Category: Materials

Developing Targeted Technology Standards for Avenue language instructors, programs, and learners: an initiative of New Language Solutions

Allan, J., Healey, D., Hubbard, P., Kessler, G., McBride, R., Rajabi, S., and Sturm, M. (2024) Developing Targeted Technology Standards for Avenue language instructors, programs, and learners: an initiative of New Language Solutions. TESL Ontario Contact Magazine, 50 (1) 16-30.

Authors of this report in TESL Ontario’s Spring 2024 Contact magazine provide insight to New Language Solutions’ (NLS) approach to developing technology standards specifically targeted to instructors in Canada’s settlement language sector and that will be integrated into NLS’s online teacher training and leadership training. It describes the ongoing activities related to the standards that are intended to create a culture of continuous improvement around technology in learning environments. This includes regular reviews and updates of the standards as needed.

The report gives examples of the collaborative, online process the team used to trim the language in the standards and the performance indicators so they are as direct and clear as possible. The report links to a request form for the full set of standards but it also gives a brief overview of the seven standards along with a fuller example of “Standard 4, about digital literacy and digital citizenship for yourself and your learners.”.

The report outlines the evaluation process the standards followed, lays out the plan that will integrate the standards in instructor training and microcredentials, with the aim of sector-wide, consistent, deep understanding of the standards; and emphasizes ongoing initiatives that will generate data about the impact of the standards on programs.

A list of references is followed by a sample vignette that describes an instructor’s thoughts and experiences as she incorporates the standards into her instruction.

Choosing Technology Tools to Meet Pronunciation Teaching and Learning Goals

 

Tritch Yoshida, M. (2018). Choosing Technology Tools to Meet Pronunciation Teaching and Learning Goals. The CATESOL Journal,  30(1), 195–212

This article evaluates a range of technology tools and sites to support the teaching, learning and development of pronunciation.  The comprehensive evaluations are based on research and classroom practice and examine each of the tools based on the following criteria: Quality and accuracy; Practicality of use; Ease of use and Cost.

The article offers a practical review of technology tools and sites for computers, laptops and smartphones from the perspective of language instructor and also offers a model of technology tool evaluation that could be very useful in other areas of language teaching and learning.

Retrievable from:

http://www.catesoljournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CJ30.1_yoshida.pdf

 

Digital Literacies

Dudeney, Gavin, Nicky Hockly and Mark Pegrum. Digital Literacies. Harlow, England: Pearson, 2013.

This book is organized in four chapters:

  1. From research to implications – you’ll find a framework of digital literacies.
  2. From implications to application – you’ll find a digital activities grid, descriptions of activities and a number of worksheets. worksheets can slso be obtained online.
  3. From application to implementation – you’ll find information about how to integrate digital literacies in your teaching practice depending on your context and the syllabus you are working with.
  4. From implementation to research – you’ll find suggestions about how to continue your own learning about digital literacies as you work through challenges that arise. There is detailed description of building and maintaining a personal learning network (PLN).

 

Digital Literacies in Foreign and Second Language Education

CALICO Monograph Series Volume 12. (2014). Digital Literacies in Foreign and Second Language Education.

This volume from CALICO is made up of 12 chapters that look at digital literacy in language learning from many different perspectives. Among others, there is a challenge to Prensky’s characterization of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, a description of a survey-driven study of the use of digital tools for language teaching and learning, a framework that proposes how to close the digital divide, and an exploration of the affordances of digital social reading using the example of an open source tool called eComma. In this last example, in chapter 9, author Carl Blyth looks at some of the ways that e-readers can enable users to annotate a text and share their annotations with others. This new practice, called digital social reading, is similar to the way that readers of print text can write in the margins or meet as a book club to share their thoughts. Blyth presents and then addresses some of the opposition to this practice using examples from four case studies.

Retrievable from: https://calico.org/bookfiles/pdfs/DigitalLiteracies.pdf

Teaching Workplace Cultural Communication (Online).

Nawaz, M. (2014). Teaching Workplace Cultural Communication (Online). Contact, 40(1), 24–28.

This article describes the Workplace Cultural Communications (Online) course offered by Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services (ISIS) to new and pre-arrival immigrants who are at Canadian Language Benchmarks 7/8. The course, on the Moodle platform, consists of 10 modules offered over a 10-week period. Each module focuses on a specific workplace cultural value and focuses on language, interchange and social norms in the Canadian workplace. Participants complete written and audio-recorded assignments in each module and also participate in a discussion forum where they can interact and share information about their current locations, professional background and workplace experiences.

Retrievable from: http://www.teslontario.net/uploads/publications/contact/ContactSpring2014.pdf

Call for autonomy, competence and relatedness: Motivating language learning environments in Web 2.0

CALL for autonomy, competence and relatedness: Motivating language learning environments in Web 2.0.

Alm, A., (2006). CALL for autonomy, competence and relatedness: Motivating language learning environments in Web 2.0. The JALT CALL Journal, 2(3), 29–38.

The author looks at Web 2.0 tools in the light of motivational theory and self-determination theory, arguing that internet-based learning environments have to address basic needs of competence, relatedness and autonomy in order to create the conditions in which learners can motivate themselves. Some of the points made are that language learners have basically two communities they need to relate to in order to develop a sense of belonging – one within the class and another the community that speaks the language outside the class; while an in-class evaluation might be necessary for assessment purposes, a comment from a real-life audience is likely to have a stronger motivational impact on the learner. Alm argues that it is the balance between structure and choice that leads to learner autonomy. This article provides examples of practices that improve learner motivation.

Retrievable From: http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/2_3_Alm.pdf