Technology in Language Teaching

Project Report
Name: Nguyễn Thu Thủy
ID: 16045138
Cohort: QH2016.1

I. Background
My class is from information technology major with 20 second-year students at East Asia
University of Technology. They attend a TOEIC test preparation course. They are about
20-21 years old and all are young and have little experiences about the world they are
living in. They are 13 male and 7 female students. They have basic level of IT skills, but
they are fast learners and willing to learn new things. In the entry test, they have to gain
at least 250 out of 990 in the TOEIC band score, which is equivalent to background level
of A1 – A2.
There are four lessons in a week and 12 weeks in total. Each lesson lasts 45 minutes. The
text book they are using are ABC TOEIC, by Korean authors, together with practicing
real TOEC tests, extracted from TOEIC ETS series. They also learn through projectors
and computers during classroom meeting and online forum.
At the end of the course, they have to gain at least 350 out of 990. In details, they can
match pairs of words in their collocations, fill the missing words in the blank in a short
text, memorize common vocabulary frequently appeared in the TOEIC tests and
paraphrase simple words and expressions.
II. Issue or problem to be addressed that technology can help with. What’s wrong?
This is a class of 20 students from IT major. They are all young adults. Their English
levels are just basic. Though they are lazy, they are keen on learning English with
computers and new technology. One of the issues I am facing when teaching them is
tracking students’ progress. To be more detailed, students are lazy so they quit doing
homework very often or just parts of the assignments. I, as a teacher, find it very difficult
to check their doing homework. If I check at class, it is time-consuming and I need time
for other activities rather than checking homework. If I assign 1 student to do this job, he/
she tends to cover for their friends.
III. Specific technology solution
My issue when teaching is that: I want to check all students’ homework, both the amount
of homework they have done and what they have done are right or wrong. In the past, I
could not check all my students’ homework because it was very time-consuming and I just
checked my students’ homework randomly by calling some of the names and they brought
their homework to me. I got this idea from one of my colleagues at my English center, as
she has the same problem. The teacher creates a group for his/ her class on Facebook. These
days, nearly everyone has a Facebook profile so it is very easy and convenient for students
to join a Facebook group without having to sign up for a new account. Then, after each
lesson, they can do their homework as usual, then they take photos of their homework and
post it on the group. Each lesson has its own entry so that students can post the photos of
their homework on that entry. Though they can submit their work late, but the teacher can
see the date and time when students submit it. Late submission is tolerate but the points are
graded unfavorably. After the due date, the teacher will go online and check the students’
homework or even assign one student to check one another’ homework. Hopefully, this
new technology will receive the students’ supports because of its convenience.
IV. Response and reflection
I introduced the students to the idea of submitting their homework by taking photographs
of their pages and post it on the Facebook group. Next week we would check the
homework before the beginning of the next lesson. I thought my students were not
excited about this as their homework was monitored carefully and they needed to do their
homework regularly, with care, otherwise their attendance marks would be minused.
On the second week, 18 out of 20 students submitted their homework online. It was quite
surprising because I thought that many students would not support this idea and maybe
many of them will forget to submit the work on the group.
On the third week, 15 out of 20 students submitted their homework online. The number
of students submitted the homework declined. 5 students did not submit the homework.
As they explained to me, 2 of them were absent in the previous week and 2 of them
forgot to do the homework.
Though it might have drawbacks, this facebook group helped me a lot in monitoring my
students’ doing homework.

the number of students who finished the

homework
25

20

15

10

0
Day 1 Day 2

Stds finished hw Stds didn’t finish hw

V. Changes made or changes to make – 10 points

I think that this change can assist me in checking my students’ homework. I can see their
whole progress and they can be reminded of doing the homework if they missed
submitting the homework too often. However, there are things I need to put into
consideration. Firstly, I could not have the time to check if my students were doing it
right or wrong. And most importantly, students who are lazy can copy the work from
other students and didn’t do the homework by their own.
Because of its drawbacks, I will find more effective classroom management systems such
as Canvas or Google classroom to apply in my class in the future.
VI. Conclusion and suggestions
All in all, Facebook group can help teachers checking their students’ homework online,
partially. Facebook is not originally made for managing class so it is not the best way to
implement the change. Therefore, it is an urge for me to research deeply into other online
classroom management systems to fulfill the needs.
In conclusion, when an online academic management system is implemented in the
educational institution, the labor costs are reduced. Since so many tasks become
automated, the need for some tasks to be managed is eliminated. With an online academic
management system, An online classroom management system allows teachers to
communicate swiftly, confidentially, and directly with every student in a matter of
moments, even with their parents, or even the entire school.
One of the single biggest advantages of online classroom management systems is their
ability to be accessible to all, across platforms, times, and devices. Since it is connected
online, participants can sign into the system from their phone or their laptop, at their most
convenient time to finish the tasks they need to.
VII. Resources
Here is the URL for my class on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/321848061761941/
VIII. Day-to-day notes of what happened and reflections
Here is my journal and record of the implementation of technology in my course and
my thoughts about it.
Day What Happened My Thoughts
Day 1 I introduced the students to I thought my students were
the idea of submitting their not excited about this as
homework by taking their homework was
photographs of their pages monitored carefully and
and post it on the they needed to do their
Facebook group. Next homework regularly, with
week we will check the care, otherwise their
homework before the next attendance marks would be
class. minused.
Day 2 18 out of 20 students It was over my expectation
submitted their homework because nearly all my
online
 students fulfilled their
homework.

Day 3 15 out of 20 students Some students forgot to

submitted their homework submit their homework and
online. they agreed about their
mistakes.