Teaching through Technology

Hello friends,

We are living in the age of information, age of technology.  Children of our generation open their eyes seeing mobile phones. Before they listen anyone’s voices, they listen and watch the flesh lights of camera. Thus, the self-learning starts within. Thus, Technology also motivates students to learn. They look forward to having time on their devices to explore and learn things through websites, videos, apps, and games. Students can learn and have fun at the same time, which helps them stay engaged with the material.

Technology and self-learning

Teacher’s ultimate goal should not to teach only but to provide a kind of atmosphere where students can learn. Additionally, teachers are there to teach self-learning or learning within! In this modern age, technology helps us in this effectively. Self-directed learning gives us a clear understanding of the relationship between learning and technologies. Technology provides boundless access for learners to connect with others, explore topics of interests and be a part of opportunities and events across the globe.

Visit this presentation to have a look at the example of ‘Teaching through Technology’. Video on which students are supposed to do work and ponder upon is also attached here in both the languages English as well as Hindi. 

Teaching through technology from RuchiJoshi27

Watch the video task

(Gir ad in English)

Watch the video task

(Gir ad in Hindi)

Thank you.

What is Web 2.0?

Hello friends,

Teachers spend a lot of time in class working on reading, writing, listening and speaking with their students. These skills are essential for effective communication and are the areas tested in many well-known English language examinations.

We may work on a number of these skills within a single lesson, however, we often teach students to do them in isolation. If we want our learners to become successful communicators, we need to make the situations as authentic as possible inside the classroom.

To do this we need to use an integrated approach to language learning.

This blog indicates that the major benefits of using Web 2.0 technologies in teaching include ..

(1) interaction, communication and collaboration, 

(2) knowledge creation, 

(3) ease of use and flexibility, and 

(4) writing and technology skills. 

The major barriers university instructors encounter in teaching with Web 2.0 technologies include 

(1) uneasiness with openness, 

(2) technical problems, and 

(3) time.

Web 2.0 allows groups of people to work on a document or spreadsheet simultaneously, while in the background a computer keeps track of who made what changes where and when. In general, the key characteristics of Web 2.0 are: Web-based applications can be accessed from anywhere.

 

An integrated approach to language learning

This is when we ask the students to use a combination of these skills within a single activity to create a situation which is much more similar to one they might come across in the real world.

If you take, for example, a simple telephone conversation. We listen to what the other person is saying and then reply. We may also need to make a note of something they’ve said, read it back to make sure it makes sense and then explain it to someone else.

Integrating skills can help students transfer skills, e.g. if students have to read a blog post before writing their own they’ll become familiar with the structure and content which will help them write it.

It also allows you to vary your activities in class, creating a more engaging and motivating experience for students.

 

 

FLUBAROO

(auto-generated evaluation)

 

Flubaroo is a free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice or fill-in-blank assignments.

Hot Potatoes 

Hot Potatoes is a robust set of classroom activity tools that teachers can use to construct quizzes, cloze or matching activities, and crossword puzzles. Hot Potatoes, like any technology used for the first time, can seem overwhelming. However, it only takes a little practice to get comfortable with the basics. Once these basics are discovered, begin to try the more advanced features shown at the end of this week’s Teacher’s Corner. Not everything needs to be learned at once so don’t rush and don’t panic!

The basic layout of Hot Potatoes is enough to work in many classroom situations; however the software can be extended far beyond its initial capabilities with audio, images, and video.

Any new technology takes time and should not be learned through reading alone. As with any skill, technology fits well with a learn-by-doing approach. This week’s Teacher’s Corner should be read step-by-step at the same time activities are made in Hot Potatoes. Using this approach will show how simple these steps can be. Just remember: approach learning new technology with a playful attitude, save often, and if everything fails it is always okay to begin again!

The Hot Potatoes suite is a set of six authoring tools that allows you to create different types of interactive quizzes. The quizzes are viewed using a web browser. Each program can produce a different type of quiz:

 • JCloze – is used to make gap-fill or cloze exercises. 

• JCross – is used to make crossword exercises. 

• JMatch – is used to create matching exercises. 

• JMix – is used to make jumble exercises. 

• JQuiz – is a tool for making question-based exercises. Each quiz can consist of an unlimited number of questions.

Thank you.

CALL & MALL (ELT-2)

 

Hello friends,

Digital Learning is "learning facilitated by technology that gives students some element of control over time, place, path and pace." 

Learning is no longer restricted to the school day or the school year. The Internet and a proliferation of Internet access devices have given students the ability to learn anytime. The Internet and a proliferation of Internet access devices have given students the ability to learn anywhere and everywhere. Interactive and adaptive software allows students to learn at their own pace, spending more or less time on lessons or subjects to achieve the same level of learning.

Digital learning is more than just providing students with a laptop. Digital learning requires a combination of technology, digital content and instruction.

Now let's discuss briefly about CALL.

CALL

Until quite recently, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) was a topic of relevance mostly to those with a special interest in that area. Recently, though, computers have become so widespread in schools and homes and their uses have expanded so dramatically that the majority of language teachers must now begin to think about the implications of computers for language learning.

The list below is representative but not exhaustive.

1	CALL	Computer-assisted language learning, sometimes expanded as computer-aided language learning
2	CELL	Computer-enhanced language learning: suggests the computer's role is to make learning better
3	TELL	Technology-enhanced language learning: this accommodates more than just computers, often bringing in video and seeing the computer as just one part of a larger system.
4	TALL	Technology-assisted language learning: variant of CALL and TELL
5	CALI	Computer-assisted language instruction: with "instruction" in it, it's more teaching oriented
6	CBLT	Computer-based language training: views elements of language learning as "training" and tends to use an approach with definable, measurable objectives
7	IT and ICT	Information Technology/Information and Communication Technologies are common acronyms outside of language teaching, particularly in Europe; sometimes this is presented as IT or ICT for LT
8	NBLT	Network-Based Language Teaching: focuses on computers linked in networks, both locally and through the Internet, especially for computer-mediated communication
9	DLL	Digital Language Learning: a relatively new term encompassing computers and other digital devices
10	MALL	Mobile Assisted Language Learning: learning with mobile devices  like smartphones and tablets (sometimes also used for Multimedia Assisted language Learning

1.Behaviouristic CALL

The behavioristic phase coincides with Skinner’s work in the1950s and continued into the 1970s. Because repetition and response to stimuli are major tenets of behaviorism, CALL programs of this area focused on repetitive drills and practice, allowing students to learn at their own pace, with the computer acting as a mechanical tutor, continuously repeating drills.q

 

 

PLATO LAB

 

During the behaviorist era, the language laboratory became a dominant technical device for second language learning because it provided increased opportunities for students to hear and repeat language, important facets of the audio-lingual method of language instruction. In 1960, PLATO was developed and primarily focused on vocabulary and grammar drill exercises. During this era, technology continued to support behaviorist methodology, as illustrated by Lorge  who praised language labs as places where, 

 

“imitative practice could be recorded, judged, erased, re-recorded, to the point of learning” 

(Salaberry)

 

In the early 1970s, the TICCIT (Time-Shared, Computer Controlled Information Television) combined capabilities of television and computers to teach grammar, spelling, and writing skills to second language learners, again mainly in drill form. However, by the late 1970s the effectiveness of audio-lingualism and language laboratories were discounted on the basis that students weren’t able to interact meaningfully with pre-recorded tapes; thus inhibiting rather than enhancing student performance.

 

 

2.Communicative CALL

 

The communicative era of CALL began in the late 1970s and coincided with the research of Stephen Krashen  on language acquisition as a natural, communicative process, rather than a function of repetition and drills. In 1984, John Underwood, a strong proponent of the communicative approach, developed the following guidelines for communicative CALL:

• focus on using language forms than on the forms themselves

• teach grammar implicitly rather than explicitly

• encourage students to generate original utterances rather than manipulate prefabricated language

• do not judge and evaluate everything the student says in the target language

• avoid telling students they are wrong and be open to a variety of student responses

• create an environment in which using the target language feels natural

 

New CALL programs were developed to support the communicative approach, focusing less on drills and more on text reconstruction, language games and programs to stimulate language use in class discussions, writing assignments, and critical thinking tasks. During this time, the focus shifted from what learners did with the computer to how they worked with one another while at the computer. However, despite these communicative and interactive advancements in CALL, computer-mediated language learning was fragmented and did not address major aspects of language acquisition, such as spontaneous oral production, pronunciation, effective guided writing and, development of reading skills.

 

 

Integrative CALL

 

In the early 90s, computer-mediated communication (CMC) revolutionized the use of technology for language instruction by enabling students to communicate directly with individual or groups of language learners, both asynchronously through email or synchronously through instant messaging.  

 

Researchers noted that the language generated in chat room environments bore a strong resemblance to the type of language generated in oral conversation, reducing the barrier to realistic online communication between learners. Other studies of the effects of CMC on oral proficiency have reported positive results in several areas of language acquisition, especially in language production, a key component of communicative competence.

 

In the late 1990s the development of CD-ROMs, increased access to the Internet, and the advent of multi-media computers enabled further development of integrative CALL by facilitating language learning through text, sound, graphics, and video. 

 

Two major benefits of this interaction are increased

1. learner control of what, when, and how they learn and students have immediate access to content and (2)cultural information they previously could not access. 

 

 

This widespread access to authentic materials, including newspapers, magazines, videos, TV and radio broadcasts, has greatly increased the potential language learning opportunities available, both individually and in classrooms.

MALL

 

Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. Mobile phones can support many kinds of learning, including language learning. Mobile technologies offer numerous practical uses in language learning.

A computer is better than a mobile phone for handling various types of information such as visual, sound, and textual information, but mobile phone is superior to a computer in portability. They can be just as easily utilized outside of the classroom as they can in it;learners can study or practice manageable chunks of information in any place on their own time, thereby taking advantage of their convenience.

Thank you.

Views of David Crystal

 

Hello friends,

Technology provides different opportunities to make learning more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching same things in new ways. For instance, delivering teaching through gamification, taking students on virtual field trips and using other online learning resources. Technology has the ability to enhance relationships between teachers and students. 

Technology helps make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun. Students are also able to collaborate with their own classmates through technological applications. Technology leads to a good life as it is responsible for advancement in all sectors of the economy. It is because it provides us a means to achieve something faster and in an easier manner. Modern technology has led to the evolution of several devices such as the smartphone, computers, etc.

David Crystal 

linguist, writer, lecturer and Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor – dials in on whether “text speak” and the language of online communication is really undermining the English language.

Video 6: David Crystal: The Effect of New Technologies on Engish: 

Here, David Crystal points that how technology and changing paradigm of technology has helped in language learning, especially in English Language Learning. It gives several good examples from  Twitter  that ‘What we are doing’ instead with ‘What is happening’! 

In this video clip is it David, talking about how new technologies have an effect on English today. There are new varieties of English, such as newspapers, then the development of the telephone people thought that the telephone was going to the a disaster as they didn't think people were going to communicate face to face anymore. Broadcasting has introduced a new variety of language such as commentaries in sport, and news reading, weather, and chat shows. 

The Internet is also having a big influence on the language people use today. 

Social networking plays a huge part in today's language an example is Twitter, it first started in 2006 David talks about how the social networking site, showed a prompt for users to use saying 'what are you doing' its is very introvert, people using the site started using many first person pronouns, present tenses. Then in 2009 twitter then changed his prompt to 'what' happening?' there is a sudden change in pronouns, there is a third person pronoun being used. He suggests that it would take a long time before the different types of technologies would influence people's language. 

David believes that English language is still the same as it used to be, there are only new abbreviations that have come into peoples language such as 'lol' but this hasn't had a huge impact on peoples language. 

The average number of people that use abbreviations is only 10% not having a huge impact on peoples lexical choice,  and the other 90% of the language we use is standard English.

Video 7: David Crystal: The Biggest Challange for English Language Teachers in the times of Internet

What the learners are prepared to understand and use is a formal, rather academic language, and not an ordinary conversation, which is the language that changes permanently and very fast. This is the greatest challenge faced by teachers as they must ’keep pace with it and expose the learners to it’. 

According to Crystal,

“ the fast language change is the result of two reasons: 

the first reason is represented by the internet, which is fostering new varieties of language and experiences, thus exposing the learners to language varieties which are more frequently used or which the learners prefer.

These varieties are not controlled by any grammatical correctness filter and thus generate new word forms or uses which may not necessarily conform to accepted grammar rules.

In the video to The Biggest Challenge for English Language Teachers in the times of Internet, David Crystal explains how the shifting emphasis from technology to “people and purposes”,  contributes to making the Internet a linguistic revolution. The aim of Language and the Internet is “to find out about the role of language in the Internet and the effect of the Internet on language” It also reminds of his book ‘Language and Internet’ provides a general introduction and distinguishes save" different linguistic situations found on the Internet. Further look at linguistic features common to all seven situations, while chapters Four to Nine focus more precisely on the specific defining characteristics of each.

Video 8: David Crystal: Texting is 'Good' for English Language

Here, David explains the usefulness of Texting for English Language in very humorous way.  

Once upon a time, before the Great Abbrevatron came among us, everything that we knew about language was much clearer. There was spoken language, there was written language, and everyone knew which was which. Then along came the Internet, and everything that we thought we knew about the way the English language worked in speech or in writing had to be reinterpreted. All of the old certainties about usage, frequency, context and style had to be rethought with the emergence of electronic communication.

One big question that the Internet brought with it was, “is this an acceptable evolution of language or a bastardisation of it?”

Many people had a odd reaction and assumed the latter. Were they right? To really answer the question, we first need to consider how the language of online communication has evolved.

David Crystal says,

“Fact or Fiction is a hugely informative dossier of down-to-earth advice for English teachers everywhere, puncturing some of the most widely held myths about language and technology while offering realistic and practical guidance on the way forward in the classroom. It affirms the central role of the teacher, and offers reassurance, inspiration, and confidence to anyone unsure about how to cope with the rapid pace of technological change.”

Crystal believes that language acquisition is not just about producing sounds, but also about being able to perceive sounds and understand the meaning of utterances that people make. Overall Crystal's theory was that children learn in amorphous stages by trial and error to successfully learn the language.

Thank you.