Given its immense variety of applications in the foreign language classroom, I think technology is a valuable tool when put in the hands of an experienced language teacher. The amount of tools widely available to people for the creation of creative content - be it music, video, or written content - and the ease with which that content can be shared with a global audience online, has ushered in a new age of creativity driven by "ordinary" people. As many of these tools (Audacity, iMovie, Garage Band) and publishing platforms (Blogger, Wiki, Twitter, Podcasts) are available for free or with minimal startup costs, language teachers should have little trouble integrating technology into their classrooms.
The article I read for this week dealt with a study of communicative collaboration between American and Spanish university students, who used blogs and podcasts to produce original content on a variety of discussion topics in their L2s, which were the subject to comment and discussion from their native target-language-speaking peers. Overall the study found that while the projects were very meaningful and productive to students in terms of cultural learning and careful language use, they also found that these kinds of projects tend to be far more time consuming than run-of-the-mill language class assignments. Some of the students had to put in time to learn new software in order to even produce the content needed to complete the assignment. It is therefore essential, the study found, that the appropriate amount of time be spent on learning how to use these tools prior to using them. For this reason, I feel that "tech-heavy" language teaching can only be really effective for longer-term projects that would continue for an entire semester or even over the course of an academic year. The time you need to get students comfortable with the technology is only well spent if the scope of the project is large enough. Given the large amount of training, these tools wouldn't be appropriate for one-off assignments. Instead, an appropriate amount of time needs to be given to get comfortable with the technology (perhaps through shorter practice assignments at the beginning) and to produce the content being asked of the students.
I could easily see myself using something like podcasts or blogs in my own classroom, especially at the higher levels when it is more appropriate to expect students to produce meaningful content in the L2. Lower level students might not have enough skills to make a 10 minute podcast on something like American Music or University Life. Instead, a lower level student might benefit from smaller scope projects using technology, such as using AudioBoo or VoiceThread to record some simple assignments to check mainly for pronunciation accuracy. For advanced or upper-intermediate students though, I could easily see myself planning a long term cross-cultural exchange project using technology. Having students interact with native speakers over a long period of time would encourage careful and accurate language use and promote cross cultural understanding in a way that is second only to traveling to the native culture. It is therefore an extremely valuable tool.
I completely agree with your comments related to the frustrations that students may have when attempting to learn how to use new technology. Especially for a one-off type of assignment, having to download new software or learning to use a new program may seem rather tedious and even irrelevant to the desired outcomes of the course. Like you said, this sort of introduction to new technologies/programs would definitely be worth while for more long term projects, but seems rather silly for a single homework assignment, for example. Another important thing to consider is that introductory language students may not have enough interest in the coursework to actually care about making a podcast or starting a correspondence with international students. No matter how simple and painless the instructor makes the technological components of the assignment, these students may just not see or want to see the value in such work. More advanced students, or students who are majoring in the given language, will obviously appreciate such opportunities to connect with an international audience and participate in cultural exchanges without leaving their home university. Students need to feel as though the work they are doing is worth while, and therefore, as instructors or future instructors, we have to gauge whether or the activities that we find exciting will truly resonate with our classes.
ReplyDeleteYes! Again, the motivation is the key here. For beginning students, I would say that it's better to use a project-based assignment so students ca really get involved with using technology for the assignment, such as making a short video clip about their university life. I know the German Program here at UNH uses this type of project. Students seem to enjoy it very much. Technology shouldn't be a burden to students rather a tool for students to practice language skills. Most of the textbooks come with an online workbook and lab so I don't think teachers need to re-invent the wheel to make more assignments. For example, students can listen to and record podcasts in MySpanishLab (Spanish 401/402). They do not need to learn any technology to be able to use the recording tool. In my view, most textbooks do not do a good job of integrating meaningful cultural activities into online activities. To supplement cultural activities, a wonderful tool called VoiceThread is very useful for students to create projects and share them with each other.
DeleteNot only that, the film class in the German program has a final project that involved producing an original short film that mimics the style of one of the directors studied in class. The final class period is a screening of all the student films and everybody has to guess which director was being imitated. I've taken part in a few of these films and they are a lot of fun. Being able to produce media content is a very marketable skill and I'm glad to have had so many opportunities in both high school and college to make films rather than write papers. It's made the learning much more meaningful for me.
DeleteI was able to create several films in a HS English class. They ranged from "plays" representing certain themes/passages to novels, to biographies of authors. It was one of my most memorable learning experiences thus far. It was a amazing way to delve deeper into a topic; my classmates seemed equally enthused, and therefore our final product was quite good!
DeleteI agree with you about the frustrations of learning new technology in order to do projects. I remember having to use voice thread in high school, which is a good tool, but trying to get a large class to use it was chaos. Everyone was confused and it ended up taking twice as long as planned to get everyone to understand how to use it. Voice thread is not that hard to use either, but it was a general class that a lot of people were not interested in. But in contrast, in my Spanish four class everyone had to make music videos in Spanish and it was a great experience. It definitely depends on the level of the class and motivation. So I think the use of technology definitely depends on the setting.
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