CALL Class at UIC

I have learned some valuable ideas for the use of CALL tools in the ESL classroom. Prior to taking the CALL class, there were many CALL tools that I had never even considered using. If the resources are available, I think that I would incorporate e-journaling on blog sites as part of the course design. Since I have learned how to edit and produce a podcast, I can see myself using my own podcasts within contextualized lessons.

I have occasionally used some Internet sites in my own ESL classroom, and as long as I have access to computers at a course location, I will continue to do so. The ones that my students generally seem to prefer are those that allow for learner choice. I currently teach in a community context, and many of my students have no computer experience, so user-friendly self-access exercises seem to work well. In an English for Academic Purposes context, I think that I would be more likely to incorporate CALL tools, as there may be a higher likelihood that the students would be proficient in using computers.

Second Life, Second Language

I must begin with a confession. I constantly mocked the idea of going onto Second Life, that is until I explored the program and lost many hours of my Real Life. I must admit that I've become quite the fan of Second Life.

Music (playing and appreciating) has always been a large part of my (real) life, so I decided to explore some of the locations geared towards music. I am now in a couple of 'groups' on Second Life and am informed of Second Life 'events' in the Mod/Soul music scene. (New Wavers, Shoegazers, and Brit-Poppers...you're next!)

Aside from music, teaching ESL has become a central part of my life. I can see how Second Life (SL) could be useful for music fans and second language learners/instructors alike (ESL and otherwise). As an instructor, I believe that language learning is easier when it is contextualized around topics of interest to the learners. On Second Life, a language learner can visit different 'locations' that they find interesting and practice the four skills of speaking and listening (with voice chatting) and reading and writing (with typed chatting). Instructors and students can 'meet' on Second Life and explore places together (e.g. museums, tourist sites, etc.) and talk about them over voice-chat and use the typed-chat feature for clarification of spelling, etc.

Some students may not be comfortable with the idea of being seen over a webcam. This issue is resolved by the fact that, on Second Life, you have an avatar in place of your actual appearance. The anonymity could help in lowering affect, although one's facial expressions and gestures would not be visible (i.e. unless the Second Life participant is quite savvy with the 'gesture' feature). In addition, some students just may not be interested in this kind of format for language learning or have access to a computer that is powerful enough to deal with the program.

With lowered affect AND contextualization around any topic of interest, I think that Second Life is a win/win. However, I would encourage SL participants to set an alarm clock. One's Second Life may take over one's Real Life very easily. Consider yourself forewarned.

Question(s):
How would you use Second Life in language instruction?

Signing off,
Ladybird SecretSpy

Video Conference in the ESL Classroom

Until this week, I had never used a webcam. I can definitely see how they can be used in an ESL classroom (i.e. if students have access to computers and the Internet).

Now that I am somewhat acquainted with Tokbox and Meebo, I think that such tools would be useful for one-on-one ESL lessons, as well as for extra practice for students outside of the classroom setting. This would be great in an EFL context, where students may be limited in the types of authentic practice environments that are available to them.

One of the advantages of video-conferencing over just voice-chatting is the ability to see gestures and facial expressions. In my own experience as a language instructor and a language learner, it seems that telephone skills are diffucult due to the absence of inputs that can be made available via video-chatting.

E-journaling

In their article "A Web-Based Approach to Strategic Learning of Speech Acts," Cohen and Ishihara have documented their study of students' practice of and reflection upon speech acts that they had produced in Japanese. Students were able to practice different types of speech acts with web-based, self-access materials and provide feedback (via e-journaling) on the usefulness of the the materials and some of the challenges presented by the technology itself.

According to the article, a content analysis of the e-journaling entries indicated that a majority of the learners had found the curriculum to facilitate the learning of cultural/pragmatic contexts of speech acts (p. 15). A majority of the learners found the provided examples of speech and explanations of cultural aspects to be useful (p. 15). However, only 17% of the students found that the materials cleared up confusion about language and culture (p.16). About half of the students had no issues with the technology, and others generally had only minor issues (p.18).

I think that e-journaling could be useful in an ESL class. One possible use of e-journaling could be to create a student-generated electronic depository of vocabulary items. Students could compile a daily or weekly list new or interesting vocabulary items. For some of the days/weeks, the instructor could provide a topic and have students write all related words that come to mind (e.g. travel words).

Using Wiki Tools in the ESL Classroom

I think that using the Wiki format in an ESL classroom has both advantages and shortcomings. Depending on the types of information that are to be posted using this collaborative format, a Wiki tool could be useful. For example, the Wiki format would be great for students to compile a list of useful website links, create a student-generated vocabulary list. This format would also be useful for editing writing drafts.

One of the shortcomings of using the Wiki format is that a contributor may upload incorrect information or delete information that is correct and/or important to the overall wiki entry. I think that if the instructor is able to somehow monitor the uploaded material as well as who is uploading it, then the issue may be somewhat resolved.


Question(s):
Would you use a Wiki-based activity in an ESL classroom? Why or why not?

Computer-Mediated Communication

The incorporation of computer-mediated communication (CMC) activities into an ESL classroom has advantages and limitations. One of the advantages, particularly of using CALL tools that facilitate synchronous communication, is the opportunity for students to practice fluency in their communication.

According to Pellettieri, it is important for a CMC activity to be goal-oriented. The use of computer-mediated communication in a class can easily become an unstructured 'chatting' activity. This issue may be resolved by the assignment of a task that must be accomplished during the CMC activity.

There are a few things that an instructor must take into account when designing CMC activities: the task itself, the grammatical focus, difficulty, relevance, and authenticity.

Project Proposal (Bill Harris and Sabah Khan)

Bill and Sabah's ESL Teaching Tips: Project Proposal

The intended audience of the instructional activities is a four-skills English for Academic Purposes class. The intended level is intermediate.

The purpose of the instructional activities is to review and reinforce comparative and superlative structure formation through practice and production of these structures.

We plan to incorporate two CALL tools into our lesson. As one of the practice activities, we would be using a self-monitored multiple-choice activity, such as the following website:
http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/compsup2.html. We also plan to incorporate YouTube into the lesson as part of a production activity, in which each of the students will be recorded while giving a presentation comparing/contrasting two local restaurants. There will be a minimum requirement of comparative and superlative structures that will have to be used in each presentation. Once the recorded video clips have been uploaded to YouTube, the videos could be used for teacher-to-student and student-to-student feedback in the form of comments posted under each video. The site will be set to 'private' so that the videos will only be accessible to students in that class.

We believe that the CALL tools that we have selected will enhance language acquisition for the targeted students. The online practice activity will give students the opportunity to self-monitor their understanding of comparatives and superlatives, promoting independent learning and consciousness raising of their own mastery of their ability to form the structures. The YouTube activity will give students (and the instructor) the opportunity to provide feedback about the students' use of the structures as well as any additional errors that they might encounter, all in an asynchronous manner.


The lesson will follow the following sequence (for two 2-hour class sessions):
DAY 1
1. Warm-up activity
2. Schema activation
3. Paired practice activity
4. Online practice activity (As described above)
5. Debriefing session
6. Explanation of presentation with model (Check, Please! clip on YouTube)
7. Preparation for recorded presentations
8. Record presentations

DAY 2
1. Warm-up activity
2. View presentations as a class
3. Students' and instructors' comments to be posted individually on computers as presentations are viewed as a class
4. Debriefing/feedback session


Links to sites that we will be using:
Comparative/Superlative Online Multiple-Choice Exercise
http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/compsup2.html
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com

Podcast #2: ESL Reading Lessons

Bill and Sabah's ESL Teaching Tips, Episode #2

Our podcast contains some suggestions of how to conduct an ESL reading lesson. We will provide activity ideas to help students to improve their reading comprehension skills. We hope that you find our podcast helpful.

The intended audience is ESL instructors, but we welcome all listeners.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when listening to the podcast:
1. In the podcast, we talk about activity ideas for all three stages of a reading lesson: pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading.
2. We recommend sequencing the during-reading activities from general to more specific comprehension tasks.
3. In order to guarantee 3-5 during-reading comprehension activities, we recommend using an authentic reading text of 1-2 pages.

Link to Podcast:
http://billharris.podbean.com/bill-and-sabahs-esl-podcast-2-reading/


Useful Links:
http://esl-programs-lessons.suite101.com/article.cfm/improving_esl_reading_skills (pre-reading)

http://departments.weber.edu/teachall/reading/prereading.html (pre-reading academic)

http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html (reading activities)

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/ (more reading activities)

http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/bl_baker2.htm (sample lesson plan with pre-, during, and post-reading activities)

http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm (copyright laws and education)

Providing Feedback for ESL Writing

In providing feedback for writing assignments, it makes sense to me to focus on more general aspects of writing (content, main points) in the first draft and more specific aspects (structure, and eventually forms) in subsequent drafts. As an instructor, I believe that it is important to not do all of the editing on a student’s writing drafts. I think that it would be valuable to point out the areas where improvement is needed without giving all of the answers.

For this reason, the idea of using question-form feedback (from the article by Chiu and Sauvignon) appeals to me as something that I may use when commenting on ESL writing drafts. According to the study discussed in the article, there was a high incidence of revisions when question-form feedback was given. I think that allowing the student to reflect on where and why improvement is needed will facilitate independent learning, increase student accountability in subsequent drafts, and eventually result in improvement in future writing samples. I also think that the use of the highlighting feature in MS Word will be a valuable tool when dealing with online learning.

Question(s):
When do you think it would be useful to edit a draft more thoroughly, i.e. provide 'corrections' instead of 'guidance'?

Podcast #1: Using Music in the ESL Classroom

Bill and Sabah's ESL Teaching Tips, Episode #1

Our podcast contains some suggestions of how to use music in the ESL classroom. Using music in the classroom can make learning fun while using an authentic listening input. In our podcast, we talk about some of the activities that an instructor can design to address not only listening comprehension, but also grammar, vocabulary, reading, and speaking.

The intended audience is ESL instructors, but we welcome all listeners.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when listening to the podcast:
1. In the podcast, we talk about activity ideas for all stages of a listening lesson: pre-listening, during-listening, and post-listening.
2. We recommend sequencing the during-listening activities from general to more specific comprehension tasks.
3. When using music as a listening input, we recommended a song length of 2-3 minutes in order to guarantee 3-5 listens during a lesson.

Link to Podcast:
http://billharris.podbean.com/bill-and-sabahs-esl-teaching-tips-episode-1/

Useful Links:

http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/music.htm

http://www.caslt.org/resources/english-sl/classroom-resource-links-music-teaching2_en.php

http://www.lingolex.com/userpages/music.html

Using Voicethread as a CALL Tool

Now that I have looked at some Voicethread examples to see how it is used, I think that it could be a useful CALL tool. I also believe that it has some limitations.

I like that students can respond to a posted video file, photo, or sound file on their own time and at their own pace, as Voicethread is an asynchronous CALL tool. I would consider using Voicethread in an ESL classroom by assigning audio/text posts as homework. Perhaps, the students could respond to a photo/video that is related to the previous class discussion, allowing for an opportunity for additional vocabulary practice (and, hopefully, more of a likelihood of vocabulary retention). In the audio supplement to a photo or video, I would pose questions geared towards fluency practice. I probably would not use Voicethread for accuracy-based activities.

Using Videos in Language Instruction

From a Student's Perspective
I watched a Spanish instruction video on food-related phrases. The following link will take you to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWO09ayQ0Gg&feature=fvw.

Although the video was useful, I did not find it to be very engaging. But, from the perspective of a student, I found the video to be helpful for vocabulary and pronunciation practice. The instructor said each word in English and then in Spanish. She repeated the Spanish word twice more, more clearly and slowly than the first time. As the instructor said a word in Spanish, the text of the word appeared on the video. A student could rewind the video if he/she needed to hear or see a word again, allowing for independent learning and self-pacing.

From an Instructor's Perspective
I found this video on the top five things to do in Chicago:
http://www.5min.com/Video/Things-To-Do-in-Chicago-112628012

I envision using this video (and others like it) as part of a lesson on Chicago landmarks. This video is rather short, but I think that it could be useful for an introduction to another activity, such as having the each student research and report on a Chicago landmark. The video gives quick descriptions of five landmarks, and the students could use the video as a model for their own presentations.

Question(s):
1. What is your opinion of the Spanish language instruction video?
2. As an instructor, how would you use videos in a language lesson?

Vocabulary Activities using CALL

As I was searching for vocabulary activities requiring computer use, I found the Visual ESL website (http://www.visualesl.com/). This website provides interactive vocabulary activities, the majority of which include visual representation of some sort (photo, drawing, etc). One can select from lists of vocabulary topics grouped according to five skill levels (Elementary, Lower-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, and Advanced). The practice activities include drag-and-drop, fill-in, and multiple-choice quiz activities. Following the activity for each topic, there is a vocabulary list with audio clips of the pronunciation for each word.

The Activities for ESL Students website contains within it an extensive vocabulary practice section, which may be found at the following location: http://a4esl.org/q/h/vocabulary.html. The site offers many useful activities, including matching and multiple-choice quizzes. I think that it would be beneficial to students to be exposed to the vocabulary lists before doing the activities on the website. I would probably not use the Words Beginning with [fill in the letter] in a class, because the vocabulary items are not contextualized around a particular theme.

Question(s):
Which of the two websites would you prefer to use in an ESL class? Why?

Reading Activities using CALL

I found the Learning Resources website while searching for reading activities requiring computer-use. (http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html) The available variety of news topics allows for learner-choice, or an instructor could use one of the news stories as part of a themed lesson. If I were to use a story from this site as part of a themed lesson, I would add a pre-reading schema activation segment and a post-reading activity or two to be done in pairs/groups.

On the site, there are twelve categories of stories from which to choose. Each story is accompanied by vocabulary-building activities, as well as activities for sequencing events and checking reading comprehension. Having these activities readily available in a margin on the left side of the page, a learner will be able to work independently and at his/her on pace. One can do the practice activities on the left side of the screen while being able to view the story on the right.

Question(s):
Upon viewing the site, did you find it to be useful? Is it something that you could see yourself using in a class? How would you incorporate the given activities into an ESL lesson?

Previous Experience with CALL

I have been using computers in the ESL classroom for over a year. I try to incorporate a computer-based activity into my lesson plans once or twice a week. I use Internet sites to supplement material that we have been working on in class as well as to expose students to useful websites. For example, I have had students use Mapquest (http://www.mapquest.com) to explain how they get to class from their homes as part of a direction-giving lesson.

Most of my students enjoy the interactive nature of using Internet sites during class. They find the following website to be useful for vocabulary practice: http://www.languageguide.org/english/. This online picture dictionary includes both visual and audio elements. One can scroll over a picture of a vocabulary item and see the spelling and hear the pronunciation of a word. Check it out if you have a chance!

Question(s):
Do you find the Language Guide website to be useful? Why or why not? (If you have used such a tool in a class, how does this picture dictionary compare to others that you have encountered?)