This week,

Hello everyone, today the topic is DGBLL, Digital Game-Based Language Learning.

When we think of language learning we think of books classroom based learning, but what if I told you that there was a better way? A fun and engaging way to learn your chosen languages?

Well with modern advancements in technology and gaming this is possible.

Take World of Warcraft for example, a game that I never would have associated with language learning. But boy was I wrong, there are many ‘realms’ in this Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). This hugely popular game has so many realms with so many languages, that chances are you will be able to join one and learn your language with other players, who might be learning like you, or even a native speaker.

These allow you to practice your languages from the comfort of your home, and thanks to research in recent years, the games are more and more creative when it comes to language learning. For example, Gee’s Learning Principles allow game creators to fulfill the needs of a language learner who wants to learn by playing games, this theory identifies forms of play activity that supports language learning, such as well ordered problems, support, an emphasis on performance instead of competence and one of the most important elements, continuous feedback. (Gee, Learning Principles, 2007-2012).

Here’s a link to my padlet where I discuss some topics related to these games and the materials we have covered in this module that enhanced my knowledge: https://padlet.com/tc17202078/qauc1xghnvk1

So after all the knowledge I have about DGBLL I strongly recommend joining a games and getting immersed in your languages, and of course in the game ! 🙂

Thanks for reading,

All the best,

Tanya

 

Corpus Linguistics:

Corpus linguistics is when a large number of examples of a language are collected and analysed using computer software. The examples are the language being used in ‘real life’.

Basically, a corpus is a collection of texts which are more useful if they are a complete compilation and they are self contained. Corpus linguistics is having both written text but also having transcriptions of spoken language which are stored as an electronic database (McArthur, Tom. (ed.) 1992. The Oxford Companion to the
English. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press).

To conduct a corpus linguistic analysis, I used the software Antconc. I ran an analysis on the files I uploaded from a CD Rom with many examples of my target language in both Journalistic and Academic styles.

The picture below is of one analysis on the academic style (left) and the other on a journalistic style corpus. As you can see, the most used words in both examples are very similar. I thought this was very interesting.

However, when you scroll down just a little these results change dramatically:

These results are very different. This shows how we can use corpus linguistics to quickly find out what register the text is in, and make a guess as to whether it is formal or informal, this is useful if you need to conduct research, by finding out if the text is academic or more informal, you can save time by using corpus linguistics.

Another useful use of corpus linguistics is finding out more about a word and the uses it has. below, I clicked on ‘de’ in the word list and I got this in the concordance. This is very useful when you want to know all the uses for a word, in the example I chose, of ‘de’ we see how many uses it has, it can be used with places, nouns, verbs and dates. This is very useful for language learners as it allows them to quickly build their vocabulary.

This also helps when learning the positions of words and where they go in a sentence.

Overall, the use of linguistic corpora in language learning is very useful. It enables you to learn so much about a language and when different forms are used. I thought the software was intimidating at first but once you get the hang of using it, it is a very beneficial tool.

Thanks for reading!

Tanya

 

*Bare with me, this blog is a little different, to explain some concepts, there’s a fun little question and answer type format.

Do you think Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) is an essential aspect of learning a language?

Yes, I do think ICC is essential in language learning. Without some form of cultural awareness, interacting with a native speaker would be like navigating an unfamiliar house in the dark. Language is connected to culture, you could get away with very basic words and phrases without ICC, but if you want to achieve fluency, to speak with natives on a regular basis, ICC is essential.

Do you think it is possible to assess students’ intercultural competence objectively?

I think it is difficult to assess a students intercultural competence objectively. It can be difficult for people to express their intercultural competence effectively, so for those assessing it, it must be even more challenging.

What have you learnt from observing some case studies?

From observing case studies I have learned that you have to be imaginative when assessing ICC. It seems like its hard to find a way to assess ICC that doesn’t take too much time. It also seems as though you have to  think outside the box, to ensure everyone will be able to complete the task and that you can examine individual’s competence.

Do you think that ICC is important for your future employability? How?

Completely, ICC is important for my future employability because no matter where you go, there will be people from different cultures. If I go abroad to work, I will definitely need to have ICC, to feel as if I belong there, then if I stay in Ireland it is also important because chances are, I’ll be working with other people, and as we have learned in the Virtual Exchange, (Ireland, being in Europe) has become a destination for migrants, not just a country people leave to go somewhere else.

Would current social challenges in the globalised world benefit if graduates had developed ICC during their college years?

YES! I think if people have a better cultural awareness of others they would be more compassionate towards people from other cultures. Social challenges such as migration could be tackled more efficiently as there would be an understanding as to why people may want to move to another country. A lot of hostility is shown towards migrants, and I think it’s down to the lack of understanding. Animosity towards migrants would decrease and people could work together to solve the crisis Europe is currently facing if we develop more ICC in college.

Thanks for stopping by,

Tanya

 

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)

Intercultural Communicative Competence.  If I had to guess what this meant, I would say it had something to do with the ability to communicate and culture. Okay, so after a little research I can kinda say I was right.

ICC is defined as ‘ability to understand cultures, including your own, and use this understanding to communicate with people from other cultures successfully’ on the British Council Website.(https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/intercultural-communicative-competence.

It is about culture and it is about communication, however, as usual, there’s more to it than that. Its about how we understand another culture and how we use this understanding to communicate with others, who aren’t from the same culture as us.

CULTURAL SITUATIONS

So, why is ICC so important?? To start, when I began learning my first language, French, one of the first lessons we got is when to use the form ‘you’, as in ‘tu’ or ‘vous’. This was hard for me to getmy head around because before, I had never come across it. I now know that it’s the same in Spanish and German. Without this understanding, talking to people I don’t know or people like my teachers would be awkward. Understanding little differences in culture is so important. It’s about showing respect and sensitivity. It’s about showing people that you care.

We looked at the Cultura Project in class, it was so interesting to see how there is such a difference in cultures and how different cultures expect people to react in different situations. For example, in a comparison between Roeper School in America and Lycée Louis Armand à Chambéry, France, we see how people think differently to a mother slapping her child. In France, most people said the child probably deserved it, however in the American responses, they said they would feel the need to intervene, and would feel guilty if they didn’t. Personally I feel more on the American side, just for the record.

 

Byram’s Model of ICC 1977

In his definition Byram incorporated the 5 savoirs, Savoir, Savoir Etré, Savoir S’engager, Savoir Comprendre, Savoir Faire/Apprendre.

In the Cultura example, we see how it is important to use these steps of ICC to act in a way acceptable to the culture we are surrounded by.

Savoirs:

This the knowledge a person has about general interactions and social groups in their own culture and in other cultures. In the example above, we see how this would be important, in France, slapping a child is not seen as something that is bad, this seems to be how children learn right from wrong, however in America this would be frowned upon. A French person would have to understand that it is not okay to slap a child in America, but an American would also have to understand that in France, it would not be appropriate to say something to the mother slapping her child.

Savoir Etre:

Curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief (about other cultures) and also belief (about your own culture). This savoir is important in this example. The American must suspend their belief that slapping the child is bad, but also suspend disbelief that a mother would slap her child. They must be open to the possible reasons for slapping the child, as in France they see it as a way of correcting the child.

Savoir Faire/Apprendre:

This is cultural practices knowledge acquisition and procedural application of knowledge in real time. We see this in the example, it’s easy to know what’s acceptable in the other culture, but it may not be so easy to apply this knowledge. The example of the child isnt’ so good in this example, because hitting a child was not necessarily approved in the French example, it just wasn’t condemned as strongly as in the American sample.

Byram’s model is so helpful when learning a language and the culture behind it, it’s like a checklist we can use to ensure we have sufficient knowledge about the people we will be interacting with.

DIFFERENCE IN INTERCULTURAL SPEAKER AND MEDIATOR

Intercultural Speaker:

This is someone who possesses all of Byram’s Savoirs and communicates with people from other cultures by using this knowledge.

Intercultural Mediator:

This is someone who enables intercultural communication. (https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/translator-intercultural-competence/45051). They use creative acts of meaning-making between language and culture. They are a participant in both cultures, thereby being bi-cultural. (Luddicoat, Anthony J. Intercultural mediation, intercultural communication and translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice. vol. 24., 2016)(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0907676X.2014.980279),

Thanks for reading, till next week,

Tanya

 

 

Spoof Website:

A spoof website is

1.  A humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.

2. a trick played on someone as a joke.

(Oxford Dictionaries)

With this in mind, let’s look at a spoof website in Spanish, one interesting one I found was El Mundo Today. This is a Spanish News website that posts spoof news stories. Today the headline reads ‘El Museo de Cera exhumará también el cadáver de cera de Franco en el Valle de los Caídos de cera’ (The wax museum will also exhume the corpse of Franco’s Wax in the valley of the Fallen wax). The website seems to keep in with what’s topical at a given time to make the unsuspecting reader believe the site is credible.

The site seems to be a good laugh but maybe not so much for a language learner who might fall for these ‘tricks’. As a beginner Spanish learner the site would definitely have made a fool out of me. The only thing that warned me was the repetition of ‘cera’ or ‘wax’. The title doesn’t really make sense, but without google translate I would have been in a spot of bother.

For native speakers these sites are a source of entertainment and a bit of a laugh but they could be detrimental to a learner of a language, leaving them confused. The sites look believable, an attention grabbing header with various other storied underneath, with relevant pictures accompanying each story. If you compare it to The Daily Mail Online for example there’s very little difference. The one big clue was their slogan, ‘La Actualidad de Manana’, (The News of Tomorrow), something that I would not have found only I was looking for something that would give the site away.

 

Hwang, Kessler, & Francesco said that social media has various positive benefits for learning languages (Hwang, Kessler and Francesco, 2004). The obvious advantage of social media and language learning is the connections these platforms would give you. They allow you to talk to native speakers of a language and also to other language learners. This is such a valuable tool to have as it can allow you to practice target languages and to interact with other speakers to improve your acquisition of the language.

 

 

Above are my results from the NC State University test for learning style. (https://www.webtools.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/) From these results, I am a more active, sensing, verbal and sequential learner. I always thought I was an active learner, I always like interact with the information being taught, however, I don’t like group work like the explanation suggests.

I was quite surprised by the other results. I do like to listen and get a good explanation of the topic, but I always like to have a visual representation of the information too. The test I found, did not allow you to express this. I think that could be the reason for that result.

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By personalizing language learning is something so achievable today. To think, only a few decades ago, language learning was all done through verbal and written mediums. There was very little visual or active learning available. We now understand that each of us has our own way of learning that is most practical. By figuring this out, language learning can be quicker, easier and most importantly, more fun.

Knowing how you learn best can be the difference of continuing to learn a language and giving up. To me, knowing what way suits best is essential in language learning. Spending time on learning styles that don’t fit your way of learning can be frustrating and boring. It wastes time, energy and resources.

Why do it to yourself? When you could be spending these valuable resources on styles that can be quick, easy and most importantly fun?

Once you know what kind of learner you are, you can personalise your learning by finding ways that suit your style. For example, in my case I’m a more active learner than a reflective learner, so I would be better off finding a language partner and speaking my target languages than trying to work through grammar and vocab myself, to better understand the language, which could suit a more reflective learner.

Its about finding out what fits your style of learning, language learning should be as personal as possible. If you can find a way that suits your learning better, go for it.

Unfortunately, with all this personalisation, there are some drawbacks. When you get used to your style of learning, it can be difficult to concentrate when it’s not possible to learn in the style that you prefer. It can be frustrating to go from something that fits so well to something you have been trying to avoid. It’s like putting on a pair of shoes that don’t fit!

 

Task 1, defining a multimedia CALL package,

Multimedia CALL Package:

A multimedia CALL Package is computer software which assists the learning of a language by using more than one type of media? If i had to guess this would be a definition of a multimedia CALL package that I would give, although this may be completely off the mark , so instead lets delve into a few example to clear up the blurred lines shall we?

So from looking at a more academic side of things, here’s a definition I found online:

‘Multimedia CALL refers to the learning of a (primarily second or foreign) language supported by multimedia technology. Multimedia for language learning covers a wide range of visually and/or aurally enhanced instructional materials, from audio recordings, picture flash cards, graphically annotated texts, and subtitled television broadcasts to interactive educational software applications such as courseware, interactive videodisks, and digital games’ (Website: Springer Link, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1428-6_963, accessed, 9/11/2018)

SpanishDict is an example of a Multimedia CALL Package as is it utilizes both printed text and audio files. You initially get the translation on the app in printed form, with an audio clip provided, if you wish to listen to the pronunciation of the word. This is extremely useful if your not 100% about how to say words.

According to Selper, 2004, for proper use of technology in education the way technology is used should be afforded as much attention as the design (Selper, 2004, 93). For SpanisDict, I think there was a lot of attention focused on how the technology can be used, it is simple to use and very accessible.

 

Task 2:

My Multimedia CALL Package Wish List

If I were to make my very own multimedia CALL package, I would start with the basics.

1. Lets begin with the appearance of the package, to keep learners interested the site would have to be visually appealing. Colour would be very important, along with a simple but attractive,easy to use layout.

2.  Next, I would focus on types of media involved in the site. To learn a language, I                believe hearing it spoken is essential, for this reason there would have to be both                printed and audio versions of the target languages available.

3. The site would have to be accurate, with no mistakes in any aspect of the                             information available. Following on from this, the site must have no source of                     confusion or ambiguity.

1. Finally, it would have an element of interactive learning, it is easier to remember vocab and grammar when you get practice in using them. This aspect would be achieved with games.

 

 

 

 

SpanishDict.

SpanishDict has been one of the various websites I find myself constantly referring to since starting to study Spanish. It is an app which translates words from Spanish to English or vice-versa. I find this app more useful than other translator apps as it provides examples of the words or sentences you are looking up in real life scenarios. This gives the reader a better understanding of the word as it allows you to see it being used in many different contexts. The grammar section available on the app is just as useful as the vocabulary it provides. You can see how the verbs are conjugated in all of the different tenses. This site has been useful when both speaking and writing Spanish. (http://www.spanishdict.com/)

Netflix.

While it can be used as a perfect excuse to procrastinate, Netflix can also be helpful in learning a new language. By entering a simple search of Spanish or German shows/movies, the results will show all sorts of genres. This is extremely helpful when learning a language because you pick up vocab and the proper ways of using words and phrases in the language. The main reason Netflix is useful is because you learn the language without feeling as though you are studying. You can relax and watch these shows or movies while also learning. (https://www.youtube.com/)

Blogs/Sites.

By entering a simple search in google, you can see many different websites and other sources of information related to your target language. By looking up vlogs related to Spanish I found a useful link: https://www.feedspot.com/infiniterss.php?q=site:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Flearnspanish%2F.rss%3Fformat%3Dxml This is basically a forum where Spanish speakers and learners can post their difficulties in using the language or ask for tips about the language. This was useful because it gives tips and information from native speakers and also people who have experience in learning the language. I found this site very useful as it gives you an awareness of the difficulties that other learners face and helps me to solve problems before they arise.

YouTube.

YouTube has a rich source of information. You can look up shows and movies, just like Netflix, but you can also look up videos which are more education focused. One channel on the site that I find good is the Michel Thomas. He encourages the listener to not think about learning, but rather to relax and let the lessons do the work for themselves. This is just one of the many channels on the site that can be used. to study and learn Spanish. (https://www.youtube.com/)

My Favourite:

My favourite site is Netflix as it improves your learning of the language in a comfortable setting. It requires less effort than the other sites and is more enjoyable. Since starting to watch shows on Netflix, my confidence in speaking my target languages has improved significantly. However, this may be due to the fact I am taking both my languages at beginner level and learning anything may seem more significant than is actually the case. (https://www.netflix.com/browse)

Hi everyone, this is a blog about language learning and technology.

In this blog I hope to reflect my learning about the different ways people learn languages and the benefits and weaknesses of various techniques. By doing this I hope to learn how technology can effect language learning, and how technology has developed and advanced over time. lastly, I hope to learn about what these advancements have meant for language learning.

I am most excited to take part in the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange. I hope this will help with discovering more about language learning and technology. The idea of communicating with people from all around Europe sounds incredible.

Thanks for reading!