Welcome to Geoff's L544 Blog!
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
The importance of "authentic audience" in language learning
First of all, some of the comments made in an article that I read for my L544 class (Johnston, 2007) at Indiana University made me reflect on my teaching regarding the importance of establishing an authentic audience in language learning.
According to Johnston’s definition, an authentic audience is “an audience that is concerned exclusively with the meaning of the speaker’s message” (67).
In my understanding he implies that teachers sometimes get too focused on form and do not provide an authentic audience (where students can give meaningful and personal answers), which is more beneficial for students for improving their communicative proficiency (67). For instance, he provides the example of one language expert who experienced frustration when his Portuguese instructor focused too much on correct form instead of real answers; “his teacher insisted that he answer the question, "Are you married?" with the factually incorrect "yes" because "we are practicing affirmative answers (64).”
In my understanding he implies that teachers sometimes get too focused on form and do not provide an authentic audience (where students can give meaningful and personal answers), which is more beneficial for students for improving their communicative proficiency (67). For instance, he provides the example of one language expert who experienced frustration when his Portuguese instructor focused too much on correct form instead of real answers; “his teacher insisted that he answer the question, "Are you married?" with the factually incorrect "yes" because "we are practicing affirmative answers (64).”
I think his point here is worth some thoughtful reflection for language teachers. Encouraging students to give real answers from their own opinions/preferences/beliefs (rather than giving any answer for the sake of practicing a structure) would probably be much more meaningful to them and helpful for their retention in the long term. As Johnston states, "audience is a crucial factor in the acquisition of the second language, and the availability of an authentic audience affects the rate and extent of language learning (63).”
After reading these comments, I realized that in the past I’ve done something similar to the example above, sometimes telling students that they “don’t need to give their true opinion or preference here. Just give any answer to practice the form.”
This is something that I want to reflect more on towards improving my teaching and student learning; are there ways I could adjust my lessons in order to promote giving real answers and preferences? Is there anything more I could be doing to encourage students to want to give these true answers and thoughts?
I also want to add that while I do agree that establishing this authentic audience is something worth striving for, I also think that there should also be some allowance for students giving a stock answer, especially when they have no experience, preference or thoughts about the topic or question (which would be much better than saying nothing at all).
"Agency" as a language learning goal
The concept of agency as a language-learning goal mentioned in an article I read for my summer class at Indiana University (Warschauer, 2004) was new to me, and I did some further research on it to get a better grasp of the concept. According to the articles I read (sources noted below), although there are different ideas on the exact meaning of agency, it seems that they all relate to the idea and value of language learners having the power to be self-directed learners that can use language in a meaningful way instead of vessels passively awaiting instruction from the teacher. This article adds the idea of having students create something that can be shared with an international audience, which I think is a really interesting idea.
In my Mandarin classes, I try to give students the opportunity to create with the language, including video projects, role-plays, and presentations (e.g. a travel diary to a fictional country, describing a robot that they saw at a technology expo, and talking about a brief timeline of their lives). I think giving students opportunities to discover and explore with language are important towards promoting extended use of the language after graduation and throughout their lives.
I like the idea of students creating a multimedia document to be shared online (as mentioned in the article), but I haven’t yet implemented this in my class. While I think it’s a good idea, I think that it’s important that there can be some assurance that students would receive some feedback from the “international audience,” instead of sharing it somewhere in a remote part of cyberspace with no viewers.
Supplemental Sources Used:
Duff, P. (2012). Identity, agency, and SLA (Links to an external site.). In A. Mackey & S. Gass (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition. (pp. 410-426) London: Routledge. (invited)
Miller, Elisabeth R. “Agency, language learning and multilingual spaces.” Multilingual. 2012, Vol. 31 Issue 4, p441-468. 28p. 1 Chart. DOI: 10.1515/multi-2012-0020. ,
Xiao, Junhong. “Learner agency in language learning: the story of a distance learner of EFL in China” Department of Foreign Languages, Shantou Radio and Television University, Shantou, P.R. Distance Education, 2014
Vol. 35, No. 1, 4–17, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2014.891429
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Mobile App Review: Pleco
Mobile App Review: Pleco
Some basic facts:
· Category: Reference
· Updated: Jun 09, 2015
· Version: 3.2.6
· Size: 91.3 MB
· Language: English
· Seller: Pleco Software
For my mobile app review, I looked at a Chinese learning app called “Pleco.” It is labled the “ultimate Chinese learning companion” by its makers. While I’m very impressed with this app, I think this description is a bit misleading as the focus of the program is on the written form (it also includes pronunciation of a word) and does not place much emphasis on the oral/aural aspects; it includes an integrated dictionary, a document reader, a flashcard system a fullscreen handwriting input and live optical character reader. The basic dictionary is free to download, but the other features mentioned above are paid add-ons.
The layout is not flashy, but a simple, attractive design that is very well organized and easy to navigate (see examples below with clear headings/icons for navigation). While the format of the program may not have much appeal for young learners or those without much interest in learning Chinese, the displays are very clear, effective and efficient for those who are there for the purpose of the program: to study and explore the Mandarin Chinese written language.
Pleco does not appear to provide opportunities to collaborate with others, but there are some ways that a user can adjust settings according to his/her preferences.
The optical character recognition tool is a very unique part of this app, with the ability to recognize characters through the lens of a smartphone camera. It worked very well when I tried it out, but one's phone needs to have focus capability in order to use the feature properly (the camera needs to focus in order to capture the exact shape of the character for efficient recognition).
According to the article titled "Investigating Authenticity" by Chappelle and Liu that we read for class, one expert defines an authentic task as “one that learners perceive they will learn outside of class in their real world or that parallels or replicates real functions beyond the class” (Chappelle and Liu, 111). The main function of this app is for exploring definitions, components and pronunciations of words, so there is not much emphasis on activities for authentic use in real life situations. The only thing that might be considered as an authentic component are the examples that provide the word in the context of a sample sentence.
Website Evaluation for CCTV.com “Learn Chinese”
Website URL: http://english.cntv.cn/learnchinese/
Grade/Age/Proficiency
Level: College Aged, Beginner to Advanced Level
Language & Content:
Mandarin Chinese, Listening and Speaking
This website by China State
Television provides various multi-level video lessons (beginner to advanced)
for learning Chinese. Although a couple of the programs teach how to write some
characters, the website is most useful for those who want to improve their
listening and speaking.
The programs strive to be both
educational and entertaining, and include titles such as “Easy Chinese”
(teaches basic survival phrases using real people on the street), “Growing Up
with Chinese” (teaches common phrases through skits aimed at teenagers),
“Travel in Chinese” (teaches language in different settings aimed at
intermediate learners), “Happy Journey Across China” (teaches advanced phrases
while traveling to various interesting locations throughout China).
Explaining a grammar pattern in "Growing Up With Chinese" |
Explaining a common idiom in "Happy Journey Across China" |
The website is very easy to use, with videos organized in relation to the target level of proficiency. One of the ways the website could be improved in this area of usage is to be more consistent with the available viewing features on each video; for example, some of the videos (including "Travel in Chinese" and "Sports Chinese" don’t contain a pause or scroll option, which I think are very helpful for a learner. For example, with a pause button a viewer can quickly and easily review an important structure or phrase that he/she might have missed.
Videos organized by proficiency |
The videos vary in extra resources provided; for example, several include the script ("Growing Up with Chinese" includes the English translation), "Happy Chinese Season 2" includes an overview of the grammar pattern to be learned, "Survival Chinese" includes the key phrases to be introduced, and a couple of them (such as "Travel in Chinese" and "Sports Chinese") don’t include any sort of guide. I think this is one way the website can be improved, by being more consistent with the extra resources they provide for each video.
Script with English translation: "Growing Up With Chinese" |
The videos offer students the
chance to see different places in China, see phrases acted out in real life
situations with people in China, and learn aspects of Chinese culture. Most of
the videos are well-designed with colorful graphics, animations, music and English
subtitles (which are important for a beginning level non-native speaker who
wants to learn the language). Finally,
most of the foreigners presented in the videos (as both hosts and
actors/actresses) are all highly proficient in the language and offer a great
example to students from other countries learning the Mandarin.
On the Great Wall in "Travel in Chinese" |
A non-native speaker as an actress in "Happy Chinese" |
This website is not connected with any textbook, but it can be very helpful as
a supplemental resource for learning; the programs contain many topics related
to common textbook lessons such as telling the time, ordering dishes, and giving
and receiving thanks. Teachers can have students complete a handout based on
the video, and review it together after watching. On this topic, another way the website can be
improved is to offer online quizzes to test one’s comprehension of the content
after viewing.
Overall I think the CCTV Learn Chinese is an excellent resource for supplemental learning for listening and speaking areas, with the recommendation for more consistency in extra materials provided and user viewing features (such as pause and fast forward options), and also for an online activity to test comprehension after each video. Also at the time of this writing one of the videos ("Happy Chinese season 1") was not showing up for some reason, and is an issue that should be fixed as soon as possible by the web managers (these "Happy Chinese" videos also can be found on youtube.com).
I've used "Happy Chinese season 1" in my Chinese classes this past year and they have proven to be a great tool to supplement textbook/powerpoint learning as well as help attract interest and stimulate motivation for learning the language and culture. I'm still learning how to best use them effectively for optimal student learning, and hope to learn more about that in my LCLE program.
Overall I think the CCTV Learn Chinese is an excellent resource for supplemental learning for listening and speaking areas, with the recommendation for more consistency in extra materials provided and user viewing features (such as pause and fast forward options), and also for an online activity to test comprehension after each video. Also at the time of this writing one of the videos ("Happy Chinese season 1") was not showing up for some reason, and is an issue that should be fixed as soon as possible by the web managers (these "Happy Chinese" videos also can be found on youtube.com).
I've used "Happy Chinese season 1" in my Chinese classes this past year and they have proven to be a great tool to supplement textbook/powerpoint learning as well as help attract interest and stimulate motivation for learning the language and culture. I'm still learning how to best use them effectively for optimal student learning, and hope to learn more about that in my LCLE program.
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