Language Community of Practice Inaugural Seminar

“Easier to Digest”: A Flipped Approach to L2 Grammar

Join the Language CoP at the Inaugural Seminar, held in person in Ingkarni Wardli or on zoom (Passcode: 202741), and listen to guest speaker Associate Professor Kati Tonkin from the University of Western Australia.

Abstract
Several years ago, I stopped teaching grammar in my German Beginners classes. Instead, my students watch 2-3 short videos each week and complete a preparatory exercise or two before coming to face-to-face classes. In class, they briefly review the new structures and then apply them in further exercises and activities, both written and spoken. In this seminar, I will present my research into the student experience of this approach to L2 teaching, provide an example of how the model works in practice, and show how I’ve experimented with different technologies to present German grammar in ways that students find accessible.

Speaker
Kati Tonkin is an Associate Professor of German Studies and History at the University of Western Australia and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She studied in Germany and Austria before completing her PhD in German and European Studies at the University of Western Australia. Her research focuses on the Jewish Austrian writer Joseph Roth and the student experience of flipped and online learning in higher education. In 2019 she co-founded a UWA-wide Community of Practice dedicated to active learning and the flipped classroom. In German Studies Kati is responsible for the large entry-level unit German Beginners 1 (GRMN1401). This unit is taught in a blended mode, with short video modules preparing students for three hours of language classes where the emphasis is on active learning. She also coordinates and teaches a unit focused on written and oral competency at the intermediate level.