International Seminar: Genre Theory and New Literacies.
Applications to Autonomous Language Learning
Castellón, Tuesday 11th November 2008
PROJET NÉGOCIÉ DE RECHERCHE
Recherche-actionDimension éthique et épistémologique*Représentation de la recherche selon une dynamique d’intervention-conceptualisation-
intervention*Portée
éthique
de l’intervention
Représentation du savoir.Dimension éthique et épistémologiqueReconnaissance de la pratique comme domaine de la rechercheReconnaissance de soi-même et du groupe comme agents de la rechercheConception écologique de la construction des savoirs
Recherche collectiveDimension éthique et épistémologiqueConception dialogique de la conceptualisation: Pensée
complexe
Représentation du projet de recherche comme champ de la formation et de l’autoformation
GIAPEL- CIBERTAAAL Research lines
•
Research on the development of learning autonomy
How can ICT contribute to the development of learning autonomy?
•
Research on discursive features of texts and generic variation
•
Research on the development of foreign language reading skills in hypermedia environments
Digital genresGenre:-
dynamic forms, situated in specific social contexts
-
framework
in which
readers
and
writers
meet
Aspects to investigate:-
new generic norms that allow readers and writers to establish a dialogue
-
the new competences that readers need to access the complex structures of hypermedia texts.
Features of digital genres-
Genres
are multimodal
-
Genres
are continously
evolving-
Hypertextual
nature
Analysis
of
digital genres•
the design of a site (how the site is conceived and produced)
•
the contents of the site and the relation between these contents
and the structure of the site
•
interactive elements
•
the multimodal interaction among the different semiotic levels in a text (i.e., images, graphics, sound, video, text)
•
the types of links in the site and their function
•
the way readers use all these attributes to establish semantic relations between elements within and across texts, perform actions, and participate in communicative acts.
Research on the development of foreign language reading skills in hypermedia
environments•
Modal shifts in the reading process (Finnemann, 1999):
–
The reading mode: sequential reading–
The navigating or linking model: site traversing
•
Lemke (2003):
meaning is made across and between genres, as we juxtapose, catenate
and traverse websites.
Key question: how do readers/users make sense and construct meaning throughout their journeys across hypertexts?
i.e. how the reader of hypertext becomes a “wreader”.
•
investigating
how
readers
construct
meaning
involves
analysing:–
multiplicity
of
paths
–
Multimodality–
Language multiplicity
Autonomy and ICT
Autonomy: progressive capacity to be responsible for one’s own learning.
Key Question: What is the relation between autonomy and ICT?
•
multimedia and hypermedia resources offer great potential for the development of autonomy.
HOWEVER
very often the use of ICT in learning encourages learning behaviour where ireflexive
action prevails.
THEREFORE
ICTs
DO NOT generate autonomous behaviour, rather they require new approaches to autonomy training
ICTs require new approaches to autonomy training
learning how to manage complexitydeveloping critical and creative thoughtlearning how to manage interaction
Challenge:
to integrate all the learning resources offered by ICT into a personalised learning plan. This plan should develop the ability to select, organise and manage the complexity of the product offered
according to the learner’s own goals.
Issues
open
to
research•
What changes do “traditional”
genres go through in the new digital
environment ?
•
How do these changes affect the representations,
which are to a greater or lesser extent shared, on discursive genres and
text
organisation?
•
What are the implications of digital genres for learning?
•
How can genres act as raw material fro transgeneric
constructions? How do readers construct meaning in their traversals and navigation through hypertexts?
•
Which new skills related to autonomy development must be faced by an autonomising
plan? Technical and methodological skills, skills
concerning material and resource search and selection, forms of assessment, etc?
The CIBERTAAAL research area
•
linguistic aspects of digital texts: description and analysis of genericity, multimodality and hypertextuality
•
psycolinguistic plane: study of students’
search, navigation and reading strategies, and metacognitive
evaluation of the actions performed by students when hyperreading
with a purpose.
•
methodological aspects and pedagogical proposals: cybertask
design.
Objectives
•
to “find”
a model of analysis of digital genres
that can provide insights into how the readers/users construct meaning throughout their trajectories across hypertext
analysis of web pages devoted to popular science topics in English, French, German:
-
structure-
generic cues (multimodality, traversals, etc.)
-
cognitive models that lie behind their organisation.
Objectives
•to study the pragmatic and cognitive mechanisms
involved in the production and processing of electronic texts, and to analyse the strategies used by readers/users when approaching these texts
Correlation among variables such as:-
the students’
linguistic competence
-
their cognitive and learning styles-
their navigating styles
-
their ability to handle ICT and their attitude to the use of ICT
Objectives
•
to integrate results from the analysis within a pedagogical framework aiming at a long-life learning process, which should imply the development of autonomous learning skills, plurilingual
competence and
new literacy competences.
-
critical evaluation of the existing proposals of Web-based tasks
-
elaboration of criteria for the design of cybertasks
METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS FOR ANALYSIS
GENERAL PLAN
A- ‘CYBERTASKS’
B- NAVIGATING MAPS
C- TESTS
D- SELF-ASSESSMENT
A- ‘CYBERTASKS’
•
METHOD:
Universities
Degrees (English
Philology, Engineering, Journalism)
Students
Cybertasks
Tests
Navigating maps
Self-Assessment
•
INSTRUMENTS:
English proficiency level test
-
Before
the
task
Learning styles test
Navigating maps
-
During
the
task
Control sheets
- After the task
Self-Assessment questionnaire
C- TESTS
•
LEARNING STYLES TEST
Learning styles (Nunan, 1991; Willing, 1988):
“Learning styles are the result of the combination of different
personal preferences that lead to the use of a certain set of
learning strategies. These preferences are determined by
cognitive, psychological, social and cultural variables as well as
educational experiences, attitudes towards learning, beliefs,
perception on learning limitations and skills, etc”.
LEARNING STYLES TEST for
the
present
study:
♦
Learning Styles (Villanueva & Navarro, 1997; Villanueva, 2002).
♦
‘Positive attitude towards ICT vs. Negative attitude towards ICT’
Students’
feelings
towards
the
use of
new
technologies
♦
Aim:
Determine students’
learning styles.
http://www.giapel.uji.es/testnivel/testNivelLogin.html
http://www.giapel.uji.es/testestilos/Proyecto.html
ACTIVE-
Active experimentation
towards
new
experiences.- Easy
adaptation
to
new
situations.
REFLEXIVE-
Reflection
towards
previous
observation.- Planification.
VISUAL-
Long texts
accompanied
by images.
VERBAL-
Information
in a text
format.
SYNTHETIC- General ideas.- From
general to
specific
ideas.
ANALYTIC- Specific
ideas.
- Does
not
know how to
relate ideas.INDUCTIVE- From
specific
to
general ideas.
-
Discover
rules by himself/herself
from observation.
-
Background knowledge
and
new knowledge.
DEDUCTIVE-
First
the
rule
and
then
use it
in specific
situations.
COOPERATIVE-Working
in teams, in pairs.
-
Communication
with
others
enriches your
own
knowledge.
INDIVIDUALISTIC-Working
alone.
-
Working
in teams, in pairs…
is
a waste of
time.
-
Communication
with
others
takes
a long time.
DEPENDENT-
Depends
on
someone
else
to
take
responsibility
on
himself/herself.-
Needs
external evaluation.
AUTONOMOUS-Carries
out his/her own
decisions.
- Evaluates
his/her own
work.
EMOTIONAL-Content
rather
than
form.
- Cultural aspects
of
the
language.
RATIONAL-Form
rather
than
content.
-
Dissatisfaction
towards
exceptions
in the
rules.
- Preferance
towards
informative
texts.+ ICT - ICT
•
LEVEL TEST
♦
Questionnaire
to
elicit
students’
language
proficiency:
-
Name, surname
- Course
- Age
-
Mother
tongue
-
Period
of
time
-
Settings
(eg. Elementary
school, high
school, language
school, abroad, etc.)
♦
Aim:
Determine students’
English
proficiency
level (European
Portfolio
for
Languages).
♦
European Portfolio for Languages created
by the
Council
of
Europe
(2001).
BASIC USERA1
A2
INDEPENDENT USERB1
B2
PROFICIENT USERC1
C2
♦
Five
competences:
1-
LISTENING COMPREHENSION Listening
to
spoken
language
2-
READING COMPREHENSION Reading
texts
in that
language
3-
ORAL INTERACTION Participating
in conversation
4-
ORAL EXPRESSION Speaking
5-
WRITTEN EXPRESSION Writing
texts
http://www.giapel.uji.es/testnivel/testNivelLogin.html
CONCLUSION
-
STYLES TEST
SMAIL Project
-
LEVEL TEST
(2000-2004)
D- SELF-ASSESSMENT
♦
Villanueva, M. L.
CIBERTAAAL Project (2005-2008)
♦
Aim:
Obtain
information
about
students’
experiences
on
surfing the
net and
reading
in a digital format
♦
Two
sections:
I-
The
Task
Performance Process
II-
The
Task
Result
I- THE TASK PERFORMANCE PROCESS
1-
Technical
skills
in computer
use.
2-
Criteria
used
when
surfing on
the
Internet.
3-
Information
management.
4-
Interactivity
and
cooperation
strategies.
5-
more interesting
http:// addresses
and
why.
6-
Language
comprehension
has implied
a difficulty
in carrying
out the
task.
7-
Previous
knowledge
about
a “Cybertask”.
8-
Observation, comments…
II- THE TASK RESULT
1-
Assessing
the
task
results
according
to
the
scale
below:
2-
Assessments, observations, problems…
or
other
issues
related
to
the
task
process
and
the
use of
Internet resources
in a
foreign
language.
3-
Strong
and
weak
points
on
your
task
process.
4-
Strong
and
weak
points
on
the
task
proposed.
LOW MEDIUM HIGH VERY HIGH
http://www.giapel.uji.es/autoevaluacion/avaluacio.htm
Web structure
capture Web structure
visualization
User
navigation
logNavigation
visualization
NAVIGATING MAPS - STEPS
B.1- WEB STRUCTURE CAPTURE
•
AIM:
Capture the
structure
of
a web page: pages
and
links
•
ALTERNATIVES:
-
Offline
Explorer -
http:///www.metaproducts.com
-
Web Zip. -
http://www.sipdersoft.com
-
Web Copier
-
http://www.maximumsoft.com
-
Web Sphinx
-
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rcm/websphinx
B.1- WEB STRUCTURE CAPTURE
•
RESULT:The
previous
programs
were
designed
to
get
the
contents
of
the
web
page, not
the
structureDesign
our
web crawler
based
on
the
kernel of
Web Sphinx
in order
to
be flexible during
the
investigation
Web structure
capture Web structure
visualization
User
navigation
logNavigation
visualization
NAVIGATING MAPS - STEPS
B.2- WEB STRUCTURE VISUALIZATION
•
AIM:
Represent
graphically
the
structure
of
a web page: pages
and
links
•
ALTERNATIVES:
-
Graphviz
-
http://www.graphviz.com
-
jGraph. -
http://www.jgraph.com
- yEd - http://www.yworks.com/products/yed
B.2- WEB STRUCTURE VISUALIZATION
•
RESULT:All
of
them
offered
excellent
features
but
yEd
was
closer
to
the
needs
of
the
project:-
Different
visualization
algorithms
-
Easy
to
create
graphs
programatically-
Excellent
user
interface
Web structure
capture Web structure
visualization
User
navigation
logNavigation
visualization
NAVIGATING MAPS - STEPS
B.3- USER NAVIGATION LOG
•
AIM:
Record the
user
interaction
while
browsing.
•
ALTERNATIVES:
-
Proxy cache -
http://www.squid-cache.org/
B.3- USER NAVIGATION LOG
•
RESULT:For
each
page
visited
the
proxy
saved
the
following
information:
-
What URL was visited-
When
it
was
visited
-
What user visited the page (previous login required)-
What
IP visited
the
page
(problem with LANs)
Web structure
capture Web structure
visualization
User
navigation
logNavigation
visualization
NAVIGATING MAPS - STEPS
B.4- NAVIGATION VISUALIZATION
•
AIM:
Show graphically
the
user interaction with the web page
Using
the
previous
information: web structure, navigation
log
B.4- NAVIGATION VISUALIZATION
•
RESULT:Two
kinds
of
visualizations:
Graph
Information:Page visited: in the
nodeNavigation styles: color of
nodesOrder of access: arrows
with
numbersTime of navigation: in the
arrows
B.4- NAVIGATION VISUALIZATION
Text
Information:Page visited: in the
second
columnNavigation styles: color of
the
last
columnOrder of access: in the
first
columnTime of navigation: in the
last
column
RESULTS
Marta Navarro Coy
Antonio José Silvestre López
RESULTS
Present Stage: analysis of resultsQuantitative&Qualitative
General results
Data obtained from different resources
•
Results: general remarks
Control sheetsE.g. Proficiency level tests
Learning style tests
Self-assesment tests
Website architecture analysis
RESULTS
Analysis of Results
• Management of complexity • Construction of meaning
• Navigation maps – learning styles •
Web page architecture – navigation
patterns
• Self-assessment tests
Why? How?
• Computer skills
• Cybertask assessment
• Degree of satisfaction on task performance
Browsing
Navigating
Reading
Navigation maps and learning styles, proficiency level
RESULTS
Case 1: A2/B1
•
Strategic or Contextual profile: different styles depending on activity/context
•Comments: “Prefiero los libros a los ordenadores para buscar reglas gramaticales, pero lo cierto es que para un tema o personaje concreto prefiero internet”
• Positive attitude towards ICT 100% Information search mainly• Negative attitude towards ICT 66.67% Language Learning
• Overwhelmed by too much information: • Negative attitude towards ICTs• Deductive (50%) vs. Inductive (25%)
Navigation maps and learning styles, proficiency level
RESULTS
Case 2: A2/B1
• Outstanding features: active 100%, synthetic 66%, global, emotional 100%
• Task approach: “firstly to get a complete-global picture of the website”:127 seconds examining main webpageUse of website map
• “Arts Imaginaires”: +60”, external website, Artbots
RESULTS
Case 3: A2A2•
Outstanding features: autonomous 100%, emotional 100%, positive
attitude towards ICTs 100% , active 75%, inductive 75%
E.g. High number of pages visitedFirst steps in cybertask: surfs many internal pages in navigating
mode (<5”/page)More than 15 external pages visited, multimodal resourcesSelf-assessment comments: ability to surf the net and “link websites”
• “Compulsive clicker”
Navigation maps and learning styles, proficiency level
It seems a general tendency that students with a low linguistic level may be able to cope better in a digital environment than others with a higher linguistic level if they are able to manage complexity, work in a non-linear environment, use search tools, evaluate the relevance of information, and extract meaning from different semiotic codes. (Luzón, Ruiz-Madrid, Villanueva 2008)
Web page architecture and navigation patterns
RESULTS
E.g.: Use of links in Automates Intelligents and Cyberjournalism
- Automates intelligents: complex, highly hypertextual: 80% used links provided at random.
- Cyberjournalism: highly categorised online directory: 64% used links in a selective way not at random.
Self-assessment tests
Students’ perceptions / reactions / appreciations on:
1. Technical skills
- use of computers and internet: 70%
- improvement: navigation skills:
- selection of key words
- use of links
- criteria used to access information
50%-70%: key words
40%-50%: easiness to read. Content.
RESULTS
for a more effective search
2. Information management:
Use Use ofof resourcesresources::
- 80% used information in different languages
- Automates Intelligentes: 80%: links dispersed the search
- Cyberjournalism: 76%: links helped in the search
- 60%: carried out own searches using relevant sources different from the one provided
RESULTS
3. Degree of satisfaction (performance of the webtasks)
Cybertasks: GIAPEL perspective
iii) To integrate the results obtained within a pedagogical framework aiming at a long-life learning process, which should imply the development of autonomous learning skills, plurilingual competence and new literacy competences.
1. A critical evaluation of the existing proposals of web-based tasks.
2. The elaboration of criteria that allow for the development of the wreading competence and learner autonomy in an integratìve design.
1. Evaluation of the existing proposals of web-based tasks
Webquest model (Dodge) & Talent Quest (Koenraad)
Activities must be active and engaging.
They need to engender cooperative and collaborative activities.
They must provide opportunities for reflection and articulation.
They must provide the purpose and the context for learners to deal with the context and information.
They must provide an active role for the learner in the knowledge construction. Learners must be prompted to assume much of the responsibility for themselves in terms of what is learned and how it is learned.
Cognitive, metacognitive and intercultural strategies in the different types of communication afforded by the new medium.
2. New criteria for a third generation of Cybertasks
Technical skills of information elaboration and management:the ability to identify the relevant information on a specific website,
recontextualise it according to one’s goal and audience, and eventually transmit it by means of different synchronous and asynchronous communication tools
Linguistic and semiotic skills:the identification of the different communicative purposes and the
possible audiences of a webpage or site, the awareness of linguistic and cultural variety,the ability to relate different semiotic codes with different purposes, orthe ability to use information from different webpages and sites, which
might have employed diverse generic options, among others.
Cognitive skills: categorising and linking information,finding a balance point between the urge to action and reflection in
order to make effective use of the immediacy afforded by ICT
2. New criteria for a third generation of Cybertasks
Metacognitive skills:
learning to evaluate the shifts between navigation and reading modes according to the characteristics of the webpages and to the task goals,
learning to evaluate hypotheses when using the links, and the results obtained, establishing different criteria in order to evaluate the language learning process (e.g., the ability to use online resources, ability to use different reading strategies, ability to identify generic echoes in the new digital genres, ability to use multimodality in order to understand and transmit a message).
Cybertasks to train students to:
work in a non-linear environment and interact with digital text in various ways,
use search tools to locate valuable information and relevant sources,
evaluate the usefulness of online information in relation to one’s purpose and follow links effectively to amplify such information,
evaluate the accuracy of online information,
understand multimodality,
use online texts as interactive resources to do things (i.e. searching for information, booking and purchasing products, viewing videos, registering for services, participating in polls, collaborating in text construction, etc.).
Selection of learning resources
Scaffolding
Implicit:
Selection of resources: appropriate
and relevant
content
well
organised; interactive
features, multiplicity
of
formats.
Design of the task itself: clear instructional
purpose
and
task
sequence,
possibility
of
setting
the
pace and
evaluate progress, freedom
in choosing
the
entry
point.
Explicit:Scaffolding explicit tools: teachers’
notes
and
context-sensitive
online help, annotation
and
horizontal and
vertical
communication
tools, possibility
of customise
content
and
an
intuitive
interface.
Web 2.0 nature: functionality, collaboration, interaction, content
creation
and
sharing
and individual’s
empowerment.
Textual nature of complexity of the web: multiplicity
of
genres
and
uses, multimedia, authenticity, multilingualism, polyphony, multiple
structures, etc.