Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
has been wildly applied for decades, not only because of its affordances of
long distant learning, but also its providing multimedia interactions. Additionally,
according to the Sociocultural Theory, learning happened in interactions. With
proper design, technology can be used to scaffold learners according to their
ZPD with fewer efforts.
Aside
from an individual final project, there were three mini-projects which students
were required to incorporate technology tools introduced in class to design
activities for teaching:1) listening, speaking, and pronunciation; 2) reading
and vocabulary; 3) grammar and writing. Each design should consider the context,
learning objectives and the sustainability. Moreover, designers should also
consider how they are going to evaluate the outcome. Through designing
mini-projects, I learned how to evaluate the affordances and restrictions of
technologies considering specific contexts and theoretical bases.
The first mini-project was designed for EFL learners with
intermediate-high level students in Taiwan
The second mini-project was designed for ESL015 students to
increase their reading comprehension (please refer to the attached folder—mini
project 2). We used an online tool— Hypertext which has a dictionary on half of
the screen and give definitions instantly. Also, Wordel and Wordsift were used
for incresing effectiveness of reading prediction. Our goal was scaffolding
students based on their ZPD accordingly. |
| Word cloud for pre-reading activity in mini-project 2 |
In the third mini-project, our group considered
incorporating of both Google Docs and the PBworks (a type of wikis) to facilitate
collaborative writing (please refer to the attached folder—mini project 3). We designed
a task requiring students to use conditional tense in Spanish to report
expecting activities, food and music they would like to explore in a Hispanic festival.
By utilizing these tools, our goal is to increase the flexibility of collaborative
writing and mutual scaffolding.
My final project was a literature review of wiki-based collaborative writing studies (please refer to attached file—final project) .Wikis are Web 2.0 tools providing highly accessible, interactive and flexible collaborative learning experience. In terms of collaborative writing, wikis’ trailing revisions, instant commenting, and co-editing present writing as a process rather than a product. However, although wikis currently draw much attention from educators, wiki-based collaborative wiring research is still in beginning and there is still no framework to ensure every student could on one hand maintain their autonomy, and, on the other hand, participate actively. Thus the review strives to explore possibilities of wikis in future task designing.
My final project was a literature review of wiki-based collaborative writing studies (please refer to attached file—final project) .Wikis are Web 2.0 tools providing highly accessible, interactive and flexible collaborative learning experience. In terms of collaborative writing, wikis’ trailing revisions, instant commenting, and co-editing present writing as a process rather than a product. However, although wikis currently draw much attention from educators, wiki-based collaborative wiring research is still in beginning and there is still no framework to ensure every student could on one hand maintain their autonomy, and, on the other hand, participate actively. Thus the review strives to explore possibilities of wikis in future task designing.
No comments:
Post a Comment