The Imperfect(ive) Avatar: Training Russian Verbal Aspect Through CALL

1. The Imperfect(ive) Avatar:Training Russian Verbal Aspect Through CALL CALL 2008 David J. Galloway Hobart and William Smith colleges Kristin Peterson-Bidoshi Union College

2. Framework: Drill and L2 Acquisition • 2004 Wong & VanPatten; Leaver et al.: nature of drill in L2 classroom; implications and counter-claims for Russian. • 2004 Ruubio, Passey, Campbell: “communicative” textbooks and mechanical drills. • Positioning of our work vis-à-vis debates over efficacy and type of drill.

3. Molodets! (Молодец!) • U.S. Department of Education funded program (2006-2008). • To develop a web-based dynamic grammar trainer for Russian. • In opposition to existing static exercises; exercises created from a relational database at point of use . • Allows student to reuse exercises continually, and delivers custom feedback based on individual strengths and weaknesses.

4. Nature of Verbal Aspect in Russian • A major hurdle to functional fluency between first and second years of language learning, and an issue that remains difficult for frequently harries students through all four years of collegiate study. • Most Russian verbs have two aspects, imperfective and perfective. • Differentiated by prefixation, internal modification, root derivation, or stress. • Both aspects used in past and future, imperative, and infinitive. Only the imperfective is used in present tense.

5. Distinctions between the Aspects Imperfective: focuses on actions in progress, frequency of occurrence, and attempted actions.“Yesterday he was reading a book.” [focus on process] Perfective: focuses on successful completion and result. Perfective past also encompasses both perfect and pluperfect tenses. “Yesterday he read a book.” [focus on completion]

6. Difficulties of Teaching Verbal Aspect • Why does it present students with problems? • Basic theory of concept easy to understand; application more difficult and highly dependent on context. • Context can only be created artificially in the classroom, usually through cue words which signal a particular aspect through evocation of frequency.

7. Open Windows and Absent People • How verbal aspect is taught in the U.S. • Open windows (verbal aspect of action/reverse):Здесь холодно. Кто-то открыл окно?Здесь холодно. Кто-то открывал окно? • Absent people (verb of motion, unidirectional vs. round trip):Иван пошёл в магазин.Иван ходил в магазин.

8. Verbal Aspect in Golosa (Голоса) • Market leader in collegiate Russian beginning textbooks (2 volumes), approximately 40-50%. • Aspect introduced in Unit 10 (final unit) of Book 1. • Further topics in Book 2: imperatives and aspect (3), prefixed verbs of motion (4). • Training in first two years primarily through paragraphs of verbal aspectual choices, short dialogues, and sentences employing cue words.

9. Example of Paragraph-Format Training Вчера вечером я (смотрела/посмотрела) телевизор. Я (смотрела/посмотрела) одну передачу, а потом пошла в центр. Там я долго (решала/решила), что делать. Наконец я (решала/решила) пойти в кафе. Там сидели мои друзья Соня и Костя. Раньше мы часто (обедали/пообедали) в кафе, (спрашивали/спросили) друг друга об университете и о работе и (рассказывали/рассказали) о семьях. Когда мы обо всём (рассказывали/рассказали), мы (говорили/сказали) «до свидания» и пошли домой. Я очень поздно пришла домой. (G1, 358)

10. Consequences of Paragraph-Format Drill • Deformation of natural language environment. • Heightened confusion for students, who having only been recently introduced to concept of verb pairs, see two forms of a semantically identical form. • Reduction of complex aspectual system to a mechanical drill with binary response alternatives. • This approach is better suited to more advanced students who know the implications of particular aspect choices.

11. Aspect and CALL: Challenges • Basic grammar is naturally suited to mechanical drill; aspect, being mostly dependent on context, is not. • Difficulties of creating communicative drills vs. mechanical drills. • Difficulties of presenting user with a dynamic environment in which to practice creation of utterances.

12. Call Applications on Russian Aspect • Nearly all current text-based applications provide information via cue words to establish context. • Example of attempt with multimedia:http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/java.html • Limited to seven exercises, each of which leads to a mechanical drill in which one response is correct. • No intrinsic feedback is provided. • No flexibility of use = still a test.

13. Theory-Based Resources Laura Janda, University of Tromsø/U. North Carolina http://hum.uit.no/lajanda/clusterfrontpage.htmlReinterpreted subdivisions of Russian verbs on the cluster principle.http://hum.uit.no/lajanda/aspect/ainr/Aspect in Russian Media Module (under development). Theory-focused with standard-format mechanical drill.

14. Intrinsic Feedback “In ‘real’ language situations, learners are rarely told ‘Well done!” or “Try again.” They encounter feedback, usually without realising it, when their efforts are greeted with a shrug of incomprehension, the request to repeat the utterance, or the right (or wrong) outcome of the transaction or request. This is the ideal type of feedback, and one which enables the learner more rapid acquisition of language patterns. This is what is meant by ‘intrinsic’ feedback, and seems to us to represent a more satisfactory match to constructivist learning approaches.”- Paul Bangs “Engaging the learner – how to author for best feedback.” Uschi Felix, ed. Language Learning Online: Towards Best Practice. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger B.V., 2003, 83.

15. Proposed Solution: Aspectual Laboratory • Goal is to extend the concept of intrinsic feedback to aspectual CALL training. • Nature of the avatar (digital extension of the user). • Emphasizes exploration and visualization of abstract principles. • Allows user to experiment with consequences of aspectual choices without penalty. • Parallel to existing in-class teaching technique of aspect/verbs of motion.

16. The Aspectual Laboratory Environment • Avatar occupies the center of the screen, subject to user commands. • User selects a from a variety of verbs and sees the avatar’s movement, facilitating visualization of the aspectual pair. • For verbs of motion, user can visualize directional nuances to/away from destinations as the avatar moves from designated points across the screen. • User can reverse the activity after sufficient exploration, describing avatar movements and receiving feedback.

17. Benefits to Students Learning Verbal Aspect • Real-time visualization of consequences of aspectual choice. • Unlimited ability to train and retrain concepts. • Flexible ability to invert process (action->verb vs. verb->action) to facilitate exploration and testing. • Exploration is separated from testing, since there are no correct or incorrect responses by definition (focus on result).

18. Limitations • Difficult to incorporate abstract verbs, though some forms can be adapted for inclusion, such as сдавать/сдать (to take/to pass a test). • As with any dynamic system, programming is a labor-intensive task requiring many hours of development, and with careful consideration of overall structure.

19. Future Goals • Refinement of concept and development of a small prototype. • Grant proposal. • Large-scale development and implementation.

20. Спасибо за внимание! David J. Galloway Assistant Professor of Russian Area Studies Hobart and William Smith Colleges galloway@hws.edu Kristin Peterson-Bidoshi Associate Professor of Russian Union College bidoshik@union.edu