A digital library of language learning exercises

Recent years have seen widespread adoption of the Internet for language teaching and learning. Interactive systems on the World-Wide Web provide useful alternatives to face-to-face tuition, and both teachers and learners can benefit from the exercises available. However, although there is a wealth of suitable material, it is hard to find because it is scattered around the web. Moreover, teachers are restricted by the material that is available, and cannot provide their own. To tackle these problems we have constructed a digital library of language learning exercises that presents students with different kinds of exercise, and also lets teachers contribute new material. We first reviewed existing language learning systems on the web in order to develop a taxonomy of exercise types used for language activity. A prototype, ELLE, based on this taxonomy, provides various kinds of interactive exercises using material that teachers submit. The system has been evaluated by practicing language teachers

Interactive Lesson as a Macro-Unit of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language in Short-Term Courses

The relevance of the topic of this article is due to the need to strengthen the interactive side of the process of teaching a foreign language in short-term courses in the language environment. The purpose of the study is to establish the ratio of interactive forms and methods that determine the specifics of an interactive lesson of foreign language. In contrast to the existing points of view, we attempted to prove that the effectiveness of interactive learning depends on the systematization of interactive forms and methods of teaching and the sequence of their use. To study the patterns of interactive learning of a foreign language, we applied the following methods: observation, experiment, and analysis method. An analysis of the interactive forms and methods of teaching foreigners the Russian language in short-term courses in Russia shows that the use of the learning potential of the language environment makes the content of learning natural, topical and interesting. Avoiding traditional teaching methods allows organizing the exchange of thoughts and feelings in terms of speech interaction when creating a joint product (both verbal and non-verbal). The interactive lesson, which acts as a macro unit for selecting and organizing the content of Russian as a foreign language (RFL) training in short-term courses, consists of three blocks (motivational-introductory, activity-oriented and resultant). Specially selected for each communication situation and arranged in a certain order interactive forms and methods are presented in the system of interactive exercises and tasks, classified according to the stages of mastering speech actions in different communicative situations. The article presents the forms and methods of interactive teaching of Russian as a foreign language, which teachers can use in short-term courses. The authors have shown that interactive methods and forms of teaching stimulate foreign students to speak and communicate in the target language. This contributes to the development of skills of social and academic interaction of students to solve pressing communication problems in real situations of communication. We see the perspective of research in the development of interactive methods of teaching a foreign language for different age groups of students and different levels of proficiency in a foreign language.Актуальность темы данной статьи обусловлена необходимостью усиления интерактивной стороны процесса обучения иностранному языку на краткосрочных курсах в языковой среде. Цель исследования – установить соотношение интерактивных форм и приемов, которые определяют специфику интерактивного урока иностранного языка. В противоположность существующим точкам зрения мы предприняли попытку доказать, что эффективность интерактивного обучения зависит от систематизации интерактивных форм и приемов обучения и последовательности их использования. Для исследования закономерностей интерактивного обучения иностранному языку мы применили следующие методы: наблюдение, эксперимент и аналитический метод. Анализ интерактивных форм и приемов обучения иностранцев русскому языку на краткосрочных курсах в России показывает, что использование обучающего потенциала языковой среды делает содержание обучения естественным, актуальным и интересным. Отход от традиционных приемов обучения позволяет организовать обмен мыслями и чувствами в условиях речевого взаимодействия при создании совместного продукта (как речевого, так и неречевого). Интерактивный урок, выступающий как макроединица отбора и содержания обучения русскому языку как иностранному (РКИ) на краткосрочных курсах, состоит из трех блоков (мотивационно-ознакомительный, деятельностно-ориентированный и результативный). Специально отобранные для каждой ситуации общения и расположенные в определенном порядке интерактивные формы и приемы представлены в системе интерактивных упражнений и заданий, классифицированных в зависимости от стадий усвоения речевых действий в разных коммуникативных ситуациях. В статье представлены формы и приемы интерактивного обучения русскому языку как иностранному, которые преподаватели могут применять на краткосрочных курсах. Авторы показали, что интерактивные приемы и формы обучения стимулируют иностранных учащихся к устно-речевому общению на изучаемом языке. Это способствует развитию умений социального и учебного взаимодействия учащихся для решения актуальных коммуникативных задач в реальных ситуациях общения. Перспектива исследования видится в том, чтобы разработать интерактивные приемы обучения иностранному языку для разных возрастных групп учащихся и разных уровней владения иностранным языком

E/Valuating new media in language development

This paper addresses the need for a new approach to the educational evaluation of software that falls under the rubric "new media" or "multimedia" as distinct from previous generations of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software. The authors argue that present approaches to CALL software evaluation are not appropriate for a new genre of CALL software distinguished by its shared assumptions about language learning and teaching as well as by its technical design. The paper sketches a research-based program called "E/Valuation" that aims to assist language educators to answer questions about the educational effectiveness of recent multimedia language learning software. The authors suggest that such program needs to take into account not only the nature of the new media and its potential to promote language learning in novel ways, but also current professional knowledge about language learning and teaching

Using term clouds to represent segment-level semantic content of podcasts

Spoken audio, like any time-continuous medium, is notoriously difficult to browse or skim without support of an interface providing semantically annotated jump points to signal the user where to listen in. Creation of time-aligned metadata by human annotators is prohibitively expensive, motivating the investigation of representations of segment-level semantic content based on transcripts generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR). This paper examines the feasibility of using term clouds to provide users with a structured representation of the semantic content of podcast episodes. Podcast episodes are visualized as a series of sub-episode segments, each represented by a term cloud derived from a transcript generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR). Quality of segment-level term clouds is measured quantitatively and their utility is investigated using a small-scale user study based on human labeled segment boundaries. Since the segment-level clouds generated from ASR-transcripts prove useful, we examine an adaptation of text tiling techniques to speech in order to be able to generate segments as part of a completely automated indexing and structuring system for browsing of spoken audio. Results demonstrate that the segments generated are comparable with human selected segment boundaries

'Sounds of Intent' : Mapping musical behaviour and development in children and young people with complex needs

This article reports on the first year of an Esmae Fairbairn Foundation-funded research project into the design and evaluation of an original 'framework' for mapping the behaviour and development in, and through, music for children with complex needs, specifically those with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). An initial four-month design and pilot phase critiqued and evaluated a framework that was grounded in video-based iterative analyses of individual case studies that had been collected during the previous two years. The piloting phase was followed by a sustained period of classroom-based music lesson observation in five special schools over a period of seven months. A total of 630 observations were made using the framework for 68 participants whose ages ranged from 4 years 7 months to 19 years 1 month. Subsequent analyses support the general design features of the observational framework and provide new evidence of PMLD musical behaviour and development

Automatic generation of audio content for open learning resources

This paper describes how digital talking books (DTBs) with embedded functionality for learners can be generated from content structured according to the OU OpenLearn schema. It includes examples showing how a software transformation developed from open source components can be used to remix OpenLearn content, and discusses issues concerning the generation of synthesised speech for educational purposes. Factors which may affect the quality of a learner's experience with open educational audio resources are identified, and in conclusion plans for testing the effect of these factors are outlined