Authenicity in CALL

Current and potential students – authentic tasks.  I have always liked using authentic tasks with my students.  Things they use everyday such as smartphones lend themselves to language learning tasks such as reading a map and directions (which also happens to be a test question for the adult education programs that use the CASAS test).  My students would use google maps on the computer or smart phone to find places they go nearby, then write the directions down in English, last they would share their directions with the class.  The others in class would listen to the directions following along with their fingers on the map to finally come to the place the student was talking about.  Maps were something they all used outside of class.  I have also done units on nutrition where they learn how to read nutrition labels, ingredients lists and to understand to spot misleading food packaging such as "Lemon flavored". 

How did I define authenticity?  I defined authenticity as lessons and tasks that has the learner engaged in real life activities which they can identify with and use outside of the classroom. 

Did the reading change my perspective?  While it didn’t really change my perspective it gave me more to think about when designing lessons or tasks and how to get feedback from students to make sure I am tweaking the lessons to meet their needs.  Having the short survey at the end of the activity is a great way to get that feedback so adjustments can be made to future lessons for that student. 

 

What is my working definition of authenticity in CALL context -  I would keep my current definition but add that "the authenticity of a lesson is held in the perspective of the student".  They are the ones who will determine if the lesson is authentic or not. We might feel that it is but unless it connects to the student then it wasn't authentic.  

Response to MALL

I agree with the author that short lessons that can picked up and do when they have a few minutes is the best way to reach students who use mobile devices for learning.  The key is how to make that school to home connection where the students find what they are learning is a benefit to both. 

They talk about a pull type of smartphone feature that would couple the GPS feature of the phone with an app that would pop up vocabulary or information related to the location of the user.  I have an app that kind of does that now called Foursquare.  Wherever I go it pops up information that users have added about the places I am near.  So for example, today I was at Costco so Foursquare located me and up popped a recommendation about the great deal they have on DirecTV over Time Warner Cable.  That wasn't of interest to me because I already have DirecTV but there are other user uploaded comments that might be of interest if I would click on the app and open it up.  We are always talking about finding real life, authentic language learning opportunities and Foursquare is definitely one of them.  I love my smartphone but sometimes the push features of my apps drive me crazy.  The amount of notifications I get are sometimes bothersome.  I would worry that sometimes they would ignore the push features if they happened too much. 

The author talks about QR codes and while for a time I thought they were really going to take off I haven't really found them very popular.  I don't see them around much or maybe I don't pay attention to them because I don't use them. 

I can see MALL as a benefit for teachers and students but only if all the students have the ability to participate.  If not, then I would see it as something extra that students could do to improve their language skills. 

Web 2.0 and YouTube

When I read the web 2.0 article I was grateful to see the authors explain the fact that a podcast is just a audio file and that its use is what makes it a "new technology".  My students often think they have the newest or hottest trend but really they are taking an old idea and putting a new twist on it.  People had been taking pictures of their food long before Instagram came out.  :) 

These new technologies are very easy and intuitive to use which readily lends themselves to language learners.  They can make videos, record themselves on their cell phones and then put it together for a finished product.  I have often encouraged my students to use their audio recorders on their cells so that they can hear themselves talk.  They can reflect on their recordings and make adjustments if needed.  They can also share these recordings with the other students. The possibilities are endless if you have the time. 

In the YouTube article the author says
"What do the digital natives want? Much of what they want educationally relates to their growing interest in and use of Web-based technologies. Prensky (2001) presents the following list of digital natives’ wants for education:
1. To receive information at twitch speed
2. To be able to multi-task
3. To have hands-on activities
4. To have graphics before text
5. To have random access to information
6. To be networked socially
7. To play games rather than do serious work
8. To have frequent rewards

The problem with meeting these educational needs is the disconnect between what the digital natives want and what many teachers are able to provide."  While I agree that is what digital natives want this doesn't really prepare them for the adult working world.  While we might get some of this in short doses the majority of our working lives are not hands on, game like, socially networked projects full of graphics with frequent rewards.  We are moving away from having self control and being able to handle delayed gratification.  Our student's stamina for sticking with a project, task or even a long test question is slowly being eroded away with the ideas that they have to have it in a bullet point, picture or make it obvious to the reader who just skims the information.  It is not preparing them for the word we live in.   

Website review

Well, I thought this was due Friday and with our moving to a new house I didn't have a chance to look at the assinment until now.  I know we didn't have to use the form format but I felt it was nicely set up so I chose to use it.  Well, anyway....here it is. 

 I chose to do the website review on usalearns.org.  This is a website sponsored by the federal government to help non native English speakers learn the language.  Its main purpose is to assist English language learners read, speak, listen and build vocabulary.
 
The website is interactive and self-paced.  The user choses which activities to do within the lesson.  Once all the activities are successfully completed they can go on to the next lesson.  There are lessons for beginners, intermediate and more advanced learners.  There are 20 units within the beginner’s lesson and each unit holds 20-30 mini lessons to complete.  It is quite comprehensive and there are no external documents within this website.

 For self motivated learners it meets the daily needs of the students in a multifaceted way, targeting spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, etc.  It gives the student various ways of meeting their goal of learning English with real life scenarios. Real life application is what most students seek out when they want to learn a new language.  They want to learn things that are going to be helpful in their daily lives.  This website meets that need. 

 This website gives ELL’s the practical use of English rather than academic.  Topics such as family, money, school, medical, food give the students language skills they can use immediately

 There is a practice portion to each lesson with feedback given in the form of a % success rate.  It will also tell the students if they have completed the lesson or unit as a glance.  It does this by partially or fully coloring in a box next to the objective.  After all the lessons are complete then there is an assessment that can be taken.  It too is given a % success rate.  As the student goes along, whether in lessons or assessment, the correct answer is given if the student misses it.  This immediate feedback is beneficial to the students.  

I think it is very easy to use and is intuitive.  The students should be able to navigate the site with little complication.  The layout is uncluttered and the website is nicely laid out.  I think the site meets the needs of ELL’s.  It is easy to use and the directions are simple.  The use of pictures to help connect the written to the visual is a nice touch.  However, it would be nice to incorporate video into the lessons.  There are audio clips but video could have a great impact on the students.

Software/Website Title: WWW.usalearns.org

 

Website URL: http://www.usalearns.org/index/welcome.cfm?CFID=18632521&CFTOKEN=57025197&jsessionid=3c30f5c9f7e41e3f91e0837806e2f694d255

 Grade/Age Level: high school through adult but could be used for younger children.  It features adults scenarios so children may not be as engaged because of it.

 

 

 

Hubbard and Levy

When I first read through the Hubbard article the first section to give me pause was when he discussed the dominance of vocabulary instruction in CALL.  He states that it wasn't so much state of the art teaching but instead that programmers found it easy to put them in computer programs.  Here I was thinking that there was some kind of educational pedagogy behind what was included in language learning computer programs just to find out that some of it was added for face value with little thought to best learning practices.  He does give credence to the fact that knowing vocabulary is inherently beneficial though.  Levy puts more emphasis on vocabulary, noting the sheer size of the task of understanding vocabulary.  I have always encouraged expanding vocabulary but in incremental steps.  There is no need to know all the words if you struggle putting a single sentence together. 

During my last teaching job I became familiar with Rosetta Stone.  My students used it for the first hour of class.  While there were many good things about Rosetta Stone there were some frustrating aspects as well.  My students really liked the self paced aspect and the ability to go back and do a lesson again.  They liked the different aspects of the learning process (speaking, listening, writing and reading).  Many of them were really good at one or two of those but were deficient at the others.  It gave them a chance to work on the things they felt they needed.  Some of the down sides were that many times the student would speak words of phrases and the software would not accept it as correct.  I would be there listening and found what they said was acceptable and understandable but the program would not pass them.  Other times the passed lessons would not save so the students would have to do them again.  That was really frustrating for them.  Even so they liked using the computers and Rosetta Stone.  It was a change of pace for them and gave them a chance to feel success learning a new language. 

RPG games and Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory

I chose to play Mission 2:  Flight to Freedom at the Mission US game site found at http://www.mission-us.org/ .  The game centered around the character Lucy and her life as a slave on a plantation in Kentucky.  She is 14 years old and lives with her mother and brother along with the other slaves on the plantation.  The game play starts out with you, as the character Lucy, doing regular chores and talking to people around the plantation.  Another slave named Henry has been hurt from being whipped by the overseer.  Everyone knows Henry is going to run away soon.  Since Henry is hurt Lucy must do some of his chores which includes tending the smokehouse fires.  Later on that evening the smokehouse catches fire and burns to the ground.   The overseer blames both Henry and Lucy and says they will get sold down south.  Being sold down south is a terrible punishment.  Henry and Lucy decide to run.  They gather all of the supplies they can and take off.  The goal is to make it north without getting caught.  All throughout the game play you make choices that effect Lucy's progress.  You can earn badges for different actions such as resisting the overseer and literacy smart words for reading the definitions of words in the story line.  Literacy smart words help make signs and books clear so you can read them.  Otherwise they are blurry.  I escaped, as Lucy, but always got caught.  I finally gave up after the 5th time.  There are so many options for each section it was hard for me to know where I went wrong and avoid getting caught once again.  That part was a little frustrating for me.  But most likely it was realistic since running away as a slave was difficult and high risk. 

Using Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory I analyzed the game.  Here are the results.

1.  Task that the learners can complete?  Yes, Lucy must complete small tasks in order to fullfill the overseers orders.  Each completed task builds the story line of the game.

2.  Ability to concentrate on task?  Yes, the characters draw the players in with their conversations.  The characters are animated so that the audio matches their movements and they interact with you as the character Lucy.  It is as if  you are Lucy. 

3.  Task has clear goals?  Yes, Lucy must gather badges and literacy smart words so that she can do more things in the game.  Lucy also gather objects to put in her pack when she runs away.  She gathered food, an axe, clothes and other items that will help her in the game.  When Lucy runs away her goal is to not get caught. 

4.  Task provides immediate feedback?  Yes, the choices you make have immediate consequences.  Some of them are game ending in fact especially when you are on the run.  Other choices can get a rebuke from the overseer, extra chores or can earn you badges or smart words. 

5.  Deep but effortless involvement?  No, this is as about as real as you can get.  While the setting is historical and not something we would see today the ideas are still realistic. 

6.  Exercising a sense of control over thier actions?  Each decision that you make leads Lucy down a path that is unique although all the paths lead Lucy to the critical moment when the smokehouse burns down.  When on the run Lucy has several choices of routes and then choices of what to do after choosing a route. 

7. Concern for self disappears during flow.  Yes, there were times in the game where I would take chances that if it were in real life I wouldn't have.  The simulations are realistic and provide life and death choices. 

8.  Sense of duration of time is altered?  Yes, the tasks Lucy performs are immediately accomplished but in reality would take hours.  I don't think it alters the perspecitve of time or distorts it for the player since it makes the game play feel active and engaging.  I don't know how much time I spent playing the game.  It was very engaging even after the repeated captures. 

Analysis of card and board games

I chose to play Monopoly for my analysis.  Monopoly is a childhood favorite for me.  I can remember my mom setting up the game and we would play until it was time for bed then we would continue it the next day until the winner was declared. 

Monopoly game play -Players start with an alloted amount of money set by the rules.  All players start on the "Go" space on the board.  Players move pieces that represent themselves around the board the number of spaces that they rolled on the dice. The spaces are properties, utilities, fines or action spaces such as community chest and chance.  If you land on a property or utility and it is still available then you may buy it. If it is owned then you pay rent to the owner.  The action spaces can either be a positive or negative action.  For example you can inherit money or pay a school tax.  There is a spot that will send you to jail and a free parking spot which is a space no one owns. 

Here is the original game board.



 The goal of the game is to be the last person with property/money.  You win!  This game combines skill and chance to make fun game play and a challenge worthy of hours of undivided attention.  My family owns the traditional board game, the electronic banking version and we have it for the Wii too.

This is what the Wii version of Monopoly looks like.

 I also played online for the comparison at http://board-games.pogo.com/games/monopoly .

This is a screen shot of the pogo game of Monopoly.

Game Components from my definition are bound by rules, has a clear purpose, amusing or fun, challenging, can be either real or make believe, uses skill or chance and game play is done safely. 

 
From my definition I can say that both games have a clear purpose.  They both were fun and challenging and game play is done safely.  There are elements to Monopoly that is realistic such as land marks or items in the game play but it is mostly make believe as you have millions of dollars to play with and you earn money by passing go.  This game uses chance as you have to roll the dice to move but skill is necessary when you are making trades and putting houses on property.  You take calculated chances given the events you forsee might happen so that you can make the most money and eventually win the game.


The format in regards to actually playing the game was virtually the same mechanically speaking.  The players moved in the same way.  Properties were purchased the same way and the same rules were followed from the board version to the online version.  The only think that I saw that was different was when it was your turn you could make a trade or build houses, just like the board version, but the online version gave you a two minute timer.  Two minutes may sound like a long time but when you are trying to make a trade it made me feel very pressured.  If you wanted to make a trade and then build houses good luck.  They give you two minutes to do all of that.  I ran out of time a couple different times.  I understand they don't want people to take all day but I felt under the gun to get things done quickly.  I might have made better decisions if I would have had more time. 

The online version launched in a small browser window which made it hard to see the properties and items on the board.  The players would drop in and out during the game which was frustrating.  But the most annoying thing was the ADS!  They came every few minutes and lasted for 30 seconds.  It really dampened my desire to play.  I was really irritating.  The animation was decent and the "go to jail" spot, when landed on, was funny as they dropped you through the game board to the jail and put bars across your players name until you got out.  There is a chat window but only two of us chatted.  It took some time for us to warm up to each other before we really started having a fun time talking.  The online version is 35 rounds so whoever has the most net worth at the end of the last round wins.  What I really missed was the in person interactions that you get from playing a game with friends in the same room.  When you play with friends or family they usually don't drop out on a whim.  There is no delay unless there is a bathroom time out.  :)  The board is easier to see so strategies can be considered before it is your turn.  There isn't a time limit on building houses or making trades.  You can barter as long as you think you have an audience.  You can change implement house rules when you play a game with friends.  Our house rule was any fines or fees went to free parking.  The person who lands on free parking would get the money.  This is not in the actual rules of Monopoly. 

Playing the Wii version is much the same as the board version except you have to manuver through small menus when there are choices and you roll the dice by shaking the Wii mote.  It is very animated and the Monopoly guy is like a little tour guide moving the game play along.  I would reccommend it to anyone who has a Wii for an alternative to the board version. 


Here are a couple of Monopoly game boards that I thought were interesting. 

Blogpoly for all of us bloggers!

The round Monopoly board.

For the Disney/Pixar fans.