Social Learning Theories: Activity Theory

Week 6

Tonight

• Warm-up• Intro to Activity Theory: Discussion lead 1 (Swain

, 2011)• Intro to Activity Theory: Nuts an bolts• Activity Theory in Action: Discussion leads 2 & 3• Reviewing main points of Activity Theory• Midterm guidelines• HW

Warm-up

• How is situated learning a social theory of learning?

Activity Theory: Discussion Lead 1: Swain (2011)

• Write answers to these questions:– What is it?– Of what elements is learning comprised?

Intro to Activity Theory

• What is it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAMlJU4HW3Q

• What is learning?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0UKgNhtC4k&feature=related

Vygtosky

INTRO TO ACTIVITY THEORY: NUTS AN BOLTS

Engestrom

Define these central elements:

1. Subject2. Object/Goal 3. Rules4. Community 5. Division of labor

Basic elements are:• Subject-

• Object/Goal-

• Rules

• Community

• Division of labor

Interrelationships: How can X and Y impact each other?

ACTIVITY THEORY IN ACTION: DISCUSSION LEADS 2 & 3

Discussion Lead 2: Storch, 2004

• Listen and try to identify:1. Subject2. Object/Goal 3. Rules4. Community 5. Division of labor

Interrelationships: How can X and Y impact each other?

Discussion Lead 3: McCafferty, Roebuck & Wayland (2001)

• Listen for the reasons why outcomes were different.

Interrelationships: How can X and Y impact each other?

Contributions of AT?

• What do these studies tell us?

• What does this mean for what we know about language learning?

REVIEWING MAIN POINTS OF ACTIVITY THEORY

Ideas from Lantolf and Thorne (2006)

• “the mind emerges as a special component of human interaction with the environment” (p. 237).

• In what ways does the mind interact with the environment?

• P. 238• What point are the

authors making?

• P. 241

• P. 241

Comparing AT with other ideas

• AT vs. ZPD?

• AT vs. Situated Learning?

Comparing to aspects of cognitivisim

• How do the ideas of AT compare to aspects of cognitivism?

Assumption Main idea/example, if included (or you can create)

Link

1. Mind as computer2. Representationalism3. Learning as abstract knowledge acquisition4. Centrality of language, language as code5. Scientism

6. Substance dualism and functionalism 7. subject-object dualism8. Reductionism 9. Aggratism 10. Decompositionality

Midterm Guidelines

• Option 1. Mini Research Project• Apply a theory from our course to create a

plan for intervention. In this option, you describe your intervention, what theory guided it, and how you will measure the effectiveness of it.

• The paper should be 6 pages (1.5 spacing) and include the following sections:

• 1. Introduction (1 page)- Describe what skill/learning goal you will target (e.g., Ss reading, writing, group dynamics) and why it’s important to you (either theoretically important or important for your teaching situation).

• 2. The theory and intervention (3 pages)-First, introduce the main ideas of the theory and discuss how it explains learning and why it’s important. Then, review two articles that used the particular theory and describe: who was studied; what the focus of the study was; why the authors used the theory; the data collected; and the results.

• Next, use the ideas from the articles and theory to create your own intervention (you can adapt ideas but show clear links to the two articles as to why you adapted). Describe the intervention and be sure to discuss the theoretical reasons for teaching the skill the way you plan.

• 3. Measuring progress (2 pages). How do the data collected in the two studies reflect the main theory and how did they measure it? How do your data reflect the main theory (can use same as two articles or adapt)? How will you measure it (interviews, observations, test scores, surveys)? Feel free to use same methods as presented in the two articles or create your own.

• 4. References (1 page). Follow APA style. See the Online Writing Lab Purdue page for information.

• You will be graded on: the degree to which you addressed each of the points above; writing clarity; and APA/organization.

Option 2. Literature Review

• The literature review option includes two main components. First, you will draw from a theory or theories in our class to develop a critical analytical lens. Then, you will use this lens to review research and utilize your analytic lens to identify potential weaknesses in the studies and how these weakness challenge the results.

• The paper should be 6 pages (1.5 spacing) and include the following sections:

• 1. Introduction (1 page)- Describe what skill will examine in the literature (e.g., vocabulary, reading, writing, group dynamics) and why it’s important to you (either theoretically important or important for your teaching situation).

• 2. The analytical lens (2 pages)- Select one or two theories discussed in our course (can be topics before or after midterm). Then, discuss the main components of each theory. When discussing these components, create questions or main points that you can later use to critique and analyze other studies. For example, if I was drawing from the Interaction Hypothesis, and one of the main components of this theory is communication breakdown, then I would might create a question that asks: Were their opportunities for students to engage in conversation that would lead to communication breakdown? These main points or questions are critical to your paper. So think about what is learning is from your theoretical perspectives and then use these to examine learning situations in other studies.

• 3. Review and analyze (3 pages)- For this section, first select 2 studies for a particular skill. Then, describe who was studied, what they did, what the results were. Next, after reviewing each study, apply your analytical lens and critique the study and its results. Did the study account for social aspects? If not, how might this affect the results? Etc.

• 4. References (1 page). Follow APA style. See the Online Writing Lab Purdue page for information.

• You will be graded on: the degree to which you addressed each of the points above; writing clarity; and APA/organization.

Option 3. Building Theoretical Knowledge

• This option is comprised of three main parts. First, an introduction is presented that discusses your current knowledge of a particular theory and desire to clarify specific points or gain general knowledge of the theory. Then, in the second section, you will read and review 3 articles related to your theory. In the last part, you discuss what you learned and what remains to be learned.

• The paper should be 6 pages (1.5 spacing) and include the following sections:

• 1. Introduction (1 page)- Discuss what theory you will explore. What you already know about it. Why you need to read/learn about it.

• 2. Review (2 pages)- Find three articles that discuss or apply this theory. Then describe the information about theory presented by each author. If the theory was applied, why did they apply it; what was the goal of using this theory; how did they use the theory to analyze data. If the article is purely descriptive, review the main points: what are they, why are they important; what are some examples.

• 3. What you learned (3pages)- Restate what you wanted to learn before you read the articles. Tell the things that you learned, or didn’t learn, why they are important for you personally, and why they are important for language learning. Discuss what other things within the theory you wish to know or are confused about and how you will answer these concerns in the future.

• 4. References (1 page). Follow APA style. See the Online Writing Lab Purdue page for information.

• You will be graded on: the degree to which you addressed each of the points above; writing clarity; and APA/organization.

HW

• Atkinson (2011) Ch 2, A complexity theory approach to second language development/acquisition

• Discussion lead: Port (2010): • Discussion lead: Dornyei (2009):• Reader Response