There
are many ways in which CALL can enhance language learning. When it comes to ESL students these days,
many have the advantage of being native in the use of these tools. But as Dooly (2010)[1]
notes, “Teachers must think about the use of these resources carefully so that the
potential of technology as more than asocial networking format is made
transparent to both themselves and to their students. In other words, teachers
must know how to transform the way they (and their students) think about these
resources” (p.278).
One way of taking advantage of web 2.0 tools in the classroom is to
encourage classmates to text-message each other in English. Classmates do engage in groups during class,
but maybe we can extend the conversation further and make it more natural if we
encourage ESL classmates to text each other in English outside the classroom. Another way is email, but that seems a little
outdated in this day of text messages and instant tweets. Under the concept of “new genres”, Warschauer (2004)[2] notes: “It has been suggested that the essay will increasingly become a marked form. Although essays may still be studied as a literary form, it has been suggested (Faigley, 1997) that few people will actually write them since they will be replaced by multimedia presenting concepts through multiple technologies” (p.7). I think it would be interesting to ask students to send short essays via their cell phones to the teacher. A teacher can ask students to submit such an article by text message in order to encourage the students to communicate in an authentic way and in a way they are used to. The only limitation here would be the use of SMS language which is sure to annoy the grading teacher.
Under Warschauer (2004)’s concept of “new pedagogies”, I think students can have fun writing a story online where all students take turns writing the story, adding images and audio, then posting it online. Thus this would act as a project-based language learning. As Dooly notes, “the incorporation of the opportunities provided by telecollaboration may help promote this contextualised, multi-focused language learning even more as learners are 'connected' through Web 2.0 to carry out telecollaborative projects” (p.287). In this case, the collaboration between students would give them an opportunity to learn and practice the second language.
A good website to start with is: https://www.2simple.com/2create-story, which allows students to create their own stories and add images alongside.
[1] Dooly, M. (2010). Teacher 2.0.
Telecollaboration 2.0. Language literacies and intercultural learning in the
21st century, pp. 277-303. Bern/Wien: Peter Lang.
[2] Warschauer, M.
(2004). Technological change and the future of CALL. New Perspectives on CALL for Second and
Foreign Language Classrooms, pp. 15-25.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
