E-Learning Individual Work - Suhailah Abdat

For this particular lesson, I feel that the most prevalent theory that is displayed is the Interactionist theory, where language is acquired through social interaction. For this example, the interaction occurs between both the students and teacher.  Vygotsky claims that “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).” (Vygotsky, 1978). (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2008). Interaction through communication reaps most rewards in their language development. Ultimately the aim of the teacher as mentioned is to provide individualized learning and feedback. I feel that this is done first by pairing the students up (social level) before achieving individual results.

Strengths

The lesson sets out for the students to learn from the teacher first. This is done by distributing the printed script of conversation and the teacher explicitly teaches to students that before a full stop or exclamation mark, syllables have a fall tone, and before a comma or question mark, syllables have a rise tone. In this instance the teacher serves as the more knowledgeable other. Audio clip of the conversation script provides students the ideal model for them to emulate. This is good as the teacher provides the model that she aspires the students to be ideally.

Then the students are engaged in ‘Think pair share’ where the students are to work in pairs. In the first lesson, students are to listen to their partner reading the script and to give feedback using the checklist provided. For the second lesson, they are also required to work in pairs to evaluate 3 oral passages of different levels of proficiency. This socialization among peers is the very essence of the interactionist model. This allows students to learn and correct each other. By working in pairs, they can provide encouragement and make it an enjoyable learning experience.

As mentioned in page 2 of the readings by Chapelle & Jamieson “continual changes in technology and society mean that literacy tasks in themselves are changing”. (Colombi & Schleppegrell, 2002, p.1). With that, the notion of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) came into light to assist in second language learning. It aims to support what the teacher already knows in terms of teaching styles and supplement it. It is dynamic, exciting and most importantly engages students.

One challenge that teacher’s face is to create IT based exercises that are engaging and if not executed well enough, it can do more harm than benefit the students. “Computer is an important part of the pedagogy when it serves as a tool in the classroom” (Chapelle & Jamieson Pg 2). We see that in the lesson the teacher very cleverly incorporated the use of the computer in the classroom and extends the lesson so that students can access the E-portal at home. This shows that the learning does not end when the lesson does but rather it just begins. When learning takes place all the time, even if it takes a conscious effort it would be more effective and the likelihood to retain the information is higher.  We see evidence of the use of IT similar to the strategies of CALL with the use of the computers and internet access in class that allows students to access to online resources (although in this lesson, they did not need to visit any websites) and the E-portal forum.  As the follow up activity, students are then instructed to go to E-portal system record themselves reading a passage, upload it, listen to their own recording, grade themselves and do a self-evaluation based on the checklist they used in class. Speaking is transient, thus making listening and retaining information tougher to do comparing to writing and reading. Thus to have a voice recording done, creates more awareness for the students. They are more likely to more cautious as they do not want to embarrass themselves by sounding ‘funny’ or ‘silly’. When students place themselves on such a public platform, they tend to take the task with more seriousness. They also have something tangible to refer to for future references and also reflect on their mistakes so that further improvements can be made.

For CALL and any IT based lesson, teachers’ provides guidance and facilitates more. The activities presented in the lesson plan are student centered and hence the key role of the teacher is more of a facilitator who provides feedback. It is mentioned in the reading that is that teachers need to teach learners how to benefit from interactive help and feedback from the computer as “…error correction would be expected to be effective.” (Chapelle & Jamieson, Pg 106). In the lesson there are a few different types of feedback channels. It includes the reading aloud checklist, Instant Feedback System (IFS) and formative assessment by the teacher. The remote controls and infrared receiver where students instantly key in their MCQ answers which the results will be captured and displayed onscreen provides instantaneous feedback. The error correction mechanism adopted is that the teacher provides explicit correction. Questions are then asked to test their understanding of the correction made. The fact that they are learning from each other’s mistakes also reinforces my point that the dominant model adopted for the lesson is an interactionist one as they are learning from each other.

We can conclude that with the instant feedback provided, it serves as error correction and by reinforcing the tone of the speeches it serves as explicit teaching, which would greatly help them improve their pronunciation skills. Feedback given is not only in the form of ICT but also in the reading aloud checklist, thus mixing the pen and paper method and ICT resources it could reap maximum benefits for the students.

Weaknesses

However, I do feel that that because they are of about similar abilities, the pairing effect might prove not to be beneficial as there might be instances where they both are equally lost and cannot clear each other’s doubts. It could lead to a case of the blind leading the blind. According to Vygotsky, learning takes place in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and it usually done with a person who is more knowledgeable so that the collaboration is advantageous. It would work better if the students were not segregated into different classes and the paring of students was done with one being of higher ability rather than of the same standard.

Conclusion

 As mentioned by Towndrow (Chap 4, pg 37), “…teachers need to change their pedagogical beliefs and practices… what changes are necessary and which factors are involved in achieving effective and sustainable results.” The use of ICT resources for language learning is good but the “language input for learners should make them stretch their language knowledge just to the right amount” (Chapelle & Jamieson, Pg 3). When creating such IT based lessons, the teacher must consider the proficiency level of the students and match the pace and objectives of the lesson accordingly. Personally, I am in favour of using IT resources such as web pages for students to explore and learn, provided the equipment is made available for them. For example, I incorporated ‘writing fun’ for an ICT based lesson for my practicum. I used the website, ‘Writing Fun’ by Jenny Eather (Eather, 2010) to teach the students the structure of a procedural text. This site highlights important aspects found in such a text, for example the use of action verbs such as ‘cook’, ‘cut’ and ‘steam’ when writing instructions. It provided a sample of how the final product should be. This helped me show the students what my expectations of them are. I could also vary the level of writing skills that matched the students’ level of competency. I choose level 4 to teach them the structure of a procedural test as it was an appropriate level for the primary 4 students. More importantly to me, it allowed students to print out their work after they are done so that I can mark their work as provide them the necessary feedback needed to improve on their writing skills.

A lot of readymade resources for language learning are available on the internet that can cater to the different linguistic capabilities of the students and the degree of difficulty can be adjusted. This is not only available for ESL and language learners but also for other subjects and children of all ages across the spectrum. I feel that if these resources are exploited properly, it can make learning a lot more fun and valuable and teaching more relevant.

Works Cited

Eather, J. (2010). Writing Fun. Retrieved August 25, 2011, from Writing Fun by Jenny Eather - text organizer - procedure: http://www.writingfun.com/writingfun2010.html

Learning Theories Knowledgebase. (2008). Learning -Theories.com, Knowledge base and Webliography. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from Social Development Theory (Vygotsky): http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html