MALL and L2 Learners


Mobile Assisted Learning Language and L2 Learners

Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is a strategy that allows for students to have access to technology to improve their language learning at any time and at any place. With the prevalence of one to one devices such as iPads and cell phones, our students are constantly connected. The world wide web offers a vast amount of information and resources that can be accessed from these devices, however many of them go underutilized. Many of the applications are designed to be used in a setting outside of the classroom and on mobile phones. With the development of smart phones, many more students and teachers have access to these apps as well as the site based software programs.
The reality is that our students are constantly connected. In my district, each student is given an iPad and our high school students are permitted to carry and use cell phones at appropriate times. This can be a blessing and a curse. For as many benefits that come from using technology, there are a litany of issues that arise. Overall however, I believe that using these personal devices to develop MALL lessons and programs with our L2 learners can be a positive experience for student and teacher.
My favorite app for the students is Google Translate. This app that is very popular among our L2 and exchange students. Since they already have their devices with them at all times, they simply open the app and get the translation that is necessary. This allows them to communicate better with the other students as well as opening a path of communication between teacher and student. I have seen this utilized in best practice when there is a word or a phrase that the teacher is trying to relay to the student or vice versa. The Google Translate app allows for real time translation and can easily be used by all parties involved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Started

Officially posting my first ever blog...I am a firm believer in teaching our students how to think and act responsibly. I hope to share some of the projects that we are working on at all levels of instruction in our Libraries. Hopefully, you will be able to "borrow" some of the better one. Feedback is always welcome. It is important that we help all students that we come across. We have some ESL students that have a difficult time finding reading materials in our library. Recently, I started a project that I had the students create YouTube videos giving book talks about various books in our library. The goal was simple, to get non English speaking students to pick up books and materials that they normally would not be comfortable with. We have a very limited book budget and rarely get new materials. We have to work with what we are given. Overall, the project was a success. It got all of the students excited about reading and sharing their thoughts and opinions in a posit
Read more

L2 Learners and Technology

Properly utilizing technology for L2 learners can be very beneficial in their skill and language development. One of the most important aspects when using technology is to give our L2 students specific guidelines. When they know exactly what is required and what the expectations are, they will produce a higher quality product and have less anxiety during the duration of the assignment. The directions and a scoring rubric can be given to allow for the students to have a reference to check back on to make sure that all requirements are met. TEACHING TOOL- Google Forms has a digital scoring rubric that can be sent to the students to allow them to have continuous access to the requirements any project. The cells can be locked to prevent students from editing the content. The same file can then be used by the creator to score the assignment. Another important aspect to focus on is the use of a variety of technologies. There are so many Web 2.0 tools available that
Read more

Differentiated Instruction

One of the big ideas in education is Differentiated Instruction (DI). DI makes it possible for all learners to learn at their own pace while challenging those that need challenged. When we are creating lessons, we are hoping to target all of our students and can use many ways to incorporate lessons that will develop skills in all levels of our students. ESL teachers face the same challenges that regular classroom teachers face, but sometimes, on a different scale. There are many programs available to do DI with ESL classes. I have the unique circumstance to have worked with many students over many levels during the last few years. I have used and seen DI in multiple ways. One of the absolute best forms of DI that I saw was when at the elementary level as Media Specialist. We relied heavily on technology for many of the day to day experiences with DI. We have a program that the students use called eSpark. There is an app available that we access on iPads. This program is designed a
Read more