Language Content: WH-Questions, Descriptive writing
Educational Emphases: ICT Skills, Learning How to Learn Skills, Multiple Intelligences, Creative and Critical thinking Skills Previous Knowledge: 1) Students have learnt to obtain information from the World Wide Web 2) Students have learnt about descriptive adjectives
Aims: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to;
obtain and process information from the website on which types of transformers that suit with the statements given in the task sheet.
identify types of WH-Questions that appropriate with the statements given.
create sentences using WH-Questions based on the pictures given.
Technical Requirement:
One computer for 1 or 2 students
Internet connection with Web browser
LCD Projector
Preparation:
Locate and identify "Battle Bios of Transformers" website.
Google through the website and analyze whether this website suits with the student's level of English proficiency as well as the aims of the lesson.
Make sure each computer has internet connection before the lesson starts.
Prepare task sheets that need to be answered by the students.
Teacher recaps previous lesson on descriptive adjectives and what are the elements that are used to describe something.
Teacher triggers students' attention by showing a video clip related to the day's topic.
Teacher asks students what is the lesson on the day and introduces the topic.
Activity 1 (10 minutes)
Teacher asks students to work in pairs and share one computer.
Teacher explains rules of WH-Questions and asks students to complete an online exercise through a website, http://www.funflip.com/quiz/transformers and asks students to identify examples of WH-Questions in the quizzes.
Teacher allocates 10 minutes to complete the quiz.
Teacher asks students to save the result of their quiz.
Teacher allocates 10 minutes for the students to complete their task.
Teacher chooses one representative to share the answers with the whole class.
Teacher gives feedback.
Activity 3 (30 minutes)
Teacher asks students to remain in the same group of two people.
Teacher then distributes task sheet to the students and asks them to read the instructions first.
Teacher allocates 15 minutes for the students to complete the task.
Teacher facilitates students in creating the sentences.
Teacher asks one representative from each group to come in front and present their work.
Teacher gives feedback.
Conclusion (5 minutes):
Students are asked to recap what they have learnt throughout the lesson.
Teacher inculcates moral values.
Follow-up Activity:
Students are asked to browse through the net and watch a video.
Students need to review and discuss about the video and come out with a simple Powerpoint Presentation based on the WH-Questions in the next class. For example,
1) What is the title of the movie? 2) Why do I like/dislike about this movie? 3) Where is the setting for this movie? 4) When is the movie being released? 5) How would I improve if I become a director of this movie?
The beginning is clear. It was created in the 1920s by the physical trainer Joseph Pilates(1880-1967) for the purpose ofrehabilitation. Some of the first people treated by Pilates were soldiers returning from war and dancers such asMartha GrahamandGeorge Balanchine(to strengthen their bodies and heal their aches and pains). Since the 1920s, the basictenetsthat Joseph Pilates set down have been preserved, and to this day, even with some modifications, the Pilates remains true to its origins.
The Pilates "method," as it is now known, is an exercise system focused on improving flexibility, strength, andbody awareness, without necessarily building bulk. The method is a series of controlled movements performed on specially designed spring-resistant exerciseapparatus (the Reformer, the Cadillac, the Spine Corrector, the Ladder Barrel, andthe Wunda Chair) or on the floor (mat work), and the sessions are supervised by specially trained instructors. Pilates is resistance exercise, notaerobics(cardio), although theheart ratewill certainly rise for a deconditionedindividual. However, it's closer to weight lifting than it is to jogging, biking or other aerobic activities, and so you should consider it resistance exercise.
Two of the key elements of Pilates are core muscle strength and spinal alignment. The coremusculatureis loosely defined as thespine, abdomen, pelvis, hips, and the muscles that support these structures. Some of the main core muscles are theerector spinae(located in your back along your spine), the internal and external obliques (the sides of your abdomen), thetransverse abdominis(located deep in your gut, this muscle pulls your belly button in toward your spine), the rectus abdominis(the "six-pack"), andhip flexors(in your pelvis and upper leg).
CALL-EJ Online, Vol. 5, No. 2, January 2004 ISSN 1442-438X
Teruo Fujiike is the person who is responsible for conducting this research. He is a Japanese teacher of English at Akashi Senior High School in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He received his Master's degree in school education from Hyogo University of Teacher Education. His research interests are in Internet-based language learning in the classroom and on-line discourse analysis. He can be reached via his e-mail: tfujiike@hyogo-c.ed.jp
Summary of the Article
This research is conducted by focusing on interactions between Japanese learners of English as a foreign language using computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the second language (L2) classroom. Basically, this research involves a synchronous on-line debate by using a Bulletin Board System (BBS) as to support a theory proposed by Gunawardena, Lowe and Anderson's (1997) “Interaction Analysis Model” for examining social construction of knowledge.
The Aims of the research
The main aim of this research is to qualitatively examine how learners of English develop the social construction of knowledge through Computer-Mediated Communication. Futhermore, this paper is specifically designed to qualitatively analyze CMC based interactions between Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The methodology
The study was conducted through "Experimental research" on on-line debates between Japanese EFL learners of English. Therefore, three pairs of university students learning English as a foreign language participated in six debates and each of the pairs exchanged messages around the propositions presented by posting messages on a BBS. Furthermore, two debate logs are chosen here to scrutinize how the participants construct their knowledge as a result of the interaction and the topic involved "Which is better? telephone or e-mail". There were seven sessions in total, and each session lasted for about 90 minutes. In fact, there were STEP (the Society for Testing English Proficiency) tests were administered in the first session just to evaluate their English proficiency.
The subject/sample
4 females and 2 male students (n=6) whose ages range from 19 to 22, voluntarily participated in a synchronous on-line debates through BBS which were conducted in June, 2002. The participants were undergraduate students who have been enrolled in a general English course at the Hyogo University of Teacher Education and had been learning English for more than seven years.
The findings of the research
In the result and discussion part of this research, the researcher reconsidered the actual term of on-line debates as not only conflicts of opinions occurred, but also compromise (i.e., co-construction of knowledge) during the sessions. Thus, traditional debate format hindered desire of the participants to reach a compromise or a synthesis of the propositions (Gunawardena, et al., 1997) compared to some sessions in this research, they were able to reach a compromise and synthesis of the different positions because some messages were evaluated, in which participants constructed knowledge collaboratively. Moreover, in the issue of "telephone or e-mail", one of the participants claimed that each one of them has their own roles and this answer might be evaluated as indecisive yet weak in traditional debate but when we observed from the aspect of social constructivism, the argument could have been deepened the argument in which the participant should be more aware of their statement and be more specific so that more constructive arguments could be generated. Participants started discussing what good communication was and they deepened their ideas as a result of the social interaction between the participants. This clearly showed that a series of arguments can be transformed from a specific and simple one of “which is better, A or B?” type question to a higher order problem such as “How should communication be carried out?” Apart from that, the use of debates plays important roles for pedagogical use and significant with the analysis of online debates. This is because through traditional face-to-face debates, there are several aspects have been evaluated in terms of participant's behaviors such as “logic”, “analysis”, “argument”, “evidence”, “delivery”, and “questions and answers”. The researcher proposed how online debates should be evaluated in classrooms setting as the three aspects of interaction include quantity, persuasiveness and organization and the criteria should be informed first to the participants. Thus, it would be easier to determine the participant's level of motivation as they will be focusing more on the criteria given to them and their way of giving statements would become more structured. Matsumoto (2001), discussing evaluation methods of the debate, claimed that rather than by using the criteria such as "delivery", and "questions and answers", the debates should be judged by comparing and examining the arguments each party posted, and the team which presents the most collaborative and constructive ideas in the very last session wins. The researcher has found out that the participants who manage to perform in generating new and better ideas, new constructed knowledge and finding solutions of the problem contribute to co-construction of meaning. At the end of the study, this decision makes debates not only just a fun game but a true problem solving task and encourages participants to become more competent debaters.
If it is a concept/ theory describe/explain;
In this research, the researcher has stressed out the importance of social constructivism as proposed by Vygotsky where the use of interactions in learning the language has been emphasized and in this case, it refers to online debates where all the participants involved in giving thoughts and arguments that cultivate collaborative learning as well as the use of scaffolding. Another concept of "Interaction Analysis Model" by Gunawardena, Lowe and Andersons (1997) which is for examining social construction of knowledge in computer conferencing. This is to investigate qualities of learning experiences through CMC which has not been satisfactorily investigated.
:: Reaction ::
This research is somehow captured my interest as I tend to relate it with those days when I did my practicum in schools. I had this one class where the students were active learners and sometimes, they tend to argue about their points regarding certain questions or matters. Yet, one of the students asked me, " Teacher, why don't we argue about this till midnight using YM through conference? perhaps, we can get more information" From that moment, I started to think about this and whether I can evaluate their performance through this "CMC" because it does not involve turn taking which may involve in classroom setting. Perhaps, the students can be evaluated equally and I manage to detect students who work in groups and those who work in isolation. Thus, this type of collaborative debates encourage students to become autonomous learners as they navigate their own ways of writing their arguments and debating on certain issues among themselves. As a matter of fact, this research interests me in the aspect of collaborative learning whereby I can just simply give instructions or topics related to the syllabus and let the students gives their thoughts, opinions, and compose their statement on their own. As what language learning is concerned, learners benefit from a focus on form (Lightbown & Pienemann, 1993; Pica, 1996) yet they will become more conscious in creating and constructing their sentences as well as using proper grammar. Plus, the researcher also stated one of the functions in using on-line debates like emoticon that use to be one way of expressing emotions among the students. From my point of view, I do think that this research is well conducted as most of the findings have been supported with the concept and theory emphasized by the researcher. It is relevant with the use of collaborative learning that inculcate participation among the students as well as their motivation level will be increased. The only thing that matters about this research is the effectiveness of the way it has been conducted. The researcher has conducted experimental research and yes, the result can be obtained as fast as the teacher wants it to be but in terms of the validity and the reliability, it is quite challenging as the students may not be able to complete it on time. Plus, this research was only being conducted in small scale of group and the result might be different as large scale of groups may involve. Generally, the implication of the research in the teaching and learning of ESL is exactly the same as what EFL learners have gone through in this research. Specifically in Malaysian context, this kind of application should be more emphasized to the students as they will get more interacted with one another. Moreover, this will also gives advantage to students who preferably working in isolation and shy in expressing his or her thoughts especially in the classroom. Most ESL learners, focusing on school students, they are more prone to speak Bahasa Melayu in class as they worried that they might make mistakes when giving their thoughts and opinions. In conclusion, the use of collaborative debates in learning English should be given great emphasis especially to the students who are coming from rural areas as this will enhance their capability of utilizing English language as part of their daily language. Apart from that, teachers should take this matter into consideration as this will enable them to be equipped with the use of technology as an aid in providing more knowledge and inculcate positive values of letting the students to work among each other. Thus, the students will become more motivated subconsciously as they will learn two applications at one time in which they will utilize the use of computer as more hands-on activities that involve in this application as well as they will learn English as comfortable as they might be with plenty of helpful resources and scaffolding applications such as emoticon to express feelings and online dictionary in searching for words that they do not familiar with.
Targeted user : ESL Learners (Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced Learners)
1) What does the application attempt to "teach"?
The application attempts to teach basic English language to learners who are learning English as-a-second-language (ESL learners) as well as learners who learn English as-a-foreign-language (hereafter EFL learners). The application also covers vast areas of core skills in learning the language such as grammar and vocabulary, communication skills in which not just focusing on listening and speaking but it also provides exercises on listening and reading skills and also writing exercises. Besides that, this site also provides the learners to freely play language games and at the same time be able to navigate themselves through quizzes in order to test the level of their proficiency in utilizing the language proficiently. As a matter of fact, this site provides videos and most surprisingly, features like "learn a song podcast" in which learners will be able to learn to sing songs that native speakers know and basically, it suits for the "beginner" learners. Moreover, the website also offers selected MP3 files for ESL/EFL learners and it has been designed specifically for Japanese students when English is a foreign language for them.
2) What sorts of things is the application user expectedto do with regards to learning the content?
The targeted users, ranging from beginners up to advanced levels are expected to apply all skills required in the learning process as in listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this case, everyone can browse through the net regardless of age. In fact, they can utilize this site as a medium of instruction in learning English language. Learners are also expected to listen and watch videos related to subject matters and most of the exercises are theme-based as well as skill level-based. Furthermore, this site provides opportunities to the learners to freely choose the activities that they want to do and most of the activities are all in parallel with their knowledge based and their schemata. Thus, learners will fell more enthusiastic in learning the language and increase their motivation at the same time.
Besides that, while learners are listening and watching to videos displayed on this site, they are asked to repeat the sentences which they have heard before. In this way, they can also improve their way of pronouncing words, their listening skills and enhance their verbal skills at one time. As a matter of fact, ESL videos are being updated every day and this will enhance learners' knowledge to a selection of variety of videos that have been displayed through this website.
In addition, this site provides other alternatives for users to learn the language and not merely focusing on the basic skills as I have mentioned in the above statement. Learners will be able to play hangman, crossword puzzles, tongue twisters, poems and other sorts of things that somehow enable them to be proficient enough in a long run and not just in a short while.
3) What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate /access/ use the application?
Learners are not much expected to have in-depth knowledge of computer skills when they are using this site. I would say this site is user-friendly as users are expected to only have basic knowledge about the internet connection and yet they will be able to browse through the net. Once they are in this site, they only have to click on the exercises that they are interested to try and do it. The only thing that they must consider is to have FLASH software as most of the exercises in this site require it in order to be operated well. Learners should know on how to download Java application and this is easy because they only have to click on the link that has been bolded and underlined with blue colour. As a matter of fact, it does not consume much time in order to download the application and learners can start doing the exercises straight away once it has been downloaded.
4) While you are “playing”/ “accessing”/ “assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?
Yes, somehow the application reminds me of how nowadays, it is easy to learn anything through the use of technology in our lives. Once upon a time but not so long time ago, I have this kind of stereotype thinking as I often convinced myself that technology somehow will ruined my teaching styles as the failure of internet connection and the possibilities of certain wires to be mixed up and my lesson will be wasted just like that. Somehow, I realized that there will always lots of privileges that I can assume it is worthwhile to conduct such activities among students and the most important thing is that they LOVE it!!!!. I managed to show them videos from a poem written by Robert Frost "The Road Not taken" and asked them to interpret what lies behind the videos and believe it or not, students nowadays are more OUTRAGEOUS than those days as they will come out with various thoughts that somehow relevant to the subject matter and up to that extent, technology ROCKS!! Hahaha. In fact, they also love to play hangman as this will encourage their thinking skills as well as their participation in class.
Perhaps, maybe another reason that keeps me away from thinking about technology is that I seldom being exposed with learning the language by using computers as most of my teachers did not apply the facilities in my school and it was quite sad when I think of it sometimes. They are more towards the traditional ways of teaching by using chalk and talk.
Alhamdulillah, I manage to use all the facilities provided when I entered Uitm and speaking of the practicality of the websites, I am strongly feel that it is not just for the benefit for the students but it may also benefit the teachers as well. As teachers nowadays are not like those days, the “extra” burden that they have to carry are far more challenging and yet with the help of technology, most teachers can prepare tons of exercises without putting so much stress on it and it is also less time-consuming. As for ESL students, tons of websites that can be explored and most of them are very interactive as they students will feel more motivated to learn.
5) Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
After I have done some analyses, here are some of the theories which I think might be relevant and support the use of this website.
(i) Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory According to Robert J. Sternberg’s (1986,2004,2006) triarchic theory of intelligence, intelligence comes in three forms which are analytical, creative and practical. What makes it relevant with this site is that, ESL learners will be able to analyze and at the same time evaluate their level of performances through drilling exercises provided in the website. As a matter of fact, they will also be creative in guessing and writing the answer for the writing exercises based on the clues given. Furthermore, ESL learners will eventually acquire or store information, to retain and retrieve information, and to transfer information by doing exercises through videos and songs.
(ii) As stated in Brown (2000), Skinner believes that the learning process is far strengthened by the reinforcement the learners receive and this covers the roles of behaviourism in language learning. It is believed that this website consists the use of reinforcement as in praises such as "Right!", "Well Done!" whenever learners are able to get the correct answers. Besides, ESL learners will also be given time in order to enhance their capability in answering the questions provided in this site. Through this reinforcement, students will become more motivated and less stress as these exercises will lead them to become more competent in answering the questions.
(iii) According to Patsy M. Lightbrown and Nina Spada in their book, "How Languages are learned", they have stated that the conditions for language learning are often very different. As stated by Noam Chomsky in his ideas of Critical Period Hypothesis, animals in which including humans, are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skills at specific times in life and they might not be able to acquire the language if it is "beyond" the critical period. Having discussed about this website, learners who are beginners are often being emphasized and guided through simple exercises first and most of the exercises are given large emphasis on the pictures so that the learners will be able to acquire simple sentence structure first then only they will move one step ahead to more challenging exercises.
(iv) Krashen's Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis centralized the two distinct forms of terms in which (a) learning the language can be acquired through the exposed to samples of the second language without conscious attention to language form and (b) language can be learned through conscious attention to form and rule learning. This website agrees with the second aspect of language learning as ESL learners will become "autonomous learners" in which they will conduct the exercises on their own and become independent in checking and evaluating the answers as well. Thus, this will enhance their capability in learning the language effectively.
6) How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?
In general, social constructivist theory emphasizes the social context of learning and that knowledge is mutually built and constructed (Horowitz & others, 2005; Rust, O'Donovan, & Price, 2005). As what Vygotsky, a social constructivist emphasize that teachers should create more opportunities for students to learn by co-constructing knowledge along with the teacher and with peers(Budrova & Leong, 2001, 2007; Hyson, Copple & Jones,2006). Having discussed about this website, this theory is quite relevant with the use of various aids such as videos, audios as well as visual aids that can somehow act as a "facilitator" in facilitating students to be able to do exercises and enhance their capability in learning the language. Through argument in which humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences enable learners to become autonomous learners as they will decide based on their own thoughts and needs.
In terms of the social interaction between students themselves, perhaps this is clearly enough to say that this website does not provide social interaction space as they will only cater for their own learning.
In contrast, Piaget's cognitive constructivist theory emphasizes on the students that have to construct knowledge through transforming, organizing and reorganizing previous knowledge and information (Santrock, 2006). Thus, by assuming the process of assimilation and accommodation, learners will be able to adapt with the existing knowledge that they have and accommodate it with the new information that have been updated in this site.
7) In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation – was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students? Personally, I would say that computer is not a "master" nor a "slave" to the learning process and it can never be replaced with teacher-student relationship which covers human relationship specifically. It is true that computers can provide immediate feedback but choices of answers have already been programmed in it and it students can never argue about certain things that might not make sense. Students are not robot as in they don't have feelings and every students may differ from one to another. Thus, the roles of HUMAN TEACHER is important in a sense of praising the students as compared to the computers which only serve "words" that have been programmed such as "Well Done!" "Great!" instead of "Oh, It's ok, maybe you can try harder next time".
Besides that, when it comes to second language learning, computers are not be able to teach the exact way of acquiring the four skills in which reading, writing, listening and writing as what HUMAN TEACHERS do. Perhaps, computers can only facilitates the students in order to answer the questions based on the exercises provided on certain websites. The authenticity might be lesser than HUMAN TEACHERS as they have been experienced with the subject matter as well as there will be tons of views and additional information that students can adopt and adapt with. In fact, communication is the main concerned when it comes to language learning and this is not just about the formulas that students have to memorize onto but this is LANGUAGE!! Yet the students have to practice and it will be best to practice with more than one person.
On the other hand, I am not going to say that computers are merely a "servant" for students. The term servant perhaps should be replaced with "facilitator". Somehow, there are good sides of using the computers in learning the language. For instance, if a student wants to learn how to speak like native speaker, sometimes, HUMAN TEACHER is not be able to pronounce words as if native speakers and with the help of computers.
8)Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
Well, Yes. I would fully utilize this application whenever I am involved with my working life in future time, InsyaAllah. Although there are several weaknesses that I can find in this website, somehow, the content is simple and easy to be applied for ESL learners who wish to enhance and polish more about their skills in learning the language. In fact, it is not only for my own preferences but I will ensure that my students will use this application and perhaps, I can create exercises and ask my students to come out with their own and maybe they can refer this site as some part of their references, who knows?.
Apart from that, I would use this kind of application and considering more about time and it would be lesser than usual as compared to the use of papers. Furthermore, I may adopt and adapt these exercises and relate it with the society context in which it is more appropriate and authentic as thelearners are quite familiar with it.
9) Suggestions/Recommendations.
There are a few suggestions that I would like to add on and They are in terms of :
Application Content
In terms of content wise, this application should integrate more about the exercises provided as not only focusing on one particular aspect of skills and one example has shown as to combine listening skills and reading skills. Perhaps, more exercises will be created such as reading and speaking as this is for learners to master more about their communication skills.
Besides that, there are no specific level for each exercises except for the beginners ESL learners only and perhaps, this should be improved by organizing these exercises according to the level of difficulty so that the learners will be identify their strength in acquiring the language whether they are proficient enough or not.
I would personally think that, it is good to emphasize on other culture by integrating some of the information from that particular country but it may be very best if it is a blending of information that cover most of the Asian countries as well and perhaps, the ESL learners will not only acquire "language" generally but also they will master their general knowledge more specifically by application of the language learning itself.
Application Appearance
Perhaps, this site should be more interactive with the use of vibrant colours but caution! it should not be "too" vibrant" just to attract the learners' of ESL interest because the first sight is always important since this application is quite dull and most of the time it may lead to uninviting "customers".
The use of pictures or appropriate graphics may encourage learners more to know more about the website, Apart from that, the choices of songs can be varied as time passes by. Maybe the songs chosen can be taken from the real artists but it should be appropriate with the subject matters as well as the themes and values that somehow should be instilled in every students' heart. For instance, a song by Michael Jackson, "Heal The World" can be applied under the theme environment and students will fill in the blanks and complete the whole lyrics after they have heard the song. Maybe it works as most of the learners are already familiar with the song!!
REFERENCES
1. Brown, H.D (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Longman. 2. Santrock, J.W. (2006). Educational Psychology: Classroom Update: Preparing for Praxis and Practice. United States: Mc Graw Hill. 3. Patsy M.Lightbown/Nina Spada..3rd edition,Oxford..2006 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28learning_theory%29 5. http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/social.htm