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language acquisition resource center annual report 2008 2009 san diego state university research fo undation

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message from the director this past year has brought many new opportunities for larc particularly in less commonly taught languages of critical need to our country these opportunities are strengthened and leveraged by collaboration with colleagues in the state the nation and the world critical languages we now teach the pashto language at all levels for military groups and are developing curricula and textbooks based on our experiences visiting esl teachers from afghanistan s nangarhar university and local afghani community leaders have enriched this experience we piloted the use of hand-held one way translators/software delivery devices in these intensive classes and studied how they could be used to supplement instruction we are conducting a pilot program to provide pashto culture training to marine reservists across the country our arabic program has produced innovative textbooks and online resources focusing on conversational arabic at several levels which are already quite popular an iraqi dialect series is also underway and larc is about to publish a series of novice to advanced level persian textbooks entitled iranian panorama language project s innovative teacher training program we offer sailn scholarships to our most promising teachers in our intensive language programs for marines rotc cadets and university students at sdsu and throughout the country collaboration continues with the csu foreign language council and the uc consortium to strengthen teacher credentialing programs and we are partnering with the california language teachers association and others to co-sponsor a california language transformation roadmap may 2010 in jan 2010 we will co-host the second filipino as global language conference with the council for teaching filipino language and culture we sponsored summer camps in persian and turkish through startalk and a chinese pilot project with sdsu s confucius institute teacher training we house sailn the southernmost region of the california foreign technology our new distance education software elluminate allows us to extend learning opportunities of particular note is the ongoing brown-bag teacher training series on web 2.0 technologies and social media which has drawn local and national participants larc s dma has moved to social media as well with larc s own youtube channel showcasing pieces from the women s voices and human rights projects larc staff and faculty mentor over thirty graduate students from computer science and mathematics testing major breakthroughs for our assessment team include research on the cast test development of new levels and new languages and collaboration with actfl and ncate new languages include hindi filipino japanese and italian and an intermediate framework is now ready to be tested using a backward design all in all this has been a most productive year and we are looking forward to many more challenges and opportunities to serve in the future mary ann and larc faculty and staff

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a girl w riting h er nam e tehr an iran riding to the pyramids cairo egypt baa monument pheonician lbek leban on visit us online larc.sdsu.edu mazar tehran iran

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highlights arabic language through dialogue textbook series during the academic year 2008 ­ 2009 the arabic program at the language acquisition resource center at sdsu worked on several areas including material development and dissemination teaching and teacher training outreach and publishing textbooks and media targeting advanced and intermediate levels actfl proficiency scale have been piloted in san diego state university s arabic program and published through montezuma publishing in a series titled arabic language through dialogue the textbooks are accompanied by online downloadable audio a novice level textbook is underway to complete the series www.montezumapublishing.com this innovative interdisciplinary distributed learning model features speakers of brazilian-portuguese and english the model builds on mit s cultura project g.furstenberg s levet and s waryn initiating crosscultural awareness using technology with input and consultation from furstenberg and paul sneed of university of kansas larc s integrated distributed learning toolset enables teachers to post multimedia-based student assignment and discussion platforms students also post their media to share online through discussion with peers and teachers see the two brothers blog [http 2bros.org/blog co-produced by larc and the instituto dois irmaos two brothers foundation in brazil brazilian favelas project youth media and cultural exchanges pilot chinese summer day camp ­ larc and sdsu s confucius institute larc co-operated with the confucius institute in offering a mandarin summer camp from august 3rd ­ 7th for 20 students from barnard elementary and riverview academy in san diego larc and the confucius institute are planning to expand the camp in future summers to six partnership schools reaching many more non-heritage students of chinese g learnin hinese c go san die ca larc offers consultation for community-based arabic filipino mixtec persian punjabi and turkish schools in curriculum management and teacher training and it houses the southern area international languages network sailn a subdivision of the california foreign language project serving san diego orange and imperial counties larc s director shares the principal investigator role with an sdsu s college of education faculty in charge of credentialing and larc s director of outreach is also the sailn project codirector sailn s four-tiered 160-hour training sequence on language teaching pedagogy and leadership development serves as a springboard to credentialing programs particularly for less commonly taught languages 250 teachers this year alone have benefitted from this training many sponsored by larc these include community-based teachers all startalk teachers and most of larc s intensive program teachers in arabic pashto and persian learn more at http larc.sdsu.edu/sailn teacher training development and support for other community-based language programs

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larc has spearheaded legislation in california for the creation of california subject examinations for teachers cset in many less commonly taught languages including arabic armenian cantonese filipino hmong khmer hindi and urdu cset allows teachers credentialed in other areas to also teach language to help fill vacant filipino positions larc sponsored development of a filipino cset review course for perspective teachers and is developing similar models for other languages to see the filipino course materials visit http larc.sdsu.edu/ctflc startalk programs building on our 2008 startalk-sponsored persian summer camp for 16 students grades 1-6 larc hosted 56 persian students grades 1-12 in summer 2009 we also held a startalk turkish camp for 18 students grades 1-6 and have been meeting in late summer 2009 with confucius institute and arabic program directors to replicate these camps in chinese and arabic for summer 2010 see our url below title vi presentations 2009 larc staff were in washington dc on march 19th ­ 21st for the title vi s 50th anniversary conference creating learner corpora from the computer assisted screening tool for advanced level proficiency cast michael trevor shanklin san diego state university highlights of materials and curriculum development for less commonly taught critical languages the evolution of the digital media archive mary ann lyman-hager san diego state university christopher brown san diego state university creating peace creating effective teachers of arabic at sdsu and bahrain teachers college hanada taha-thomure san diego state university other presentations mary ann lyman-hager san diego state university trans-cultural trans-lingual competency achievable in our time at dli reading workshop at the startalk summer institute at depaul university hanada taha-thomure san diego state university persian startalk persianstartalk.sdsu.edu my life in lebanon at middlebury s summer program in ca hanada taha-thomure san diego state university larcmaterials.sdsu.edu/turkish turkish startalk

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new initiatives pashtun language and culture larc currently holds five to six 8-week intensive language and culture acquisition courses per year additionally the larc pashto team is developing its own beginner and intermediate-level textbook materials the team also provides 6-week language enrichment courses to more advanced level military linguists and instructors in pashto language the pashto team is also creating a series of monthly self-contained lessons on afghan culture with language delivered at a distance to marine reservists each lesson has three primary foci · an element of afghan society i.e the family · one of the pashtunwali codes like badal revenge · a set of new words or phrases in pashto lesson content is available to the participants via an online course management system as well as a video podcast series via itunes a sample of the lessons is viewable at larc.sdsu.edu/ricl social media larc has a long history of helping language teachers and learners with emerging technologies and starting in october 2009 begins a series of free weekly online webinars for language teachers starting with blogs and youtube in the classroom join us at 4:00 pst or watch the archive when it fits your schedule every 3-part webinar series will have a new focus and there will often be prizes for the participant whose final project is voted best by fellow workshop attendees visit us at larc.sdsu.edu distance learning and social media cast has continued to improve as an assessment feedback and research instrument a new intermediate-level test framework requires only the writing and vetting of test items an important review module determines the spread of content questions and functions asked for any specific registration code to avoid item and topic redundancy a new procedure examines the duration of each test-taker response so researchers can examine test item and topic area reliability and efficacy larc.sdsu.edu/socialmedia an improved interface allows for instant rater access to the examinee s recordings research on arabic persian and esl tests were presented at the 2009 pre-calico workshop on the automatic analysis of learner language and at the 50th anniversary of the title vi programs cast has been developed to meet expanding needs in japanese and the italian program at sdsu is developing cast expansion through research and piloting distance learning social media

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an intermediate italian cast as an exit exam for its students a cohort of graduate students is currently working on a hindi version with an international interface that will allow the instructions given to test takers to be given in a range of languages the past two summer testing and assessment larc workshops have featured the cast design and interface lastly larc is partnering with language testing international and the ncate program at virginia tech university for a 50-participant pilot of the spanish cast in december 2009 for more information about cast visit cast.sdsu.edu online language lab resources larc increasingly brings together and showcases resources to foreign language faculty and students larc s lab home page now displays recommended links for faculty and students various recording and language learning software is organized into a separate page under the `instruction link the `resources tab illustrates various hard media stored at larc including books and dvd s bar-coded for student checkout students can use these resources to create individualized dynamic learning paths mobile devices are supported as a way to wed text and sound moodle sites are also configured to play podcasts check out the larclabs homepage at larc.sdsu.edu 2nd filipino as a global language conference larc and the council for teaching filipino language and culture ctflc will co-host the 2nd filipino as a global language conference transformation through empowerment in filipino language and culture january 15th through 18th 2010 at the san diego mission valley hilton hotel the conference builds on the inaugural event held in hawaii 2008 find out more at ctflc.org invited speaker series collaboration with sdsu s center for islamic and arabic studies rotc cadet and regular university student populations are invited to attend an invited lecturer series designed to support scholarship and to promote the study of foreign language and culture larc and sdsu s center for islamic and arabic studies will host three events with more to come in spring 2010 · · · 11/4 6:30 pm dr ghada osman understanding islam and contemporary muslim societies early december 2009 dr ali s asani will give a still untitled lecture on sufism early february 2010 dr yezid savigh will give a still untitled lecture on war and the middle east follow the schedule for lectures at the top menu larc.sdsu.edu and select events from kiz ku lesi ista nbul t urkey

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resources digital media archive integration with new web 2.0 technologies dma s language resources from novice to distinguished levels can be accessed online at no charge at http larcdma.sdsu.edu a contributor template allows for conformity to a vetted instructional design and an interactive submission page lets users store and refine materials before submission new features of web 2.0 or social media have encouraged larc to port dma content to a youtube channel with authors permission at http youtube com/larcsdsu this move enhances searches and generates more larc site visits women s voices project shifting cultures and coping with change to women of different with shifting culture globalization over native speakers in arabic persian and spanish have been archived with plans for interviews in filipino pashto punjabi and turkish larc databases housing the interviews are augmented with social networking and interactive content sharing at http larc sdsu.edu voces and http larcdma sdsu.edu womansvoices the project has been highlighted at masjid conferences such as atiner international n alsulta conference on literature language linguistics actfl an hass airo c american council on the teaching of foreign languages calico the eg ypt computer assisted language instruction consortium clta california language teachers association and swcolt southwest conference on language teaching given permission interviews are posted to larc s youtube account where these and other larc resources have had more than 22,000 viewings check them out at http larcdma.sdsu.edu or http youtube.com/larcsdsu the women s voices project uses seven basic questions posed backgrounds ages and professions who are coping and regime changes hastened by 400 interviews with

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other resources sailn lesson plan materials url http larc.sdsu.edu/sailn/archives find us on youtube youtube.com/larcsdsu filipino subject matter examination test preparation materials url http larc.sdsu.edu/ctflc/cset-materials human rights los desaparecidos url http larc.sdsu.edu/humanrights url http larc.sdsu.edu/dirtywar an ethnographic approach to listening las voces de las mujeres de latinoamérica url http larc.sdsu.edu/voces persian culture box larc publications · · · · · · · · · · · url http larc.sdsu.edu go to resources then to culture box passport to the world learning to communicate in a foreign language digital stream 2001 2002 emerging technologies in teaching language and culture volumes ii iii digital stream 2003 emerging technologies in teaching language and culture volume iv digital stream 2004 emerging technologies in teaching language and culture volume v fifth dimension second language project a model education program new visions in foreign and second language education the giving gaze la mirada pródiga an intimate topography of the border crystal s companion poetic reveries a workbook for chinese language instruction shush and say «six» an innovative introduction to reading hebrew for learners of all ability levels hebrew free speech foreign language for scaredy-cats an elementary textbook guaranteeing spontaneous speaking abilities for all learners regardless of ability · contemporary japanese url http www.montezumapublishing.com digital media archive url http larcdma.sdsu.edu computerized actfl-based screening tool cast url http cast.sdsu.edu

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workshops institutes actfl oral proficiency interview training the full opi workshop is an intensive four-day introduction to the techniques of administering and rating the oral proficiency interview the rating scale and techniques for eliciting a ratable sample are highlighted in daily plenary sessions and then reinforced in language-specific break-out sessions participants have the opportunity to observe live demonstration interviews conducted by their trainer under the trainer s supervision they then conduct their own practice interviews with volunteer candidates the group critiques and discusses both these practice interviews and their ratings following the workshop participants may apply to become actfl opi testers aug 2 aug 5 2010 social media workshop what s happening with blogs wikis podcasts and social networking how can we use the tools our students use to connect share and inform in the language classroom we ll answer those questions and more at this year s social media workshop aug 9 aug 13 2010 testing and assessment workshop the spoken test can be a vehicle for better understanding the learner language and shaping the curriculum come join us as we write test items for intermediate and advanced tests using cast audio recording software skype and the course management system moodle then we will evaluate responses from previous tests along the dimensions of fluency discourse and accuracy finally we will characterize the learner language in the responses based on duration syntactic complexity and lexical range · monday 8/16 the cast framework utilizing a grid based on content areas and functions · tuesday 8/17 cast test items rating sample tests comparison with skype · wednesday 8/18 analyzing the ratings using gold nvivo 8.0 · thursday 8/19 feeding the analysis back into the curriculum intermediate test items aug 16 aug 19 2010 passage rating workshop participants will come away from these seminar workshops with clear guidelines about how textual properties contribute to the definition of language difficulty they will then be able to select among a variety of authentic texts that they will later incorporate into their teaching instructors will reinforce participants knowledge of what constitutes novice intermediate advanced and superior-level texts and what the purposes of each text might be in the broader context of acquiring proficiency at the various levels aug 16 aug 20 2010 arabic/persian/russian courses the program offers participants intensive summer training in language and culture and refresher courses for the fall and limited study abroad opportunities cadets earn 8-10 college credit hours for the intensive 6-week classes may 26 july 2 2010 arabic distinguished-level course through the use authentic materials guest speakers and work with state-of-the-art technology this unique course provides intensive in-depth rigorous academic content as well as the extensive cultural knowledge needed to function effectively in a professional setting july 5 july 30 2010

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gh dialogue guage throu arabic lan iles with mp3 f arabic l anguage t with m hrough dialog p3 files ue available www.montezumapublishing.com iraqi dia h dialogue uage throug arabic lang part one les with mp3 fi first editio n lect thro 1 ugh dialo gue dr hanad mure dr shaker a taha-tho hanish lina hariri ­ -hajj coming soon

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language acquisition resource center san diego state university research foundation eba 419 san diego ca 92182-8305 address service requested larc language acquisition resource center san diego state university research foundation cover page wayne hager bahar t brekhna jaan gul goksel julia chang shahnaz ahmadian photo credits larc.sdsu.edu lina hariri-hajj design:

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