Based on the article: Blending technologies in ESL courses: A reflexly enquiry by Paul Gruba, Cameron Clark , kellyn Ng and Marisa wells.
Rate: 4
This article was about a project of how to integrate technology in ESL courses by using podcasts (which are recorded materials). They are one of useful materials to teach listening skill.
Something I remember from this article is that podcasts can be create into 2 categories which are purpose built and authentic. They are purpose built when they focus on the development of diverse student competencies; and authentic when they are extracted from media resources or unedited recording of native speakers.
Podcasts are an innovative pedagogy that consists of motivating the learners' interest and that is good because we have to look for different pedagogies, methods and techniques in order to help students to enhance or stimulate the development of their listening skills. because as we know, listening to an audio is tedious and we get bored easily. Besides, the purpose of listening is not only to have listening comprehension, but also, to give students the opportunity to talk to each other, that is why an audio is always provided with a question sheet, so that, students can share opinions or interview each other about what they have listened. By using podcasts,
we are able to improve our listening and speaking skill; and I think
these are the most difficult to learn because you do not have the
native pronunciation and understanding, so I think this is the
best way to improve those areas we need to focus on.
I believe that if we apply all the content previously explained
by the article, students will be able to become competitive learners. As a result of this, students will achieve the goals they have since the beginning, which are getting the best
pronunciation and understanding in order to use them correctly in a
dialogue, not matter the language we are trying to learn. That is why
I think this article is very helpful and we can apply all the
technologies we have and use podcasts successfully as well as
activities such as repeating dialogues, words, listening to songs and
try to get the lyrics correctly, anyway we have many activities we
need to know to take advantage of podcasts.
In addition, podcasts have been used to present recorded lectures and it is very useful to students as they can review their lectures, or for those who do not like to read too much; the recored lectures are an excellent material to be informed, since they can play the audio and start listening to it.
Based on the article: ''Effectiveness of the integration of ICT tools and activities to foster awareness as the first stage to reach learning autonomy'' by Andrea Ariza and Mario Suárez Sánchez.
Rate: 5
After
reading this article I started to think about me and the students I had while doing my social service. Why? Because I have tried to
teach them applying those methods, like self-planning,
self-management, self-monitoring and self-evaluation as well as
applying some in my life. I totally agree with the article because
the best way to improve is through self-correction.
According to the article, they used these methods to provide autonomy and authority to each student, so that, they could manage their time appropriately and they would be more aware while doing something related to their learning process. I have been trying to apply this in my daily life. As a result, you need to have a plan, set your goals and think about the achievements and failures as well. Sooner or later, students will become proactive and you will able to prevent any failures or have the best way to solve them. Also, you have to teach them to face any challenge that is imposed on their way. In addition, nowadays, technology has become the most important tool we have, for example, almost everything can be found on the Internet by using the computer and thanks to that, students are able to create their own learning by exploring countless resources.
I
think the tests they had to qualify the program are good, but I consider that, it would be better if we ask to each student directly, I know it could be difficult, but each student has different
knowledge, challenges and opinion, so in that way, we can improve our skills as well as improving student's skills because we will gain knowledge learn different ways to treat each student properly.
My reading log based on the article: Computers and language learning: an overview by Mark Warschauer and Deborah Healey.
Rate: 5
When
I started reading this article I thought what could have computers and
language learning in common? but, I had never analyzed how much the
technology help us to teach and learn a foreign language.
However,
CALL (computer-assisted language learning) have been divided into 3
stages. One of this is behavioristic CALL; it was based on behaviorist
theories of learning, in which the idea of repetition is essential to
learn. Also, students who used computers were able to work at their own
rhythm as it was like a mechanical tutor. The second stage was
communicative CALL. The promoters implement a new software and included
on it new programs to improve the language teaching; an it was useful
because students were stimulated to increase their language through
communication. The last stage is integrative CALL, What is important
here is implement new strategies (like task-based, project-based, etc.)
to integrate various skills to students.
Something I learn and I would like to share with a colleague is that not
just students have been benefited with what technology offers because
teachers can use it too. Although, is true that we can create our own
materials by hand (such as crossword, word search,etc.) but, it takes
too much time while doing it, and that is why the computer facilitate us
because we can prepare all those materials in less time.
Besides,
what surprised me in this article was how people who are in charge of
those programs are wondering themselves about how could we help others?
which strategies could we apply in this program?, what activity can we
create with this topic so that people can have fun? I mean, it seems
like they ask themselves those questions before creating a program.
