Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
An Annotated Bibliography
Computer Assisted Language Learning
Wejdan Ibrahim Shahrani
2014
Long time ago the use of computers in
language teaching was not of a big deal. However, computer has become an
important tool as language learning assistant. Actually, educators are now
aware of the importance of technology in the classroom. But the main question
they must ask themselves about is “What type of technology should be used
during a lecture?”. Computer Assisted language learning does not only mean,
using computers to teach another language. It involves also using the internet
web sites. These web sites can provide unlimited data for the students.
Recently, these web sites have been developed to be used not only by computers
but also by smart phones. And now people call them social networking
technology. The following references are
all about the importance of CALL in language teaching.
Bhatti, T, M. (2013). Teaching Reading Through Computer-Assisted Language
Learning. Teaching English as a Second or a Foreign Language, 17(2),
1-11. Retrieved from The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language.
The problem faced in this study is that
children do not have a chance to develop their reading skills. So the study was conducted to prove how students can improve their
reading skills through computer. The participants were male students in the age
of 15 to 17 from the same secondary school in Pakistan. They were observed for
a long time will using the computers to practice reading. Finally, the author
has concluded that CALL showed positive results in improving the reading
skills. He suggested that teachers should prepare themselves for using computers
in teaching.
Chamberlin, L., & Lehmann, K. (2011). Twitter in higher
education. Cutting-edge Technologies in Higher Education (pp. 375-391).
This chapter provides information about
the possible ways to use and to take advantage of twitter for beginners and
educators. This research aims to use twitter effectively in learning for higher
education students. As a result, the authors stated that the positive and
negative effects of twitter depend on the personal use. This chapter is very
important for students, educators, and beginners. For me, I can use it to
improve the use of twitter in classrooms with university students. It can also
help me to prove that the use of twitter can be positive only if we use it
wisely. Also, it points out the difference between the macro and micro use of
twitter.
Hamade, S. N. (2013) Perception and use of social networking sites
among university students. Library Review, 62(6/7), 388 – 397. DOI
10.1108/LR-12-2012-0131
This study aims to evaluate the
understanding and use of social media applications. It also aims to study the
influence of this usage. The participants are Kuwaiti students from different
universities. The result of this study showed that Twitter and Facebook were
used a lot. It also showed the positive side of using this technology. The
author found some possible solutions for the positive and negative impact of social
media in higher education. He concluded that students need to be trained on
using social media for learning purposes.
Healey, D.,
& Warschauer, M. (1998). Computers and language learning: an overview. State
of the art article, 31,57-71.
The aim of this article is to provide a
general review about the history of CALL. It also discusses the current studies
and practices. It stands on the theoretical basis of the importance of using
computers in language teaching. The author concluded his research with the assertion
of the importance of CALL.
Hubbard, P.(2014).Lecture 1:CA 94305-2150 [Pdf] [Lecture notes].
USA, Stanford: University of Stanford.
This lecture aims at discussing certain
important points in regard to CALL. It provided some information about the
theory of CALL. Also, it debated some studies, advantages and disadvantages of
this usage. The role of CALL in developing the second language learning and
teaching process. Finally, he stated some of his expectations and hopes
concerning the status of CALL in the future.
McArthur, J. M., & Bostedo-Conway, K. (2012). Exploring the relationship
between student-instructor interaction on Twitter and student perceptions of
teacher behaviors. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education, 24(3), 286-292. Retrieved from http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/
The aim of this case study is to find
whether twitter is a useful instrument for teaching or not. The methodology of
this paper is quantitative in which the study focuses on both teachers and
students. The findings of this study show a great relation between
Student-Instructor Interaction on Twitter and Student Perceptions of Teacher
Behaviors. Another thing is that the result shows how fruitful and important
twitter can be for teaching.
Mccool, L. B. (2011). The pedagogical use of Twitter in the
university classroom (Iowa State University). Available from Graduate Theses
and Dissertations. (UMI No. 11947).
The purpose of
this research is to find how twitter can be used in teaching students. The author
uses qualitative methods for collecting the data. As a result, twitter has
taken a great position in teaching students. The
writer concluded that using the social media in the classrooms will improve the
educational process.
Veletsianos, G. (2011). Higher education scholars’ participation
and practices on Twitter. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 1-14. doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00449.x
The aim of this study is to investigate
scholars' activities using twitter in higher education. The collected and
analyzed data depend on qualitative methods. The result showed that scholars
participate in twitter for many purposes which led to the need for training
teachers to use the social media and twitter effectively while teaching their
students.
Yakin, I., & Tinmaz, H. (2013). USING TWITTER AS AN
INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL: A CASE STUDY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. The Turkish Online
Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 12 (Iss 4), pp. 209 – 218.
This case study was conducted in higher
education. It aims to investigate the use of twitter as an instructional tool.
However, the result showed that through time the students started using it to
learn more. They also were able to realize the negative impact of twitter. This
case study would be helpful in understanding the advantages of using twitter in
the classroom. It also provides tips for using Twitter in an appropriate way.
Jenner, S. (2009). Using Twitter in teaching. Modern English
Teacher, 19(3), 39- 42. Retrieved from Modern English Teacher.
This article presents how twitter has been
used in the educational system. It shows different ways for using twitter in
teaching English. The findings of this article rely mostly on a study by an MA
student who wrote a project depending on his own experience of using twitter as
a student.
Classroom Technology Observation
Smart Board-Interactive
Whiteboard
Wejdan Ibrahim
Shahrani
2014
Introduction
In order to write a report about the technology used in the
classroom, I went three times to Bany Mazen school, in Abha. It was a quite
long journey for me since I live in Khamis Mushait. When I entered the school,
I met the principal who welcomed me and introduced me to Zana Saeed Asiri an
English teacher. I sat with her and asked some questions related to the
technology used in the classrooms. She told me there is an overhead projector
in each and every class. Besides, they have two Smart boards, one of them is
old and the other one is developed. They also have the interactive CD book.
Actually, I went there on the 30th
of October, the 2nd of November,
and the 3rd of November. The first time, I attended a class where a
Smart board (SB) was used as a teaching tool. In the second session, the
teacher used the Advanced Smart Board (ASB which is pretty much similar to the
smart board but it contains some developed features). In the third session, the
teacher used Interactive CD Book (ICDB). In each lesson I took some notes that
I have observed during the lessons.
Class Information
I observed classroom technology of the 3rd grade high school.
The class included twelve students. The students were divided into groups and
they were very active in the class. Zana has been teaching for about nine
years. I asked her what does she think about the old curriculum and the new
one? She said that she prefers the new curriculum because it provides the
needed items of language for the students. And when she was asked whether she
uses the technology in every lesson or not? She said that it depends on the
lesson it self. Because sometimes the lesson does not require her to use
technology. And sometimes, she faces some difficulties which prevent her from
using technology. Due to such problems, power outage or technical obstruct.
Class Content and Organization
The students' book was Mega GOAL.
In the first session the lesson was about writing a dialog about certain
situations. The teacher has presented some pictures by using the SB. The
students were looking at the pictures to write conversations for each picture.
The teacher was using the pen to change the pictures. After that, Zana opened a
page for the students to write their answers on the board. She has divided them
into three groups. Each group will choose a picture to write the dialog. Then,
she opened a PDF file to show the girls some activities from their books. She
gave them five minutes to think about the questions presented and find answers
for them. When the girls were answering the activity questions the teacher
changed the color of the font and attracted the student's attention to a new
grammar used in the lesson.
The
second lesson included several activities. The first one was reading and the
second one was grammar. Zana has started her lesson with a general review of
the previous lesson using the ASB. Then, she showed the girls the reading
passage and started asking some questions. The students pointed at the answers
on the Advanced Smart Board using their fingers. To write on the advanced smart
board the teacher and the students can use either the pen or their fingers. Zana
did the same thing she did in the first session. She opened a page for each
group, has changed the font color and she has given the girls a chance to use the
ASB. Some students were able to apply the grammatical rule by forming some
examples.The other students were correcting their friends' mistakes on the ASB.
The third session was a conversational
lesson. The content of the book was very good and clear. Zana used The
interactive CD book. This CD gives the students the opportunity to instruct
themselves by their own. The teacher has used the computer to open that CD and
the SB and overhead projector to present the content. Zana has played the
Interactive CD Book and has presented the lesson. The lesson started with a
conversation followed by some activities. The students were able to replay the
conversation many times, until they get the accurate pronunceation of the
words. They were also able to repeat after the native speakers' dialog. The answers for the activities were hidden.
They answered the questions first. Then, they were able to touch the questions
to reveal the model answers and compared them to their answers.
Students Response
Generally, the students were attentive and
alert. They were active and they tried to respond to every question. By looking
at their faces, anyone can tell how excited they were. They used the technology
very easily that they were able to change the font color and size. Moreover, they
opened new pages to write down their answers. They used the eraser to delete their mistakes. However, before I
left the class I asked the students the following questions;
How
do you feel after this lesson?
Do
you think it would be better if you take the lesson in the traditional way?
Which
technology do you prefer (SB, ASB, or ICDB)?
All the girls were happy about using the
technology and they thought it was much better than the traditional way of teaching.
For the last question the girls preferred the (ICDB) because it provides an
opportienty for them to apply autonomy
learning because they felt free while learning the lesson by themselves.
Use of Technology
In each class Zana has chosen certain
technology and when I asked here about the reason, she said that each lesson
needs an appropriate method. So, in the first and the second lessons she used
the SB and ASB to enhance the students writing and reading skills. And in the
third one she used the interactive CD book to develop the students listening,
writing and speaking skills. In spite of that, I think that the technology was
not used effectively. Although the teacher and the students were able to use it
very easily. Yet they were not able to use all the other good features of these
technologies. For example, the teacher did not use the puzzle icon, although it
was available.
Overall Reflections
Each class was unique and different from
the other one. They were interesting and exciting. In fact, using technology in
the classroom is fruitful. Students in primary level can learn better through
these kinds of technology. Another point is that two teachers can work together
in one class. Also, the teacher and the students can use the pen to write on
the board or if needed they can use the keyboard. However, with all the
benefits these technology can offer there are unavoidable flaws which might
stop the teacher from achieving the goals of the lessons. First of all, if the
teachers are not well trained in using these technologies they will not be able
to use the best of them. Secondly, the smart board takes more time to be
operated and that could waste the time of the class. Thirdly, it will not work
if there is no electricity. Finally, it jams sometimes during the lesson. So,
in my opinion I think using technology in the classroom to teach English
language is very useful, interesting and funny. However, every teacher should
train her self on using all the positive features of that technology and
prepare her self for any possible problem. For example, if the electricity is
off then she should use other prepared aids for teaching.
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