Cohort July 2022: Faculty of Arts – Caroline Lebrec, Savindya Mudadeniya, Shreya Diwan
Project background
FREN 101-102 recently took an action-oriented approach to teaching and learning, in alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), as seen in its latest version of the companion volume with new descriptors (Council of Europe, 2021). With the switch to online course delivery, we needed to order a new textbook with its e-book version and complementary online platform. We also needed a textbook that would offer more diversity in its representation of the francophone world. With a new textbook comes new learning activities and updated teaching content. These updates were developed and delivered in the FREN101 Winter I 2021 and FREN102 Winter II 2022 course offerings. To summarise, our beginners’ courses need a complementary module that will address the lack of writing skills covered by the textbook.
Project details
This partnership between faculty and students will allow the creation of a module that suits best students’ interests in terms of addressing students’ engagement and expertise from each team member. As student partners who completed FREN 101 and 102, we know that current students have to go out of their way to improve their writing skills. This is often achieved by finding different prompts and then getting instructor’s feedback. Therefore, we believe the modules would remove these barriers and encourage students to work on their reading and writing skills.
Further, this would allow for coverage of a wider range of topics that go beyond the textbook. The teaching approach is student-centred, which emphasizes group work and peer-to-peer support. The course would also include more inclusive language and make use of the gender-neutral pronoun to align with UBC’s commitment to inclusive teaching practices in the classroom. Further, the addition of a literature and culture component (songs, poetry, comics, blog), in our view, can spark a greater interest in pursuing French language study to a higher extent.
In fact, the latest feedback on course evaluations highlighted that the new textbook is lacking support and learning activities to target the enhancement of students’ reading and writing proficiency. Students registered in academic programs are often challenged with writing skills, creating a gap that needs to be addressed between aligning the new textbook content, the CEFR learning objectives and the learning outcomes of our academic program. Students registered in FREN101-102 also identified that they wanted to be more challenged in their reading and writing skills.
Our fantastic trio is composed of one faculty member – Dr. Caroline Lebrec, Assistant Professor of Teaching, FHIS – and two undergraduate students – Savindya Mudadeniya and Shreya Diwan. We formed to discuss how we can improve the course without adding too much workload to students and grading duties to instructors and teaching assistants during the term. Our work so far has focused on designing a module that enhances students reading and writing proficiency. We hope to see students finishing FREN 101-102 with more confidence and proficiency in their reading and writing skills.