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Meaningful practice II:�

Using, adapting (and creating) literary and other challenging texts

Last updated: 1/6/20 Suzanne Graham�

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Rachel Hawkes

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Literary and other challenging texts

Why use them and how?

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Rachel Hawkes

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Key questions addressed in the session

What is the rationale for using literary and other challenging texts?
Does the use of such texts lead to improved L2 learning?
If so, in what ways?
Under what circumstances?
What are the outcomes?
What are some of the conditions for effective use of literary and other challenging texts?
Summary and ways forward for my own classroom

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Rachel Hawkes

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Pedagogy Review

“The content taught through the new language should be stimulating and widen pupils’ knowledge of the culture, history and literature of speakers of the new language, without compromising the necessary sequencing of vocabulary and grammar.”

“Pupils should be taught to pay attention to the detail of meaning through translation, and should extend the range of their vocabulary and understanding through reading short texts and literature.”

Teaching Schools Council 2016. Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review. A review of modern foreign languages teaching practice in key stage 3 and key stage 4. (Chair: Ian Bauckham). Teaching Schools Council.

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Discuss

What might we include in ‘literary and challenging texts’?
In your opinion, is it important to use literary texts in your teaching? Why/why not?
Are literary and challenging texts used much in your school? If so, how successfully?
In your school, how far do learners: �(a) develop language and language skills from using literary texts; �(b) enjoy reading literary texts; �(c) have the necessary skills to comprehend literary texts?

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Rachel Hawkes

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The research evidence available about using literary and other challenging texts

National Curriculum (2014), new GCSE and A levels now emphasise use of authentic texts, including literary sources
But, impact of using such materials on school learners’ motivational and language development has received little research attention (Paran, 2008)

Most studies focus on adults, and on motivation rather than language development

What kind of text?

Almost no studies compare literary or authentic texts with more functional texts (Ellis & Shintani, 2014; Paran, 2008)

How to use the texts?

Researchers agree that how texts are used is crucial, but debate the most appropriate form of deployment (Paran, 2008)

e.g., does a ‘language’ or a ‘personal’ focus have most benefits?

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Rachel Hawkes

Slides 6 – 8: 5 mins [Total – 15 mins]

Emphasise that although authentic/literary texts are included in key curriculum frameworks, the evidence for their beneficial effect is in fact limited, especially if we want to judge them in comparison with less authentic/literary materials. Functional texts tend to be factual and their main purpose is to inform and/or persuade, rather than to stimulate an emotional or imaginative response.

Final bullet point – different opinions as to whether literature should be studied as ‘language’ (i.e. focus on vocabulary, grammar, comprehension) or as ‘literature’ (focus on personal response, interpretation, relating it to the reader’s personal life and feelings). MFL textbooks, where any literature is included, tend to have a ‘language’ and factual information-gathering focus.

The KS3 National Curriculum Programme of Study:“read literary texts in the language, such as stories, songs, poems and letters, to stimulate ideas, develop creative expression and expand understanding of the language and culture.”�[1] The national curriculum programmes of study 2014�https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210969/NC_framework_document_-_FINAL.pdf

According to the draft GSSE criteria for teaching from September 2016 ^[2], in reading, students at GCSE level will be expected to:“deduce meaning from a variety of short and longer written texts from a range of specified contexts, including authentic sources involving some complex language and unfamiliar material, as well as short narratives and authentic material addressing a wide range of relevant contemporary and cultural themes �

recognise and respond to key information, important themes and ideas in more extended written text and authentic sources, including some extracts from relevant abridged or adapted literary texts”

�Elsewhere in the same document, literary texts are further explained:��'literary texts can include extracts and excerpts, adapted and abridged as appropriate, from poems, letters, short stories, essays, novels or plays from contemporary and historical sources, subject to copyright'.

�[2] Reference: DFE-00348-2014�Modern languages GCSE subject content (DFE, 2014) www.gov.uk/government/publications

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Rationale (1) Motivation – culture & interesting content

Lack of interest and low self-efficacy predict dropping MFL (Graham, 2002)
Learners motivated by intrinsic interest, including interest in L2 culture (Fisher, 2001; Graham, 2002, 2004, 2018; Graham et al., 2016)
Primary to secondary transition can see less focus on L2 culture – and this transition phase also associated with reduced intrinsic motivation (Graham et al., 2016)
“Personal relevance”, “perceptions of lessons” and “ease of learning” key for choosing to study a GCSE (Taylor and Marsden, 2014)
Can using literary or challenging texts increase ‘personal relevance, perceptions and sense of achievement?

“If we want England’s children to get better at reading and to do more of it, we have to give them a diet that is attractive, nutritious and satisfying. Restricting them to an unbalanced diet, the thin gruel of a phonics-dominated approach, is a recipe for lowering standards and turning children against the written word. (…) Children certainly need instruction in the techniques, but they only become effective and committed readers through reading texts that interest them”

(Dombey, 2010:13)

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Rationale (2) Motivation - affect & emotions

“the emotional component is too often ignored, resulting in relatively emotion-free (and therefore often boring) classroom sessions (…) that require little emotional investment and therefore little potential for unpredictability, outbursts, surprise, risk-taking, embarrassment, anxiety ... and enjoyment.

Emotions and enjoyment closely linked (Dewaele, Witney, Saito, & Dewaele, 2017)
Self-efficacy for “expressing thoughts and feelings” and “understanding authentic materials” predict taking a language GCSE (Graham, 2018)
Literature and authentic texts provide opportunities for emotion, empathy, intercultural understanding and creativity (Duff & Malley, 1990; Malley, 1989), and so lead to more interaction (Kim, 2004)

but not always! (Donato & Brooks, 2004; Nguyen, 2016)

How literary and authentic texts are used is crucial (Ellis & Shintani, 2014; Paran, 2008)

Dewaele, 2015, p.13

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Rachel Hawkes

Emotions and how learners feel about things are often neglected in language classrooms; language teaching has the potential to motivate by connecting more with learners’ emotions in the way that other subjects may do. Encouraging empathy, intercultural understanding and creativity are all important aspects of language learning and literary/authentic texts open up possibilities for that.

However, the manner of use is crucial – needs to be re-emphasised as studies such as Donato and Brooks (2004) showed that there was minimal interaction among learners in a Spanish department in a US university ( 5 lessons analysed) when teachers just asked ‘display’ questions about literary texts (i.e. questions where the teacher knows the answer, often about factual points of information). They found a preponderance of teacher talk (80% of the time) and short spoken answers from learners. Nguyen (2016) - 48 students in an undergraduate English Language Teaching programme at a university in Vietnam. Using literary texts as a basis for discussion and self-expression prompted a range of ‘polarised’ responses – while 60% were positive, others were ambivalent or negative – issues raised were difficulty in expressing themselves, unused to greater independence, preferring to focus on exam-related work. In other words, literature does not always generate a positive response and individual learners will respond differently.

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Discuss�

What about learning outcomes? What is learnt through using literary or authentic texts?

Handout 1: Research summary Paran (2008)

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Rachel Hawkes

Handout 1: Research summary Paran (2008)

Allow 5 mins to read [Total time: 10 mins]

Ask teachers what conclusions they draw from the study. Key points are:

-using literature in foreign language classrooms can lead to heightened responsiveness, emotional engagement and feelings of authenticity in the tasks used.

-Most learning seems to occur when the teacher promotes meaningful interaction

-Less effective if lessons are dominated by teachers, leaving little time or opportunity for students to participate actively in class.

-Gap-fill exercises and those giving learners a clear framework to work within can be effective

-Other useful techniques: diaries to respond to texts read, video and audio recording of the texts covered, web-resources.

-the effect of using literature very much depends on how it is used - should the focus be on the language or the literature itself?

-Students and teachers have exhibited mixed attitudes towards the use of literature in language classes, but enjoyment and benefit are reported even if learners have found reading literature challenging.

Reiterate that previous research has focused on non-linguistic outcomes from literary/authentic texts – e.g. motivational responses, greater intercultural understanding and empathy, but less on actual language learning.

Slides 10 and 11 give examples of studies where there was some evidence of linguistic learning following working with texts, using texts that were authentic or semi-authentic

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Linguistic outcomes�

Study by Maxim (2002)

Method. Beginner learners of German in a US university (after four weeks of daily study). One group read a novel together in class across 10 weeks. A control group studied simpler textbook readings. Assessed through departmental exams and pre-test and post-test.

Findings. The literature group did as well as the control group on most tests, including vocabulary.

Limitations. University learners; impact on oral proficiency not assessed

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Linguistic outcomes�

Study by Woore et al. (2018)

Method. Year 7 learners read semi-authentic French texts

One group received ‘phonics instruction’; another ‘comprehension strategies instruction’, a third just ‘read the texts’.

Findings.

Reading comprehension gains: for all three groups;

Vocabulary gains: small - medium for the Strategies group, medium -large for Phonics group;

Reading aloud: medium-sized gains for phonics groups.

Limitations. No combined phonics/strategies group. Effects did not last when learners reverted to ‘normal’ texts.

See also Kim (2004), Yang (2001), Scott & Huntington (2002).

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Slides 9-11: [10 mins] Total 35 mins

Maxim and Woore et al found that learners enjoyed reading texts that were more challenging than they would normally have been given, with no detriment to their linguistic development.

Additional studies look at impact of literature on interaction (Kim, 2004), grammar (Yang, 2001), and intercultural understanding (Scott & Huntington, 2002)

Further detail on the findings:

Page 24 from Nuffield report: We found that all three groups showed statistically significant score increases between times 1 and 2. However, the magnitude of the improvement was small for the Strategies group (with an effect size of ηp2=0.02) and for the Texts group (ηp2 = 0.07). For the Phonics group, the effect size was larger, almost reaching the conventional threshold for a medium-sized effect (ηp2 = 0.12)

Page 25: Looking at each group’s scores across time (Table 4, Figure 10), we found a significant increase in recorded vocabulary knowledge for all three groups between times 1 and 2, with a small effect size for the Texts group (in which participants’ estimated vocabulary knowledge grew by 60 words on average), a small to medium effect size for the Strategies group (+116 words) and a medium to large effect size for the Phonics group (+160 words).

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Rationale (3) “Incidental” vocabulary learning through reading and listening�(‘picking up’ words when reading for whole meaning)

Vocabulary learning can result from extensive reading and listening, but for this to happen (Ellis & Shintani, 2014):

Learners need large amounts of input
The input needs to be comprehensible and linguistically rich
Learners need to pay attention to new linguistic forms in the input (p.190)
There has to be mental and motivational ‘involvement’

(Huang et al., 2012; Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001)

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Incidental vocabulary learning (cont’d)

Extensive reading & listening does not necessarily improve ’breadth’

- isn’t very reliable way of picking up new words

BUT incidental learning does

develop “depth” (shades of meaning, collocations, etc.)
strengthen existing knowledge (meet words more times, in different contexts)
Incidental learning can be improved via high involvement intentional learning tasks and multimodal input (e.g. reading while listening, if text and audio are synchronised at word level).
Enhancing ‘noticing’ of words during reading and listening can help, especially if learners have to attach meaning to the word (can’t ‘skip’ it)
Training learners in how to work out meaning from context helps them benefit further from extensive reading (Schmitt, 2008)

amount of words

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Words in bold are the key ones – highlight that incidental vocab learning needs to complement more focused, intentional vocab learning to develop depth of knowledge

BUT – we can improve the effectiveness of extensive reading/listening by increasing noticing and the involvement load through activities that accompany the reading/listening texts.

Multimodal input

Evidence for this is subtle, in terms of being able to pick out words from input - if the timing is together, then it helps. But if the text and audio are not synchronised, our understanding is very poor about this. In fact, if they do not appear together it could not be beneficial and/or usefulness depends on individual differences (such as WM, echoic memory, vocab knowledge - can they keep up with the audio - is the audio too slow in fact?). This is work by Cutler, Mattys, Mitterer, Trenkic (synchronous presentation helps segmentation), and very general education research (Sweller) about multi-modal channels, possibly interfering in some cases.

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‘Noticing’ features essential for learning, �but benefits from help

Since many features of L2 input are likely to be infrequent, non-salient, and communicatively redundant, they may go unnoticed unless attention is drawn to them (Laufer & Girsai, 2008: 697).

Poetry offers ‘language input which is foregrounded, unusual, and draws attention to itself’ (Hanauer, 2001: 298).

Recall from the Grammar CPD, the importance of ‘noticing’ and attaching ‘meaningfulness’ to the content!

Der Panther, Rainer Maria Rilke

Im Jardin des Plantes, Paris�Sein Blick ist von Vorübergehen der Stäbe�so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält.�Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe�und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt

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Rationale (4): Increasing the ‘Involvement Load’�(Laufer and Hustijn, 2001; Huang, Willson, & Eslami, 2012)

The retention of words depends on the degree of involvement in processing these words.

The amount of ‘involvement load’ depends on:

Need. How necessary is it to know this word to complete the task? How much does the learner ‘need’or really choose to do the task?

Recall from previous CPD the idea of ‘task essential’

Search. How hard does the learner have to work to find the meaning of the word?

Recall from previous CPD the idea of ‘desirable difficulty/challenge’

Evaluate. How much does the learner have to think about how to use this word in different contexts or about different aspects of its meaning?

Recall from previous CPD the idea of meeting the same language in ‘multiple contexts’

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What does this look like in practice?�Different involvement loads – which is the higher in each case?

Need

(1) teacher requires learners to use a particular word from a text in a sentence

(2) learner is interested to look up the meaning of an unknown word in a dictionary while reading a story

Search

A learner works out a word’s meaning by looking for clues in the words that come before and after it
A word’s meaning is provided as a gloss in the margin

Evaluate

(1) After reading, learners complete a gap-fill based on the text, choosing from a set of words, which permits guess work

(2) After reading, learners write a paragraph to express their feelings about the passage, choosing some of the words from the text

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Another example

Philippe Petit – Journal Intime

Je m’appelle Philippe Petit. J’ai 24 ans. Je suis un magicien, jongleur et funambule français. Voici un extrait de mon journal intime.

Le jeudi 8 août 1974. Très tôt le matin, nous relions les deux tours avec un câble de métal…..

When did Philippe make the famous tightrope walk?

How old was he at that time?

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Example of working with challenging texts with Year 9 learners: Linguistic creativity in language learning

Approx. 600 Year 9 learners of French & German

We explored the impact on:

Learners’ development in reading, writing and vocabulary and creativity
Learners’ motivation for and beliefs about language learning

Teachers used either

(1) non-figurative, factual texts

OR

(2) literary texts containing figurative language

Both text-types contained similar difficulty of language and addressed similar themes e.g. love, death, migration, otherness

All teachers used the text types in both (1) ‘functional’ and (2) ‘creative’ ways

(Graham et al, ongoing;

Hofweber & Graham 2017)

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Two approaches to working with texts

Creative approach Aim: generate personal involvement (‘need’), attention on emotional content, metaphor / conceptual level	present images 🡪 concept-level activation 🡪ask about emotions images evoke give picture story + ask them to order it with focus on emotional state Learners read text while listening, focusing on expression of emotion through intonation
Functional approach Aim: generate factual information processing, attention on form / functional level	present images 🡪 concept-level activation 🡪 ask about events / facts images convey give picture story + ask them to order it with focus on sequence of events Learners read text while listening, focusing on sound-spelling correspondences

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Key findings: Challenging texts can help vocabulary and pupils enjoy the texts

French:

For both text types, learners increased vocabulary size by around 300 words on average,

Benefits depended on text type, teaching approach, and learners’ prior attainment

Creative approach led to greater increases in reported confidence in reading

French and German:

No differences in overall enjoyment of literary versus factual texts

Attitudes to different texts varied widely
Some evidence that learners of French preferred creative activities; learners of German preferred functional activities!

Literary texts led to increase in creativity, but factual texts did not

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Discuss

Look at the sample set of activities for exploiting the text ‘L’homme qui te ressemble’
Try to identify how they seek to heighten ‘involvement’, ‘engagement’, and ‘noticing’
See also Handout 4 for a summary of ideas

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Summary so far

Literary and other challenging texts can be used successfully with KS3 learners, with benefits for vocabulary
Different approaches and text types needed to suit different learners
Activities that prompt personal, emotional and imaginative responses need to be used along with focus on vocabulary and grammar
Pre, during and post-reading and listening activities need to maximise ‘involvement’:

Need (make language task essential and the task intrinsically interesting))
Search (establish desirable difficulty/challenge in terms of grasping word meaning)
Evaluate (make judgements about language when using it in different contexts)

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Key questions

What is the rationale for using literary/authentic texts?
Does the use of such texts lead to improved L2 learning?
If so, in what ways?
Under what circumstances?
What are the outcomes?
What are some of the conditions for effective use of literary and other challenging texts?
Summary and ways forward for my own classroom

✔

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Rachel Hawkes

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Some conditions for effective use of challenging texts: �Learning how to comprehend

As well as linguistic knowledge, comprehending involves:

‘the ability to engage in a range of strategic processes while reading more challenging texts (including goal setting, academic inferencing, monitoring) (…)the ability to engage in reading, to expend effort, to persist in reading without distraction..’ (Grabe & Jiang, 2013, p.4)

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Ability to understand & respond to written & spoken texts �

Reading and listening proficiency

Self-efficacy

Self-regulated learning

Goal-setting

Strategic

behaviour

Monitoring

outcomes

Self-evaluating

Attributing

causation

Adapting behaviour

Linguistic knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge
Grammar knowledge
Phonological decoding: ability to pronounce words

Adapted from Canale & Swain, 1980

Zimmerman, 2002

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Simpler text and/or learner with greater linguistic knowledge �

Comprehension of text

Linguistic knowledge

Strategic

behaviour

More challenging text and/or learner with less linguistic knowledge

Comprehension of text

Linguistic knowledge

Strategic behaviour

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How do KS3 learners read challenging texts? Erler (2003)

Guess from the pictures what it's all about
Invent a meaning
Scan for words that look like English and try to guess the meaning of the text from them

The above strategies can be counterproductive if overused and used in isolation

Absence of monitoring:

Go back to a word or section and double-check that it makes sense

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Is it useful to teach comprehension strategies?

What is the research evidence?
Evidence of benefits but many studies are with older, more proficient learners (Ardasheva et al., 2017; Plonsky, 2011, 2019; Taylor, 2014)
For a review of many studies: see OASIS summary Plonsky (2011)

School-aged learners in England

Macaro and Erler (2008) (Handout 5)
Recent larger-scale study: ‘FLEUR’ project, Woore et al. (2018)

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Handout 5: Macaro and Erler (2008)

Review studies (Ardasheva et al., 2017; Plonsky, 2019; Taylor, 2014) show benefits from strategy instruction for comprehension but it’s unclear how far those apply to younger and less proficient learners; the general view is that learners need a certain amount of linguistic knowledge first in order to benefit (although how much is enough is not known).

Macaro and Erler (2008) is one of the few studies implemented with school-aged learners. Ask STs to read the summary, extract the main findings, and identify what is its relevance for using literary/authentic texts.

Remind STs that the FLEUR project was based on Macaro and Erler (2008)

The meta-analyses (Ardasheva et al., 2017; Plonsky, 2011, 2019; Taylor, 2014) underline the lack of research with younger learners but there is some support for:

teaching self-regulatory techniques for reading comprehension, for example where the focus is on pulling together available evidence for what a word means and then evaluating/checking/monitoring the validity of the meaning attributed to that word.

teaching fewer techniques (less is more) (as the studies using a very small number - even just one or two - techniques showed greater effects than those who taught a higher number) for reading comprehension

in this session, we give a few specific techniques that pupils can use to help 'crack open' more challenging texts and aid reading comprehension (and help word learning? given findings from FLEUR?)...

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When texts are linguistically challenging, strategies can be taught and be helpful�

Text engagement strategies

Guess from words around problem word
Think hard about words I might know (i.e. don’t give up easily)
Use a process of deduction (“it can’t be that because…..”)
Use common sense (prior knowledge)
Remember to read the whole sentence to see if it makes sense
Sound out the word or phrase
(Macaro & Erler, 2008)

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Strategy combinations and self-regulation were vital

“we would claim that the readers who had undergone strategy instruction were now better ‘orchestrators’ of the strategies at their disposal”

Macaro & Erler (2008, p. 114)

“Combinations of top-down and bottom-up strategies need to be brought to the attention of learners and they should be encouraged to use and evaluate these combinations for their effectiveness”

Macaro & Erler (2008, p. 116)

Bottom-up strategies = knowledge and understanding of vocabulary and grammar

Top-down strategies =�using your general knowledge (e.g., what is this likely to mean?)

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Some further notes to explain the Macaro and Erler findings:

Emphasise that comprehension strategies need to be used in combination, bringing together ‘top-down’ strategies like using a process of deduction and bottom-up strategies like ‘sounding out’, in a self-regulatory fashion – ie learners evaluate the extent to which strategies applied helped them, and in which contexts they are helpful.

However - more proficient readers have faster decoding, faster access to more vocabulary, and faster and more accurate grammatical processing, and are better at creating mental reading schema. In other words, to be good at working out meaning from context, it helps to know lots of words.

Nevertheless, for struggling readers, when you have to give an answer and yet don't understand all the words & grammar, then you need to supplement that knowledge by clues from the context etc. Doing that in as effective a way as possible is important in real life and in tests and so needs to be taught and practised.

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French Language Education: Unlocking Reading (FLEUR)�Woore et al. (2018)

Experimental study (Randomized Control Trial)
Pre-, post-, delayed post-test design
c. 900 students in 36 schools nationally
Intervention phase lasted 16 weeks, c.25 minutes per week
Interventions delivered by usual class teachers

All groups made similar gains in reading comprehension.

Using challenging texts helped reading comprehension.

Phonics

Strategy instruction

Challenging texts

Reading comprehension

Vocabulary

Phonological decoding

Strategic behaviour

Self-efficacy

Motivation

Teachers’ / students’ views

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Greatest improvement in ‘self-efficacy’(= reported confidence in own ability) for reading challenging texts for learners starting Year 7 with low general academic attainment and low French attainment�

Graham et al. (in progress)

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Rachel Hawkes

Impact of strategies intervention on self-efficacy for reading the challenging texts used in the tests was greatest for lower attainers. Graph one shows that for higher attainers, the three interventions had a very similar impact on self-efficacy (no significant difference between the groups); graph two, for lower attainers, self-efficacy hardly increased across the year for the phonics and texts group, but by quite a bit for the strategies group (statistically significant).

Lower attainers also had lower levels of English reading – which may have meant that they were less ‘self-regulated’ in their reading in that language too, and therefore had the most to gain.

The FLEUR findings suggest that combining Phonics instruction and some strategies instruction, as in the Macaro and Erler study, would lead to more gains in vocabulary, confidence, and reading, than achieved from separating them out.

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Text engagement regulatory reading strategies�

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Key questions

What is the rationale for using literary/authentic texts?
Does the use of such texts lead to improved L2 learning?
If so, in what ways?
Under what circumstances?
What are the outcomes?
What are some of the prerequisites for effective use of literary/authentic texts – learning to comprehend;
Summary and key questions for my own classroom

✔

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Pause for reflection!�

Talk to the person next to you about the ideas so far.

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Summary of key points from research (1)

Literary and other challenging texts can be beneficial for KS3 learners

benefits for consolidating vocabulary (e.g., when vocabulary has been met previously)

Along with focus on grammar, vocabulary & phonics, activities that also prompt personal, emotional & imaginative responses are beneficial

Different approaches and different text types suit different learners

Pre-, during and post-reading and listening activities need to maximise ‘involvement’:

create a need,
create a challenge,
create opportunity to use in other contexts

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Summary of key points from research (2)

Teaching a small number of text engagement, regulatory strategies for comprehension can benefit self-efficacy (belief in one’s ability) and hence improve persistence with challenging texts

Self-efficacy (self-reported confidence) of lower attaining learners may benefit from comprehension strategy instruction, when compared to higher attaining learners

Phonics teaching important for exploiting challenging texts including sounding out words to help access meaning

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Key ways forward for own practice�What do you consider to be the next steps for your own classroom, in respect of using literary and other challenging texts?

Some questions:

How (a) competent (b) confident are my students at reading and understanding literary and other challenging L2 texts?
Which approaches to using literary texts would work best in my classroom?

How do I need to vary the approach according to the age / stage of learners?
How can I best prepare learners?

At which points in my SOW might I use literary texts?
How can I monitor and record progress in comprehension and use this information to inform my teaching?

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Rachel Hawkes

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Key questions

What is the rationale for using literary and other challenging texts?
Does the use of such texts improve L2 learning?
If so, in what ways?
Under what circumstances?
What are the outcomes?
What are some of the conditions for effective use of literary & other challenging texts

–learning to comprehend;

Summary and ways forward for my own classroom

✔

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Rachel Hawkes

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References

Ardasheva, Y., Wang, Z., Adesope, O.O., & Valentine, J. C. (2017). Exploring effectiveness and moderators of language learning strategy instruction on second language and self-regulated learning outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 87, 544 –582 DOI: 10.3102/0034654316689135

Dewaele, J.-M. (2015). On emotions in foreign language learning and use. The Language Teacher, 39, 13–15

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019165/

Dewaele, J.-M., Witney, J., Saito, K. & Dewaele, L. (2017) Foreign language enjoyment and anxiety in the FL classroom: The effect of teacher and learner variables. Language Teaching Research. DOI: 10.1177/1362168817692161 (online first).

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Testimonials

I had a real range of abilities and interests in the class and some of them are never going to be linguists or have any intention of carrying on with the language, so for them to see language in a different context [was good]. The French poem ‘Oradour’, they found that very moving, a lot of them are interested in history or geography, they enjoyed the content even if they found the language challenging. They liked that it was different and in the real world. They were engaged, more so than in normal lessons - especially the less motivated learners were more engaged.

It was interesting to say how you feel in French rather than just describing things. It was nice to have a different way to learn grammar and vocab. What I liked was talking about how I feel – it’s more engaging.

Kids say to me ‘Why do we learn languages’ because of Brexit type things – I battle against this all the time. That’s why I think it’s really important for them. In year 9, they do all this baby stuff when they’re learning languages. So this is an ideal way of making it more grown up. So I will be thinking about rejigging everything for next year. It has encouraged me to move away from the textbook. The one about the hurricane that went down well because they were doing it in geography at the time, so that was good because it was very topical obviously. They did enjoy it. It was something different for them. It’s more grown up than what they were doing. They do this sort of stuff in English and other subjects, why not in French?

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Rachel Hawkes