Oya Topçuoğlu Judd - Collaborative Curriculum Design in LCTLs

"Collaborative Curriculum Design in LCTLs: Student-Centered Multimodal Approaches Using Authentic Media"
Oya Topçuoğlu Judd
Associate Professor of Instruction in Turkish, Northwestern University
As LCTL instructors, we frequently face the challenge of sourcing high-quality, engaging teaching materials that transcend the limitations of traditional textbooks and rely on technology-mediated, multimodal language learning practices and methodology. This is one aspect of language instruction in LCTLs, and especially in single-instructor LCTL programs, where collaboration can be vital. Working together with colleagues, leveraging shared resources, and pooling expertise can significantly enhance the quality and impact of language instruction, both for students and instructors.
At Northwestern University’s Turkish Language Program, we have addressed this issue by collaborating across languages and institutions to develop innovative courses that integrate authentic media and cultural content to enhance language learning and cultural competence in our students. In this talk, I will discuss these collaborative efforts and present two courses that resulted from these collaborations: our first-year course Elementary Turkish through TV Shows and Istanbul: Gateway Between the East and the West, the capstone course of our two-year program.
Our elementary-level course utilizes Turkish TV shows as a core component of the curriculum to promote active engagement and cultural competence. Turkish TV shows, which reach 750 million people across 152 countries, offer enormous potential as authentic teaching materials, providing real-world language exposure and connecting students with engaging, culturally relevant content. In this talk, I will discuss the process of selecting and incorporating TV shows into our existing curriculum, the technological challenges we faced, and share examples of our teaching materials. My goal is to provide concrete tools and strategies for collaborative curriculum design within and across languages, and share materials that can be easily adapted to different skill levels and contexts.
Our capstone course, Istanbul: Gateway Between the East and West, is designed as a content-based, proficiency-oriented course aimed at Intermediate Mid-level learners. This thematic course offers a deep, multifaceted exploration of Istanbul, covering a wide array of topics, from the history and monuments of the city to its representation in modern literature and the challenges of everyday life. By focusing on these diverse subjects, the course encourages students to engage with broader cultural, political, and social issues within the context of the city. I will outline our efforts to create this innovative course content through reverse design, source authentic materials, design proficiency-oriented tasks, and adopt online and interactive tools to enhance student participation and learning.
Bio: Oya Topçuoğlu Judd is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Middle East and North African Languages Program at Northwestern University. Dr. Topçuoğlu Judd teaches on a range of subjects, including modern Turkish language and culture, and the history and archaeology of the Middle East. She holds a Ph.D. in the Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in Ottoman History from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. Dr. Topçuoğlu Judd is an archaeologist by training, who specializes in the art, archaeology, and history of ancient Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Her research addresses issues of social identity and cultural exchange, and the effects of political change and ideology on the material record of the ancient Middle East. In addition to her work on iconography and symbolism, Dr. Topçuoğlu Judd studies the looting and illegal trafficking of antiquities from Iraq and Syria, the political uses of the ancient past, and its role in the formation of national identities in the modern Middle East. She is particularly interested in the history of archaeology and museums, and cultural heritage preservation in her native Turkey.