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Computer Mediated Communication and
Writing:
A case study at the Language Center,
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
To my parents, my wife and kids
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank my boss, Luz Dary Botero, for allowing me
to conduct research in the computer facility at the Language Center Lab
and all the support on the project for implementing a language lab.
Secondly, I would like to thank the director of the Faculty of
Education, Lucila García V. and the General Academic director,
Pb. Jorge Iván Ramirez, whose consent has made all these
projects possible so far. I also want to thank specially
Professor Hector Manuel Serna whose patience, guidance and advice led
me to successfully achieve my goals. I would also like to thank all my
students, especially Carlos, Catalina and Felipe, whose great work and
interest in the classes and Internet activities let me improve my
classes in behalf of all language learners in the future in my classes.
Lastly, I want to thank my family for the support and patience during
all these days and nights of hard study and work.
Abstract
Among many advantages of technology nowadays, teachers can find the use
of Internet advantageous for both their classes and their students’
independent study. A lot has been said about the use of computers in
education and language teaching, like the use of word processor tools
for writing (such as spelling and grammar checkers), the use of
software for grammar drilling exercises and the exchange of messages
through email and collaborative projects through discussion groups.
This paper shows some implications of the use of Computer Mediated
Communication – CMC, in an EFL classroom at the Language Center at the
UPB and the students’ point of view and attitudes towards English as a
foreign language after being part of a collaborative learning project
as part of the tasks in their course.
Key Words:
Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Computer Aided Instruction,
Computer-Mediated Communication, Autonomous learning, Internet,
Discussion Lists (E-Groups), E-Mail, EFL/ESL, Collaborative learning,
Human-Computer Interaction, Information and Communication Technology,
Computer-Aided Writing, Computer as a tool.
Introduction
About the
Methodology and Motivations for this Study
A personal fondness of technology was the main throttle that pushed me
into this research task. I always thought that computers and technology
helped to learn a foreign language with the appropriate means and
conditions. Because of this fondness, for some time I have been in
charge of the computer room facility in the Language Center, UPB, in
order to set up a language laboratory where students can interact with
some software and free resources from the Internet. To achieve this, I
needed to find out how technology could help language learning and I
got involved in the specialization in language teaching.
To achieve the research goals, in the course Research Cycle professor
H.M. Serna guided us and we followed the methodology suggested by
Donald Freeman in his book Doing Teacher Research: From Inquiry to
Understanding (1998). In this book, Freeman leads readers through an
inquiry into their own teaching situations, practices, and research
aims and encourages them to explore ideas rather than just accept any
of his opinions as commandments.
In doing so, and building knowledge on interpersonal relationships, I
first had to find a line of inquiry, a topic to ask about something
that might happen inside my classroom based on a theoretical framework
that supported it. In my case, I was a long way ahead with
Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) theories and practice. I
just had to narrow down my search to a single topic: Computer-Mediated
Communication (CMC) and Writing.
Thus, I came out with my line of inquiry dealing with the effect of
using computers, specifically email exchange in a discussion list, on
my students writing skills. From this inquiry I got my research
question with its subsequent hypotheses and sub hypotheses to be tested
and the general and specific objectives to be achieved.
All of this together, gave me a point of view and some understandings
that shaped my conceptual framework where some actions and beliefs from
both teacher and students where vital for the data collection and
analysis tools. For my research I needed a very special tool
which students and I could access anywhere at any time. For that
purpose, I used a free service that email providers offer called
Groups, or discussion lists, where students and teacher have a wide
variety of tasks and activities to interact, both asynchronously and
synchronously. In this platform
(http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research) everyone could
see all messages and send feedback with comments, suggestions or
corrections for their classmates. They could also pick up assignments
from teacher/moderator and send them back. Teacher could observe the
overall progress from all students with a variety of display
possibilities (detailed messages, threaded messages, etc.). In these
interactions participated 19 students in level I and 18 in level II
from our current courses in the Language Center during the second
semester of 2003. From these subjects, I selected three people at a
second stage of the research and from these three subjects one was the
most representative of them. He proved my hypotheses and achieved the
objectives expected.
This tool was followed by a survey where I collected the students’
thoughts and points of view about the whole process, including the
traditional class activities in contrast to the electronic activities.
Then I could figure out some understandings and conclusions from all
the positive results yielded in this four-month process.
Following Freeman’s recommendations to figure out what is going in our
teaching settings, it could be said that this study can not be
categorized in a specific research style or methodology. It has shades
of action research since I tried some actions or methodologies in order
to improve a problem with writing skills in my students, and also it
has shades of a case study because the most representative findings
come from the selection of a single subject whose outcomes, the tests
he sent on a regular basis to the e-group, accomplished the goals of
the methodology implemented for the whole class. This subject had the
features needed to prove the hypotheses and to fulfill the objectives
of this study.
1
Theoretical framework
State of the art: Computer-assisted language learning and Computer
Mediated Communication
1.1
Brief History Of Call
CALL and CAI, are two acronyms for two geographical regions and two
ways of thinking about the use of technology in education: The United
Kingdom and North America. The former emphasizes the term Learning
while the latter emphasizes the term Instruction. The former includes
most of the uses of computers for any purpose in language learning
while the latter makes emphasis on its role as a tutor and
instructional design. Those terms and acronyms might vary quite a lot
from teacher to teacher. But one thing they have for sure in common:
They help students to have better chances and more opportunities for
learning. From the 60’s to present, CALL has evolved along with many
disciplines and approaches. It is hard to say which discipline exactly
has influenced my work with computers. Levy (1997) summarizes the most
representative fields and disciplines that have relevance to CALL:
Psychology, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics,
Instructional technology & Design, and Human-Computer interaction.
1.2
Restrictions for this Case Study
Even though the case study I am reporting might include all of the
previous aspects, some restrictions had to be applied due to time
limitations. This study focused on one aspect of Human-Computer
Interaction, specifically the use of email and the participation in a
discussion group for the improvement of writing skills. That kind of
interaction is known as Computer Mediated Communication which “is
concerned with communication between two or more participants via a
computer.” (Levy, 1997) This mediation has several means, from
which I will report only the impact of writing tasks through a
discussion list. To this respect, Hawisher and Moran, 1993, lament the
lack of pedagogy about this area and said that there was little to be
found in first language composition as well as in foreign or second
language writing.
Perhaps because of the easiness and accessibility to email, it has been
the most pervasive in language teaching and learning (Austin and
Mendlick, 1993; Goodwin et al, 1993; Hawisher and Moran, 1993; Davis
and Ye-Ling, 1994/5 Warschauer, 1995; among others). Email provides for
real and authentic communication and independent learning (Warschauer,
1995). Students may interact with each other, or with the teacher
(Leppänen and Kalaja, 1995) whose role as a tutor lets him/her
collaborate with students with emails in forums and discussion lists.
The Teacher can have a very active and helping role without interfering
with the student-student interaction. There are many possibilities:
composition, research skills, on-line tutoring, and real-time chat
among others.
1.3
What Theorists Say about CMC
In hundreds of websites about CALL and Language Learning Technology,
there are articles that collect the experience of many language
institutions from all over the world. Mark Warschauer’s websites*
(Language Learning &Technology, LLT) provide a great deal of
theoretical background which has shed light on my job since 1996. In
his article Theory and Practice of Networked-based language teaching,
Warschauer states the fact that Computer Mediated Communication gives
students additional opportunities to plan their discourse and to notice
and reflect on language use in the messages they compose and read. In
the article Technology and Second Language Teaching (Meskill, Carla and
Warschauer, M., 2.000) the role of electronic communication is
described as having beneficial features which make it a very good tool
for language learning for several reasons:
Computer-assisted discussion tends to feature more equal participation
than the face-to-face discussion; teachers or a few “better” students
are less likely to dominate the scene, resulting in more fully
collaborative discussions in class (Kelm, 1992; Kern, 1995; Meskill,
Swan and Frazer, 1997; Warschauer, 1996/9).
Computer assisted discussion allows students to better notice the input
from others’ messages and incorporate that input into their own
messages, which expands opportunities for learning new linguistic
chunks like collocations and common phrases (St John & cash, 1995;
Warschauer, 1999). Computer-assisted discussion takes place in writing
and allows more planning time than does face-to-face talk and features
more complex language, syntactically and lexically, than oral talk
(Warschauer, 1996). Finally, since computer based discussions take
place outside the classroom, students have more opportunities to
communicate in the target language.
1.4
A SOCIOCOGNITIVE APPROACH TO CALL
From a socio-cognitive approach to CALL, Computer mediated
communication (CMC) provides a platform where L2 students can transcend
the spatial and temporal boundaries of the classroom via the Internet
with asynchronous (deferred / e-mail) communication and synchronous
('real time' / chat) communication, which offer students the highest
level of interactivity because they permit one-on-one, and one-to many
personal exchanges. SLA research has clearly demonstrated the
importance of learning language through personal exchanges that require
the learners to negotiate meaning with other learners and/or native
speakers (Pica, 1994; Long, 1981 and 1991; Gass, 1997; Gass &
Varonis, 1994; Doughty, 1998). This negotiation of meaning “appears to
be one of the principled ways in which students gradually liberate
themselves from the interminable stages of interlanguage and achieve
higher proficiency in the target language” (Blake, 2000).
Network-based language teaching has shown more balanced participation
among students and students and teacher than in face-to-face
communication (Kern, 1995; Sullivan and Pratt, 1996; Warschauer, 1996).
It has been suggested that CMC provides an ideal medium for students to
benefit from interaction, since the written nature of the discussion
allows greater opportunity to attend to and reflect on the form and
content of the communication. However, most of the research about CMC
has not given an account of qualitative analysis on meaning
negotiation. Studies on CMC have focused on students’ comments and
structure of their writings.
1.5
AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW
These kinds of tasks are very popular all over the world and are widely
used. I decided to follow this task based on the experience by Matas
and Birch, (2000), who conducted a research on Web-based second
language grammar development. Their objective was to study the
purposeful interaction on the Internet on the grammatical accuracy of
French immersion students in two Australian high schools, one using a
content based approach and the other as a discrete subject. These
groups in 9th and 10th grade exchanged mail with students of English
from other two school in Canada and France. They interacted through a
Tableaux de communication, a setting prepared for that experience very
similar to a discussion group/list like the one offered by Yahoo.com to
its email users. The rationale for their project relies on studies by
Day and Chapson (1991), Lyster (1994), Davies (1995), Valette (1993),
Swain (1993, 1998), Boggs and jones (1994), and many others. In
general, all these studies somehow point out that the use of new
technologies (email and WWW) allow foreign language learners get a
positive development of grammar, particularly as it is revealed in
their written language (Matas & Birch, 2000).
2
Line of inquiry
Why should our students at the Language Center, UPB, embark on a
computer mediated communication task?
2.1
CONTEXT BACKGROUND
It is well known that in our college environment students do not have
much time to devote to learn a foreign language due to multiple subject
matters at the same time and to the fact that they do not have an urge
to learn to speak but to fulfill a requirement of a foreign language
for graduation.
2.2
DECISION ON THE TASKS TO BE DONE
Keeping this in mind, I implemented the use of email messages in a
discussion list, or e-group, for my courses in the Language Center
during a period of four months (August-November /2003). My students
were given writing assignments through the group
http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research/ at yahoo.com,
where they signed in once or twice a week to pick up an assignment and
send it to the moderator (teacher) who would set up some
characteristics for each text sent and then submit it for the whole
group. The general objective of these tasks was to motivate students to
be more active and responsible of their own learning.
Having read about the benefits of this practice in other language
centers and institutions around the world and having an up to date
computer facility for our Language Center with the support of an
ongoing formal academic project since July 2002, and informally since
1996, I decided to start testing a computer mediated communication
strategy for my courses from the very beginning levels in order to help
students improve their writing skills.
3
RESEARCH QUESTION:SOME QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED: A REFINED
QUESTION
In the process of developing a line of inquiry, many questions appeared
on the horizon related to the use of information and communication
technology as a tool for language learning, from instructional design
to socio cognitive approaches. In this sense, the initial question for
research was too broad and general:
How can computer-based materials (according to Computer-Assisted
Language Learning –CALL theoretical background) foster learners’
improvement of receptive skills (Listening, & Reading
comprehension) and understanding of grammatical structures in a lab
class setting?
As further analysis on the conditions and feasibility of the goals
showed some time restrictions, the question had to be narrowed down to:
How does computer mediated communication helps students to improve
writing skills through peer and teacher correction in a discussion
group in Internet?
3.1
General Objective
As a long term objective for the academic project I am heading at the
Language Center since July 2003, it is expected to have a
computer-based language laboratory in order to provide students with
appropriate resources which will help them get high proficiency levels
according to the profile the university wants for its students. My
role, then, is first of all, to create appropriate material based on
the principles mentioned above, and second, to determine the
effectiveness of such material on the student’s actual performance,
specifically on the skills I am providing practice for: Listening,
Reading, Vocabulary and Grammar.
However, due to time restrictions, I had set as a short term objective
for my specialization paper:
To determine how computer mediated communication helps students to
improve writing skills at initial stages/levels through peer and
teacher correction in a discussion group in Internet.
3.2
GENERAL HYPOTHESIS
As a restatement from the objective for this project, the general
hypothesis for the tasks performed was:
Computer mediated communication helps students to improve writing
skills at initial stages/levels through peer and teacher correction in
a discussion group in Internet.
4
SUBHYPOTHESES, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS
4.1
SUBHYPOTHESES
Some hypotheses I plan to test here are:
- Peer correction and computer
mediated communication give students more confidence to write than a
face-to-face environment and a traditional on-paper composition task
- Computer Mediated Communication
provides more chances and freedom to write and read in the target
language.
- Students put into practice
prior knowledge more naturally in CMC than in an elicited environment
of traditional class.
- Students learn from each
other’s and own mistakes more easily in a “e-group” because of the
possibilities this tool offers.
4.2
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Among the many specific objectives in mind at the beginning of the
project and the ones which appeared along the experience, the following
objectives should be remarked:
· To make students aware of their
responsibility in their learning process
· To train students in the use of Information
and Communication technologies for language learning
· To provide students with other alternatives
and tasks in the language classroom.
· To test the effectiveness of the use of
information and communication technology in language teaching/learning.
· To promote a collaborative learning
environment in a traditional instructed language classroom.
· To increase the students’ interest on
learning over the grade-driven motivation.
5
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
5.1
FIRST UNDERSTANDINGS ON LIMITATIONS
For a project covering the four skills, one researcher is not enough to
show evidences of better learning or understanding of L2 structures.
That would require a lot of teamwork and well planned research stages
for each group to interact with. Therefore, and due to time
restrictions and resources limitations, I devised a discussion group in
Yahoo, where my students participated with written assignments which
were corrected by peers first and by the teacher after they had
received some feedback from their peers. These fragments and short
compositions give and idea of each student’s management of the
grammatical structures and some functions studied in levels I and II,
at courses at the Language Center and how peer-correction made them
aware of the grammar structures and usage studied. (See messages in the
electronic version of this paper on CDROM or in the URL for the e-group
at http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research).
The objective of this computer-mediated interaction is that each
student exploits his/her prior knowledge and puts it into practice.
Students were asked to send material as often as they could, at least
once a week with an assignment they should pick up by entering the
e-group at Yahoo.com.
After each student submitted a message to the moderator (the teacher in
this case), it was reformatted to double space and sent back to the
group, so other students could suggest corrections. After each message
received one or two responses from classmates, or after one or two
weeks of postage, a definite correction for each message was submitted
with an invitation to compare original messages and students’
suggestions to the teacher’s version. Students were supposed to read
original messages, the suggestions given by peers, and the final
correction by the teacher. This task should make students become aware
of their mistakes and help them avoid similar ones in further writing
tasks.
5.2
EXPECTATIONS
The way each student could progress depended on how often he/she sent
material and the number of responses he/she received from peers with
corrections. By the end of the term, beginning November 2003, my
students should have been more confident when writing because computer
mediated communication would have provided them more chances and
freedom to write and read in the target language. Also, they would have
been able to put into practice their prior knowledge more naturally in
a CMC environment than in an elicited environment of traditional class,
and they would have learnt from each other’s and own mistakes more
easily in a “e-group” because of the possibilities that technology is
offering nowadays through the WWW and the millions of free resources at
hand with a single click.
Besides these expectations, there are some other aspects I expected my
students to have in relation to their computer literacy. More
frequently than you might think, students do not necessarily know how
to use a computer, except for basic tasks such as turning in on or
shutting it down, using a word processor, and playing a game.
Similarly, there are cases of students who regularly send mail but get
stuck when attaching files or setting up other advanced options for the
message. In this sense, the group in Yahoo has some conditions and
usage tips that have to be rehearsed with appropriate guidance before
getting a full control of its platform. This is a risk that endangers
the interaction in such a group. Some students might not be able to
keep up with the tasks and fail to send their messages, so they prefer
to type or write the tasks and hand them in to the teacher on paper,
missing the possibility of getting feedback from classmates and the
possibility of learning from mistakes and the collective corrections
from the group. Sometimes these technological issues are a burden not
only for students but also for teachers with the same difficulties.
A lesson learnt from this interaction is that for future practices like
this one, a manual should be prepared with step by step detailed
instructions, screen elements’ names and usage, possibilities to
interact, and two or three hours of practice in the Language Center
computer facility with the basic tasks in the e-group before having
students send actual tasks from home or work.
Also, there are some considerations about format and some agreements on
correction style: first, all messages should be double spaced and
aligned to the left. Second, for suggesting a correction there are some
possibilities, one is to type dashes below the text that is right and
type the correction exactly under the word with problems. Another
possibility is to place asterisks in the problematic words or
expressions and suggest the correction immediately at the beginning of
next line below the original text. Finally, the style suggested for
writing should respect academic style, avoiding caps lock and
contractions for a better understanding of the text and better
assimilation of rules on grammar, capitalization and punctuation.
Finally, there are some expectations about the progress of students
along the course that should not disappoint any teacher. There many
different learning styles and literacy levels about technology,
especially if they are combined with learning a foreign language. Also,
there are situations one should not take for granted:
1) that students want to learn that foreign language and that is why
they are in your class,
2) that all students know how to use computers or like to use them,
3) that all students have a computer at home or at work with access to
the Internet, and
4) that students are responsible for their own learning process.
As a teacher, one should be prepared to face all kinds of difficulties
with students and some technological issues. Therefore, one should have
some aces in the sleeve in order to play right in the language
classroom with or without the help of technology.
5.3
ABOUT THE SUBJECTS IN THIS STUDY
The subjects who sent texts and assignments were 19 students from a
level I course (7 female, 12 male) and 18 students from level II ( 7
female, 11 male) . They did not volunteer to take part of this group.
It was a task assigned through the semester and they were given grades
for some of the assignments, as well as the participation in the group.
The rate of participations per student in the discussion group was
proportional to the quality of texts they produced at the end of the
period (see table in Appendix A). Some students proved to be good
writers according to their proficiency levels (I and II) since the
beginning but they kept making some mistakes on capitalization,
irregular past tense or present third person –s in verbs, maybe because
of their low rate of participation and low input from peers. To
give evidence of this, an appendix of threaded messages is available in
the electronic version of this paper on CDROM or at the URL:
http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research/.
5.4
Nature of the Written Tasks
Each task had a support on the current classroom sessions and lesson
plans, which are part of a text based program with an emphasis on
Communication as a primary goal. For level I, students covered some
basic grammatical structures and should be able to provide and ask for
personal information in simple situations, including positions of
objects and places, introducing themselves, talking about family
members and professions, occupations and jobs. In level II, students
dealt with past tense and future structures, talking about themselves
(autobiographies and partner’s biography) and future plans. Ability was
a minor subject discussed in current classes with allowed or forbidden
activities in specific places.
For this paper I provide some activities from level I and detailed
lesson plans and activities for level II on past tense, which had some
assignments in the e-group in Yahoo. The assignments for level one were
quite simple and will be provided with a short description of the task
at traditional class and the objective of the task in the e-group. I
consider important to include this samples from level I, since the
students were all invited to continue with the experience in further
semesters. Besides, these samples also show, somehow, the background
knowledge and proficiency students have and, in some way, how they
improved in the short time they could interact in the discussion group.
The samples from level II are more representative and allow a little
deeper analysis than the samples from level I.
6
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
6.1
Materials from Level I
Students from this group started sending their texts about 40 days
before the end of the term and their texts consisted of simple
sentences related to the grammatical contents studied in the textbook:
There is/There are to express existence and position of objects or
places, and Present simple to talk about daily habits and routines in
short paragraphs.
The first lesson complemented with the emails from the group
call_research was related to the use of adjectives and places from
module 3, combined with the use of the structures There is/There are
from module 4. For this writing task, students sent a post card and
they followed a model from their textbook. The threads (message
numbers) for this task in the group call_research are: 68, 68, 70, 72,
73, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 92, 93, 100,
The second task was purely grammatical and students had to follow some
links suggested from the UPB Language Center web site and answer some
questions about the computer room using There is/There are. The message
threads for this task are: 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102
The third task was to write about a busy day, by using present simple
structures in a short paragraph. The threads for this task are: 127,
128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143,
144, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155.
The characteristics of this material from level I are fundamental to
understand what might happen in a level II. The quality of texts
produced in a short term is not good enough, or at least not close to
what one might expect from the interaction, but definitely they are the
foundations for writing abilities in further courses in foreign
language. Students start forming habits for autonomous learning and get
aware that the process they begin is not a matter of grades but of
self-study and responsibility.
6.2
Lessons plans for level II
6.2.1
Objectives for Level II tasks
These lesson plans aimed at the actual use of past tense structures in
both written and oral communication. To achieve this goal, each week
students had a traditional communicative class in the classroom and an
“electronical” task which they should send within that week to the
e-group they belong to in Yahoo.com. Each task is directly related to
contents the group should follow in their textbook (Cutting Edge,
Starter) for level II at the Language Center at the UPB. The group is
formed by 18 students. Class met on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 M to
1:30 PM.
6.2.2
Lesson Plans
6.2.2.1
Lesson Plan For Session 1
Teaching aim: To get familiar with the past tense structures for TO BE
and other verbs (Auxiliar DID).
Teaching Technique: Modeled biography
Teacher starts telling students a short biography about him. After the
biography is over, teacher elicits information from students:
T: What do you remember about me?
St1: You are from ______
T: OK (Teacher writes on the board: ____was born in _____) What else?
When?
St2: In 1969.
OK: That’s right (he continues writing on the board). Next…?
St3: “You studied in Liceo _____ _____”
T: OK… but before that, where did I go to primary school? How old was I?
St3: You studied in _____ _____ school.
St4: You had 7 years.
T: Fine… but observe how you express that in English. (Writes again on
the board: He went to _____ primary school when he was 7 years old.)
What happened then?
In this fashion, the teacher’s biography is completed, sometimes
students did not remember some facts, which were added by teacher.
Based on that biography, students worked in pairs in order to construct
each other’s biography. They took notes and teacher walked around the
classroom helping them with vocabulary and structural items. After 20
minutes, some students were chosen at random or they volunteered to
read his/her classmates’ biography. As each student read, teacher took
notes on the board on idiomatic expressions or other possible
interferences from L1 into the biography. (e.g. “He borned in 19___”,
“Liked her rock music in Spanish”)
After this exercise, students listened to several short biographies
about creative people (Chaplin, Channel, and others) and associated the
items with pictures on the textbook. Then, they did some fill-in
exercises on their textbook.
Homework assignment: To end the session, teacher asked students to send
a corrected version of their classmates’ biographies to his personal
email account and told them to go to the computer room facility next
class. It was necessary that they had an email account with Yahoo for
this activity and the following electronic activities during the
semester.
6.2.2.2
Lesson Plan For Session 2 (Based On Computer Mediated Communication)
Teaching aim: To read posted biographies and give suggestions to the
authors.
Second session was particularly difficult since not everyone has the
same literacy about computers. Some of the students had an email
account with yahoo, but most of the students had to sign up for one and
needed help. Besides, I previously had to set up the discussion group
for them to participate and check how it worked. So I took some of the
biographies students sent to my personal email and posted them in the
group. Then I had to train them step by step in the process of using
the discussion group. Finally, things were set up and students who had
not sent biographies did it, and they read another classmate’s
biography and suggested changes.
This discussion group offers several possibilities: There is a
moderator who approves or rejects messages coming from participants.
For correction purposes, moderator (teacher) can modify the text
format, so other participants can type in their suggestions for the
text. The interaction is asynchronous and students can read messages
and answer, or they can post a new message with a new subject
(assignment). Other possibilities are:
uploading files (exe, ppt, zip, doc, etc)
Photo albums
Chat (real time)
Visit http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research for a
detailed view of the possibilities.
6.2.2.3
Lesson Plan For Session 3 (Classroom)
Teaching aim: To talk about daily activities in the past.
Teaching Technique: Modeled sentences and questions
Vocabulary task: Brainstorm on daily activities and action verbs.
Teacher asked students about what they do on a typical busy day for
them, from the very beginning to the very end. Teacher writes on the
board:
/Wake up – Woke up / Get up – Got up / Take (a shower/bath) – Took /
/eat –ate breakfast, lunch, dinner/ go – went to sleep, work, school,
etc…/
Students then described what they did the day before, after teacher
elicited information as he wrote the questions on the board.
What time did you wake up yesterday? What time did you get up? What did
you do after that? What did you eat for breakfast? lunch? dinner? Did
you have classes? What classes did you have? Did you go home early? Did
you watch TV? What TV program did you see?
All class activity: Data information gathering. Students were
asked to go around the classroom getting information about classmates.
On the board, teacher explained the activity “Find a person who…” and
students had to find a different person for each topic as follows:
Find a person who…
(Student’s name)
______ didn’t have class at eight this morning.
______ was not at home at 10 PM yesterday.
______ cooked this week
______ was a bad student in high school.
(and some other sentences of this type up to 15)
Students were asked first to prepare the questions they needed to ask
their classmates. Then they went around the classroom and had 10-15
minutes to get at least one person per item. After this activity,
students sat down and teacher asked information about one of the
students:
T: Tell me information about Catalina
St1: She didn’t have class yesterday
St2: She arrived late for class.
St3: She went out with friends.
In the same way, information about each student in the class is
collected verbally.
Writing Assignment (Extra class): Students are asked to write as often
as they can (once or twice a week is suggested) a diary entry for the
discussion group in Yahoo. Classmates are invited to read and suggest
corrections.
6.2.2.4
Lesson Plan For Session 4 (Classroom)
Teaching Aim: To organize events in a logical/chronological sequence.
Teaching technique: Unscramble the story.
First, teacher told the class about a terrible day he had:
One day I had class at 6 in the morning, but the alarm clock failed and
I didn’t have time for breakfast. I left home on time, but that day
there were no classes in high school, so I didn’t have transportation
for my work. I had to walk for two blocks and waited for another bus.
When I arrived at the classroom, students had left… (and the story
continues to the end of that terrible day).
Then students were asked if they had had similar situations. Two or
three students told the class short stories of what had happened to
them.
Then, students worked in groups. They had a copy of a story where
paragraphs were all scrambled. They were to organize it in a logical
sequence by writing a number on each text square. Teacher gave some
help and paragraphs/sentences 1 and 27 were marked. Students worked on
the activity for 20-25 minutes. Then, teacher interrupted and all
together provided answers that teacher confirmed with the answer sheet.
Assignment: Electronic Writing task:
Students were asked to send to the discussion group in yahoo a short
story of a terrible day for them. Classmates were supposed to read and
suggest corrections
6.2.2.5
Lesson Plan For Session 5 (Classroom)
Teaching aim: to tell a story from a set of pictures and a song (The
Thing)
Teaching techniques: Picture based elicitation, fill-in listening
exercises, and reference pronouns.
Vocabulary Activity: Teacher presented vocabulary either by drawing the
object or by giving a synonym or description of the cue word.
Then, Students were given some “comics” (drawn by other students in a
previous course) about a story. They made their own version of the
story.
After writing their version on board, students were given a copy
of the story with the lyrics and some exercises: 1. Fill in with a
correct form of the verbs in parentheses, 2. What/who do the numbered
pronouns refer to? Then, they listened to the CD in order to complete
the story.
Finally, they compared their version to the actual one and did the
exercise on references. As a homework, they were to write in their own
words, or paraphrasing, the story of “The Thing”.
6.2.2.6
Lesson Plan For Session 6 (Classroom)
Teaching aim: Grammar: To review past tense structures: Questions,
affirmative and interrogative statements.
Teaching technique: Modeled questions out of provided answer/data
Teacher wrote some examples on the board in order to make questions out
of provided information/answers:
_______________________? Did they like the______?
No, they didn’t like it
Students tried to provide questions for some other examples.
Then, students listened to an exercise from their textbook and did the
comprehension exercises (matching exercises, fill-in with past tense).
Then, the teacher asked them to take the information from the reading
and write questions about it.
This task was particularly difficult to them. Each question asked was
written and corrected on the board. Due to this, it was considered
important to make a general review of the forms and structures of the
past tense, which took the rest of the class.
Homework assignment: Students were asked to visit the discussion
group and read a message with directions for the activity. They were
given 5 answers to which they would provide a question. And they were
also asked to write a short paragraph by providing answers to a set of
questions about the weekend. They were also given some links to visit
in order to practice grammatical structures.
6.2.3
Some Products And Analyses From The E-Tasks.
This is my first experience using Computer Mediated Communication as a
tool on a regular basis. Most students felt motivated and willing to
participate, even though they had difficulties accessing the site at
the beginning. Next, I will show a selection of representative
tasks from the group and some learned lessons for me and for them about
the experience (for a complete list of threaded messages visit
http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/call_research/ or the files
available off-line in the electronic version of this paper on CDROM).
6.2.3.1
E-Task 1. Biography.
Students worked with classmates and collected
information about them: This is a sample:
Sample 1:
Originally written by <calagi@hotmail.com>CMGG.
My name is CG, I was born in Medellín, in nineteen eighty three,
so I am twenty years old. I live with my family, they are: my father,
my mother, my sister and my brother. I really love them. When I was a
child I studied al the Jesús María school, now I am in
the UPB University. I study Social Comunication in third year.
My best friend is Diana, she was my cassmate when I was in the
highschool, we use to talk almost everyday. I have a lot of friends,
but I don't have boyfriend. When I was a baby, I was fat, then I was
getting thiner like today.
I like to go out with my friends. I like play tennis and basketball.
Second version by: jovivelez2003@yahoo.es: corrected text
My name is CG, I was born in Medellín, in nineteen
eighty three, so I am twenty years old.
I live with my family, they are: my father, my mother, my sister
and my brother. I really love them. When I was a child I studied al
(at) the Jesús María school, now I am in the UPB
University. I study Social Comunication in third year.
-now I am a student at U.P.B.
My best friend is Diana, she was my cassmate when I was in the
highschool, we use to talk almost everyday.
I have a lot of friends, but I don't have boyfriend. When I was a
baby, I was fat, then I was getting thiner like today.
I like to go out with my friends.
I like play tennis and basketball.
- I like going out whit my friends
- I like playing tennis and basketball
TEACHER’s Version
My name is CG, I was born in Medellín, in nineteen eighty
*My name is CG. I was born in Medellín, in 1983)
three, so I am twenty years old.
I live with my family, they are: my father, my mother, my sister and my
I live with my family: my parents, one sister and one brother
brother. I really love them. When I was a child I studied *al the
Jesús
I really love them. When I was a child I studied at
María school, now I am in the UPB University. I study Social
Com*unication in third year.
Communication/Journalism, I am in the third year.
My best friend is Diana, she was my cassmate when I was in the
My best friend is Diana, she was my classmate
highschool, we use to talk almost everyday.
(..............used(?) Acostumbrábamos?)
I have a lot of friends, but I don't have boyfriend. When I was a baby,
....................................…………….. a boyfriend now. …………….
I was fat, then I was getting thiner like today.
.............……....got thinner as I am today
I like to go out with my friends. I like * play tennis and basketball.
I like to go out with my friends. I like to play / I like
playing..............)
Sample 2:
Originally written by: jmfox46@hotmail.com
JMF been born in Rionegro in 1979 in God the San Juan hospital. Its
primary one did in white the Baldomero Sanin Cano school and the
secondary one in normal the departmental institute of María.
When I finish to its studies of baccalaureate beginning the university
studies in the university Medellin six semesters of engineering civil,
going from race to the bolivariana pontifical university to study
architecture which attends in seventh semester. It likes much to eat
chicken and pastes, to see the cinema, to travel, to be with its family.
Her family is very numerous are eight brothers of who five are men and
three women she is completes it of all the brothers. He lives in
Medellin, with his sister heddy and a cousin and the week ends travels
to Rionegro to be with his family.
Second version by: max264co@yahoo.es>
(Original text by JMF:)in God the San Juan hospital. Its primary one
did in white the Baldomero Sanin Cano school
[Correction by max264co] IN THE SAN JUAN DE DIOS HOSPITAL.SHE WENT TO
BALDOMERO CANO SCHOOL
Sample 3
Written by AFLA
Sept/09/2003
THE REAL HISTORY OF………..
Her name is MI, she is a student at the U.P.B, Maria was
Her name is MI. She is a student at the U.P.B. M was
born in Medellin in November of 1984, she traveled to the United
born in Medellin in November, 1984. She traveled to the United
States of America with her parents and meet different cities of this
States of America with her parents and knew different cities
country, she went to san José de la salle school (primary-high),
and
there. She went to San Jose de la Salle school, (both primary and high)
M graduated in 2001 and after that, she began in the university
she graduated in 2001. After that, she entered the university
magnament, actuality she are in the 4 semester, and in her free time
to study management. At present, she is in 4th semester and in her
free time
sell's candy's and eat ice cream with her boyfriend.
she sells candies and eat ice cream with her boyfriend.
Sample 4
From: CMA
Sept 09/03
C is a student in the U.P.B. she´s 21 years old. she's was born
C is a student at the U.P.B. She is 21 years old. She was born
in Armenia Quindio in 1982. whwn she was a child, she lived in
in Armenia, Quindio, in 1982. When she was a child, she lived in
armenia but in 2000 she moved to Medellin to study in the university.
Armenia, but in 2000 she moved to Medellin to study in the university.
she got your first boyfriend in 1996. she began to play tennis in the
She got her first boyfriend in 1996. She began to play tennis at
school. it´s your favorite sport.
school. It is her favorite sport.
whwn she was a child liked eat lasagna aand mexican food.
When she was a child, she liked to eat lasagna and Mexican food.
she like watch t.v.
She likes to watch (She Likes watching) TV.
your boyfriend is andres and she's very very in love.
Her boyfriend is A. She is very in love with him.
she's a friendy girl.
She is a friendly girl.
Now c is study comunication.
Now C is studying Communication /Journalism
She's my classmate.
Analysis of these texts In the first sample, both author’s and
second version had few errors or style problems in contrast to the
second sample. However, the student who corrected one single line in
the second sample did a good job. It was very difficult for him to go
on since the original paragraph lacks coherence.
On the other hand, the third sample comes from one of the most
representative subjects from the e-group (5 participations, plus one
task from level one that he didn’t have to answer but answered twice in
one of his visits to the multimedia lab). He seemed to be a false
beginner and his text presents some problems with capitalization, some
spelling, word choice, and verb tense-subject agreement.
The fourth sample comes from another subject who is a false beginner
and even had contact in several opportunities with native speakers for
some time in English speaking countries. Most of the problems are
related to the use of capitalization, verb tense and subject agreement.
At the end of the course, similar tasks should yield some good results
in terms of grammar use, style and spelling in written language.
6.2.3.2
E-Task 2: Diary Lines
Sample 1: Student CMCG has sent many messages to the discussion group
and somehow shows improvement after his classmates’ corrections and my
final corrections for each message. The aim is to use past tense
correctly in short paragraphs.
Message 1
Sep 01/03
Saturday Diary
SATURDAY DIARY
My name is CMCG.
My day began very early for my. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. I
got by Metro go to my work. I worked till 1:00 p.m. I came
to my house in the evenin and I clad by go to the concert in the
night. The concert was very well but we did not have good sound
. I came to my house at 12:00 a.m. I was very
tired.
Message 2
Sep 03/03
Diary - Sunday
Diary Nº 3 Sunday, August, 31, 2003
My name is CMCG. I woke up later. I had breakfast
cheese, eggs, arepa, an chocolate.
I studied a lot music and I wrote music in the evening and I went
To visit my daughter.
Message 3
Sep 08/03 10:19pm
Diary Nº 4. Saturday, September, 6, 2003
My name is CMCG. I woke up at five o'clock. I toke a bat
and saturday. I had breakfast in dining room. I ate arepa,
cheese, egg and cookies. I drunk chocolate with milk. I get
dressed for go to work. I worked about five hours after I had
lunch at one thirty and I go to concert at evening. I certainly
have a busy life.
Analysis of these texts
Even though it is too early to make a deep analysis on these samples,
some changes in style and usage can be noticed from the first message
to the last one. The use of word order is better in the third message,
but he still has problems with subject –verb and tense agreement.
Sample 2
From CMA Sept 15/03
the fashion show
yesterday I went to bogoto, to model for the fashion show. the event
was very nice because the clothes was very beautigull. the fashion show
was jeans. the jeans was very confortable. the store was danny, is a
informal
clothes brand. my day was very funy because all the day write firms and
talk with the people of the bogota.
this is my history, is very short but is interesting.
bye
Analysis of this text
This is the second message from CMA. Even though she had received
feedback and corrections for her first message, she kept on making
mistakes with capitalization and subject-verb agreement. Sometimes she
also omitted the subject in impersonal sentences or overused the
definite article.
Sample 3
From AFLA Sept 23/03
In this moment i dont feel very good, i go to the hospital, and for
that i dont go to the class, george please escuse me, i propose to my
go to next sesion.
Have a nice day
Analysis of this text
This is the second message from AFLA. This very same day he sent the
tasks numbers 2 and 3, related to diary lines and terrible day(s).
Curiously, maybe due to his health problem, this text is very poor
compared to the biography from task 1. There are more mistakes related
to punctuation, capitalization, word choice, and subject-verb tense
agreement.
6.2.3.3
E-Task3: A Terrible Day:
Sample 1
De: CMCG
Fecha: Mar, 16 de Sep, 2003 5:40am
Asunto: One Terribly Day in my Work
One Terribly Day in my Work (CMCG) One day I came late to my work. My
boss was very angry but I had to explain my reasons. That they the
alarm didn't sound(.) Then I woke up very late and I didn't can take
the Metro. I went to work by taxi. The students were impatiens and they
went to heir houses. I had a bad day and I change the alarm(.)
Analysis of this text
Note that even though this task was modeled in class, the production
for this activity was free and students could talk about any topic they
wanted to. In this text, the message gets across no matter the
overgeneralizations of rules or the punctuation and capitalization
problems.
Sample 2: From CMA Sept 22/03
one day I was in my house making a important work for my university.
when I finish it, I began to print the homework but the problem was
that the machine was bad, so I felling very sad because this work was
very very important. then I call my friend and I send the file and my
friend print me the work. this day was terrible because I need delivery
it the next day.
bye
Correction by teacher:
One day (Last Friday, Tuesday, …) I was at home typing an important
paper for one course at the university. When I finished it, I began
printing it but I had problems with the printer. It was broken. I felt
very sad because that paper was really important. So I called a friend
of mine and send him/her the file (through email) and he/she printed it
for me. This was a terrible day for me because I needed to hand
in that paper the next day
Analysis of this text
This is the third message from CMA. She seems to be stuck on the same
mistakes: Capitalization, and subject-verb tense agreement. There has
not been noticeable improvement in writing so far. Her speaking is
good, though.
Sample 3:
De: AFLA
Fecha: Mar, 23 de Sep, 2003 10:16am
Asunto: A Terrible Day
One day(,) in 1999(,) I go to the cinema whit a friend of the school
(natalia), we went to watch armagedon, in the cinema a bought pops and
coke, the movie began and she take my hand, letter we kissed, really we
dont see the movie, after the movie finish we went to a cafe, and in
this moment come my girlfriend and see us, she cry and i feel very bad.
Moraleja Dont kiss other people diferent of your girlfriends in a
public places
Analysis of this text: in this text there are problems with tense,
punctuation and sequence of sentences. A further text is expected in
order to see if these problems persist. However, there is a message
that can be interpreted from this bad day.
Sample 5
Sept 25/2003
Re: a very bad month
Finally I send a homework.
I finally sent a homework.
This last month are was very bad to my.
Last month has been very bad for me
First i go to the doctor and this tell me "andrés you are really
bad of
First I went to the doctor and he told me: "Andrés, you have a
heart
condition."
your hart", i go to my home very unhappy.
…............ I went home very unhappy.
In this week i go to a party whit my friends and dronk whisky, latter
This week, I went to a party with my friends and drank whiskey. Later
us fihgt whit other people, i don t know for why.
we fought (had an argument) with other people... I don't know why.
in the last week i went to manizales and i go to the palogrande stadium
Last week I went to Palo Grande Stadium in Manizales
i lost mi wallet, latter a police men give to my, only the documents
I lost my wallet. Later, a police officer gave it back to me but it
only had my identification documents.
really is a very bad month
This has really been a bad month for me.
Analysis of this text: This is the forth message sent by AFLA. On
Sept 23rd/03 he sent three messages at the same time. All of them with
the same characteristics: Problems with capitalization, verb tense
agreement, and some spelling/mistyping problems.
6.2.3.4
E-Task 4: Making Questions Out Of Answers /A Paragraph From Some
Questions
From: JorgeV
24 Sep, 2003 Your practice for this week...
I promised some practice for making questions...
Write a logical question for each of the following answers.
* No, they didn't have time to send it.
* She was in the supermarket.
* Of course I did it. I am a very good student.
* No, he wasn't home. He was at the hospital visiting a friend.
* I finished the homework at 8 PM. Then, I had dinner and went to
sleep.
Now, try to answer these questions in a paragraph form and using
connectors like: later, after that, next, at __:__ AM/PM, Finally, etc.
What did you do last weekend? Did you go out with friends? (Did you
stay home?) Where did you go out? What did you do there? What time did
you leave? What time did you go back home? How did you go there? by
taxi? By bus? by Metro? How was the traffic? Easy? Difficult? Did you
watch TV? Which program? Did you see a movie? Where? Which one did you
see? What was it about? Did you like it? Did you eat out? Which
restaurant did you go to? Was it nice? expensive? Did you play or
practice a sport? How long did you play/practice it? Who did you play
with? What time did you finish playing? What did you do at night? Did
you go to bed early?...
You don't have to answer all of the questions... Select the ones that
you can answer and try to make it into a paragraph...
Good luck. I hope to see your answers here SOON
Sample 1: CMCG
Questions:
De: canogonzo <canogonzo@yahoo.com.ar
Fecha: Lun, 29 de Sep, 2003 11:47pm
Asunto: Answers and paragraph
1. Did They send the letter? Did They have time to send the
letter?
2. Where was she yesterday?
3. Did you do the work for class?
4. Was Peter at home? Where was Peter?
5. When did you finish the homework?
Paragraph:
I worked in COMFENALCO all the days. I didn’t go out with my
friends, because I didn’t have time, then, I was studding very much,
after that, I had dinner and I went to bed early, finally, I slept.
Analysis of this text: This subject has sent back tasks as soon as they
are posted. Notice in this final exercise how his writing has improved.
Now (to the extent these texts show) he only has a few problems in the
correct choice of expressions. Notice how the questions he wrote
correspond almost perfectly to the answers provided initially.
Sample 2
From CMA
Sept 30/03
Questions
Did they send the homework for internet?
1. No, they didn't have time to send it.
Where was she yesterday?
2. She was in the supermarket.
Did you study for the english test?
3. Of course I did it. I am a very good student.
Was he at home yesterday?
4. No, he wasn't home. He was at the hospital visiting a friend.
What did you do yersterday night?
5. I finished the homework at 8 PM. Then, I had dinner and went to
sleep.
Analysis of this text: These questions are appropriate except for
a few typing mistakes. It is remarkable that CMA now uses
Capitalization at the beginning of sentences and questions.
Paragraph:
Party in my farm with my friends.
The last weekend I was in my farm with my family and my friends. My
farm is in V------, A---------, it’s a very nice place. The weather is
confortable so my friends and me, all day played in the pool in the day
but in night danced tropical music, after that we washed a lovely
movie, next when the film finish my friend and me began to drink
alcohol and the party was very happy.
The next day we played tennis, later ate the lonch at 1:00 P.M, later
my friends and we left at our home.
The weekend was very fun because we danced and ate delicius food.
Bye
CMA
Analysis of this text: As in the questions, capitalization and
punctuation has improved a little. There are, however, some mistakes
and some other problems in word choice or mistyping.
Sample 3: From AFLA Sept 30 /03 Questions
1. No, they didn't have time to send it.
A/ did they send the homework?
2. She was in the supermarket. A/ where was she
?
3. Of course I did it. I am a very good
student. A/ did you make the homework?
4. No, he wasn't home. He was at the hospital visiting a friend.
A/ was he in his home?
5. I finished the homework at 8 PM. Then, I had dinner and went to
sleep.
A/ what were you in the night?
Analysis of this text: Even though capitalization problems persist and
remain, 4 of the 5 questions are appropriate and acceptable for the
objective of the writing task. Question 5 still has problems with
subject and verb tense agreement.
Paragraph
This is a quiet week,on saturday i stay in my home to sleep, on sunday
i go out whit a friends to a farm,we went in a car, and i ride horse an
swim in the pool, later i watch juan pablo montoya in a bad
presentation. really is a very unhappy day for colombia. after
that we went back to medellin, and the autopista is very alone.
Finally in my home i watched protagonistas de novela and later went to
my bed.
Analysis of this text: This is the last task for the e-group during the
semester. Notice how capitalization problems persisted and remained.
Sample 4: From JJS
25 Sep, 2003 Re: Your practice for this week...
Questions:
did they have time to send the message? 1. No, they didn't have time to
send it.
where was Kelly yesterday? 2. She was in the supermarket.
Did you do the "practice for this week"? 3. Of course I did it. I am a
very good student.
Was Jorge at home this morning? 4. No, he wasn't home. He was at the
hospital visiting a friend.
What did you do last night? 5. I finished the homework at 8 PM. Then, I
had dinner and went to sleep.
Paragraph:
I enjoid the last weekend: the saturday morning i was in bed later. at
9 AM i ate my breakfast and then i washed my clothes. At 12 i went to
Amparo’s house ´cause she invited me for the lunch (she´s a
friend). i was in there until 2 PM. after that i went to the church
(i´m a catechist) in there i was until 330 Pm. Next i met with
Kelly, she is my girlfriend, and we went to her house. We organized her
house for a party. that night we were with her family and friends
dancing, eating and singing. Oh we had gifts: she gift me a spray
"winner" and i gift a dress to her. finally i went at home at 12 and
slept like a stone.
Analysis of this text: The questions provided by this subject were
almost perfect except for capitalization. His text, even though his
message gets across, presents some bigger problems than his questions.
He tries to connect sentences and give a logical sequence to events.
His major problems are in capitalization and word choice.
At the group in Yahoo and in the off-line electronic version of this
paper on CDROM, there are many more texts like the ones cited above,
which would have to be contrasted to posterior texts by the same
authors after they get feedback by classmates and teacher in order to
determine if there is a sign of improvement in their writing.
6.2.4
Overall Analysis: Message Threads, Relation Of Subjects, Tasks, Dates
And Number Of Participations In The E-Group.
From all the participants in the group there were three subjects who
participated the most: AFLA, CMA, and CMCG. The quality and frequency
of their texts shows evidence of how Computer Mediated Communication
—CMC, can promote the improvement of writing skills. In contrast,
students who were not as active as these subjects did not show
remarkable results at the end of the term. They kept making the same
mistakes noticed at the beginning of the term. However, from these
three most active students, one showed the most remarkable results of
all. In the table below, a rate of participations by subject shows why
CMCG is the proof that Computer Mediated Communication helps students
improve their writing skills (for a complete table, see Appendix A).
The first subject, AFLA, delayed the participations to three main
dates, one on September 9th, another on September 23rd, and a final one
on Sept 30th. The messages from September 29th did not belong to his
practices in level II.
The second subject, CMA, was more constant in her activities but the
quality of her texts did not show a remarkable progress, except the
last one, submitted twice, which showed a partly correct use of
capitalization.
The last subject, CMCG, manifested from the beginning of the course
that he had some difficulties and that he needed “some patience” and
“more help”(in his words) than normal. But he had more or less the same
treatment as his classmates. He was provided with the same means for
interaction in the traditional class and in the multimedia lab. His
practice and participation was remarkable in the e-group.
Making an analogy to temperature in a thermometer, the first date shows
the lowest temperature (meaning quality of text) and the last date is
supposed to show the highest temperature. From this point of view, the
first subject went from cool to slightly warm. The second subject,
started in slightly warm and stayed warm for some tasks, and in the
final task got a little warmer. The last subject went on a steady scale
from cool to hot.
These results showed that the use of information and communication
technology somehow helps, not only in writing tasks, but also in
speaking. This subject with some problems at the beginning performed
quite well in a final oral presentation with a musical group where he
introduced the name of the instruments and some of their
characteristics. Besides, he volunteered to participate in another
presentation about Halloween by one of his classmates.
6.3
Surveys
6.3.1
Opinion About First Tasks With The Group In Yahoo.Com
The first session students had the chance to interact with the
electronic platform in the discussion group, students answered in
Spanish a single question about it: Did you like working with yahoo?
Why?
Below there is a summary of students’ answers translated into English,
with the most relevant answers.
Positive aspects of the activity in the group in Yahoo.com:
· Peer and teacher interaction and correction
· Motivating & interesting process
· Possibilities to practice what students
learn.
· Information from the WWW.
· Possibilities to chat with native speakers
· Different dynamics in the class
· More freedom and ease to interact in English
6.3.2
Final Survey
(Only 8 people from 37 participants from the two groups sent it back)
Question 1 All respondents think that the use of technology
is useful and effective for their overall learning process, not only
English.
Question 2 All respondents have used computers as tools, source
of information, and means of communication. Not all use it for playing
or as a tutor
Question 3 Most of the respondents consider their computer
literacy good or very good while 1 of them considers it enough.
Question 4 All respondents found in the e-group something new and
useful for their language learning process.
Question 5 Students listed the following advantages in the use of
computers and technology:
- Better written communication
with others
- Access to tutor and tutorials
(interactive exercises on line) to solve problems and doubts from home
- Understandable and meaningful
software
- Interaction with multiple
messages with the possibility to correct and to be corrected by peers.
- Learning from mistakes
- Possibility to interact with
native speakers
- The need to practice and study
Question 6: From the activities
proposed for both contexts, the traditional classroom and the e-group,
all respondents said that they complemented each other.
- The computer allows for certain
tasks that the interaction in the traditional class does not, and vice
versa.
- All respondents found it very
useful to have access to the e-group from home or work at any time.
This gave them a sense of responsibility for their autonomous learning.
- Access to a wide set of
resources with the guidance of the teacher.
- Class is never monotonous.
- In the e-group and the
traditional class there is no fear of making mistakes and class is not
stressful.
- Feedback in the e-group is more
concise and clear. That helps improve writing.
Question 7 Six of eight
respondents to the survey noticed some improvement in their writing and
understanding of grammatical structures while they participated in the
e-group.
Question 8 What students like most from the group:
- Learning from mistakes,
- deeper knowledge of classmates,
- access from home,
- teacher-student interaction.
Question 9 To improve:
- Use it more widely (in all
courses, not only English).
- Schedule chat sessions or
appointments.
- More active participation from
students.
- Continuity.
Question 10. Self evaluation
All respondents stated that they could have participated more actively
and frequently.
Question 11:
Most of the students, even the ones who did not answer the survey,
stated in a discussion in the classroom that they would like to
continue sending texts to the group on a weekly or biweekly basis
7
understandings and conclusions
This short research has proven to be fruitful so far and promises to
yield very positive results in the future. This is an individual effort
I have been carrying out since 1997 and something has to be done in
order to involve other colleagues in this task. If students get a
motivation to write and practice a foreign language with new
technology, then something has to be prepared for them. That is my
purpose for as long as I am in charge of the computer facility of the
Language Center at the UPB. I hope a research group in Computer
Assisted Language Learning will be part of the teaching team in the
near future, or at least the institution will keep on supporting my job
on this topic in order to have someday a facility for self access and a
good language laboratory for students.
From this experience and from the data collected through conversations,
surveys and messages from the students, my findings and understandings
about the use of technology can be summarized as follows:
Most students, except a few exceptions, like to use technology
nowadays. This fact makes computers become tools that teachers should
use once in a while as part of their practice in the language classroom.
Teachers cannot take for granted that most students know how to use
computers or that they like to use them. To this respect, a further
study should be carried out in order to determine which subjects should
be included in a research like this one and contrast their progress to
the advance of students in a non-technology based classroom.
Some students feel more comfortable writing in front of a computer than
by other means. They find it less stressful to participate and they
feel they have more chances to participate more confidently. There is
also the risk of having the computer do the task for the students with
the wide variety of tools available not only in a hard disk, but also
in the WWW.
Computers sometimes help students get better results and seem to match
a wide variety of learning styles. The flexibility and characteristics
of the computers respect learning speed and provide the repetition
needed by students. However, computers as tutors do not always match
all learning styles and there are students who claim the guidance of a
person and the interaction among several students.
The asynchronous exchange of messages lets students reflect on what
they want to say. This can lead to the application of grammar rules,
their internalization and the habit of self-correction. It is important
to point out here, that the computer is just an easy way to find it all
in a place (spelling and grammar checkers, encyclopedias, grammar
exercises with immediate feedback). However, a disciplined student,
motivated to learn English, could find these tools in books and
dictionaries as well with perhaps the same results.
There seems to be a direct relation between the positive results, in
terms of writing, and the steady use of discussion groups, (i.e. the
periodicity of messages and interaction in the e-group). The
students with less participation in the e-group not necessarily got
worse grades than the students with more participation. It is
undeniable that the possibilities of interaction through the computer
are greater than a face-to-face situation in a traditional class. The
effect of technology on learning is similar to the effect of an
immersion program, but the main source or influence in the improvement
in any skill is the interest a student has for learning. Then, the role
of technology is just as a mediator.
There is no direct evidence of the influence of the use of information
and communication technology on the improvement of writing skills.
There might be other processes involved in the interaction such as
motivation, learning styles and technology literacy, which affect the
learner’s performance.
Somehow, there will always be the need of a teacher in front of a
process of learning a foreign language. His/Her role in the interaction
is as an observer and facilitator of written communication, or other
kinds of interaction. This leads students to more reflective production.
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APPENDIX A:
RATE OF INTERACTION PER SUBJECT
|
Message #
|
Sender
|
Receiver
|
Topic
|
Date
|
Mssg Information
|
Level
|
# Interactions
|
Final grade
|
|
74
|
YIPR
|
Group
|
Postcard lev 1
|
29-Sep-03
|
1st submission
|
1
|
|
|
|
134
|
YIPR
|
Group
|
N1 Daily routines
|
09-Oct-03
|
1st submission
|
1
|
|
|
|
153
|
YIPR
|
Group
|
N1 Daily routines
|
15-Oct-03
|
Second submission
|
1
|
3
|
4,19
|
|
125
|
CHMM
|
DO
|
Coorection postcard
|
06-Oct-03
|
Correction feedback
|
1
|
|
|
|
128
|
CHMM
|
Group
|
N1 Daily routines
|
09-Oct-03
|
1st submission
|
1
|
|
|
|
140
|
CHMM
|
|
