CALL can be very useful for education because it is very interactive. It is a good tool for making educational task activities, communicative activities, distance teaching, etc. It works not only for presenting information but also for creating virtual worlds in which students can interact in a non-threatening environment. In my personal opinion, in an EFL environment the opportunities for speaking are very few; then, if a teacher created a 3D world in which all his/her students participate or even other teachers; a virtual controlled world for practicing is available to students and since it looks like a game students’ level of anxiety might decrease when using the language in real time scenarios. That is why I think the video is very accurate in mentioning that “students have a conscious feeling of being members of a real community” when using CALL. So offering a virtual world is a good idea for giving that sense of belonging and for exploiting computers’ potential. In my own experience I have participated in this kind of project. There is a virtual FREE world called SECOND LIFE. There are many online groups in which you can sing up and teachers can create their own exclusive group. All groups are private and you must be accepted by the administrator to use the virtual world of the other groups. In SECOND LIFE I had my own 3D character and I had to take online classes with PPP and everything. It was a very interesting and funny experience as a student. Then, “creativity with multimedia crosses all disciplines […] involves all senses, critical thinking skills, collaboration, individual and group work, and practice in the ability to bring together material construct a unique learning situation”(p.309 in Learning with Multimedia Tools). I think that my teacher of the time saw that potential of second life as teaching/learning tool because she made her class to work together and discuss about topics… all of these in her virtual online classroom. Therefore, when using CALL the multimedia can have unlimited uses but your creativity will define how well the program will be.
This is the video that best summarizes the complete history and evolution of CALL through time. It gives a thorough idea of how technology and education have been developed since the creation of the computers, back in 1960’s. It states that “CALL is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned usually containing a substantially interactive element”. Facing the challenges of technology and education evolution, the use of CALL has grown and reinforced the learning and teaching processes. According to the reading “CALL and its evaluation”(p49-67), CALL has faced three different stages. At the very beginning, the focus was on behaviorist approach based on Skinner’s perspective of education. Some time before, the idea of communicative CALL eliminates the old theory of Skinner and replaced it with something more related with the advances achieved so far. Finally, there is the integrative CALL which is the time we are living now. Most people tend to think that the implementation of multimedia tools and nice presentations will make students learn because they see technology as the end but not as the means how students will learn. The truth is that those tools are effective in the sense that they provide enough input for students to get familiar with the topics since it provides real life situations, for example, a conversations in a chat room with a native speaker. Sometimes the practice involves pupils and creates a harmonious environment for them work. Teachers only need a good training in order to present organized ideas, so that it will create in students the desire of interacting with other students worldwide. I would like to implement the use of this tool in my classroom by having conversations (either written or spoken) with native speaker all around the world as a way to interact with different cultures (cultural exchange) as well as get to know general and personal information about other people (hobbies, likes and dislikes, personal information, etc).
Egbert, J., and all in Foundations for Teaching and Learning, states that CALL theory could help educator evaluate how and which students learn with different kinds of technology. Based on this, we as a teacher could take advantages of the opportunities that CALL brings to education, for example, this theory gives the chance to students to work on real life tasks, or closer to it. Also, CALL exposes students to different programs or activities such as: role-play (in which sts create their own character), chat rooms, and forums, in which they can improve their skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and also create a critical thinking.
Nowadays, technology is an essential tool in all the fields including education. There is no doubt that teachers must implement it in the curriculum. It was mentioned in the video that: “It has to be used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned.” Moreover, technology is a way to call students’ attention “It is medium that our students understand, pay attention to and like to use.” (Web pages in the service of L2 learning, 25) Incorporating technology in the class is appealing to the students senses, “The use of computers and the internet in language learning not only supports the development of students’ language skills but also fosters students’ interests and motivation” (Theory and research: interaction via computers, 20) As future English teachers, we must to go beyond the traditional way of teaching (blackboards, chalk). We must to keep up about the technological advancements and apply them in our class. For example: creating blogs to have a way of interacting with students and reinforcing the topics learned. Besides, things that are passions for us can be included into the curriculum learning more about them. “…that doesn´t just mean learning about our craft or technology or our curriculum. It means learning about whatever we are passionate about.” (The read/write web, 9)
While watching this video, we can notice that there is much more about CAL that what we really know. An important aspect mentioned on it, which I want to remark, is “the elimination of a strong teacher presence has been shown to lead to larger quantity and better quality of communication such as more fluidity, more use of complex sentences, and more sharing of students’ personal selves.” In my personal opinion, this situation of the way in which the teacher is perceived by his students plays an important role in the teaching and learning process, since it is part of what makes a student to be motivated of taking part of the activities of the class; so we must be aware of this. We can expect better results in our students’ proficiency level if we complement this comprehensive and flexible attitude – instead of the strong teacher attitude – with activities that, as said before, encourage students to take part of them because, as Egbert states “learners must be motivated to take the opportunities presented to them and to be cognitively engaged as they perform them” (2005, p.7); and here is where CALL grosses its significance, since it brings attractive innovation to the classrooms.
This video represent widely the definition, influence and representation that must be given to CALL as a tool that goes beyond its usage, it gets into our students way of perceiving their learning. Most of students are indeed excited by the idea of using computers. Unfortunately, when the actual task of using and learning how to use the computer is approached, many teachers became threaten by the idea of learning how to use CALL for their advantage. Teachers must be enthusiastic about and proficient in using the computer in order to get students excited about using computers, since is almost assured that our student have knowledge towards CALL, but they do not know yet.
Computer assisted language learning CALL has been implemented in the educational field as a proof that Tech is everywhere. As it was discussed in class, CALL could be every single piece of technology that plays a significant role during the teaching-learning process. This type of innovation has provoked a revolution in terms of what kind of materials should be selected. The accessibility to the info is just one step in this scaffold, each stage during the teaching-learning process has its own restrictions and difficulties, the best we can do as teachers is to recognize them in order to take advantage of what is part of our reality, the reality is the technological era that we are facing. We got the info, let`s use it in pro of the education. The use of CALL should not be extremely related to high tech, it is in a way not cheap but it does not mean that we don not have the budget to afford certain strategies that enhance the acquisition of language by using CALL. The different types of CALL could be taken as a guide to stimulate a larger number of students. The machine does not get bored but a child does, CALL offers a huge variety of options to be used as the bridge to link the content to the student`s significant learning. We use CALL without noticing its contribution.
CALL can be very useful for education because it is very interactive. It is a good tool for making educational task activities, communicative activities, distance teaching, etc. It works not only for presenting information but also for creating virtual worlds in which students can interact in a non-threatening environment. In my personal opinion, in an EFL environment the opportunities for speaking are very few; then, if a teacher created a 3D world in which all his/her students participate or even other teachers; a virtual controlled world for practicing is available to students and since it looks like a game students’ level of anxiety might decrease when using the language in real time scenarios. That is why I think the video is very accurate in mentioning that “students have a conscious feeling of being members of a real community” when using CALL. So offering a virtual world is a good idea for giving that sense of belonging and for exploiting computers’ potential. In my own experience I have participated in this kind of project. There is a virtual FREE world called SECOND LIFE. There are many online groups in which you can sing up and teachers can create their own exclusive group. All groups are private and you must be accepted by the administrator to use the virtual world of the other groups. In SECOND LIFE I had my own 3D character and I had to take online classes with PPP and everything. It was a very interesting and funny experience as a student. Then, “creativity with multimedia crosses all disciplines […] involves all senses, critical thinking skills, collaboration, individual and group work, and practice in the ability to bring together material construct a unique learning situation”(p.309 in Learning with Multimedia Tools). I think that my teacher of the time saw that potential of second life as teaching/learning tool because she made her class to work together and discuss about topics… all of these in her virtual online classroom. Therefore, when using CALL the multimedia can have unlimited uses but your creativity will define how well the program will be.
ReplyDeleteThis is the video that best summarizes the complete history and evolution of CALL through time. It gives a thorough idea of how technology and education have been developed since the creation of the computers, back in 1960’s. It states that “CALL is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned usually containing a substantially interactive element”. Facing the challenges of technology and education evolution, the use of CALL has grown and reinforced the learning and teaching processes. According to the reading “CALL and its evaluation”(p49-67), CALL has faced three different stages. At the very beginning, the focus was on behaviorist approach based on Skinner’s perspective of education. Some time before, the idea of communicative CALL eliminates the old theory of Skinner and replaced it with something more related with the advances achieved so far. Finally, there is the integrative CALL which is the time we are living now. Most people tend to think that the implementation of multimedia tools and nice presentations will make students learn because they see technology as the end but not as the means how students will learn. The truth is that those tools are effective in the sense that they provide enough input for students to get familiar with the topics since it provides real life situations, for example, a conversations in a chat room with a native speaker. Sometimes the practice involves pupils and creates a harmonious environment for them work. Teachers only need a good training in order to present organized ideas, so that it will create in students the desire of interacting with other students worldwide. I would like to implement the use of this tool in my classroom by having conversations (either written or spoken) with native speaker all around the world as a way to interact with different cultures (cultural exchange) as well as get to know general and personal information about other people (hobbies, likes and dislikes, personal information, etc).
ReplyDeleteEgbert, J., and all in Foundations for Teaching and Learning, states that CALL theory could help educator evaluate how and which students learn with different kinds of technology. Based on this, we as a teacher could take advantages of the opportunities that CALL brings to education, for example, this theory gives the chance to students to work on real life tasks, or closer to it. Also, CALL exposes students to different programs or activities such as: role-play (in which sts create their own character), chat rooms, and forums, in which they can improve their skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and also create a critical thinking.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, technology is an essential tool in all the fields including education. There is no doubt that teachers must implement it in the curriculum. It was mentioned in the video that: “It has to be used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned.” Moreover, technology is a way to call students’ attention “It is medium that our students understand, pay attention to and like to use.” (Web pages in the service of L2 learning, 25) Incorporating technology in the class is appealing to the students senses, “The use of computers and the internet in language learning not only supports the development of students’ language skills but also fosters students’ interests and motivation” (Theory and research: interaction via computers, 20) As future English teachers, we must to go beyond the traditional way of teaching (blackboards, chalk). We must to keep up about the technological advancements and apply them in our class. For example: creating blogs to have a way of interacting with students and reinforcing the topics learned. Besides, things that are passions for us can be included into the curriculum learning more about them. “…that doesn´t just mean learning about our craft or technology or our curriculum. It means learning about whatever we are passionate about.” (The read/write web, 9)
ReplyDeleteWhile watching this video, we can notice that there is much more about CAL that what we really know. An important aspect mentioned on it, which I want to remark, is “the elimination of a strong teacher presence has been shown to lead to larger quantity and better quality of communication such as more fluidity, more use of complex sentences, and more sharing of students’ personal selves.” In my personal opinion, this situation of the way in which the teacher is perceived by his students plays an important role in the teaching and learning process, since it is part of what makes a student to be motivated of taking part of the activities of the class; so we must be aware of this. We can expect better results in our students’ proficiency level if we complement this comprehensive and flexible attitude – instead of the strong teacher attitude – with activities that, as said before, encourage students to take part of them because, as Egbert states “learners must be motivated to take the opportunities presented to them and to be cognitively engaged as they perform them” (2005, p.7); and here is where CALL grosses its significance, since it brings attractive innovation to the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteThis video represent widely the definition, influence and representation that must be given to CALL as a tool that goes beyond its usage, it gets into our students way of perceiving their learning. Most of students are indeed excited by the idea of using computers. Unfortunately, when the actual task of using and learning how to use the computer is approached, many teachers became threaten by the idea of learning how to use CALL for their advantage. Teachers must be enthusiastic about and proficient in using the computer in order to get students excited about using computers, since is almost assured that our student have knowledge towards CALL, but they do not know yet.
ReplyDeleteComputer assisted language learning CALL has been implemented in the educational field as a proof that Tech is everywhere. As it was discussed in class, CALL could be every single piece of technology that plays a significant role during the teaching-learning process. This type of innovation has provoked a revolution in terms of what kind of materials should be selected. The accessibility to the info is just one step in this scaffold, each stage during the teaching-learning process has its own restrictions and difficulties, the best we can do as teachers is to recognize them in order to take advantage of what is part of our reality, the reality is the technological era that we are facing. We got the info, let`s use it in pro of the education. The use of CALL should not be extremely related to high tech, it is in a way not cheap but it does not mean that we don not have the budget to afford certain strategies that enhance the acquisition of language by using CALL. The different types of CALL could be taken as a guide to stimulate a larger number of students. The machine does not get bored but a child does, CALL offers a huge variety of options to be used as the bridge to link the content to the student`s significant learning. We use CALL without noticing its contribution.
ReplyDelete