CALL Implementation Strategies：A Case Study

This paper will begin by discussing changes in CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) over the past decade, identifying three modes: computers as teachers; computers used for communication between teachers and students; and communication among students. Next, we will investigate how key components of the Moodle LMS (Learning Management System), such as quizzes, forums and wikis can contribute to language acquisition by facilitating comprehensible input through task-based, communicative learning. We will also show how these approaches entail an avoidance of the product approach to language instruction which tends to facilitate language knowledge rather than acquisition. A practical discussion of these issues in our context will follow, also addressing the issue of assessment.Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 4: 135-151(2010)departmental bulletin pape

Evaluating Human-Language Model Interaction

Many real-world applications of language models (LMs), such as writing assistance and code autocomplete, involve human-LM interaction. However, most benchmarks are non-interactive in that a model produces output without human involvement. To evaluate human-LM interaction, we develop a new framework, Human-AI Language-based Interaction Evaluation (HALIE), that defines the components of interactive systems and dimensions to consider when designing evaluation metrics. Compared to standard, non-interactive evaluation, HALIE captures (i) the interactive process, not only the final output; (ii) the first-person subjective experience, not just a third-party assessment; and (iii) notions of preference beyond quality (e.g., enjoyment and ownership). We then design five tasks to cover different forms of interaction: social dialogue, question answering, crossword puzzles, summarization, and metaphor generation. With four state-of-the-art LMs (three variants of OpenAI's GPT-3 and AI21 Labs' Jurassic-1), we find that better non-interactive performance does not always translate to better human-LM interaction. In particular, we highlight three cases where the results from non-interactive and interactive metrics diverge and underscore the importance of human-LM interaction for LM evaluation.Comment: Authored by the Center for Research on Foundation Models (CRFM) at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI

Teaching grammar using focus on form approach in communicative language teaching for Korean middle school students

Plan B Paper. 2013. Master of Arts-TESOL--University of Wisconsin-River Falls. English Department. 96 leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-54).In Korea, exceptional English communication skills are considered essential when conducting business internationally. This awareness led the Korean government to include English as one of the prerequisite subjects in public education. From the 1950s, to the early 1990s, students were taught English using a traditional approach which focused on teaching sentence level grammar rules without verbal communication. However, it did not improve their communicative skills. For this reason, the Korean government introduced the communicative approach in English instruction, and since then students have not only learned how to use English appropriately in different social situations, they have significantly improved their oral fluency as well. Unfortunately, students' accuracy in communication has remained relatively low as teachers do not typically correct students' spoken grammatical errors as they occur. Considering this, Korean English education needed a new approach which offered students sufficient opportunities for authentic communication, in addition to improving the grammatical accuracy of their output. The use of Michael Long's approach, focus on form, seems to have offered the solution. Focus on form provides teachers with eleven teaching techniques in order to improve students' grammatical accuracy in communication. The implicit techniques, which include input flood, task-essential language, and input enhancement etc., can be used by teachers to improve their students' language awareness implicitly. On the other hand, the explicit techniques, which include dictogloss, consciousness-raising task, and input processing etc., can be used by teachers wanting to focus more on teaching grammar rules by using meta-talk, rather than natural communication. Based on the wide range of research used in this paper, using focus on form will help Korean students enhance their ability to use grammar accurately in communication. However, some of focus on form's anticipated disadvantages are class size and teachers' inadequate proficiency in English. To overcome the disadvantages of using focus on form in CLT, some pedagogical choices (e.g. reactive vs proactive, implicit vs explicit techniques, and sequential vs integrated) are discussed thoroughly. Finally, focus on form may also be applied to the strong version of CLT such as task-based instruction and content-based instruction

The extended organism: A framework for examining strategic media skill in a digital ecology

This dissertation presents an extended organism framework that is directly applicable to the study of strategic media skill. The framework posits that it can be helpful in understanding the human cognizer’s adaptiveness and success of memory in a digital ecology to consider the characteristics of digital memory—the body of rote knowledge and various features of digital technology—as part of the human-technology extended organism, rather than an external environment on which the cognizer acts. It proposes three major subprocesses of strategic media skill: strategic encoding, metacognition, and identifying technological biases. This paper applies the framework to the case of offloading cognition to external devices to demonstrate its applicability. The extended organism framework, as it stands now, provides a conceptual-theoretical lens for predicting and explaining findings about strategic media skill, especially from an effects tradition, and for asking questions about the cognitive processing underlying strategic media skill. Using this perspective and these approaches to empirical investigations, researchers should be able to better understand the successes and failures of memory and cognition in a digital ecology, currently characterized by near-constant access to external information via dynamic and changing digital media devices. The ability to do this will allow media users to know the cognitive consequences associated with different actions and strategies and to make better decisions about when and how to use digital media to accomplish their goals

Evaluation of mobile and communication technologies for language learning

Results from a study by the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia indicate that the English language performance of Malaysian university students and graduates is a cause of concern. The National Higher Education Strategic Plan was launched by the Malaysian government in 2007 as a response to the challenges of the education sector that needs to be more internationalised and industry driven. In the strategic plan, the English language is identified as a crucial element in the effort to achieve a developed country status by the year 2020. Therefore, academicians and researchers are actively finding ways to improve students English skills in reading, listening, writing and speaking. Mobile Learning (or m-learning) is a new approach to enhance the learning experience utilising mobile technologies. For example, in order to learn new words the brain requires repeated reminders. The use of mobile devices can help to reinforce the learning process. The use of mobile devices to deliver learning in chunks or nugget sizes, on the move, at any time and anywhere, have shown to engage the learners very effectively in some research projects. Communication technologies such as blogs and Wikis also hold promises for enhancing learning. For instance, writing for a wider audience encourages students' ownership and responsibility. Moreover, comments and feedback from peers can motivate and encourage students. This, in turn, will lead to more active participation. Recognising the potential of these technologies for language learning, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of using mobile phones and communication technologies for English language learning with Malaysian students. Two experiments were carried out in this study. The initial pilot experiment was carried out with a small group of students to determine the feasibility of using mobile and communication technologies for language learning for Malaysian students in higher education. The main experiment was conducted after addressing the lessons learned from the initial experiment. An experimental group and a control group from a public higher education institution in Malaysia took part in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed. The quantitative results show that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in the post written test. The experimental group is in favour of receiving lesson reminders and quizzes that were sent to their mobile phones. However, they did not like receiving messages about web resources. They also did not like reading learning material on a wiki and updating wiki entries. Three themes are derived from the interviews and questionnaires: 1) access, 2) communication, and 3) usability. Access to learning focuses on the ease of use to access learning materials. Students agreed that mobile phones and wikis allowed them to access learning material easily. However, the use of wiki did not engage the students. In terms of communication, lecturers and students can use mobile phone and wiki platforms for communication. However, students were not keen to communicate with the lecturer. As for usability, the students have no problems using a mobile phone but the problem is with the small screen size and it is difficult to type long replies. The students did not want to invest time in learning how to use a wiki as they see it as being irrelevant because they did not want to publish and share their ideas with others. In conclusion, the use of a mobile phone and wiki for language learning is feasible, but further investigation is required regarding student engagement. The lessons learned from this study can help practitioners, in particular those in Malaysia, to adapt their language learning processes when integrating mobile and communication technologies

Supporting students' Chinese learning through the platform of social media : Edmodo

From an educational perspective this thesis explores the social media platform Edmodo as a method to support Chinese language teaching and learning in Australian public primary schools. It focuses on a teacher-researcher's exploration of using information technology ‒ social media, to make Chinese learnable for young beginning learners. In this context the research is timely and significant. The research is carried out as a qualitative case study that involves collecting and analysing data from teaching Chinese language in BR Public School. The aim of this study is to explore the strategies of using social media, Edmodo, to facilitate young students’ learning of Chinese by creating a positive teaching and learning environment where off-class, online activities complement classroom teaching. The first of the evidentiary chapters (Chapter 4) points out the existing challenges of class-based, text-based approaches to teaching and learning Chinese. A full description of these challenges inspired the idea of incorporating Edmodo to support students’ learning. The second (Chapter 5) and third (Chapter 6) evidentiary chapters foreground the implementation of social media strategies and activities in the teaching of Chinese. The findings (Chapter 7) indicate that Edmodo can be used in a supporting role to facilitate students’ successful learning of Chinese language. In the case of this project, an overall assessment of the teacher-research method of professional learning in the context of Chinese language education in an Australian public primary school is that it proved to be a beneficial process

The Compass, Issue 1

Issue 1 of The Compass, a scholarly journal edited and produced by students in the Arcadia University Honors Program

Promoting listening strategies use in elementary English as a foreign language computer-assisted learning environment

In Japan, English education in elementary schools is still in the process of innovation. The purpose of this project is to seek the most appropriate and effective way for elementary-level students to acquire listening skills in a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment