Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: Workshop

Professional Development > Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: Workshop > 3. Delivering the Message > 3.2 View & Analyze the Video

World Languages

K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

View & Analyze the Video

View Transcript

Teaching Foreign Languages Workshop: 3-Delivering the Message Transcript

Video Summary

In “Delivering the Message,” Professor Paul Kei Matsuda of the University of New Hampshire addresses how a consideration of the audience impacts presentational activities. Professor Matsuda also joins a round-table discussion on effective strategies for designing and assessing presentational tasks, moderated by University of Pittsburgh professor Richard Donato, and including teachers Jane Shuffelton of Rochester, New York, and Marylee DiGennaro of North Haven, Connecticut. The video also features excerpts from Ms. Shuffelton’s and Ms. DiGennaro’s classes, as well as other classes across different grade levels and languages.* The video addresses the following questions:

Who is the audience?
How does audience influence oral and written presentations?
How does feedback improve presentational communication?

*The classroom excerpts featured in this video are from the Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 video library. To learn more about the featured lessons, go to the Library Videos Chart.

Watch the Video

Watch the video “Delivering the Message,” and take notes as you watch. Consider pausing at the end of each section to answer the questions before moving on to the next section. If you are working in a group, discuss your responses; if you are working alone, reflect on them in your journal.

1. Who is the audience?

In this section, Professor Matsuda describes different types of audiences that students might have for their presentational tasks. The group then discusses ways in which presentational tasks could take place.

What makes presentational communication different from interpersonal communication, even if the audience is the teacher and/or other students? What role do interpretive and interpersonal communication play in preparing students for the presentational mode of communication?
What kinds of audiences, other than the classroom participants, did the classroom excerpts show? What other kinds of audiences have you targeted in presentational activities in your class?
Ms. DiGennaro likens presentational communication to the giving and receiving of a gift. Using examples from the classroom excerpts and/or your own classroom, expand on this metaphor to show the importance of making students aware of their audience. What other metaphor(s) might be used to describe this communication mode?

2. How does audience influence oral and written presentations?

In this section, Professor Matsuda discusses presentational writing as a process. The group then addresses the effect of audience on student motivation and on writing.

What is the effect of a distant audience (such as a pen pal) on student motivation to write or to speak?
How does the identification of audience influence the three stages of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, and revising?
In the video excerpt, how does Ms. Lori Langer de Ramirez use audience to focus the writing task for her students?

3. How does feedback improve presentational communication?

In this section, Professor Matsuda stresses the importance of providing feedback that goes beyond the grammatical aspect of the text. The group then discusses ways that they assess presentational tasks, including the use of rubrics.

What aspects of a presentation do you focus on when providing feedback? What, if any, challenges have you faced in assessing and providing feedback on these aspects? What other key characteristics of presentational communication would you evaluate?
What are the characteristics of a good rubric? How would you align letter grades and rubrics?
What role would audience play in the design of a rubric? How does an awareness of the audience influence the degree of accuracy you expect from students?

Series Directory

Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: Workshop

Credits

Produced by WGBH Boston in association with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 2004.

Closed Captioning
ISBN: 1-57680-680-4

Sections

3.1 Before you Watch

To begin this workshop session, you will tap your prior knowledge and experience and then read current research on how specific writing concepts and strategies can be applied to presentational tasks.

3.2 View & Analyze the Video

3.3 Assignments + Projects

PDF: Professional Development Workshop Guide

Workshop 3

PDF: "Teaching Foreign Language Writing" Part 1

Workshop 3

PDF : "Teaching Foreign Language Writing" Part 2

Workshop 3

PDF: "Teaching Foreign Language Writing" Part 3

Workshop 3

Supplementary: The Video Project Rubric

Courtesy of Yo Azama

Supplementary: Rubric for Interpersonal Talk

Courtesy of Paris Granville

Workshops

Overview 0 Overview

This six-minute video introduces you to the Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 Workshop series and provides you with a virtual tour of the Web guide. Watch the video to familiarize yourself with what you will be doing as a participant in the workshop, or to launch a study group using the workshop.

workshop 1 Meaningful Interpretation

This session looks at how the interpretation of texts (including documents, paintings, movies, audio recordings, and more) can go beyond literal comprehension and tap into students' background knowledge while fostering critical-thinking skills.

workshop 2 Person to Person

Focusing on interpersonal communication, session participants discuss how students use language to make themselves understood and to understand others. The session also explores how different teaching approaches encourage or discourage meaningful student interaction.

workshop 3 Delivering the Message

Looking at the presentational mode of communication, this session shows how students and teachers consider a variety of audiences as they create and deliver written presentations.

workshop 4 Subjects Matter

Foreign language teachers promote language learning within the context of other curriculum areas, such as geography, science, and language arts. A look at the research helps teachers address the balance between grammatical form and content in the language classroom.

workshop 5 Rooted in Culture

This session looks at the ways teachers can investigate cultural products and practices with their students and how this will help the students develop a deeper sense of the cultural perspective.

workshop 6 Valuing Diversity in Learners

Students come to the language classroom with a range of literacy and language skills, as well as varying cultural backgrounds and experiences. This session looks at how teachers can help students individually progress, as well as use students' unique skills to contribute to the growth of the class as a whole.

workshop 7 Planning for Assessment

Assessment can be embedded in relevant, meaningful, and authentic performance tasks throughout the year, as well as in culminating activities. The session also addresses the value of ongoing feedback to learners.

workshop 8 Engaging With Communities

This session looks at how teachers can create opportunities for students to use the target language with native speakers (including in-person, telephone, and email interactions) to enhance language learning and cultural understanding.