I wanted to let people know that my blog will be on hiatus for a while. I hope to return to blogging about technology and teaching soon.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
iTalki Site Review
italki was reviewed by Turkan, Quanya and Randy.
italki is a language learning social network site. One of the distinguishing features of this site is how it links professional teachers or informal tutors with learners of a particular language. Professional teachers are expected to conduct courses similar to classroom-based language classes and are paid for their service. The method of payment is through the italki credits. It is worth pointing out that iTalki takes 15% commission on the money earned by teachers. The classes are offered online through Skype and must be arranged to fit to the instructor's schedule. Informal tutors are "near-native speakers" in the target language. Both of these teaching roles require an online application.
There is also a language partners section of the site where you can link up with speakers of the language and practice the language. You can view the participants levels in the language, which helps you make decisions about your choice in language partner. Once your are language partners, then you follow one another to respond to messages.
In addition to Skype, site participants also interact through the "notebook," "answers," and "discussions" tabs where you can read posts by users from a specific language group. This way you can see the types of questions and comments that have been posted by users. This seems to be the asynchronous section of the site.
In general there seems to be a lack of professional teachers featured on the site. We looked at Turkish teachers and found only one professional teacher. What is nice about the message boards is that it seems users are fairly responsive in making corrections to postings in a timely manner.
italki is a language learning social network site. One of the distinguishing features of this site is how it links professional teachers or informal tutors with learners of a particular language. Professional teachers are expected to conduct courses similar to classroom-based language classes and are paid for their service. The method of payment is through the italki credits. It is worth pointing out that iTalki takes 15% commission on the money earned by teachers. The classes are offered online through Skype and must be arranged to fit to the instructor's schedule. Informal tutors are "near-native speakers" in the target language. Both of these teaching roles require an online application.
There is also a language partners section of the site where you can link up with speakers of the language and practice the language. You can view the participants levels in the language, which helps you make decisions about your choice in language partner. Once your are language partners, then you follow one another to respond to messages.
In addition to Skype, site participants also interact through the "notebook," "answers," and "discussions" tabs where you can read posts by users from a specific language group. This way you can see the types of questions and comments that have been posted by users. This seems to be the asynchronous section of the site.
In general there seems to be a lack of professional teachers featured on the site. We looked at Turkish teachers and found only one professional teacher. What is nice about the message boards is that it seems users are fairly responsive in making corrections to postings in a timely manner.
Monday, April 22, 2013
WK 13: Computer Based Testing
This past week we covered the topic of computers and language testing. There were a number of benefits and drawbacks that we discussed. In this blog post I highlight some of those.
An advantage for using computer based testing relates to practicality. It is saves on time and resources when a computer delivers the directions for the exam and the questions. Scoring is also a much more efficient process on the computer. Another advantage mentioned in the DuBravac (2013) chapter was that test items can be enhanced in online formats.Animation, video, audio, and pull-down menus can all be used to enhance more traditional types of testing items.It was also been discussed that computer rating systems are more reliable than human raters because the issue of rater bias is not a factor.
Despite these advantages, there are a number of unresolved aspects of computer based testing that make implementation questionable. For starters, automated scoring programs such as ETS Criterion can only assess certain aspects of production. In writing, for example, it is difficult to assess more discourse-level organization features than grammatical features using automated scoring. This is one area where I believe using a computer is still not as effective as a human rater. Doug Hesse has recently made a similar argument in an article written for the Washington Post.
Another issue with computer based testing has to do with fairness. A test should be fair and equally accessible to all learners. However, as was brought up in class, even in such a technology savvy age there are still some learners that have little to no experience using computers. So designing tests that rely upon computers could be unfair to these learners. Some learners also have anxiety using technology, so using a computer based test could raise the level of anxiety, which in a high stakes testing situation, is likely to already be at a high level to begin with.
An advantage for using computer based testing relates to practicality. It is saves on time and resources when a computer delivers the directions for the exam and the questions. Scoring is also a much more efficient process on the computer. Another advantage mentioned in the DuBravac (2013) chapter was that test items can be enhanced in online formats.Animation, video, audio, and pull-down menus can all be used to enhance more traditional types of testing items.It was also been discussed that computer rating systems are more reliable than human raters because the issue of rater bias is not a factor.
Despite these advantages, there are a number of unresolved aspects of computer based testing that make implementation questionable. For starters, automated scoring programs such as ETS Criterion can only assess certain aspects of production. In writing, for example, it is difficult to assess more discourse-level organization features than grammatical features using automated scoring. This is one area where I believe using a computer is still not as effective as a human rater. Doug Hesse has recently made a similar argument in an article written for the Washington Post.
Another issue with computer based testing has to do with fairness. A test should be fair and equally accessible to all learners. However, as was brought up in class, even in such a technology savvy age there are still some learners that have little to no experience using computers. So designing tests that rely upon computers could be unfair to these learners. Some learners also have anxiety using technology, so using a computer based test could raise the level of anxiety, which in a high stakes testing situation, is likely to already be at a high level to begin with.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Culture and CALL
This week we focused on the topic of teaching culture with CALL tools. We read Guth & Helm's (2012) chapter, which gave a nice framework for explaining culture and how hard to pin down this concept is. In our class discussions we also talked about the essentialist and non-essentialist approaches to culture.
I am quite critical of the way in which culture is sometimes taught and thought of in connection with language learning. Dan mentions in his blog post about some of the problems that arise when teachers think they should be teaching culture along with language. My experience is similar to Dan's, as my Chinese language learning experiences often involved learning meaningless dialogues about some aspect of Chinese culture. It seems that teachers feel they can easily teach some traditional practice of their culture as a way to embed culture within language learning. However, I think these approaches often do little to address students' pressing communicative language needs. If I am learning Chinese, for example, how beneficial will learning about Chinese tea serving customs really help me? In general, I think for some teachers sharing something about their own culture is rather self-serving.
Despite of my critical view on teaching culture, I do believe there is a place for some aspects of culture and language learning and the connection to CALL. Kerry Pusey has been looking into teaching different speech acts through the use of sitcom segments via youtube. In discussing aspects of American culture as they relate to the completion or failure of different speech acts, I feel the connection between culture and language is very apparent. To me, this is perhaps one of the most applicable ways to use CALL to teach culture, especially if the speech acts have been identified as ones the learners will need to know to function in the target culture.
I am quite critical of the way in which culture is sometimes taught and thought of in connection with language learning. Dan mentions in his blog post about some of the problems that arise when teachers think they should be teaching culture along with language. My experience is similar to Dan's, as my Chinese language learning experiences often involved learning meaningless dialogues about some aspect of Chinese culture. It seems that teachers feel they can easily teach some traditional practice of their culture as a way to embed culture within language learning. However, I think these approaches often do little to address students' pressing communicative language needs. If I am learning Chinese, for example, how beneficial will learning about Chinese tea serving customs really help me? In general, I think for some teachers sharing something about their own culture is rather self-serving.
Despite of my critical view on teaching culture, I do believe there is a place for some aspects of culture and language learning and the connection to CALL. Kerry Pusey has been looking into teaching different speech acts through the use of sitcom segments via youtube. In discussing aspects of American culture as they relate to the completion or failure of different speech acts, I feel the connection between culture and language is very apparent. To me, this is perhaps one of the most applicable ways to use CALL to teach culture, especially if the speech acts have been identified as ones the learners will need to know to function in the target culture.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Culture Learning Activity (with K. Pusey)
Student level: upper intermediate
L1: mixed
Target culture: American culture
Main features: use Web 2.0 tools to promote culture
learn/break essentialist views
Breaking essentialist views of culture
1.
Ask students to write down 1 or 2 stereotypes/images/things
they think about when they think of “American culture”
a.
Give examples: guns, fast food, obesity, military, pop
music, hamburgers, Budweiser, white people
2.
Have Ss research the topic to break their essentialist
view: search for counter-examples of the vie the initially express (fast-food
vs. slow food; guns vs. anti-gun control; hamburger vs. vegetarian/vegan; gangs
vs. youth advocacy groups; Budweiser vs. non-alcoholic party drinks)
a.
Use 2 different Web 2.0 sources (ex. blogs, podcasts,
social media sites, Twitter, search hashtags)
b.
Search the hashtag #gangs on Twitter as an example
c.
Go to Google blogs and search for “_____ blog” as
another example
3.
Write a summary of findings and post images from Tumblr
or other site
a.
Summary/writing topic: Have Ss write a summary that
answers the following questions:
i. What
aspect of American culture did you select?
ii. Why
did you choose this topic?
iii. What
did you find out from reading the blogs and/or listening to the podcasts that
was new to you and/or different from what you thought before reading/listening?
4.
Post their findings on course wiki
5.
Report findings in class (next class)
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Reflection on Writing and Grammar: Blogs
In the discussions about using CALL applications to focus on writing and grammar, one of the more interesting topics for me was Katie's presentation about using blogs for responding to readings in a writing course. I think the idea of using blogs to encourage response to readings is appealing, but there are a number of problematic aspects about implementing them that Katie discussed. Some of these relate to motivation, commenting on others blogs and grading responses.
In general, I think using blogs to respond to course readings can be difficult to get going. I think at the beginning of a course where a teacher plans to implement blogs it would be helpful to orient learners to this medium and the genre of a reading response. Perhaps the first week could be spent on having learners pick out features of a blog posting they feel is thoughtful and shows someone has read the materials well. This would help build the context some before diving into writing them.
It would also be helpful for the teacher to work with the students to create a rubric for grading the blogs. In the process of analyzing other reading response blogs, the students and the teacher could co-create a checklist or rubric of features of a good blog post and good comment. They could also agree on how many comments they feel would be appropriate each week.
Katie mentioned that it is important to assign student blog groups, so that that students are responsible for checking a few student's blogs and exchanging comments on them each week. To keep the blogging from become stale, it might also be helpful to switch the blog groups every 2-3 weeks so that students could be assigned a different classmates' blog to read.
While blogging has been around for a while and is widely used in writing courses, this presentation gave me some new ideas to consider if I decide implement a blog in a writing/reading course in the future. The last idea I think would be fun to try would be to have L2 learners blog about the graded readers they are reading as part of an extensive reading program.
In general, I think using blogs to respond to course readings can be difficult to get going. I think at the beginning of a course where a teacher plans to implement blogs it would be helpful to orient learners to this medium and the genre of a reading response. Perhaps the first week could be spent on having learners pick out features of a blog posting they feel is thoughtful and shows someone has read the materials well. This would help build the context some before diving into writing them.
It would also be helpful for the teacher to work with the students to create a rubric for grading the blogs. In the process of analyzing other reading response blogs, the students and the teacher could co-create a checklist or rubric of features of a good blog post and good comment. They could also agree on how many comments they feel would be appropriate each week.
Katie mentioned that it is important to assign student blog groups, so that that students are responsible for checking a few student's blogs and exchanging comments on them each week. To keep the blogging from become stale, it might also be helpful to switch the blog groups every 2-3 weeks so that students could be assigned a different classmates' blog to read.
While blogging has been around for a while and is widely used in writing courses, this presentation gave me some new ideas to consider if I decide implement a blog in a writing/reading course in the future. The last idea I think would be fun to try would be to have L2 learners blog about the graded readers they are reading as part of an extensive reading program.
Reflection on Listening and Speaking with CALL: Podcasts
There are many ways to integrate the language skills of listening and speaking with CALL tools. In this blog post I will restrict my reflection to the use of podcasts and its teaching and learning potential.
We discussed the use of podcasts for teaching pronunciation in class. It seems that the researchers who conducted this study were hoping that repeated recordings with the podcasts would draw learners attention to pronunciation in order to get them to improve it while presenting on a study abroad theme.
I'm not so sure having learners create podcasts in order to evaluate aspects of their language production is the best use of the technology. Rather, I see it more applicable to task-based approaches where learners podcast is used to create a desired outcome. Through the process of creating the podcasts there will be an opportunity to focus on form, but it is not likely that learners will improve their pronunciation or lexical/grammatical accuracy through such a project alone.
Paul Nation has discussed how language teaching should include four different strands: language-focused input, language-focused output, fluency, and language-focused learning. I feel like podcasts are more appropriate for the language-focused output. If I were to have learners engage in language-focused learning, on say, pronunciation features of language, I would consider using a type of pronunciation software instead.
We discussed the use of podcasts for teaching pronunciation in class. It seems that the researchers who conducted this study were hoping that repeated recordings with the podcasts would draw learners attention to pronunciation in order to get them to improve it while presenting on a study abroad theme.
I'm not so sure having learners create podcasts in order to evaluate aspects of their language production is the best use of the technology. Rather, I see it more applicable to task-based approaches where learners podcast is used to create a desired outcome. Through the process of creating the podcasts there will be an opportunity to focus on form, but it is not likely that learners will improve their pronunciation or lexical/grammatical accuracy through such a project alone.
Paul Nation has discussed how language teaching should include four different strands: language-focused input, language-focused output, fluency, and language-focused learning. I feel like podcasts are more appropriate for the language-focused output. If I were to have learners engage in language-focused learning, on say, pronunciation features of language, I would consider using a type of pronunciation software instead.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Materials Development 2: CALLaborative Podcast Project
The activity discussed in this materials development blog entry is adapted from a project outlined by Arena and Cruvinel (2010). This project integrates task-based learning with Web 2.0 to encourage collaborative interaction among learners while they work on a podcast project. Arena and Cruvinel outline a number reasons for using a podcast project while adapting a task-based learning approach, which I believe would be appropriate for using with the high school student population I will be teaching this fall. Some of the benefits the authors discuss are that learners are able to see the outcomes of their language skills in a concrete outcome and they would engage in interaction with their peers while creating the podcast.The lesson plan demonstrates how throughout different steps of the podcast creation students focus on many different aspects of language, such as reading, writing, listening, speaking and pronunciation.
One of the difficulties I see in creating a task-based project like this one is that it requires the teacher to plan and coordinate steps of the project carefully. If care is not taken to approach such a project in a systematic manner, then the project is not likely to achieve its desired results. The steps outlined by Arena and Cruvinel (2010) address the need for a structured approach to designing the podcast project and are briefly outlined below to help frame how I would design a similar project.
Considering that my students would be located in Istanbul, I would focus on finding topics that relate to their immediate surroundings of the city and their lives. Ideas that students might come up with are things to do in Istanbul, including visiting mosques, restaurants, and the grand bizaar. Students could also discuss stereotypes about their culture, as mentioned by Arena and Cruvinel (2010). This could connect to reading or listening input given to learners prior to beginning the project. After the students have decided upon a topic, then the collaborative group work on the projects would begin. Students would use audacity to record and create their podcast. The podcast would be stored on the hosting site PodOmatic. The lesson planned below outlines this portion of the project.
References
Arena, C. & Cruvinel, E. (2010). Learning through CALLaborative projects using web 2.0 tools. In Shehadeh, A. & Coombe, C. (Eds.). Applications of task-based learning in TESOL. Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL.
One of the difficulties I see in creating a task-based project like this one is that it requires the teacher to plan and coordinate steps of the project carefully. If care is not taken to approach such a project in a systematic manner, then the project is not likely to achieve its desired results. The steps outlined by Arena and Cruvinel (2010) address the need for a structured approach to designing the podcast project and are briefly outlined below to help frame how I would design a similar project.
- Step1: Identify a need and a purpose
- Step 2: Negotiate meaningful topics and with learners
- Step 3: Define a concrete result
- Step 4: Choose the right tools
- Step 5: Find and invite partners
- Step 6: Prepare a schedule
- Step 7: Plan the tasks
- Step 8: Implement the project
- Step 9: Aggregate the artifacts
- Step 10: Evaluate the project
Considering that my students would be located in Istanbul, I would focus on finding topics that relate to their immediate surroundings of the city and their lives. Ideas that students might come up with are things to do in Istanbul, including visiting mosques, restaurants, and the grand bizaar. Students could also discuss stereotypes about their culture, as mentioned by Arena and Cruvinel (2010). This could connect to reading or listening input given to learners prior to beginning the project. After the students have decided upon a topic, then the collaborative group work on the projects would begin. Students would use audacity to record and create their podcast. The podcast would be stored on the hosting site PodOmatic. The lesson planned below outlines this portion of the project.
References
Arena, C. & Cruvinel, E. (2010). Learning through CALLaborative projects using web 2.0 tools. In Shehadeh, A. & Coombe, C. (Eds.). Applications of task-based learning in TESOL. Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Reflection on Reading and Vocabulary
There were a number of applications brought up in class and the readings that I think have potential for teaching reading and vocabulary. Robert Godwin-Jones (2010) mentions how Lextutor has a number of useful tools for integrating texts and vocabulary. Another tool he mentions is Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) from Tufts University, which can be used to create concept maps. Students could possibly create concept maps around a concept that is important for a particular reading and then share those maps with the class. There seems to be support for the use of multi-media glosses for teaching reading and vocabulary (Chen, 2012). However, I'm not sure what is gained in using such glosses over traditionally created glosses, unless further information such as frequency and multiple aspects of word knowledge can be accessed through these glosses.
None of the readings mentioned how graded reader publishers are now offering their books for the i-pad and or in digitized format, although they mention the possibility of this. I think that there is a lot of potential in this area. Black Cat is one publisher that is now offering digital graded readers, which feature a number of interactive activities accompanying them. In the demo version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, for example, readers can listen to the text being read out loud with the text being highlighted as the passages are read. A highlight and pen tool allows readers to highlight and mark places in their text. Students can click on comprehension questions to help them monitor their comprehension as they read. They can also click on hyperlinks to discover more information about the author and do vocabulary matching activities.
None of the readings mentioned how graded reader publishers are now offering their books for the i-pad and or in digitized format, although they mention the possibility of this. I think that there is a lot of potential in this area. Black Cat is one publisher that is now offering digital graded readers, which feature a number of interactive activities accompanying them. In the demo version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, for example, readers can listen to the text being read out loud with the text being highlighted as the passages are read. A highlight and pen tool allows readers to highlight and mark places in their text. Students can click on comprehension questions to help them monitor their comprehension as they read. They can also click on hyperlinks to discover more information about the author and do vocabulary matching activities.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Week 8 Asynchronous CMC
In this blog post I have embedded a rough audio reflection using the Audioboo to describe how I have used different Asynchronous CMC tools.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Week 7 Synchronous CMC
My own take on synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) is that is often unprincipled or structured. This was brought up in our reading. DuBravac (2013) mentions that even though there is a an abundant amount of literature citing the benefits of CMC in language learning, little if any literature is available highlighting the use of effective and well-structured tasks using CMC.
I have a hard time seeing how chat rooms or texting can be structured to promote language learning. DuBravac (2013) mentions a number of criteria such as limiting the number of participants, having time limits and identifying a clear goal that students can complete in the time allotted to them. Of these, I feel the latter to be the most critical. Having used programs such as Apple's Facetime with L2 learners in the past, I feel it can be difficult to structure effective tasks. The examples listed in the reading included information-gap activities and problem solving activities. While interesting examples in and of themselves, I have difficulty seeing how the time it might take to train students on using a chatroom, monitoring it, and setting up the tasks would be more advantageous than using non-computer methods to set up a similar activity.
I have a hard time seeing how chat rooms or texting can be structured to promote language learning. DuBravac (2013) mentions a number of criteria such as limiting the number of participants, having time limits and identifying a clear goal that students can complete in the time allotted to them. Of these, I feel the latter to be the most critical. Having used programs such as Apple's Facetime with L2 learners in the past, I feel it can be difficult to structure effective tasks. The examples listed in the reading included information-gap activities and problem solving activities. While interesting examples in and of themselves, I have difficulty seeing how the time it might take to train students on using a chatroom, monitoring it, and setting up the tasks would be more advantageous than using non-computer methods to set up a similar activity.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Lesson Plan Using Concordance Lines
I have created the following lesson for my CALL course.
Overview
The lesson plan below makes use of concordance lines from corpus websites such as Mark Davies' COCA. It is designed to provide students with a scaffolded use of concordance lines to learn new academic vocabulary words. The words have been chosen from a reading that students in a level 5 PIE course encounter in their reading texts.
I have chosen to use the corpus-based materials to provide learners with more exposure to learning vocabulary from context, which is one of the objectives of the course that I am teaching. I have chosen to use paper-based materials rather than have learners use online corpus research tools because I feel it is important to scaffold learners' use of concordance lines prior to having them use computer resources.
I also feel that these activities can help supplement the weak vocabulary coverage usually found in English reading textbooks. Providing learners with more exposure to how vocabulary is used in context through concordance lines can also help to show how words tend to be used with different collocates.
Overview
The lesson plan below makes use of concordance lines from corpus websites such as Mark Davies' COCA. It is designed to provide students with a scaffolded use of concordance lines to learn new academic vocabulary words. The words have been chosen from a reading that students in a level 5 PIE course encounter in their reading texts.
I have chosen to use the corpus-based materials to provide learners with more exposure to learning vocabulary from context, which is one of the objectives of the course that I am teaching. I have chosen to use paper-based materials rather than have learners use online corpus research tools because I feel it is important to scaffold learners' use of concordance lines prior to having them use computer resources.
I also feel that these activities can help supplement the weak vocabulary coverage usually found in English reading textbooks. Providing learners with more exposure to how vocabulary is used in context through concordance lines can also help to show how words tend to be used with different collocates.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Using Socrative to Review Vocabulary
In this post, I describe the steps of a lesson plan that involves the integration of Socrative.com as a type of vocabulary review exercise. This is being used to help students review synonyms that students need to know associated with specific vocabulary words they encounter in the course readings. It is important that students know how to use synonyms for specific vocabulary words in an integrated reading/writing course because it is included in the ability to summarize and paraphrase what you read.
Introduction:
The vocabulary review includes a number of multiple choice
type items that help prepare students for the key vocabulary/synonyms that will
be featured on the achievement tests. It contains selected words from Reading
Explorer 4, chapters 7A, 7B and 9A. Some of the review items are from topics
covered in the readings, while others have been adapted from the Corpus of
Contemporary English (COCA) to ensure they feature the most frequent
collocations.
Teacher Set-up:
The quiz involves students logging on using their
smartphones. The teacher should access socrative.com and set up an account beforehand.
Then, they can select the “import quiz function” and enter this number: “SOC-856897”.
This will allow you to add the quiz to your teacher module
in socrative.com
Next you need to create a space race so that learners can
team up into groups and compete against one another. To get an idea of how you
can set up a space race using socrative, watch this quick youtube tutorial
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wNnVUKVIAc
Review of Steps:
- Access the main menu of socrative.
- Select space race. This will display the room number and ask you how many teams to assign students. If you have a class similar in size to mine (13 students), then you can choose 3-4 so that there are roughly 3-4 students in a group. You can auto select colors or give students a choice.
- Once you have selected these options, a new window opens that displays the room number, how many students have selected a team, and what colors have been selected.
- Students can google socrative.com using their smartphones. This will bring up either the student or teacher version. They should click on the student version. Then they will be prompted to enter the classroom number (which you will project on a screen to the class).
- As students are logging on, assign them groups and have them choose the colors. Students should enter their names when they are asked to (this allows for you to view their individual performance). Once the site shows that every student has logged in, you can begin the space race. If a student doesn’t have a smartphone, then they can take turns submitting answers on a classmate’s phone.
- After students have completed the space race and you have congratulated the winning team, ask students if there were words they didn’t know. What words gave them difficulties in the quiz? These are words that warrant more discussion and that they need to study to be prepared for the achievement test.
Monday, February 11, 2013
A Working Phisophy of Integrating Technology in the Language Classroom
In conceptualizing my beliefs on the use of technology in the classroom, I feel it is helpful outline the integration of technology in terms of different roles. The roles I feel that are most important for integration of technology are the following:
I think that before integrating technology into the language classroom some type of needs analysis should be conducted to determine students' attitudes and feelings towards technology. I also believe it is important to collect information on the type of experiences with technology that learners bring with them to the classroom. Is the student a tech savvy web designer or app developer? Or did the student come from an environment where little if no technology existed? This background inventory will help me make future decisions about how, when, and if I will integrate technology into the classroom. Even if I come up with the most interactive and engaging lesson using technology, it will fall flat if I have not fully considered the affective concerns of my students.
Teacher Roles
I have come to realize that, as a language teacher using CALL, my roles are multifaceted and ever in flux. There are times where I need to be a resource in using the technology itself. This means that I have considered the types of issues regarding the functionality of various types of applications I introduce to my students. It also means I have walked through the activities I have planned and looked at it from the novice point of view of even the most novice technophobe. In some cases, this results in a teacher-centered classroom where I walk through the use of a specific application and model the use I expect of my students.
There are other times when my role as a teacher is that of a facilitator, a role I take to guide students through the successful use of technology.
The Role of the Curriculum
Just as there are learner needs that should be considered, I also strongly believe that how I use technology in the classroom should align with goals of the course and program-wide goals. I feel it is important to let the curriculum drive the selection of how and when technology is implemented into the classroom. For example, in a curriculum that utilizes a task-based approach, I would want to consider how the use of technology in a pedagogical task aligns with real-world tasks.
- Learner roles
- Teacher roles
- The role of the curriculum
I think that before integrating technology into the language classroom some type of needs analysis should be conducted to determine students' attitudes and feelings towards technology. I also believe it is important to collect information on the type of experiences with technology that learners bring with them to the classroom. Is the student a tech savvy web designer or app developer? Or did the student come from an environment where little if no technology existed? This background inventory will help me make future decisions about how, when, and if I will integrate technology into the classroom. Even if I come up with the most interactive and engaging lesson using technology, it will fall flat if I have not fully considered the affective concerns of my students.
Teacher Roles
I have come to realize that, as a language teacher using CALL, my roles are multifaceted and ever in flux. There are times where I need to be a resource in using the technology itself. This means that I have considered the types of issues regarding the functionality of various types of applications I introduce to my students. It also means I have walked through the activities I have planned and looked at it from the novice point of view of even the most novice technophobe. In some cases, this results in a teacher-centered classroom where I walk through the use of a specific application and model the use I expect of my students.
There are other times when my role as a teacher is that of a facilitator, a role I take to guide students through the successful use of technology.
The Role of the Curriculum
Just as there are learner needs that should be considered, I also strongly believe that how I use technology in the classroom should align with goals of the course and program-wide goals. I feel it is important to let the curriculum drive the selection of how and when technology is implemented into the classroom. For example, in a curriculum that utilizes a task-based approach, I would want to consider how the use of technology in a pedagogical task aligns with real-world tasks.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Week 3 Reflection
Experimenting with Vuvox for Digital Storytelling
This past week Haley Winters and I worked together creating a collage using the program Vuvox. The program allows for you to create a media file box, which you can then upload into what Vuvox calls a collage. This collage allows for you to upload text bubbles on images, upload videos and embed background music. For my digital story I used the background sound to upload a sound file that gives an overview of the use of the get passive I prerecorded using audacity.
With the limited amount of time I experimented with Vuvox, I found it to be rather cumbersome to upload videos. It also seemed like a complex task at times to upload them onto the collage. However, the other features seemed to work more efficiently. I think a strong point of the Vuvox is that the drag and drop function in editing mode allows for pictures and media to be added to a collage with ease. I did feel that there were times when the program was unresponsive and slow.
The use of websites in CALL
During the past week we looked at a number of web resources and discussed their potential for language teaching. While we had some difficulties using Hot Potatoes in class, I do see how it could be useful for creating activities for grammar and vocabulary practice. Creating gap-fill activities appears to be one of the most common uses of the site. Although I'm sure there is much more potential for this program than just gap-fill exercises. We also touched on the use of wikis such as google sites.
I feel that it is good to get familiar with these resources and then slowly test them out and assess their potential for use in your own classroom. So I'm looking forward to seeing what other uses there are for the sites we discussed in class.
This past week Haley Winters and I worked together creating a collage using the program Vuvox. The program allows for you to create a media file box, which you can then upload into what Vuvox calls a collage. This collage allows for you to upload text bubbles on images, upload videos and embed background music. For my digital story I used the background sound to upload a sound file that gives an overview of the use of the get passive I prerecorded using audacity.
With the limited amount of time I experimented with Vuvox, I found it to be rather cumbersome to upload videos. It also seemed like a complex task at times to upload them onto the collage. However, the other features seemed to work more efficiently. I think a strong point of the Vuvox is that the drag and drop function in editing mode allows for pictures and media to be added to a collage with ease. I did feel that there were times when the program was unresponsive and slow.
The use of websites in CALL
During the past week we looked at a number of web resources and discussed their potential for language teaching. While we had some difficulties using Hot Potatoes in class, I do see how it could be useful for creating activities for grammar and vocabulary practice. Creating gap-fill activities appears to be one of the most common uses of the site. Although I'm sure there is much more potential for this program than just gap-fill exercises. We also touched on the use of wikis such as google sites.
I feel that it is good to get familiar with these resources and then slowly test them out and assess their potential for use in your own classroom. So I'm looking forward to seeing what other uses there are for the sites we discussed in class.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Experimenting with Vuvox for Digital Storytelling
As an assignment for our CALL class, Haley Winters and I created a collage with Vuvox.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Evaluating CALL Resources
This past week we focused on evaluating CALL software. Three of the frameworks for evaluating CALL that were mentioned in class were Methodological Frameworks, Checklists, and SLA Approaches (Hubbard, 2006). In this blog post I comment on each one of these.
Methodological Frameworks based on Language Teaching
The methodological framework approach takes a more broad approach than checklists. Examples of checklists can be found on CALICO's software review guidelines.Teacher fit, learner fit, activities, and technology features are the four broad parts of the framework used by CALICO. What I like about the framework used here is that the technological evaluation is paired with a strong orientation towards defining how it will benefit the learner and how it can be used in teaching. Hubbard (2006) points out that until the 1980s evaluation of CALL was left to checklists adapted from general education, so the methodological framework approach takes a step in the right direction by better addressing language learning and teaching.
Checklists
Checklists have been criticized for overemphasizing technological aspects at the sake of not covering language pedagogy adequately. However, I think that if they are detailed enough they can be effective in giving language teachers an evaluative criteria that can quickly applied to a software. Both the SLA and Methodological approach are not as easy to apply to reviewing an application for making quick decisions on whether or not to use it in a language course. I think that the checklists handed out in class by Dr. Smart demonstrate the ease of use factor.
SLA-Based Approaches
One approach used to integrate SLA and CALL is that designed by Jamieson, Chapelle, and Preiss (2005):
1. Language learning potential: The degree of opportunity present for beneficial
focus on form;
2. Learner fit: The amount of opportunity for engagement with language under
appropriate conditions given learner characteristics;
3. Meaning focus: The extent to which learners’ attention is directed toward
the meaning of the language;
4. Authenticity: The degree of correspondence between the learning activity
and target language activities of interest to learners out of the classroom;
5. Positive Impact: The positive effects of the CALL activity on those who
participate in it; and
6. Practicality: The adequacy of resources to support the use of the CALL
activity.
This approach has a considerable amount of overlap with evaluation criteria of assessments, which is understandable given the researchers interest in language assessment as well. To me, this approach is not really intuitive and has some of the same ambiguity that I felt is apparent in the evaluative criteria used for reviewing language tests. I feel one would have to be trained in using such an evaluative approach and see a number of examples of it being applied first for it to make sense.
I think of three types of approaches, I prefer the methodological framework. In looking at the description of the review criteria posted on the CALICO website, it seems to me it is the approach that make the most sense for me and is the most approachable. Finally, I think it is interesting to look at the reviews of different CALL tools that have been posted on the site to better understand how evaluative criteria can be put to use.
References
Hubbard, P. (2006). "Evaluating CALL Software," in Lara Ducate and Nike Arnold (eds.) Calling on CALL: From Theory and Research to New Directions in Foreign Language Teaching. San Marcos, TX: CALICO.
Jamieson, J., Chapelle, C., & Preiss, S. (2005). CALL Evaluation by developers, a teacher, and students. CALICO Journal, 23 (1), 93-138.
Methodological Frameworks based on Language Teaching
The methodological framework approach takes a more broad approach than checklists. Examples of checklists can be found on CALICO's software review guidelines.Teacher fit, learner fit, activities, and technology features are the four broad parts of the framework used by CALICO. What I like about the framework used here is that the technological evaluation is paired with a strong orientation towards defining how it will benefit the learner and how it can be used in teaching. Hubbard (2006) points out that until the 1980s evaluation of CALL was left to checklists adapted from general education, so the methodological framework approach takes a step in the right direction by better addressing language learning and teaching.
Checklists
Checklists have been criticized for overemphasizing technological aspects at the sake of not covering language pedagogy adequately. However, I think that if they are detailed enough they can be effective in giving language teachers an evaluative criteria that can quickly applied to a software. Both the SLA and Methodological approach are not as easy to apply to reviewing an application for making quick decisions on whether or not to use it in a language course. I think that the checklists handed out in class by Dr. Smart demonstrate the ease of use factor.
SLA-Based Approaches
One approach used to integrate SLA and CALL is that designed by Jamieson, Chapelle, and Preiss (2005):
1. Language learning potential: The degree of opportunity present for beneficial
focus on form;
2. Learner fit: The amount of opportunity for engagement with language under
appropriate conditions given learner characteristics;
3. Meaning focus: The extent to which learners’ attention is directed toward
the meaning of the language;
4. Authenticity: The degree of correspondence between the learning activity
and target language activities of interest to learners out of the classroom;
5. Positive Impact: The positive effects of the CALL activity on those who
participate in it; and
6. Practicality: The adequacy of resources to support the use of the CALL
activity.
This approach has a considerable amount of overlap with evaluation criteria of assessments, which is understandable given the researchers interest in language assessment as well. To me, this approach is not really intuitive and has some of the same ambiguity that I felt is apparent in the evaluative criteria used for reviewing language tests. I feel one would have to be trained in using such an evaluative approach and see a number of examples of it being applied first for it to make sense.
I think of three types of approaches, I prefer the methodological framework. In looking at the description of the review criteria posted on the CALICO website, it seems to me it is the approach that make the most sense for me and is the most approachable. Finally, I think it is interesting to look at the reviews of different CALL tools that have been posted on the site to better understand how evaluative criteria can be put to use.
References
Hubbard, P. (2006). "Evaluating CALL Software," in Lara Ducate and Nike Arnold (eds.) Calling on CALL: From Theory and Research to New Directions in Foreign Language Teaching. San Marcos, TX: CALICO.
Jamieson, J., Chapelle, C., & Preiss, S. (2005). CALL Evaluation by developers, a teacher, and students. CALICO Journal, 23 (1), 93-138.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Wordsift Review
As part of the requirement for the CALL: Eng 568 course at NAU, in this post I review the Web 2.0 program WordSift according to a set of evaluative criteria I have adapted from course handouts.
WordSift is slightly different than a number of Web 2.0 technologies on the web in that it is designed specifically with English language learners in mind. In the "about" section of the site, it states that WordSift was created with the hope that it is " helpful in supporting English Language Learners." So this is perhaps a rare case where a program has been created with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) specifically in mind.
Description of Features
WordSift allows for a text to be pasted into a text box, which is then "sifted" through in order to highlight various features of words in a text. Once the text has been processed, a word cloud is created that helps identify important word. The word tag feature is similar to other programs on the web such as Wordle. The word cloud is the focal point of the site, from which a number of interactive features feed off of.
At the bottom of the site is a "sort" feature which allows you to sort words according to frequency, word lists, and specific subjects.
Another feature of word sift is how it is integrated with the Visual Thesaurus. This means when you click on certain words in the word cloud, they are instantly displayed in the visual thesaurus.
Evaluation
Accessibility/functionality
Wordsift ranks high on the level of accessibility that it has. As long as the text pasted into the text box is in read properly by the program, then only an internet connection is needed. I tried a number of different texts and had no problem with functionality of the text reader. But there is a question of how accessible the definitions in the Visual Thesaurus are for lower level learners. In experimenting with different words in the Tag Cloud I found that the Visual Thesaurus gives some rather complex definitions for different words.
Language Teaching Application
This software could be used by both teachers and students to preview vocabulary in a text and build background knowledge/schema. The fact that it integrates frequency information from word use in the text and the GSL and the AWL make it attractive to teachers using word lists to help determine the sequencing and coverage of vocabulary in their curriculum.
Comparability to Non-technological Means
Typical pre-reading activities in ELT classroom often involve discussing vocabulary words and showing pictures to ease the burden of difficult texts and activate background knowledge. However, teachers are hampered by time constraints and rarely cover these aspects adequately. If learners were sent the digital file of the text which is to be covered in class, they could, with some guided training, look up the words they don't know using the visual thesaurus and the key words in context.
Variation of Activities
While this site does not provide activities in the sense of pedagogical tasks, it does provide a number of different interactive features to help learners better understand words in a text. Nation (2001) has pointed out the importance of knowing a number of aspects of words to build depth of vocabulary knowledge. The different interactive features make a positive step in that direction.
Interactivity
The integration of the Tag Cloud with the other four features described above make this an interactive way of looking at vocabulary words in a text. A drawback on the interactivity is that the Visual Thesaurus does not provide definitions that are easily understood by all learners. If a learners dictionary was incorporated into the site, then it might improve the interaction learners have with definitions they can more easily comprehend.
Recommendation
I think this program could be applied to ELT classrooms where L2 reading is the focus. It could be integrated as part of the pre-reading. It might also be used to create multiple exposures to important vocabulary words or cross-reference words from a text with frequency lists. These aspects of using the software could be taught as part of course instruction.
WordSift is slightly different than a number of Web 2.0 technologies on the web in that it is designed specifically with English language learners in mind. In the "about" section of the site, it states that WordSift was created with the hope that it is " helpful in supporting English Language Learners." So this is perhaps a rare case where a program has been created with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) specifically in mind.
Description of Features
WordSift allows for a text to be pasted into a text box, which is then "sifted" through in order to highlight various features of words in a text. Once the text has been processed, a word cloud is created that helps identify important word. The word tag feature is similar to other programs on the web such as Wordle. The word cloud is the focal point of the site, from which a number of interactive features feed off of.
At the bottom of the site is a "sort" feature which allows you to sort words according to frequency, word lists, and specific subjects.
Another feature of word sift is how it is integrated with the Visual Thesaurus. This means when you click on certain words in the word cloud, they are instantly displayed in the visual thesaurus.
A third aspect of the site is the key words in context display. This feature displays every example sentence in the text that contains the selected word. In the example below, sentences in Martin Luther King's speech containing the word "justice" are shown.
The final feature of the WordSift is how pictures from the web are displayed based upon the word selected from the Tag Cloud.
Evaluation
Accessibility/functionality
Wordsift ranks high on the level of accessibility that it has. As long as the text pasted into the text box is in read properly by the program, then only an internet connection is needed. I tried a number of different texts and had no problem with functionality of the text reader. But there is a question of how accessible the definitions in the Visual Thesaurus are for lower level learners. In experimenting with different words in the Tag Cloud I found that the Visual Thesaurus gives some rather complex definitions for different words.
Language Teaching Application
This software could be used by both teachers and students to preview vocabulary in a text and build background knowledge/schema. The fact that it integrates frequency information from word use in the text and the GSL and the AWL make it attractive to teachers using word lists to help determine the sequencing and coverage of vocabulary in their curriculum.
Comparability to Non-technological Means
Typical pre-reading activities in ELT classroom often involve discussing vocabulary words and showing pictures to ease the burden of difficult texts and activate background knowledge. However, teachers are hampered by time constraints and rarely cover these aspects adequately. If learners were sent the digital file of the text which is to be covered in class, they could, with some guided training, look up the words they don't know using the visual thesaurus and the key words in context.
Variation of Activities
While this site does not provide activities in the sense of pedagogical tasks, it does provide a number of different interactive features to help learners better understand words in a text. Nation (2001) has pointed out the importance of knowing a number of aspects of words to build depth of vocabulary knowledge. The different interactive features make a positive step in that direction.
Interactivity
The integration of the Tag Cloud with the other four features described above make this an interactive way of looking at vocabulary words in a text. A drawback on the interactivity is that the Visual Thesaurus does not provide definitions that are easily understood by all learners. If a learners dictionary was incorporated into the site, then it might improve the interaction learners have with definitions they can more easily comprehend.
Recommendation
I think this program could be applied to ELT classrooms where L2 reading is the focus. It could be integrated as part of the pre-reading. It might also be used to create multiple exposures to important vocabulary words or cross-reference words from a text with frequency lists. These aspects of using the software could be taught as part of course instruction.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Introduction
This is my 2nd year in the MATESL program at Northern Arizona University (NAU). In the past I have taught a number of different skill classes at the Program of Intensive English at NAU. I have also taught ESL in China and at Humboldt State University. Outside of teaching and studying, I'm interested in cycling and hiking.
I have experimented with a number of CALL applications as I have taught different classes. My current technology interest is in digital curation and CALL vocabulary applications. I am very excited to learn about different CALL technologies and the ideas other people in the class bring to the table for using them. As someone going on the job market for TESOL jobs, I have found that many employers are looking for teachers with experience with CALL, so I feel that this class will be very beneficial to my job application process as well.
My main expectation for this class is that it will help make me better prepared to evaluate the use of different applications for use in the language classroom. I think that there are a lot of teachers out there who simply use technology for the "it's cool" factor. Last year I attended a couple of presentations at TESOL where it seemed the presenters were simply introducing technologies to attendees because of the cool factor and not necessarily because they were beneficial for language learning and teaching. These were the presentations I ended up walking out on. So I hope that I can come away from this class with the knowledge of how to determine whether a specific application is appropriate or not for teaching various language skills.
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