(1) View and comment on the video.
(2) Based on the technology article you have read, do you feel that technology is an asset to teaching foreign languages or do you prefer not to use it? Why? How do you feel about using social networking tools, such as Blog, Wiki, Facebook, Twitter or Skype to supplement and support language teaching? Use examples to justify your answers.
First of all, videos where they hold signs up like that bug me. Also, I love the ending where it says "Thank you to the children of Robin Hood School, Birmingham for sharing their thoughts with us." That is just a hoax. Clearly this was an adult's idea who put this entire thing together instructing the children what to do. Also, there are little if any 3rd-graders who are blogging, on wikis, or doing podcasts. Most of the other statements from the video seem valid however.
I do think technology should have a bigger role in school, both in the classroom and at home. Currently, most teachers are not taking advantage of all of the tools at their disposal. Of course the poorer the community the harder it is to fully utilize technology. While technology should have an increasing role in school, it naturally will have an increasing role as old teachers retire and new teachers who are more use to technology begin.
My technology article on podcasts and pronunciation was not very good for supporting technology in teaching foreign languages. The study involved 8 critiqued with feedback pronunciation podcasts from each student over the course of a semester at the college level and found hardly any improvement in pronunciation from the students.
With that said, I think technology in most classes is great. One of the greatest things about teaching foreign language is you can vary instruction greatly, and therefore make the class and learning more fun, unlike with teaching a subject like math, where there are really only a few different ways you can teach and run a classroom. Technology gives us a hundred more tools for varying our lesson plans and the homework that we give. As I have said before, it gives us great tools for teaching and learning the real 5 major components of foreign language which is listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture.
I can mostly see myself using the blog of those 5 listed to supplement learning. I would use it in a way like this blog where everyone can post in the L2 and then comment on their peers' posts in the L2. Facebook would be cool to use for one of those buddy programs where you get paired up with someone from another country who is learning your L1 and speaks your L2. You could use the messaging tool for the letters and then the photos would be neat culturally. Also, because you would be messaging each other so much, each others' statuses/posts would near the top of your feed every time which would be good too.
I don't really see a very effective or practical use for Twitter; it seems to me there are probably better options for whatever you may want to use Twitter for. Skype is just awkward and I would never make my students do that. :)
Troy, I like your comment related to how the use or lack of use of technology in the classroom can be a direct result of economic conditions. Although most people have access to the internet, communities that have poor funding for their public schools may not have the money necessary to allow students access to the many resources the internet has to offer language learners. For example, it may be free to create a blog or podcast, but what happens when students do not have a computer or internet access at home? Do they stay after school or go to the library? It is easy to assume that internet resources are available to everyone, but different communities and individual families obviously have different levels of access to key technologies. Teachers that work in such communities obviously need to tailor their use of technology in the classroom to match student access to computers, good internet connections, audio recorders, etc., so that a student's ability to complete his or her coursework is not hindered by his or her community's economic condition.
ReplyDeleteTroy- no criticism intended, but it sounds like you need to have a little more confidence in your L2 skills :) Yes, skype can be a little anxiety provoking (awkward), but so is conversing with anyone in a language that isn't native to you. This sort of awkwardness is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to L2 exchange, and I think that exposure to this sort of pressure is a great opportunity to test student's skills from the comfort of their own home or classroom, before throwing them out into the target culture where they'll inevitably realize (we all do) that they have a lot to learn!
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