“Do teachers need to create web-based language activities for EFL students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Why and why not?

Technology has made teaching and learning easier for both teachers and students. I believe teachers need to create interesting activities for language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing on the Web to facilitate their student’s learning. Sally Morrison mentioned some advantages of creating web-based activities as; Accessibility: By putting course material on the Web, teachers provide students with 24-hour, independent access to course information, and updates to Web pages and new assignments are immediately available to students. Renewability: Once created, materials can be updated easily and often. Adaptability: Web-based activities can easily be modified to support students at different proficiency levels or with special needs. Evaluation: teachers can easily assess their student’s work instantly. Feedback: teachers can give feedback to their learners with ease.Some learners need incentives to motivate them. A teacher can create web-based languages activities to encourage those students.

Virtual classroom with Ms. Peggy Tharpe

 

For the first time in my stay at YUC on a Wednesday in EDU 401 class we had a virtual classroom session. Dr. Hala was the moderator who introduced Ms. Peggy Tharpe who is an American English teacher,trainer and consultant, americanpronunciationcoach. I can’t actually remember how many students were in the class but roughly 15 to 16 of us and a guest teacher. The session was on for about 43 minutes.

The topic of the lecture was about “how Arabic influences the Pronunciation of English?” Ms. Peggy started by telling us a very interesting story on how she came to study why people sound so American when they speak Arabic. From her study she discovered that;

·         Arabic and English are spoken in different parts of the mouth.

·         Differences in vowel system.

·         Differences in consonant system.

·         Arabic breaks in sound can occur within words (glottal stop) while

·         English breaks in sound separate phrases.

·         Consonants are strong in Arabic whereas vowels are stronger in English.

·         The problem with learning all the extra vowels for the Arabic speaker and extra consonant for the English speaker. eg

American		Standard Arabic
vowels	12-18	3:3+2
consonants	20	27-28

When the session was over she asked some questions and some answers were given. E.g. one question says, what works best to master unfamiliar consonants? Some students say, practice and listening skills. Ms. Peggy agreed, adding that even research has shown that the earlier one listens to a language the better they acquire the accent. 

Advantages

Accessibility: one can access a virtual classroom from home, office, internet café or any other place which has an internet connection.

It brings experienced people and learners from all over the world together in highly interactive virtual class.

Recording: all sessions in a virtual classroom can be recorded and you can watch and listen to the entire session at any time.

Disadvantages

Not all schools have the technology and the internet.

Cost of the technology.

Some feel that education quality will go down because of "mass" communication learning systems.

I will like to use virtual classrooms like blackboard in my classroom. Depending on where I am in the world. In Saudi Arabia I don’t think it will work because of the restrictions on the use of cameras and videos. However, things are rapidly changing.

Wordle in EDU 401

“Normalisation of Bax in the Saudi Kingdom”

Bax in this article critically analysis and evaluates the history of CALL. And gave explanations of the three current classes of Restricted, open and integrated CALL. He argues that the three current classes of CALL give a complete examination of institutions and classrooms than previous examinations. At the beginning Bax discussed the history of CALL, using Warschauer’s three phases of CALL Behavioristic, Communicative and Integrative. That he thought seems to have a number of significant weaknesses, which he briefly discussed with sub-headings as; Inconsistencies, Unclear criteria, Integrative CALL, What are these phases? .Then he answered the three questions mentioned in the article, where has Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) been, where is it now and where is it going?

 

Changes which Bax suggested and the means proposed of achieving normalizations.

Bax suggested that we are currently using the second approach, Open CALL, but that our goal should be to attain a state of ‘normalisation’ in which the technology is invisible and truly integrated. Normalisation as defined by Bax is the stage when technology has become part of every society like “PALL” and “BALL” because these technologies are totally integrated into education. For CALL to be fully integrated into language learning, Bax suggested that;

·         Teachers and students should use it as an important part of their everyday lesson e.g. pen or a book.

·         They should use it without any distress and overemphasis.

·         It should play an important role in the lesson and other aspects of learning that it will go virtually unnoticed.

·         It will be normalised when the students’ needs are examined first and using the computers to promote learning.

Furthermore, Bax described three steps which are needed to be taken for normalization to occur:

·         Identifying the important factors which normalization requires.

·         Audit the use of each teaching context for the identified in the light of these criteria.

·         To make amendments in our recent practice in each aspect that is required for normalization. Bax stated that following this procedure will give each institution and teacher a clear framework within which to audit progress, and within which any obstacles to integration and normalization can be identified and dealt with. He also argued that there is need to ethnographic analyses, in order to understand CALL better.

Explain how these changes and means could be applied to our Saudi context. (The possibility of reaching Bax’s normalization, why is it possible, when is it possible/reached/achieved, how will it be reached, etc.)

Saudi Arabia is fast growing in all aspects of education and is moving towards normalisation. We can see in almost all the higher institutions computers can be found. In my opinion, the Saudi government should provide computers and devices that are needed by schools to achieve this goal. Teachers should be trained and students should be exposed to technology every day in the classroom. Normalisation is already on its way in people’s lives as they cannot do without technology days. Therefore, more and more effort should be employed in integrating technology in the educational system.

“Challenges of creating web-based activities in Sally Morrison” Interactive language learning on the Web”.

Modern technology has made teaching and learning easier for both teachers and students. Today, teachers can create interesting activities for language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing on the Web to facilitate their student’s learning. But there are many challenges in creating Web-Based activities for teachers. Sally Morrison mentioned some of these obstacles in her article on “Interactive language learning on the Web”.

First, teachers do not have the technical skill and knowledge to do so. Although Basic HTML skills is required to create simple Web based activities , many teachers lack even this. And what worsen this is that teachers do not devote their time in obtaining new this skills. 

Second, the variability of students’ access to computers. What type of computer and browser will they be using? What is the connection speed at which they will be accessing activities? These are questions teachers must answer before creating online activities. If students will be accessing the Web from a variety of computers with a variety of Web browsers and modem speeds, this must be taken into account in designing online activities.

Third, the need to design Web pages that meet accessibility guidelines for individuals with disabilities so that students with special needs are not left out.

In addition to the issues mentioned above, I will like to add constant access to the internet maybe one reason that can hinder their effort. If there is no reliable internet it may be impossible. Another difficulty  is the time. Not all teachers have spare time to sit and design activities that needs a lot of time and energy.

CALL AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

 

Technology and Internet have become very essential in our lives today. From our homes, we can conduct numerous bank transactions, pay our bills, rent a car, submit assignments, grade students’ activities and lots more. Therefore, it is extremely important that such technologies are fully utilized in language teaching and learning. CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) uses information and communication technology applications in teaching language; it is important that language teachers encourage and monitor their students to use CALL in their classes.

There are many sites that provide effective learning environment for EFL/ESL learners so that they can build their READING SKILLS. Such sites are user friendly, interactive and very colorful. The benefits of using some of the sites are given below:

Starfall
This is an amazing site that teaches children how to read with phonics.  The approach of this site is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, and ESL). The benefit we can get from this site is that it is free and it can be considered as an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.

Super-Reader

This website allows learners to take short story tests that evaluate their reading comprehension. The questions and answers are shown online. Teachers can use this site to assess their students.

Reading-rewards
Some learners need incentives to be motivated; reading reward provides just that. On this site, learners can log their reading, browse and add new books to their library and wish list and then write reviews. Teachers can encourage, track and set up rewards for their learners. Some of the benefits we get from this site are: it is a fun way to get kids reading, it can be used to limit TV/Computer game time, and it is a safe, child-friendly social network where the child play and interacts with a parent approved list of friends only.

Storyline online

This is an interactive website designed for learners to read and listen to how stories are being read aloud. It has videos and books with short biography about the reader and activities to enhance ESL student’s understanding of the story. They can read reviews and leave their comments. Language teachers can use this to bring excitement into their classrooms.

Social networking sites in Educational Technology

What is your most important reason for using social networking sites?

We are living in the world of Internet now. Recently, people cannot imagine their lives without social networking sites including me, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, MySpace, Instagram etc.The most important reason I use social networking sites is First, to connect with my family and relatives. I can spend hours talking to them via Skype and WhatsApp that makes me really happy. Second, I get to make new friends exchange information about each other and catch up with long time lost friends. Third, it is a constant place to reach someone than making calls. I can just send a private message even if the person is not online he/she will eventually see it later and reply back. Finally, since am not a T.V person I get current news about happenings around the world on the social networking sites.
 

Is it possible for you to use them in teaching EFL/ESL? Concrete examples?

Yes it is possible to use them in teaching EFL/ESL. As a language teacher I can use social networking sites such as the blog in teaching students to improve their cognitive and writing skills. Example: by giving them interesting topics to reflect on and then post on their blogs so that everyone can see and give feedback. Here the students can interact with different people around the world. This will not only enhance their writing skills but will also upgrade their English and communication skills.  On the blog I can have numerous activities for the learners e.g. videos focusing on vocabulary, grammar, and humor etc. I can create recorded listening exercises based on YouTube videos or audios. Ask the learners to watch or listen and then answer the questions. Each student can also be asked to create an account then record themselves speaking and upload for me to listen to and grade them. This will improve their listening and speaking skills.