Tackling a new language is daunting for many students, but it can also be highly rewarding, boost their confidence, and help them acquire many skills that they can apply to other disciplines. This round-table discussion will focus on strategies to support beginning language learners throughout the semester so that they make steady, palpable progress. Each speaker will share specific approaches they have taken in first-year French courses with the objective of increasing intrinsic motivation, promoting self-directed learning, and cultivating flow states in and out of class. The examples to be shared include Social-Emotional Learning practices, the development of a fully online, customized Open Educational Resource (OER) curriculum, multiple low-stake assignments and assessments, flexible due dates, and other forms of differentiation. To a great extent, these approaches are informed by a radical shift in perspective gained while studying and teaching during the pandemic.

Our primary motivations for adopting an open textbook were to reduce costs to students and increase accessibility. The greatest long-term advantage of adopting OER, however, has been taking advantage of the Creative Commons license that allows for remixing. Each semester that we use it, we can update content as needed, creating a “living textbook” that responds to the needs of our program and of our learners as they evolve.