Week 15: Using Technology to Give Feedback.

The article for this week is called “Assessing Language Using Computer Technology”. The article is about the use of computer in the field of language assessment which is referred as Computer-Assisted Language Testing.

The article talks about that online quizzes can have some advantages as well as disadvantages.  For students and teachers immediate test results and feedback are an important advantage of using computer technology in the field of assessment. Teachers have fewer tests to evaluate and students don’t have to wait for having their results. However, that depends on the kind of questions they have to answer.  There are some questions that need that the teachers read carefully what students wrote to evaluate if it is correct or not. Also, the scoring system may fail, we have to remember that technology is not perfect and sometimes it can commit mistakes.

Furthermore, when teachers need to give feedback to students. Using technlogy and a computer is easier because using this tool teacher can just send feedback to each student quickly and the feedback is personal for everyone. In this way teacher do not have to be face to face with students in order to check feedback.

Week 14: Benefits of Participation in classroom.

The article for this week is called "10 Benefits of Getting Students to Participate in Classroom Discussions" by  Maryellen Weimer, and the second article is "Increase Student Interaction with 'Think­Pair­Shares' and 'Circle Chats'" by Kristina Robertson, I read about how to boost participation among language learners and the positive outcomes of doing it. Besides this, we had the opportunity of experiencing how technology can help us to promote participation with students.

The first article article was very helpful; the author exposes the benefits of making students participate in classroom discussions. Something that I learned from this article is how participation can provide feedback to teachers. When listening to the way students express their ideas, teacher can identify what areas of the language they need to emphasize to improve, for example. Moreover, a wrong answer from a student can help teachers know what is not clear enough for students, in this way they can try to focus more in that áreas.

In the second article Robertson's provides examples of two different activities that can be performed in the classroom in order to boost students' participation. These activities are "Think­Pair­Shares" and "Circle Chats". What I liked from this article is that the author explained the steps of each activity in a very clear and detailed way. Also, using this methodology students have the opportunity to increase interaction, and the teacher has an opportunity to hear and monitor many students including those who don’t usually speak in class

Week 12: Project Work Benefits in Language Learning.

The articles for this week are called “Maximizing the Benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms” and “Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning” both share and  interesting information about benefits of project work.

 “Maximizing the Benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms” is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges through activities that allows them to study, do research and act by themselves using their abilities and interests. This article mention recommendations for English as a Foreing language teachers and materials writers who want to integrate project based learning into their curriculum. Also, it is focused on how English language teachers can improve the benefits of project works.

The second article called “Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning” explains the essential elements of meaningful projects that make PBL different from “doing projects.” These competencies make the project to be a meaningful because they help students to be prepared for the future. In the article show us an element that was from the 21st Century Skills, such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology. These competencies will permit students to be confident people who are able to work effectively in teams and will enable students to take advantage of the opportunities of the new digital age.

In conclusion, both articles are very similar, they describe the steps that students must follow to create a project, and they provide examples of how project based learning has helped students to get very good results while learning a language.

Week 11: Using Mobile Phones for Language Learning.

The article for this week is called “Twenty Ideas for Using Mobile Phones in the Language Classroom”. It is an interesting topic for this week. And at the same time is a good to use mobile phones to learn. As we know, nowadays it seems mobile phones are used everywhere by everyone.

The article described twenty ways to use mobile phones to support second language learning, inside and outside the classroom, Students now are using mobile phones more than a computer because with mobile phones they have the opportunity to take them everywhere. For this reason, this article mention some of the ideas that teacher can use to teach, using a mobile phone. As we know, students are aware with the social networks so teacher should take advantage of this situation by leaving homework or doing different activities using social networks.

 Furthermore, using mobile phones allow teachers to use and practice with four skills: Writing, speaking, listening, and reading. Mobile phones are not only to distract students, teachers can integrate mobile phones in education and get benefits from them. But at the sometime there are some challenges that can be presented while using mobile phones, for example:  lack of access to mobile phones, Cost of mobile phones and wireless services, Noise and disruption in class, and privacy considerations. But teacher have to think about this challenges and find a way  to use this tool.

In conclusion, the article offer a lot of opportunities for language learning by taking advantage of a tool that students are intimately familiar with and carry around at all times.

Week 10: Using wikis for writing Skill.

This week I have the opportunity to read the article “Online Collaborative Writing Using Wikis”.

The first article is “Online Collaborative Writing Using Wikis”. A wiki is a website where anyone can edit anything anytime they want (Richardson, 2006). Wiki is a great tool for online collaborative writing activities. This article was trying to find out how applicable wikis are with ESL learners; a group of students were chosen to work with wikis. It say that at the beginning the result of using this source was not the good, the result were slow and that happen maybe because the tool was new for them. Then students were only adding their ideas to their group page. Well at the end of the process students were motivated and excited about the writing project throughout, because of the following reasons:

·         The wiki was a new medium for them to express their ideas in writing.

·         It was easy for them to learn and work with wikis.

·         Their group report would be read by other groups; there was a real audience for their writing.

·         They enjoyed the process of sharing ideas.

·         They enjoyed the online contact with each other outside of class. The writing project led to a visible product on the Web: the completed wiki.

In conclusion, know we already know that Wikis have a great potential in promoting collaborative writing by learners outside of class. This tool is very helpful for teachers and also, for students. Using wiki, teachers the opportunity to practice and develop the writing skill with students. This tool is very useful because students or even teacher have the opportunity to use it because it has a large range of formatting features were they can practice to improve the writing skill.

Week 8: Using Online Dictionaries and Technology to Develop vocabulary and Reading Comprehension.

The articles from week 8 are: “Online English-English Learner Dictionaries Boost Word Learning” and “Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension” both articles are very interesting and instructive because they focus on online dictionaries and vocabulary. As we know vocabulary is very important to learn because is one of the essential things when learning a language.

The first article is “Online English-English Learner Dictionaries Boost Word Learning”. This article let us to know the importance to help students to introduce dictionaries for language learners. There are different dictionaries that students can use and get familiar with them. The dictionaries have features such as, a corpus-based compilation of words, word frequency data, collocation guides, authentic examples of words, and vocabulary. Some of the most common dictionaries are: Merriam-Webster.com, Dictionary.com, oxford dictionary, Cambridge dictionary, etc. Furthermore, something I learned from this article  was that building vocabulary it does not consist only in knowing the meanings of the words, but it also consists in using the words in context.

The second article is “Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension” it is shown that nowadays multimedia plays an important role in the improvement of acquiring vocabulary and reading comprehension. Technology includes a combination of text, audio, images, video, graphics, animation, and interactivity content forms.  Vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension have a reciprocal relationship because when learners have a large vocabulary, they decode more words automatically and they can comprehend a text easily. If they have a larger vocabulary is going to be better to perform with reading comprehension tasks. Learning vocabulary is very important because is useful and beneficial for reading comprehension. What do you think about the importance of learning vocabulary for reading comprehension?

Week 7: Using Internet to Develop Reading and Writing Skills.

The articles from this week are called “Using Internet Based Children's Literature to Teach EFL” and “Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction” both areticles are very interesting and informative at the same time. The first article show as that using a web is a nice tool and not only to find something we need but it helps as to create our own material talking about students and teachers. As we know, nowadays, students do not like to read and we as teachers have to find a way to encourage them to do it.

 The article talks about the extensive reading and it says that is an important and a benefit for students to develop reading habits, but it mention the importance of using technology to get the attention on students to read. Some of the benefits that extensive reading allow students to develop or improve are the following skills: vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and writing. It is important to mention that students and teachers can find webs that are inexpensive or free that help you with materials to read. But, not only have that, the use of web allowed you to use materials that illustrated books or short stories that present to you audios. This is a good methodology to encourage students to read. Furthermore, Mikulecky mentioned that there are some websites that allow students to get literature in English to practice their reading skill, and at the same time it allows them to overcome some barriers that were common in the past, like problems of access, and expense

The second article show us that we can use technology for students to get interested in the  writing skill. It told us the we can use Websites, blogs, and emails to help students in writing. Using this tools, students have the opportunity to write and publish their works, but at the same time they have the chance to receive comments and corrections about their writing. Nowadays, teachers and students have the opportunity to use technology to improve their learning process. There are so many ways or tools that help us with different materials to practice your skills, but at the same time you enjoy the activities.

Week 6: Creating your own Materials for the Classroom.

After Reading the articles “Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills” and “Using Original Video and Sound Effects to Teach English” I have acquired new knowledge on the way that CALL can be used to teach specific skills in a second or foreign language. Moreover,  using an original video recording and sound effect to teach English is an excellent idea when we want to integrate videos into lessons, but we don't find them for a specific topic or the material we find is not the most appropriate for our class.    

  

The article show us the idea of recording yourself or make a video about something by yourself, it sounds very challenging, but at the same time it is the opportunity to try something new and that I would like implement in my classes. Something interesting about this is that it is possible to use the same video to teach different topics and practice different skills like vocabulary, grammar, and listening. It is important to say that creating material for the different skills is kind of difficult, but using this methodology we can do and get what we need for our classes.

Furthermore, in the article I read about the advantages and disadvantages of the integration of CALL for speaking skills. CALL provides motivation to students and it has a variety of resouerces to use. In addition, language teachers and learners are provided with an authentic and stimulating conversational environment. For example, broadcasting, video or audio conferencing over the network, discussion forums, etc. However, computer programs for speaking or pronunciation do not always imitate a human voice very well and they are unable to produce or understand natural language or have a real verbal interaction. Using a recording voice is very important because you are helping your students, but at the same time teacher are learning new things to integrate new materials in the classroom.

Week 5: Activating the Critical Thinking in our Students.

                                                    Critical Thinking and Technology.

What can we do to help and encourage our students to become the best ones, and how they can accomplish the goal by using technology, but we have to study how people learn.  

For this reason, some investigatores that studied the intrinsic motivations present two fairly simple theories. First, human beings are naturally curious animals. Second, human beings are both rational and emotional creatures. People learn naturally while tryig to solve prolems that are affecting them.

Teachers have to recognize that students are most likely to become intellectually exited to work if teachers appeal to their emotions. Moreover, when we talk about Learning Specific Abstract Reasoning Abilities. We as teachers have to pay attention and have to know that not every student have that same process when learning something. Someones learn faster and others not. Everybody have a different process and for this reason is important that we as a teachers have to ask them more then telling or dictating information in their clases. But sometimes we just say the things, but we do not do it in the correct way. Some people learn in different kinds of input, not in the same all the time.

I think that technology has help a lot in the society. And nowadays students have more possibilities and also teachers. If students have the opportunity to use a computer they have the chance to accomplish the objectives goals we have for them. When teacher have the possibility to use technology and computers they can prepare their class with material that will help students in their learning. Taking into account that not everybody learn in the same way.

Week 4: The Integration of Internet in ELT.

CALL Me … Maybe: A Framework for Integrating the Internet into ELT

Basically, the article talks about an alternative framework for internet integration in ELT. The article present some ideas to integrate the internet in all schools even at the ones that do not have access to internet.

Nowadays, the use of the internet is very common, but sometimes we as a teachers have to know if all the students have the opportunity to access; so in this way they can learn different things, for example; numerous sites offer lessons on English language usage, such as grammar, vocabulary, and idioms. As well as current events and blogs, information about almost any subject is available in depth and up to date. This is incredibly valuable for every subject you can imagine. Almost every school and government research organization is "on the web", along with libraries, educational institutions, associations, and many commercial directories and sites.

Furthermore, the article say that internet can be use as a tutor, the Internet can be used to offer advice, facilitate analysis, or conduct activities. Also, as a tool, the Internet can be used for a deeper level of student engagement and interactivity by helping stimulate creativity; it can also foster communication and  collaboration. If a student have the probability to access to internet is proven that well help them a lot. For example: to increase learner motivation and reduce learner anxiety (LeLoup and Ponterio 2003). As the authors said, if students use internet they can be motivated because they can find so many things to learn something new on internet. They can access to many website that will help them in different áreas. That means that students are focusing in activities in orden to learn; in this way they cannot have the opportunity to wast their time.

Moreover, mobile phones are the tools more available is this days. Most of the people Access to internet through this tool and not from a computer. Using this tool, people can download applications for different aims. Now we can communicated with people from different places.

In conclusion, the internet is very important to learn in different areas, but talking about a language. It does not matter if we have lack of internet access, teachers can find a way to integrate this tool in their instruction or classes.

 

Week 3: Using podcast to learn a second language.

Blending Technologies in ESL Courses: A Reflexive Enquiry.

The first impression of the article was that the use of podcasts are very important when students would like to improve their listening skill. And not only the listening skill. As in the article mention using this tool instructors can help students with speaking, listening and digital literacy skills.

Moreover, something that I noticed from this article and the investigación-action they made with students using the podcast made at home, is that some of the students have barriers when using podcast. Some of them are the followings: Not owning, or little access to players, Lack of awareness of podcasts as learning tools, Incompatibility (mp4a vs mp3), and Technology reverting from ‘awe’ to ‘bore’. As we know some students do not have the opportunity to use this type of tools, some of them do not even know how to use it or they just think that is something bore. For this reason, we as a teachers have to help students and encourange them to use this tools to have a better learning.

Furthermore, something that I like when I was reading is a quote by Vandergrift, (2004) that says: The teaching of listening in the second language classroom is a multi-purpose activity; that is, learners must use the resources both for ‘learning to listen’ and for ‘listening to learn’. This is really true because somtimes students do not use the resources in a good way. Students have to learn by listening, but at the same time they have to listen to learn something different, everybody have to practice this to imrpove their knowledge.

For me the use of podcast in the classroom is a good way to help students to develop some of the skills they have to use. We as a teachers have to encourage them to to give an appropiate use of podcast.

Do you think that using podcasts in classroom will help students to learn a second language?

Week 2: Awareness of students to learn another language

Effectiveness of the integration of ICT tools and activities to foster awareness as the first stage to    reach learning autonomy.

The article talks about a method of teaching that mention the importance of allow students to make their own decisions for their learning. The article focus in two surveys that were administered to a group of students. One survey requires students to report the things they find useful, things they like the best and suggestions they have for the instructor. The second survey followed a semi structured format designed to specifically address the multidisiplinary experience. At the end students were asked to write a reflection to sum up about what the Project meant to them. Also, in the surveys they made, students considered some activities useful for their learning.

This article mentions about students that learn by making invetigations and also decisions by their own; I think that the learning process that they have is more meaningful for students. If they are responsables in what they are doing to learn a language, in this way they will find the knowledge that they are acquiring more fun or interesting because they have the opportunity to get information using technological tools.

furthermore, when the students have the opportunity to use technology for information to learn a new language they are more aware of the process of the learning they are having because they can see the progress in the knowledge they are having.

Also, the experiences they have to learn a language are differents because they can enjoy the learning when they make it dynamic. As we know the process that a teacher use is most of the time to receive information and sometimes students do not have the chance to look of use other materials to be better in their skills.

Moreover, it is important to know that teachers play an important role when students use this methodology. Teachers are the guide for students to provide information to use this method to have a better learning.

To sum up, students need to have the opportunity to make independent practice to develop the metacognitive process to learn a language using ICT tools. Using this tools or methodology students are going to have a positive effect on their performance.

Week 1: Computer-Assited Language Learning.

The article mention that Computer-Assisted language Learning have been working seen 1960. This process or method has helped a lot to students who need to learn or practice a language.

 As in  the article says, now teachers are only facilitors to students. Teachers are not going to be replaced for a technological tool; now the function of a teacher is to facilitate students with the things that they need to clarify doubts. Another thing that it is mentioned is that CALL allow learners to work on their own using the materials they present. Moreover, CALL is essentially a tool that helps teachers to facilitate the language learning process. It can be used to reinforce what has already been learned in the classroom or as a remedial tool to help learners who require additional support.

Nowadays, most of the people have the opportunity to use the computer and access to the internet to search for something they need to learn. I think that the purpose of the article is that the things have to change in terms of the ways students learn a language. Now they have the chance to use different programs to learn and they can also practice because the programs give them the opportunity to interact with the computer or the system they are using. It is important to know that not only technological tools can help students to learn a language; students can also have the opportunity to change opinions with classmates or teacher when they are in classes. Teacher have some benefits using this method with the students; some of them are the following:

• Multi-modal practice with feedback: using a program in the computer can help students because they can have the opportunity to have feedback in the exercise they are practicing. In some cases teacher cannot have the chance to help each student. Using the computer allow them to access any time they need to have feedback.
  
  
• Individualization in large classes: When a student use a computer they can learn better because they focus more in the things they are learning because teacher cannot help when there is a big number of students in a classroom.
  
  
• Pair and small group work on projects, either collaboratively or competitively.
  
  
• The fun factor: Students who takes classes on computers can have fun, but at the same time the process of learning is going to be more meaningful if they use this tool in a good way in order to help them.
  
  
• Variety in the resources available and learning styles used: Students can take advantage of the resources they have available in the programs they have in the computer.
  
  
• Exploratory learning with large amounts of language data
  
  
• Real-life skill-building in computer use: They can have the opportunity to develop some of the skills in which they have problems by using a computer.
  
  

In conclusión, the use of technological tools nowadays is very important for students becasuse they have the opportunity to learn more by themselves. Most of the time, as I said before teachers do not have much time to help everybody in the class. I think that now we do not have excuses to say that we cannot use a computer and access to internet to learn something new. Most of the people have the chance to use this tool, but sometimes they do not use it in a correct way.

Take advantage of the opportunity we have nowadays!