Hello-
At the end of this entry are some of the notes that I took from Kern & Warschauer and the Chao and Smith pieces. I definitely see the progression of the language teaching as it reaches from a past of isolation and drill into a present of meaningful iteraction in a real world situation. This definitely brings to mind my experience of living in Germany for 2 years. I had taken 4 years of h.s. German ending in 1986 and I was not about tot spend the time at a class in addition to my work as a teacher. I assume that my h.s. days were indeed cognitive perspective influenced and sturcturalist haunted! In Germany, however, I began to use the internet for banking, ordering takeout, etc. All of which provided the very real social purpose, but that gave me the additional time needed to interpret the incoming communication and then craft my own response. Additionally, I had to use the phone to perform business and the only thing missing was the time to really interact with the incoming communication... there was an uncomfortable pressure to produce immediately. That frustration was overcome by the reality of needs and the excitement of accomplishment.
I think this is an ideal way to proceed in ELL communities. I must admit I cringe a little bit every time I see a study from 1996 or that era used in the text. The trends in this arena are so quick that it must be impossible to even get a book to print before it is outdated. Obviously, Dan must be monitoring the field at a rate that allows him to make informed judgements about the validity of various texts, but it is funny to know htat the clock is ticking on so much research. I think about my own knowledge in 1996, 2000, or even 2 years ago. A blog or the idea that students would be able to practically join in discussion that were not just emails to a "sister school" and thus orchestrated by a teacher in at least a somewhat artifical manner.
I guess we will discover what types of ELL resources are out there to provide the authentic experience that language learners crave. As is stated in Egbert, Chao, Smith the resources that are most productive for any student will vary just as the ey will for each teacher. Variety and experimentation would seem to be a key. Younger kids must be ideal... with their ability and interest in play that would allow them to learn so quickly.
NOTES: Kern & Warschauer
NBLT represents a new and different side of CALL, where human-to-human communication is the focus
structural methodologists conceived of language learning as habit formation and thus saturated students with dialogues and pattern drills designed to condition learners to produce automatic, correct responses to linguistic stimuli
Cognitive/Constructivist Perspective
Errors came to be seen in a new light÷not as bad habits to be avoided but as natural by-products of a creative learning process that involved simplification, generalization, transfer, and other general cognitive strategies. Language learning had thus come to be understood not as conditioned response but as an active process of generating and transforming knowledge.
Sociocognitive Perspective
In a sociocognitive approach, learning is viewed not just in terms of changes in individuals' cognitive structures but also in terms of the social structure of learners' discourse and activity
Literacy has been increasingly seen as a key to developing not only language knowledge but also sociocultural and intercultural competence
Computers and CALL/NBLT
If our goal is to help students enter into new authentic discourse communities, and if those discourse communities are increasingly located online, then it seems appropriate to incorporate online activities for their social utility as well as for their perceived particular pedagogical value.
5 comments:
Looking good :)
I really think that is a common belief among people studying the field of CALL, that older research is somehow outdated. The fact is that technology become outdated quickly, but good research does not. Good research provides lessons about learning and instruction that can be applied for many years to come. It's not uncommon to see citations from 20 or 30 years ago and sometimes it's even wise. For example, when we talk about research on using Internet video, a researcher would be remiss if he/she didn't bring in research on things like PBS and other educational television initiatives.
There's no doubt in my mind that using language in authentic situations is very effective and efficient for improving just about every aspect of language.
However, I also think the effectiveness and efficiency of this approach is somewhat dependent on having a good foundation in the language or in having a good mentor/teacher/ect. (your high school experience).
By the way, you might want to spell out Network-based Language Teaching (NBLT) once so people know what you're referring to :)
Dan
By the way, I think that you are going to want to turn on "word verification" in the Blogger settings tab under "comments". Otherwise, you're going to get a bunch of ugly spam.
Dan
Oops, now I see. I would still suggest that you turn on "word verification" and also allow anonymous comments. In this way, you block the junk, but you don't block out others (not in this class) who would like to comment. In my experience, that is one of the benefits of having a public blog for class.
Dan
You're right. Two years ago it would have been impossible to discuss using blogs as a tool for second language learning. I think this class is goign to prompt an explosion of ideas and strategies for all of us, and we'll be able to share them so easily.
"I guess we will discover what types of ELL resources are out there to provide the authentic experience that language learners crave." As is stated in Egbert, Chao, Smith "the resources that are most productive for any student will vary just as the ey will for each teacher."
I just wanted to add that students are as varied as the resources. The field of ESL the students in one classroom aren't the same as another for example refugees vs. migrant students. Therefore, the use of technology or the applications of those technologies will be as varied. I agree with you 100%.
My area of concern today in this fast paced technology world is how as teachers do we find the time that it takes to stay current? I mean were all have lives beyond the classroom and we need these lives. I say this from an experienced worker whose often spent too much time on lesson plans and late nights as well as weekends at school. I have paid a price for this. So I am backt to the question what is the "right" balance?
Victoria
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