Showing papers in "ReCALL in 2009"

Will mobile learning change language learning

Abstract: The use of mobile phones and other portable devices is beginning to have an impact on how learning takes place in many disciplines and contexts, including language learning. Learners who are not dependent on access to fixed computers can engage in activities that relate more closely to their current surroundings, sometimes crossing the border between formal and informal learning. This creates the potential for significant change in teaching and learning practices. Taking the broader field of mobile learning as the setting within which developments in mobile-assisted language learning may be understood, the paper argues that an emphasis on mobility can lead to new perspectives and practices. The paper offers reflections on what mobile learning has to offer and considers whether it is likely to change how languages are taught and learnt. ‘Mobile learning’ is not a stable concept; therefore its current interpretations need to be made explicit. Examples of current projects and practices show an affinity between mobile and games-based learning, and can further illuminate what is distinctive and worthwhile about mobile learning.

Will mobile learning change language learning

Abstract: The use of mobile phones and other portable devices is beginning to have an impact on how learning takes place in many disciplines and contexts, including language learning. Learners who are not de...

Mobile blogs in language learning: Making the most of informal and situated learning opportunities

Abstract: The application of mobile technologies to learning has the potential to facilitate the active participation of learners in the creation and delivery of content. Mobile technologies can also provide a powerful connection between a variety of formal and informal learning contexts and can help to build a community of learners. However these versatile tools present challenges to educators and learners alike. The paper discusses the pedagogical challenges that result from the introduction of mobile technologies in language learning in the context of an intensive week of study abroad. We describe and evaluate a pilot project that uses mobile blogging to promote a constructivist, situated and informal learning experience of the foreign language and culture based on theories of active learning. We aim to encourage interaction and a sense of community among learners outside formal educational environments and in different locations as we ask them to engage with the foreign culture by capturing, sharing and reflecting on their experiences for their peers.

Testing the limits of data-driven learning: Language proficiency and training

Abstract: The potential for corpora in language learning has attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years, including in the form of data-driven learning (DDL). Careful not to appear to over-promote the field, enthusiasts have urged caution in its application, in particular with regard to lower-level learners, and have argued that extensive learner-training in corpus techniques is an essential condition for DDL to be successful. Such limits seem eminently reasonable, but there is a notable dearth of empirical studies to support them. This paper describes a simple experiment to see how lower-level learners cope with corpus data with no prior training. The language focus here is on linking adverbials in English, which are renowned to be difficult to teach using traditional methods. The subjects are 132 first-year students at an engineering college in France of roughly intermediate and lower levels of English. They were divided into random groups to compare their ability to deal with the target items using traditional sources (extracts from a bilingual dictionary or a grammar/usage manual) or corpus data (short contexts or truncated concordances). Performance was tested prior to the experiment, subsequently to check ability to use the different information sources as a reference, and later to test recall. No evidence was found that traditional sources promote better recall, and corpus data seemed to be more effective for reference purposes. While the results of any single experiment must be treated with caution, these findings suggest the need for more empirical studies to complement the theoretical arguments and qualitative data which currently dominate the discussions of DDL.

Mall technology: Use of academic podcasting in the foreign language classroom

Abstract: Integrating Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) technology (personal multimedia players, cell phones, and handheld devices) into the foreign language curriculum is becoming commonplace in many secondary and higher education institutions. Current research has identified both pedagogically sound applications and important benefits to students. In this paper, we present the results of an initial study which compares the academic benefits of integrating podcasts into the curriculum against using them as a supplemental/review tool. The study’s findings indicate that when instructors use podcasts for multiple instructional purposes (e.g., to critique student projects and exams, for student video presentations, for student paired interviews, to complete specific assignments, dictations, in roundtable discussions, or for guest lectures), students are more likely to use this technology and to report academic benefits. While the study is limited by small sample sizes and by some within-group variation in instructional techniques, the study provides initial evidence that podcast technology has the potential to provide greater benefits if it is used more than simply as a tool for reviewing. The study’s positive findings indicate that additional research to examine the effects of specific instructional uses of podcast technology is merited.

Peer feedback through blogs: Student and teacher perceptions in an advanced german class

Abstract: Recent years have seen the emergence of Web2.0, in which users are not only passive recipients of the featured content, but actively engaged in constructing it. Sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ are typical examples of this, as are blogs that allow users to present themselves online, to write about their daily lives or even to establish themselves as an authority on a particular subject. Due to the opportunities for self-reflection and interactive learning offered by blogs, they have also become one of the emerging tools in language pedagogy and higher education. At the same time, peer feedback is a technique that is increasingly used by educators instead of, or in addition to, tutor feedback, due to its potential to develop students’ understanding of standards, to initiate peer feedback, and to engage the student in the process of learning and assessment. This paper is concerned with the question to what extent blogs can facilitate peer feedback and what issues need to be addressed for them to be a valuable tool in this process. After reviewing the recent literature on peer feedback and the specific issues emerging from providing feedback through computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies, the paper presents the results from a pedagogic research project in an advanced German language class in which blogs were used for this purpose. Drawing on students’ blogs as well as the responses given by students in questionnaires and focus groups and responses by experienced tutors in interviews, the paper argues that blogs are potentially valuable tools for peer feedback, but entail the need to address specific issues regarding the choice of CMC tool for feedback tasks, training in the use of interactive online tools and the roles of teachers and students.

Designing oral participation in second life – a comparative study of two language proficiency courses

Abstract: The following paper presents two stages of an action research project involving two oral proficiency courses held in the virtual world Second Life. Course 1 was conducted during the Autumn of 2007. Based on the experiences of this course, we redesigned many aspects of it in order to improve student activity in terms of oral participation and gave the course again in Spring 2008. By analysing the recordings of four 90-minute sessions, two from each course, we were able to measure student participation based on floor space, turn lengths and turn-taking patterns, and in the study we discuss how different changes in design may have contributed to more favourable outcomes. Results seem to indicate that meaning focussed task design, which involves authenticity and collaborative elements, has a direct impact on learner participation and engagement. Furthermore, our results seem to suggest that technical and social initiations into a complex environment such as SL are important factors that have to be worked into the course design.

Machine translation in foreign language learning: Language learners’ and tutors’ perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages

Abstract: This paper presents a snapshot of what has been investigated in terms of the relationship between machine translation (MT) and foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. For this purpose four different roles of MT in the language class have been identified: MT as a bad model, MT as a good model, MT as a vocational training tool (especially in the form of translation memories, pre-editing and post-editing), and MT as a “CALL tool”. Subsequently, some of the implications of the use of MT and of free online MT for FL learning are outlined and discussed along with practical examples for language teaching purposes. Finally, qualitative data, drawn from our empirical investigation are presented as synthesized findings pertaining to the perceptions of language learners and tutors in relation to the use of MT and, in particular, free online MT as a language tool.

Training future language teachers to develop online tutors’ competence through reflective analysis

Abstract: This article sets out to identify key competencies which language tutors need to develop in order to manage synchronous online teaching. In order to aptly monitor interactions with distant learners, it is proposed that three types of regulation pertaining to socio-affective, pedagogical and multimedia aspects are required. On the one hand, this research aims at specifying these competencies and, on the other hand, it seeks to identify the relevance of reflective analysis for professional development. The context of this study is a teacher training programme for Masters Degree students in teaching French as a foreign language that provides trainees with the opportunity of teaching online to intermediate-level students of French from a North American university via a desktop videoconferencing platform. This programme first endeavours to put trainees in a professional situation by getting them to prepare and administer sessions in order to confront them with the specific challenges of synchronous online tutoring. Second, it seeks to help them to gain insight into their own activity by developing critical thinking towards their own practice. The data elicited for this research derive from the tutor trainees’ interpretations of their own practice when confronted with the film of their own situated activity. The episodes chosen by the trainees to feed the self-confrontation process constitute significant units because by being told and commented upon, they elucidate how and to what extent competencies are built. Three discursive strategies have been identified and used to organise the content analysis of the data: description; expression of a difficulty; reflective review of the activity. The strategies used by trainees to verbalise their own activity can inform teacher educators about the constraints of the work situation and about the resources trainees need to deploy to face up to this unknown professional situation. Results indicate that trainees concentrate particularly on pedagogical aspects that distance and faulty technology have rendered complex. The encountered difficulties are equally distributed between a repertoire of competencies pertaining to language teaching and competencies more directly linked with online teaching. Finally, this study has enabled us to assess the potential of self-confrontation for teacher practice and leads us to propose directions for improving this training device.

Web 2 technologies for net native language learners: A “social call”

Abstract: In order to make optimal educational use of social spaces offered by thousands of international communities in the second generation web applications termed Web 2 or Social Web, ICT competences as well as social skills are needed for both teachers and learners. The paper outlines differences in competence structures of Net Natives (who came of age in the 21st century) and the Net Generation of the 1980s and 1990s who evolve in response to changes between Web 1 and Web 2 technologies. Virtual educational environments in the age of the Social Web represent a perfect embodiment of the Constructionist paradigm: they offer shared discussion and work spaces instead of presentation tools, coaching utilities instead of help desks, and digital learning resource repositories instead of ready-made learning materials. LRE, the European Learning Resource Exchange, and several collaborative web based services and applications will be presented, to illustrate the interrelated change in educational software design and use. New teaching and learning aids require and at the same time inspire new educational theories. The trialogical learning paradigm that invites all educational stakeholders to work on shared objects of inquiry and development and thus develop epistemic agency will be offered as a foundation for a ‘social CALL’.

New competencies in a new era? examining the impact of a teacher training project

Abstract: This article describes follow-up research aimed at exploring the long-term impact on participants of a teacher training course that integrated a variety of projects focusing on ICT use in language teaching. Internet in education is often promoted for its features that allow for new opportunities for constructivist approaches in the classroom. Nevertheless, this will not simply happen on its own. Teacher education must help shift students teachers’ pedagogical premise toward approaches that promote autonomous learning and collaborative problem-solving. Teacher training can highlight how this can be supported through ICT. The article chronicles the first year following the closure of a teacher-training project, paying particular attention to current practices and perspectives of the primary and secondary education teachers involved. Data were gathered through questionnaires and semi-structured e-mail interviews, along with field notes and ongoing observation of participants’ current teaching environments in order to generate material for triangulation and contextual understanding of the data. The analysis of whether the project described herein has contributed to reducing the gap between the theoretical framework of teaching competences in telecollaboration and its transferral to teaching praxis is significant for future input on other training programmes.

Multimodal student interaction online: An ecological perspective

Abstract: This article describes the influence of tool and task design on student interaction in language learning at a distance. Interaction in a multimodal desktop video conferencing environment, FlashMeeting, is analyzed from an ecological perspective with two main foci: participation rates and conversational feedback strategies. The quantitative analysis of participation rates shows that as far as verbal interaction is concerned, multimodality did not have an equalizing effect in this context, contradicting previous research on multimodal student interaction. Additionally, the qualitative analysis of conversational feedback strategies shows that whereas some multimodal strategies were employed, the students did not manage to fully act upon the communicative affordances of the tool, as the feedback ratio during and after the often long broadcasts was relatively low. These findings are related to task and tool design and the article discusses how design improvements in these areas might result in a more constructive language learning ecology.

A survey of internet-mediated intercultural foreign language education in china

Abstract: In all educational contexts, technological developments and changes in pedagogical theory mean that any picture of current practice and attitudes must be dynamic. In many countries, the learning outcomes of foreign language courses now include intercultural communicative competence (ICC), although the precise model for teaching ICC varies even across the English-speaking world. Internet-mediated approaches are widely used to support intercultural learning. In China, the geographical scale of the country and the speed and extent of contemporary socio-economic evolution, allied to long-established and distinctive cultures of learning, make the interface of new technologies and intercultural learning objectives particularly interesting and significant. A small-scale study of college teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of intercultural classroom instruction, with a special focus on Internet mediation, was conducted in mid-2007, using questionnaires and semi-structured questions, to explore the professional, personal and technical issues associated with Internet-mediated learning of languages and cultures. The results show that textbooks remain the predominant authority, while Internet tools are used as a source of information rather than a means of communication. Findings suggest recognition by teachers and students of the potential of the medium, and of the validity of intercultural goals for foreign language classes, although there are some divergences between the views of teachers and students. However, it is suggested that national policy, local incentives and resources and above all educational traditions do not yet allow optimal use of Internet-mediated approaches.

Learners’ anxiety in audiographic conferences: A discursive psychology approach to emotion talk

Abstract: Success and failure in language learning are partly determined by the learners’ ability to regulate their emotions. Negative feelings are more likely to frustrate progress, while positive ones make the task of learning a second language (L2) a more effective experience. To date no significant body of research has been carried out into the role of anxiety in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The present study adopts discursive psychology (DP) as its methodological approach to examine anxiety not as a psychological state, but as a social construct in the context of an audiographic conferencing tool. After interviewing a sample of learners of Spanish at the Open University (OU), our findings reveal a strong connection between emotion and learner beliefs.

Developing conversational competence through language awareness and multimodality: The use of dvds*

Abstract: The argument for a pedagogy of input oriented learning for the development of speaking competence (Sharwood-Smith, 1986 ; Bardovi-Harlig and Salsbury, 2004 ; Eslami-Rasekh, 2005 ) has been of increasing interest in Applied Linguistics circles. It has also been argued that multimedia applications, in particular DVDs, provide language learners with multimodal representations that may help them ‘to gain broad access to oral communication both visually and auditory’ (Tschirner, 2001 : 305). Thus this paper focuses on an exploratory study of teaching oral interaction through input processing by means of multimodal texts. The paper is divided into a number of interconnected sections. First, we outline briefly what teaching conversation implies and examine the important role of oral comprehension in the development of conversational interaction. In fact, it has been suggested that effective speaking depends very much on successful understanding (Oprandy, 1994 ). In this paper we pay special attention to the crucial role of context in understanding oral interactions. Therefore, we outline the theory of context in English Language Teaching (ELT). The discussion draws on approaches to teaching conversation and it also offers a brief reflection about the need for materials which might convey the sociocultural and semiotic elements of oral communication through which meaning is created. We then discuss the decisions taken to propose a new multimodal approach to teaching conversation from a three-fold perspective: (a) the selection of texts taken from films, and the benefits of using DVDs (digital versatile disc); (b) the development of a multimodal analysis of film clips for the design of activities; and (c) the promotion of a conversation awareness methodology through a bank of DVD clips to achieve an understanding of how native speakers actually go about the process of constructing oral interactions. In sum, the main thrust of this paper is to pinpoint the advantages of using multimodal materials taken from DVDs, as they provide learners with broad access to oral communication, both visual and auditory, making classroom conditions similar to the target cultural environment (Tschirner, 2001 ).

The effect of using an online-based course on the learning of grammar inductively and deductively

Abstract: This study aims at exploring the effectiveness of using an online-based course on the learning of sentence types inductively and deductively. To achieve this purpose, a computer-mediated course was designed. The sample of the study consists of four groups taught under four treatments of grammar: (1) with computer-based learning inductively, (2) with computer-based learning deductively, (3) with non-computer-based learning inductively, and (4) with non-computer-based learning deductively. A pre-test/post-test design (between-subject) is used to investigate the effect of two factors: method (computer-based learning vs. non-computer-based learning) and technique (induction vs. deduction) on the students’ learning of sentence types. The results reveal a new manner of enhancing grammar learning based on the level of language structure complexity. The computer-based learning method is found to be functional for more complex and elaborate structures, like the complex sentence and compound complex sentence, and more complicated grammar structures need to be taught by means of the deductive technique. None of the inductive and deductive techniques is reported to be more practical with simple grammar structures such as the simple sentence and compound sentence.

Experimenting with a computer essay-scoring program based on esl student writing scripts

Abstract: This paper describes a study of the computer essay-scoring program BETSY. While the use of computers in rating written scripts has been criticised in some quarters for lacking transparency or lack of fit with how human raters rate written scripts, a number of essay rating programs are available commercially, many of which claim to offer comparable reliability with human raters. Much of the validation of such programs has focused on native-speaking tertiary-level students writing in subject content areas. Instead of content areas with native-speakers, the data for this study is drawn from a representative sample of scripts from an English as a second language (ESL) Year 11 public examination in Hong Kong. The scripts (900 in total) are taken from a writing test consisting of three topics (300 scripts per topic), each representing a different genre. Results in the study show good correlations between human raters’ scores and the program BETSY. A rater discrepancy rate, where scripts need to be re-marked because of disagreement between two raters, emerged at levels broadly comparable with those derived from discrepancies between paired human raters. Little difference was apparent in the ratings of test takers on the three genres. The paper concludes that while computer essay-scoring programs may appear to rate inside a ‘black box’ with concomitant lack of transparency, they do have potential to act as a third rater, time-saving assessment tool. And as technology develops and rating becomes more transparent, so will their acceptability.

Developing annotation solutions for online data driven learning

Abstract: Although annotation is a widely-researched topic in Corpus Linguistics (CL), its potential role in Data Driven Learning (DDL) has not been addressed in depth by Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) practitioners. Furthermore, most of the research in the use of DDL methods pays little attention to annotation in the design and implementation of corpus-based/driven language teaching. In this paper, we set out to examine the process of development of SACODEYL Annotator, an application that seeks to assist SACODEYL system users in annotating XML multilingual corpora. First, we discuss the role of annotation in DDL and the dominating paradigm in general corpus applications. In the context of the language classroom, we argue that it is essential that corpora should be pedagogically motivated (Braun, 2005 and 2007a). Then, we move on to deal with the analysis and design stages of our annotation solution by illustrating its main features. Some of these include a user friendly hierarchical and extensible taxonomy tree to facilitate the learner-oriented annotation of the corpora; real-time graphics representation of the annotated corpus matching the XML TEI-compliant (Text Encoding Initiative) standard, as well as an intuitive management of the different data sections and associated metadata. SACODEYL (System Aided Compilation and Open Distribution of European Youth Language) is an EU funded MINERVA project which aims to develop an ICT-based system for the assisted compilation and open distribution of multimedia European teen talk in the context of language education. This research lays emphasis on the functionalities of the application within the SACODEYL context. However, our paper addresses similarly the needs of potential multimedia language corpus administrators in general on the lookout for powerful annotation assisting software. SACODEYL Annotator is free to use and can be downloaded from our website.

Speed bumps for authentic listening material

Abstract: This article investigates whether authentic native speaker (NS) to NS speech can be made available to the learner listener through the use of a novel slow-down tool. Results from various preliminary tests seem to indicate that the use of a slow-down algorithm in many cases, and in particular in samples with a higher speed rate and word count, leads to an improvement in subjects’ ability to perceive and understand what was being uttered in the samples. Tests revealed that even NS listeners, as opposed to non-native (NN) listeners, prefer to hear authentic NS speech which is either unscripted or is influenced by regional accent, at a slowed down speed. It also seems that ‘unexpected’ words (such as words with high contextual value, but which cannot be processed in a top-down fashion because of the size of the sound snippet) are initially not understood at the original speed of delivery, even in a scripted and carefully pronounced pedagogic sample. Samples containing chunks or formulaic sequences, however, appear to be easily understood at 100% by the majority of NS listeners due to the holistic processing of these language units.

Discussing course literature online: Analysis of macro speech acts in an asynchronous computer conference

Abstract: This paper presents a macro speech act analysis of computer-mediated conferencing on a university course on language pedagogy. Students read scholarly articles on language learning and discussed them online, in order to make sense of them collaboratively in preparation for a reflective essay. The study explores how the course participants made use of computer-mediated conferencing for such collaborative text processing. A discussion thread with 97 messages was analyzed for its macro speech acts. The conference messages were treated as pragmatic macrostructures where micro-level speech act sequences can be mapped onto a higher-level, global speech act or textual function. The discussion turned out to be reader-centred and practice-oriented. Approximately two thirds of the messages were concerned with interpreting theory from a practical point of view, expressing the students’ personal experience, opinion or idea about a certain issue related to the article. In comparison, only one tenth dealt with checking the explicit propositional content of the article. The results are interpreted in terms of the distinction between a narrative and paradigmatic/expository discourse.

An evaluation of independent learning of the japanese hiragana system using an interactive cd

Abstract: As Japanese uses three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and the ideograms known as kanji), and as materials in the target language include all three, it is a major challenge to learn to read and write quickly. This paper focuses on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading which foster learner autonomy. As little has been published on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading, it seems likely that traditional resources are generally used for this activity. The courseware includes sound files showing the pronunciation of each kana as well as simultaneous animation showing how to write each character. This paper investigates whether interactive courseware, used independently of classroom interaction, results in measurably greater recognition of the hiragana syllabary than more traditional methods. After briefly situating the study in the context of research on the teaching of Japanese reading and learner autonomy, the paper will present the courseware as well as an empirical study comparing the results of the use of the courseware by learners at beginners’ level: one group using the courseware, and the other using paper-based materials. This is followed by an account of learner diaries written by zero-beginner level learners of Japanese using the courseware. The study indicates that acquisition of a recognition-level knowledge of hiragana is approximately twice as fast using the courseware as using paper-based materials. Learners also learned to write the hiragana without explicit instruction.