FINAL REFLECTION

When we took this course we didn’t know how important the ICT world is in the field of teaching, particularly Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The course ICT in TEFL is deeply worth and significant because it provokes participants to understand, acquire and develop competences about the amazing world of technology, internet and Web tools. I can assure that now I am very consistent in my sayings when we come to the use of internet at work. My colleagues almost admire me, and it is very rewarding from the professional perspective.  

I have increased my knowledge about the digital world and thus I have upgraded my competences in the use of all available tools in the Web we dealt with. More recently, I have been learning a lot from my classmates since they have done terrific jobs with the artifacts created. I am brand new in the use of technology (despite being working with it since long ago) and they had made me, unintentionally, produce better works and do better every day. To all of them, thank you very much!  

There were times when I just wanted to quit and leave all behind because the course is very time consuming and stressing. but at the end it paid off. Efforts doen now give results. Despite I am good observing rather than participating, I think we had been main stars in all duties we had to complete for the course. Now, I realize where I was and where I am in terms of ICT and the difference is, let me tell you, immense.

To Professor Evelyn, thanks a lot for being who you are. I consider you an excellent teacher, very demanding most of the time, but a good one. To all my classmates, thank you for letting me be part of your course and for giving me the chance to grow with you. To all of you thank you….

So long… Albert

NOW TO SLEEP

FINAL PROJECT

USING PODCAST TO ENCOURAGE ORAL PRODUCTION

Perhaps one, from the all four skills (speaking, listening, writing and reading), which has made a huge impact on the language classroom settings is the oral one. The influence of communicative language teaching (CTL) and the links between this approach and oral production, has given an important stimulus for changing the way students learn languages nowadays and additionally has produced drastic changes on the teacher performance during the last two centuries (Nunan, 1999). Ur, 2006 argues that classroom activities which develop learners’ oral ability to express themselves are seen as an important component of a language course. A good language producer consequently, is mostly considered a speaker of that language rather than a writer of it. This happens due to the fact that almost all second-foreign language learners are more motivated to speak the language since speech is better considered the means to express ideas.

The impact of the use of computers for teaching languages has created more efficient and interactive Web tools available nowadays. Internet use consequently, has shaped new ways for educators to use and incorporate e-learning into their traditional teaching mechanisms since e-learning has the advantage of allowing learners to choose when, where, and how they study (Evans, 2007). We get then into the use of audio internet and podcasting. The term comes from the original mixture of two words, broadcasting and the popular media player, the IPod. The internet user can upload audio files previously recorded and edited into a web page and create posts by using this files (Evans, 2007). The files then can be downloaded and hear everywhere, especially in media players. Researchers that support the idea of podcast claim it helps the learner to acquire fluency among increasable growth in pronunciation and phonological proficiency due to the self-constructive realization of growth on the speaking field (Ducate and Lomicka 2009).

This project is oriented to explain how the learning process of English undertaken by the use of podcast and scripting can serve as means to increase the level of proficiency in regards to oral production of English for students of 3^rd year at a high school level in Los Valles del Tuy, Miranda State, Venezuela and the effect of this Web 2.0 tool to gauge oral language advances on these students. A group of fifteen high-school teenagers are going to be taken at first stage by purposive sampling and encouraged to participate on an e-portfolio on “wetpaint” in which they have to upload their podcasts and see their advances in terms of oral production. The students are first being taught in the use of the two Web 2.0 tools necessary for the project and then being made to create their own podcasting sites on “PodBean”. With this, the researcher tries to change the previous perspective those students have about English and its production with communicative purposes.

Objectives

•          To diagnose the oral proficiency students have. 

•          To design a Web 2.0 tool (wiki) for a term.

•          To develop classes under the communicative framework.

•          To apply Podcasting to encourage oral production.

•          To observe students’ performance at the end of the term.

Methodology

Type of Study

The actual study employs a confirmatory approach since some theoretical models based on theory and previous researches findings have been searched and employed in order gather and analyze field data provided by the students’ samples of podcasts. This data is going to be classified according to an assessment rubric to determine first, the level of proficiency the purposing sample has on oral production and then how the using of podcast can have an effect on the oral students’ performance after several recordings. This project also can be classified first as a Descriptive Research since provides information about the actual conditions that occur to the students in the present. And Correlacional Research because it involves the search for relationships between two variables, the using of podcasts and the influence of it in oral performance. Through the use of various profiles provided by the assessment rubrics, the teacher will estimate what the initial oral performance the students have and later on how the podcasting usage enhances a difference on this performance (Neville, 2005).

Participants
 

The group to participate in the project is made out of fifteen (15) students from UEP “Agustin Aveledo” in Santa Teresa del Tuy, Miranda State, Venezuela. Their ages are between twelve (12) and fifteen (15) years old. Due to the amount of students, the purposing sampling strategy has been chosen since it might represent a problem when trying to assess all participants, so the teacher decided to use a small group and then move forward with a different sample from the same population. They have good commands in the use of computer tools as long as they are explained and utilized for the subject and the classes. In terms of the level of English, we can say they have a beginner’s level or even lower, so the goal of this project is to make the students upgrade the level of English and make it more accurate with the times we are living in the teaching and learning of it.

Procedures

First, some classes will be devoted to the knowledge and understand of common ICT concepts such as: digital literacy, web 2.0 tools, podcasting and wikis. With this, the project assures to be applicable since the knowledge of such concepts and tool plays an important role in the project development. In second step and in order to diagnose the initial oral proficiency the students have, a set of activities will be held. The first ones will deal with reflections about the previous objectives and speech formulas taught in previous years. For this, assessment rubric will be used. After that, a sample of fifteen (15) students will be selected from those students whose oral proficiency (according to the rubrics) is over basic.

The students will be assigned to get into an already created wiki (http://agustinaveledo.wetpaint.com), ask to be participant and once been accepted, write then about his personal information the same as the teacher did it. In addition, the classes will head to oral production and in agreement with the objectives planned for the level and with the project goal as an aim. Once the students signup in PodBean site and are allowed to write on the wiki, they students will be encourage to podcasting and practice oral production with the use of the software “Audacity”, record and edit different audio files they will need to cover for the objectives during one term. Finally, the students’ performance will be observed at the end of the term or period assigned for the project. By using the same rubrics as in the diagnostic procedure, the teacher will estimate how the use podcasts to develop the oral proficiency enhance a positive impact on the sample of students selected.

Materials

To hold this project then, the teacher will work with a wetpaint site that will work as an e-portfolio (http://agustinaveledo.wetpaint.com). This wiki has been designed to fulfill both, the teacher expectation about the e-portfolio and the students’ expectation about the new approach to be used in the subject.

After that, the students will have to download “Audacity” and “Lame” in order to have the necessary software to record, edit audio files and encode those files into mp3 formats. Later on, the will have to ask for permission to write on the wiki and then join PodBean and subscribe to that site, upload audio files and create posts on the different topics assigned.

Assessment

The assessment of the students’ oral performances will be held by the use of the following instrument. This has been created for the specific purpose of the project, since it would be impossible to assess the sample with the already established criteria from TSE (Test of Spoken English) or The Common European Framework to assess oral production. This is a sample rubric which will be used to accomplish the assessment part. The results will be analyzed by a categorization process of results so as to give the project a qualitative profile and thus obtain real data from the students’ oral proficiency.

References

·    Evans, C. (2007) The Effectiveness of M-learning in the form of Podcast Revision Lectures in Higher Education. ELSEVIER Science Direct. [On line publication] Computers and Education 50, (2008). Available: http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/PLM/MCCDE/curriculum/modules/podcast/m-learning_podcasts.pdf [Resource consulted: 2011, August 7].

·    Herrell, A. and Jordan, M. (2009) 50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. Pearson: Merrill Prentice Hall. New Jersey US. 3^rd Ed.

·    Neville P., T. (2005) Educational Research: Some Basic Concepts and Terminology. [On line Module] Quantitative Research Methods in Educational Planning. UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Institute of Comparative Education. University of Hamburg, Germany Available: http://www.iiep.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Cap_Dev_Training/Training_Materials/Quality/Qu_Mod1.pdf [Resource consulted: 2011, August 7].

·    Nunan, D. (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning. Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Boston, US.

·    Stanley, G. (2006) Podcasting: Audio on the Internet comes of Age. Teaching English as a second or Foreign Language. [Online publication] 9, 4. Available: http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej36/int.html [resource consulted: 2011, July 22].

·    Ur, P. (2006) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K.

·    Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Podcast. [On line publication]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast [resource consulted: 2011, July 22].

WEB-BASED LESSONS AND E-PORTFOLIOS

Web- based Lessons

The impact of nontraditional classroom from the one we know already, with board and chalk, is today out of the context and has become more evident as time elapses. This fact obeys to the available tools we have today to teach better. We come up then with Web-based lessons. They are just lessons that incorporate a Web site or many Web sites, can be conducted entirely online or it can be a traditional classroom lesson with an online component into the teaching and learning processes. The opportunities that arise by using the Web in the classroom bring up new opportunities since provide a variety and scope of resources and information on the Web and additionally can inspire original activities and facilitate the creation of lessons related to any subject. They make possible also the interactive communication through the Internet and collaboration between students, teachers and others into the learning process (worled.org).

E-portfolios

The word “portfolio” in education is connected to “a collection of work that a learner has collected, selected and organized, reflected upon and presented to understanding and growth over time. Additionally, a critical component of a portfolio is the combination of a learner’s reflection on the individual pieces of work (artifacts), as well as an overall reflection on the story the portfolio tells” (Barrett, 2006 p.1). An e-portfolio furthermore, can be seen then “as a type of learning record that provides actual evidence of achievement and an extent for a Personal Learning Environment which captures and displays a learning record” (wikipedia.org). E-portfolios, like traditional portfolios, can facilitate students' reflection on their own learning, leading to more awareness of learning strategies and needs. In electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) additionally, works are made out of electronic evidences that a user produces and manages, usually on the Web. The electronic works may include inputted text, electronic files, images or multimedia among other artifacts. In both, portfolios and e-portfolios the student’s demonstrate their abilities to construct their own knowledge.

·         Barrett, H. (2006) Using Electronic Portfolios for Classroom Assessment. [On line journal]. Connected Newsletter 13, 2 October 2006. Available: http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/ConnectedNewsletter-final.pdf. Source consulted:  [2011, July, 20^th]

·         Electronic Portfolio [on line wiki] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_portfolio.  [Resource consulted 2011, July 20^th]

·         Developing  Web-lesson Plans [On line document]. Available: http://tech.worlded.org/docs/surfing/section5.htm. Source consulted:  [2011, July, 20^th]

WIKI

SECOND LIFE

Second life is an online virtual world where users, called Residents, interact with each other. Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group talk via chat room or by voice, build virtual objects activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another. There is also a procedural scripting language, Linden Scripting Language, which can be used to add interactivity to objects. When visiting Second Life, you create your own avatar and participate in task-based games and socialize in a three-dimensional online environment,  get into a tour around different virtual environments in which you access. You can make your avatar any from you choose (human, animal, vegetable, mineral, or a combination thereof) or you can resemble as you are in real life. You can also choose even more abstract forms, given that almost every aspect of an avatar is fully customizable (wikipedia.org).

Getting into Second life has been an amazing experience since I had the opportunity to interact with other new residents and talk a little bit. I had the opportunity to know three people, one from Puerto Rico, the other one from Brazil, and a final one that was from UK. Despite I could get into the different environments that the site provides, I could chat a lot with these people and share an experience with people from different countries, especially the one from UK. The only problem that I found was the internet speed I have at home, which is very slow. That speed did not allow the links from the different environments appear in the bar that appear at the bottom of the page when you click on and access to different worlds.

Watch this to know more about Second Life

·         Second Life [on line wiki] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life.  [Resource consulted 2011, July 20^th]

SOCIAL NETWORKS

The Web 2.0 nowadays has increasingly brought into stage the interaction between the visitor and the site itself. These sites provide applications, in which those users can interact, modify and adapt them to certain requirements they consider necessary. These web locations belong to a wide range of sites available today which are named “social networks sites” (SNS) and are:

“…web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” (Boyd, 2008 p.211).

Social network sites (SNSs) as MySpace or Facebook have now millions of users who have integrated those sites into their daily routines. We have in the web hundreds of SNSs, with different technological applications which vary from site to site, but the two aspects that distinguishes these ones from other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), is that they emphasizes relationship initiation and continuing social connection between strangers or known persons. Additionally, “they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made” (Boyd, 2008).

 “Some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language or shared racial, sexual, religious, or nationality-based identities. Sites also vary in the extent to which they incorporate new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing” (Boyd, 2008 p.210).

Facebook for instance, is a social networking website intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. It was founded around 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook users create a profile page that shows their friends and networks information about them. The profile typically includes the following: Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall. Those users are able also to search for friends and acquaintances by e-mail address, school, university, or just by typing in a name or location for search. One popular feature on Facebook is the ability to share photographs uploaded from any device and to allow only friends to see their pictures or anyone if it is wanted. People can play also with applications such as “Hugs”, “Farmville” among many others (www.wisegeek.com).

One of the applications Facebook has is the group creation link. We can get into this page and create our own group (public and available to everyone or private or restricted to only those invited) by including anything from grade school connections to hobbies and interests and according to our feelings and view about life, professional performance, food, etc. Other feature Facebook has is group formation which can be created by users similarly; the Events feature allows friends to organize parties, concerts, and other get together in the real world. Users can also become fans of everything such as people, organizations, television shows, movies, and musicians (www.wisegeek.com).

This post is due to explain how social networks as Facebook can be used to adapt our perspective of the teaching of English filed to gather people on the same field and with the same view on this topic. We were asked to create a group based on the teaching of English field and make our classmates participate in this group. They had to join this group (previous invitations) and comment about the purpose and goals for the group. Mine was “Changing Paradigms on the English Teaching in Los Valles del Tuy”. With this group I made an attempt to join every person, English teacher I know to make him or her participates and makes his or her own participation, give feedback to what has been done by other teachers and provide group participants with worth information than could help to improve actual performance.

The goal of this group is indeed try to change what has been done in the field of teaching English in the area. Unfortunately, and despite of the lots of resources available nowadays, we still are living two centuries behind in terms of methodology. The English classes are concentrated mostly on grammar, forgetting or placing aside communication and its important role in the field. If we are going forward in terms of methodology in the Caracas area, still in los Valles del Tuy are suffering the disadvantages of not seeing making English communication among other aspects.

In regards to English Teaching, Facebook provides huge advantages since we can use the site applications to make learning more efficient and meaningful at the same time. We can for instance, upload pictures and make the students talk about them (see “Describing People” or “What were you doing when…” at my personal account). We can also create groups and make invitations to participate in this group (look for “Changing Paradigms on the English Teachingin Los Valles del Tuy” in my personal account) among other things that the site can provide to the teaching of English area.

·         Boyd, D. (2008) Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. [On line journal] Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, School of Information, University of California-Berkeley, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media Michigan State University. Available: http://wiki.nus.edu.sg/download/attachments/57742900/Social+Network+Sites+JCMC+Boyd.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1263641502920. [source consulted 2011, July 15]

·         WISEGEEK. What is Facebook? [Web site]. Available: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-facebook.htm. [Source consulted 2011, July 15]