Global Learn: Global Conference on Learning and Technology. Limerick, Ireland. April 28-29, 2016. English Language Learning through Animation of Scripted Conversations: Groundwork for a Pilot Project David Bradley Kent Graduate School of TESOL-MALL, Wooosng University. Abstract This presentation lays the groundwork for establishing a project aimed at providing a means for English language learners to move from standard workbook-based cloze exercises to developing integrated language skills practice by the creation of short animations based on such in-class content. The focus lies in establishing a means to provide integrated language skills practice via scripted conversations that include drama and humor, and use of a simplified grammar which participants are encouraged to change to standard grammar in part or completely. It is envisioned that a learning by creating content type approach, combined with the use of an animation app, will best see this come to fruition. Further, to evaluate and report upon implementation, investigation will be undertaken via reflective practice. This will allow for examination of practitioner notes and student comments formed from the creation of a ‘teaching diary’, and interpreting these observations in light of any animations created. Project Aims The aim of this project is to see learners develop animations, using the Android/iOS-based application Scratch Jr, to solidify language learning and allow learners to review linguistic content under study. Animations will be based on realia-driven and humor-based scripted conversations from a provided learner workbook, and will be used as followup tasks inside the classroom. Development of animations because this is multimodal, and in development allows for the practice and integration of multiple language skills at each learner's pace, while realia-based conversations provide authenticity surrounding topic choice, humor provides engagement and an emotional link to content, and being scripted ensures that a framework for language learning and integrated skill practice is provided. Further, as linguistic development is the goal, the intent is to use animation development as a language learning activity to specifically provide increased content engagement, grammar skill practice, and speaking confidence. Project Rationale Although animation app usage has not been excessively researched in the language-learning context, there is support to show that such tools can help promote the development of literacy skills (Jacobs, 2007), and that usage of these kinds of apps is received positively by learners (Kilickaya & Krakja, 2012). This is particularly due to these apps allowing for: (i) the development of content that can be easily shared; (ii) providing enjoyment of use while engaging with content; and, (iii) integrating well when being used with grammar-based activities (which is the intended use in this project). Keeping this in mind, the use of an animation application was ultimately decided upon as these tools offer a multimodal experience and can assist, albeit indirectly, in looking at developing MCC or multimodal communicative competence among learners (Heberle, 2010). That is to say, when matched with appropriate material and activities, they have the potential to assist English language learners (ELL) in developing knowledge and use of language concerning the visual, audio, and spatial dimensions of communication. This can be achieved by promoting strategies and skills to support learners in producing oral and written texts where there is appropriate use of: (i) language forms (lexis, grammar, syntax), pragmatics, and the negotiation of meaning; (ii) the use of metafunctions that link grammar and functions of language for communication; and (iii) appropriate representation of experience, and the construction of relationships, in the textual and visual organization of a message or dialog. Learning by Creating Content (LCC) Approach An LCC type approach will be used for this project. The Learning by Creating Content approach has its foundations in the belief of the active role of the learner (Ristimaki, Koivulehto, & Viluksela, 2006), it also has links to Kolb’s experiential learning theory (Thompson, 2012), and it can be tied to constructivist learning theory as well. Fundamentally, this approach sees learning “arranged around the central task of creating content” (Thompson, 2012, p.108). It has also been recognized by Norris and Soloway (2008) that such an approach can make up for the deficiencies in instructional models developed prior to the emergence of ubiquitous cyber infrastructure. Global Learn: Global Conference on Learning and Technology. Limerick, Ireland. April 28-29, 2016. Project Process and Linguistic Engagement with Animation Applications Learner content creation and independent control over the pace of information practiced, with linguistic production of content via the creation of animations with staging, screenwriting, and narration, can see participants develop increased content engagement, affirm and practice grammar skills, and inspire greater speaking confidence. Increased content engagement can be driven by presenting learners with familiar linguistic material such as scripted conversations from a routinely used workbook as scaffolding, which they can then use as a foundation for the staging of any created animation. Practically, if turned into a screenwriting process, this would effectively see learners typing lines to generate captions or speech bubbles for the characters in the scenes or the stages that are being animated. Confidence in speaking could then be established by providing learners with a mechanism for practice based on a read-aloud narration creation task. This is, used not only to promote pronunciation practice and the continual review of content, but also to allow learners to capture spoken dialog for the characters appearing in their animation as well as serving as a means for them to identify their own potential problem areas during playback. Further, in the ELL context, the use of animation applications with learners can provide visual support via the creation of the animation itself, as well as further support for the four basic skills: • reading support in the review of text-based captions; • writing support in the construction of these captions; • listening support via playback of narration; and • speaking support in the recording of the narration. Reinforcement and learning is then established via production of both content and the reworking of the scripted conversation during: • staging and coding/scripting of the animation; • typing or writing of the captions; • speaking and recording of the audio for narration; as well as • syncing the placement, movement, and sizing of characters on the stage. Method Reflective practice, as part of the action research tradition (Schon, 1983), is an effective method for researching the efficacy of instructional techniques (Denny, 2005), and one that can provide support for teacher growth as they engage in collaborative research (Peters, in Leitch & Day, 2000). To this end, a teaching practitioner will need to implement the use of learner materials with a target group, and develop a teaching diary based on practitioner and student observations and comments. This teaching diary then becomes a means of providing first-hand information from inside the classroom, and can establish observation and a means for informing upon local practice as it is being conducted (Craig, Patten & Brown, 2005; Hargreaves, 1996). Target Group Participants will come from a sample of convenience consisting of ELL in the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) and their instructor. Learners will be enrolled at the freshman or sophomore levels at the college/university level, and will have been selected for two reasons: that English language learning is a mandatory part of their academic studies; and that the use of the required learner material for the project can be undertaken as part of normal taught course procedure without disruption to preexisting curricula. Instructors will be native English speakers, with experience in teaching English in Korea at the college/university level. Learner Material The pedagogical material will come from a learner workbook which uses a simplified grammar, and was previously developed and used in Korea with high school students as well as North Korean refugees (see Kent & Barnden, 2015). The workbook promotes presentations and stories that are based on the use of a simplified grammar, which aims to place emphasis on speaking first and a focus on choices for the use of grammar (see David, 2013). This workbook was also selected due to feedback, surveys and interviews indicating that it has been successful in promoting speaking confidence and levels of speaking engagement with students in Seoul. The stories within use vocabulary found among the BNC-COCA 2,000, and are written using simplified grammar and gives choices for conversions to standard grammar. For each story, the resulting scripted conversation that emerges provides the scaffolding for the creation of an animation. Global Learn: Global Conference on Learning and Technology. Limerick, Ireland. April 28-29, 2016. The animation app Scratch Jr was selected for students to use in the conversion of their scripted conversations into animations. This application was chosen as it offers several affordances, namely engagement, enablement, and enrichment. Technologically, the app allows participants to engage with pedagogical content in a manner that supports development of their own multimedia-based animations for playback. Engagement, pedagogically, in terms of providing appropriate content for review, promotes linguistic development by ensuring integrated language skills practice during any content creation. Use of the animation app also enables learners, through the provision of technological choices, a means from which participants can develop media artefacts and animations that can benefit them linguistically. It also enables the target group socially, communally, and privately, as the use of the application matches with others that are being used in a number of after-school programs in Korea, and which also provide coding opportunities. In this regard, use of the app then comes to enrich learners by providing such coding opportunities. As Brennan, et al. have recently highlighted (Brennan, Valverde, Prempeh, Roque, and Chung, 2012), to understand and negotiate the modern media landscape, it is now important for learners to be able to actually design (even at a rudimentary level) their own interactive media. Although there are arguments to be made against teaching things like aspects of coding, it can be viewed as one of the fundamental digital literacies today. Enrichment also comes from providing learners with a means of moving from being simply media literate or passive consumers of media, to being media fluent, or active producers of media (Song, 2009; and, Thompson, 2012) . Research Questions For the Intended Pilot Program, potential research questions are: 1. How is integrated language skills practice, via screenwriting and narration and the use of an animation app, received by learners and their instructor? As the learner material is being implemented alongside an existing curriculum, the practitioner will need to maintain daily classroom reports to develop a teaching diary that covers both practitioner and student observations when undertaking animation development. The ‘teaching diary’ will then need to be analyzed and coded, so that the emerging observations can be interpreted. It is possible that a number of frustrations, as well as affordances, will result. 2. Is staging with screenwriting and narration an effective means of providing integrated language skill practice for use with an animation app? The process should enable learners to provide a completed animation that shows an understanding of the scripted conversations applied in follow-up workbook-based tasks in terms of displaying expected levels of linguistic competence. From this, it can be identified where learners need further linguistic support (grammar and pronunciation) as well as how well the four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) are being implemented. A test, and appropriate means of measure, will need to be devised. 3. How do Korean ELLs realize multimodal communicative competence through the construction of their animations? Essentially, for this final question, a review of how learners interpret the scripted conversation linguistically, visually, audibly, as well as semiotically will be undertaken. This will be achieved by looking at how the scripted conversation is rendered through an examination of the placement, movement, and sizing of characters, the timings of speech, the interactions between characters, and other considerations. This should allow for a picture of the current learner levels of multimodal communicative competence to emerge, which is important to evaluate before seeing if there is a need for developing a means for improvement in the English language learning context of Korea. Summary It is envisioned that through the use of an animation app, ELL participants using classroom follow-up tasks can move from standard workbook-based cloze exercises to developing integrated language skills practice through the creation of short animations based on in-class content. Such pieces could then be used for traditional assessment purposes, tracking student performance and progress throughout the course, identifying where participants need future support, and for other practices such as inclusion in a final portfolio to showcase skill development to family, friends, and other stakeholders. As such, these animations could be used simply for class playback, but more Global Learn: Global Conference on Learning and Technology. Limerick, Ireland. April 28-29, 2016. importantly, they could also provide a novel way for participants to become more engaged in the process of continual review of content outside of class. Ultimately too, such tasks can be used in review if participants complete each script to form an overall story, which could then be used for a class display. Most importantly though is the consideration of the choices made by participants in animation construction, as they should be able to provide an animation that demonstrates an understanding of each of the dialogs applied in the follow-up tasks in terms of displaying expected levels of both multimodal communicative competence and linguistic application appropriate to their language levels. References Brennan, K., Valverde, A., Prempeh, J., Roque, R., and Chung, M. (2011). 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