Language Learning

FC Ning Results are in – What can I make of them?

Was the French Connection a success? Well more of a flawed success looking from both teachers and students points of view. I guess the possibilities of using a social network in a way which would aid teaching and learning but also in the students ‘eyes’ be fun is more complex than it first seems. Beyond this from my point of view the network had to aid students understanding of Web 2.0 technologies and there possible use for learning as well as fun and communication.

Below are a list of recommendations from teachers, students and myself as to how to improve the social network for MFL use:-

  • Time – Three weeks was not enough from questionnaires it seems a year or more would work much better, maybe throughout a course at GCSE or Diploma?
  • Participants – Must involve as many groups of students as possible within the school, so that those groups then become part of a larger network.
  • Age of Students – Vocabulary at Yr 9 was probably not enough for students to be able to converse to any great depth, Yr 10 (15 years old) and above is probably the ideal age.
  • Outside Experts – The more expert French speakers the better, especially if there were some native speakers from outside of education.
  • Cross School Exchange – The Social Network would work best if students are getting to know each other, and so an exchange program would be a great idea. Maybe between El Alsson and ACS-Egham next year – who knows?
  • Teachers – Need greater training in the complexities of a social network. Their was confusion between Forum, Blog and Comment posts and why they were different.
  • Objectives and Blending – The use of the network needs to blend with objectives within the curriculum, rather than be an addition. Vocabulary of site and menus needs support.
  • Technology Needs – The MFL department needs a number of internet enabled computers within their classrooms, this would then open this system to their students and themselves and enable them to integrate it into class time as well as home time.
  • Simplicity -The environment is quite complex, and many students found it hard to understand. More evidence we are not teaching a complete cohort of ‘digital natives’. This impeded on the use of the network and may need training or simplifying.
  • Multimedia and VideoAll students need to be videoing and podcasting, the new tool will improve this greatly……

Well that is all I can think of for now….below is the usual mind-map I have produced for the outline of my assignment. Yes it is complex and will take a time to download the graphic but maybe worth a look -Mindmap NING (SECOND warning this is large and takes a long time to load….but…)

Also I have uploaded the results from the student questionnaires (anonymous) for you to view, as their are some interesting conclusions. It’s a PDF so you will need acrobat reader to view. Enjoy.

I will be publishing excerpts from the assignment soon, along with sending a summary assignment to the wonderful Miranda.net community.

NING Spreadsheet

Easter is Over..and Assignment Ideas are Looming….

Well I am up to date with recent research work, although I can’t say that I am impressed with the recent articles I have been reading. The following review of ‘Researching Language Learning Processes in Open CALL Settings for Advanced Learners’ by Leahy is a little generic and as usual with CALL research seems to focus solely on the advanced language learners. Where are all the articles that focus on the majority of language learners who are not just tweaking their language acquisition but are beginners or intermediate.All the wonderful and innovative educational pedagogies might then be much more difficult to apply, e.g. authentic tasks, concordancing etc etc.

I am meeting with the MFL Department next week, to discuss my ideas for a research project that will improve the language acquisition probably involving KS3, and maybe Year 10 pupils. These are students that will more often than not show no motivation to learn a 3rd language, they already speak Arabic and English fluently. And beyond that are at a level in which role play tasks and open learning might be much more difficult to aim for.

The idea of a closed social network is still on top on my agenda as an idea to use, between a variety of classes within the MFL department. The rules could be that French is used for all public contact, and English can be used for private messages to each other? Hmm…will continue to play with Ning and see if it can fulfill a great deal of the shopping list of tools that will be needed. Hopefully the pupils will be able to podcast, along with teachers elements that can be used as tools. Also the embedding of YouTube and Google Videos can enable authentic discussions using French. All seems a great idea at the moment – we shall see.

Below is my recent rather frosty review:-
Summary
The article looks at how using role play mediated through CMC discussion could assist in the acquisition of language, including use of the Internet for research.

What does this paper say about online learning for language acquisition …:–
• The author begins with an overview of CALL – discussing its initial ‘behaviourist’ style before the internet allowed for unlimited primary language material. CALL research has unfortunately focused on ‘comparative studies’ to assess success which leads to inaccurate conclusions.
• The author suggests Chapelle’s six CALL outcomes as important:-
i. Language Learning Potential – Chapelle considers most important
ii. Learner Fitness
iii. Meaning and Focus
iv. Authenticity – author suggests as important for advanced learners
v. Positive Impact
vi. Practicality
• The students looked at were BA European Business Students – 4th year of study, who have to solve a marketing problem collaboratively – with each student taking on a different role within group, and all communication is via email.
• Language Skills the author suggests are used include: – surface reading, process information, summarise and modify, produce questions, discuss questions with peers, oral presentation and critical appraisal….
• Research method discussed internet logging software not used due to ethical reasons and so only email, websites consulted, transcripts of oral discussions, and final presentations were looked at. This approach acknowledged to inaccurate due to many reasons –and so caution would be needed with results analysis.
• Findings were placed into 4 sections:-
i. Questions to be answered – Most set questions answered from Internet, some recognised that Internet would not be able to answer all – and through email discussion. Other information due to ‘process orientated nature’ was found – author suggests that all students therefore ‘acquired content’.
ii. Solving Grammatical problems – Transcripts showed peer tutoring / and collaborative solving of problems
iii. Information Flow – It must be noted that ‘the computer screen is an integral part of the oral communication between the student and fills the gaps which are left by the utterances recorded on tape.’ Noted that a great deal of conversation featured incomplete sentences, which may have a detrimental effect –but often meaning and sentences are negotiated along with the computer screen. Email discussion was more formal though.
iv. Non-Linear Composition of Text – Presentation was developed in a non linear form, but then presented as asked in a particular order.
• Students suggested they enjoyed the electronic role play – with the project allowing for more opportunities to speak and write – than in a traditional classroom with teacher as central role.
• Author concludes that electronic role plays:-
i. Help language content acquisition
ii. Computer screen – is a full part of communication when dealing with oral transcripts
iii. It can allow students to collaboratively solve grammar problems
iv. It does due to its authenticity allow students to focus on language forms

What are the Implications ….:–

• For advanced level language students the use of the internet to research and email to communicate seems an obvious choice and one that will work well in language acquisition if planned well – however would this translate down to lower level students or even beginners – this for me is a very much more interesting question and problem?

Personal Thoughts

• Focusing on Chapelle’s six points should have been a good way to anchor the research into a certain theoretical base. It is unfortunate that this is however not linked as well as it could be throughout the article.
• The open problem solving task was a sensible idea with advanced students who were able to realise learning objectives outside the criteria the tutor had set. Also I believe the use of an authentic task – a problem they might have to solve in marketing would be a motivational tool – but again is it more difficult to try such a task with a lower level language student. For example my level of Spanish would inhibit any such task and lead to frustration – and so such tasks would have to be scaffolded carefully….
• Interesting the author picks up on the use of incomplete sentences – although is this surely as important as complete formal sentences in language learning? Especially when considering informal conversation…

Strengths/Weaknesses of article/ Do the arguments resonate with my experiences?
• Although the author suggests this is part of a larger study, the focus on such a small group seems worrying and leads to the conclusion being very general.
• Strength is that this is obviously just the beginning of the research work and the authors’ suggestion of comparing different groups and what language they acquired would hopefully lead to more concrete analysis and conclusions.