TASK 3: WWW Lesson Plan (15%)

LEVEL: Form 2 (Intermediate)

TIME: 35 minutes

AIMS: To find specific information on a website, to make students write what they believe thay can do

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

1. One computer for each pair of students

2. Website used: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com

PREPARATION:

1. Locate sites regarding amazing people and facts.

2. Find Guinness Worlds Records' website suitable for students.

3. Prepare interesting worksheets based on the video

PROCEDURE:

Set Induction (5 minutes) -

i. Ask students to share on amazing facts that they know.

ii. Give some world records which can be found on the website.

Development Activities (20 minutes) -

i. Distribute the worksheet to students.

ii. Tell students that the answers are available on the website.

iii. Give students 15 minutes to complete the table on the worksheet.

iv. Ask students to exchange their worksheets with another pair and discuss the answer with students.

v. Ask students to check their friends answers.

Conclusion (10 minutes) -

i. Tell students that everyone of them has potential and is able to make a world record.

ii. Ask students to write a short essay on what world record they want to make or break.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY:

1. Ask students to email their essays

WORKSHEET

Article Review (10%)

THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED PRONUNCIATION READINGS ON ESL LEARNERS’ USE OF PAUSING, STRESS, INTONATION AND OVERALL COMPREHENSIBILITY

Language Learning and Technology (October 2009), Volume 13, Number 3

http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num3/tannerlandon.pdf

This article was written by two authors; Mark W. Tanner and Melissa M. Landon. Mark Tanner is an Assistant Professor in the Linguistics and English Language Department at Brigham Young University. He is interested in researches such as pronunciation pedagogy and comprehensibility, self-directed learning and second language teacher education. Melissa Landon on the other hand is a full-time mother and a pat-time researcher. She holds an MA in TESOL from Brigham Young University. She has interests in researches of assessment and pronunciation instruction.

As the topic suggested, this research aims to assess and see how well a computer-assisted technique might help in improving ESL learners’ perception and production of key suprasegmental features. The researchers have made reviews on various literature of correct pronunciation readings as well as computer technology which is believed to be helpful in the teaching of English. In conducting the research, 75 ESL learners were involved in a 13-week experimental study. These learners were then divided into control and treatment groups. 11 weeks were given to the treatment group and they were having a self-directed computer-assisted using Cued Pronunciation Readings (CPR). These weeks are also known as Time 1. The results of both groups were collected on Week 13 which was also called as Time 2. After collecting the data, the researchers analyzed the treatment’s effect on the learner’s perception and production of pausing, word-stress and sentence-final intonation. Besides that, the learners’ level of perceived comprehensibility was also analyzed. Speech perception and production data at both Time 1 and Time 2 were collected from all learners in the ESL program’s computer lab. 4 categories of participants involve in the research, namely ESL Students, Native Speaking Informants, Teachers and Listeners. These four groups had different roles in the research. The ESL students were the main samples involved while the rest were the stimulus. These learners enrolled full-time in a university ESL program and had intermediate-level proficiency of English. In order to conduct the research, they were later divided into 6 groups. The native speakers on the other hand, acted as informants to the main sample. The researchers affirmed that the ESL learner’s performance on the tasks given would be appropriately measured if they used the same tasks on the native speakers. Ten native speakers involved in the study and they were al had knowledge in linguistics and ability to speak Standard American English. 6 teachers were selected to teach six different intermediate classes. All of them had at least a year experience in formal teaching. Three of them had to teach the control groups while the other three taught the treatment groups. 10 listeners were also selected in the research whereas they were divided into two groups. The first group rated the comprehensibility of all the participants while the second group, which included two expert judges, listened to the participants and wrote the results. Results from the 13-week experiment conducted showed that the treatment group had a significant effect on key suprasegemental features. The students in that group had improved after given such exposure to the learning of word pronouncing. For example, they have become better in recognizing the pause marks and they were able to produce the pause marks at the correct place. As for the students in treatment group themselves, they agreed that CPR has really helped them in learning about English pronunciation, speaking English more fluently and correctly. They also felt that people could understand them better and more easily.

As a future educator, I believe that a teacher’s job is not to spoon feed students. Students must learn how to be autonomous learners. Key suprasegemental features (pausing, word-stress and sentence-final intonation) are one of the language features that are fun to be learned and it would be more meaningful if the students learn it themselves by using technology. However, students always need a teacher’s guide to facilitate them as they might not fully understand what the program has taught them. Therefore, this research does really interest me. It shows how well the ESL learners can improve by having a self-directed computer assisted practice using CPR. Technology develops everyday and by having this kind of research, it is hoped that more programs or software will be built in order to meet the requirement of today’s world, which encourages people to be more self-directed especially in learning. Nevertheless, like stated earlier, teachers are still needed in supervising students’ achievement. This research is a well conducted research as it answered all the research questions and achieved the aims targeted. Besides that, the researchers used a well-planned method and I believe it was not easy to conduct such research which consumed a lot number of weeks. By having experts and other participants, this research has produced significant results of the study. In general, the research has given a new view of teaching pronunciation to teachers especially. Mispronunciation is one of the common mistakes done by students in learning English language besides grammar. Thus, by having a self-directed computer-assisted practice, students can learn themselves of the correct pronunciation of words and build their own confidence to speak English. Looking at it from Malaysian contexts, this research implies a lot in our education field especially in English teaching. Students nowadays are too shy to use English in public especially as they might not know how to use it in a correct way. Hence, I strongly believe that the self-directed computer-assisted practice as the research suggested would be very helpful.

Blog Task - Creating Hypertext & Hypermedia

Vietnam Traditional Clothing

Aodai

In feudal Vietnam, clothing was one of the most important marks of social status and strict dress codes were enforced.

Commoners had a limited choice of similarly plain and simple clothes for every day use, as well as being limited in the colors they were allowed to use. For a period, commoners were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white (with the exception of special occasions such as festivals), but in actuality these rules could change often based upon the whims of the current ruler.

The Áothân or "4-part dress" is one such example of an ancient dress widely worn by commoner women, along with the Áoym bodice which accompanied it. Peasants across the country also gradually came to wear silk pajama-like costumes, known as "Áo cánh" in the north and Áo bà ba in the south.

The headgear of peasants often included a plain piece of cloth wrapped around the head or the stereotypical Nón lá (conical hat). For footwear peasants would often go barefoot whereas sandals and shoes were reserved for the aristocracy and royalty.

Monarchs had the exclusive right to wear the color gold, while nobles wore red or purple. Each member of the royal court had an assortment of different formal gowns they would wear at a particular ceremony, or for a particular occasion. The rules governing the fashion of the royal court could change dynasty by dynasty, thus Costumes of the Vietnamese court were quite diverse.

The most popular and widely-recognized Vietnamese national costume is the Áo dài, which is worn nowadays mostly by women, although men do wear Áo dài on special occasions such as weddings and funerals. Áo dài is similar to the Chinese Qipao, consisting of a long gown with a slit on both sides, worn over silk pants. It is elegant in style and comfortable to wear, and likely derived in the 18th century or in the royal court of Hu?. Áo dài is made compulsory in many senior high schools in Vietnam, and some colleges. Some female office workers (e.g. receptionists, secretaries, tour guides) are also required to wear Áo dài.

In daily life, the traditional Vietnamese styles are now replaced by Western styles. Traditional clothing is worn instead on special occasions, with the exception of the white Áo dài commonly seen with high school girls in Vietnam.

Website Evaluation (10%)

http://www.rong-chang.com

Moderator: Ron Chang Lee, Ph.D. (Rong-Chang Li)

Email: leerc8@rong-chang.com

What does the application attempt to ‘teach’?

This is a good website that I would suggest to most of English teachers. It covers all skills namely; reading, writing, grammar, listening as well as speaking. Besides that, it also includes vocabulary, translation, games and other fun activities. It attempts to ‘teach’ all the skills by integrating and suggesting other websites as well. As we know, a website can’t be perfect itself. It may have flaw that other websites do not. Therefore, by having links to other websites it may help learners to test their knowledge on the different exercises provided. And, yes it does have links on CALL too.

What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

As most of the ESL websites, users need to have knowledge on what is ‘taught’ in the website. For this website, as I mentioned before, it covers all language skills and of course the users has to master or at least have background knowledge on each skills. The user can always choose to learn any skill they want themselves. If they are not satisfied with their achievement, they can always click on other websites’ links and test their proficiency there. The website only requires basic features of a computer like mouse, keyboard and javascript. Speaker might also be needed if they want to listen to the correct pronunciation of words.

What sorts of computer skill is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?

Users are not expected to be a savvy user of a computer in order to access the website. Basic knowledge of computer will do. As long as they know how to operate a computer and how to use mouse and keyboard, they can successfully explore and learn from the website.

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?

When I was in school, my teacher rarely brought us (my classmates and I) to the computer lab. However, whenever we went to the lab, we would do exercises from the courseware installed in the computers. It was quite similar to what the website has, but the courseware was very much colourful and more interesting. Whenever we answered exercises, it would tell (by producing voice) us whether the answers were wrong or right.

I always believe that each word must be pronounced correctly in order for us to improve our speaking skill. As a non-native speaker, I certainly have weakness in pronouncing words correctly. I used to have CD of a dictionary that teaches correct pronunciation. This website reminds me of what I always do in order to improve my pronunciation. However, the list of words is not as much as a dictionary has. It only tells how to differentiate between two similar words.

Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

Drilling is one of the theories that underlie the application. Users are encouraged to do all exercises repetitively until they get correct answers. Whenever a wrong answer is given, a hint would appear. The hint would highlight the wrong spelling or letters without indicating the correct one.

The website also promotes users to be independent learner. They can choose their own activities and supervise their own performance. It also provides a section where users can have a chat with a robot which can answer their questions. Therefore, users can always practice how to talk in a good manner using English with this feature.

How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website?

Briefly, constructivists suggest that learners learn from their experience and should be more active in their own learning. Taking this as a guideline to this evaluation, I strongly agree that this website has applied the constructivist learning theory. When users give a wrong answer, they will have to try repetitively in order to get the correct answers. This will, for certain make them learning from their own experience. If they are used to it, it is impossible for them to repeat the mistake in future as constructivists suggest. Being more active in learning means to take control of one’s own learning. This website really encourages the style of learning and users will know their capability and learn to improve it themselves.

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?

For some students who love to study by themselves, I believe that this website is replacement for teachers. Nevertheless, a teacher’s guide is still needed. It can only tell the correct and wrong answers but it never explains how and why. As I stated in the previous question, it does have feature where users can interact with a robot. However, it was programmed and has limitation in answering questions. For a dependent learner, this is good opportunity to improve their language skill without relying too much on teachers.

Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?

Definitely. This website has millions of information that should not be wasted. I would make full use of the website and at the same time integrate it with the learning. On top of that, it also has links of various fruitful ESL websites which are really useful for the sake of learning English.

Suggestions/Recommendations:

Students need to be attracted to the website first in order to make them learn from it. Hence, I would like to suggest the moderator to make the website more cheerful, colourful and much interesting by adding more colours, font as well as pictures. In addition, the moderator can also allow the users to create accounts which can make them easily see their performance as well as to interact with him.

Assignment - 26/01/10

1. Why do you think evaluation of CALL courseware, websites, materials etc important?

As long as the name of the creator is human, I strongly believe that strengths and weaknesses can never be part of the the creation. And this applies to the invention of courseware, websites or other materials. Hence, to answer this question, knowing the pros and cons of the courseware would be the answer. Once the evaluation has been done, one would know what can be relied on and what can be improved of the courseware. Therefore, it would be easier for him/her to use it.

Besides that, it would help teachers especially in recognizing the best courseware to be used in class. By doing this, the lesson could be improved as well.

2. How do you think Hot Potatoes JCloze may help your students learn English?

If I were given a choice, I'd like to learn how to use Hot Potatoes software before going for my practicum. I'm really positive that it would help my students a lot.

JCloze can help me on time management. It will help to reduce the time used by the students to copy all questions into their exercise books. Thus, it will give me chance to give them more exercise and enhance their proficiency level at the same time.

By using JCloze, I can make my exercise to look more interesting. Students will get excited to answer my questions and hopefully the learning will be meaningful to them. Colours, praise & critics can be added on in order to make the exercise is fun to be answered.

In-Class Task 2

3 , 2, 1 .. Action!

In-Class Task 1

Khairul Firhan bin Yusob. That's my name. I have owned the name since the day I was born. I prefer people to call me Firhan. I was born in Klang and currently stying in Kapar. I used to stay in various states of Malaysia. Am proud to be Malaysian! Aren't you?

I'm just a savvy user of computer and internet. i frequently use the internet but not really into it. It's a shame to admit the fact that I took Information Technology (IT) for SPM. *I really took it for the sake of avoiding biology & lukisan kejuteraan. I don't have much knowledge of the computer & internet as much as my friends (who didn't take IT) do.

Well, I do have knowledge on Microsoft Office (I'm sure most people have this). I used to learn about MS Word, Power Point and Excel when I was in form 4& 5. Knowledge on hardware? Hmm.. I know how to plug in computer hardwares; mouse, keyboard, monitor, thumb drive and speaker correctly to the CPU. =)

Have I experienced learning via computer? I guess so. It was not really learning, but when I was in part 6, our method in grammar lecturer asked us to submit exercises via i-learn portal. And I often downloaded notes of SLA from there too.

Practicum for me, was a wonderful experience. I did try to incorporate technology in some of my lessons during practicum. I was given a CD on English Subject and I really used it extensively especially for my literature lesson. It was a success since the students could understand more the literature components. I even received a compliment from my supervisor for doing that. But there was a time when I wanted to teach my students grammar using song but the speaker couldn't work. I ended up singing for them. I bet they miss my voice now. haha..

Using computer and technology in language teaching is a very good way in approaching and getting students' attention. They would find the learning is fun since it uses animation and expression. They would have longer attention span in the class.

Expectations? Of course I expect a good grade (an A will do.hehe..) However, the most important thing is for me to get the real insights of this course which will help me in future to be a great educator.