Computers in Language Teaching

REPORTED BY: RONAN JOSEPH B DOMINGO

In Computers in Language Teaching, it examines the forms and functions of computer technology in second language learning. These forms and functions are separate from any particular state of technology. In Language Teaching, good teaching methodology depends more on sound pedagogy than on access to any particular from of computer technology. This will focus less on the artifacts of technologyhardware and software, but more on the teaching approaches and techniques related to technology, which should still exist regardless of whatever the hardware and software of the day might be. Historical Overview 1940s birth of educational computing Bush (1945) foresaw a future in which communication and science would be enhanced with hyperlinked systems of information. Bush considered a future device for individual use called memex, it is a device in which it can store all files like books, records and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.

1950s and 1960s most powerful computers occupied entire rooms 1970s and 1980s development of microchip and miniaturization of components enabled educational technology to move forward rapidly 1988 just a short time ago, the vision of technological future was the following: What will happen is that in the University of the Year 2000, students will be given a computer on their first day. Over the years that they spend at the university, a fixed cost will be assessed each term. This cost will pay for the computer, tuition, access to myriad of database services and online textbooks. (Young et al. 1988) What Computers Cant Do 1. Machine Translation- translating simple languages with high frequency vocabulary and little idiomatic usages. Students or instructors who seek translation assistance from computers will receive a text that may be somewhat comprehensible. It fails in several areas: it does not have vocabulary database that allows an understanding
Ronan Joseph B. Domingo | BSEd IV-A| Report in Remedial Instruction

misinterpretations of prepositions inability to appropriately detect plural form it is not sensitive enough to contexts that distinguish important semantic, syntactic, or morphological features Fig. 1. Cyrano de Bergarac written in French by Edmond Rostand (1897)

2. Providing Appropriate Feedback to Learners- in language education, feedback is a critical part of learning and communication. Mechanized systems do not have the capability to customize feedback with the same sensitivity that a human instructor does. The best feedback systems give a simple explanation of the right or wrong answer; emit a noise, either pleasant or unpleasant, indicating whether the user has provided the correct answer. Fig. 2 Fig. 3

3. Voice Recognition- refers to the capability of a computer or software program to accept and interpret spoken dictation or to understand and carry out voice commands. It is use to dictate text into the computer or to give commands to the computer such as opening programs and menus and saving files.) Bell Labs (1960s) began a project of voice recognition but its still inefficient in accurately dividing up a natural speech stream into

Ronan Joseph B. Domingo | BSEd IV-A| Report in Remedial Instruction

discrete words. But speech production programs that read text aloud have been successful for several years that benefited the sight-impaired computer and technology users. 4. Grammar Checking- modern word-processing software usually comes equipped with grammar-checking routines but this software falls short of the grammatical editing that is required in a language classroom because it is not sensitive to context and conventions of use. Students who use grammar-checking programs should fully understand English grammar to make full use of the suggestions offered by grammar-checking software. 5. Essay Marking- there is no software that can read a text and write relevant comments on it although there is a software that allows instructors to insert their comments neatly in students word-processed text. What Computers Can Do 1. Drills- computers are useful in delivering drills for practice, whether grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or listening, as they are tireless in the delivery. It can repeat a word a hundred times the user wishes. The following are the advantages of computer according to McCarthy (1994) : Organization of materials o Volume of material and random presentation o Scoring and record-keeping o Graphics o Animations Allowing student control, audio-cuing, recording and storage of student responses 2. Adaptive Testing- a form of computer-based test that adapts to the examinee's ability level of understanding. For this reason, it has also been called tailored testing. 3. Corpora and Concordancing- these are types of tools and data that are increasingly being used in language classroom. Concordance is a listing of some or all of the words in a text or set of texts, surrounded by the text that they are embedded in. The purpose of a concordance is to study how words are used in a language, and to allow us to acquire a deeper understanding of meaning and usage than can be obtained from a dictionary. Corpus is a collection of writings or recorded remarks used for linguistic analysis. A single such collection is called a corpus - plural corpora. 4. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) a. E-mail- it is a communication tool of a lot of people. Many instructors and researchers have designed e-mail tasks to focus its use on language learning

Ronan Joseph B. Domingo | BSEd IV-A| Report in Remedial Instruction

Table 1. E-mail Activities

Teacher Teacher Use e-mail discussion lists for peer support E-mail monitoring with master and pre-service teachers Receive resources such as syllabi and class materials from other instructors Teacher Student Submit assignments by e-mail rather than on paper Class announcements Question and answer outside of class time sessions Student Student Discuss current events among groups of geographically dispersed students Peer collaboration on assignments Group work electronically conducted

b. Chat- is a real-time or synchronous communication. It has informal feel of conversation yet it is mediated through writing. It can be used to facilitate class discussions. c. MUDS and MOOS- multi-user domains or MUDS or multi-user domains objectoriented, MOOs, are both asynchronous and synchronous in form. They are textbased virtual spaces that rely on the ability of the user to (1) describe environments (asynchronously or synchronously), and (2) interact within those environments (synchronously). MUD and MOO users create stories by inventing rich environments filled with objects that other users can manipulate and investigate. By navigating through space, students create stories in an impromptu fashion. Students hold dialogues, open boxes, find secret messages and secret passages and move through space. 5. Multimedia Production- two widely used media (or sets of media) for multimedia production: a. Digital video in which digital multimedia tools are used to construct, edit, and produce a linear story. It requires learners bring a story to life with voice, images, a soundtrack or sound effects and a sense of movement through cuts and transitions. b. Hypertext/Web-based stories in which digital multimedia tools are used to build and deliver stories (via web or local storage media) that allow user interaction though hyperlinks. It is an environment in which learners can imagine and produce stories. Conclusion Computers are providing instructors and students alike with new battery of tools with which language can be learned more effectively. Machines are now used as tools for communication rather than simple ways of delivering automated drills. The speed and size of computers now allow large databases to be manipulated. There is nothing certain about the future of technology, except that it will no doubt become more widespread and powerful. ###

Ronan Joseph B. Domingo | BSEd IV-A| Report in Remedial Instruction