A presentation given at Eurocall 2012 in Goeteburg.

1. The socially-networked language learner:
from reception through participation to
creative contribution – implications for
language teaching
Malgorzata Kurek
gkurka@gmail.com
College of Foreign Languages
Czestochowa, Poland

2. Main findings:
• regular use of SM in L1 and FL
• receptive uses outweigh
participatory ones,
• content creation driven by
personal interests
• the role of formal schooling
(Krajka, J., Kurek, M., Maciaszczyk, S.,
Savlovska, D., Vlad, M., Zourou, K. (2010)
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
2
Czestochowa, Poland

3. Social media features
Users
• create identities (real or
fictitious);
• add /create content (stored
and visible);
• share content ;
• communicate through various
modes and channels;
• have the quality of
contributions evaluated
directly or indirectly by other
users;
• can create social networks.
Malgorzata Kurek,, College of Foreign Languages,
3
Czestochowa, Poland

4. Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages, Czestochowa,
4
Poland

5. Social media
• enable social contacts and activities
• facilitate online communication
• facilitate collaborative work
• create the sense of flow
• facilitate sharing multimodal information
• facilitate content creation and publication
• facilitate generation of new knowledge (Sykes, Oskoz, Thorne, 2008)
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
5
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

6. Yes, social media … but they also
• enable social contacts and activities • promote the me -me-I- I approach
(Thorne &Payne, 2005),
• facilitate online communication
• reduce communication to symbolic
• facilitate collaboration or ritual gestures (ritual purpose –
Lam, 2000)
• create the sense of flow • affect F2F peronal contacts
• facilitate sharing multimodal • may contribute to social isolation
information
• facilitate content creation and • are distracting (Carr, 2008)
publication
• blur the real with the virtual (Bugeja,
• facilitate generation of new 2005) .
knowledge (Sykes, Oskoz, Thorne,
2008) after McBride, 2009)
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
7
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

7. The socially-networked learner:
• is immersed in a loosely -structured environment
• uses social media mainly for entertaining and socializing
• frequently interacts with other users
• can create content or reuse content created by others
• naturally engages in multitasking,
• may find it difficult to concentrate (Carr, 2008)
• finds it easier to work with graphics and sounds than with text,
• craves interactivity (Prensky, 2001)
• is rather ego-oriented (Thorne & Payne, 2005),
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
8
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

8. The networked student’s optimal learning procedure
• selects a research topic,
• finds relevant websites and ensures their credibility,
• locates and bookmarks reviewed articles (Google Scholar),
• creates a blog to record one’s reflections and opinions on the topic,
• subscribes to podcasts on the topic,
• keeps track of all subscriptions,
• contacts and consults experts,
• creates and publishes one’s own materials.
(inspired by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA)
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
9
Czestochowa, Poland

9. The new digital divide?
• Referring to disparities in the quality od
online users’ activities
• Not access to technology but HOW and to
what purposes it is used.
Possible problems:
• coping with language issues
• structuring ill-defined situations
• motivation deficiencies
• inability to attend to all task components to
the same degree
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
10
Czestochowa, Poland

10. Stages in online participation
Informed reception
Thoughtful
participation
Creative contribution
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
11
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

11. Using task design to manipulate
learner’s attention
• Limited Attentional Capacity Model (Skehan & Foster, 2000).
• Task complexity vs. task difficulty (Robinson 2005)
• „Pedagogic tasks should be developed and sequenced to
increasingly approximate the damends of the real world
target tasks” (Robinson, 2005:1)
• Loosely structured tasks under socio-constructivist
approaches
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
Czestochowa, Poland
12

12. Purposeful reception
Competences in focus:
• Comprehension, crtitical reflection, analysis, drawing connections,
interpretation, evaluation, interpretation of various modes
Language issues
• attention to lexical and visual forms of expression
• familiarity with the discourse used for interpreting various
modalities;
• being able to interpret and report visual data (charts, diagrams)
• using elements of discourse as cues for identifying dated, biased or
exploitative sources;
• rephrasing skills
• Teacher role: provide a variety of input
and guidance
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
14
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

13. Thoughtful participation: voicing one’s
views
Competences in focus: argumentation, intercultural
competence, evaluating contributions,the awareness of one’s
online presence (Pegrum’s personal and intercultural literacies)
Language issues:
• being able to communicate messages by recognizing,
choosing and imitating a particular convention or type of
discourse;
• pragmatic competence and netiquette;
• using the language to create the feeling of community;
Teacher role: cultivate interaction
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
15
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

14. Creative contribution:
Competences:
• production and publication of sharable input with focus on process
• keeping the right balance between modalities,
• restructuring the content,
• exploring tool affordances,
• remixing.
Language issues:
• describing the process,
• using the language for negotiating, analysing and cooperating
• adjusting to other language varieties and non-native language
models
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
16
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

15. „Present yourself to the world”
• Viewing examples of personal presentations –
expressing opinion
• Drawing a list of generic features
• Tool exploration (e.g. Sky Rocket, Prezi, Glogster,
recordr.tv)
• Creating a group presentation
• Expressing opinion
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
Czestochowa, Poland 18

16. Suggestions for task design
• Academically weaker students need careful task structuring
(achievable steps),
• attention given to all the three dimensions of online
performance,
• manipulation of task complexity (cognitive factors),
• attention to linguistic features
• authenticity in terms of audience, purpose and processes
• need for language output (clear criteria)
• honing reflection and critical thinking
• choice and diversity respected
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign
19
Languages, Czestochowa, Poland

17. References
• Arnold, N. Ducate, L. Eds (2011) Present and Future Promises of CALL: From Theory and Research to New Directions in Language Teaching.
CALICO Monograph Series .
• Bugeja, M. (2005) Interpersonal divide: The search for community in a technological age. Oxford, UK: OUP.
• Mc Bride, K. (2009) Social-Networking Sites in Foreign Language Classes: Opportunities for Re-creation. In Lomicka, L. &Lord, G. (eds). The Next
Generation: Social Networking and Onlie Collaboration in Foreign Language Learning. CALICO Monograph Series Volume 8 ,San Marcos, TX:
CALICO pp.35-58.
• Prensky M. (2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants – Do they really think differently?. Retrieved:
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part2.pdf
• Robinson, P. (2001) Task complexity, cognitive resources, and syllabus design, in Robinson, ed.,(2001), pp. 287-318 Evolutionary
trajectories,Internet-mdiated expression, and language education. CALICO Journal, 22(3),371-397.
• Skehan, P., Foster, P. (2001) “Cognition and Tasks”, in Robinson, ed. (2001), pp. 183-206.
• Sykes, J., Oskoz, A., & Thorne, S. L. (2008) Web 2.0, inmmersive environments, and the future of language education. CALICO Journal, 25(3), 528-
546.
• Thorne, S. L. & Payne, J.S 9( 2005) Evolutionary trajectories,Internet-mdiated expression, and language education. CALICO Journal, 22(3),371-397.
• Youngs, B. L. (2007) "eaching teachers: Methodological questions for the online environment. In Kassen, M. A., Lavine, R. Z., Murphy- Judy, K. &
Peters, M. (eds.). Preparing and developing technology-proficient L2 teachers. CALICO Monograph Series Volume 6, San Marcos, TX: CALICO.
pp. 67-90.
• Zikhur,K. (2010).Pew Internet & American Life Project:Generations 2010. Retrieved:
http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/Generations.aspx
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
20
Czestochowa, Poland

18. Thank you for your attention 
gkurka@gmail.com
Malgorzata Kurek, College of Foreign Languages,
21
Czestochowa, Poland