Thursday, March 25, 2010
Reading Response Nine
Reading Prompt #9
BLACKBOARD - Barbierie, F. (2005). What is Corpus Linguistics?
Essential Teacher (Compleat Links).
BLACKBOARD - Conrad, S. (2000). Will Corpus Linguistics
Revolutionize Grammar Teaching in the 21st Century? TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 548-560.
What is Corpus Linguistics? And why are some language teachers so excited about it? What applications can you envision for your current or future classroom?
"Corpus Linguistics, the empirical study of language relying on computer assisted techniques to anaglyze large, principle databases of naturally occurring language." (Conrad p. 548) An example of Corpus Linguistics is a concordancer. The advantage to Corpus Linguistics in teaching grammar is that, as a teacher, you can show your students how grammar is used as a natural occurance in spoken language, because how we speak the language is often different from how we would write it. Also, language is used differently in different written settings; such as newspaper writing, novel writing, or academic writing. By using Corpus Linguistics we can see how grammar and language are used in the spoken form. I believe this broadens the use of grammatical forms for our students, and they won't be bound to learning just the way grammar is used in it's written form. As a teacher, Corpus Linguistics and Concordancers give us a great advantage. We can illustrate to our students the many uses of grammar in the spoken language. We can also compare for them written uses and spoken uses. This may be helpful for them academically.
BLACKBOARD - Barbierie, F. (2005). What is Corpus Linguistics?
Essential Teacher (Compleat Links).
BLACKBOARD - Conrad, S. (2000). Will Corpus Linguistics
Revolutionize Grammar Teaching in the 21st Century? TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 548-560.
What is Corpus Linguistics? And why are some language teachers so excited about it? What applications can you envision for your current or future classroom?
"Corpus Linguistics, the empirical study of language relying on computer assisted techniques to anaglyze large, principle databases of naturally occurring language." (Conrad p. 548) An example of Corpus Linguistics is a concordancer. The advantage to Corpus Linguistics in teaching grammar is that, as a teacher, you can show your students how grammar is used as a natural occurance in spoken language, because how we speak the language is often different from how we would write it. Also, language is used differently in different written settings; such as newspaper writing, novel writing, or academic writing. By using Corpus Linguistics we can see how grammar and language are used in the spoken form. I believe this broadens the use of grammatical forms for our students, and they won't be bound to learning just the way grammar is used in it's written form. As a teacher, Corpus Linguistics and Concordancers give us a great advantage. We can illustrate to our students the many uses of grammar in the spoken language. We can also compare for them written uses and spoken uses. This may be helpful for them academically.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Reading Response Eight
Reading Prompt #8
*Levy – Ch. 4 Computer Mediated Communication
*BLACKBOARD – Sauro, S. (2009). Computer-Mediated Corrective Feedback and the Development of L2 Grammar. Language Learning & Technology, 13(1), 96-120.
What are some of the technologies used for CMC? What are some of the promising features of CMC for language learning. Comment on any of your uses of these technologies, in particular if you have used any of them for language learning or practice purposes. Finally, comment on the findings of Dr. Sauro's research, and what the implications may be for future practice.
Email, chat, Moo's, conferencing,and mailing lists are examples of CMC or Computer Mediated Communication. My favorite of these are email and chat. Emailing someone who is a native speaker of your target language is a good way of practicing literacy. The book states that, "perhaps the most commonly cited advantages of e-mail as a learning tool are taht it provides access to authentic langauge and serves as a means of learning more about the target culture." (Levy p.86) All this in your own time without the worries of meeting for class.
Chat is done in real time. It is probably a more difficult medium to deal with, but has many advantages. "Because of the real-time interaction of chat in which participants negotiate meaning by modifying the input and output and responding to feedback, meaning by modifying the input and output and responding to feedback." (Levy p.89)
Both mediums are great tools for second language learning.
*Levy – Ch. 4 Computer Mediated Communication
*BLACKBOARD – Sauro, S. (2009). Computer-Mediated Corrective Feedback and the Development of L2 Grammar. Language Learning & Technology, 13(1), 96-120.
What are some of the technologies used for CMC? What are some of the promising features of CMC for language learning. Comment on any of your uses of these technologies, in particular if you have used any of them for language learning or practice purposes. Finally, comment on the findings of Dr. Sauro's research, and what the implications may be for future practice.
Email, chat, Moo's, conferencing,and mailing lists are examples of CMC or Computer Mediated Communication. My favorite of these are email and chat. Emailing someone who is a native speaker of your target language is a good way of practicing literacy. The book states that, "perhaps the most commonly cited advantages of e-mail as a learning tool are taht it provides access to authentic langauge and serves as a means of learning more about the target culture." (Levy p.86) All this in your own time without the worries of meeting for class.
Chat is done in real time. It is probably a more difficult medium to deal with, but has many advantages. "Because of the real-time interaction of chat in which participants negotiate meaning by modifying the input and output and responding to feedback, meaning by modifying the input and output and responding to feedback." (Levy p.89)
Both mediums are great tools for second language learning.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Response Seven
Reading Prompt #7
*LEVY – Ch. 7 Practice
*BLACKBOARD - Grgurović, M. & Hegelheimer, V. (2007). Help Options and Multimedia Listening: Students' Use of Subtitles and the Transcript. Language Learning & Technology, 11(1), 45-66. What did Grgurović & Hegelheimer find with regards to using subtitles and transcripts to help ESL students develop listening skills in English? What are some of the implications for instruction?
From your reading of Levy, comment on one or more of the issues related to the practice dimension of CALL what you would want to take into consideration for your own classroom.
The article is a study of the use of subtitles and transcripts when using multi-media materials in the classroom; for the use of teachers using CALL materials and for the software designers who design them. The participants were 18 ESL college students in an Academic English Listening class. The students were divided into two groups: higher intermediate and lower intermediate. The conclusion to the study showed that students used subtitles more than transcripts. “The higher proficiency group also used subtitles more frequently and for longer amounts of time than the lower proficiency group although both groups exhibited very similar behavior on the transcript.” (Grgurovic and Hegelheimer, p. 61)
I believe this study was very effective. They looked at other studies using Multimedia Listening and Help options before they conducted their study. This gave them a framework to start from, and they were able to design their study without some of the problems the other studies faced. For example, Pujola’s study was unable to draw any concrete conclusions because of the idiosyncratic behavior of his participants. The study can also prove helpful for ESL CALL instructors in designing their curriculum, as well as software designers.
I would take into consideration the outcome of this study when designing curriculum for my own classroom. Although I have no teaching experience to draw from, the conclusion of the study and my growing knowledge of CALL materials, I believe the use of Multimedia Listening and Help options are invaluable for a Listening class. I would also use the conclusion of the study as a guide in learning a second language myself; incorporating the use of subtitles in my multimedia studies.
The article generates ideas such as how to look at other studies when coming up with a study of one’s own, how to incorporate multimedia listening into your classroom to teach listening and proficiency, and to guide students into using the help option. Most of all, the article outlined the effectiveness of subtitles in the classroom when teaching listening.
In Levy, his description of Listening through the use of technology showed that when students used annotations and sound bites of the passage to decipher a passage, they were able translate the passage. With more options to use annotations the learners had a higher opinion of the exercise. Those with fewer annotations or none at all, had a lower opinion of the activity.
*LEVY – Ch. 7 Practice
*BLACKBOARD - Grgurović, M. & Hegelheimer, V. (2007). Help Options and Multimedia Listening: Students' Use of Subtitles and the Transcript. Language Learning & Technology, 11(1), 45-66. What did Grgurović & Hegelheimer find with regards to using subtitles and transcripts to help ESL students develop listening skills in English? What are some of the implications for instruction?
From your reading of Levy, comment on one or more of the issues related to the practice dimension of CALL what you would want to take into consideration for your own classroom.
The article is a study of the use of subtitles and transcripts when using multi-media materials in the classroom; for the use of teachers using CALL materials and for the software designers who design them. The participants were 18 ESL college students in an Academic English Listening class. The students were divided into two groups: higher intermediate and lower intermediate. The conclusion to the study showed that students used subtitles more than transcripts. “The higher proficiency group also used subtitles more frequently and for longer amounts of time than the lower proficiency group although both groups exhibited very similar behavior on the transcript.” (Grgurovic and Hegelheimer, p. 61)
I believe this study was very effective. They looked at other studies using Multimedia Listening and Help options before they conducted their study. This gave them a framework to start from, and they were able to design their study without some of the problems the other studies faced. For example, Pujola’s study was unable to draw any concrete conclusions because of the idiosyncratic behavior of his participants. The study can also prove helpful for ESL CALL instructors in designing their curriculum, as well as software designers.
I would take into consideration the outcome of this study when designing curriculum for my own classroom. Although I have no teaching experience to draw from, the conclusion of the study and my growing knowledge of CALL materials, I believe the use of Multimedia Listening and Help options are invaluable for a Listening class. I would also use the conclusion of the study as a guide in learning a second language myself; incorporating the use of subtitles in my multimedia studies.
The article generates ideas such as how to look at other studies when coming up with a study of one’s own, how to incorporate multimedia listening into your classroom to teach listening and proficiency, and to guide students into using the help option. Most of all, the article outlined the effectiveness of subtitles in the classroom when teaching listening.
In Levy, his description of Listening through the use of technology showed that when students used annotations and sound bites of the passage to decipher a passage, they were able translate the passage. With more options to use annotations the learners had a higher opinion of the exercise. Those with fewer annotations or none at all, had a lower opinion of the activity.
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