Week 10: Trends in computer-based second language assessment (Jamieson, 2005)

The first thing came into my mind when I hear computer-based second language assessment was TOEFL, so my reflection about Jamieson’s article is mostly related to this test.  First, this article described the changes in computer-based language assessment and mentioned some effectiveness of computer-based assessment such as less time needed for testing, faster score and authentic contents. One statement caught my attention was that ‘an added benefit of a computer-adaptive test is that theoretically test-takers are given items that are well-suited to their abilities, thus making the test both more interesting and a more accurate measure’ (p.230). Since this statement is introduced in a safe way with the word ‘theoretically,’ I cannot help myself to say that this theory- ‘well-suited’ test items will make test more interesting and accurate is just a theory.  Even though such computer-based assessment offers authentic tasks and test reflects the changed perspective toward language, using computer itself seems not authentic and test is still remained as not interesting.  What makes test more authentic? Contents? Tasks?  

The first time that I had taken TOEFL was about 7 years ago and the latest time was about 1 year ago. Comparing those two tests, what surprised me was that I only recognized few differences in test contents and items. Even though I used the same book that I studied 7 years ago to prepare the latest test, there was no such a huge gap between them and I hadn’t faced to any difficulties while taking the test.  Improving test format, contents and tasks costs a lot. However, I had never felt that this test is highly related to real language learning situation and never interesting. I had never forced to complete 500-700 writing within about 20 minutes after reading short passage and listening short lecture in real life. Then what is this for? Where this task is considered as authentic?

Week 9: YOU'RE NOT STUDYING, YOU'RE JUST...

week 8: GIVING A VIRTUAL VOICE TO THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF CULTURE: THE CULTURA PROJECT (Furstenberg et al., 2001)

The Cultura project that was used in this research seems very interesting and useful to teach (or learn) language along with culture. One thing that students can get an advantage from using Cultura is that they compare and analyzed two different cultures through languages. Not only they can learn about other cultures, they also practice and get in-depth knowledge about target languages. According to the article, it says that “students themselves gradually construct an understanding of the subject matter, at the intersection of language, communication, and culture.” L2 learners are not just learning about other cultures, but they utilize their target languages to communicate each other and understand different perspectives in using languages.

Language teachers try to bring culture into classroom and put lots of efforts to construct effective teaching methods. We all understand how important it is to understand culture in language learning. However, as the article stated, these cultural aspects are essentially elusive, abstract, and invisible; it is hard to make them visible, accessible and understandable.” In this matter, Cultura did a great job. The results showed that learners are able to construct their own approaches to the attitudes, values and concepts which underpin the ‘other’ culture. (Furstenberg  et al., 2001).

Ever since we had an access to World Wide Web and the advance of Web 2.0, it is no longer a problem to communicate with people who live in other countries and share different ideas, views and cultures. Learning language is a part of learning culture. Language possesses lots of things about one’s culture as it embraces idea, belief, perspectives and attitudes. Cultura seems a great way to encourage learners to discover their own view and at the same time to understand other views toward language use and it shows how technology can be effectively used for language learning.

Part 2: Using different writing programs to write collaborate

Writing together through blog and wiki seems great tools to work together; however, as we talked in class discussion, writing together is not always a better idea than writing individually. When I do editing other’s writing work during our lab session, I thought it would be better to have specific instruction or guideline about how to give advice on it. Since I am not used to comments about other’s writing, I was kind of lost which part I have to touch first. However, it was a great exercise for me and I think it would be great opportunity to language learners to recognize grammatical errors and writing skills. 

Week7: Blogging and L2 writing- what is so special about blogging? (Lee, 2010 & Sun, 2010)

  About 10 years ago, my second language writing experience was that writing daily journals and essays about specific topics. Sometimes I used email to learn business English. Those writing works were only available for me and my teacher; I never shared my writings to peers or other students. Corrections were only made by teachers and once I received them, I had never looked them again.
  Most second language learners are afraid of making mistakes and those mistakes to be open to other learners except teachers. Well, since peer review wasn't that common 10 years ago, only teachers can see and correct learners' errors. Writing in public space with limited second language wasn't easy for beginners or intermediate level learners. In addition, even though we know that writing regularly is very helpful to improve writing skill, it requires sufficient efforts and motivation.
  Since social networking became so popular, and expressing ourselves through social network tools became common, writing seems a part of our lives and became easy; we can write anything we want and share our thoughts with others. In second language learning, using blog for writing practice seems to have lots of advantages in many aspects.

  Some effectiveness that were introduced in Lee's (2010) and Sun's (2010) articles were following:
- reflective writing through self- expression (Lee, 2010)
- interactive exchange through social networking (Lee, 2010)
- increasing motivation to write for a broad audience (Lee, 2010)
- promote participants’ autonomous monitoring of their own writing ( sun, 2010)

  Both articles found that regularly creating blog posts has positive impact on learners' writing fluency and  helps learners to gain confidence in their writing and to develop their own approaches that suit their personal writing styles (Lee, 2010). Learners may become more comfortable with writing in their second language as they write more on their own blog, and this actually makes L2 writing more authentic activity.
  Interactive exchange made through social networking would be beneficial if learners focus on specific language aspects and be aware of the differences between their writing and other's. Last week, we talked about how to use different tools to teach and learn L2 grammar, and blog was included in one of those tools. Since writing is also closely related to grammar, learners may have benefits from having blog which is a archive of their writing.
  Even though blogging was a requirement for our class, I felt some differences in my writing every week. Writing became much easier (even though I still feel some limitation) and allows me think more deeply. As a English second language learner, I am personally enjoying writing blog posts about class readings and reflecting myself through writing.

Week 6: Approaches to second language vocabulary learning ( Godwin-Jones, 2010)

Learning vocabulary can be easy or difficult depends on how and what you learn. The old-fashioned and quite direct way of learning vocabulary that Godwin- Jones article mentioned was memorizing a list of words repeatedly. This method is quite useful for short term retention, however, there should be something more than just memorizing. During our last class, Dr. Chun said that to acquire a new word, at least seven times that word needs to be recognized and used by learners. This fact insists that just memorizing is not the key of learning vocabulary. It takes time to fully acquire new vocabulary and to use them in other context. More importantly, we never use 'words' independently; words are always existed as a part of sentence. Memorizing a list of words never tell us how the words are used in different contexts with different meanings or connotations. The importance of understanding the usage of vocabulary in sentence and context led educators to emphasize learning vocabulary through reading.  A lot of programs and vocabulary tools that were introduced in Godwin- Jones article seems quite useful to store new vocabularies that learners would like to revisit later. Games and activities related to vocabulary learning also allow learners to be exposed to the target words repeatedly and link them to the context. Multimedia and pictures are also good resources to learn vocabularies.

One example that I found from my english school with elementary students were quite impressive. While my students read an article, they were introduced to a new word 'wipe.' The sentence was "The volunteers wipe the ducks with towels" and there were two pictures which students can guess the meaning of the word. In one picture, a duck was on the towel and a volunteer gave a medicine to the duck, and in the other picture, the volunteer wipe the duck with a towel. One of my students first guessed the meaning of 'wipe' as ' being placed under' since she referenced the first picture which was wrong. However, with my instruction, she finally get the correct meaning of it. After reading, I asked them to recall the story by giving them a set of pictures that we just saw while reading. The girl who first didn't guess  the correct meaning of 'wipe' actually described the picture using the word in correct way. Few weeks later, we had a chance to revisit our previous lessons including the duck article. I gave my student the same picture and asked her to describe it. Even though the lesson was taught about a month ago, the girl once again recalled the word 'wipe' and described the picture with confidence. Several exposure to the words with a help of picture allowed this young learner to recognize, learn, acquire and finally use the word in her own way. Even the effect of using pictures was very powerful so how effective would it be using multimedia and technology in learning vocabulary through reading! Not only technology can help learners to understand new words in context but also it allows them to be exposed to the words  enough until they acquire them.

In last class, during the lab session, making our own listening activities using multimedia and different tools was very fun and informative. The effectiveness of using multimedia will be enhanced when learners are interested in the contents. Learners might think language learning as a fun and less stressful activity if teacher use contents that students are interested in. It would be very difficult and time consuming to find such a perfect contents for different learners especially when those students have different learning styles. However, it would be better than nothing, and technology also offers individualized lessons. Wise use of technology benefits to learners and teachers as well.

Week 5: Podcast and its authenticity

Going back to my high school year, when I was not so confident in learning English, listening and reading were 'comparatively' easier than speaking and writing. It was because I can guess what speakers try to say even though I can't fully understand what they say. Strategies to improve listening skill at that time were 'Just listen' and 'Listen as much as you can' even though you don't fully understand contents. You will someday have ears to recognize words, phrases, pronunciation, intonation and rhythm; however I never knew when that day would come.

When I was first introduced to Podcast, I subscribed some american newspaper podcasts such as new york times and some english learning materials which was far above my level at that time. I wanted to expose myself to more authentic materials (just natural conversation among people and something native speakers listen in their daily lives) and topics that I am personally interested in even though I couldn't fully understand what they are talking about. It was definitely helpful to get used to native speakers' pace of speaking, pronunciation, intonation and some frequently used expression and words.

The most beneficial aspect of Podcast would be its authenticity. Unlike traditional listening materials which were recorded by speakers who speak in moderate pace with accurate pronunciation, content that Podcast offers varies in its topic, mode and speaker's pace and accent. It is different from listening to radio since once it is downloaded into your gadgets you can listen whenever and wherever you want. What I expect from using Podcast in language learning class is definitely different from using recorded tape or mp3 files. As O’Bryan and Hegelheimer said 'podcasts serve to motivate students by given them control over the input they receive and taking advantage of a popular technology that has potential for helping students improve their listening comprehension' ( O’Bryan and Hegelheimer, 2007, p.174) Not only teachers can choose Podcast to provide students interesting and class- related listening materials, but also students can choose topics they want to listen. Podcast seems a great tool to encourage students' self- learning, connect class with authentic material and offer alternative teaching method to teachers. Teachers can utilize Podcast in more creative ways such as creating their own Podcast about contents they cover in class or allow students to make their own Podcast to share with other students.

Picture from http://;2mastery.com/podcast

Video Dictionary: Vidtionary | Diigo

Video Dictionary: Vidtionary | Diigo
:)