Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom

Technology is an absolutely essential part of every classroom, including foreign language classrooms. In fact, I think that the foreign language classroom receives more benefit from technology than many other subject areas. The technology doesn't have to be anything extravagant like the Pixten program that was discussed to us by one of the panelists, but just a simple video or picture found online would be extremely beneficial to the students. However, when larger projects do occur, Pixten and Wikis would be a great option to look at. I believe that technology can be incorporated into every class if you find it necessary, but really you only want to implement technology if it is more pedagogically useful than your original lesson strategy.

I think that getting students using technology is beneficial to both the teacher and the students. Both become familiarized with the different programs like Edmodo, Prezi, and Screen Chomp, as mentioned in the So You Say article and by one of the presenters of technology. Through programs like Edmodo, and also wikis for larger research projects or classroom projects, students are able to collaborate and build a community via technology. Websites like YouTube also provide the students with a valuable tool that they can also explore on their own. These video sites have plenty of auditory and visual input that is authentic or made by students just like them. While teacher assisting, my CT and I have used several online videos to introduce new vocabulary and the verb gustar. Most of them are catchy songs that get the students at least a little more interested in the material, and of course they get stuck in the students' heads!!! Really, technology can be used in a variety of ways. Authentic material can be found all over the web, and is a genuinely useful tool when teaching students a foreign language. Students can listen to songs to improve their comprehension, watch videos to experience the culture of foreign countries, collaborate as a class to make a project, and record dialogues through programs like Pixten or Sock Puppets, as presented during the panel meeting on technology, to improve their speech.

When determining the value of a tool or strategy, I really look at whether the technology will grasp students' interests and give them a break from standard lecture and discussion, which I believe is a crucial part of instruction. Technology is also useful and should be implemented in situations where you want students to have an authentic experience of the foreign language. Of course the sites will have to be screened for authenticity, but students will really be able to apply what they know navigating through sites in the foreign language or by writing a paper about some possible themes of a movie completely in the foreign language. Students could even make their own foreign language rap and record it! The possibilities are endless, really. Although there is so much technology out there, I don't think I would use it all of the time in my classroom. I am kind of old-school in the way that I like to learn (and teach), and I really like it when things are hand written or made by hand. I think that students learn a lot by actually writing things down on paper, or creating a poster about their favorite Hispanic author. There's also nothing wrong with reading every now and again with the higher level foreign language classes. Overall, I think that technology should always be used as a resource, but only used in actual activities if it is absolutely necessary and the students will reap the benefits of the technology. Amazing collaborative projects can be made through Wikis, and communities can be built online with Edmodo's easy, interactive, social interface. I will continue to try to implement technology in my placement when it seems to improve the lesson. I'll continue to research different technological techniques and strategies that I will be able to apply in my placement and future classroom.

Vocabulary Acquisition: Some Ideas and Experiences

Vocabulary is really a part of language that is constantly being built upon. Even in my native language, I am learning new words every day like the word "pernicious," which I just learned last week. Constantly building on our vocabulary makes us a better writer and speaker because we are able to create speech and writing in many different ways. Perhaps we don't know the word for teacher, but we could say "a person who teaches." They both have the same significance, but the wording is different. Vocabulary is extremely crucial, especially in learning a second language, and I have found, through the reading, several ways to help students build their vocabulary. The text reads, "Learning vocabulary might even be considered the most challenging component of learning a language," therefore as teachers we must figure out ways for students to really retain and understand vocabulary (75).

            In my placement, my cooperating teacher and myself have different techniques in teaching vocabulary, but now I will be able to implement more techniques that are suggested by the text. The real goal is to get students to retain the vocabulary into their long term memory. However, there are several ways in which students can retain this information. Students must receive input visually and audibly, and the material must be presented in a meaningful context. The visuals, such as pictures, to associate with the vocabulary should be as authentic as possible. Teachers should try to use authentic texts like restaurant menus and pictures of people from actual Spanish-speaking countries, although these may be somewhat difficult to incorporate into lower level classes. These types of input provide cultural experience for the students as well, which is a crucial aspect of foreign language. The visuals are usually better for association with vocabulary, but auditory learning should not be forgotten. Auditory learning can be harder to implement into a classroom, but it is very important for the students to be able to hear native speakers and real speech.

            In addition to using real native speakers with the auditory input and real cultural pictures and texts for visual input, it's great to contextualize the vocabulary to students' lives and make it interesting. When introducing numbers, we could say, "Now you can ask a cute girl/guy for their number!" These kinds of things get the students excited to learn vocabulary.

            Some things that I find my CT doing is playing music during exercises which can be very distracting for the students when they are acquiring new vocabulary. However, she definitely makes up for it when she acts out vocabulary words in a manner that makes sense to the students. She uses the TPR method, which I think is great for beginner language learners when it is more difficult for students to retrieve vocabulary meanings from authentic texts. Something that really stuck with me is when the text said, "Rich levels of encoding can be achieved by asking students to manipulate words, relate them to other words and their own experiences, and to deduce the meaning of new words by immersing them in contexts that are familiar to them" (83). I do this all of the time, and I have found it very useful in my own learning! For example, I will say, "Think about how a fork has tines. Tines is similar to tenedor, the word for fork in Spanish." These mental connections really store those vocabulary words into long term memory. I will continue to try to use different techniques for vocabulary acquisition, really hitting home at contextualizing the vocabulary in authentic, interesting settings with very good visuals and body movements. 

Journal Article tied with Brown readings

Recently, I found an interesting article written by Thomas Huckin of the University of Utah and James Coady of Ohio State University titled "Incedental Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language." The article was very interesting, and got me thinking about how I personally picked up my vocabulary from reading, and how students in my class learn vocabulary incedentally.
Much of vocabulary acquisition, as stated in the text, comes from "extensive reading, with the learner guessing at the meaning of the unknown words." Students have to contextualize the words they are learning to fully understand what the word means. Students often times cannot determine the significance of the word simply given the first contextualization of the word. The word must appear several times in several different contexts for the student to fully understand the given vocabulary word. Also, many new vocabulary words in a 2nd Language are recognizable as cognates. These types of words are much easier for students to understand and learn, but students also over generalize meanings given certain words and contexts. There are false cognates and they are most often skipped over by students because they automatically assume the false cognates to be real cognates. Some strategies in teaching have arisen to fix such problems. As educators, we must teach students about certain word-families so that students can better understand the types of words and how they are used in given contexts. We must teach students to be good educated guessers, as that is what most of reading a foreign language is: guessing.

Students also need to be questioned and given feedback with new vocabulary, but also with the a foreign language in general. As Brown states in the feedback text, the best method is not necessarily giving direct feedback and correction, but rather try to get students to self-correct their errors. Educators of foreign language should use positive feedback such as confirmations and encouragements when things are said correctly in class. These will boost the students' confidence, and give them drive to continue learning and speaking in the TL. Personally, I think that teachers should not be so blunt when correcting students, and should do it in the nicest way possible. Students, in my experience, are often very timid in a foreign language classroom, and they can be easily discouraged. Something that was cited from a Brandl text states, "He finds [low-level learners] are more likely to engage in trial and error behavior and randomly guess about a correct answer, while not being able to benefit from any kind of feedback that is given." I have definitely noticed this in my classes while teacher assisting, and I find it very frustrating. The students need to have a foundation within the language before feedback becomes extremely successful. This, however, does not mean that feedback should be elimated, but rather that it should be more creative and thoughtful for lower level foreign language students. Repeating is also a very good method to get students into the habit of saying the correct phrasing. I believe it's most beneficial to have both the students and yourself repeat the correct phrasing.

Furthermore, questioning is a very important part connecting students with feedback and vocabulary acquisition. For vocabulary, we would want to use lots of knowledge based and comprehension based questions, such as "Qué significa 'calle' en Español?" or "Quién es el poeta famoso de Chile que ganó el premio nobel?" Higher level questions, with my experience, can only be used with higher level classes because they involve much higher levels of thinking and speech production. Having students answer Synthesis and Evaluation based questions requires self-assessment and heavy explanation. These types of questions are very beneficial because students are able to critique the language and question why certain parts of the language are how they are. Why isn't this word different? Why would it sound "bad" if the accent were in a different location? Questions like these, when answered in the TL are very beneficial to students for learning and teachers for assessment.