Dear FLE 324 members,
If you like you can choose the article on Tech-era L2 writing.Please consider the following points:
What do you think of the incorporation of technology in L2 writing? To what extent and how do you think of incorporating the latest developments in improving EFL learners’ writing skills? Where do you think a Turkish EFL teacher stands in the midst of these developments?
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With the advent of computers and Internet technology, computer-based instruction has been widely used in language classrooms throughout the world. Similarly, Web-based writing instructions have also proved to be an important factor in enhancing the writing quality foreign language students. But what kind of advantages does the technology provide to learners? First of all, students learning a new language need as much language support as possible. Language teachers know that any language support is helpful for language acquisition and learners need a variety of language experiences. They need to hear language, write language, speak language and read language and computers help learners to a great extend in these issues. Secondly, writing paragraphs in a foreign language can be difficult for students. However, when using a computer, the use of graphics can make this much more enjoyable. Using clip art can also help students to convey their thoughts more clearly. In other words, using technology makes the writing process more enjoyable. Thirdly, with the help of computers, the teacher can direct students to somehow highlight a specific part of speech (e.g. nouns) throughout their writing. To highlight, students/ teachers have a lot of choices, such as underlining, italicizing, or changing the font size, color or type. Fourthly, with online pages (blogs, journals etc.) students can post their own threads, short paragraphs, stories and poems on discussion boards. They can also locate information from the Internet, write paragraphs and check their own spelling using Microsoft Word. In other words, use of Web-based lessons as a writing instruction is more effective than teaching which is depended on the textbook alone. Fifthly, since technology allow learners to edit older studies, they can easily revise their own or their peers’ writings. Moreover, students can increase their knowledge and awareness of other cultures by this way, while they boost their interest and motivation in language and cultural studies. Sixthly, computer use can improve accuracy at the word level while learners are enjoying use of meaningful language and authentic text. Finally, with the help of computers, students benefited from the technology-enhanced collaborative learning methods and interactive learning process.
ReplyDeleteSB
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ReplyDeleteDevelopments in software and online resources are leading to improvements in many areas of student writing both at the levels of language and content. Teachers’ duties are also changing since the emergence of these software and online resources. They do not have to focus on simple aspects of punctuation or run-on sentences, which distract the attention from the more important aspects of the students’ written work such as paragraph formation, coherence and the content.
ReplyDeleteUsing electronic thesaurus is a great help especially for those who have a very limited vocabulary and even more limited production. For example, we can see a range of alternatives for the word “say” by checking a thesaurus (declare, claim, state) and enrich our essay. By that way, it is possible to shift the competence level vocabulary into the performance realm.
Corpus linguistics also offers a new dimension of possibilities to the L2 writer, which has been explored recently. For example, online concordances show how words are used in written works.
In the article, it is also stated that reality may be less positive. For instance, spellchecker sometimes fails to catch nuances and misspelled homophones. The thesaurus does not help with the collocations and students’ assessment about the suitability of the alternative may not be true. But all these tools are the sources that providing more indepence from teachers.
Some other tools like Check My Words, which are more functional, are discussed. For example a button called “word combinations” shows the students which words collocate with the word at hand (severe/serious illness but not heavy illness)
However true uses of online sources such as search engines require training and motivation. Teachers must build awareness in student researchers of the need to acquire the critical skills necessary for distinguishing whether sites are acceptable or not for use in papers this means teachers need to teach web literacy as a writing skill. This also brings the duty of preventing plagiarism to the teacher.
For the issue of the Turkey’s place in the usage of these sources I can’t make too much judgment as there is not a usual pattern among private and public institutions and in my opinion these days teachers are happier using the old paper dictionaries or they are too much flexible on the use of internet.
Dilara Arpacı
ReplyDelete1619832
Many language educators assumed that first language (L1) writing skills would automatically and easily transfer to the L2 writing context, naming the writing skill “the stepchild” of language learning. Robert Terry (1989) claims that: of the four skills that are discussed and (supposedly) taught with equal emphasis in our foreign language classrooms, writing is perhaps the most poorly understood and the skill that is given, in fact, the most cursory attention.” Maybe, the reason why writing skill is so hard attained can be that it requires so many things at the same time, such as generating ideas, organizing, analyzing, synthesizing, and revising. To decrease the problems faced while learning and teaching the writing skills, Scott (1996) gives some recommendations about how writing skill should be taught:
- discuss the L1 writing process before jumping into that of the L2;
- teach writing as discovery;
- design writing assignments that engage students in the writing process;
- discuss the intended audience;
- teach students effective strategies for generating ideas;
- teach students to revise; and
- develop an awareness of a monitor
At this crucial point, teacher may have difficulties during writing courses, although they know what to do. The problems may be connected to a lot of things from student profile to the materials used for writing courses. However, things have started to change with the introduction of the computers- I mean Technology- to the people’s lives. Imagine 20 years before, and see how difficult even writing these reflections would be for us.
Thanks to advanced technology of our era, we can easily access to the other researches easily and write our own sometimes without even needing to go to a library. As prospective teachers, we can benefit from this kind of technology both in our own studies and in our future teaching. For example, knowing how to use Microsoft office programs, especially the simplest one “Microsoft word”, is actually saving our lives. By means of computer technology, we can easily assess our students’ writings by just focusing on the meaning, cohesion and the methodology. Because, we know that, most of the teachers can not deal with these important points since they are stuck with just the format of the writing, spelling, length, etc.
Apart from its benefits for teaching, it is also beneficial for students. Not far away, just nearly 20 years ago, not everybody had computer and so people had to use handwriting for their writings or a typewriter for luckier ones However, today, people can write their opinions quickly and they can even publish their works online. This helps us to see other works and assess our own. The internet use also improves the quality of our writings. For example, we can use a more advanced language by using an online dictionary and learnin other uses of that word.
At the point of using online instruction, Blogs are quite beneficial, in my opinion. The instructor may create an online blog and put assignments there. By means of this classroom blog, students may see other writings and assess their own and improve it. Since teacher also can control everything on these blogs, they are very practical for both teachers and the students.
Maybe, the only thing the teacher and the students should care about is “plagiarism”. At this point, the duty of the teacher is to teach the students “internet ethics.” If they know the logical reasons behind banning plagiarism, they may agree to follow the rules eagerly. Otherwise, in Turkey conditions, a teacher using online instructions for writing classes may need advanced detective engines to prevent plagiarism In short, we should teach our students to use internet consciously to avoid undesirable situations.
References:
Terry, Robert. "Teaching and Evaluating Writing as a Communicative Skill." Foreign Language Annals 22 (1989): 43-54.
Scott, Virginia. Rethinking Foreign Language Writing. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. 1996.
Nowadays, graduates who do not know how to use computer have a hard time to find a job. Our era is called Internet and Technology. Teachers are the first people to be aware of that. First of all, teachers should abandon their old believes. Teaching with no visual aids is in the past. Students want to see, hear and even touch what they learn. Secondly, instant messaging system is so improved that students can get in touch with their teachers whenever they want. This helps to solve students’ problems and questions in their minds easily. Thirdly, there are blogs that teachers and students could easily achieve. They could write their thought at home and read their friends writings to know what they think. Fourthly, students could get any related or unrelated materials so that there won’t be a source problem. Lastly, students critical thinking skills could improve through reading what they have found about the subject as reading from a book could be boring fort hem but reading from a website is really an enjoyable activity.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is hard to create a beneficial technology environment because it takes time and money. There needs people who know how to use computers and create a good web atmosphere. In addition, these computers are not cheap. Unless there is a good source of money, it is highly impossible to have a computer laboratory. Students’ families also could have difficulties to buy a computer to their children.
UGUR UZER
In Turkey, most of the schools start to buy computers with the help of Ministry of Education, and teachers are given seminars about using internet and computers. In my opinion, our teachers have not and will not have any difficulty using the technology.
ReplyDeleteUGUR UZER
As we all know technology and the internet have big impact on our lives. It is such a thing that using technology and internet become a life style. We cannot disregard usefulness of technology. While they have such a big effect in our lives, we can also see its effects in language learning. How technology an internet is effective in language learning? First of all its effect is on listening. Today many students can use internet to watch movies, videos, listening songs, chatting, searching, etc.. Everything is ready for them by a clicking a mouse. Students can expose target language if they want; they can learn pronunciation of words, some expressions, how to use some words with specific prepositions, etc. When we come to second effect, we can see many effects of technology on writing. As we all know students have a lot of assignments to do and they generally need a computer and internet to do them. Today few students visit libraries for searching, because everything is ready by a clicking for them. They can use “google” to search everything and they also have access online resources of libraries. They have use these tools for different purposes such as writing essays, letters, making researches, finding information about a specific topic or a person, etc. Students need some examples for them to do their assignments and they can get their examples from internet. Students may need to reach some studies done by researchers and they can easily have access them. Another effect of technology contributing to writing is making things enjoyable. For example, students who do not like looking up dictionaries can use online dictionaries; using internet and dealing with computer can be alternative for them. There are also some websites providing some language forms. For example, this kind of websites show that where a word is used to, how to use a word with a preposition, the usage of a word in a sentence, synonym and antonym of a word, etc. These kinds of websites offer a great variety of usage of language. There are also online pages in which students can share their comments, their stories, their experiments and they can make brainstorming activities. The existence of technology and computer is also important in terms of feedback. As we all know computers are smarter than us =). While students are doing homework in the form of Word document, Microsoft Word is underlying errors such as spelling and grammar errors. That enables students to be aware of their errors and correct themselves. It is also helpful for teachers, because teachers also use this kind of technique to check students’ spelling and grammar; so it prevents waste of time. Teachers can also seek whether students copy comments, ideas, and studies of others. There are some websites showing that some writings belonging to one and that prevent plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteTechnology achieved to involve in all parts of our life. It changes the education system totaly. So it is important to have an advantage to use this high technology in our foreign langugae classes. The article gives emphasis on the efects of technolugy on writing skills of learners. How does this technology effects developments in improving EFL learners’ writing skills?
ReplyDeleteFirstly it gives independence to to the L2 writer. Secondly, according to Paul Stapleton and Pavlina Radia, these developments provide Word, sentence, and paragraph-level advances and content-level advances as the grammar and punctuation mistakes reduces thanks to new tools, teachers have a chance to focus on other aspects of written part. This impact of the technology is important because as the time passes tradition changed and instead of only production, the importance is also given to process of the writing product. For example, in our university teachers does not give points just by looking at the essays after students write. Teachers usually dont need to correct the grammar mistakes, because students correct them by using some electronical tools such as by using word document. Therefore teachers have a chance to focus on the organization and the content. Another advantage is that these developments in software and online sources give opportunity to enable an effective way for providing feedback.
Where does a Turkish EFL teacher stand in the midst of these developments? In my opinion, many of them still lack of using technology appropriately in their classes. So the instructions for new tools need to be included to use technology effectively. I agree with the idea in the article that teachers should be informed about how to take advantage of technology tools and introduce them to the students.
Technology is effective tool for language learning since it helps learners and makes the learning easier for them in language skills. For example, for the practice of listening, the teacher uses the tapes or computers and for making the students obtain the vocabulary, s/he uses PPTs to make the learning better. As well as my examples, developments in software and online resources are leading to improvements in many areas of student writing, both at the levels of language and content as the article says.
ReplyDeleteVia technology, the learners have the chance to see their basic errors which are underlined green and red while typing text into a word processor. In the past, it was a big problem for me to write an essay instead of typing it. I used to make a lot of small mistakes which I unnoticed. After I started typing my writings, it enabled me to correct myself and make self-evaluation. As the example from my experience indicates, technology helps learners to make self-evaluation and by this way to gain self confidence by seeing and correcting their own mistakes.
Technology can be used in many areas of the writing. As the article indicates, before writing, one can collect information from the websites using search engines such as “GOOGLE” and “YAHOO”. I think it is very useful and fast way of collecting data. However, as the article indicates “regardless of the results produced by any of these engines, teachers must build awareness in student researchers of the need to acquire the critical skills necessary to distinguish whether sites are acceptable or not for use in their papers.” Students should be thought to choose the most appropriate sites while collecting the data.
Via technology, the students are enabled to create their own blogs where they can comment on the subjects defined by the teacher and they can upload their writings for their friends to give comments.
Seeing the benefits of technology in language classrooms, incorporation of technology in writing should be widespread. However, unfortunately, in our schools, we don’t have enough technological supports. For example, most of the schools have few computers. Furthermore, most of the students don’t have computer or internet connection at home, which prevent the effective usage of the technology in our classrooms.
Technology has so much integrated into language learning that it has moved the focus from product-oriented writing to process-oriented writing, which increases the importance of activities like brainstorming and portfolios according to the article. It makes writing process more enjoyable and effective instead of making the learners feel stressed with the output of the whole writing process.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, technology makes writing easier with the help of many user-friendly tools and it mentions these tools in two main groups. The first one is those that help learners with words, sentences and paragraphs. The first tool is word processor. While using word processor the learners do not worry about spelling and error correction because word processor shows these errors with red and green lines so that the learners can easily correct them. Moreover, it correct run-on sentences and makes the learners’ task easier and gives them the chance to focus on the creativity and originality of their writing. Secondly, these work processors are packaged with electronic thesaurus which increases the word capacity of learners. The learners do not waste time with looking up a word in the dictionary. Instead, they click on a word and find its meaning. It also enables learners find the synonyms and antonyms of each word which makes our writings better. In addition, the learners can easily find example sentences and use the word in their sentences according to these example sentences. Search engines can be very effective while the learners try to find whether they use a word with appropriate words or not. These search engines enable learners to find a great amount of knowledge, too. Online text analyzers help learners check the syntax and vocabulary usage of their written works. The second group includes tools hat help learners with content of their writings. Search engines like Google helps learners find an infinite source of knowledge in a minute without spending time in a library in which you may not even find what you are searching for. As stated in the article, there are some additional academic web sites such as Web of Science. The latest articles are now available online and learners may easily make use of them by giving references. However, there are some unconventional writing sources and the teachers should be sure that their learners can decide which source is conventional and which one is not. They should train them to discriminate between web sites while they are working on their own.
Technology makes teachers job easier, too. They get rid of correcting spelling and grammar errors when they get the homework online. Moreover, while checking they may write their comments with the use of technology instead of making the paper turn into red. More important than this, as the teachers will not be worried about grammar and spelling mistakes, they can just focus on the content and neatness of the writing.
In Turkey, technology has started to be used widely; however, as the teachers are not educated with technology-based instruction, they may decide not to use it or they may not be able to use it effectively. That’s why; teachers should be educated with seminars because when they see how technology makes both their job and students’ job easier and more enjoyable, I think they will certainly make use of technological progress.
Özge Ceren ÇELİK
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ReplyDeleteAsiye BAŞTÜRK
ReplyDelete1619949
Technology is a thing that is developing day by day without even an interval. There are lots of advancements improving and teachers should benefit from those technological innovations. Especially English Language Teachers can benefit from technology and integrate it to their lessons easily. The teacher can/should incorporate technology into the writing skill at L2 easily, according to the article on Tech-era L2 writing.
Because the internet presents lots of information sites, a teacher can benefit from this knowledge pool. For example, the teacher can make the students search for a topic in the internet and make them write on that specific topic in their writing lesson. Or the teacher may ask them to make independent researches and write on them while enjoying. However, while incorporating the technology, especially online resources, a teacher has to teach to the students how to research online. The students have to know which site is useful and which site is misleading. With the help of internet, the teacher may also find interesting topics to write on and interesting writing activities which are from suitable EFL websites and useable. Also, the blogs on the internet provides the students to write on different topics in a certain structure and see other friends’ writings which are beneficial. Those blogs also provide them with a communicative environment.
When it comes to the necessity of the technology incorporation to the lessons, especially to writing, it is impossible to be far away to the technology while lots of students are tied to it so much. It is necessary to benefit from this type of innovations in order to be able to improve the writing abilities of the students in an easier and more enjoyable way. Writing is generally a boring and hard stuff for the students, because they have difficulty in generating ideas, organizing them and expressing them in a certain format and grammatically correctly. By using the advantages of technology, the teachers can deal with those difficulties in a better and easier way. In addition to this, the teacher also can improve herself/himself in terms of knowledge and practice via internet.
In Turkey, although technology advancement is a bit slower, an ideal teacher has to catch it in order to achieve his goal successfully and easily. There are lots of wrong beliefs about writing skill, according to the article. it is also true for Turkey. It is impossible to believe that a person who knows Turkish writing style can write in English without learning. Their writing formats are very different. In order to extract the students from Turkish writing style while trying to write in English, the teacher should benefit form technological advancements.
To sum up, technological advancements should be used in order to improve the writing skills of the EFL learners. It will help the students enjoy writing and succeed in it in an easier way.