Graduate Colloquium Mary McGroarty
Teachers College, April 19, 2013 Northern Arizona University
Why don’t we know what’s good for us?
Discontinuity between learning and liking in classroom research
Many experienced as well as novice researchers assume that, for all L2 learners (and teachers),there is a moderate to strong relationship between the effectiveness of a particular classroom technique or activity and opinions about such activities. This is but one example of the ‘common sense’ views of language learning and teaching that greatly oversimplify the complexity of the entire endeavor. Furthermore, research on second language learning, like research in education generally, has for decades focused almost completely on cognitive outcomes (Swain, 2013); description and systematic assessment of affective aspects of the learning process, even though attitudinal components of the educational experience often matter greatly to learners (and the parents of learners), teachers, and others.
In this colloquium we will review and scrutinize several articles that have examined this relationship for different groups of L2 learners. We will also consider the many issues related to definitions of both learning effectiveness and positive affect, suitable measures of each type of construct, and problems of the scope and duration of investigations that have attempted in various ways to assess both aspects of the instructional experience. We will also consider some of the influences related to learner and teacher experience and expectations, the nature of languages and language skills involved, and the cultural contexts in which language learning and teaching take place.
Selected related reading:
Cai, S., & Zhu, W. (2012). The impact of an online learning community project on university Chinese as a foreign
language students’ motivation. Foreign Language Annals, 45 (3), 307—329.
Farnsworth, T. (2013). Effects of targeted test preparation on scores of two tests of oral English as a second
language. TESOL Quarterly,47 (1), 148—156.
Hornberger, N., & Micheau, C. (1993).“Getting far enough to like it”: Biliteracy in the middle school.
Peabody Journal of Education, 69 (1), 30—55.
McDonough, K. (2004). Learner-learner interaction during pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context.
System, 32, 207—224.
McGroarty, M., & Zhu, W. (1997).Triangulation in classroom research: A study of peer revision. Language
Learning, 47 (1),1—43.
McGroarty, M., Beck, A., & Butler, F. (1995). Policy issues in assessing indigenous languages: A Navajo case.
Applied Linguistics, 16, 323-343.
Nicholas, S. (2009). “I live Hopi, I just don’t speak it: Thecritical intersection of language, culture, and identity in
the lives of contemporary Hopi youth. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 8 (5), 321—334.
Shehadeh, A. (2011). Effects and student perceptions of collaborative writing in L2.Journal of Second Language
Writing, 20, 286—305.
Swain, M. (2013).The inseparability of cognition and emotion in second language learning.Language Teaching,
46 (2), 195—207.