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Unit 3: Developing Culturally Rich Materials and Engagement Strategies

From KNILT

Introduction

This unit focuses on selecting authentic materials that reflect true cultural contexts and designing interactive activities that facilitate deep cultural engagement alongside language skill enhancement. Participants will learn to apply instructional design principles to create a dynamic collaborative learning community that fosters both cultural and linguistic competencies.

Case Study

Background: An international exchange program involves students from multiple countries attending a summer language school in Beijing to improve their Mandarin skills, focusing particularly on practical language use in social situations.

Scenario: During a cultural excursion, a local vendor tries to compliment an American student by using the situation-bound utterance (SBU), "您真会挑啊!" intending to express admiration for the vendor's skill in selecting goods. However, the phrase, which can also imply that the person is picky or too discerning, causes confusion and a slight offense.

Driving questions: What instructional design principles can be applied to develop materials that effectively teach the correct usage of SBUs in Chinese, while integrating authentic cultural contexts and promoting meaningful language practice in a collaborative community?

To Learn as Learner

  • Read- 1. The Role of Culture on Second and Foreign Language Learning 2. Ennser-Kananen, J., & Wang, A. F. (2016). " I am combined": Chinese teachers' cultural identities and pedagogical learning. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 7(4), 625.
  • Learn- 1. Knowledge Building and Knowledge Creation 2. Learning Communities in Classrooms: A Reconceptualization of Educational Practice 3. Schools as knowledge-building organizations: Thirty years of design research
  • Watch-
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    YouTube

    To Do as Instructor

    This unit will form a Colloborative learning community based on:

    • Cultural Insights Zones: Groups work together to create a page on Canvas (or google doc) where they compile information, resources, and insights about the cultural aspects occured in the unit (including revisiting and revising the driving question above). This can be an ongoing project that each participant contributes to over the course of the unit.
    • Cultural Challenge Threads: Post a cultural challenge or dilemma related to language teaching in Discussion. You are encouraged to respond with your proposed solutions or strategies, and then to comment on or critique responses from your peers.
    • Sequential Learning: Begin with discussions to build foundational knowledge, followed by applications, and conclude with reflective activities to consolidate learning and foster continuous improvement. Each phase supports and enriches the next, ensuring comprehensive understanding of relationships between role of cultual awareness and mastery of SBUs.

    To Create as Designer

    This unit will focus on D as the Development part of ADDIE, including

    • Content Creation: Produce content materials such as lecture slides, reading assignments, and multimedia resources focusing on cultural aspects relevant to language teaching.
    • Learning Activities: Develop interactive activities that engage learners in practical exercises, such as designing lesson plans that incorporate cultural elements or role-playing to practice cultural sensitivity.
    • Technology Utilization: Integrate tools for online discussions, quizzes, and content delivery that support asynchronous learning and interaction.
    • Collaborative Community: Making the collaboration the driving force of deep learning.

    AI as a Teammate: Increasing Collaborative Intelligence

    To avoid social loafing (when individuals make less effort when working in a group) and groupthink (when group members’ desire for conformity can lead to bad decisions), AI can work as a teammate in developing culturally rich materials and engagement strategies by asking:

    1. When designing lesson plans that incorporate cultural elements, what are some key considerations to keep in mind to ensure they are inclusive and effective?
    2. What online tools have you found most useful in your teaching, and how might these be adapted for our course to enhance cultural learning?
    3. What are some unique cultural aspects of language teaching in different regions of China that we should include in our wiki?
    4. Could you play the role of Devil's Advocate to challenge me on X...?
    5. Could you think of other aspects that contribute to the ideas of X...?

    References:

    Larson, M. B., & Lockee, B. B. (2019). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. Routledge.

    Mollick, E., & Mollick, L. (2023). Assigning AI: Seven approaches for students, with prompts. arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.10052


    Course Home Page: Ying Kong's Mini Course

    Unit 2: Unpacking the Cultural DNA of Language through SBUs

    Unit 4: Measuring Success in Cultural Competence: Feedback and Evaluation

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