Group items tagged

"Abstract Currently, language educators experience difficulties in facilitating oral practice effectively in the foreign language classroom. Regularly, they face introverted and passive learners who fail to embrace speaking opportunities (Poza, 2011), or simply do not find the time to promote speaking practice in the classroom (Meddings & Thornbury, 2009). In this light, many asynchronous computer mediated communication (ACMC) technologies have emerged to confront this situation. However, central research studies do not seem to acknowledge ACMC as viable in accommodating oral development but, rather, frequently attribute this merit to synchronous CMC (Levy & Stockwell, 2006; Kervin & Derewianka, 2011). By employing a mixed-methods approach, this small-scale case study examines, firstly, the extent to which ACMC speaking practices are suitable for language learners' speaking development. Secondly, and by extension, it investigates the salient characteristics of the ACMC tool myBrainshark, that makes it appropriate for fostering linguistic growth. The data is obtained from post-beginner Spanish language learners by means of an online questionnaire and an online structured stimulated recall. The findings show, on the one hand, that ACMC oral practices can be beneficial in developing speaking aspects in lower-proficiency language learners and, on the other hand, that myBrainshark has characteristics that can potentially promote linguistic development. Finally, this paper calls for experimental research on the improvement of oral competency in post-beginner and higher-proficiency learners."

I am amazed that they put all of this up online!  80+ presentations that have been recorded in a variety of ways, from the 2011 conference.  Take a browse through - there is bound to be something you're interested in finding out something more about.

Interesting comparison of networks most used in 2009 to what's being used in 2011.

Hitosugi, C. I. (2011). Using a social networking site in Japanese class. In E. Forsythe, T. Gorham, M. Grogan, D. Jarrell, R. Chartrand, & P. Lewis (Eds.), In CALL: What's your motivation? Collected papers on the cutting edge of language learning practice (pp. 72-83). Tokyo, Japan: JALT CALL SIG. This is my article that I wrote a couple of years ago on NIng use. This is much shorter than the original one, but still conveys what I wanted; SNS has a place in classroom, students concern privacy.

Abstract "Digital storytelling is a compelling activity for the language classroom. Easy to use for both writing and speaking practice, digital storytelling can be a good way to motivate students to use the language both inside and outside the classroom. Many teachers report high motivation levels, and not only for their students! In this practical article I will briefly outline what digital storytelling is and give some tips on how to get started."

A new edition of the World Map of Social Networks, showing the most popular social networks by country, according to Alexa & Google Trends for Websites traffic data* (June 2011).

I really like the phrase "instrumental empathy" -- I think it's something great to strive for in our classrooms and to integrate into our lessons.

I vividly recall sitting in my son's Spanish classroom during an Open House back in 2011, listening to the teacher explain how they reviewed vocabulary and grammar during class. She reminded us of the importance of finding opportunities for students to listen to, and even better, speak the language outside of class.

Interesting comment promoting the discussed topic applied to Spanish.

Breaks down a Tweet into parts and explains them

Explanations and tips for using Facebook as a teacher

Here is a guy who is doing presentations on "60 web tools in 60 minutes" (60 seconds each).  This is a page with the current 60 listed - do you know them all?   and there is a link to the recording of his presentation/webinar, too, so you can see the whole presentation.

This is higher education levels, not K-12. They interviewed chief academic officers for this info. The report shows more students taking online courses, a higher percentage of courses being online, faculty acceptance of online courses, what training faculty receive, and compares student outcomes to face-to-face.

If you are really into Twitter, here is a site that investigates a number of tools that will help you use Twitter in different ways.