1 / 18

Coping with the Google generation

Coping with the Google generation. Matthew Absalom AFMLTA | The University of Melbourne. Google’s Earth. Where do we live today? 24/7 globalised world | ‘global network society’ Constantly connected Overwhelming bombardment of information Democratised, socially-networked flow of knowledge

kaethe
Download Presentation

Coping with the Google generation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Coping with the Google generation Matthew Absalom AFMLTA | The University of Melbourne

  2. Google’s Earth • Where do we live today? • 24/7 globalised world | ‘global network society’ • Constantly connected • Overwhelming bombardment of information • Democratised, socially-networked flow of knowledge • Tension between old paradigms (e.g. newspaper subscription) and new realities (online access to all sort of news sources)

  3. Who do we have in our classrooms? Generation G(oogle) According to neuroscientist Susan Greenfield …it's pretty clear that the screen-based, two dimensional world that so many teenagers - and a growing number of adults - choose to inhabit is producing changes in behaviour. Attention spans are shorter, personal communication skills are reduced and there's a marked reduction in the ability to think abstractly. This games-driven generation interpret the world through screen-shaped eyes. It's almost as if something hasn't really happened until it's been posted on Facebook, Bebo or YouTube.

  4. Generation Google Gap

  5. What about language learning? • Kramsch (to appear in MLJ 2014): • Communication has become a value in itself • No longer a ‘sharing of culture’ but a ‘culture of sharing’ • Abandonment of the negotiation of meaning • Communicating carries the weight of identity • Our students’ expectations of language learning have changed • Our expectations of our students’ expectations of learning and communication need reconsideration

  6. Clash of the Titans • Increasingly, there is a gaping chasm between what we do in our lives and what happens in certain aspects our teaching context • In the past, a much closer relationship between education and professional life • Inspirational, innovative, interactive classrooms lead to drab, retrograde, static exam-like tasks • Vibrant, communicative, interpretive situations are assessed via limiting, quasi-monologic, rote-learned oral presentations • What are we preparing our students for? • Do we even know? How can we do this?

  7. Snapshot of a professional • A day in the life of a translator • Traditional tools of the trade: print dictionaries (mono/bi/thesauri/etc.) • New corpus-driven and democratised tools: • WordReference • online depositories of text • http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/librettim.html • www.librettidopera.it • www.ipasource.com • Online dictionaries • Google Translate • How do we prepare our students?

  8. To cope, to know • ‘Humans will always take the shortest route’ • We know students use stuff • Many traditional tasks are now exotic: • Writing • Reading • Learning by heart • We need to know what students do to be able to cope with it

  9. Online translation • Around 80% named Google Translate • Around 20% named WordReference • Other sites: • Reverso • About.com • Online dictionaries and thesauri

  10. What are they doing? • I use google translate in a vague way, mainly as a rough guide. I take everything it gives me with grain of salt and prefer Word Reference as it provides a comprehensive dictionary, additional translations and forums for translation discussions. • As a dictionary • I mainly looked up direct single word translations or I use online translation to looks up certain tenses • Occasionally paste my Italian sentences in google translate to see if they make sense • To translate phrases/paragraphs/pages from French to English to aid with my understanding • I mainly use it to check for typos or errors …I sometimes use it to figure out if my 'concordanzadei tempi' is correct Sometimes I may also look up a website with verb tables or certain grammar rules if I either don't have a print book handy or am too lazy to find one • to try and use new or more complex vocabulary

  11. Why use online tools? • Quicker than a dictionary • I produce better work • Morally equivalent to using a dictionary • Fine when it is used as a dictionary not a full text translation thing • They're not the advisable thing to use, but obviously if it's a singular word it's not too bad. If you're using a translating tool to actually do your work, it's horrible.

  12. What do I/they think?

  13. So what should we do? • Students use these tools • Professionals use these tools • We need to train our students how to use these tools reflectively and in an efficient way • Not just Google Translate but also the traditional tools of the trade • 87% of students in my study had never received training to use online tools

  14. Going to Hell Nel mezzo del cammindi nostra vita mi ritrovai per unaselvaoscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita. Ahiquanto a dir qual era ècosadura estaselvaselvaggiaeasprae forte chenelpensierrinova la paura! In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah, how to say What a thing it is hard this forest savage, rough, and stern that in the very thought renews the fear!

  15. Going to Hell Tant'èamarachepocoèpiùmorte; ma per trattar del bench'i' vi trovai, dirò de l'altrecosech'i' v'hoscorte. Io non so benridircom'i' v'intrai, tant'erapiendisonno a quelpunto che la verace via abbandonai. So bitter that death is little more; but for the good that 'there I found, say of the other things I 'saw. I do not know how to tell com'i 'bring to mind, so full of sleep at that point who abandoned the true way.

  16. My name is Matthew • 我的名字是馬修 • Mon nom est Matthew • Mein Name ist Matthew • Nama saya Matius • Il mio nome è Matteo • 私の名前はマシューです • Mi nombre es Mateo

  17. Phonology 音韵学意大利语，包含了一系列停止送气辅音 La phonologie de la langue italienne contient une série de consonnes occlusives qui sont unaspirated Die Phonologie des italienischen enthält eine Reihe von Stop-Konsonanten, die unbehaucht Fonologi Italia berisi serangkaian konsonan berhenti yang tidak diaspirasikan La fonologia della lingua italiana contiene una serie di consonanti di arresto che sono unaspirated イタリア語の音韻論は、無気音されているストップ子音の連続が含まれています La fonología de la lengua italiana contiene una serie de consonantes oclusivas no aspiradas que se

  18. So… • Engage with the ‘tools’ in an explicit way • Quality rather than quantity • Strive to go beyond the atomistic and the immediate – the power of achievement • Talk openly to students about what they’re doing with language and what we want to do with them with language

More Related