Reflecting On Our Call Experience

In our final meeting, we'll start reflecting on our CALL language learning journey and thinking about what we might discuss in our May 6th roundtable discussion/workshop. Elissa has emailed you a reflection sheet as well as sample reflection responses to help guide you in this process.

Learning and goals

Howard's explanation of what is meant by 'goal-setting' at the meeting last week helped me to recognize how I do indeed set goals. As he noted, the first few times I went on-line the goal was to find and familiarize myself with what's out there. Setting language goals is very frustrating if our resources don't supply what we need to meet our goals. Hence, at the beginning I basically allowed the program that I was working with to set the goal. Now that I've become familiar with a few programs, and as I become more aware of the language itself and my strengths and weaknesses, I find myself coming to the computer with a more specific goal in mind. For example, I had wanted to practice listening to something above my level, and in the process, to try strategies for making difficult material easier. I've been able to do that with Lingq. When I try to do the writing exercises for Spanishl2, I'm quickly made aware of grammar and vocabulary needs. The Lingq flashcards are helpful for vocabulary. I googled "spanish grammar review" and found a website - www.studyspanish.com - where I can access a lesson on a specific grammar point. I'm more motivated to continue when I can meet some of my goals, and each 'lesson' raises new points of interest to pursue.

More about goal-setting

I haven’t consciously been setting goals for myself each time I sit down to use the language-learning program. Maria mentioned at our last meeting that she was basically allowing the BBC program to dictate the goals to her, and I have been been approaching the whole learning experience in much the same way. Upon reflection, however, I realize that I have actually had goals, albeit subconscious ones. I am currently taking an Italian course and my main objective when using the software has been to try to understand as much of the recorded dialogues as possible. Initially, my aim was just to “test myself” to see if I could understand anything at all - just to know whether or not I was really learning anything in class. Thus, my goals have been to understand at least the gist of the conversations without having to look at the dialogues. All of the discussion about goal-setting got me to thinking about my own learning strategies, however, and I now realize that my learning strategies are much different from my teaching strategies. When I prepare a lesson for my own students, I always have clear objectives. When I study a language myself, however, I don’t always have very clear, explicit objectives. This got me to wondering how many language learners really do set those kinds of concrete goals for themselves. Am I unusual in that I do not? Do most people sit down to a lesson and say to themselves, “Today I will master the verb ‘avere’” or “This week I will learn to roll my r’s like a native?” Or is it more like, “I hope I can work through one or two lessons each week with a reasonable amount of retention?” It also makes me wonder if it might be useful to encourage students to think about their subconscious goals.

Learning and Practicing

I have found that I am as frustrated as my colleagues when it comes to finding a site that actually teaches a lesson. Too many sites teach vocabulary or grammar in isolation making it difficult to understand, let alone learn, the lesson. As Larry said in the meeting, having a living breathing instructor in front of you seems to be the key to actually learning a language. The instructor can guide you and help you to learn and understand the target language. Plus, with instructor guidance, students can use computer programs to reinforce what they have learned, or to help them understand any difficult points about the grammar etc. about the target language. Another thing that is important is to practice what I have learned, so repetition seems to be the key. If I don't practice what I have learned, then I put myself back to where I was. This reminds me of my TaeKwon-Do lessons I took as a youth. Repetition was the key to mastering any move. It is like the old joke about getting to Carnegie Hall. The only way you can get there is by practice, practice, pratice.

Learning about my teaching and students

I find that I am comparing myself as a language learner to my students. I see myself as one of those students whose listening and reading comprehension as well as pronunciation can be quite good, in contrast to my productive capabilities. As I struggle with Spanish grammar, I am both more sympathetic with their challenges and less understanding of some of their grammatical lapses! For example, after torturing myself with a difficult practice on irregular verbs on the indiana.edu website, I wonder how my native Spanish speakers can have any difficulty at all with Eng. verb endings! On the other hand, I feel the pain of some of my speaking-challenged students who ace the grammar exams, and other fluent ones who don't "apply" my neat little grammar lessons. In addition, I am almost tempted never to complain again about students not following written directions, having realized that I tend to skip right over those in Spanish.

Of course these are not earth-shattering observations, but I find it very useful to be in the students' shoes for a change. As for my own learning Spanish on the computer, I find that interest is the key to motivation. Several obvious factors influence my interest, such as lesson content, length of a passage, video or listening exercise, speaker's accent, and my current mood. We often expect a lot from our students and don't always consider their differing needs, or appreciate the difficulty of tasks.

Goal-Setting

Setting goals is important for a student to focus. I find that when I'm teaching, I'm clear about what I want the students to get out of the lesson, even if I don't tell them explicitly. If I stay on-point, they will get what I'm trying to get them to do. It seems to me, guiding them works nicely. As a student, I realize that I need more specific instructions. I feel that the goals that I'm setting for myself haven't always been met by the programs that I am using. In fact, it has been somewhat difficult for me to pick up the pronunciation because the writing system doesn't necessarily correspond to what I'm familiar with. It has also been difficult for me to remember some of the grammar. Maybe I'm just not that good of a student!!!

Listening

Today I explored lingq.com and worked on Spanish.

I found that length had an impact- shorter scripts kept my interest and of course certain topics bored me a lot.

Also, I found that when I started reading the text I translated immediately, yet when I listened I did not. I learned something about myself- my listening skills are stronger than my reading skills!

"Homework" Reminder

This week, we'd like you to do two things:

1. Publish a New Post in reaction to one of the questions in today's handout.

2. Make a Comment in reaction to any group member's previous posting that you wish to weigh in on.

Have fun with your language studies!

Are you learning about your chosen language? About your teaching? What?

I think the wording of the first question is interesting. It is geared to an educator. Notice the wording, "Are you learning ABOUT your chosen language?" Is this different from asking, "Are you learning your chosen language?" I think so. It seems to me that the first question asks for an analysis of the structure of the language while the second question deals with language mastery. What do the rest of you think?
I am learning some German (to answer the revised question) and I am learning that German is difficult to pronounce and difficult to spell...and consists of long words...to answer the original question. The basic program is rewarding because when one starts off at point zero, the language acquisition is very significant. I can state the time in German and ask for some directions with very controlled vocabulary. I've learned some of the vocabulary of family relationships and friendships. I find that the dialogues are too fast and too indistinct for my ears. I need to hear them several times along with looking at the German captions before I really hear them completely. It must be how our students feel when they say that a tape or CD is too fast! I can sympathize.
What have I learned about my teaching? On the positive side, my students generally tell me that I speak sufficiently slowly and loudly. That makes me happy. When I go into a native-speaking environment, I have to slap myself to speed up my speech because I am so accustomed to slowing down. I really have learned how important it is to have my students work at their own pace in the computer lab and progress to another area only when they understand the previous one. I will emphasize this. I will ask them to keep a journal of errors and corrections that they can refer to as they move forward.
Ultimately, the value of this experience for me is what it must be for all of us. We are putting ourselves in the position of the learner in a realistic setting and we are encountering the issues that arise for any language-learner. I believe ESL teachers are sensitive to their students' needs to begin with, but this experience certainly creates a heightened sensitivity.

An obvious observation

Unlike Howard who is experimental, I am sticking to my BBC Beginner German lessons. This morning I completed a lesson on asking for directions. I previewed the vocabulary first, studied it, finally knew it, and then went through the rest of the lesson which involves listening to a dialogue, sequencing the dialogue, speaking in German, and finally writing questions and answers about directions in German. I did very well....and that was this morning.
This afternoon I came back to the same lesson and I would say that my retention of the vocabulary was perhaps 70%. How discouraging! I am saying this not so much to point out my faulty memory as to emphasize how valuable it is to be in an immersion setting when you are learning a language so that your environment is supporting you. To that extent, our students who work with English-speaking people and who live among English-speaking people are fortunate. Those who live and work with speakers of their native language don't have this tremendous advantage.
I feel that I need to go over every lesson a number of times over a period of a few days to retain the language I am learning. Otherwise the words are gone! Is anyone else having this problem? (Please say yes!)

Lingq.com

I tried a new program today at www.lingq to practice my Spanish. Maybe, my global learning style keeps pushing me towards trying something new each time.

LINGQ is an interesting program. It has audio presentations and transcripts for each audio. The unique aspect of this program is that Babylon Dictionary is tied into the program and it has a procedure for choosing a word or phrases that you want to remember/study and you can automatically put them in a flash card for later study. When it sets up the flash card it automatically takes the word that you highlight, puts it in a flash card along with the words before and after to keep it in context without your having to type in the word in a sentence. Then, you have an option to put a hint - which can be anything you want, such as the definition, grammar description, etc. I found this feature much easier than my trying to keep an on-line vocabulary list. It also has the ability to send a writing sample to a tutor who will give feedback.

This program has content for many languages. If you would like to try this it with your language, just go to www.lingq . Set up a username and password. It is not the easiest program to get started with. Just Follow demo and choose workdesk. Choose the content you want. If you get lost trying to find content, you can click on Store for a more clear list. (There is no charge as long as you only keep 5 or less activities on your desktop.)

In my practice today, I chose a 2 minute audio on Colombia. My goal was to practice some general comprehension and to focus on meaning, usage, tenses of verbs. I listened a few times and then read the script. Used the dictionary to check words that I didn't know to fill in gaps in my comprehension. I picked out each verb and created a flash card for each verb. Put the base form of the verb, the tense, and a translation as a hint on each card. I practiced the flash cards. The last time using the cards, I made sentences using the verbs and then checked my usage with the hints. Maybe next, I will try to write sentences with the verbs in the flashcards and send them to the tutor and/or do a dictation of the sentences with the verbs.

4/8 Task

I am using the BBC Italian Steps program. My objective during this task was simply to try to understand as much of the dialogues as I could without having to look at the transcripts. I am now taking an introductory Italian class, so I have a little (very little, I should say!) knowledge of basic Italian grammar. Therefore, I basically just wanted to put myself to the test to see how much I could understand. The BBC program is set up so that the learner first views a slideshow along with a recorded dialogue. Although I found the slideshow to be of interest, I also found that it interfered with my ability to concentrate fully on the conversations. I decided to close my eyes and listen carefully to the dialogue; doing so allowed me to focus all of my attention on the conversations and I found that in most cases, I was able to understand what was being said. If I couldn't understand it the first time around, I replayed the section until I was able to get it. In cases when there was something I couldn't understand no matter how many times I listened, I pulled up the Italian transcript to see if I could then piece it all together. Once or twice I encountered a word or phrase I was not familiar with and had to check the English translation. In most cases, however, I was able to discern the meaning by context. At the end of each slideshow, I went back and listened to the entire conversation a few more times. One thing that I found frustrating with the program was that after advancing on to the next frame of the slideshow, the learner is no longer able to go back to a previous frame until the end of the entire slideshow. This was a minor problem, though, which I was able to work around by jotting down any new vocabulary I had encountered. After the slideshow there is a section called "Guess the Words" which was a little too easy and not much of a challenge. Following that I did the "Build the Sentences" section in which the learner has to drag words to fill in the blanks in sentences. I wasn't crazy about this part of the program, either, since a lot of the words keep bouncing back to their original positions if they aren't placed "just so" - rather annoying! After that I focused on the "Speak and Write" section. This part of the program provides one part of a dialogue and requires the learner to produce the other half. Being in the computer lab, I felt too embarrassed to actually produce the spoken part aloud, so just ran the words through in my head. There is an option for checking what the correct answers are before moving on to the writing section (which uses the same dialogue), but I decided to move on to the writing section without first checking my answers, just to make it a bit more challenging. I didn't bother trying to figure out how to type the accents, although the site did provide a little help window which explained how to do so. At the end of each section there is a "Challenge" which puts everything learned in four slideshows together. All in all, I found it to be quite useful and also lots of fun.

Advanced Learners of Non-Alphabetic Languages

I have been doing several vocabulary exercises on mandarintools.com to increase my Chinese character recognition. Selecting the program is not difficult, considering all the instructions are in English. The program I chose is in a flashcard format--one character appears on screen for a selected length of time and the pinyin romanization or English meaning needs to be chosen by the learner. I surmised this would help me to increase my reading comprehension. After setting most of the parameters for the program, I decided that I could handle Level 10, the most advanced vocabulary. There were some characters that I was able to guess the meaning for based on ideographic roots, but identifying the correct written pronunciation required an extensive knowledge of the phonetic elements, which is well beyond my 2,200 character recognition range. (Incidentally, the government of Mainland China has published a list of the 2,000 most commonly used characters necessary for minimal literacy. A more substantial vocabulary would be five to seven thousand!)
The main problem with the program is that the characters do not appear in context. There are no options which allow a learner to see example sentences with the new vocabulary. Most of the time, Chinese words are in combinations of two or more. The characters in the program are presented in isolation. This might be acceptable at a beginning level but not at an intermediate or advanced one. Also, corrective feedback is not given until the end of the exercise. I found myself pausing the running list to write the characters that I had gotten wrong for immediate correction.
Given the fact that I am a visual learner, I can see a character one time and memorize it. So, a program like this can be somewhat helpful to a person like me. I am forced, however, to consider what would happen if I were not a visual learner. This program would be a very poor choice indeed. It also makes me wonder about Chinese and Japanese students who are learning English. What is it like for them to go from reading ideographically to alphabetically?

4/8 task plus

Before I specifically respond to today's task I'll share some observations that I didn't have a chance to write about before. I've been working on the Spanish L2 site. I chose this site for a couple of reasons. First, my students are using LEI and it seemed that working on a site that presents the language in an organized and sequenced way would provide an experience more comparable to theirs than random exercises. Also, because of my frustration in not being able to produce Spanish, despite a fairly high level of comprehension, I was highly motivated to work on production, which is something this site allows me to do in writing. On the other hand, the listening/reading doesn't provide much of a challenge, and I am impatient with how slowly the speakers speak and the screens move. Last week I tried covering the screen and turning down the volume while listening and that did make it more of a challenge. I also tried waiting until the end of dictation to enter missing material, which also increased the difficulty. I got down to the writing part of the homework a couple of times, but didn't finish for various reasons, and came back to find that I had lost everything that I had done and had to start over. That is discouraging and helps me appreciate that with LEI each activity is corrected as it is completed. I've also experienced technological problems (while trying to use the Alt- numbers to type in the accent mark and tilde the whole page disappeared) and am more sympathetic with my students whose progress is slow because they are still learning how to navigate a computer program.
Today I first scanned the content of the lessons to choose one that would be more relevant than what I did last week. (Last week I practiced using vosotros; this week preterite of some irregular verbs and vocabulary related to computers.) Next, as I listened to the lecture, I focused on jotting down any new vocabulary or phrases that I wanted to remember while keeping my eyes averted from the screen, rather than just covering the screen. During the practice phase I realized that I could click on the next screen as soon as I felt I had enough feedback to confirm my response, rather than waiting for the correct answer to be repeated. This helped things to move along more quickly. My goal was to be able to produce some sentences using the new (or newly retrieved from 'ancient' memory) structures and vocabulary. After doing this, I had a gratifying sense of accomplishment and am looking forward to receiving feedback from an instructor.
Because of my goal of producing language, and the disparity between my receptive and productive abilities in Spanish, I have had the opportunity to try several techniques for making material more difficult. I'd also like to experience working with listening material that is difficult, and this week hope to do some work in other websites. I also need to do better at thinking through my goals and choosing material and methods that support them.

Moving along with Beginner German

As I do a Beginner German lesson, I am trying to analyze what works for me. I know what doesn't work. The first time I listen to a conversation, I have no success if I don't view the captions in both German and English. I simply am not familiar enough with the pronunciation to understand the German words without having visual support. Also, my hearing is not acute enough to catch the differences in pronunciation. Once I listen to a conversation with the captions, then I can understand that conversation the second time around without the captions. I would not be a good oral/aural learner.
I have noticed the importance of reviewing the vocabulary before listening to the conversation. Familiarity with the new words goes a long way to helping one understand the conversation. I believe that this shows the importance of always previewing vocabulary with our students prior to having them take notes on a topic. The unfamiliar words are what cause much of the difficulty.
I've noticed that for me it is much easier to translate words from L2 to L1. If I cover the L2 words (German) and try to produce them by looking at their English equivalents, I have a much harder time than translating the German words into English.
The receptive stage of language learning is much easier than the "production" stage but that is no surprise to any of us, I'm sure.
Looking forward to sharing experiences tomorrow.

What I did

Because I couldn't get into my UCC files from home, I logged onto a free Spanish learning site --don't recall the exact site. My goal was to do some grammar review, and I focused on the topic of the difference between ser and estar. I first read the explanation and then did an exercise that required simply choosing the correct verb. Although this was very basic, I found it both challenging and frustrating. The explanation was in English, which I had told myself I would avoid, and was not particularly helpful--something about the difference between "what" and "how". Then the exercise seemed even more confusing, as the sentences were all without any context. Nevertheless, I was surprised that I didn't find this a total waste of time. In fact, I repeated the same exercise three times. I was reminded that what I consider mechanical and boring in English can become quite different in a foreign language.
This reminder led me to reflect on and change something I was doing in a recent ESL054 class. After listening to an interview, students were to write a summary of what they heard. We discussed possible introductions, and I wrote a sample on the board. Ordinarily I would have given them the option of copying what was written on the board or writing their own, but I
decided to require them to use the model introduction.

I tried a new software program Tell Me More – Beginning Spanish because I wanted to have more listening.
What was my goal? My goal was listening to discrete items and pick out new vocabulary and grammar items. There are different pictures in a house and there is a dialog between 2 friends, one showing them her ne house. The person says something and you can choose one of 3 written sentences to respond to the sentence. All responses are correct, just give a different meaning. All the sentences are written in Spanish.
What strategies did I do to meet my goal: To meet my goal of listening I had to slightly change how to do the activity, I covered the words with a piece of paper. This totally changed this activitiy into a listening activity which it would not have been otherwise. I played the sentence and then played each response to see if I understood the response. If I didn’t understand, I used the built in glossary to help me with vocabulary words. Next time to practice more speaking when I do the dialog, I think I am going to go through the dialog again and try to respond without listening to or reading the sentences. (Tell Me More has speech recognition, but I did not have a microphone).
To work on vocabulary, spelling and grammar, After I completed the dialog, I skipped some vocabulary exercises and did a group of other activities, concluding with a dictation. The group of activities included a reading / grammar identification exercise, a crossword puzzles, a word order exercise. All the activities helped to reinforce the vocabulary and grammar points in the dialog and I was surprised the additional exposure was so helpful in doing the final dictation.
How did the difficulty level change what I did. I tried to do the dictation before the vocabulary activities, but it was too difficult so I went back and did the activities. Depending on the difficulty level, I used the glossary and get answer buttons when I couldn’t use any contextual clues. Throughout I added items to my on-line WORD vocabulary, grammar and elision lists. Then, I would go back and do the item again. I still can’t believe how little correct Spanish I know. I definitely enjoying learning the correct forms, but my confidence has been shaken.

Task for 4/8
1.Determine your objectives for your language learning experience
2. Try different procedures to reach those objectives
3. Adapt the procedures depending on the level of difficulty

Reflection: (This is a sample reflection that you may also choose to use with your learners.)
In writing your blog, you may want to think about the following questions:

Describe how you went through the software, focusing on the strategies that you used. First I. . ..Next I ... Then, I.......
What was your learning goal(s)?
Discuss the different strategies you used to achieve the goals and why you used those strategies.
How did the difficulty of the material influence your strategies?

CALL and motivation

I haven't been going to "language-learning" sites per se since taking part in the project in Fall 2006.  However, I want to share a recent experience of my own language learning via blogs.  As many of you know, I write a non-academic "foto blog" (the url I'm happy to share if you ask).  Recently a reader of my blog, who happens to live in northwest Spain, wrote and we've continued a dialogue.  She does a similar "foto blog" in Spanish.  Because of the strong instrumental (v. integrative) motivation I feel, I've been struggling to read her blog in Spanish.  Motivation is critical here;  if I weren't interested in what this blog communicated, I wouldn't make the effort with a language I've never formally studied.  My point?  The web provides easy access to sites that--although they're not overtly instructional--can "instruct" readers in the target language provided the reader feels that struggling with the target language will be instrumental in learning something.  Obviously, this only works if the reader/learner (i.e.,  me) has some existing entry into target language (in my case, the familiarity with the Roman alphabet and with a smilar Romance language, French).  My points wouldn't hold if the blog were in a non-Roman alphabet. 

I looked at the Spanish L2 site. Wasn't thrilled with it. However, I did look at the basic lessons. I am discouraged by the fact that the site will only help us to read Spanish and not speak it. A little bit of background on the language and the cultures that speak it would have made the learning more fun. For example, the site teaches the informal "TU" before the formal "USTED." Why not have a short explanation about that? Again it would make the learning experience more meaningful. Everything is in context and spoken VERY CLEARLY and VERY SLOWLY. I like that as a learner; however, I am discouraged by the sites fatal flaws.

Reactions to learning Beginner German (Lesson 3)

The beginner German lessons are arranged very effectively. At least they suit my learning style, whatever that may be. First I review the vocabulary that will be used in the lesson. I listen to the words being said in German and I read the word as I listen. Then I listen to a short conversation. My comprehension is greatly enhanced by the fact that I have already reviewed the vocabulary. I listen to the conversation twice. Afterwards, there is an exercise where I match the conversational statements to the correct speaker. Since it is a connected conversation, it is necessary to understand what each speaker is saying. Then there are the last two parts where I speak in answer to a question and then write the answer to that question. The correct answer appears when I click "check your answer."
Each lesson has culture notes and points of grammar. These are very helpful.
What I like very much is working at my own pace. If I want to go over certain vocabulary or pronounciation, I can do it. I am not forced to keep up with the rest of the group. I can see this as a very valuable feature of CALL.
I am becoming more comfortable with the sound of German. By previewing the vocabulary and listening to it being pronounced, I am able to follow the conversations more easily. I can see how essential it is to preview difficult vocabulary with students prior to having them listen to a lecture. Once you know the word, you have a much better chance of writing it down and following the conversation.
I like Howard's idea of keeping an on-line glossary. When I do a lesson, I think I know the vocabulary, but it is easy to forget. An on-line glossary would provide a quick and easy review.

SpanishL2

I explored SpanishL2 this afternoon. My main goal for my learning Spanish experience I expect to be focusing on grammar. In general, my comprehension of Spanish is low intermediate and I am not afraid to speak, but I never learned Spanish grammar formerly so I have no ability to monitor what I say. And after my daughters informed me recently that although I act like I know what I am saying, I am not really speaking Spanish. I guess it is time to figure out what I am saying.

Figured out I could start at Level 3 and that level would be OK. It has less translation and that was better for me. I found the English distracting in Level 1. In exploring, Spanish L2 is set up in a series of powerpoints and you listen to a presentation of the grammar point. In this case "ser" Everything said is also in text.I listened and read through the powerpoint slides quickly the first time. Then, went back and listened to the slides more slowly, pausing once in a while to write down some new vocabulary in an on-line language journal I am keeping in Word. Did not know some of the words, so signed onto Babylon which is an on-line dictionary to help me put down the definition. I used Spanish - English. Might try Spanish- Spanish, just as we ask students to use English-English dictionaries see how that goes.

I usually tell my students to hide text while listening because they are reading not really listening, but since my goal was grammar the text items always on the screen was ok, although the opening dialog, it would have been nice to be able to turn of the text. After going through the slides there are homework exercises with fill-in and multiple choice. In the completing the practice I realized, I really didn't know how to say the time or date properly, which I did not recognize till after unsuccessfully completing the sentences. Also the use of "ser" in the preterite was totally new for me as formal grammar. I use it in my speech, but probably not too well. I am starting to understand why my daughters said what they said, oh!!

Next time, I'll continue with lesson 2. Think I will try to repeat the sentences and say my own sentences a little more, see how that goes. Maybe do more listening without looking. Continue with journal. See if there are some other parts to Spanish L2 I haven't discovered.

What Language Did You Study? What'd You Do? What'd You Learn?

Tell some general observations you have as you begin your studies.

Tonight I explored the various URLs and decided that I would use the bbc URL to learn Beginner German. I actually completed the first two lessons. I found that the biggest challenge was trying to understand the conversation without using captions. It seemed much too fast and very indistinct. The captions went a long way in helping me understand and master the words and phrases.

How do you figure out which website(s) to use?

The first task was to find out which websites I would use to learn a new language. I'm beginning a new language (Portuguese), because I teach level one. I thought about what a student may do if they wanted to learn English on their own at their home computer. Obviously, they are at an advantage because they live in this environment, but you have to start somewhere!!! Going to Google and keywording "LEARN PORTUGUESE" wasn't a great help, because it gave me over 14 million results. :} The search goes on, and I will let you know how things turn out.

Thoughts about Learning Styles Survey and Your Teaching?

Post any insight you might have drawn from your particular learnings styles and the effects they have on your classroom (students, strategies, exercises, goals, etc.).