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giving them opportunities to contribute to a class blog or something where their classmates will get to see their hearts and minds in this other forum. I think that really opens things up.

But Cain particularly feels for one group of introverts: the quiet kids in a classroom.

  38   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS 2001). This difference in ‘lifestyle’ gives educators reason to believe we shouldincorporate SNS usage into our class-related activities, to capture these students’imaginations and t their thought patterns and socializing habits (Godwin-Jones,2008; Winke & Goertler, 2008).However, although technology is an integral part of neomillennial students’lives, they often do not know how to use technology in ways that would benet them in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) (Dieu & Stevens, 2007;Kolaitis, Mahoney, Pomann, & Hubbard, 2006; Winke & Goertler, 2008). Suc - cessful CALL activities, then, often require a substantial training period at theoutset (Jones & Bissoonauth-Bedford, 2008; Kolaitis et al., 2006), and studentsmay be less enthusiastic about a class’s language and culture projects if the formof computer-mediated communication ( CMC) employed is not the type they areaccustomed to using (McBride & Wildner-Bassett, 2008; Thorne, 2003). A usefulresponse may be to craft CALL activities more to the practices that our studentsare familiar with (Winke & Goertler, 2008). SNSs are an obvious possibility to consider, given their tremendous popularity.If we can get our F

we can get our FL students to interact socially on SNSs, then they may beengaged in more authentic social and communicative behavior than typically hap-pens in classrooms, because “instead of merely simulating other modes of interac-tion, technology mediated communication is, in and of itself, the real thing

  40   SOCiaL-NetwOrKiNg SiteS and sites like it, knowing, socially and technically, how to re-use media in thisparticular way has become foundational for communication and creative expres- sion over the Web” (Perkel, 2008, p. 218). We can call this activity of writing/remixing the self through the manipulationof text and media ‘ self-authorship.’ Within the framework of CALL, this term refers to students authoring their own materials which can then serve as the basisfor learning and lessons. Using student-created materials as the center of a lesson ts with a student-centered pedagogy (Dieu, Campbell, & Ammann, 2006). Self-authorship activities can increase interest and time on task, and they put students in a more active role in their own learning process (Kramsch, A’Ness, & Lam,2000; Nikolova, 2002).Students must take an active role in their learning. They cannot simply be handed knowledge from an expert because understanding is the result of a cre- ative process one must work through over time with other people (Bereiter, 2002). Learning

Web 2.0 as “a second generation, or more personalised, communicative form of the World Wide Web that emphasises active participation, connectivity, collaboration and sharing of knowledge and ideas among users

there is a longer time lag between sending and receiving text messages or audio files via the chat facility, although both parties are online at the same time. We thus coined a new phrase to capture the speed of such interaction, semi-synchronous, which is under investigation in this research.

there is a tendency to not reach the stage of resolution in online asynchronous text-based discussion

Used wrongly, computers could even damage learning. "Technology can be a distraction," says Warschauer. "I remember observing a beginners' French class a number of years ago, the teacher bragged about how engaged the learners were in creating multimedia in French. However, the students were spending most of their time and energy talking with each other in English about how to make PowerPoints, when, as beginning learners, they really needed to be spending time hearing as much French as possible."

In addition to taking classes, she supplements her education by using Learning Upgrade, a smartphone app with English and math lessons for adults.

Along with our face-to-face instruction and tutoring, we offer an additional resource to our adult students: educational software via mobile technology.

This access to educational software allows those with limited scheduled availability, or those who do not yet have an assigned tutor, to learn at their own pace and on their own time.

A preliminary evaluation with language teachers and computer specialists was carried out in 2001 to investigate the technological capabilities of four Internet-based desktop videoconferencing tools (CUseeMe, ICUII, Video VoxPhone Gold, and NetMeeting), and NetMeeting revealed itself as the most potentially appropriate tool for supporting oral and visual interaction in DLE (Wang, 2004).

He suggested firstly that "linguistic interaction is a collaborative activity," and then moved on to say that "linguistic communication involves the establishment of a triangular relationship between the sender, the receiver, and the context of situation."

Oral-visual interaction represents the highest level of CMC-based interaction at the present time.

By Natascha Chtena November 22, 2015 5 Comments   .blog-spacer { display: none; } @media (max-width: 420px) { .blog-spacer { display: block; height:1px; clear:both; } }   googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("dfp-ad-story_level_pages"); }); Natascha Chtena is a PhD student in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. You can follow her on Twitter @nataschachtena.       One of the challenges I face teaching a daily language class is finding novel and creative ways to maintain student interest throughout my lessons. One of my favorite teaching “tricks” is using music to motivate learning, improve concentration, create a sense of community and help my students absorb material.   Music is a wonderful tool to integrate into your teaching repertoire, especially if you are a foreign language teacher. It has a

The key is to not be too ambitious (unless of course you are teaching a language AND culture class) and to set realistic goals: one song one major point! I usually keep it to seven minutes max, which includes a song, a very short “lecture” and some time for student questions at the end.

VoiceThreads might best be described as interactive media albums

The technology is particularly accessible because viewers can comment using just about any technology -- including a good old landline. "We've tried to make it fairly universal in access," says Ben Papell. "If you don't have a microphone

when he discovered he could engage his kids online in a collaborative, multimedia slide show called a VoiceThread, he decided to see if he could use it to, as he puts it, "steal some of their online minutes."

If you’re using new technology, give it a trial run. It’s hard to imagine anything less engaging for students than sitting around waiting while you try to load that video over a poor internet connection or figure out all the glitches with that awesome online game.Do your trial and error ahead of time, before you’re demonstrating media to the class.

And one of the best ways to access them is with an innovative tool called FluentU.