Dissertation
Chinese language instruction with novice learners: target language topic development, engagement, and comprehension in online and hybrid classrooms
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2022
DOI: 10.17077/etd.006418
Abstract
This study investigated classroom interaction in three novice-level Chinese language classrooms at middle and high schools in the US in the spring of 2021. Due to school responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the participating teachers had shifted from teaching in a face-to-face, in-person classroom to fully online and partially online, hybrid classrooms with some students and the teacher present in the school, and some students attending through the Zoom video conferencing platform. Using complex dynamic systems theory as the theoretical framework, such classrooms were viewed as systems co-adapting in these environments to accomplish classroom goals, including the use of the target language to develop topics. Incidents of participants’ use of the target language for topic development were examined for evidence of students’ engagement and comprehension. There were two data sources. The first data source was video recordings of classroom interaction during lessons, collected both by the researcher who attended lessons through Zoom, and by the teachers, who recorded their computer desktop view during lessons. The second data source was recordings of stimulated recall sessions with each teacher and with focus groups of participating students, in which short video clips from a recent lesson were shown and discussed. Classroom interaction was analyzed at two scales. At the meso scale, analysis led to identifying Instructional Activities (IAs) in which participants most typically used the target language for topic development. Then, at the micro scale, typical incidents from within these IAs were chosen for Conversation Analysis of how topic development was sustained by the participants and how students displayed engagement and comprehension during those incidents. Findings suggest three IAs, typically led by the teachers with the whole class, were more typical for target language use that led to topic development: small talk, Personalized Questions and Answers and Story Asking (categorized as one IA), and discussing a text which included video clips, images, and reading materials. Five excerpts from these IAs illustrated findings about topic development, engagement, and comprehension at the micro scale. In this study, evidence of engagement was determined from verbal and multimodal actions by students within instructional activities (Jacknick, 2021). Turn-by-turn interactions within IAs were typically prompted by the teacher, whose questions projected student involvement in topic development in one of four ways: appealing to the teacher’s prior knowledge about students’ lives, taking up a student question or comment to develop a topic, inviting responses from students about their personal opinions, experiences, and imagined ideas, and students’ interpretations and predictions regarding prepared texts. Atypically, students pressed for topic development in ways which the teacher initially resisted. In those incidents of interaction, both the teachers and the students were involved with topic development, with typically longer turns by the teachers. The imbalance in interaction may partially reflect the presumed novice proficiency level of the students (ACTFL, 2012). However, despite the differences of turn length and complexity, both the students were observed to take actions which supported topic development and displayed engagement and comprehension. Implications are discussed, such as aspects of online and hybrid interaction and classroom setup, possible implications for teacher education and development, and directions for future classroom research.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Chinese language instruction with novice learners: target language topic development, engagement, and comprehension in online and hybrid classrooms
- Creators
- Diane Neubauer
- Contributors
- Pamela Wesely (Advisor)Michael Everson (Committee Member)Erika Johnson (Committee Member)Lia Plakans (Committee Member)Helen Shen (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Teaching and Learning
- Date degree season
- Spring 2022
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.006418
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xiv, 304 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 Diane Neubauer
- Language
- Chinese; English
- Description illustrations
- Color illustrations, tables
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-262).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
This study investigated classroom interaction in three beginning-level Chinese language classrooms at US middle and high schools in the spring of 2021. One classroom was online, and the other two classrooms had hybrid formats in which some students attended online while most students and the teacher met in person. This study focused on instructional activities and turn-by-turn talk in which teachers and students used the language of study to develop topics, during which students displayed evidence of engagement and comprehension. Classrooms were considered systems in which the teachers and students co-adapted to each other and their classroom environments. The first data source was video recordings during lessons, and the second were recorded interviews with each teacher and with student focus groups in which short video clips from a recent lesson were shown and discussed. Video recordings from lessons were analyzed to identify Instructional Activities (IAs) in which participants most typically used the language of study to develop on-going topics. Then, typical incidents from those IAs were analyzed for how topic development was sustained and how students displayed engagement and comprehension. Three teacher-led IAs were more typical for topic development, and excerpts from these IAs demonstrated how topic development, engagement, and comprehension occurred. Both the teachers and the students were involved with topic development, but typically with teachers initiating topics and talking in longer, more complex ways. Implications are discussed, such as features typical of online and hybrid interaction, and recommendations for classroom setup, teacher education, instructional practices, and future research.
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning
- Record Identifier
- 9984271154702771
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