Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Task 2b: The Use of Interactive Whiteboards in Language Teaching and Learning



Impact of Technology on the Field of Education

The use of technology has a direct influence on education especially in language teaching and learning and thus is an interesting issue for all teachers and practitioners in the field. According to Connelly and Clanandin (1988) technology helps teachers to become developers of their own curriculum; thus, they can tailor assignments and instructions to sustain a positive interaction to increase learners’ interest and motivation. A number of useful techniques nowadays are used in the classrooms to improve the level of learning.
IWBs: Interactive Whiteboards


According to Higgins, Beauchamp, & Miller (2007), IWBs were first introduced into the United Kingdom for office presentations with most of the presentation elements highlighted in the design but gradually as the technology progressed to the advanced level it becomes a popular and effective teaching tool, then for the higher education sector and, in the late 1990’s, primary schools began using them. The IWBs is the most popular teaching tool used by majority of the institutions in all the developed countries all over the world. The interactive whiteboards are essentially a touch-sensitive electronic presentation device and is made ‘interactive’ by being linked to a computer or laptop using special IWB software and a projector is also attached with this.  The IWBs allows an instant access to a wide range of multi-media resources by just using the special pen or even with a touch of your figure tip and offers a number of useful functions such as drag and drop, highlighting text, hiding and revealing techniques, use of colors and eraser. Huge budget have been allocated for equipping the schools with IWBs especially in UK, but mostly schools of USA and other developed countries also use this technique as in everyday pedagogy. But researchers have asked extensively that to which extent this technology improves learning? For these kinds of inquiries researchers have to answer some significant achievements of the technology rather than highlighting its enthusiastic features. Such type of attractive features allows the teacher to present the lecture in a more beautiful way by the inclusion of the relevant images and audio, video materials. But the question here is that what is the position of IWbs in relation to the literature? And how it could be used to enhance learning outcomes in ESL/EFL class?
Academic Considerations of IWB


Educational researchers particularly and the people in general continuously ask questions about the usefulness of IWBs, whether they improve learning or not? Are the IWBs really effective for education perspectives or is it only teachers’ favorite tool(the ‘wow’ factor)? Degregorio & Sobel-Lojeski(2010, p-257) points out that teacher’s pedagogy and interactivity are all critical in students learning achievements.
But they also agree that IWBs really increase student’s motivation and improvements in learning by allowing students to manipulate contents available on the board. Interactive Whiteboards are the most versatile technique providing countless benefits to educational setting.

Advantages of Using IWBs
As the three major advantages described by Harmer are firstly, it provides an opportunity to teacher and students to write on the board or they can highlight, erase or hide the items on the board by special pens or even by their figure. Secondly IWBs facilitates them to print or save the information displayed on it just like a computer and last but not the least strength of this technology is that they offer extraordinary tricks for example mask a part of the board and then gradually reveal information on that part. In view of students IWB is an inspiring and attractive technique because it is easy to use, immediate and visual. Higgins et al,(2007) claims that teacher who use IWB are more active to ask better and open questions and are also able to  describe and evaluate materials because as said “ that a huge bank of resources is always available at the touch of a pen” Dudeney, G. & Hockly, N.(2007).  Teachers having experience of using IWB in their classes has a positive attitude towards this new, impressive multimedia tool. The class environment is really improved because of several elements for example, the lesson proceed fastly,  enough time available for self-correction and student carries their activities without ambiguities because learner do most of the tasks in the class with teacher’s assistance now rather than taking it as a homework.
Role of IWBs in Language teaching and Learning
Language teachers try to incorporate various techniques, methodologies, electronic devices and audio-visual assistance. But the effect of technology specifically in second language learning and teaching is really questionable. Though the discussion above provide a sound knowledge of the effectiveness of use of IWBs in field of education but our major concern is to evaluate whether IWBs are helpful specifically in the second language learning and acquisition(SLA) or not? The concept of interactivity is deeply rooted with the ESL learning. Coyle et al, (2010) points out that the term has been ambiguously used in the literature of IWB. While using IWBs one can write directly on the board, graphics can be enlarged, animated and moved, so all these kinesthetic responses enhances learning. Special softwares have been developed for ESL teaching using a sophisticated integration of audio-visual contents.

 IWBs: Aids for ESL Teachings
Grammar teaching and learning has always been an unenjoyable subject. Experts have been promoting the ideas that the necessary is to teach language functions according to its meaningful rules rather than to grammatical or structural rules (Brown, 2000).IWBs offered a hot deal to the teachers to teach grammar in a new fun teaching manner by using different video clips on the usage of a particular grammar point in communicative context. A number of vocabulary and grammar teaching material is also available in games teacher can access that material using IWB and then encourage students to come and play so they can learn grammar and vocabulary in an enjoyable manner. IWBs are also proved quite effective in pronunciation teaching as in a pronunciation class teacher can play recordings of the target language to make students familiar with the native accent which results in enabling them to learn how an individual word is uttered by a native speaker. Some critics have raised the negative effects of IWBs on learner but it just in case when the teacher strongly depends on the use of IWB in all the tasks and activities.
The ESL/EFL teachers can teach in a better way by encouraging students to collaborate with their fellow students in class activities. As IWB has an interactive nature so it enables the students to be more creative in presenting their ideas. A successful L2 development should occur if students are stimulated to try the language scaffolded by rich language models and technology.
Opportunities afford by IWBs for Learning and Teaching
IWBs though the technique is new but it is widely accepted  because of the benefits it offers and it is also believed that the effective teaching take place by three progressive stages of pedagogical development as;1) supported didactic_ using the IWB to support an old didactic(old  things in old ways Betcher & Lee, p-50).2) second approach is interactive which means the old things could be improved as a fun activity using iwb.3) interactive approach is used to enhance learning by doing the new activities in the new manner with the new and latest technologies such as-IWBs.it could be describe as by building new resources ,students collaborative activities, real-time videos, creating wikis and blogs, creating podcasts. All these activities could be better assisted by IWBs and allows students to enjoy a vast range of opportunities to interact with teachers or peers using target language.IWB build a social and communicative environment in learning where students can share and improve knowledge by communicating and making mistakes. The real benefit of using IWB lies in the effective not in the cognitive domain.
Challenges for IWBs
Though much has been said about the positive impacts of the IWBs in English teaching, it is also found that some language teachers have identified the negative impact as well. Some teachers discard technology because they feel it difficult to use and some declares that such tools are nothing but costly accessories to decorate the classroom.IWBs are also criticized for being too costly, in fact that is the reality because it includes a number of hardware along with the sophisticated softwares, maintenance expenses along with that the teacher training for using this emerging technology take it out of the range of most of the institutes worldwide. Miller ,Averis and Door , in their research on IWB in 2005 , highlighted different features of IWB, they regard that though teacher find it easy to use but these take longer time to prepare lesson.

Practical Implications for using IWBs in Language Classrooms
Initially there were very few materials available for IWBs in the field of Language teaching so the early adapters of IWBs found it time consuming but now IWBs offer greater reward in terms of student’s interest, motivation and progress. As materials can be re-used and adapted easily ,kinesthetic learning styles are improved.IWB provides a range of digital resources to illustrate core issues of language learning. In addition to that a lot of graphics also included into lecture to support ideas, it also increases students participation in learning a language by engaging students in peer activities, grabs student’s attention by fascinating them also save time for complex and complicated materials to be arranged before lecture and just presenting at the time of class. Critically speaking while using the traditional board a very limited number of activities can be designed to invite students to work on the board but IWB offers various activities for students to use this attractive technique in their classroom. This dynamic technique generates a high degree of interactivity not among the teacher and the students but also among the students and between teachers and teachers (Betcher & Lee, 2009).
Conclusion
Perhaps we should remember that IWB only mediates teaching and learning.’ Good teaching remains good teaching with or without the technology’ (Higgins et al, 2007, p-217).It is the teacher who sets up the important opportunities for group work and language interaction, and these may or may not be stimulated by the IWB resources. The technology can only be truly effective ‘where the teacher stimulates interactivity’ (Glover et al, 2004, p-1).Efficient teacher knows all the novelties in the relevant field and informed by an interactive, constructivist pedagogy that enhances the successful language learning opportunities by using IWBs and the effective teaching must be multi-modal; by including video, audio, graphics, text and images. IWB really takes learning of a language to a higher level.
  
References
1.      Dudeney, G. & Hockly, N. (2007). ‘How to teach English with technology’. Harlow, England: Longman. 
2.      Harmer, J. (2007). ‘The practice of English language Teaching’. Essex, England: Longman.
3.      Higgins, S, Beauchamp, G & Miller, D. 2007. ‘Reviewing the Literature on Interactive Whiteboards’ . Learning. Media and Technology. Vol.32. p213-225, accessed 13-09-2012.
4.      Sharma, A. 2012. ‘Interactive Whiteboard Technology in English Language Teaching Classrooms in India’. Vol.12. p 93-98.India.
5.      Glover, D and Miller, D, Averis, D and Door,V. 2005. ‘The Interactive Whiteboard: a literature survey’. Technology, Pedagogy and Education. Vol.14 (2). P. 155-170. accessed through Google on 13-09-2012.
6.      Digregorio, P & Sobel-Lojeski, K. 2009-2010. ‘The Effects of Interactive Whiteboards(IWBs) on Students’ Performance and Learning: A Literature Review’. Journal of Education Technology Systems. Vol.38(3). P 255-312. Accessed 16-09-2012.
7.      Schroeder, R. 2007. ‘Active Learning With Interactive Whiteboards: A Literature Review And A Case Study For College Freshmen’ .Communications In Information Literacy. Vol:1(2). Portland.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012






New Cutting Edge Elementary


Title New Cutting Edge Elementary Student’s Book
Edition 1st
Published 01/03/2007
Published by Pearson United Kingdom
Format Book with CD
Review of Textbook
New cutting edge elementary (Sarah Cunningham & Peter Moor, 2007) is a well developed and reliable teaching resource with a task-based learning approach. The main objective of the book is to make language usage more effective for students, as the publisher’s description “a particular communication goal”. Generally focused on speaking, tasks are opportunities for in-class communication which encourages fluency and confidence. “ The  course is for  the young adults claimed by the back cover’ takes students from A1 to A2 level of the Common European Framework’ and  ‘a comprehensive syllabus with thorough grammar, vocabulary and skills work ‘. Illustrations and the design of the book are quite suitable and very easily accessible by the target population. The main idea and the text is simple to understand. Teacher can motivate students with the self-study CD-ROMs which covers a wide range of useful vocabulary and grammar. Additional element is a mini-dictionary inside every student’s book. The author stresses ‘study, practice- sections combine study skills with consolidation to encourage students to learn more effectively’, and  it is proved by my inspection of all the modules ranging from 0 to 15,  sequencing topics (what English do you know?, people and places, you and yours, everyday life, loves and hates etc), each module contains a range of useful vocabulary in common  and real life situations  and each modules’ exercise recalls the high frequency  phrases and pronunciation. The physical layout is clear in just two columns and is very attractive as it highlights items with different colors in student’s book and the work book is presented in just black and white. Activities are designed in a balanced form, particularly to learn grammar and vocabulary and are highly interactive __pair work, it also encourages students to give their personal opinion and ideas. As the activities are explained very clearly so it is easy to understand the structural relation between the grammar items. By using the digital software with interactive whiteboard student’s engagement can be raised to a higher level. This course facilitates the teachers with its adaptability and flexibility as it allows the teachers to edit, modify and eliminate the text according to the needs of the students. The role of a text-book in a curriculum cannot be ignored completely but it should be used judiciously as it should be used as a resource and a guide but not the only resource.
  
EVALUATION OF CALL SOFTWARE (TENSE BUSTER)

EVALUATION OF TENSE-BUSTER
Tense Buster is grammar software developed for all students wishing to improve their English grammar. ” Tense Buster is very popular with students, attractive and easy to use.”
         British Council Network News
It is developed for the learners from elementary to advanced (five levels), and is an ideal self access resource. The publisher’s claim that it is ‘effective, enjoyable, easy to use’ is reasonable. At the elementary level it explains the basic grammar elements then gradually level by level moves to the most complicated structures of grammar. “Tense Buster is well thought-out, motivating and systematic in its approach.”
IATEFL Newsletter
Its functions are designed so simply that if a learner is accessing it very first time he/she can use it without obstacles. Every unit includes a randomized test. A number of high levels interactive activities are designed and a good variety of media contents are also included to develop a close understanding of grammar and it also provides assistance to the learners in the following language areas: vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, reading and study skills. Tense Buster is often defined as ‘a break through grammar barriers’. The program  generates reports and gives a detailed feed-back  to  learner in order to understand their mistakes.It uses a comparative approach to grammar,extensive audio__learner listen both to model and correct answer,a recorder to record voices, video-based pronunciation, learner development strands improve learner’s skills and a progressive function to analyse their weaknesses.
Tense Buster is a  very useful and an intrinsic program and it enables a learner to have a full command over grammar.Tense Buster has been adopted by the British Council worldwide, Ministries of Education in many countries, as well as thousands of schools and colleges.’ This package is potentially has a controlled language, good language learning skills and strategies quite suitable for the learner. The strength of this software is its efficient use of student’s time. It quickly points out learner’s mistakes. “I think it is fair to say that the prospect of a grammar exercise seldom inspires students to think it could be a pleasurable activity, but this software does raise the interest level for most users.”Stephanie Thomas.
 BBC Teaching English

REVIEW OF BBC teachingenglish.com
Name: Teaching English
Target Group: kids and teenagers
Date Visited: 25-08-2012
Summary: This is a very useful site designed for the teachers to introduce them to the different teaching techniques in order to teach English as well as grammar. The main objective of the site is the teaching of English by providing guidance to the teachers by different teaching materials, the information is presented in a straight forward way without creating ambiguities and its quite appropriate not only for the target population but also for all the people interested in English learning and teaching. This site provides a number of useful teaching resources such as lesson plan__ gives a series of activities to use in classroom and also gives an account of teacher development materials and further explains them with the video clips. A number of ELT publications  in pdf to download, online teacher training courses , a number of articles to help teacher think of the way they teach, facility to browse the blogs, links to other sites and related materials such as news are available in the site. The overall layout and the functionality is good and very useful strategies and activities are built- in, a range of board-games also available to download and print for the classroom to increase student’s knowledge of grammar and phonetics.   
HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR

REVIEW OF VOYAGES IN ENGLISH howtoteachgrammar.com
Name: How to Teach Grammar
Target Group: Learners of English
SUMMARY: This site provides a very good combination of programs and activities for the teachers as well as for the students. Main goal is to help in learning and teaching grammar. For the teachers a good number of online resources are provided (e.g. Grammar tool, how to teach grammar, lesson plan, professional development, test generator etc) to plan their activities. A number of pdf exercises are available to download and to get benefit of that. Video materials are also included in the site to present the benefits of the provided activities to be implemented in the class. Lesson formats are easy to use and the layout of site is simple and attractive, the information is easily accessible. A number of comprehensive writing lessons are provided to enhance instructions. For the students different games and activities are designed to improve their skills and they can also master their writing with the pdf assistance of Grammar & Mechanic handbook, irregular verbs, graphic organizers etc. Writing prompt with a range of genres of writing is provided for the help of students to overcome their problems in writing. This site is linguistically competent and information provided here is fresh and reliable because of the long serving history of this link. 
ESL PARTYLAND

REVIEW OF ESL PARTYLAND.com
Name: ESL Partyland       
Target Group: ESL Teachers and Students
SUMMARY: This site as clear from its tittle is designed to facilitate teaching and learning for the ESL teachers and students. The main goal is the teaching of English and grammar to ESL students by using different strategies of teaching__ flash cards, ESL worksheets and lessons for the adults and beginners. The teachers are encouraged to plan their lesson by using films and videos, internet and music to hold students’ interest, and also focus on all the four skills. This site is very helpful in specific learning areas such as Business English, vocabulary, grammar, idioms, phrasal verbs and the use of useful expressions of language in various situations,  all these areas are assisted by different number of games and quizzes. There are a million of teaching ideas contained in this website which can be used by the teachers to make the feedback of students more efficient. The site is up-to-date and the contents are interesting and relevant and it use a lot multimedia files. 
BRITISH COUNCIL LEARN ENGLISH

REVIEW OF BBC LEARN ENGLISH.com
Name: Learn English.com
SUMMARY: It is a very beautifully designed website, by British Council, especially keeping in mind the needs of English language learners. This is a comprehensive site containing highly attractive material drawing the interest of all__ kids, adult and advance learners. There are number of audio and video materials concerning to grammar and vocabulary allowing learners to listen, watch and learn. A range of interesting and exciting fun materials are also provided to incredibly enhance young learner’s efficiency in learning a language. Contents are quite relevant and the layout is simple and good, grammatically consistent, easy to use, and reliable as this is the link of British Council. Provide limited assistance to students of IELTS, fun and interesting games__ listen jokes, business magazines allow you to reach your professional aspirations by improving your skills, you can learn grammar and vocabulary through explanations.
 BUSY TEACHERS

Review of Busyteachers.com
Name: busy teachers
Target Population: ESL Teachers
SUMMARY: The main purpose of designing this site is to provide an account of valuable activities by using different teaching resources__ worksheets, ESL articles, phonic chart-games,  The layout is not simple and the whole look and navigation is somehow complicated. Information available here is reliable as it is the shared knowledge of teachers about lesson planning and printable worksheets. The site has various quick links for learning vocabulary, grammar, and the four skills. Contents are interesting, relevant and accurate. Effects of multimedia are used successfully in the site. Also teach the use of different tenses in English and pronunciation features in the language.
 GRAMMARLY.com

Review of GRAMMARLY.com
Name: World’s Most Accurate Grammar Checker
Target Group: English Learner
SUMMARY: It is a very versatile site especially designed to remove mistakes in a text and to examine a text according to grammatical rules. The physical layout is very simple and it is also easy to use its functions and navigate through it. When a text is checked using grammarly  it defines each item in detail by differentiating grammar, punctuation, style and word choice and also check a text for plagiarism. One can improve the readability and meanings. As it is a web-based application so its easily accessible everywhere. The display is clear with an instant feedback. The grammar checker is a comprehensive grammar editing tool that checks your text for the proper use of more than 150 common and advanced grammar rules. The checker can be set to analyze the grammar of General, Business, and Academic, Technical, Creative, or Casual writing genres.
  REFERENCE
 http://www.clarityenglish.com/support/user/pdf/tb/TenseBusterV9_Reviews.pdf




Monday, August 13, 2012

The ALPHABET software seems mainly developed for children  its quite easy to get started using this also simple in navigation and very flexible to use.there is not cultural content is available in it its just a teaching software which teachs only alphabets and some simple vocabulary,also include sound text and visual aid in forms of still pictures to be recognize.the achievement level is really high.
http://www.proteatextware.com.au/demos/iie.html
its a english emphasised demo mainly created for young learners to remember different vocabulary after repeating it differently