Reflection on Week 12 - Technology in testing : the present and the future

With the advancement of computer and Internet technology, various Computer-Based Tests (CBT) have been developed to facilitate the application of language test. Amongst all, perhaps the most popular one may be the CBT TOEFL and GMAT, which are very familiar to HK students, as well as to students in other locations all over the world.

The fast development of CBT is obviously due to its advantages in terms of large data base, convenience in management, instant feedback and probably apparent low cost. However, the public still have some reservation on how accurately these CBTs represent the true language ability of students, as most of the CBTs are assessed in the form of multiple choice questions. As time goes on, more and more sophisticated CBTs will be developed which allow further tests on writing and speaking abilities, but still subject to certain limitations. Nevertheless CBT will continue to develop but its validity and authority may subject to criticism until there comes a consensus in the whole society that such computer-based tests can represent one's language ability at large, even not thoroughly.

Reflection on Week 11 - Learning Management Systems

In the field of education in particular in e-learning, a formal Learning Management System (LMS) always plays an important role. As in CityU, we have got Blackboard and other associated management programmes like AIMS to assist our learning through internet and to facilitate our communication with fellow students and others.

As mentioned in the article, sometimes it is found that the provision of LMS does not mean a complete success or entire efficiency in learning, since some mode of learning is achieved informally via trial-and-error or causal chatting with others. In fact, it is not surprised to find that some students who are not active in class but will be very enthusiastic after class, either in sports activities or social activities. This demonstrates the fact that a formal learning environment, including a formal LMS may not be suitable for every student. Alternatively, sometimes it is advantageous to allow certain flexibility or creativity for students to develop their own learning mode, which will motivate and enhance their incentive in learning.

All in all, there is no perfect LMS that could resolve all learning problems, and a continuous improvement is needed to cope with the ever changing environment especially the e-learning by internet, to suit the learning needs of students nowadays.

Reflection on Week 10 - Learner Autonomy and Tandem Learning

In this article, the author describes three approaches in learning autonomy; namely individual cognitive, social interactive and experimental participatory perspective. Then the author introduces tandem learning which is somewhat a new idea to me, probably because I am not a teacher or engaged in the field of education. Nevertheless, the principle and practice of tandem learning may not be suitable for every student, unless the learner has acquired sufficient learner autonomy.

As pointed out in the article and by many classmates, the success of tandem learning approach may rely on many factors such as the personal characters of the learners, a suitable partner with common interest and goals, a favourable learning topic and environment etc. All these may affect the success of tandem learning. Also, it is not easy to reflect the learning process unless the communications between partners is closely monitored by the teacher, which in practice is difficult. All in all, tandem learning provides students an opportunity to motive greater participation and incentive in their learning which should be promoted and encouraged in pursuing their learning career.

Reflection on Week 9 - Multimedia courseward development : an EFL IVD experience

In this article, a detailed description and experience are given by the author in developing a new CALL courseware from the very beginning stage up to final stage with the end product. Obviously, the whole development process is a difficult and tedious task. But in order to meet the current trend in language teaching and to maximise the utility of computer technology, it is inevitable for the education authority and schools to place more resources in this aspect and to carry out further researches.

As time goes on and computer skills become part of the life, in particular for those teenager students who are adapted and very familiar to learn under a computer environment, it can be foreseen that more and more CALL multimedia / IVD materials will be available in the market, and become an important stream in language teaching in the near future.

Reflection on Week 8 : Hong Kong's amended Copyright Law

This article describes briefly the important points in the amended HK Copyright Ordinance, in particular addressing the education issues. I think this can provide some very useful guidelines to teachers in preparing education materials without infringing the Copyright Ordinance. As noted in the amended Ordinance, a new "fair dealing" exemption is introduced to facilitate modern teaching in incorporating authentic materials such as extracts from newspaper and journals.

In the amended copyright law, some examples of "fair dealing" have been given, but still there is no specific definition. Probably due to the fact that it is very difficult to lay down a specific definition and in practice has to consider case by case according to the circumstances. Nevertheless, this articles did provide some very interesting examples such as alerting teachers not to play a currently shown movie in class for students' entertainment purposes rather than education purposes.

All in all, teachers must be cautious in adopting any authentic materials for education purposes, as the copyright issue is a sensitive matter nowadays. It would be embarrassing to an educational establishment if its teaching staff is charged for an offence in infringing copyright even due to carelessness.

Group 2 - Proposal in Developing a Class Website

We are members of Group 2 namely Alice Wat, Charlotte Chan, Shirley Li and Kelvin Fu. Appended below please find our proposal in developing a class website for teaching purposes.

1. Background

We are English teachers in primary and secondary schools. In view of the need to strengthen student’s interest in English learning, whilst avoiding the traditional classroom setting, we propose to develop a class website with computer assisted programmes in quizzes, matches, cloze etc. to facilitate students to learn English in class or at home. The content of the website will contain English related matters but of interesting nature to attract students’ attention.

The target learners are senior primary to junior secondary students and their English proficiency is intermediate. For students, the website can provide them an additional means to practise reading and writing English skills in the context of Western festivals. After having a better understanding of the festivals, it is hoped that students will learn and appreciate the Western culture and accordingly develop their interest in learning English.

For teachers, the website can provide additional resources in teaching materials and ideas. The class website will be used as a supplementary tool in English teaching, in particular for students who can gain access to internet at home. This is because there is limited teaching hours in school whilst students enjoy using computers, so that a class website will be a suitable means for English learning at home.

2. Content of the class website

There are 6 main sections in the website which are described as follows:

(i) About this website – to introduce the objective of the website and the target groups;

(ii) Festivals - some brief description of Western Festivals such as Valentine’s Day, Easters, Halloweens and the Christmas. Powerpoints will be provided to introduce the origin, customs, interesting information etc. including introduction of vocabularies and ;writing topics (e.g. to write about individual learner’s favourite festival or to create one’s own festival, write a poem or a recipe etc.);

(iii) Resources – lessons plans, songs, chants etc.,

(iv) Hyperlinks – links to other relevant websites about the festivals with more detailed information for eager learners/students;

(v) Online exercises - quizzes, gap-filling, cross-matches, jumbled sentences etc. from “Hot Potatoes” and other computer tools; and

(vi) Blogs - after going through the class website, students can express their feeling and posted on blog. Also, students may be asked to choose some interested topics and write something on the blog. This allows students to feedback and to facilitate communication between fellow students, and to encourage interaction between students and the teacher.

3. Needs of students and benefits from the webpage

Students often feel that traditional learning in classroom is boring as the teaching is usually confined to textbooks. But in the internet environment, the learning is more interesting and comfortable, as students can have more control and flexibility in learning. Since the scheduled teaching hours in classroom lessons may not be sufficient for students who are slow in English learning, an interesting and flexible supplementary learning media can assist these students to catch up the learning.

A class website can be used both as class activities and student’s self-learning at home. If in school, teacher can go through the powerpoints with students and then have a class discussion to arouse their interest in leaning English and Western festivals. If at home, students can do the online quizzes and gap-filling exercises at a convenient time, and then post their writing on the blog and communicate with others. In this way, students can enrich their knowledge in Western festivals and learn more English vocabularies.

4. Computer skills

Generally, there is no particular computer skills required from the target students in using the class website, provided they have a computer at home that can gain access to the internet. The online games provided in the website page are self-explanatory and it is easy to follow simple instructions to do the exercises. Once the exercises are completed, students can get instant feedback from the website to know their scores obtained, so as to increase their incentive in English learning.

5. Integration into Syllabus

In the website, the content will focus on introducing English terms and vocabularies relating to the 4 major Western festivals to students, to enhance their knowledge in vocabularies and related history, songs, customs and food etc.

According to the syllabus, the required vocabularies will be presented in the website so that when students go through the website, they will go through the vocabularies at the same time and learn English in a pleasant way. Although the website is supposed to be used by students largely at home, lesson plan will be prepared to tally with the syllabus requirement and the website content for easy reference.

6. Technologies to facilitate interaction

The computer technologies to be adopted in developing the website are “Dreamweaver” (or alternatively “NVU”), “Hot Potatoes” which are available from CityU’s licensed softwares. The various proposed quizzes, cloze, gap filling and cross-matches will be neatly presented on the webpage, so that students can do the exercise easily and to enhance efficiency in English learning.

In addition to providing a platform for English learning at home, the website can also provide a means for students to express their comments in learning, and to communicate with the outside world. The website acts like a gateway for students to explore the internet world which contains lots of information and resources to arouse their interest in English learning. The blog will serve as a communication channel between fellow students and the teacher, for mutual understanding and improvement in English teaching and learning.

Reflection on Week 6 “Theory-Driven CALL and The Development Process”

In this Article, some traditional approaches in developing CALL are introduced and described. Based on a survey and comments of various practitioners, it is noted that different approaches have been adopted during the development process, even though initially the development approach was “theory-driven”. I think such finding is quite reasonable, as a source-ware develops, it cannot be a purely theory-driven or alternative solely technology based but must be a mixed or balanced one.

In practice, the development process has to take into account and affected by many factors such as needs analysis, technology, feedback of learners, mode of study etc. and all these factors will have certain impact on the development process. Sometimes, the learning ability or cultural difference of learners may affect the development process as well. Apart from the syllabus, the learners being the “end users” should have a say in the development process, to ensure it is going in the right direction that is beneficial to all stake holders.