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Entitled
Using Computer Software to Complete Vocabulary Exercises in an
ESL Classroom to Increase the Quality of a learners Output
By
Darryl Salter
Re submitted on 4/11/13
Introcuction
The purpose in creating any computer assisted language learning program is to help
the students learn a topic or area of study in the target language. For our groups purpose, we
focused on the creation of a web page to assist second language learners in learning the new
vocabulary and exercises associated with performing tasks in another culture. The task is
to find the items of a recipe in the different departments at a local Supermarket (Please see
appendix A). The assignment after the task will be to test the new vocabulary learned in a
series of exercises. Vocabulary that would be used in everyday life (Clark, 1993). The
materials used will be a web page of a virtual supermarket where the student can navigate
through the store. Questions arise when considering if computers are effective as a tool in
second language acquisition (Chapelle 1995). What are the sociocultural and classroom
contexts in which SLA occurs? Is the input to the learners, the reactions they have, and their
output of good quality (Dunkel, 1991)? Since the project deals with situational factors of
language learning the thesis of this paper will have a theoretical four-part approach to
systematical functional linguistics. The four interrelated areas that will be discussed are,
Sociocultural Setting, Language Program and class, and Activity and Task.
Thesis
Through the use of comprehensible input, does the use of computer software to
complete certain learning tasks such as vocabulary exercises in a language classroom
enhance, increase or change the quality of a learners reactions and output?
Sociocultural Setting
The students for this hypothetical class could come from a varied background such as
immigrants or children of immigrants. The ages of these students are approximately nine
to twelve. The students could be enrolled in an American public school or planning to
attend one. In second language education, for example, the likelihood of a potential
innovation such as technology depends in part on the value society places on traditional
education relative to potential improvements that may be obtained through innovation
(Chapelle, 1990). The successes of technology in education will be influenced, partially,
by weather or not that technology is compatible with a particular culture. Societal values
also influence the amount of financial support made available by governments,
businesses, and other agencies for development in applied linguistics. The resource-intensive
nature of language related software plays a significant role in the financial considerations
of computer assisted language learning (CALL). The potential quality of any CALL
program may rest in large part on the sociocultural context, which supports or fails to
support its development, use, and evaluation. As a result, finding the specific interactions of
Medium of changes
Input (e.g., aural, face-to-face; written on computer screen)
Output (e.g., oral over the phone, written on paper)
Nature of language
Input to the learner (e.g., grammatical, pragmatic)
Output from the learner (e.g., grammatical, pragmatic)
Interaction
Coherence and cohesion of text
Structure of text (e.g., length of turns)
Level of adaptivity (e.g., somewhat adaptive; not adaptive)
In many ways, tasks may be similar to the activities in which they take place.
The most important distinction to make is the way in which activities and tasks are
analyzed. Activities can be globally and intuitively defined, however, tasks are defined
through empirical research which investigate components of the task in action.
The activity in our groups simulation, is a visit to the supermarket for the purpose
of getting food for two simple recipes, a hamburger and a salad. Students will navigate
through a web page through four departments in a supermarket while collecting items on a
pre-written list. Then after the students have successfully identified all of the correct
items on their lists, they will be tested on their understanding with the use of fill-in the
blank and short writing exercises.
Methods
The target language for the students who will use this simulation is English. Their
Homogeneity and cultural background could be from a variety of different areas. This
created some special problems in designing a simulation. Students of different
backgrounds learn differently. For instance, students from Middle Eastern countries are
more proficient in their speech, while Asian students are less proficient in speech. The
At first, the drawings are very rough. Then, after Ideas and concepts develop the drawing
become more detailed. The evolution of the departments concept in a supermarket gave
the designer more freedom and control over task. The original design included a looping
video clip illustrating a shopping cart moving from department to department, but due to
descriptive paragraph, were included into an ancillary power point presentation. Figure 4
ENGL 5/7980 Darryl Salter Page 9
illustrates a prompt of sample questions in the multiple choice and descriptive paragraph
portions of the lesson.
Figure 4:
Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer to the following questions.
The main ingredient in salad is?
a. Carrots
b. Tomatoes
c. Hamburger
d. Lettuce
a. Tomatoes
b. Carrots
c. Hamburger
d. Cucumbers
Once all sections of the simulation and supporting materials were checked and saved onto a
group members notebook computer, which is where most of the software manipulation was
done; different versions of back-ups were made. First, all HTML pages and images were
saved to floppy disc. Then as a second precaution, all materials except the power point
information was copied onto a writeable compact disc. The reason for these precausions other
than computer systems failure, is the fact that Dream Weaver is time-limited freeware that
become unusable after apporximatly thirty days.
Results
To detect any flaws or obstacles in the presentation or simulation, the group practiced
a Dry-run of the lesson, as it would be taught in a classroom. One member of the group
ENGL 5/7980 Darryl Salter Page 10
performed the oral portion of the lesson, while the others acted as students. After examining
the fill-in-the-blank portion of the simulation, it was clear that the students could have some
difficulty in distingusing some of the grocery items in the simulation that are pictured as
count or mass nouns. The wording in some of the sentences was discussed and reworked to
facilitate easier understanding of single and multiple items in the simulation.
Other difficulties were the obvious time contrantis and group member availability.
As the coencdental group leader, I felt overwhelmed at times because of the amount of work
of the various duties. At one point, I was the storyboardist, audiovisual technition, software
technition, and report recorder all at once. Having unriliable group members was also a
handicap for our group. I understand that there are a limited number of graduate level
students enrolled in the course, but perhaps graduates from another group could have been reassinghned to make smaller groups. In this particular situation, both the students in the
groups and the instructor are limited in what they can do.
Shopping List
Here is what a shopping list might look like when you go to the market. Your job will be to
choose one of the lists below, go to the market, and identify the items on each list. You may
Know some of the items already, but some you may not. After each of you use the simulation,
there will be some exercises to check if you were able to find all of the items.
6 Hamburger Sandwiches
1 head of lettuce
1 package of carrots
1 head of lettuce
1 bundle of broccoli
3 tomatoes
1 package of radishes
1 jar of mayonnaise
1 tomato
1 bottle of dressing
Recipes
Here is a description of the two recipes that go with the shopping lists. Since cooking is
culturaly different in many countries, just basic methods of cooking are illustrated here.
Dont worry if you do not understand gome of the gammar and adjectives used to describe
the cooking process. Just try to understand the items and their relation to the recipes.
6 Hamburger Sandwiches
1.Separate the hamburger meat into 6 equal flat round pieces (patties).
2. Fry the pieces in a skillet until desired.
3. Prepare hamburger buns with mayonnaise on top or bottom of buns.
4. Wash and cut lettuce.
5. Wash and cut tomatoes.
6. Place meat on lower part of the bun.
7. Place tomatoes and lettuce on the bun in desired order.
8. Serve.
Garden Salad for 2
1. Wash and cut lettuce to desired size.
2. Add to salad bowl
3. Wash and cut broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, and radishes to desired size.
4. Add to salad bowl and mix (toss).
5. Add desired salad dressing.
Here is another screen image at the binary level illustrating the produce department. Once
again, clicking on the image or the navigation bar can reveal individual items.