Computers and the English Classroom: Hit or Myth

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Computers and the English Classroom Hit or Myth?

• Thomas Robb
• Kyoto Sangyo University
• http//www.tomrobb.com

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Hit or Myth?

• My students would benefit from using computer
  software or webware
• The time has come for computers to be integrated
  into our English curriculum
• In order to use computers effectively we need to
  bring the students into a computer laboratory on
  a regular basis
• There isn't much we can do since we don't have
  sufficient computer access for our students.
• Anyone can make a home page
• A well-qualified teacher should be able to use
  computers well

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Ways of Using Computers

• Structured practice
• Free communication
• Synchronous
• Asynchronous
• E-mail
• Tool
• Productivity tools (Word-processing, etc.)
• Accessing audio/video materials
• Testing Assessment
• Information
• Accessing Information
• Creating (authoring) Information

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Advantages of Computers

• They allow students to work at their own pace
• They can be accessed whenever the student wants
  to use them
• They allow individualization of the learning
  process and material to be learnt
• They are non-judgmental. Students can make
  errors without fear of comments from teacher or
  peers

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Show Tell Time
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(No Transcript)
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The Student List Project
Date Fri, 22 Nov 2002 161950 JST From
a1301122_at_CC.AOYAMA.AC.JP (Yukako
Kawasaki) Subject Re Kate and
Leopold Newsgroups sandai.classes.sl.movie I
watched that movie! That was very funny and
romantic. I like Meg very much. She is very cute
and a good actress! I can't believe she is over
40. I thought the men who was acting duke, he was
a very good actor. I watched the movie in English
with no subtitles because I watched it when I was
travelling. So, sometimes I could't understand
the story. I'd like to watch it again!
Yukako
k -----------------------------------------------
--------------------- To find out how to stop
your mail, join another SL-List, etc., see the
"Welcome Message" you received when you joined.
To get another copy, send a message to
ltLISTSERV_at_LATROBE.EDU.AUgt saying GET MOVIE-SL
WELCOME FMAIL

• Requires regular Internet access

• Requires keyboarding skills

• Students often receive no replies

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• Requires considerable time for creating and
  correcting the writing

Famous Personages in Japan Project

• Requires regular maintenance

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• Requires considerable time for creating maps
  graphics

Kyoto Restaurant Project

• Requires regular maintenance

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• Requires a site that matches the curriculum

• Requires method for tracking student usage

• Requires a large number of computers for regular
  student access

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New Interchange II (Cambridge University Press)

• Students press buttons to play single utterances
  repeatedly.

• Students do cloze exercise, check their answers
  then try again.

• Their scores are recorded.

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New Interchange II (Cambridge University Press)

• Requires a site that matches the curriculum

• Requires method for tracking student usage

• Requires students to purchase CD-ROMs

• Requires regular student access

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by Renaissance Learning
Quizzes on over 25,000 titles
Point value for each book based on difficulty and
word count
Students must reach their point goal by the end
of the term
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(No Transcript)
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by Renaissance Learning
Requires purchase of software
Requires network server
Students cheat if not carefully monitored
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Hit or Myth?
My students would benefit from using computer
software or webware
The time has come for computers to be integrated
into our English curriculum
In order to use computers effectively we need to
bring the students into a computer laboratory on
a regular basis
There isn't much we can do since we don't have
sufficient computer access for our students
Anyone can make a home page
A well-qualified teacher should be able to use
computers well
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What can we do?

• Use the Internet to find supplementary materials
  of interest to your students
• Develop a class project that does not require
  intensive computer use by the students

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www.
.com
Keywords should be words that you think must be
on the page
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Which line is longer?
Theyre the same length.
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Which rod is the tallest?
Theyre all the same size.
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How to extract information

• Print out the page, or
• Copy and paste the text into your word processor,
  or
• Save the graphics or copy paste onto a word
  processor page

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Develop a class project that does not require
intensive computer use by the students

• Choose a topic
• Assign students to gather data on each aspect of
  the topic
• Students write short info in English and Japanese
• ALT helps improve the English
• Keyboarding-proficient students input the text
• A web-proficient colleague makes the HTML pages

http//geocities.co.jp
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Possible Topics

• Sports/Recreation facilities in your area
• (location, times, fees, etc.)
• Survey of one aspect of the environment
• Price comparison of food stores
• Anything! Use your imagination.

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Summary

• While the most effective way to use computers is
  probably for structured practice
• You need materials that match your curriculum
• You need materials with a tracking function
• You need a free-access computer lab
• Students need to have time available for access
• You need savvy person to manage the computer
  set-up for the entire curriculum/grade/school

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Questions?
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Thank you!

• http//www.tomrobb.com
• Tom_at_tomrobb.com