In the age of AI, plagiarism, and post-pandemic stress, language instructors must find new ways to engage students using more flexible and inclusive teaching methods. As learning practices evolve, new technologies and pedagogies are critical to enable personalized and engaging learning experiences that bring students together in ways that traditional lectures, translations, and tests cannot. Faculty creativity is vital to foster a student-centric learning environment.

This presentation explores teaching methodology experiments involving three groups of undergraduate American students studying a foreign language in the two years following the pandemic and shares pedagogical practices that were sometimes successful and sometimes not successful in a qualitative study. It analyzes assessments of student learning as a measure of the effectiveness of learning activities including language immersion, intercultural projects, community engagement activities, and collaborative work and also shares the results of a series of surveys completed by students over this period as a measure of their engagement and experience.

Based on these results, conclusions are drawn about the types of activities that are most engaging and relevant for undergraduate language learners in 2024. The presentation provides specific examples of student work, sample syllabi, assessments and teaching tips and recommendations, with pros and cons.

Authors:
Maria Grazia De Angelis, Saint Mary's College of California, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Maria Grazia De Angelis, Saint Mary's College of California, USA
Born in Italy and attended undergraduate and graduate school in Europe
Twenty-eight years of experience teaching Italian language/culture in the USA
Interested in innovative pedagogies

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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