Kara McBride
Social Networking Sites, Foreign Language Education and Self-Authorship
This presentation will provide an overview of what social media are by exploring social networking sites, the most popularly employed expression of Web 2.0 technology for many people, as seen, for example, with the popularity of Facebook. We will look at how social networking sites and their features – which are increasingly being found on other sites that are not primarily considered social networking sites – are changing how people socialize, share ideas and experiences, and use language online. We will reflect also on how this same shift in technology-mediated communication parallels an ongoing shift in pedagogical practices. Just as the dominant teaching methodologies are no longer characterized by passive receptivity on the part of students but instead by interactivity, the Web 2.0 practices found on social networking sites encourage active learners engaging in what can be called self-authorship. In this session we will discuss how these trends can be advantageously incorporated into foreign language teaching practices.
Kara McBride (Ph.D. University of Arizona, Second Language Acquisition and Teaching) has experience teaching Portuguese and English as a second and foreign language and is now an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Saint Louis University. She trains and supervises foreign language and ESL teachers there and has in the past done teacher training with groups of language teachers from Korea, Japan, Ecuador, Chile, and Brazil. Her regular teaching schedule covers beginning through advanced language courses in addition to courses on teaching methodology, technology, and second language acquisition. Kara’s research focuses on computer assisted language learning and its application to a range of teaching objectives including listening comprehension, pronunciation, culture, and grammar. She has recently published on topics such as social networking sites, podcasting, distance and blended classes, and electronic literacy.
