The Foundations of Information and Communication Technology in English Language Teaching

The Foundations of Information and Communication Technology in English Language Teaching a.k.a.I C T 4 E L T

Státní informační politika ve vzděláváníMinisterstvo školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy • Faculty of InformaticsMasaryk University • British Council ICT4ELT

Course Structure • Face-to-face sessions • 20 hours • Online component 1 • 10 hours ICT4ELT

Ongoing • Next Module P course, training trainers in ICT4ELT • October – November 2005. • http://www.fi.muni.cz/ICT4ELT/ ICT4ELT

ICT4 ELT • definition • place of ICT in the modern world • place in language education • early days • Dichotomy of practical application: • in class use • out of class use ICT4ELT

In class • Student activities • creative • communicative • discovery • presentation • Teacher demonstrations • presentation ICT4ELT

Out of class • preparation • worksheets, activities • administration • course outlines, email • professional development • journals, discussion forums, lesson plans ICT4ELT

Language teaching • Three fundamental areas • Linguistic foundations • Language acquisition • Pedagogical application • ICT point of view ICT4ELT

Part 1. Linguistic principals • Our understanding of language is being enhanced by computers • Enter the corpus • modern dictionaries • the place of vocabulary in LT • The Lexical Approach (Michael Lewis) • modern grammars • evidence of facts, patterns, choices • Lexicogrammar, the Idiom Principle (John Sinclair, et.al.) • Data Driven Learning (Tim Johns) ICT4ELT

Answering questions • What contexts is siblingused in? • What is the standard order of knife, fork and spoon? • When is the way how to do something used? • Where does the phrase to boldly gocome from, and how is it used? • Do native speakers say that they go into the nature? What words typically precede into the nature? ICT4ELT

Knowing a word • Meanings • and/or uses • Pronunciation, spelling • Context • Collocation • Connotation • Complementation • the grammar of vocabulary • Domain, Pragmatic Function, Semantic Prosody, Lexical Support • Essential for productive use of language ICT4ELT

MWUs: multi-word units • phrasal verb: take off, step down, enter into • modals: be about to, had better, be bound to • compound noun: coffee table, step son, word family • compound preposition: away from, regardless of, in comparison with • fixed phrase: in the light of, open to suggestion, up up and away • collocation: vivid imagination, irresistible temptation, little imp • idiom: storm in a teacup, bull in a china shop • quotation: much ado about nothing, couldn’t give a damn • discourse marker: be that as it may, comparatively speaking, in other words ICT4ELT

Domain • interval in the theatre, • intermission in the cinema, • half-time at sporting matches • How is this word used? not What does this word mean? ICT4ELT

Pragmatics • communicative function of vocabulary • really, admittedly, you • See Cobuild Dictionary margin notes. ICT4ELT

Learner Dictionaries • Frequency • Illustrative sentences ICT4ELT

Corpus-based Grammars • Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English ICT4ELT

Error analysis • especially via learner corpora • Cambridge Learner Corpus • interlanguage can be defined • teacher expectations • useful to course writers ICT4ELT

Data Driven Learning • Training students to discover answers to their own questions • discovery learning • strong synaptic connections • Tim Johns – Birmingham University • kibitzers • an approach still in its infancy • TALC conference • The Compleat Lexical Tutor ICT4ELT

UK Course in corpus use • Corpus Course in UK • July 2006 ICT4ELT

Part 2: Language acquisition • Native speaker vs. non-native speaker ICT4ELT

Native Speaker • NS has vast amounts of NS input • Silent period • the period during which children are processing HOW the language works – intake. • first attempts maked when ready – output. ICT4ELT

Non-native speaker • different input • different output • Silent period • forced ICT4ELT

Replicate FLA in SLA • Many attempts • e.g. Total Physical Response • ICT provides facilities in areas of • receptive skills (input) • internet – spoken and written language • interactive exercises (intake) • practice, immediate feedback, revision • discovery activities (intake) • DDL: attested language • production skills (output) • genuine communication ICT4ELT

Part 3. Pedagogical approaches ICT4ELT

Computers and private study • encourage a silent period • Drilling-practice • Matching • Multiple choice • Short answer questions • Cloze and text reconstruction • Crosswords • Vocabulary games • ICT in “normal” textbooks – • “New Opportunities” (Jarek Krajka contributions). ICT4ELT

Sentence Grammar • unrelated sentences  not ideal input (not FLA) • Written discourse: • articles, stories, reports, song lyrics, jokes, anecdotes, film synopses • aural discourse • songs, news items, short videos ICT4ELT

Free Hot Potatoes Commercial Clarity Wida Software packages • Tens of thousands of interactive exercises etc on the web now. Make your own with: ICT4ELT

dictionaries Compleat Lexical Tutor Wordnet lesson plans newspapers language courses film trailers Web-based tools and facilities: Information ICT4ELT

Facilitates • remedial work • extension work • motivation • independence • collaboration ICT4ELT

Collaborative learning • Not private study, par excellence • Teacher is not the sage on the stage • The Philosophy as expressed inMoodle • Constructivism • Constructionism • Social Constructivism ICT4ELT

Collaborative learning (II) • 1. Constructivism • people actively construct new knowledge as they interact with their environment. • 2. Constructionism • learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience. • 3. Social Constructivism • a social group constructing things for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artefacts with shared meanings. • all facilitate this knowledge sharing, while programs facilitate communication. ICT4ELT

asynchronous email mailing lists learning management systems synchronous chat MSN, ICQ Skype – audio and visual Web-based tools and facilities: Communication ICT4ELT

Some examples • Tandem learning • Council of Europe (off line) • the ultimate No sage on the stage. • Keypals – the e-version of penpals. • No longer dependent on snail mail! Instant. • Webquests • task-based learning – concrete outcomes • Learning Management Systems ICT4ELT

Learning Management Systems • Nicenet • Moodle • Blackboard • WebCT • Ikarus • MU IS ICT4ELT

Conclusion • Four skills • Vocab and grammar • Blended learning • Short history • Much activity ICT4ELT

Thank you for your attention ICT4ELT

ICT4ELT

Nicenet • introduction • article in Nicenet • you can read their philosophy • free • limitation – no uploading • enter free webspace e.g. Geocities, Sweb? ICT4ELT

Administrative tool • Contact with colleagues and students • Teaching assistants • Nicenet to organise this course. • For me it is pref to Yahoo Groups, although there are things that YG can do that Nicenet can’t. • Provide students with links and documents ICT4ELT

Teaching tool • collaborative activities • sharing each other’s writing ICT4ELT

Communication • students need opportunities for genuine language output • Synchronous vs. asynchronous • Time to consider your output • Knowing that it is going to be read, and responded to. • Drafting, spell checkers ICT4ELT

Group tasks • to find errors in a text • discuss characters in a dialogue • write reaction to a newspaper article or a news item, an issue, film, new CD, computer game, snowboarding incident, etc. • brief exchanges about something of current, local, topical interest such as quality of school dinners (a hot topic in UK at the moment – good tautology) ICT4ELT

Using Nicenet • Home Page • Edit user info • Class schedule  assignments  Documents • Messages ICT4ELT

The Foundations of Information and Communication Technology in English Language Teaching