Breaking Up with My Textbook: Some Background

For several years now I have noticed numerous articles in publications such as The Language Educator, Foreign Language Annals, and The French Review as well as blogs and Facebook groups, urging language educators to move away from a textbook-based curriculum in favor of made-from-scratch lessons built upon authentic materials made for native speakers like articles, novels, podcasts, and videos. Creating such units requires identifying an authentic source of “input,” breaking it down into manageable chunks, and creating manageable tasks of gradually increasing difficulty so students move from passive, basic understanding to thorough, applicable knowledge and skills. Research from linguists like Stephen Krashen suggests students need high quality “input” in order to be able to eventually produce high quality “output” (papers, presentations, portfolios, etc).

I have used the current French 101, 102, 103 and 203 textbook for almost ten years. The supporting materials I have developed for these courses are all tied to the chapter organization and content of Chez Nous, published by Pearson. Their robust online workbook, MyFrenchLab, contains tutorials, flashcards, grammatical explanations, and other resources. While I like many things about the textbook and online materials, the sequencing is somewhat illogical, the cultural examples within each chapter are almost all from France while the Francophone world is almost exclusively covered in the supplementary material relegated to the pages between chapters, it relies heavily on childish drawings in an infantilizing way, and many of the exercises are simplistic. On top of that, it is around $250 for the full package! The high cost is likely a result of the "supplemental" videos and accompanying activities that we rarely use. Even if we use it over three semesters, it's still an exorbitant price for something that we can only use pieces of due to time constraints. 

I am increasingly aware that in the field of second language teaching many teachers are moving towards a self-created curriculum. The belief is integrating real resources will enhance student’s cultural competence, an increasingly important facet of language learning in this global age. I have not yet had the time to carefully research, read, and analyze what the recognized experts in the field are currently doing. This process, including distilling down all the information into a collection of best practices will require considerable time.

I have long wanted to move away from a textbook in these courses. A close friend who teaches French at Cornell College, Dr. Devan Baty, also uses Chez Nous. We have both explored the recommendations from groups like ACTFL (The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) and the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French), are similarly disenchanted with Chez Nous, and are similarly poised to undertake a challenge. 

All of these curricular changes will lead to substantial pedagogical change. Currently, I give students a homework syllabus for each chapter which indicates what page numbers to work on each day. It notes if there is homework and where to complete it (MyFrenchLab, Canvas, or on paper). Most exercises in MyFrenchLab are assessed by the software and students see their errors after submitting them. Before each class period, I review the grades on the exercises and note which were problematic for students. Then I build in time during the lesson to address those common errors. Having taught the courses with the existing curriculum for so many years, it is relatively easy to plan lessons because the general framework is in place. I slightly revise things, ensure there is time to address common errors, cull activities that did not work in the past and add new ones.

Here are some of the ways my pedagogy will change. All of my chapter syllabi and many of the worksheets and activities will become obsolete because they rely on Chez Nous’s sequencing in introducing culture, grammar and vocabulary. Those that can still be used will need to be revised so they fit seamlessly into the new curricular sequence. To ensure class time is spent using the language in authentic ways, not simply talking about it, I want to adopt a more thoroughly “flipped classroom” model. This will involve creating or finding and vetting videos explaining the major grammar concepts that students will view outside of class. I will need to develop comprehension exercises verifying that students understand the concepts in the videos. I will need to create a variety of activities ranging from simple to complex tasks to apply the concepts. Each unit will weave together an authentic text, related vocabulary and grammar, culture, and will culminate in a meaningful project. One model I am exploring is an “integrated performance assessment” (IPA) designed to build proficiency with clusters of assignments that reflect interpretive, interpersonal or presentational communication. All of these changes must be carefully undertaken so there is clear scaffolding to support students' growth so their proficiency develops. 

A key component of this process is creating a central, searchable repository of authentic materials. There are TONS of curated lists out there from organizations like the Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and others. A search of YouTube videos for a given concept will yield hundreds, if not thousands of options. There are hundreds of websites for museums, monuments, newspapers, podcasts, etc, all produced in French for native French speakers. How to harness the vast, but daunting potential of all that content? Given that other repositories exist, the goals for ours are:

1. To be tagable and thus SEARCHABLE. We want to be able to tag a resource with multiple modalities (writing, listening, etc), multiple levels (beginning, intermediate, etc), as well as genre and geographic location so it can be leveraged in a multitude of ways
2. To be largely focused on the FRANCOPHONE world
3. To be curating and added to by STUDENTS
4. To be ADA friendly, if not compliant