0000000000429496
AUTHOR
Anna Kyppö
Virtual Slovak : insight into learning Slovak in an e-learning environment
This paper offers insight into learning Slovak in an e-learning environment. The need to reach distance-learners of Slovak led to the implementation of a web-based course on Slovak language and culture in 2008–2010. The pedagogical basis of the course, called Virtual Slovak, is the socioconstructivist approach to teaching and learning, in which the focus is on the development of learners’ communicative competence. This teaching experiment led to a study in which the focus was on learners’ beliefs and experiences regarding learning Slovak in an e-learning environment. The results showed that this particular learning environment had a positive impact on the development of learners’ agency. Th…
Teaching process writing in an online environment
This reflective practice paper offers some insights into teaching an interdisciplinary academic writing course aimed at promoting process writing. The study reflects on students’ acquisition of writing skills and the teacher’s support practices in a digital writing environment. It presents writers’ experiences related to various stages of process writing, their growing awareness of becoming good writers but also the constant struggle with common writing problems. Preconceived attitudes towards the process of writing provide further obstacles for students to overcome in an interdisciplinary and intercultural learning environment. A writer often overcomes the barriers to effective writing by …
Promoting multilingual communicative competence through multimodal academic learning situations
This paper presents information on the factors affecting the development of multilingual and multicultural communicative competence in interactive multimodal learning environments in an academic context. The interdisciplinary course in multilingual interaction offered at the University of Jyväskylä aims to enhance students’ competence in multilingual and multicultural academic communication by promoting the use of their entire linguistic repertoire in various learning situations. Throughout the course, we observed the students’ engagement in multilingual and multicultural activities. These observations suggest that simultaneous use of multiple languages in synchronous and asynchronous learn…
‘So close, yet so different’ – reflections on the multicultural course of Slavic languages
The complexity of language learning may be expanded to learning the languages belonging to the same language family, for example, Slavic languages. This paper reports on the reflection-on action research aimed at the increase of learners’ multicultural competence and enhancement of critical thinking at the interdisciplinary, blended course of Slavic languages and cultures. The course organized in modules is implemented in Moodle. Course content is designed by the teacher; however, Slavic languages are presented by native speakers of these languages. Learners have an opportunity to get familiar with Slavic languages, history, and culture from the presenters’ perspective, what generally resul…
Learning Slovak in new language learning environments
The aim of this dissertation is to throw light on the development of teaching and learning Slovak in the new language learning environment. New developments in teaching led to the design of an experimental e-learning course in Slovak based on the philosophy of dynamic learning and using the metaphor of climbing a mountain for learning Slovak. The course was grounded in constructivist views of learning and teaching, which emphasize the importance of learning by doing and the process-like nature of learning. The teaching experiment included reflection-on-action research, with the goal of exploring learners' beliefs about themselves as e-learners before the course, and their perceptions and ex…
Use your languages! : From monolingual to multilingual interaction in a language class
This reflective paper presents a new course concept for multilingual interaction, which was piloted at the University of Jyväskylä Language Centre in the spring of 2014. The course, implemented as part of the centre’s action research, is the result of a development process aimed at enhancing students’ multilingual and multicultural academic communication competences along with promoting use of their entire linguistic repertoire. The course concept was inspired by the EU project Modularising Multilingual and Multicultural Academic Communication Competence (MAGICC), whose main intent is “to integrate multilingual and multicultural academic communication competences as graduate learning outcom…
Learning Slovak in an E-Learning Environment: A case study
Providing a motivating learning environment for learning a less commonly taught language is a challenge. Developing technology, societal changes, virtual mobility and networking create new demands for teachers and students of these languages. Growing needs for international mobility call for the adoption of new pedagogical approaches. It is the urgency of using more up-to-date, pedagogically acceptable computer-assisted teaching programs that led to the development of the e-learning course of Slovak reported upon in this article. The course is based on a socio-constructivist approach and its main aim is to promote the development of learners’ communicative and cultural competence. This empi…