Week 5 Blended Learning

Blended learning Case Studies Evaluation

How blended should the modes of delivery be?

Well it all depends on what the learners need and also what facilities are available.

Taking a look at the English for taxi drivers' course, I was impressed with the use of pod casts to supplement the synchronous components : face to face class time, blogs and the internet. Pod casts provided a platform for topics to be practised and revised, the manin aim is the negotiation of meaning. They are however, asynchronous. The aim was for the students to improve their listening and speaking (especially pronunciation skills) in the most efficient way possible and podcasts enabled this.

Podcasts provide flexibility, portability and autonomy and promote active, mobile learning (Kulkusa-Hulme and Shield, 2008). Podcasts are affordable and the technology is easy to use (Rosell-Aguilar 2007).

Exposure to spoken English was crucial for the students. The poor class attendance signaled for a blended learning approach. Functional language was the focus of the lessons. The course content is very relevant and it takes place within their social context and the taxi drivers contribute to it. The situative perspective of learning is present and as the taxi drivers form a community. The fact that the podcast recordings were short allowed the taxi drivers to listen to them during their breaks, thus speeding up the learning process. Listening to the recordings while at work helped them to relate to the material more and retain the information (Mayes and De Freitas 2007).

Incorporating blended learning into the English course helped the students to learn English at a faster rate and gave them a confidence boost, once they had listened and understood the podcast, they felt a sense of achievement.

A flexible approach was taken and the blended learning promoted this flexibility.

Using taxi drivers waiting time to improve their language skills is commendable and the purpose of improving tourists experience of Turkey certainly deserves praise. It is undoubtedly a creative use of ESP. Nowadays, we assume that taxi drivers have smartphones and this would allow for even more ways of delivery. Bax's theory of normalisation came into play, ie. the available technology/resources were used.

Where can we put in learner autonomy? Gruba and Hinkelmann's concept of sustainability is a possible destination. The blog which was created did not allow the students to make entries, therefore it is hard to tell whether the group will remain together after the course.

References

Bax, S(2003) CALL-past, present and future. System 31: 13-28.
Kulkusa-Hulme, A and Shield, A.(2008) An overvie of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction. ReCALL 20/3: 231-289.
Mayas, T and de Freitas, S(2007) 'Learning and e-learning: the role of theory', in Beetham, H and Sharpe, R (eds) 'Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age : Designing and Delivering E-Learning. Routledge, 13-25.
Rosell-Aguilar, F (2007) Top of the Pods- In search of podcasting 'Podagogy' for language learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning 20/5:471-492.

Week 4

Using Apps for Language Learning

I use applications everyday in my Personal Learning Environment, but not only for language learning. In class, in groups we discussed the use of WhatsApp, a social networking application we are all familiar with and we explored its use, specific to LL.

We came to the conclusion that students could use it, to form groups and practise the target language outside class time and collaborate to solve any problems they encountered on their language learning journey. By making it private to the students, it creates learner confidence and promotes autonomy. Students learn from each other and share new vocabulary, hereby creating a new learner platform.

I regularly use the free apps WordReference and Leo for French, German and Spanish. These are dictionary translation websites which give you access to forum discussions with millions of questions and answers about the target language. I really like both apps as you learn the synonyms and many features of languages. The translations are quite accurate and there are multiple languages available in WordReference and I recommend my students to use it (outside of class for further,more detailed explanation).

The one criticism I have is that the design is a little outdated but it is easy to use none the less and it’s free! Florence mentioned Duolingo to us and I decided to look at this app in more detail as I thought that it could be something that I could use in my free time to improve my language skills. It works in the following way:

• Translate L1 to L2
• Translate L2 to L1
• Speak L1
• Translate articles

Pros:

Looking more in detail at Duolingo: The added grammar section is useful as it gives a more in-depth explanation of the topic. The comments section of the app allows learners to ask questions about task elements that they didn't comprehend and they can receive help from other learners and even from course contributors. Duolingo does work, provided you supplement it with other materials. What Duolingo best provides is random grammar exercises while you are still learning the basics. It doesn't teach you grammar, but it does drill you on it and that's almost impossible to find elsewhere. Duolingo is designed to drill grammar into your head, without much context or any usage of this vocabulary in real-life situations and this is perhaps the application's greatest failing.

Cons:

Nevertheless, I would prefer my LA to take place with a native speaker beside me, answering any questions I may have. Call me old fashioned!!

In my opinion, the teachings are not very modern and the drilling exercises echo of behaviorist habit formation and drilling exercises. I don't find this sufficient enough for learning the vocabulary I need. There is a distinct lack of conversation building activities and indeed you will find very few examples of typical phrases like; "Where are you from?", "Why are you learning this language?", Have you been to Spain before?" in their courses. However these are exactly the phrases you should be learning to produce authentic, everyday, natural speech. Communicative language teaching promotes this. To completely learn a language, you cannot rely on one source alone and not one as one-dimensional as Duolingo. We must explore other language-learning materials such as conversation-based courses, podcasts and videos, and that way we may be able to cater to our students' language ;learning needs.

Conclusions/recommendations

Hopefully they will proceed to improve their app and ways of teaching in the future to sync it with today's language teaching trends. I view Duolingo as a resource that helps you organise your language learning and which can nudge you towards reading in the target language. Once you reach that point you are past Duolingo and you need to do other things if you master the language. As soon as you know the past tense you can start trying to read. Reading helps improve vocabulary. Yet if you want to fully master teh language, reading is not adequate. Conversation in real-life occurring situations must also feature.

While it is true that you eventually want to get away from translating and simply start thinking in the language, that is something that only comes with time, and I'm not sure you can speed it up much. Reading aids comprehension, and I normally only translate sentences that I deem impossible. To produce the TL,there is no substitute for extended periods of time spent talking to a native. Then again if you haven't done enough reading to add to your vocabulary, you won't get nearly as much out of the conversation.

I feel that the translation method (translating from one language to another) is the worst method of learning another language. It is crucial for us as teachers, to encourage the students to leave their L1 " outside the classroom and endeavour to use the L2 as much as possible. I started to make progress with Spanish and German once I stopped translating everything into my native language and began to use Spanish/German/French to form sentences.

Real-life conversations must be your learning materials. This is the best way to learn the "real " language, and not just rely on your memory power for vocabulary lists that you don't put to use.

To be fair, I have only dabbled in Duolingo. I think it appeals to people because it represents and action and with an immediate outcome, the desired sense of achievement is fulfilled. I don't think that Duolingo will change their approach as they have been successful in what they do.

Week 3

Task 3

Write in your blog your personal reflection about the development of ICC in foreign language education.

Do you think ICC is an essential component of learning an L2?

Do you think it is possible to assess students' intercultural competence objectively?

What have you learnt from observing some case studies?

Is there any specific online intercultural exchanges or activities you would like to implement in your teaching practice?

Looking at cultural theory from Byram, Kramsch, Kim, Malinowski to name but a few,

the phenomena of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence have become hot topics in language learning over the past years. Hammer, Bennett and Wiseman all claim that the effectiveness in a non-native culture is dependent upon one's interest in it, ability to notice nuances and willingness to adapt to new behavioural patterns thereby displaying respect to the host-culture.

L2 learners are difficult to motivate when they have no interest in the new culture. Some exchange students are fascinated by the host culture, like me when I was on Erasmus in Berlin, I kept a distance from other Irish people and fully immersed myself in the local culture. The students that are interested in the target culture, usually acquire the necessary language at a fast pace, as they see language and culture as connected and interchangeable.

Regarding SLA, could intercultural sensitivity actually overtake learning ability? Bennett's developmental model of intercultural sensitivity charts the structural changes in cultural sensitivity and not changes in attitudes and behaviour.

Having studied other languages, I believe that ICC has a huge impact on L2 learning. Looking at Schumann and his acculturation model, the reason that his case study Alberto's English did not improve, was due to the fact that he did not integrate into the English speaking society. His lack of acculturation to the target language group is why his English did not improve. He was not motivated to immerse himself in the new language or culture.

Could teaching ICC help to motivate students? I think so. Students could find some cultural aspects interesting and this could give them the push to improve their language skills and visit the country that the language is spoken in.

The European Centre for modern languages suggest that self-evaluation reports and journals be incorporated into language classrooms in order to assess ICC. But how?

It is very difficult to assess culture as it is unique to everyone. It is subjective.

http://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/publications/B1_ICCin TE_E_internet.pdf

Chappelle asks how we should incorporate ICC into the classroom and I wonder the very same thing. Firstly the task assigned needs to be fit for purpose and yield the desired outcome. Will it be private or collaborative?

As Fantini once said, the success of a project is based on the motivation, self-esteem, clear sense of the self and open-mindedness. In the case studies we looked at, the American and Italian universities project did not success due to limited forum participation, but the Soliya project, worked better and some of the participants stayed in touch afterwards.

But what really defines a culture is the hidden aspects that we only become aware of when we spend a longer period of time in the country, taking into account, interactions, customs and other sociolinguistic factors. Personally I can identify with Kramsch's third place phenomenon but I find it hard to relate to Bennett's model of intercultural sensitivity.

Do we really need to understand the culture to say that we are proficient in the language? It certainly doesn't hurt. The below explanation resonates with me and made me question the way I teach and can implement ICC into my classes.

“ When teaching intercultural communicative competence, teacher need to teach both the local and international cultures. Teachers and native speakers of English need to be aware of and respect nonnative speakers' different ways of communicating. Nowadays language teachers focus less on mimicking the culture and communication protocols of native speakers of English, unless the goals of interaction require it. The goal of ELT is not to produce language learners who can use English as a lingua franca in a way that reflects their local language and culture.”

http://blog.tesol.org/what-is-intercultural-communicative-competence/

References

Bennett, M.J (1993) 'Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity' in Paige, M.R., ed. Education for the intercultural experience, Yarmouth: Intercultural Press, 21-71.

Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Chapelle, C. (2001) Computer applications in second language acquisition: Foundations for teaching, testing and research, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapelle, C. (2003) English language learning and technology: Lectures on teaching and research in the age of information and communication, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.

Fantini, A.E. (2009) ' Assessing intercultural competence' in Deardorff, D. K., ed. The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence, Thousand Oaks: Sage, 456-476

Kramsch, C. (1995) ' The cultural component of language teaching', Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8(2), 83-92.

Task 2

I chose the most recent post from the Cultura project, dating to Fall 2014 between MIT students in the States and students from the University of Lyon, France

What cultural aspects were discussed in this particular interaction?

The word association with France was discussed in this interaction. The flag and the flag colours were mentioned by the French students, as well as lavender and wine. The Eiffel tower was mentioned a lot in English but this is to be expected as it was from a touristic viewpoint. 

What did I learn?

I learned how important the strikes are in French history and especially the ones in 1936, which led to holiday leave being created and a 40 hour working week being established. I found it interesting that the French see strikes and revolution as positive as it creates a change for the better and the Americans see it as something negative. This led me to wonder how we currently see them in Ireland?

The flag discussion then developed into one about pride versus. nationalism and whether identity refers to where you live or to the country as a whole. It proves difficult to generalize nationalism as the USA is so big.

It seems that Americans associate France with Europe in general, which is also news to me considering that all European countries are very diverse, both linguistically and culturally.

Were you surprised by any comment?

Is it true that American children sing the national anthem every day in school or make a pledge of allegiance. This seems over the top to me, yet I am accustomed to having an Irish flag in my house...

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my blog. I am excited and nervous at the prospect of having my own blog.
Over the next weeks, I plan to share my views on what we cover in class and present my views on ICT and Language Learning. I consider myself a 'digital immigrant' and I constantly strive to connect with my students, who are 'digital natives', by incorporating technology into my classes.
I am very interested in integrative CALL such as Sulis which has enabled students to connect with the topics outside of class.

This week I have been reading about the Cultura project. The Cultura project according to their website is essentially "developing understanding of another culture, a process which involves a series of stages that take an intercultural learner along a journey of discovery and reflection". This echoes the models of Byram (1997), Bennett (1998) and Kramsch (1998).

I believe that when I did the Camino de Santiago in 2003, as part of a group project from Galway, linked with a city in Galicia, Spain to explore our Celtic roots that we could have been directed by the format of the Cultura project. The online classroom setting would have enabled us to share ideas and compare and contrast issues in each country. By doing this, we could have documented our findings and stayed in contact instead of merely discussing them face-to-face.

"If today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach", as Prensky said, then we as educators, have to adapt the way that we educate, and I need to broaden my methodology to connect with my students and include CALL and ICC to enhance their linguistic and cultural learning, knowledge and understanding

My aim for this is week is to have a greater understanding of Whorf's views on Language and Thought and the models of ICC.