I thought the piece on online translators was interesting. Before this point, I wouldn't have thought about using them in the classroom. I liked Polio's comment about it increasing the students' "appreciation of the human element necessary in doing translation work." Also, I like that it would give students a sense of the whole being different from the individual parts. Otherwise, I think their use stops there. As for vocabulary acquisition, I liked but wasn't surprised about the mentions of multimedia glosses and the like increasing the chances of a word being retained. And like I mentioned in my reading comments, being able to click on unknown words in a text is extremely valuable. Lastly, the biggest impression I got from all of these readings is that there is still a ton of research to be done and that we really don't know too much at this point.
One of the biggest contributions of technology to ESL/EFL learners is the great amount of vocabulary input they have access to. As a second language learner myself, I agree with Cobb when he says free or wide reading itself does not provide enough vocabulary knowledge. Isn’t it amazing to be reading a text and be able to find the meaning of a word you do not understand with just a click? This not only helps you comprehend the text, but it also builds up your vocabulary. I am a huge fan of books and computers, and like Cobb said, we are not supposed to chose between them. Yet, we should use them combined as tools to multiply our chances of learning.
The use of computers in language (vocabulary) development is a novel idea- one of which I will carefully consider in my future classroom. It is challenging to read in the target language while looking up words in a dictionary, which may distract from comprehension of the text. I see technology as a useful tool to provide students with customized texts to maximize each student's vocabulary learning. However, it is important to note that technology can be expensive for limited school budgets.
It was really interesting to see the complete breakdown of effectiveness with vocab learning in regards to a reading environment. Every situation seems to have been evaluated. And, I had no idea of that massive drop-off after the first 1000.. very interesting.
I had no idea of how complicated it would be to provide the appropriate reading material for students, though. All I have to say is - thank god we have computers & web sites to rely on to be able to quickly evaluate how effective a text can be for our students. I will definitely rely on many of these online web sites to run a quick test on lesson content.
In addition to using the above, in my reading / vocab class I would place a strong emphasis on teaching vocab strategies like sensible guessing, learning how to pick which words are important enough to investigate meaning for, and I would rely on frequency lists to help boost vocab knowledge (not as rote memorization for the students, but more for myself for weaving more high frequency words within relevant contexts). Using CALL technologies, I would use online look-ups or glosses, corpus samples, pop-up definitions, multimedia., etc.. And one last note on corpus samples.. . I used a corpus sample in one of google's translators & it was pretty cool to see & use. I think this is a very useful method for the student to decipher the relevant meaning of the word, as dictionaries can be misleading & inaccurate for a new English speaker.
Cobb states that reading alone will not necessarily guarantee vocabulary acquisition which I agree with entirely. As a foreign language learner of a non indo-European language, when I encounter unfamiliar words, the encounter alone does not result in my comprehension of this word. I have to refer to dictionaries or other resources. There has to be some other explicit word learning process that occurs. CALL applications can assist teachers in determining whether or not a selected text has worthwhile vocabulary; vocabulary that is part of the 2000 most common words in an academic setting. By using such vocabulary profilers, teachers can better gauge the relevancy of their text. Teachers can provide target vocabulary multiple times to aid in the acquisition process. As Cobb states, six to ten encounters are needed for stable word learning to occur especially for those 1000 most frequent academic words. Throughout this article, we hear that free reading alone is not sufficient to build vocabulary; however, extensive reading is still an integral part of building reading skills not to be overlooked.
The key point I got from reading about online databases is the "interactive" aspect. Language learners can expand their vocabulary from definitions of words to how the word is said, how the word's meaning changes in different contexts, and see the word in a variety of sentences (some from actual language use). I thought it was great how one study they mentioned involved the students choosing both the readings for the course, and the vocabulary they thought was important to know. Just the fact that students can be thinking of vocabulary in terms of their needs and interests is a step in the right direction, and the fact that tools are available to easily facilitate this is great. I think it is crucial, though, to make sure that students are prepared and trained to use these materials to best suit their needs, and also not to rely solely on using them.
I really enjoyed the Jing-Schmidt article this week - very interesting stuff. I definitely agree with what we were discussing in class that at a certain point, students need to be made aware of these differences in languages. This topic came up in my session with my conversation partners from the Tutorium. One of the them is a Spanish speaker and he said something about "making his homework" and this comment opened up the discussion. (Spanish has one word "hacer" for "to do" and "to make" which causes some problems for learners....and teachers as well. I thought I had a pretty good explanation until someone asked why we use "do" in regards to fixing up one's hair.)
Postmodern theory regarding hypertextuality and intertextuality suggests that humans are not the only ones who shape texts, but that the texts themselves are interrelated and shape and interpret each other. One can imagine that every use of a word one reads in some way shapes or effects the interpretation of every other instance of that word ever encountered. If this is truly the case, language and meaning is constantly in flux and access to hypertextual databases should be desired not only for vocabulary and language learning - but for all academic disciplines. Rather than opening the dictionary for a definition or going to the library to research related material, you can have access to 1000s of concordances of a word or 1000s of articles or literary texts by clicking a single word. As these technologies continue to develop, the way we perceive and acquire languages and knowledge in general may drastically change.
On a more practical level in the present, instructors should definitely experiment with student generated word banks, wikis, and hypertext fiction and incorporate concordance programs, comprehensive online dictionaries, and other such resources into classes. Things may not run too smoothly in class, but changes in the world never do. In the end, should progress and technology make our lives easier or continuously challenge us to live up to our potentials?
I found that Jing-Schmidt article struck close to home in regards to my own second language learning process and some Korean students that I have had in the past. Similar to what Nathan said, in Korean, the word for "eat" can be used for both foods and liquids making my learning process that much less complex. On the other hand, that is one more lexical difference that Korean students have to be conscious of. I really found the Horst, Cobb and Nicolae article to provide a number of great ideas to promote vocabulary building. In particular, the word bank seems like a great tool to implement in a class to motivate students to take an active role in their choice of target vocabulary. It would be quite beneficial to all students to take part in an online shared word bank. I was really excited when I was reading about this. Thanks Horst, Cobb, Nicolae and of course, Prof. Rott.
The Horst, Cobb, & Nicolae article conveyed that when students take ownership of what they are learning, they gain more input from it. Technology is a great tool that I want to use in my classroom, but it is most useful when it allows the students to have meaningful input. Student created word banks were proven to be the most useful in the study. This gives me a framework for literature assignments with my students. The Jing-Schmidt article was extremely insightful. This article highlighted the use of a "conceptualist approach to language teaching...language-specific imageries are conceptually and culturally motivated...(p.229)". I find it impossible to teach language without culture, and the insight provided in this reading has helped me to pay closer attention to the sociolinguistic aspect of language. As a result, I believe that my students will gain a deeper appreciation and understanding for French.
Technology is wonderful for providing context for words that simple dictionaries de-contextualize. Or else it can re-contextualize them in surprising ways. I have been playing with "wordie" at "http://wordie.org" where you can keep a flikr type list of words that your can then share. Not sure yet about the classroom application, exactly, but it's worth looking into.
The Jing-Schmidt article makes an important point when discussing the cultural influence on language and how that affects expressions. Being initially introduced to this concept, it is easy to get caught in making comparisons between expressions in each language. This can be helpful or not depending on the type of classroom. Not helpful in a multi-cultural classroom learning a common language, such as a multi-cultural ESL classroom. In such a setting, the focus would have to be on the expressions in English because the instructor cannot be expected to account for all cultural expressions. It would be beneficial, though, to point out what Jing-Schmidt is saying. If the students understand this concept, it will be easier for them to have an open mind when learning what might be odd expressions in English. Hopefully, this will keep them from insisting on direct translations of their own expressions. In a classroom where everyone speaks the same language and everyone is learning the same second language, it would be easier to account for the cultural differences. It is then possible to explain how, for example, Germans express the acts of eating and dressing as opposed to Americans. For both types of classrooms, keeping Jing-Schmidt in mind will help foresee certain difficult concepts of the language being taught.
The Horst, Cobb, and Nicolae article was especially interesting to me because I am looking for online resources for my own second language learning. Learning a non-native language makes it difficult to find exposure to it, so alternatives are needed. Sökmen had it right on when he said that "there is also the fairly uncharted world of the Internet as a source for meaningful vocabulary". This project gave the students input and interactive rehearsal outside of the classroom. The word bank was a good way to track the students' understanding of the words. Understanding the difference in learning patterns between students of Romance vs. Asian language backgrounds is a good way to create teaching strategies for certain groups. Focusing the vocabulary on academic terms is a great motivator for college students because they can directly apply their new language skills.
the very good point is made in the introduction to the article: "Linguistic computing can make two important contributions to second language (L2) reading instruction. One is to resolve longstanding research issues that are based on an insufficiency of data for the researcher, and the other is to resolve related pedagogical problems based on insufficiency of input for the learner."
I think this is more than just a good point. It should be one of the cornerstones to CALL. Researchers (the architects of the learning situation L2 learners find themselves in) can get more input for their studies, and Learners can get more imput for their studies, and the cycle continues in a more viscous way thru CALL.
More input for learners --> more research data for Researchers/Architects --> better directed input for Learners --> more research for Research/Archts. --> etc etc
When considering the vocabulary demands for learners, and what they are going to do with the language they are being taught, one should keep in mind the appropriate amount and manner of texts being taught.
In an increasingly visual/audial age, the "youtube" generation, where twittering, blogging, and texting are becoming the major areas of textual communication, and communication is often done by simply sharing a youtube video by embedding it in the text code of someone's facebook or myspace account, we need to imagine that the L2 learners will be also using these modern modes of communication as their primary means for engaging in the target language.
As an example: a study could be made of an average German L1 speaker, and what modes of textual communcation they use on a daily basis. This research could be applied to the instructor's choosing of texts for a GSL class. Texting, facebooking, blogging, twittering, youtubing and other online fileshare services seem to weigh in more heavily for the average post-modern person than being able to read Goethe, Die Zeit, or Heidigger...
It seems that the Globalization of the world (and, since the USA is the most modern country, this spells Americanization) is increasing the superficiality and pop/fashion/trend use in modern society. L2 teaching should reflect this.
As an example: I should live in Germany for a few months, studying various things, but among them texting (sms-ing in German), so I could come back to the USA with some research into texting and create course tasks centered on this most modern method of textual communication.
I totally agree with Monica’s comment that teaching is more effective when students have ownership of what they are learning. Both the Horst and Zhuo Jing-Schmidt articles reflect the need for teachers to place lexical forms in context in order for students to be able to rehearse and expand their understanding of the words beyond the actual text. I know that when I teach Spanish learners that have certain language backgrounds will have an easier time than those whose L1 is entirely different. Even the actual alphabet might be radically different, therefore tools like vocab wikis and websites where concordances and collocations are explained would be very beneficial, at the same time encouraging student-centered learning. The Zhuo Jing-Schmidt article on “Contrastive Verbal Imageries of Universal Events” depicts how even universal actions of human daily experience are complicated topics to teach in different languages. I really liked how the researchers recognize how language, culture, and cognition are interrelated and are the foundation through which a learner takes on meaning, and behavior. What this means is that a learner of an L2 will bring into the learning experience his/her culture’s focal adjustments, their “cultural preoccupations”, ones that might not necessarily be transferable into the target culture. In doing my observations with a level 1 Spanish class, I observed the very claim of Zhuo Jing-Schmidt. Students for example would use the verb comer (to eat) for communicating the action (to drink). I believe that it is important to always teach in context and integrate more than vocabulary comprehension to teaching in order to prevent misunderstandings. “Vocabulary, through what it groups together under one label and what it differentiates with different labels, is one way in which language shapes out perception of the world”; and beyond this notion, vocabulary also serves as a window to the underlying pragmatic meanings encountered in culture and the text itself. I believe that students can benefit immensely from the integration of corpora-based activities in vocabulary learning, especially because it is a good practice to go beyond the word in the sentence and observe that when a word is encountered in another context it will not necessarily encode the same message. I think of how different comer (to eat) and tragar (to eat/animals) are and how common it is in some Spanish dialects and customs to use them interchangeably, but with different meanings. Words and phrases always go beyond the literal meanings.
Polio's clear demonstration of the limits of online translators is a lesson that I would definitely like to bring into my classroom. So many of my writing students have attempted to dump whole sentences or paragraphs in their L1 into a translator, which at best produces clunky, unnatural sentences and at its worst is completely incomprehensible I liked her idea of using translators as an aid to grammar and vocabulary learning, and also found her suggestions on using translators to revise essays and investigate pragmatics interesting, though I am not sure how I might incorporate those suggestions just yet.
(this is a repeat - just so it is tagged w/ my name)
It was really interesting to see the complete breakdown of effectiveness with vocab learning in regards to a reading environment. Every situation seems to have been evaluated. And, I had no idea of that massive drop-off after the first 1000.. very interesting.
I had no idea of how complicated it would be to provide the appropriate reading material for students, though. All I have to say is - thank god we have computers & web sites to rely on to be able to quickly evaluate how effective a text can be for our students. I will definitely rely on many of these online web sites to run a quick test on lesson content.
In addition to using the above, in my reading / vocab class I would place a strong emphasis on teaching vocab strategies like sensible guessing, learning how to pick which words are important enough to investigate meaning for, and I would rely on frequency lists to help boost vocab knowledge (not as rote memorization for the students, but more for myself for weaving more high frequency words within relevant contexts). Using CALL technologies, I would use online look-ups or glosses, corpus samples, pop-up definitions, multimedia., etc.. And one last note on corpus samples.. . I used a corpus sample in one of google's translators & it was pretty cool to see & use. I think this is a very useful method for the student to decipher the relevant meaning of the word, as dictionaries can be misleading & inaccurate for a new English speaker.
I like the idea of using corpora for vocabulary acquisition. I think its valuable for students to see how words are used in authentic sentences and what words they often occur with. As both Horst and Jing-Schmidt articles stated, its important for teachers to put lexical terms in context in order for students to truly grasp their meaning.
However, teachers need to go further by helping students understand the cultural influences. For example, I had a student bring me a list of phrases that she gathered from the film "High School Musical". Because I am not part of the culture that views the film or have not seen it so I did not know context, I was unable to help her because I did not understand them either. This is when multi-media glosses can be extremely helpful.
I am not a fan at all of translators, because I have encountered students that have become relient on them. For example, I was with a group of advanced ESL students that were engaged in casual conversation with native learners. The students did not understand a word so they looked up the word with their tranlsator rather than use the native speakers to negotiate meaning. Translators have their place and time, but many times are used inappropriately.
Like some of you said, I also believe that online dictionaries can’t our students’ essays. There is a large number of words and expressions that a person can use to communicate his/her message. Therefore we, as teachers should provide a list with words and expressions that mean certain things. I imagine it is difficult to teach a multi-cultural classroom where everyone has different phrases to communicate the same thing, but there are other concerns that apply to teaching other languages that are not English. For example when teaching Spanish, since there are too many countries and too many speakers, what the teacher gives is not always going to work when visiting or speaking with people from other Spanish speaking countries. For instance, in South American countries, people might use words that people use in Mexico also use, but meanings are different. So in this case, I guess it matters the nationality of the teacher if s/he is a Native Speaker, and what is his criterion on vocabulary (there are some teachers that believe only people from their country speak the language correctly). May be this is another concern, deeper than learning a language, but we should consider it. One last comment, is that I know that motivation is going to depend on the students, but what I have used to help my vocabulary and that has helped a lot is the Merriam-Webster electronic dictionary. It costs like $50, but if the student is very interested/motivated with the language, I would definitely recommend it. Using the corpora for vocabulary also seems to be a pretty good idea, which I’m planning to use myself.
I thought the piece on online translators was interesting. Before this point, I wouldn't have thought about using them in the classroom. I liked Polio's comment about it increasing the students' "appreciation of the human element necessary in doing translation work." Also, I like that it would give students a sense of the whole being different from the individual parts. Otherwise, I think their use stops there.
ReplyDeleteAs for vocabulary acquisition, I liked but wasn't surprised about the mentions of multimedia glosses and the like increasing the chances of a word being retained. And like I mentioned in my reading comments, being able to click on unknown words in a text is extremely valuable. Lastly, the biggest impression I got from all of these readings is that there is still a ton of research to be done and that we really don't know too much at this point.
One of the biggest contributions of technology to ESL/EFL learners is the great amount of vocabulary input they have access to. As a second language learner myself, I agree with Cobb when he says free or wide reading itself does not provide enough vocabulary knowledge. Isn’t it amazing to be reading a text and be able to find the meaning of a word you do not understand with just a click? This not only helps you comprehend the text, but it also builds up your vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of books and computers, and like Cobb said, we are not supposed to chose between them. Yet, we should use them combined as tools to multiply our chances of learning.
The use of computers in language (vocabulary) development is a novel idea- one of which I will carefully consider in my future classroom. It is challenging to read in the target language while looking up words in a dictionary, which may distract from comprehension of the text. I see technology as a useful tool to provide students with customized texts to maximize each student's vocabulary learning. However, it is important to note that technology can be expensive for limited school budgets.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to see the complete breakdown of effectiveness with vocab learning in regards to a reading environment. Every situation seems to have been evaluated. And, I had no idea of that massive drop-off after the first 1000.. very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea of how complicated it would be to provide the appropriate reading material for students, though. All I have to say is - thank god we have computers & web sites to rely on to be able to quickly evaluate how effective a text can be for our students. I will definitely rely on many of these online web sites to run a quick test on lesson content.
In addition to using the above, in my reading / vocab class I would place a strong emphasis on teaching vocab strategies like sensible guessing, learning how to pick which words are important enough to investigate meaning for, and I would rely on frequency lists to help boost vocab knowledge (not as rote memorization for the students, but more for myself for weaving more high frequency words within relevant contexts). Using CALL technologies, I would use online look-ups or glosses, corpus samples, pop-up definitions, multimedia., etc.. And one last note on corpus samples.. . I used a corpus sample in one of google's translators & it was pretty cool to see & use. I think this is a very useful method for the student to decipher the relevant meaning of the word, as dictionaries can be misleading & inaccurate for a new English speaker.
Cobb states that reading alone will not necessarily guarantee vocabulary acquisition which I agree with entirely. As a foreign language learner of a non indo-European language, when I encounter unfamiliar words, the encounter alone does not result in my comprehension of this word. I have to refer to dictionaries or other resources. There has to be some other explicit word learning process that occurs.
ReplyDeleteCALL applications can assist teachers in determining whether or not a selected text has worthwhile vocabulary; vocabulary that is part of the 2000 most common words in an academic setting. By using such vocabulary profilers, teachers can better gauge the relevancy of their text. Teachers can provide target vocabulary multiple times to aid in the acquisition process. As Cobb states, six to ten encounters are needed for stable word learning to occur especially for those 1000 most frequent academic words. Throughout this article, we hear that free reading alone is not sufficient to build vocabulary; however, extensive reading is still an integral part of building reading skills not to be overlooked.
The key point I got from reading about online databases is the "interactive" aspect. Language learners can expand their vocabulary from definitions of words to how the word is said, how the word's meaning changes in different contexts, and see the word in a variety of sentences (some from actual language use). I thought it was great how one study they mentioned involved the students choosing both the readings for the course, and the vocabulary they thought was important to know. Just the fact that students can be thinking of vocabulary in terms of their needs and interests is a step in the right direction, and the fact that tools are available to easily facilitate this is great. I think it is crucial, though, to make sure that students are prepared and trained to use these materials to best suit their needs, and also not to rely solely on using them.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Jing-Schmidt article this week - very interesting stuff. I definitely agree with what we were discussing in class that at a certain point, students need to be made aware of these differences in languages. This topic came up in my session with my conversation partners from the Tutorium. One of the them is a Spanish speaker and he said something about "making his homework" and this comment opened up the discussion. (Spanish has one word "hacer" for "to do" and "to make" which causes some problems for learners....and teachers as well. I thought I had a pretty good explanation until someone asked why we use "do" in regards to fixing up one's hair.)
ReplyDeletePostmodern theory regarding hypertextuality and intertextuality suggests that humans are not the only ones who shape texts, but that the texts themselves are interrelated and shape and interpret each other. One can imagine that every use of a word one reads in some way shapes or effects the interpretation of every other instance of that word ever encountered. If this is truly the case, language and meaning is constantly in flux and access to hypertextual databases should be desired not only for vocabulary and language learning - but for all academic disciplines. Rather than opening the dictionary for a definition or going to the library to research related material, you can have access to 1000s of concordances of a word or 1000s of articles or literary texts by clicking a single word. As these technologies continue to develop, the way we perceive and acquire languages and knowledge in general may drastically change.
ReplyDeleteOn a more practical level in the present, instructors should definitely experiment with student generated word banks, wikis, and hypertext fiction and incorporate concordance programs, comprehensive online dictionaries, and other such resources into classes. Things may not run too smoothly in class, but changes in the world never do. In the end, should progress and technology make our lives easier or continuously challenge us to live up to our potentials?
I found that Jing-Schmidt article struck close to home in regards to my own second language learning process and some Korean students that I have had in the past. Similar to what Nathan said, in Korean, the word for "eat" can be used for both foods and liquids making my learning process that much less complex. On the other hand, that is one more lexical difference that Korean students have to be conscious of.
ReplyDeleteI really found the Horst, Cobb and Nicolae article to provide a number of great ideas to promote vocabulary building. In particular, the word bank seems like a great tool to implement in a class to motivate students to take an active role in their choice of target vocabulary. It would be quite beneficial to all students to take part in an online shared word bank. I was really excited when I was reading about this. Thanks Horst, Cobb, Nicolae and of course, Prof. Rott.
The Horst, Cobb, & Nicolae article conveyed that when students take ownership of what they are learning, they gain more input from it. Technology is a great tool that I want to use in my classroom, but it is most useful when it allows the students to have meaningful input. Student created word banks were proven to be the most useful in the study. This gives me a framework for literature assignments with my students. The Jing-Schmidt article was extremely insightful. This article highlighted the use of a "conceptualist approach to language teaching...language-specific imageries are conceptually and culturally motivated...(p.229)".
ReplyDeleteI find it impossible to teach language without culture, and the insight provided in this reading has helped me to pay closer attention to the sociolinguistic aspect of language. As a result, I believe that my students will gain a deeper appreciation and understanding for French.
Technology is wonderful for providing context for words that simple dictionaries de-contextualize. Or else it can re-contextualize them in surprising ways. I have been playing with "wordie" at "http://wordie.org" where you can keep a flikr type list of words that your can then share. Not sure yet about the classroom application, exactly, but it's worth looking into.
ReplyDelete- Jonathan Gourlay
The Jing-Schmidt article makes an important point when discussing the cultural influence on language and how that affects expressions. Being initially introduced to this concept, it is easy to get caught in making comparisons between expressions in each language. This can be helpful or not depending on the type of classroom.
ReplyDeleteNot helpful in a multi-cultural classroom learning a common language, such as a multi-cultural ESL classroom. In such a setting, the focus would have to be on the expressions in English because the instructor cannot be expected to account for all cultural expressions. It would be beneficial, though, to point out what Jing-Schmidt is saying. If the students understand this concept, it will be easier for them to have an open mind when learning what might be odd expressions in English. Hopefully, this will keep them from insisting on direct translations of their own expressions.
In a classroom where everyone speaks the same language and everyone is learning the same second language, it would be easier to account for the cultural differences. It is then possible to explain how, for example, Germans express the acts of eating and dressing as opposed to Americans.
For both types of classrooms, keeping Jing-Schmidt in mind will help foresee certain difficult concepts of the language being taught.
The Horst, Cobb, and Nicolae article was especially interesting to me because I am looking for online resources for my own second language learning. Learning a non-native language makes it difficult to find exposure to it, so alternatives are needed.
ReplyDeleteSökmen had it right on when he said that "there is also the fairly uncharted world of the Internet as a source for meaningful vocabulary". This project gave the students input and interactive rehearsal outside of the classroom. The word bank was a good way to track the students' understanding of the words. Understanding the difference in learning patterns between students of Romance vs. Asian language backgrounds is a good way to create teaching strategies for certain groups. Focusing the vocabulary on academic terms is a great motivator for college students because they can directly apply their new language skills.
blogger dog COBB jan27 vocab demandz
ReplyDeletethe very good point is made in the introduction to the article: "Linguistic computing can make two important contributions to second language (L2) reading instruction. One is to resolve longstanding research issues that are based on an insufficiency of data for the researcher, and the other is to resolve related pedagogical problems based on insufficiency of input for the learner."
I think this is more than just a good point. It should be one of the cornerstones to CALL. Researchers (the architects of the learning situation L2 learners find themselves in) can get more input for their studies, and Learners can get more imput for their studies, and the cycle continues in a more viscous way thru CALL.
More input for learners --> more research data for Researchers/Architects --> better directed input for Learners --> more research for Research/Archts. --> etc etc
When considering the vocabulary demands for learners, and what they are going to do with the language they are being taught, one should keep in mind the appropriate amount and manner of texts being taught.
In an increasingly visual/audial age, the "youtube" generation, where twittering, blogging, and texting are becoming the major areas of textual communication, and communication is often done by simply sharing a youtube video by embedding it in the text code of someone's facebook or myspace account, we need to imagine that the L2 learners will be also using these modern modes of communication as their primary means for engaging in the target language.
As an example: a study could be made of an average German L1 speaker, and what modes of textual communcation they use on a daily basis. This research could be applied to the instructor's choosing of texts for a GSL class. Texting, facebooking, blogging, twittering, youtubing and other online fileshare services seem to weigh in more heavily for the average post-modern person than being able to read Goethe, Die Zeit, or Heidigger...
It seems that the Globalization of the world (and, since the USA is the most modern country, this spells Americanization) is increasing the superficiality and pop/fashion/trend use in modern society. L2 teaching should reflect this.
As an example: I should live in Germany for a few months, studying various things, but among them texting (sms-ing in German), so I could come back to the USA with some research into texting and create course tasks centered on this most modern method of textual communication.
I totally agree with Monica’s comment that teaching is more effective when students have ownership of what they are learning. Both the Horst and Zhuo Jing-Schmidt articles reflect the need for teachers to place lexical forms in context in order for students to be able to rehearse and expand their understanding of the words beyond the actual text. I know that when I teach Spanish learners that have certain language backgrounds will have an easier time than those whose L1 is entirely different. Even the actual alphabet might be radically different, therefore tools like vocab wikis and websites where concordances and collocations are explained would be very beneficial, at the same time encouraging student-centered learning.
ReplyDeleteThe Zhuo Jing-Schmidt article on “Contrastive Verbal Imageries of Universal Events” depicts how even universal actions of human daily experience are complicated topics to teach in different languages. I really liked how the researchers recognize how language, culture, and cognition are interrelated and are the foundation through which a learner takes on meaning, and behavior. What this means is that a learner of an L2 will bring into the learning experience his/her culture’s focal adjustments, their “cultural preoccupations”, ones that might not necessarily be transferable into the target culture.
In doing my observations with a level 1 Spanish class, I observed the very claim of Zhuo Jing-Schmidt. Students for example would use the verb comer (to eat) for communicating the action (to drink). I believe that it is important to always teach in context and integrate more than vocabulary comprehension to teaching in order to prevent misunderstandings. “Vocabulary, through what it groups together under one label and what it differentiates with different labels, is one way in which language shapes out perception of the world”; and beyond this notion, vocabulary also serves as a window to the underlying pragmatic meanings encountered in culture and the text itself. I believe that students can benefit immensely from the integration of corpora-based activities in vocabulary learning, especially because it is a good practice to go beyond the word in the sentence and observe that when a word is encountered in another context it will not necessarily encode the same message. I think of how different comer (to eat) and tragar (to eat/animals) are and how common it is in some Spanish dialects and customs to use them interchangeably, but with different meanings. Words and phrases always go beyond the literal meanings.
Polio's clear demonstration of the limits of online translators is a lesson that I would definitely like to bring into my classroom. So many of my writing students have attempted to dump whole sentences or paragraphs in their L1 into a translator, which at best produces clunky, unnatural sentences and at its worst is completely incomprehensible I liked her idea of using translators as an aid to grammar and vocabulary learning, and also found her suggestions on using translators to revise essays and investigate pragmatics interesting, though I am not sure how I might incorporate those suggestions just yet.
ReplyDelete(this is a repeat - just so it is tagged w/ my name)
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to see the complete breakdown of effectiveness with vocab learning in regards to a reading environment. Every situation seems to have been evaluated. And, I had no idea of that massive drop-off after the first 1000.. very interesting.
I had no idea of how complicated it would be to provide the appropriate reading material for students, though. All I have to say is - thank god we have computers & web sites to rely on to be able to quickly evaluate how effective a text can be for our students. I will definitely rely on many of these online web sites to run a quick test on lesson content.
In addition to using the above, in my reading / vocab class I would place a strong emphasis on teaching vocab strategies like sensible guessing, learning how to pick which words are important enough to investigate meaning for, and I would rely on frequency lists to help boost vocab knowledge (not as rote memorization for the students, but more for myself for weaving more high frequency words within relevant contexts). Using CALL technologies, I would use online look-ups or glosses, corpus samples, pop-up definitions, multimedia., etc.. And one last note on corpus samples.. . I used a corpus sample in one of google's translators & it was pretty cool to see & use. I think this is a very useful method for the student to decipher the relevant meaning of the word, as dictionaries can be misleading & inaccurate for a new English speaker.
I like the idea of using corpora for vocabulary acquisition. I think its valuable for students to see how words are used in authentic sentences and what words they often occur with. As both Horst and Jing-Schmidt articles stated, its important for teachers to put lexical terms in context in order for students to truly grasp their meaning.
ReplyDeleteHowever, teachers need to go further by helping students understand the cultural influences. For example, I had a student bring me a list of phrases that she gathered from the film "High School Musical". Because I am not part of the culture that views the film or have not seen it so I did not know context, I was unable to help her because I did not understand them either. This is when multi-media glosses can be extremely helpful.
I am not a fan at all of translators, because I have encountered students that have become relient on them. For example, I was with a group of advanced ESL students that were engaged in casual conversation with native learners. The students did not understand a word so they looked up the word with their tranlsator rather than use the native speakers to negotiate meaning. Translators have their place and time, but many times are used inappropriately.
Like some of you said, I also believe that online dictionaries can’t our students’ essays. There is a large number of words and expressions that a person can use to communicate his/her message. Therefore we, as teachers should provide a list with words and expressions that mean certain things. I imagine it is difficult to teach a multi-cultural classroom where everyone has different phrases to communicate the same thing, but there are other concerns that apply to teaching other languages that are not English.
ReplyDeleteFor example when teaching Spanish, since there are too many countries and too many speakers, what the teacher gives is not always going to work when visiting or speaking with people from other Spanish speaking countries. For instance, in South American countries, people might use words that people use in Mexico also use, but meanings are different. So in this case, I guess it matters the nationality of the teacher if s/he is a Native Speaker, and what is his criterion on vocabulary (there are some teachers that believe only people from their country speak the language correctly). May be this is another concern, deeper than learning a language, but we should consider it.
One last comment, is that I know that motivation is going to depend on the students, but what I have used to help my vocabulary and that has helped a lot is the Merriam-Webster electronic dictionary. It costs like $50, but if the student is very interested/motivated with the language, I would definitely recommend it. Using the corpora for vocabulary also seems to be a pretty good idea, which I’m planning to use myself.