Reaction_week04

This paper is clearly describing the major interactions would happen in the learning process and providing the Equivalency theorem of interaction. I agree that this theorem will help educators think about how much they should pay attention to interaction among student-student, student-teacher and student-content. According exactly to the author said, as long as one of the three types of interaction is at high level, deep and meaningful formal learning is supported. A curriculum can be deemed successful depends on whether its educational objects achieved or not. So, what types of interaction should play an important role during the learning process is the core concern when educators design curriculum and make a decision choosing what kinds of resource to help learning.

“The value of content is dependent on the extent to which it engages students or teachers in interaction, leading to relevant knowledge construction.” For me, I strongly advocate that content plays an influential role on interactions between student-content and teacher-content. If teachers are knowledgeable and professional about the course, instructing the lessons systemically and definitely, and providing useful, relative and abundant resources, no mater the course is held in a community of inquiry or a dependent study, the “content” is sufficient itself and teacher-content interaction is at high level. The trigger is how to motivate students engage in the course. If students are naturally having interests in this topic, the student-content interaction is absolutely at high level; or the tasks/activities are attractive, the motivation might be raised up and the student-content interaction might gradually grow up during learning process.

I have a question that how author defined student-student, student-teacher and student-content interaction is at high, medium or low level. In this paper, for example, it just said that “the traditional lecture mode of delivery has medium levels of student-teacher interaction, low levels of student-student interaction and medium to low levels of student-content interaction.” It also listed the levels of interaction happened in distance education delivery, audio and video conferencing and web-based courses. But, I wonder how the decision is made to judge its level.

Anderson, T (2003)

Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction

Key concepts

＊The purposes of this paper à distinguish between interaction leading to learning in any informal context and those types of interaction that occur in a formal education context.
＊Equivalency theorem of interaction
Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student-teacher; student-student; student-content) is at a high level. The other two may be offered at minimal level, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience.
High levels of more than one of these three modes will likely provide a more satisfying educational experience, though these experiences may not be as cost or time effective as less interactive learning sequences.
＊An interaction-based model of e-Learning
1. Paced, Collaborative Learning / community of inquiry
· Learning is sequenced, directed, and credentialed through the assistance of a teacher.
· Using a lot of net-based synchronous and asynchronous (video, audio, computer conferencing, chats, or virtual world) interaction
· Binds learners in time, forcing regular sessions or group paced learning
· Suffer from an inability to scale to large numbers of learners
2. Independent Study
· Structured Learning Resources (search & retrieval, tutorials, simulations games, virtual labs, e-books)
· The independent student is not alone; colleagues, peers, family are significant sources of support and assistance locally or distributed across the net
＊Three functions that a good educational theory performs.
1. Helps to envision new worlds – Getting the mix right involves a series of tradeoffs (knowing how one type of interaction can effectively substitute for another), and provides an essential decision making skill in the distance educators’ knowledge base.
2. Helps to make things – Getting the mix right helps to position and make judgments of the arsenal of available tools as to their potential effectiveness and efficiency in program planning.
3. Helps to be honest –Getting the mix right encourages challenging evaluations: How much of the educational process can be composed of interaction with non-human entities? How much of the human interaction should take place face-to-face or in real time?

Evalutation #1

Website Title: BBC-Schools-Words and Pictures

Website URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml

Grade/Age Level: starter learner

Language & Content:

This website includes several curriculum parts such as: Phonics, CVC Words, Consonant Clusters, Long Vowel Sounds, and High Frequency Words which also contain various interesting activities (on-line games and teaching materials/less plans) in each part. By the way, in the section of "Gallery" which students can post their creative sentences/poems on it and "Teachers and Parents" has many useful suggestionsand printable lesson plans. It is a great website not only for starter learnersgrasping a fundamental knowledge about word structures but also for teachersapplying these resources to their classroom.

For example, the “Poem Pack” at “Long Vowel Sounds” http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml
contains a number of humorous poems, each of which contains many keywordswith long vowel patterns (ee, ai, ea, oa, ay, a-e, oo, y, igh, i-e). Each poem is read aloud for children and provides them with many exciting activities:
Hear it – Listening to the poem being read aloud;
Read it – Read the poem to oneself or with a partner;
Sound Search – Find all words with the same sound;
Find the Word – Find words appeared in the poem;
Print it – Print the script of poem and activity worksheet to practice.

Teachers can hold a workshop to let students learning with computers individuallyand then get together discussing their experiences, reciting poems in harmonyand sharing their own poems.

I think this website is designed in a well-organized and facts-based way and it really makes the tedious topics more fun. In addition, the rhyme poems will help stimulate learners’ sensorial ability of language. Besides, this website isbeneficial for classroom practice. Moreover, it also provides many materials forteachers to print them out which are really effort-saving.

Reaction -- week02

Two papers briefly introduced the definition of CALL and how its background theories shifting. Which reminds me the course I ever took “computer-assisted instruction (CAI).” About ten years ago, CAI was a very popular topic in education and there were various kinds of CAI software products booming. CAI is a kind of tutorial software which helps students learning language, math, science, etc. The Educational Ministry allotted lots of money purchasing CAI software for every elementary school to infuse computer into teaching.

I think the idea of CAI is between structural and cognitive perspectives because it has many repetitive drillings and sometimes it asks students to complete particular task. I ever used several kinds of software in my class, and I discovered a weird but fun phenomenon. When the software asked students questions with three options, in the beginning, students usually answered correctly, but later, they kind of feeling bored at the same feedback of awesome, good job. So, students tried to choose wrong answers to see what would happen. The loud sound and animation of exploding bomb surprisingly attracted students’ attention and they purposely clicked on the wrong answer to laugh at it.
Will you say they are learning or not? :)

CAI is just for installing in one PC and it is withered through technology advanced. I do believe CALL and NBLT will enhance students’ motivation. However, just like everything has two sides, how to guide students correctly use technology correctly is the core.

Egbert (2005)

Key concepts
Egbert (2005)
Introduction: Principles of CALL

Ø Defining CALL
※ Various Terms:
＊ computer-enhanced language learning (CELL)
＊ technology-enhanced language learning (TELL)
＊ computer-based language testing (CBLT)
＊ computer-supported reading instruction (CRI)
※ CALL Categories:
＊ According to what students do – fill in the blanks, text manipulation, tutorials, word processing
＊ According to the skills that it addresses – listening software, reading software
＊ By where it is used – home, office, school, lab
＊ By the philosophy that underlies its construction – behaviorist, communicative, or integrative (Warschauer, 1996)
※ Three Themes of CALL
＊ CALL is focus not on technology but on language learning.
＊ CALL occurs in many contexts and with many diverse participants.
＊ CALL pedagogy should be grounded in theory and practice from a number of fields.
Ø Conditions for Classroom Language Learning
1. Learners have opportunities to interact socially and negotiate meaning.
2. Learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience.
3. Learners are involved in authentic tasks.
4. Learners are exposed to an encouraged to produce varied and creative language.
5. Learners have enough time and feedback.
6. Learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process.
7. Learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal/anxiety level.
8. Learner autonomy is supported.
Ø Integrating ESL Standards (TESOL, 1997)
· letting students play roles that encourage active learning
· providing a variety of opportunities for learners to interact with native English speakers
· focusing on language use instead of language study
· using higher order thinking skills
· employing different media
· encouraging meaningful language use
· providing flexible timing for tasks
· promoting a variety of sources of feedback and prompting, including other students
· offering adequate information or research resources
· seizing upon opportunities to assist learners in making crucial choices in the learning process
Ø Integrating the National Educational Technology Standards (ISTE)
· use a computer and peripherals
· practice responsible use of technology
· use electronic resources appropriately
· design, develop, and publish products
· gather information
· collaborate with others
Ø Teachers’ Voice
※ Technology does mess up, you have to be aware and have a back-up plan in case if things don’t go as planned.
※ Technology goals are often tacked on rather than infused into content-area curriculum goals.
※ Not all students work best with a computer screen.
※ If the computer doesn’t support learning, it shouldn’t be used just to be used.
※ If all students are doing is exploring how a computer works, aren’t they still learning something valuable?
※ Computer access or no computer access, students first need to know how to ask questions that will get to meaningful answers.
※ You can’t force curriculum to relate to a learner’s life, but you can use the learner’s life to reinforce curriculum.

Kern & Warschauer

Kern & Warschauer (2000)
Theory and practice of network-based language teaching
Key concepts

Ø NBLT (network-based language teaching) is language teaching that involves the use of computers connected to one another in either local or global networks. Whereas CALL (computer-assisted language learning) has traditionally been associated with self-contained, programmed applications such as tutorials, drills, simulations, instructional games, tests, and so on, NBLT represents a new and different side of CALL, where human-to-human communication is the focus.
Ø The computer, like any technological tools used in teaching (e.g., pencils and paper, blackboard, overhead projectors, tape recorders), does not in and of itself bring about improvements in learning. We must look for particular practices of use in particular contexts.
Ø Perspectives on language learning and teaching
※Structural perspective:
* The grammar-translation method (1920 ~ )
* The audiolingual method (1940s ~ 1950s)
* Contrastive rhetoric between the native and target languages (1960 ~)
◎ the role of CALL – To provide unlimited drill, practice, tutorial explanation, and corrective feedback.
※Cognitive/constructivist perspective:
* Transformational-generative grammar à to fostering learner’s mental construction of a second language system (Chomsky, 1957;1965)
* Providing comprehensible input à to give individuals an opportunity to mentally construct the grammar from extreme natural data (Krashen,1982)
* Cognitive strategies of reading à top-down (e.g., using schematic knowledge) and bottom-up (e.g., using individual word clues)
◎ the role of CALL – To provide language input and analytic and inferential tasks.
※Sociocognitive perspective:
* Language is not just a private, “in the head” affair, but rather a socially constructed phenomenon.
* Communicative competence (Hymes, 1971) V.S. linguistic competence (Chomsky)
* Three principal functions of language use (Halliday) – Ideational function (i.e., to express content); Interpersonal function (i.e., to maintain social relations); Textual function (i.e., to create situationally relevant discourse.)
* Content-based learning
◎ the role of CALL – To provide alternative contexts for social interaction; to facilitate access to existing discourse communities and the creation of new ones.

Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!