Online Communication
I. Rationale
This activity is designed for middle and high school students in the L2 learning setting. Students work practice asking and answering basic conversational questions in an online chat room.
This activity supports language development by a) noticing while writing as a way to focus on form, and b) develop a community of learners.
A) Noticing while writing as a way to focus on form.
Schmidt (1990, 2001) proposed the hypothesis that nothing is learned until it is noticed. Lightbown and Spada (1990, 1994) observed that students had more problems with linguistic accuracy and complexity when their instruction lacked focus on form. Swain’s (1985) comprehensible output theory claims that it is while trying to communicate that the learner realizes the limitations of the L2 ability. This can lead to noticing and depending on the communicative activity could also include a focus on form.
B) Developing a community of learners.
One of the standards for foreign language learning is that students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. According to Phillips and Draper (1999) “A community can be a community of learners of different ages or in different locations. The idea here is that the classroom provides the means so that students can interact beyond their classroom walls.” “The intent of the ‘lifelong learning’ standard is that students from the beginning develop the tools, the habits of mind, and the motivations that allow them to independently pursue activities using language throughout their lifetime.” (p. 68).
Lave (1991) studied apprenticeship communities of practice and discussed how the development of knowledge within that community also went hand in hand with a change in identity. I am working to help my students to identify themselves as learners of the language with important roles to play within a community of other learners.
Description
The eventual goal is for my students to feel comfortable and confident posting in real live settings such as Facebook or other social media to communicate with other speakers or learners. While they have practiced asking and answering the same questions face to face I believe that having to write the questions and answers will help them notice certain forms.
Students have already learned to ask and answer questions from their conversation cards (see previous lesson).
Students are shown how to use Unicode characters. (see attached instructions)
Students join an Edmodo backchannel chat room set up by the teacher. The teacher divides the students into groups in Edmodo and posts the link to their assigned chat room in their group. Students use their conversation cards to pick five questions to ask their partner. Their partner can look at their own conversation cards in order to know how to answer the questions correctly.
Reflection
I did this activity with both my Iñupiaq and Spanish students. One of the hardest parts of the exercise was figuring out the best chat situation. I watched several YouTube instructional videos on backchannel chat. One of them was an hour long showing all kinds of fabulous features but despite hours of work I was never able to figure out how to use the main feature I was interested in, which was being able to see all chats on one page. I had to keep switching between tabs in order to follow the students’ conversations. I tried Today’s Meet at https://todaysmeet.com/ and it was about the same as using Edmodo’s backchannel chat in that I still had to keep all chats in separate tabs. The advantage was that I could set the rooms up online whereas I was only ever able to figure out how to set up Edmodo backchannel chats using the Edmodo iPad app.
I thought the activity would be a fun change for the students as they were used to practicing their conversations verbally face to face. My Spanish students enjoyed the change in the activity but my Iñupiaq students complained bitterly. I tried to explain that the activity would prepare them to exchange information with other speakers or learners on Facebook or other social media and they claimed that they had no desire to do this. I’m still perplexed by their reaction to the activity.
My original plan was to have my students do the activity with a group of students in another location. For my Iñupiaq students I hoped to connect them with other high school students in a different village on the North Slope. For my Spanish students I thought they could communicate with a group of students in another country. I decided not to try it with another group because I never got a system that felt easy to use. Maybe another couple of hours of research will help me figure out a good backchannel chat room that we can work in.
This activity is designed for middle and high school students in the L2 learning setting. Students work practice asking and answering basic conversational questions in an online chat room.
This activity supports language development by a) noticing while writing as a way to focus on form, and b) develop a community of learners.
A) Noticing while writing as a way to focus on form.
Schmidt (1990, 2001) proposed the hypothesis that nothing is learned until it is noticed. Lightbown and Spada (1990, 1994) observed that students had more problems with linguistic accuracy and complexity when their instruction lacked focus on form. Swain’s (1985) comprehensible output theory claims that it is while trying to communicate that the learner realizes the limitations of the L2 ability. This can lead to noticing and depending on the communicative activity could also include a focus on form.
B) Developing a community of learners.
One of the standards for foreign language learning is that students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. According to Phillips and Draper (1999) “A community can be a community of learners of different ages or in different locations. The idea here is that the classroom provides the means so that students can interact beyond their classroom walls.” “The intent of the ‘lifelong learning’ standard is that students from the beginning develop the tools, the habits of mind, and the motivations that allow them to independently pursue activities using language throughout their lifetime.” (p. 68).
Lave (1991) studied apprenticeship communities of practice and discussed how the development of knowledge within that community also went hand in hand with a change in identity. I am working to help my students to identify themselves as learners of the language with important roles to play within a community of other learners.
Description
The eventual goal is for my students to feel comfortable and confident posting in real live settings such as Facebook or other social media to communicate with other speakers or learners. While they have practiced asking and answering the same questions face to face I believe that having to write the questions and answers will help them notice certain forms.
Students have already learned to ask and answer questions from their conversation cards (see previous lesson).
Students are shown how to use Unicode characters. (see attached instructions)
Students join an Edmodo backchannel chat room set up by the teacher. The teacher divides the students into groups in Edmodo and posts the link to their assigned chat room in their group. Students use their conversation cards to pick five questions to ask their partner. Their partner can look at their own conversation cards in order to know how to answer the questions correctly.
Reflection
I did this activity with both my Iñupiaq and Spanish students. One of the hardest parts of the exercise was figuring out the best chat situation. I watched several YouTube instructional videos on backchannel chat. One of them was an hour long showing all kinds of fabulous features but despite hours of work I was never able to figure out how to use the main feature I was interested in, which was being able to see all chats on one page. I had to keep switching between tabs in order to follow the students’ conversations. I tried Today’s Meet at https://todaysmeet.com/ and it was about the same as using Edmodo’s backchannel chat in that I still had to keep all chats in separate tabs. The advantage was that I could set the rooms up online whereas I was only ever able to figure out how to set up Edmodo backchannel chats using the Edmodo iPad app.
I thought the activity would be a fun change for the students as they were used to practicing their conversations verbally face to face. My Spanish students enjoyed the change in the activity but my Iñupiaq students complained bitterly. I tried to explain that the activity would prepare them to exchange information with other speakers or learners on Facebook or other social media and they claimed that they had no desire to do this. I’m still perplexed by their reaction to the activity.
My original plan was to have my students do the activity with a group of students in another location. For my Iñupiaq students I hoped to connect them with other high school students in a different village on the North Slope. For my Spanish students I thought they could communicate with a group of students in another country. I decided not to try it with another group because I never got a system that felt easy to use. Maybe another couple of hours of research will help me figure out a good backchannel chat room that we can work in.
setting_up_and_using_iupiaq_unicode_characters_in_lion.pdf | |
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