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ENHANCING WRITING THROUGH ELECTRONIC MATERIAL. Jennie Bautista Moreno Carlos Sifuentes Rodriguez Melisa Valdez Slazar Susana Barrientos Roel Iram Rodriguez Ordoñez. Electronic M aterials.
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ENHANCING WRITING THROUGH ELECTRONIC MATERIAL Jennie Bautista Moreno Carlos Sifuentes Rodriguez Melisa Valdez Slazar Susana Barrientos Roel IramRodriguez Ordoñez
ElectronicMaterials • Are referto material that has beendigitallyprocessed so thattheuserisabletoaccessitthrough a single source, usually a computer.
Wewillbereferingtothreemajor, iterrelateddimensions of electronicmaterialsthathaveproven beneficial to L2 learning: • Hypermedia • Multimedia • Communication Media
Hypermedia (Hypertext) • Referstothecapacitytomake links between ¨bits¨ofinformation. • Internaltothecurrent page. • Betweenelements of a particular websiteor CD-ROM. • Betweenonesite and anothersiteonthe web.
Multimedia • Whilethenodeswereoriginallyrestrictedtopieces of text, nowthey can include a variety of media: • Statictext
These multimedia elements can becombined in variousways and can appearautomaticallyorbeaccessedbythereadermaking a deliberateselection.
Communication Media • Interpersonal communication has become a powerful factor inthedevelopment of electronicmaterials. • Communication can takeseveralforms: • Email • Bulletinboards • Discussionlists • Chat rooms • Video conferencing
ContributiontoLanguageLearning • Howelectronicmaterials can enhancetheexperience of learningtoread in a secondlanguage. • Howsuchmaterials can supportthelearning of L2 writing. • Howdevelopers can createlearningenvironmentsthatintegrateallthepreviouslydiscussedattributes of electronicmaterials.
Enhancing Reading throughElectronic Media • Reading is a highlycomplexactivitythatplays a critical role in theprocess of learninganotherlanguage. Thereaderoperates at manylevels at once, intergating a variety of skills and strategieswhileseekingtoconstructmeaning.
PractisingLower-levelSkills • Computerizedreadingactivitieshave tended tofocusonthemicroskills, withthecomputerplayingthe role of drillmaster. • Poorlydesignedmaterialsmaterials can beunproductive and boring, thereisnevertheless a role forelectronicmaterials in developingtheselower-levelskills.
Computers can do wellistohelpdevelopautomaticity. • Fluentreadersautomaticallyrecognizethemajority of frequentlyusedwordswithoutresortingtophonicanalysisor contextual information.
L2 readerstendtogive more attentiontolower-levelskillssuch as soundingoutwords, therebydecreasingtheircapacitytofocusonmeaning. • Whilemanycomputersprogramsforteachingthese ¨bottom-up¨ skills (uninteresting, repetitive, decontextualizeddrilling).There are somethatattempttoengagestudentsinteractively in activitiesthatinvolveconstantrevising of connectedtextwhichcontainsseveralinstances of thetargeteditem/s.
Chapelle (1998) suggeststhatanimportantprincipleforelectronicmaterialsdevelopersderivedfromsecondlanguageacquisition (SLA) theoryis ¨input enhancement¨ throughthehighlighting of salientlanguagefeatures. • A simple word-processingprogram can beusedtoadvantagebyfocusingstudentsattentiononsignificant. • More powerfulprograms (Flash) can beusedtohelpthereadernoticesyntacticunitsbyhighlightingthereasthestudentslistenstothetextbeingread a loud.
Computers can alsobeusedtoprovidethe more intentional, intensivevocabularypracticeneededby L2 learners. • CAVOCA programtakesthelearnerssystematicallythroughthevariousstagesbyexposingthemtocarefullyselected L2 material whichillustratesthesalientfeatures of the new L2 word and/ orthedifferencesbetweenthe L2 word and itsnearest L1 equivalentorcounterpart.
MAKING READING EASIER • Hypermedia makes it possible to build into a single page a number or clickable options to support the L2 reader. • devices: pop-ups, rollovers, links, menus. • Printed pages vs hypermedia page.
On-the-spot help • Computersmakelifeeasierfor L2 readers. • Hypermedia links vs dictionaries, glossaries. • Problem of usingwordtoexplainwords. • The GALT uses thistoindividualizethelearningexperience.
Supportingcomprehension • Chapelle (1998) • Shema theory (eg. Carrell 1987) • Hypermedia text vs traditional text. • Multimedia should be motivated by considerations such as:
Developing comprehension strategies • Proficient readers have a wide range of strategies. • Reading and Listening Strategies (REAL)
MODELLING THE GENRE • Whenwriting a text, thewriterneedstoconsiderthepurpose. • Electronic media can be usedto introduce L2 writerstothegenres of the target culture and language.
DEMONSTRATING THE PROCESS • Beforewriting a text, itisusefulforstudentstoseehowsuch a textiscreated. Studentsparticipate in thewritingexperience in collaborationwithco-learners and a teacher.
BRAINSTORMING AND RESEARCHING • Beforewriting, thewriterneddstohavesomethingtowriteabout. These ideas can come frombrainstorming, drawingonpreviousexperienceorfromresearching.
Findingwebsites, aproppriatetothelanguagelevel and age of thestudentsisnotstraightforward.
DRAFTING • Once thestudentstartstodraft a text, thecomputerbecomes a powerfulresource.
CONFERENCING AND REVISING • Animportantelement of thewritingprocessisreceivingfeedbackfromothersduringthedraftingstage. Writers are abletoseekhelpfromtheirteacher, theirclassroompeers, fromstudents in otherclasses and in otherlocations and fromunknownothers.
Itisnotonly in receiving of feedbackthatthelearnerbenefitsfromsuchiteraction, itisalsotheparticipation in theinteractionitself.
EDITING • Tools such as spellcheckers, syntaxalerts and autoformattingassist at theeditingstage.