Language Teachers as facilitators in preparing for study abroad

1. LanguageTeachers as facilitators in preparing for studyabroad Fourth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural CompetenceCERCLL – The University of ArizonaTucson – January 2014 Hélène Zumbihl PEARL CRAPEL - ATILF/CNRS Université de Lorraine (France) UMR 7118

2. Overview • Context of teaching • Preparing for studyabroad • Organization of the curriculum • Evaluation • Learners’ autonomizationprocess • Teachers’ and students’ representations about theirroles • A new role for teachers in ICC learning • New skills for teachers • New relationshipswithstudents • New way of consideringevaluation • Languageteachers as facilitators • Integration of this new role in the curriculum • Evolutions in the curriculum • Conclusion Hélène Zumbihl

3. Context of teaching • Specificgroup of students, a limitednumber of students, specific type of motivation for language and ICC (intercultural communicative competence) learning • Universitylearningcontext in France with a cognitive learning style (Utley, 2004) • Theoreticalinfluence in research[Universityof Lorraine in Nancy, the cradleof theoreticalresearch on learners’ autonomy in languagelearning (Holec, 1981)] • This curriculum isrecent: a necessityto combine research about autonomy and the acquisition of ICC (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl

4. Preparing for studiesabroad "FL learnersneed to acquirebothlinguistic and cultural competence and FL teachersneed to help themreachtheseaims" (Elsen & St. John, 2007: p. 27) Objective: a combination of the linguistic and the intercultural with a specific organization and form of evaluation including an autonomizationprocess forstudents Hélène Zumbihl

5. Organisation of the curriculum Hélène Zumbihl

6. Evaluation Hélène Zumbihl

7. Learners’ autonomizationprocess • Autonomy: "the abilty to take charge of one’sownlearning" (Holec, 1981) • Aimof the curriculum: to give the keys for analyzingthe year of studyabroad • Autonomy: a key element for acquiringICC as a factor of personaldevelopment(Kenny, 1993) in the life-long learningprocess • Our objective as teachersconcernedwith ICC: to enhancelearners’ autonomy (LA) Hélène Zumbihl

8. Teachers’ and students’ representations about theirroles • Teachers’ attitudes and values are crucial in shaping the process of teaching and learning • LA in institutional settings inevitably requires both teachers and learners to modify their representations of these respective roles (Riley, 1989) • New terms: "Helper", "Knower", "Facilitator" and "Counsellor" (Riley,1986; Little,2003) • It implies a necessary evolution in the pedagogical relationship between teachers and learners (Rogers, 1969) • Advisers are not ‘surrogate teachers’ (Mozzon-McPherson, 2007: p.75), on the contrary, they have a “significant highly skilled role as mediators” • Developing LA does not imply"teacherlesslearning" , but ratherdifferentteacherroles (Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl

9. A new role for teachers in ICC learning • New skills for teachers • New relationshipswithstudents • Languageteachersas facilitators • New way of consideringevaluation Hélène Zumbihl

10. New skills for teachers • The objective: to enhancelearners’ awarenessof theirpersonaldevelopmentthroughcriticalthinking, collaborative learning, self-initiatedknowledge acquisition (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • To accompanystudents in theirexperientiallearning: dialogue withteachers about theiremotions (Rogers, 1969) • To guide learnersthrough the use of logbooks to enhancereflexivity • Languageteachers: concernedwith more than the knowledge and skills to learn the language, theyoftenwant to transmit the values and normstheybelieve in (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) but transmission is not sufficient, these values and normsshouldbecommunicated, mediated and developed Hélène Zumbihl

11. New relationshipswithstudents • Teachersshouldmanage to engage the learners and succeeds in boosting and building their confidence (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • Followinghumanistic and socio-constructivisttheories (Williams & Burden, 1997), learners as individualscannotbeseen as separatefromtheirenvironment (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) which must be taken into consideration in the interactions between teachers and learners • According to socioculturaltheories (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986), via interactive mediation, teachers or other more capable peers help learners to reachlevels of developmenttheywere not able to realizeindependently Hélène Zumbihl

12. Languageteachers as facilitators • For constructivists (Bandura, 1986; Bruner, 1985) learningcanbeseen as an ongoingprocess of construction and reconstruction and for learnersto become more autonomous, teachers have to facilitatetheseprocesses • A concernshared by manyeducators: teachersexpecttheirlearners to graduallyacquire the knowledge, the skills and attitudes needed for life-long development (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) • The essential question ishow teacherscan help learnersmakesense of the world they are part of : • Therefore the development of LA and ICC are major pedagogical goals of foreignlanguageeducation • Throughintroducing and facilitatinginterculturallearning, teacherscan affect a learner’s motivation to learn a foreignlanguagesignificantly (Jimenez Raya & Sercu, 2007) Hélène Zumbihl

13. A new way of consideringevaluation How to develop self-assessment? • A questionnaire at the beginning of the semester for the students to help themdeterminetheirown objectives for the semester • Questions about whattheythink ICC is and differentconsiderations about interculturalrelationships • Theywill have to fill in the document regularlywithreflexivethinking about theirlearningeitherafter a course in class or after a session of autonomousworking • Students‘ self-evaluationwillbe part of the final oral exam. It shouldinvolve a personalreflection about theirlearning Hélène Zumbihl

14. Integration of this new role in the curriculum • Promotingdialogue and exchanges betweenstudents and teachers (anecdotes withteachers’ and learners’ experientiallearning) • Promotingreflexivitywith the logbook, connecting and relatingpatterns of thinking and behaviouracross cultural boundaries • Promoting, personalresearchthrough cultural briefing • Acceptingevolutions in the curriculum Hélène Zumbihl

15. Evolution of the curriculum New organisation with large groups of studentswhichinvolves a necessity to reinforcestudents’ autonomythroughdifferentmeans: • more researchworkcarried out by students • increased use of information technology • but also essential to keepteachers’ presence for exchangingpersonalexperiences and facilitatingstudents’ personalreflection Hélène Zumbihl

16. Conclusion • Essential to linkIntercultural communicative competencelearning and learnerautonomy in preparing for studyabroad (Jimenez Raya & Sercu; Zumbihl, 2012) • Thereforeweneed to reconsiderteachers’ roles in thispreparation • Theirskills • Theirrelationshipswithstudents • The evaluation of the workdone by students • Their new roles of mediators or facilitators It is more a question of communication, mediation and developmentratherthan transmission Hélène Zumbihl

17. Thankyou for your attention! helene.zumbihl@univ-lorraine.fr