Here is a post about Computer-Assisted Language Learning - CALL. It contains automated language computer software. This software is designed in such a way that language learners can access the language components from various features like Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing, Reading, Speaking, Listening, etc. With the help of a computer and a language learning software installed, a learner can learn a language at their own pace and convenience.
At the Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University, a language learning software called Globarena is installed on a computer, and students are asked to review the software. At the department, there was a full-fledged language laboratory functioning, where the main server computer was linked to all other desktops, and together students used to experience the process of CALL.
The shocking COVID-19 pandemic hit in the second decade of the 21st century, and we witnessed a sudden change in the teaching and learning process. Though mankind has surpassed the first and second waves of the pandemic and is recovering from the same, one has to be careful and maintain social distancing, follow SOP, and government guidelines.
Well, the show must go on, and that's why for the language review, we had to visit the department and gain the first-hand experience on our own. Here are some of the glimpses of the 'retro' language learning laboratory software.
The home screen of the student console, where several language learning components are given
Teacher Console, from which the teacher can monitor the learners' activities and progress
By clicking on each of them, a separate interface opens with new graphics and content.
The full setup of the server desktop with a 2.1 sound system for audio output and microphones for input
The demonstration of the software by Dr. Dilip Barad via YouTube
The basics of fundamental language skills are designed to make learners familiar with the language, whether they are first-language learners or second-language learners.
* Communication Skills
* Listening Skills
Based on the audio clip, one has to answer the questions
* Conversations/Speaking Skills
The given topics in the Table of Contents (ToC)
The conversation is displayed on the screen, and one has to do a role play of any character. One has to read and speak aloud the lines given for the role and record one's voice. By clicking on the record button, we can start speaking, and at the end of the line, one has to stop the recording. Then the full audio conversation can be listened.
The video file size exceeds the given limits by Blogger.com
putting the drive video link below. Please click and visit
* Give five new words (vocabulary or pronunciation) you learnt while reviewing the software:
Vestibule, rampant, palindrome, hatch, discriminations (earlier I used to type 'e' in the beginning)
* How would you like to rate Language-Lab-In-Mobile as an App?
I would give 3 points out of 5 to the app.
The overall learning experience was very engrossing and insightful. I also learnt how to work with old versions of language learning software and progress ahead.
Digital Portfolio is an electronic website in which data can be stored and kept in creative way and also showcased as and when required. Here is my digital portfolio link in which I've uploaded my seminar and webinar presentation and other data also.
How do we educate people? How one can check the abilities of an individual? Is it possible to give progressive analysis of a student when teachers evaluate their work ? Let's see how the testing works, what are the types of assessments and evaluation.
Ans: If the test is used multiple times and also cost-effective than it can be said that it is fulfils the practicality. Again if the test covers all the resources which are made available prior to the test, it is practical test.
3) What do you understand by backwash?
Ans: Backwash is an effect which happens after a testing and assessment. For example, if a student gets high marks or low marks, a student will think about the test negatively or positively. He/she will think about his/her own learning abilities also. This effect can be positive or negative also.
Washback concerns the impact of tests and assessments on materials, teachers, and learners. Thirty years of research has shown that testing and assessment have influenced language teaching significantly. (McKinley, Thompson)
4) Difference between assessment and evaluation
Ans: Assessment gives the whole idea about
5) How do you define good assessment?
Ans: A good assessment happens when it is done keeping in mind about
Thank You!
Work Cited:
McKinley, Jim, and Gene Thompson. "Washback Effect in Teaching English as an International Language." The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 2018, pp. 1-12.
There are many tools to measure a student's comprehensive abilities or any language components. While talking about English language, web 2.0 tools have become more advanced and user friendly to apply all the task based learning to digital platforms. Google for Education has launched several educational products such as Google Meet for online teaching, Jamboard for creating a handwritten notes and infographics, Google Forms for taking a unit end tests, Blogs to share reading resources and material to students and to write a thoughtful and deep thinking activity task given by teacher. But there are plenty of tools which have launched since many years back but still unnoticed to many teachers.
Let's take our classroom learning to another arena of digital teaching learning process.
What is Hot Potatoes?
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. It is not open-source. The Java version provides all the features found in the windows version 6, except that you can't export a SCORM object from Java Hot Potatoes.
Language teaching is an integral part of academia. Students should learn language not only for scoring good marks in exam but also to learn their usages and contexts. Because language can't be separated from any branch of knowledge, discourse and technical programs. The more proficient a student becomes in a language, the more chances are there for him/her to excel in different arena of academia. After all, language is a medium to express the things we learn. Not to mention, the importance of good communication skill is much in demand in all walks of life.
Every literature has possibility to teach language, be it a novel, short story, drama or poetry. It's all about planning a lesson and executing it among students. While planning a lesson, a teacher needs to keep in mind the age group of students, their cultural background and the first language they speak. Let's see how a language teacher can use literature for teaching English language.
For further resources and material click here to navigate to Dr. Dilip Barad's blog.
* What sort of activities or tasks can be designed to teach language using a 'novel' or 'short story'?
* Lesson: Teaching language through the short story from Malgudi Days written by R.K. Narayan
* Age Group: 18-20 Years College Students
* Pre Reading Task:
Teachers can ask students to gather the information about the village. Asking them to write 10 things in English about their village and read them aloud in class. This can help measuring the sentence formation and grammatical abilities of students.
* While Reading Task:
Teachers can ask students to read aloud some of the paragraphs from 'The Axe' from Malgudi Days. An example of the paragraph is given here. Teachers can circulate the handouts of the short story in class.
The
Axe
An astrologer passing through village foretold that Velan would live in a three-storied house surrounded by many acres of garden. At this everybody gathered round young Velan and made fun of him. For Koppal did not have a more ragged and godforsaken family than Velan's. His father had mortgaged every bit of property he had, and worked, with his whole family, on other people's lands in return for a few annas a week. A three storied house for Velan indeed!. . . But the scoffers would have congratulate The astrologer if they had seen Velan about thirty or forty years later. He became the sole occupant of Kumar Bagh - palatial house on the outskirts of Malgudi town.
When he was eighteen Velan left home. His father slapped his face one day for coming late with the mid day meal. Velan put down the basket, glared at his father and left the place. He just walked out of the village, and walked on and on till he came to the town. Is starved for a couple of days, begged wherever he could and arrived in Malgudi, where after much knocking about, an old man took him on to assist him in laying out a garden. The garden existed only in the mind of the gardener. What they could see now was acre upon acre of weed-covered land. Velan's main business consisted in destroying all the vegetation he saw. Day after day he sat in the sun and tore up by hand the unwanted plants. And all the jungle gradually disappeared and the land stood as bare as a football field. Three sides of the land were marked off for an extensive garden, and on the rest was to be built a house. By the time the mangoes had sprouted they were laying the foundation of the house. About the time the margosa sapling had shot up a couple of yards, the walls were also coming up. (Narayan. 136,137)
* Post Reading Task (Language Activity):
Language components such as adjectives, conjunctions and modal auxiliaries can be spotted right from the reading and a small exercise of the topics can be given in the form of fill-in-the-blanks. Exercises based on comprehension can be prepared.
Que: Find the similar word to assist.
Ans: help.
Que: Find the meaning of the phrase knocking about
Ans: Roaming without purpose.
Que: Find the adjective from the sentence given: He became the sole occupant of Kumar Bagh - palatial house on the outskirts of Malgudi town.
Ans: Palatial - Very spacious and large, well decorated.
Que: What did the astrologer tell to Velan about his future?
Ans: A passing by astrologer said that Velan would live in a three-stories house surrounded by many acres of garden.
Que: Find the modal auxiliary from the sentence: What they could see now was acre upon acre of weed-covered land.
Ans: Could.
* What sort of activities or tasks can be designed to teach language using a 'film or videos'?
Videos and films are a best support material while teaching literature. But, here language learning is at the center, so we can use video and films for that too. Watching videos and films has also become the part of learning activity. It has much to do with flipped learning model. According to the infographics mentioned in this flipped learning website, (click here to visit) two chemistry teachers in Colorado, USA, initiated this model in 2008.
To cite some words from Education Next,
Four years ago, in the shadow of Colorado’s Pike’s Peak, veteran Woodland Park High School chemistry teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams stumbled onto an idea. Struggling to find the time to reteach lessons for absent students, they plunked down $50, bought software that allowed them to record and annotate lessons, and posted them online. Absent students appreciated the opportunity to see what they missed. But, surprisingly, so did students who hadn’t missed class. They, too, used the online material, mostly to review and reinforce classroom lessons. And, soon, Bergmann and Sams realized they had the opportunity to radically rethink how they used class time. (Tucker, 2004)
Yes, this was the beginning of "flipped learning". Now, as we live in the cutting-edge latest technology and tools, teachers can have plethora of tools to teach English language, of course through literature as well.! Here are some of the tasks to teach language.
Task 1. Listening and Speaking.
In this task, teacher can share the prerecorded video to students or play the video or film in class and ask students to say few dialogues and lines just the way it is spoken in the video.
Here is an example of a film that can be listened and few dialogues can be articulated to learn English.
Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015)
Teacher can also ask students to read the subtitle of the film and to write few simple lines by pausing the video. After gathering the sentences, teacher can explain synonyms, adjectives, direct and indirect speech, active and passive voice or so. Here is the example.
Exact lines from film. (Timestamps given as per subtitles)
1. What's going on here ? (35:45)
Identify the tense and change the tense to past tense, without changing the meaning.
Ans: What was going on here ?
Task 2: Take Up the Lines, Think grammar.
There are many films based on the literary works. "The Importance of Being Ernest" is a good example. The film with the same name is quite faithful to this original play written by Oscar Wilde.
Teachers can give students the bookmarks of the pdf and the film. Students can listen to the dialogues and read the original play at the same time. It will improve their reading skill and listening skill.
Thank You!
Work Cited:
Narayan, R. K. Malgudi Days. Indian Thought Publication, 2006.
Web 2.0 Tools is the advanced version of Web 1.0. First and foremost let's get some idea about the word "Web". Web is a tightly connected word with internet. We know about WWW - World Wide Web, that contains millions of websites as a directory record.
Now let's see what is Web 1.0.
In the early years of 1990s, when computers were new and it was fascinating to see the "Hello World" in the CRT screens, it was difficult to access the internet and also difficult to have the luxury of even computer. During 90s or before 90s, much of HTML coding skills and technical knowledge about computer language was required in order to add content to the web pages. This was the time of Web 1.0 when internet and web browsing was limited to only specific class of people. Back then, internet web was also called as "Read Only Web". The flow of content was in one direction which is top to down. Knowledge and content was made available on web by developers and masses used to read whichever is on the internet.
But within a decade, internet started changing drastically. It was a big transformation took place in terms of adding content to the web pages online. As a result, a new generation of web based tools emerged which are now called as Web 2.0 Tools.
There are several examples of Web 2.0 Tools.
Annotation from Coursera MOOC
Blogger (1999), Gmail(2004), Facebook(2004), Twitter(2006), Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube(2005), Yahoo! (1994), Wikipedia(2001) are the popular Web 2.0 tools.
These Web 2.0 tools allowed anyone with an internet connection to create and upload content to the web at a very low cost, even free.
There are many other tools categorized base on the needs of people. There are eight/8 categories of Web 2.0 Tools.
1. Communication Tools - Yahoo mail, Gmail, Skype, MSN, Hangouts, etc.
2. Collaborative Tools - Google Slides, Google Foms, Docs, Jamboard, Sheets etc.
3. Creativity Tools - Blogger, Wordpress, Penzu etc.
4. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Tools - Wordle, Pedlet
5. Social Networking Tools - Facebook, Twitter, Orkut(2004), WhatsApp(2009)
6. Presentation - SlideShare, Scribd
7. Reflection and Feedback - Kahoot!, Mentimeter etc.
8. Productivity - Google Sites, Blogger, Wikipedia, Quora
Now let's see what are the tools that can help learn English Language.
The table below is full of hyperlinks. You can access some of the tools by clicking on their names.
The following MOOC from Coursera helped me a lot understating and knowing more about Web 2.0 Tools. It is worth auditing and worth learning course. This helped me a lot in writing this blog post. Here is the link of the course.
By Original by Markus AngermeierVectorised and linked version by Luca Cremonini - Based on The huge cloud lens bubble map web2.0 web20map.pngVectorised and linked version from Web 2.0 Map Web_2.0_Map.svg, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1522976
History of CALL - [add also about MALL -Mobile Assisted Language Learning. Refer to article by Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and Lesley Shield + your experience of using Mobile phone for learning/teaching]
CALL is the abbreviation of Computer Assisted Language Learning.
CALL is an umbrella term which moves towards language learning and it includes several other approaches.
MALL is another abbreviation related to language learning which is Mobile AssistedLanguage Learning. According to a scholarly article written by Agnes Kukulska-Hulme & Lesley Shield, there are several devices which can be very useful in language learning. Mobile phones, MP3 Players, PDA means Personal Digital Assistants like Palmtops and similar gadgets.
English language teaching has become easy and more accessible because of the implementation of MALL. There are some models in which learners get pre created content from teachers through their WAP enabled MP3 players or in mobile phones and with the help of the audio file or text file, learners get the material and instruction about the task.
Experience of using mobile phone for learning
Mobile phones are boon to the learners. Nowadays many websites are creating mobile applications also so, rather than going to web surfing and finding websites for language learning, it became easier to access apps in mobile phones. There are hundreds of application for language learning. In the early years of computers and mobiles, much reliance had to be on the specialized language laboratories but in two decades MALL has evolved as whole new model for ELT and ELL.
This includes the use of mobile applications along with internet web pages specially designed for language learning. There are several mobile applications which supports our LSRW skills.
BBC Learning English is one of the famous language learning apps.
Language learning has become easy after the invention of mobile phones, email services, SMS services and internet service. When it comes to English language, technology has helped a lot in terms of language learning. The means of communication have now dramatically changed. Many educators, theorists and linguists have advocated the technology as a good tool for language learning. David Crystal is one of them. He has emphasized on English language learning through technology.
David Crystal
In this blog task, three videos of David Crystal are embedded and a brief writeup about the three videos are written. Lets know what he has said about language learning and teaching. Click here to be redirected on blog of Dr. Dilip Barad from which this task is taken as question.
Video 1. David Crystal - The Effect of New Technologies on English
The introduction of technology at first place is thought as a disaster and also thought as it can harm the human communication. Crystal gives the example of the invention of telephone, television and broadcasting media, commentaries on sports. . . And consistently he argues that all these mediums are much helpful in language learning, especially English language.
Internet, WWW came in 1990s and 1991. All this has increased our learning abilities and knowability. Facebook. Twitter, YouTube, Blogger and many such Web 2.0 tools have developed a new style of English language learning.
Crystal quotes here that : Notice that the technologies influence the language in quite specific ways. The most obvious example are Short Messaging Services (SMS), and tweeting.
Crystal generalizes the point by making an argument about Tweeter that is given 140 characters and we have to write something to the web, in public tweets. He says: Every internet domain you're dealing with influences the way in which you use language, sometimes in quite specific ways. But it isn't yet possible to predict the future.
Video 2. David Crystal - The Biggest Challenges for Teachers
This is the second part of Crystal's interview. In this video Crystal talks about the challenges for teachers. He says,
The biggest challenge is without a doubt to keep a pace with language change.
Language is changing so fast and it has two reasons, 1. The internet.
Teachers are less familiar with the current generation and the new words introduced on web almost daily, so its difficult to keep pace. 2. Globalization of English. Accents and dialects of English language is different from country to country. Indian English, American, British English and so on.
Listening to different English accents tunes the ears and makes us adaptive to that accent. According to Crystal, translation and language teaching are the two most difficult jobs in the world. He also gives good fact that three quarters of the world's population is bilingual.
Teachers' salary scale also should be increased. With the use of technology, this language and accent barrier can be removed.
Video 3. David Crystal on Texting (S1E2 of It's Only a Theory)
The third video is about a show titled "It's Only a Theory". It seems that the show is designed to interact with various theorists so that the difficult theories and complex ideas can be shared with people in simple and humorous ways. Panel of three questions some points of David Crystals and he answers satisfactorily.
Key Points from video : Texting can be helpful in English language learning. Crystal's theory is texting is good for the English language. Four myths about texting are debunked by Crystal that 1. Texting is done by kids only, 2. Kids fill their text messages entirely with abbreviations, 3. The abbreviation used in text messages are invented by kids, and abbreviation is a modern thing 4. Letters are being outdated, kids don't know how to spell. 5. Because they don't know how to spell, kids are putting those abbreviations in their essays at school.
Crystal says in the show that: Everybody would agree that literacy is important, learning to read and write. And everybody I think agrees that the best way of learning to read and write is to get practice in it. The more you read the more you write better. Along comes a phenomenon, a technology which gives you stunning opportunities to practice reading and writing.
On showing the example of abbreviated message on screen, Crystal admits that there are downsides of texting also. He agrees that texting can become an addiction and it has been recognized also.
When Andy, the host of the show raises the question that texting has made people less punctual in terms of following time schedule, Crystal also finds a gap here and he agrees that the question is worth noticing. But it doesn't affect the language learning part.
In this blog we will see what are the key important videos about education and technology. A brief summary or points are also mentioned about what speakers want to say in the video.
Here is the key question to answer in this blog.
Q. Summarize thoughts expressed by the speakers in the videos. What is the main message that you take into consideration in context of Technology in Education (in general) and ELT (in particular)?
Click here to be redirected to Dr. Dilip Barad's blog post from where this blog is written as a response.
Sugata Mitra, Marc Prenskey, Sir Ken Robinson, Salman Khan and David Crystal are very notable names among the folks who really think about teaching and learning. Some of them are computer programmers and some of them are educationalists. But they all think about one thing in common that is education system and learning process. Let's watch their videos and get each of their ideas.
Sri Ken Robinson
Video 1. Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigm
Key Points: Sir Ken Robinson talks about the education reformation happening in several countries. He says that there are two reason for the need of reforming education. Economic and Cultural. Children who are now being educated need to establish themselves in the economy of the country. Children will have to have knowledge of cultural identities and interaction with communities in future. This can happen only when we look at how do we pass on our cultural genes to the succeeding generation. The idea of following stereotype system in education seems very irrelevant to kids nowadays.
Sugata Mitra
Video 2. Sugata Mitra: School in the cloud- SOLE
Key Points:
Video 3. Sugata Mitra: Future of Learning
Key Points: The future of learning will be self paced, self controlled and self directed. Self learning will be the prime focus of ICT tools. Sugata Mitra has done remarkable experiment called "Hole in the Wall" and made his firm argument that learning can happen without teachers also. According to him admiration leads children to learn more. Elders just have to encourage the children to make them learn more.
Salman Khan
Video 4. Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education
Key Points: Video is the most interactive audio visual medium of lerning. Sal Khan explains how he made simple start up with Khan Academy. The video version of lectures are straightforward and playable and pause able at any time. Learners can watch a single video as many time required and learn near to 100%. Sal Khan initially made videos on YouTube to teach his cousins but now his videos on Maths, Science, Business learning and so on are widely watched throughout the world.
Marc Prenskey
Video 5. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Marc Prensky
Key Points: Marc Prensky points out two major terms: Digital Natives and Digial Immigrants. According to him the generation born before the arrival of TV, multimedia and internet are called digital immigrants. These digital immigrants have learnt many things later on in their lives either from their kids or students.
"Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." Prensky
Prensky also quotes in his paper that Digital Natives are the speakers of the language of digital tools. If we see this in a loose form, we speak many words related to digital world like, 'download', 'upload', 'browsing, 'print', 'link'. . . etc.
"What should we call these “new” students of today? Some refer to them as the N-[for
Net]-gen or D-[for digital]-gen. But the most useful designation I have found for them is
Digital Natives. Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of
computers, video games and the Internet." Prensky
Those of us who were not born into the digital
world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and always will be compared to them, Digital
Immigrants. - Prensky
Digital Natives have different thinking pattern than that of the Digital Immigrants. Natives think with two or more ideas parallelly and they can do multitasking.
If we take the core and general idea of these videos, then, the main recurrent voice comes from them is this. Education system needs several changes in terms of testing and evaluation, in terms of teaching pedagogy. ICT tools, Web 2.0 tools must be included in the classroom teaching. This makes learning more effective, engaging and more productive. Moreover, it increases the results and grades very significantly. The better learners will create better society and make better economy.
While English Language Teaching - ELT is concerned, ICT and Web 2.0 tools are necessary to enhance the English basic skills LSRW. Watching videos increases the practice of listening. . .
Further this particular ELT aspect is explored in detail in the blog given below. Click on the link.
