Activity 10.1 - Part 2 - Wikis in Second Language Learning

Wikis in second language learning

On a macro level, second language learning involves practicing and mastering a communicative process. Much of that mastery is realized through the creation of many presentations - initially short but gradually getting longer as the student masters grammar and expands their vocabulary. A wiki can support that development through its ability to

• record revisions at any stage of the writing process
• invite students to work collaboratively at any or all stages of the writing process
• support a variety of digital media that can be used to support a student's message
• share the product of the writing process with a real and broad audience.

a) Revision / archiving

Students create writing presentations in a wiki much like they would in a word processor. However each editing of a wiki presentation is automatically saved as an iteration that can be viewed or even restored at a later time . As a result, that writing process is made much more transparent to a student then can be realized using conventional paper. Students can see the various iterations that led up to their final presentation to review the stages of their presentation's development. But these iterations can also be shared with friends, peers and instructors to invite their comment. As a result, a student can receive more frequent and potentially more meaningful feedback to reflect upon their work which can then be used to determine how to improve the effectiveness of their message. Thus students move closer to understanding the true focus of writing presentations - to ensure their message is clearly presented and its purpose clearly understood by an audience.

On a micro level, language development typically requires students to practice construction and discriminant selection of grammar, vocabulary and punctuation to learn how to clearly communicate in a foreign language. Wikis afford students the chance to review and build upon previous work. For example, beginners may be asked to construct simple sentences with the limited vocabulary that they have. As they learn more about new, more complex vocabulary, grammar or syntax structures, they can return to these simple sentences to add what they have learned to these earlier sentences to make them more complex.

Note how the same iterations recorded by the wiki can also help students to review what they have learned and identify where and how their learning took place. Thus for possibly the first time, we have the opportunity to help students develop the life long skill of learning not only a language but "how they learn" a language (Dealtry, 2004).

b) Collaboration

This same writing process can also be done via small groups thus inviting still more learning opportunities. Here students can check their understanding of ideas by practicing and using new key words, grammar constructions and syntax with their peers, reflecting on their peers responses. Then students can collaborate with others in their group on the choice of these same language tools with the goal of finding the best way to communicate a desired message. Such a process moves students away from understanding language learning as memorizing and discriminating how to apply various vocabulary, grammar and formulaic writing patterns to communicate. Instead students come to understand language learning as a collaborative and communicative activity first. Communicating a clear message becomes their motivation to learn.

c) Inclusion of digital media

Thanks to social networking tools such as instant messaging, Facebook and YouTube, a significant part of today's student culture encourages the use and development of a number of digital communications skills - one of those skills is actually writing (Lenhart et al., 2008). A wiki can invite students to include these same skills to support clear communication of their message. This brings into a formal learning environment, these student interests and skills. It also invites practice and discussion on integrating other communicative strategies such as the selection of fonts, graphics, sounds, photos and videos to support such messages. By doing so, students are not only more motivated but also learn the importance of aligning visual or aural messages with those communicated through their writing to again strengthen their message - a communicative approach that is highly relevant in today's society.

(d) share their message with a real and broad audience.

Traditional presentation practice has been done by students for an audience of one - the teacher - or perhaps for a class of students but rarely further. With the help of a wiki, students can now review, reflect and refine their message to a point where they feel ready to present their work to a real and much broader audience. These audiences can now be in the target language, something that was much more difficult to realize before. These audiences could be more proficient second language students in the same school or native speakers in another part of the world. These same audiences can also be invited to engage in a dialogue with students on the message of their presentation. As a result, students learn through one of the most important forms of assessment - real feedback from a real audience on the effectiveness of their efforts to construct a purposeful and targeted message.

Activity 8.4 - The influence of Audience

On the subject of appropriate communications, I feel that I have had a great deal of experience with this.

As part of work as a Art Museum Education Officer many years ago, my main challenge was to make a visit to the museum both engaging and educational for any and all visitors. Fundamental to realizing this meant introducing the concept of visual literacy (the language of art) and its application to interpreting all forms of art and ultimately, to the many different works of art on display in an art museum. I also needed to do this with a variety of audiences. The basic audiences were two - children and adults.

With both groups, I introduced the basic concepts and their emotive qualities. These are line, shape, colour and texture. I then collected a sampling of designed objects that were common to all to help illustrate these concepts. For line, it was the calligraphy used on a can of Coke and how it communicated movement and "life". For shape, it was a sports car (for boys) and a perfume bottle (for girls) and how their shape conveys a story - the car often communicates sleekness or speed, the perfume bottle communicates exoticness, exclusivity and luxury. For colour, it was detergent boxes compared with gourmet food packaging. Finally with texture, the biggest challenge, it was examining how food was presented (often juxtaposed with smooth surfaces to excentuate its texture and infer taste). As one might expect, the presentation concepts were the same for both groups however how they were presented to children was very different from that used with adults.

Curiously enough, the children usually had an easy time comprehending the emotive qualities of the basic elements of art (i.e. line, shape, colour and texture) and then feeling comfortable both applying them and sharing their findings with one another - the younger the children the better. However, for adults it was more difficult. It often meant communicating another message that went alongside this message. Typically, this involved discussing how our perceptions shape how we value and assign a worth to things - a cognitive rather than "emotive" approach. Over time I refined the presentation based upon a pattern of success that was realized through many dialogues with adults. Even amongst adults, I saw differences in how this was perceived. For example, with teachers who were familiar with arts education, this was easy. However, when speaking with school principals (headmasters) or school administrators or trustees (usually in that order) it became more difficult but not impossible.

What I have learned from this and attempt to apply to this day in my work as an education technologist, is the need to take the time to understand the values and perspective of the audience I am working with before making comment. I often test my assumptions about their needs by presenting them for review to make sure they are correct. Once done, this often invites a dialogue that reveals their needs, perspectives and values ... and hopefully their compatibility with my own.

The approach has served me well.

As a result, I am a lot more confident in how to proceed in the consultative role of an elearning practitioner. The advantage the Museum experience afforded me was to have essentially the message as a constant .. only the nature, needs and interests of the audiences changed. Today, in the world of education technology, while the audiences are still varied, the messages to convey appear to be just as varied.

Activity 1.2 - Introduction

Hi everyone

About me? I've been working with computers in education for about 20 years now. Originally began by overseeing a community based project that was designed to promote computer literacy for both children and adults in a Library / Art Gallery (Canada). Then it was off to work in an EFL - CALL lab in a Persian Gulf based institute.. That morphed into work as an EFL instructor in a fully networked learning environment where all students have laptops . Only recently I've moved to becoming an Educational Technology Specialist in the same institution. This is a significant change for me because my role is now to promote more effective teaching and learning methods amongst my previous peers ..and not help undergrad students realize clearly defined "language outcomes". The expectation is that much of this improved effectiveness will be realized through the use of ICT.

About elearning? In general, I really enjoy the ability to connect with people of really varying backgrounds but who all demonstrate a similar keen / common interest in "mastering" an indepth understanding of elearning. Sucessful completion of the course should help me realize the last 30 credit hour course I need to complete my MAODE degree.