"Collaborative Dialogue and Second Language Learning"
Dr. Merrill Swain
FLARE is pleased to welcome Dr. Merrill Swain from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. She will give a public lecture on Friday, April 22, 2005 at 4:00 in N105 Lindquist Center.
Abstract of the Talk
This talk will focus on our recent research designed to explore the role of collaborative dialogue in second language learning. Collaborative dialogue is dialogue in which speakers are engaged in problem-solving and knowledge-building – in this case, solving linguistic problems and building knowledge about language. Our research has been conducted, in part, to demonstrate that collaborative dialogue provides opportunities for second language learning. The theoretical rationale for this expectation is based on the work of Vygotsky and others who argue that individual mental resources develop from collective behaviour.
These points will be illustrated with extended examples of students’ dialogue taken from a series of task-based studies we have recently conducted. The dialogue of students as they write a story, receive feedback about the language they used to write their story, and as they reflect on that feedback will be examined, and related to their post-test performance.
Although the second language learners discussed in this talk are students in grades 7 French immersion classes, there are implications of the research which are relevant to the teaching of older second/foreign language learners. In particular, this talk will focus on the roles language production plays in second language learning, and the importance of learner agency and its connection with feedback.
Biography:
Dr. Merrill Swain is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Her interests include bilingual education (particularly French immersion education) and communicative second language learning, teaching and testing. Her current research focuses on the role of collaborative dialogue in second language learning. She was President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics in 1998-1999, and she is currently a vice president of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).
She is recipient of the 2003 Prix Robert Roy Award which is given to an outstanding Canadian second language educator who has been active in the second language professional community in teaching, research, writing and is dedicated to the improvement of second language teaching and learning in Canada. She is also the recipient of AAAL’s 2004 Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award. Dr. Swain is the author of over 160 articles and book chapters, and she has co-edited four books, most recently Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing (co-edited with M. Bygate and P. Skehan), published in 2001. She has supervised over 50 Ph.D. students to completion.