “riskier” than normal. For example, they would insert words and phrases that they had not learned from me but from the Internet at large. This greatly impressed me as my students were normally confined to the language from the textbook. They had taken advantage of the opportunity to develop communicative proficiency at a deeper level.
I also noted that my students seemed to navigate the Spanish language more easily than when they did not get to work with each other and or use technology. The recurring words that my students used to describe their experience in relation how working in groups through technology affected their learning were “facilitated”, “easier”, and “connected.” The following student feedback is in line with these findings: “I feel that using working collaboratively through technology has helped me to learn Spanish because I have a broader range of resources to consult anywhere and at any time. I think using technology has not only helped me connect with my peers but has helped me learn Spanish more easily. For example, when not knowing what a word means or need to know how to spell a word, we are able to check online and have a quick resource.”
Attitude
Of all the pieces of data that I was trying to collect, measuring my students’ attitude toward learning Spanish proved to be the most challenging. My hope was that my students would develop a newfound passion for language acquisition. However, as I began to collect and analyze my data, I discovered something interesting that I consider to be applicable not only to foreign language teachers, but to teachers of all subjects. The recurring theme that I noted in my daily reflections as well as in my students’ responses to my feedback form was that their attitude had not necessarily changed toward learning Spanish, but toward learning in general.
Because my students had discovered a platform of learning that both engaged them and facilitated their learning, they responded positively to the learning process in general. The following student response to my feedback form is representative of how collaborative learning via technology affected my students’ attitude toward learning in general: “My attitude towards Spanish hasn’t really changed much. But I do think that learning is more fun and interesting when we get to work with others and use technology during our class.”
More Collaboration and More Technology
When I asked my students whether they would like to have more opportunities to work collaboratively on projects as well as be allowed to work through technology, 92% replied "yes" to more collaboration, and 93% replied "yes" to more technology.