Healey's article that we read for this week focuses on the learner really taking control over what he or she is learning, otherwise known as having autonomy. To Healey, this is more than just putting students in a language lab or having motivated student but it is more of a way that a learner makes adult decisions about learning. She mentions Oxford's four different perspectives of autonomy: technical where there is a focus on the physical situation, psychological where there is focus on the characteristics of learners, sociocultural where there is a focus on mediated learning, and also the political-critical perspective where there is a focus on ideologies, access, and power structure.
The first part of her article teaches us about the background for autonomous learning and the other forms of learning that are dependent on the setting, the role of learning styles and strategies, age, individual versus group work, cultural relevance, and also control and locus of power. The latter half of her article brings examples about Oxford's four different perspectives of autonomy and discusses them in more depth. She brings up issues of content and setting in the technical perspective, she talks about the needs of a language learner in general and also language learning in groups and communities, and finally goes more in depth about the political-critical perspective of autonomy and power.
In my opinion, Healey explains very well this style of teaching. There are certainly a lot of factors that a teacher must keep in mind when dealing with autonomy in language learning. It is of course much harder to bring autonomy to younger students or students who have no desire to be learning about the subject matter. Our goal as teachers is to make it easier for our students to access the content that they desire and have more control in what they would like to learn. In addition, the different perspectives bring different ways of learning in CALL. This is important because not everyone has the same way of learning a language and it is our job to find the right balance of how much autonomy each student will have. Personally, I would like my students to continue with learning French as a foreign language, even if they do not continue in a classroom. In my class this semester, my students do not have very much autonomy but in my future classes, I think that this would be helpful to the students if done correctly of course. I hope that with the autonomy will be the perfect motivation for them to continue in their language studies.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Critical Issues: Professional Development
Hubbard’s 2006 article entitled “Critical Issues: Professional Development” discusses the need for teachers to develop and to keep up to date with technology. According to Hubbard, proficiency in CALL includes two steps: “(a) building foundational competencies and (b) updating, upgrading, and adapting that foundation based on changes in technology, language teaching approach, and current teaching context. (278)”
The first part of the article focuses on professional development. Hubbard mentions that there are not any “fieldwide standards” for language teachers and that for many of the teacher preparation programs do not require the teachers to have any computer knowledge. He continues by saying that it is usual TESOL that creates the standards in the field but at the time that the article was written, those standards where not out and they did not come out until January 2009. Today, they exist but I cannot seem to access them without having to pay for them, click here to see the product detail. Hubbard also mentions that the ISTE has laid out some technology standards for K-12 known as the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) initiative.
The article also discusses individual objectives and quotes Pettis’ (2002) observation where “commitment to professional development must be ongoing and personal” and Hubbard mentions his own framework that he created with Levy in 2006 that has two assumptions: “(a) what one needs to know and be able to do depends on the role one is assuming at any given time, and (b) roles may be defined to a large degree by the expressed, or perceived, expectations of those affected by the individual.”
Hubbard discusses the different learning processes for reaching professional development objectives and choosing among them. He mentions that different combinations of formal training, situated learning, project-based learning, mentoring, and collaborative learning are all important for an individual’s professional development trajectory. In addition, he brings up the different resources and strategies for CALL professional development such as individual courses, workshops, organizations, interest groups, websites, and other reading materials.
As teachers, I believe that we should continually work on improving our methods. Reading parts of this article made me think about my professors here at Indiana University and their involvement with technology. For example, I have a French teacher (from France), in his 60s, who has just started using PowerPoint. I enjoy watching him teach and seeing his evolution over the past few semesters that I have had him as a teacher. In the very beginning, his presentations were very basic with just text and then sometime later he learned how to add pictures. Unfortunately, he still has not figured out how to put the presentation in full screen mode nor does he add any sort of design to them but he has recently started adding color to the text. Even today, he adapted more to the technology in Oncourse and assigned us to discuss an article using the forums. The only problem was that the students could not access the forums but that is not the point. The point is that he is making the effort to adapt to technology, even if he does not have a complete grasp of it. He even made to me saying that the University ‘does not teach him how to use these things’ (which goes against what Hubbard said, “teachers have an individual responsibility for the maintenance and growth of their own CALL proficiency”(280)).
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Anglais Facile
Try number 2
After working on my evaluation for 3 hours (when I was 99% finished), my mouse fell to the ground while I was typing and caused me to exit Word without saving, I lost it all. My advice is that you save you files often so you won't have to go through what I went through!
Software/Website Title: Anglais Facile (Easy English)
Website URL: http://www.anglaisfacile.com
Grade/Age Level: French Teenagers (Adults could use the information as a review)
Language & Content: Target Language is English, the website is in French.
I have decided to do a website evaluation about a website called Anglais Facile (Easy English). I figured that I would evaluate this site because it will help me understand what types of support and materials that are out there for students learning English in France and if I will ever teach English again, it will be in France as a foreign language for the students.
Anglais Facile is a website that any French speaker can find when searching for an English learning language website on Google. If you type "apprendre l'anglais (learn English)" in Google, this will be the first website on the results page. I wonder how many visitors the site has a day, I bet there are a lot! I even know a few French friends that personally use this site to revise their English.
This is a website created for the French, by the French. The main purpose of it is to serve as an addition to French Teenagers' English classes and it is presented in a very similar method to the French way of language teaching. The materials on the website are for students that are going to take the BAC (a test that is required to pass high school where one of the subjects is English) and a lot of the information presented on the site is close to the Grammar-Translation method. This can be seen throughout the site, such as the "Countdown until the BAC" or the font that reminds me of the fonts and icons that usually adolescents use, it is needless to say that it does not appear to be the most professional looking website. Anglais Facile could also be used by adults that are looking for a simple review of their English classes that they had during middle school or high school. This website is not for advanced learners nor is it for people trying to learn English in order to participate in the global market.
The content found on Anglais Facile is presented in a method very similar to English teachers' methods in French classrooms because the Guide de travail (study guide) was supposedly created by an English teacher. One strength of the website is the fact that there is a lot of information provided, there are a lot of links to other useful sites such as links to American or English radio stations.
Anglais Facile is interesting to the target audience because of the importance that English has in France and almost every French student takes English as their first foreign language. In addition, a good knowledge of English is often required when students attempt to enter programs or universities after high school and look for employment.
A positive aspect of Anglais Facile is the fact that the website is completely free and that the learner is not bombarded with ads. One of the drawbacks to the site is its out-of-date appearance and its not-so-clear navigation. If the learner knows what he or she would like to learn, they do not have too much difficulty finding the information but if the learner is more interested in following the study guide and follow his or her progress, this can be a little more difficult.
Anglais Facile has a lot of strengths and a lot of areas that certainly need improvement when it comes to the content offered to the learners. For example, French learning is very much based on grammar and on the understanding of written language than on spoken language and the creation of language and this can easily be seen it the site. The site does make an attempt to provide listening exercises but, in my opinion, unfortunately serve more as a phonetics exercise than a listening exercise because the pages include the script of the dialogue. One way to improve the effectiveness of their listening exercises would be to remove the written dialogue and put it on another page. If you would like an example of their audio exercises, take a look at this example: http://www.anglaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-anglais-1/exercice-anglais-669.php
One of the sites main strengths is the large amount of quizzes and tests (multiple choice) that can be found throughout the site that provide for instant feedback to the learner. In general, these things are good for learning but in my opinion, I don't think that they are effective as they could be. For example, anyone can create a quiz or a test and sometimes the creators might not have the proper tools (pedagogical or linguistic) to create something useful. In addition, the quizzes do not have much variation nor do they require much reflection on behalf of the learner. Also, they could easily be boring to the learning.
Another way to improve the site would be to culture (British, American, Canadian, Australian, etc.) but there does not seem to be very much. It is incredible to think that this site is just full of information and ways of how to understand English better but hardly mentions culture.
Direct translation, in my opinion, is not the best way of learning a language. There are quite a few examples on the site where the student will see something written first in French, then English as seen in the lesson http://www.anglaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-anglais-2/exercice-anglais-8902.php One way to improve this lesson would be to remove the French and but notes to the learner elsewhere on the page.
I believe that this site is the way that it is because of how education is set up in France and would drastically change if the Education Nationale were to change its goals and theories for foreign language learning. Anglais Facile follows the progression suggested by the French Ministry of Education, http://www.primlangues.education.fr/php/textes_officiels.php
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Text and take authenticity in the EFL classroom
Guariento and Morley's paper entitled Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom argues that in order to acheive authentic responses in students, there might be a need to sacrifice the authenticity of texts by using more simplified texts, especially at lower levels.
It is without doubt that authentic texts are good tools at bringing the target language closer to the learner but it is not completely sure when and how they should be used. Authentic texts way over the students capabilities may not always have the learner respond in the best ways and this could frustrate and/or demotivate him or her. In order to have a positive effect on the learner, Guariento and Morley quoted Widdowson's 1978 argument where the text has to "engage the learner's interest and impress him as being in some way relevant to his concerns."
The article also discusses the importance of tasks and the authors indentify their four broad schools of thought regarding task authenticity. The first school of thought is the authenticity through a genuine purpose where more is placed on meaning and communication that resemble closer to real world activities than on activities such as grammar exercises. I recently wrote a test where students had to write an ad for a French dating website and another where they had to write an ad in order to find a roommate. The second school of thought is authenticity through real world targets where the use of language avoids language that one would never say. Authenticity through classroom interaction is the third school of thought and what the authors note as the most crucial type of authenticity, authenticity through engagement is the fourth school of thought. As the authors stated, "while all four may not form a coherent whole, teachers can, in appropriate cirumstances, devise learning situations in which the four can operate in conjunction."
Finally, the article discusses compromising task authenticity when dealing with lower level students or with younger learners where the authors state that "very simple pedagogic tasks used with low-level students can still be described as authentic." As for written materials in my classroom, the authors of the book that I use Chez nous have certainly simplified the authenticity of texts. For example, one can find an article taken from a French newspaper but parts of the article have been edited out or even translated. When I taught English to elementary school kids, almost everything I presented to the students had been simplified.
As I said in an earlier post, I hardly change the way that I speak when I am teaching a class (and I have beginning French learners). Although I am not a native speaker of French, I do my best to have my students interact with the culture and doing my best to imitate a French native is the best I can do. I do this a lot more than I did in previous courses because I know that most of my students are already seasoned language learners (most of them speak Spanish fluently). I have certainly noticed that they have a high tolerance for non-simplified authentic texts and really enjoy the contact with the culture, I would like for them to get the most out of their experiences in my class. I know that this might one day result in a student's frustration but if the student is taught what to look for in exercises and how to manage a word that he or she does not understand, I do not think that there will be any frustration. After all, as the authors Guariento and Morley stated in their article, "partial comprehension of text is no longer considered to be necessarily problematic, since this is something which occurs in real life."
I can see a correspondance between this article and Wallis' article How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century through their statement "bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world." To better survive in our global economy, it is helpful to use authentic texts. I am always searching for materials that were created by Francophones so that my students will be well prepared for when (if they ever) go to a French speaking country. I believe that using these authentic materials brings valuable culture aspects along with language to the learner.
It is without doubt that authentic texts are good tools at bringing the target language closer to the learner but it is not completely sure when and how they should be used. Authentic texts way over the students capabilities may not always have the learner respond in the best ways and this could frustrate and/or demotivate him or her. In order to have a positive effect on the learner, Guariento and Morley quoted Widdowson's 1978 argument where the text has to "engage the learner's interest and impress him as being in some way relevant to his concerns."
The article also discusses the importance of tasks and the authors indentify their four broad schools of thought regarding task authenticity. The first school of thought is the authenticity through a genuine purpose where more is placed on meaning and communication that resemble closer to real world activities than on activities such as grammar exercises. I recently wrote a test where students had to write an ad for a French dating website and another where they had to write an ad in order to find a roommate. The second school of thought is authenticity through real world targets where the use of language avoids language that one would never say. Authenticity through classroom interaction is the third school of thought and what the authors note as the most crucial type of authenticity, authenticity through engagement is the fourth school of thought. As the authors stated, "while all four may not form a coherent whole, teachers can, in appropriate cirumstances, devise learning situations in which the four can operate in conjunction."
Finally, the article discusses compromising task authenticity when dealing with lower level students or with younger learners where the authors state that "very simple pedagogic tasks used with low-level students can still be described as authentic." As for written materials in my classroom, the authors of the book that I use Chez nous have certainly simplified the authenticity of texts. For example, one can find an article taken from a French newspaper but parts of the article have been edited out or even translated. When I taught English to elementary school kids, almost everything I presented to the students had been simplified.
As I said in an earlier post, I hardly change the way that I speak when I am teaching a class (and I have beginning French learners). Although I am not a native speaker of French, I do my best to have my students interact with the culture and doing my best to imitate a French native is the best I can do. I do this a lot more than I did in previous courses because I know that most of my students are already seasoned language learners (most of them speak Spanish fluently). I have certainly noticed that they have a high tolerance for non-simplified authentic texts and really enjoy the contact with the culture, I would like for them to get the most out of their experiences in my class. I know that this might one day result in a student's frustration but if the student is taught what to look for in exercises and how to manage a word that he or she does not understand, I do not think that there will be any frustration. After all, as the authors Guariento and Morley stated in their article, "partial comprehension of text is no longer considered to be necessarily problematic, since this is something which occurs in real life."
I can see a correspondance between this article and Wallis' article How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century through their statement "bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world." To better survive in our global economy, it is helpful to use authentic texts. I am always searching for materials that were created by Francophones so that my students will be well prepared for when (if they ever) go to a French speaking country. I believe that using these authentic materials brings valuable culture aspects along with language to the learner.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Comments and Reactions of Anderson's article "Getting the Mix Right Again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction"
Anderson's article Getting the Mix Right Again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction discusses interaction and the development of "distance education systems that are both effective and efficiant in meeting diverse student learning needs" (Anderson 2003).
Before reading Anderson's deifinition of the article, I wanted to try to define interaction on my own. In my opinion, interaction occurs in language learning when a student takes input and finds a way to use it. As for Anderson, he agrees with Wagner's 1994 definition of interaction as "reciprocal events that require at least two objects and two actions. Interactions occur when these objects and events mutually influence one another." According to the author, "interaction between students and content has long been recognized as a critical component of both campus-based and distance education" (Anderson p. 3).
The author continues by discussing the different categories in which interaction can be divided into teacher-student (such as a lecture lead by a teacher), student-student (such as a conversation between two students), and student-content (such as a student sending an e-mail) interactions, known as the equivalency theorem. We also learn that the amount of each interaction type depends on its learning community and that at least "one of the three forms of interaction is at a high level" (Anderson p. 7). Anderson's equivalency theorem is meant to help teachers evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and other material so that they may attempt to amelioriate their students' learning.
Before reading this article, I never even thought about interaction in a formal education subject matter without the presence of a teacher. When reading about Anderson's equivalency theorem, I asked myself what type of interaction was the dominate type for our CALL course (student-teacher, student-student, student-content) and my answer was student-content. I think that this is the case because the manipulation of the course resources and assignments appears to be the main contributor in furthering my education in CALL (especially through these reactions). In this class, the student-teacher and the student-student interactions certainly add to and improve my learning experience but certainly do not provide as much as the student-content. This is my first time in a dominate student-content learning environment. I enjoy it because I feel like I am in more control of what I am going to learn, unlike in a student-teacher environment where I follow the teacher.
As for the French classes that I have taught and teach, I believe that there is a pretty good balance between the different types of interactions. The student-teacher interaction is of course the dominant type because I provide a lot of information to the students but at the same time, there is a high level of student-student interaction and student-content interaction. There are even moments where multiple students interact with content while I provide input when needed. In order to keep the students' level of participation high, I think it is necessary to constantly change the types of interaction.
Question:
What is the level of a conversation class when thinking about Anderson's equivalency theorem? I think that in order to get the most out of a conversation class, a perfect balance between the three types of students' interactions is needed. This summer, I taught a French conversation class and I found it rather difficult to find that perfect balance between the three and I found myself leaning towards a student-teacher interaction.
Before reading Anderson's deifinition of the article, I wanted to try to define interaction on my own. In my opinion, interaction occurs in language learning when a student takes input and finds a way to use it. As for Anderson, he agrees with Wagner's 1994 definition of interaction as "reciprocal events that require at least two objects and two actions. Interactions occur when these objects and events mutually influence one another." According to the author, "interaction between students and content has long been recognized as a critical component of both campus-based and distance education" (Anderson p. 3).
The author continues by discussing the different categories in which interaction can be divided into teacher-student (such as a lecture lead by a teacher), student-student (such as a conversation between two students), and student-content (such as a student sending an e-mail) interactions, known as the equivalency theorem. We also learn that the amount of each interaction type depends on its learning community and that at least "one of the three forms of interaction is at a high level" (Anderson p. 7). Anderson's equivalency theorem is meant to help teachers evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and other material so that they may attempt to amelioriate their students' learning.
Before reading this article, I never even thought about interaction in a formal education subject matter without the presence of a teacher. When reading about Anderson's equivalency theorem, I asked myself what type of interaction was the dominate type for our CALL course (student-teacher, student-student, student-content) and my answer was student-content. I think that this is the case because the manipulation of the course resources and assignments appears to be the main contributor in furthering my education in CALL (especially through these reactions). In this class, the student-teacher and the student-student interactions certainly add to and improve my learning experience but certainly do not provide as much as the student-content. This is my first time in a dominate student-content learning environment. I enjoy it because I feel like I am in more control of what I am going to learn, unlike in a student-teacher environment where I follow the teacher.
As for the French classes that I have taught and teach, I believe that there is a pretty good balance between the different types of interactions. The student-teacher interaction is of course the dominant type because I provide a lot of information to the students but at the same time, there is a high level of student-student interaction and student-content interaction. There are even moments where multiple students interact with content while I provide input when needed. In order to keep the students' level of participation high, I think it is necessary to constantly change the types of interaction.
Question:
What is the level of a conversation class when thinking about Anderson's equivalency theorem? I think that in order to get the most out of a conversation class, a perfect balance between the three types of students' interactions is needed. This summer, I taught a French conversation class and I found it rather difficult to find that perfect balance between the three and I found myself leaning towards a student-teacher interaction.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Software/Website Evaluation #1
Laura’s French Language Blog at http://french.about.com/b/
Websites about the French language are almost everywhere and I found that a lot of blogs out there for the French language can be very cultural at the same time. An interesting amount of blogs about French are kept by people from an English speaking country that live somewhere in France. There are even more blogs out there that document an English speaker’s adventure in France. Unfortunately, there are quite a few French language blogs that try to get you to purchase something from their site, such as software or a book published by the author of the blog. For my first website evaluation, I would like to discuss the blog that I found to contain a lot of information that did not try to get me to spend money on something: http://french.about.com/b/
The information on this blog is free but the user in bombarded (just like with other websites) with ads. It is sometimes difficult to know where to look.
The blog is entitled Laura's French Language Blog and it is located on the about.com website. If you are not familiar about the website, it is "an online neighborhood of hundreds of helpful experts, eager to share their wealth of knowledge with visitors." For more information about the general site, you can click the link: www.aboutmediakit.com/about/
If you have ever type a French grammar question into google.com, there is a good possibility that you will be directed to her site. Her blog is a good source for learning more about the French language.
Laura K. Lawless, the contributor to Laura’s French Language Blog is one of the 750+ guides on about.com. She is a non-native speaker of French but has a good level of French. The purpose of her site is to provide the learner with information about the French language and Francophone cultures. Her site mainly serves as a site that will help the learner understand the written word.
Her blog has a large number of followers from both sides of the pond. One strength of her website that makes up for her non-native skills in French is the myriad of Francophones from all over the world that visit her site and leave comments and/or corrections to her posts.
The interesting thing about her target audience is that it is so broad. You can find useful information for middle school students, high school students and adults just starting out in French to more advanced information such as how to write a formal business letter. The information that she posts is extremely helpful for learning more about the French language and culture. It is a practical blog for someone who would like to one day travel to or live in France along with being an excellent resource.
Her blog contains a lot of information and could be a little overwhelming the first time you look at it as she posts on it several times a day. In her blog, one can find lessons and quizzes, word a day posts, audio files, articles, translations, and other useful information (such as traveling to France) and links (such as links to dictionaries or videos). Feedback for French learners can be instant from online quizzes and French proficiency tests can assess the student’s level. The problem about the tests and quizzes is that they are completely multiple-choice. Students can also practice by exchanging comments with native speakers in French and can also have their questions answered about the French language or culture.
One way that this blog could be improved is by adding video such as presentation of vocabulary words, video of her trip to Grenoble, or leaving a section for native French speakers to leave a video of themselves on the blog. Another way to improve the blog would be to make it easier to access and use is to remove the numerous ads. I am sure that this would be impossible because the ads most likely pay for her paycheck.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Principles of CALL reflection
This weeks article discusses Egberts' Principles of CALL. It discusses items such as the basic and elaborated definitions of CALL, the basic conditions desired to optimize language learning and standards, and the guidelines for using technology in education.
I am glad that we were assigned to read this article. It is now the second week of this class and my definition of CALL was still a little fuzzy. Egbert made things a lot more clear for me when he wrote that "CALL is focused not on technology but on language learning. The words enhanced or assisted indicate that technology only facilitates the language learning process." I can relate CALL better to my own experiences when thinking about the fact that my PowerPoint presentations for my French classes are an example of language learning through technology. It is a way to make language learning more efficient. The article made me think back about my experiences as a high school student learning French. I will always remember the day where we went into the computer lab (for the sake of going to the computer lab) and we all answered grammar questions about French conjugations. Although the computer program was extremely basic, I remember getting instant feedback on my mistakes and I actually progessed (which was rather rare in my high school French class). The practice that I received in that computer lab was more than I got during a normal class day.
It is interesting that Egbert stated in the second item in the general list of conditions for learning a foreign language that "In more advanced stages of learning, students must have access to sympathetic fluent speakers who are willing to adjust their language to the students' ability." I have recently learned in my Methods of College French class that in order for a student to progress, the student must attempt to interpret a higher level of language. Although this is very difficult to accomplish, I suggest that the fluent speakers keep their language and attempt to bring their students up to their level.
The quote that "technology does not enhance language learning across contexts as much as it inspires positive attitudes toward technology in those who use it (Egbert 5)" made me think. Do my PowerPoints enhance the students learning? Sometimes in my classes, I feel that I might be too dependent on technology. I use the PowerPoints as I guide and as a result, I am very much locked down to the computer and fixated more on the screen than on the students. I probably spend 60 to 70 percent of my class time at the computer. Although I believe that the technology enhances my teaching, I feel that I am not using it as well as I should be. I hope that as I learn more about CALL and the research that has been done, I will learn to better my presentations and my way interacting with the students. I hope to gain more insight on how to implement variety in my lessons. Maybe I could use the second example about the elementary school students of EFL using Puzzle Power. This is an extremely good idea that I would like to suggest to my students for learning vocabulary, even if my students are much older. Variation in my teaching style could be the solution to my problem. One important aspect of the article discussed the importance of group work where fellow students provide feedback. In my own classes, I do my best to have my students work in groups in either a daily basis or in a larger group project. The University of Oregon English Language Institutes' practices appear to be similar to the IP schools that we read about in the previous article. In both environments, it is the student that controls his education and the teachers assist. In a well equipped classroom, CALL is a way of permitting the students to become more interactive in their language learning and control his or her learning pace.
I am glad that we were assigned to read this article. It is now the second week of this class and my definition of CALL was still a little fuzzy. Egbert made things a lot more clear for me when he wrote that "CALL is focused not on technology but on language learning. The words enhanced or assisted indicate that technology only facilitates the language learning process." I can relate CALL better to my own experiences when thinking about the fact that my PowerPoint presentations for my French classes are an example of language learning through technology. It is a way to make language learning more efficient. The article made me think back about my experiences as a high school student learning French. I will always remember the day where we went into the computer lab (for the sake of going to the computer lab) and we all answered grammar questions about French conjugations. Although the computer program was extremely basic, I remember getting instant feedback on my mistakes and I actually progessed (which was rather rare in my high school French class). The practice that I received in that computer lab was more than I got during a normal class day.
It is interesting that Egbert stated in the second item in the general list of conditions for learning a foreign language that "In more advanced stages of learning, students must have access to sympathetic fluent speakers who are willing to adjust their language to the students' ability." I have recently learned in my Methods of College French class that in order for a student to progress, the student must attempt to interpret a higher level of language. Although this is very difficult to accomplish, I suggest that the fluent speakers keep their language and attempt to bring their students up to their level.
The quote that "technology does not enhance language learning across contexts as much as it inspires positive attitudes toward technology in those who use it (Egbert 5)" made me think. Do my PowerPoints enhance the students learning? Sometimes in my classes, I feel that I might be too dependent on technology. I use the PowerPoints as I guide and as a result, I am very much locked down to the computer and fixated more on the screen than on the students. I probably spend 60 to 70 percent of my class time at the computer. Although I believe that the technology enhances my teaching, I feel that I am not using it as well as I should be. I hope that as I learn more about CALL and the research that has been done, I will learn to better my presentations and my way interacting with the students. I hope to gain more insight on how to implement variety in my lessons. Maybe I could use the second example about the elementary school students of EFL using Puzzle Power. This is an extremely good idea that I would like to suggest to my students for learning vocabulary, even if my students are much older. Variation in my teaching style could be the solution to my problem. One important aspect of the article discussed the importance of group work where fellow students provide feedback. In my own classes, I do my best to have my students work in groups in either a daily basis or in a larger group project. The University of Oregon English Language Institutes' practices appear to be similar to the IP schools that we read about in the previous article. In both environments, it is the student that controls his education and the teachers assist. In a well equipped classroom, CALL is a way of permitting the students to become more interactive in their language learning and control his or her learning pace.
Friday, September 4, 2009
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