Foreign language students and professors alike have had to adapt to online learning this semester, as online classes make communication difficult for subjects best taught face-to-face.
When Ohio University elected to go online this Fall Semester, professors and students had to learn to adjust to a difficult learning format. Some professors have found success using programs like Microsoft Teams that imitate face-to-face interaction, but it does not have the same effect as communicating with someone in front of you, foreign language professors say.
Italian professor Molly Morrison, one of two remaining Italian instructors at OU who teach beginning and advanced Italian, said she has given a lot of time to developing an online format for her classes that works synchronously. Through the use of Teams, Morrison has been able to encourage oral practice of the language in breakout rooms.
“We (Italian teachers) were concerned with creating something to the best of our abilities that would be enriching and pleasant for students despite all of the numerous limitations,” Morrison said. “To learn the language, just by yourself … it is a very sterile and superficial way of trying to learn and certainly does not foster the ability to verbally communicate in that language.”
As a result of her online teaching, Morrison has learned more about students' tendencies when learning.
“What I’ve found, ironically, is students change very little. You will always have the students that come to class prepared… and then you'll have those that do not. So I have seen that the environment of (being) online does not change the behavior of students,” Morrison said.
While some students have reached out to Morrison, others have not. To combat this, she holds individual conferences with her students to check in with their work and how they’re doing. Rather than assuming a student has not done their work when they don’t show up for class, professors need to hold a new understanding for their students, Morrison said.
French professor Yolande Helm, who teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced French, has also used Teams as a way to synchronously meet with her classes. Helm has utilized asynchronous classes as well, but has regular video calls.
“Talking to them on Teams motivates students and gives them a chance to communicate directly with me … communicating with students has been my main concern. It is challenging, yet feasible,” Helm said in an email.
Helm emphasizes that taking a foreign language right now is hard work and patience is a virtue.
“If students wish to succeed, they must be patient with themselves and with others. They also should realize that online courses require some self-learning and self-discipline,” Helm said in an email.
For American Sign Language professor Cheryl Prusinski, teaching ASL has become just as, if not more, difficult than before. Prusinski has been teaching ASL at OU for four years. When speaking with nonfluent ASL speakers, she must communicate with an interpreter.
“ASL is a visual-based language … so teaching sign online, it really depends on the quality of the video,” Prusinski said.
Prusinski has utilized several strategies teaching sign language, including video meetings, recorded lectures and video assignments. For each unit, around 50 students will upload a video that she’ll have to watch, which is a challenging and time-consuming process, Prusinski said.
Prusinski has tried to use breakout rooms to get students talking to receive feedback. Without the natural in-person environment though, many students have struggled.
“There were some students who found it to be far too overwhelming and too challenging, because again, ASL is a very complicated language, and you need a lot of time to be able to invest,” Prusinski said. “Students really need to be able to have that full visual ability … to be able to see those grammatical features that happen on the face … that's part of the language.”
Despite all of these struggles for foreign language professors, Morrison, Helm and Prusinski strongly encourage students to join foreign language classes.
“It expands your horizons and gives you hope beyond what's only here in front of us … there is another world out there … explore that world and learn about others in that world,” Morrison said.
Even despite the setbacks, many students have found learning foreign languages even online to be a worthy endeavor.
Autumn Whiteman, a freshman studying Spanish Education, is currently taking an advanced Spanish class right now, which is taught synchronously over Teams.
“Class engagement is really high and I have been able to get more comfortable with speaking in front of a group without feeling the fear of a larger classroom,” Whiteman said.
Her only suggestion for professors would be to remain extra clear during this challenging time since online format makes it harder to ask questions.
