COLLABORATIVE FOCUS DISCIPLINE RESEARCH AND THE INTERNET:
A CONTENT-BASED INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE
Loretta F. Kasper, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Kingsborough Community College/CUNY
Brief Abstract: Research (see References) has demonstrated
content-based instruction, especially sustained content study, to be effective
in improving ESL students' linguistic skills, more quickly enabling them
to pass institutional assessments and enter the college mainstream. As part
of a sustained content course, students may be asked to choose a "focus
discipline" to study over the entire semester, independently researching
issues and reporting on findings in a series of papers. This research is
facilitated when an extensive body of informational resources, as found on
the Internet, is available. Because the Internet will likely become a key
component of the college classroom of the future, to be fully prepared for
college-level work, ESL students should become comfortable and proficient
using it. While the Internet represents an abundant informational resource,
its real educational potential lies in its ability to facilitate intercultural
exchanges through which students across the country/world may work
collaboratively, first gathering and sharing information, and then discussing
and analyzing issues. The proposed study will explore this potential through
a content-based intercultural exchange in which CUNY ESL students will conduct
focus discipline research, collaborating via the Internet with college students
in other parts of the country/world. The project goals include: (1)developing
and refining ESL students' linguistic, research, and networking skills,
(2)teaching and promoting Internet use and sustained content study on an
institutional level, and (3)creating a web site of content-based resources
to be used internationally.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Introduction: A number of studies has shown that content-based
instruction accelerates students' progress through the ESL sequence by enabling
theses students to attain higher pass rates on institutional reading and
writing assessments (Babbitt & Mlynarczyk, 1999; Kasper, 1994;
1997). While content-based instruction can follow a variety of models
incorporating a wide range of pedagogical activities (see e.g., Snow &
Brinton, 1997; Kasper, 1999a), a specific variation called "sustained
content study," i.e., studying one content area over time (Pally, 1997),
has been especially effective in facilitating and hastening the development
of the linguistic and academic skills key to success in college.
I have been researching the effects of sustained content study for a number
of years (Kasper, 1994; 1997), and my recent work has concentrated on how
the Internet may be used to facilitate and enhance a specific activity which
I call "focus discipline research" (Kasper, 1998; 1999b). In this
activity, students choose a focus discipline from among several content areas
studied in the ESL course, and using the Internet as an informational resource,
pursue sustained and independent study of that discipline over the semester,
producing three progressive written reports and a research project (see
Project Design). The focus discipline activity has yielded a number of educational
benefits to my students, including higher pass rates on reading/writing
assessments (92%), increased motivation, and greater confidence in their
ability to handle academic tasks (as evinced by responses to feedback
questionnaires).
Although the Internet has enormous potential as an informational resource,
its real potential lies in its ability to facilitate the sharing of information
through international and intercultural communication. It is the goal of
the proposed study to explore that potential through a content-based Internet
project that will engage ESL students at CUNY in collaborative focus discipline
research with students in a college or university in another state or country.
This project will enable students to develop and refine language skills and
to practice and hone academic research skills. The project will also develop
students' networking skills as they participate via the Internet in a
content-based intercultural exchange, sharing information and discussing
interdisciplinary issues with students across the country/world.
Project Goals: Based upon my previous findings, I expect that
the proposed study will enable students to benefit from improved linguistic
and academic skills, resulting in higher scores on institutional assessments
and enabling ESL students to become full members of the CUNY academic mainstream
more quickly. Moreover, because computers will likely become a key resource
in the college classroom of the future, another goal of this study is to
teach and promote the use of the Internet and sustained content study on
an institutional and an international level. This will be accomplished through
university colloquia and through the creation of a web site of content-based
Internet and print resources that may be used internationally by teachers
and students and of a class web site for the publication of student
writings.
Background: Academic literacy, which "encompasses ways of knowing
particular content…(and) refers to strategies for understanding, discussing,
organizing, and producing texts" (Johns, 1997, p. 2), is key to success in
college. Recent research demonstrates that ESL students' academic literacy
skills are effectively developed through a functional language learning
environment. A functional language learning environment may be defined as
one that engages them in meaningful and authentic language processing through
planned, purposeful, and academically-based activities (Adler-Kassner &
Reynolds, 1996; Shea, 1996) that teach them "how to extract, question, and
evaluate the central points and methodology of a range of material, and construct
responses using the conventions of academic/expository writing" (Pally, 1997,
p. 299). Because it engages students in close reading and in-depth discussion
of salient issues in science, psychology, business, and other academic
disciplines, sustained content study provides a functional language learning
environment that enables students to acquire the linguistic and cognitive
tools necessary for academic success.
When as part of sustained content study, students engage in focus discipline
research, completing assignments of progressive complexity in which they
define problems, examine evidence collected from a variety of sources, and
make objective judgments on the basis of extended research, they learn to
synthesize knowledge and practice the critical thinking skills necessary
for a successful academic experience (Kasper, 1998). The educational benefits
of focus discipline research may be further enhanced and facilitated by using
the Internet as an informational resource.
While the Internet is effective in enabling individuals to access a wide
range of information necessary for sustained content study, its real potential
lies in creating a context for collaborative learning across classes of students
within the same school, across the nation, or even the world. In fact, recent
research has demonstrated that collaborative computer-based learning yields
a number of significant educational benefits to students; specifically it
facilitates growth in both linguistic fluency and complexity as it encourages
learners to co-construct and share knowledge (Warschauer, Turbee, & Roberts,
1996) and engages them in tasks that require independent problem solving
and critical thinking (Sotillo, 1998).
The proposed study will explore the educational potential of the Internet
for sustained content study by setting up an Internet collaboration between
CUNY ESL students and college/university students in another state/country.
These students will work together on coordinated focus discipline research
projects and will use the Internet to both access and share information.
Depending on course registration, the overall study will involve a total
of two to four high intermediate ESL classes, or one to two classes per semester,
in collaborative Internet-based research. Based upon normal ESL course registers,
it is expected that the study will involve approximately 40-80 CUNY ESL students.
Through the Internet collaboration, students in these classes will produce
three papers, each dealing with a key issue in their chosen focus discipline
and a research project requiring the analysis and synthesis of information
gathered throughout the semester.
References:
Adler-Kassner, L., & Reynolds, T. (1996). Computers, reading, and basic
writers: Online strategies for helping students with academic texts.
Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 23(3), 170-178.
Babbitt, M., & Mlynarczyk, R.W. (1999). Keys to successful
content-based programs: Administrative perspectives. In L. Kasper,
Content-based college ESL instruction(pp. 26-47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Johns, A.M. (1997). Text, role, and context:Developing academic
literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Kasper, L.F. (1994). Improved reading performance for ESL students through
academic course pairing. Journal of Reading, 37(5), 376-384.
Kasper, L.F. (1995). Theory and practice in content-based ESL reading
instruction. English for Specific Purposes, 14(3), 223-230.
Kasper, L.F. (1997). The impact of content-based instructional programs on
the academic progress of ESL students. English for Specific Purposes,
16(4), 309-320.
Kasper, L.F. (1998). Focus discipline research and the Internet: Keys to
academic literacy for at-risk college students. Paper presented at WebNet
98. Orlando, FL. Available online:
http://members.aol.com/Drlfk/WebNet98paper.html
Kasper, L.F. (1999a). Content-based college ESL instruction.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kasper, L.F. (1999b). Sustained content study and the Internet:
Developing functional and academic literacies. In M. Pally (Ed.), Sustained
content-based teaching in academic ESL/EFL: A practical approach
(Chapter 4). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Pally, M. (1997). Critical thinking in ESL: An argument for sustained content.
Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(3), 293-311.
Shea, P. (1996). Media, multimedia, and meaningful language learning: A review
of the literature. Paper presented at WebNet 96. San Francisco, CA. [Online].
Available:
http://aace.virginia.edu/aace/conf/webnet/html/159.htm
Snow, M.A., & Brinton, D.M. (Eds.). (1997). The content-based classroom:
Perspectives on integrating language and content. New York: Longman.
Sotillo, S.M. (1998). English-as-a-second-language learning and collaboration
in cyberspace. NJTESOL-NJBE Newsletter, Fall, 17-19.
Warschauer, M., Turbee, L., & Roberts, B. (1996). Computer learning networks
and student empowerment. System, 24(1), 1-14.