Using Blogs and Voki to increase motivation and oral participation amongst boys in Modern Foreign Languages

University of Leeds School of Education MA ICT and Education Module EDUC5979M José Picardo 200375143 Using Blogs and Voki to increase motivation and oral participation amongst boys in Modern Foreign Languages. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 1

Table of contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Rationale 5 2.1. Why donʼt boys like to talk in the foreign language? 5 2.2. Why use ICT to help with this problem? 7 2.3. Using Web 2.0 to encourage speaking 8 3. Implementation 10 3.1. How familiar are pupils with blogs and Voki? 10 3.2. Integrating Web 2.0 tools into the schemes of work 12 3.5. Outcome 19 4. Evaluation 20 Conclusion 23 Appendix 26 References 29 J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 2

1. Introduction I was recently the subject of a great culture shock: a year ago, I transferred from a girls school to an all boys school. Myths materialised and hearsay became reality as I had to completely re-think my approach to teaching Spanish so as to make it more ﬁtting and more relevant to my new, all male pupils. It is a well researched fact that boys and Figure 1: Percentage taking languages: Boys vs Girls (Dearing and King, 2007) girls prefer different learning styles and that that they have a different approach to their education: girls are generally portrayed as conscientious and hard working, whilst boys are often portrayed as lazy, untidy and indulging in an anti-education culture. There is a widespread recognition that gender does indeed affect the way we all think, behave and learn (Maynard 2002). When it comes to learning Modern Foreign Languages, boys have traditionally under- performed in comparison to girls, who consistently achieve the highest grades. Boys are frequently described as less interested in languages and are statistically more likely to drop languages altogether at Key Stage 4, when MFL cease to be compul- sory (Dearing and King 2007). (Figure 1) It is obviously not the case that all boys behave in this manner, nor are all girls conscientious and hard working. The above is a generalisation, a rule of thumb, that all J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 3

teachers can easily infer from their experience and that illustrates the problems fac- ing them when it comes to motivating and enthusing boys in particular. ICT has already been used successfully to motivate boys to write by making the process more engaging, offering them a greater degree of independence, and by ap- pealing to every boyʼs interest in high-tech. Computers are certainly cool as far as boys are concerned. It has also been noted by Walker, Davies and Hewer (2008) that ICT motivates by “removing the fear of making errors”. In this paper I aim to explore how I can exploit the fact that ICT is a powerful motivator to encourage boys to speak in the target language with confidence, using Web 2.0 tools to encourage creativity, reduce reluctance to participate in oral activities and to help teachers bridge the home-school divide. These Web 2.0 applications have made it possible for me to set speaking in the target language as homework in a way that is both fun and engaging for the pupils, thus departing from the convention that pupils must be at school in order to be able to assess aspects of the speaking skill, such as pronunciation, range and complexity. I will describe how, using Web 2.0 applications, more specifically my subject blog1 and Voki2 , I increased the motivation of my Year 9 pupils (13 year old boys who are beginners this year), as well as improving their ability to speak in Spanish more confidently on the topic of Home and Local Environment over the course of three 40 minute lessons (one week in the schemes of work). But first, I would like to explore 1 Available online at <http://www.asisehace.net/blog> 2 Voki is website that allows users to create speaking characters, known as avatars, by recording their own voices. Available online at <http://www.voki.com> J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 4

boysʼ aptitude and attitude regarding MFL learning by posing the questions outlined below. 2. Rationale 2.1. WHY D O N ʼ T B O Y S L I K E TO TA L K I N T H E FOREIGN LANGUAGE ? My ﬁrst question is, of course, my second generalisation. Some boys do enjoy speaking in the foreign language and often volunteer answers and put their hands up when asked to participate in the target language. Although the evidence of a gender divide when it comes to speaking is not clear, every language teacher is very familiar with those boys whose work is frequently untidy and often inaccurate; who constantly for- get their books or lose their bags; and, most importantly, who are not motivated to speak foreign languages (Harris 2002). In my own, previous experience of teaching in a girlsʼ school, I noticed that girls were generally keen to get on with school work because, principally, they were worried that they were going to under-perform. Peer pressure to succeed and do better frequently was their motivating force. They also responded generally positively to feedback by understanding and addressing the areas in which they needed to improve. Now that I teach in a boysʼ school, my perceptions of pupil motivation and organisa- tion have adapted to the reality that boys do approach language learning from a more practical point of view, therefore whatever is taught, in their opinion, has to be worth learning. They lose concentration and interest more easily, therefore teaching has to J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 5

be varied, they enjoy creative tasks involving ICT and they react adversely to negative feedback, appreciating instead encouragement and reward (Barton 2002). My experience has shown me that there is a divide between the way boys perform in a mixed-sex classroom and how they perform in an all boys environment. Although much of it depends on the individual groups or students, anecdotal experiences from fellow MFL teachers who have left their comments on my weblog 3 and on the Times Educational Supplement online forums4 have conﬁrmed that boys in a mixed-sex environment tend to dominate the speaking activities, seeking the most attention, perhaps in an attempt to establish their dominant presence, whereas in an all male environment most boys fear speaking in public and therefore do not say much at all. There are similarities however between single-sex and mixed-sex environments in so far as there will be some boys in both groups who demand most of the teacherʼs and fellow pupilsʼ attention to the detriment of the rest of the cohort. My interest therefore lies with the quieter ones, those in the majority who are happy to take a back-seat and let the lesson go by without participating meaningfully. In short, most boys do not like to talk in the foreign language because they: I. are subject to peer pressures and fear of negative feedback from teachers; II. suffer from lack of self-conﬁdence; 3 Available online at <http://www.boxoftricks.net> 4 Available online at <http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/> J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 6

III. regard speaking as not being real work, preferring instead to engage in activities which they see as having a concrete and practical outcome, such as writing tasks. All of the socio-affective factors listed above conspire to strengthen boysʼ reluctance to speak in their own language, never mind a foreign language in which, not only do they have to say something of consequence on the spot in front of their teacher and fellow students, but in addition, they have to pronounce all those strange sounds while ensuring that they get the grammar right. 2.2. WHY USE ICT TO HELP WITH THIS PROBLEM ? Krashen (1981) affirms that it is the attitude of the learner that is fundamental to the learning of a second language and is a much better predictor of success than aptitude. He suggests that self-confidence is a desirable quality in pupils because it will encourage learning. Speaking in the target language is often defined, both by students and teachers, as the principal objective of learning MFL (Jones 2002; Hill 2002). However all language teachers recognise that this is, in fact, one of the most difficult skills to develop, given that the aim of speaking is hindered by the socio-affective factors outlined above, re- sulting in most boys being reticent and unforthcoming when asked to speak in the target language due, mostly, to lack of motivation and self-confidence. The mainte- J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 7

nance of confidence is therefore “a crucial factor in sustaining motivation and achieving a satisfying level of language proficiency” (Hill 2002, p99). Since the use of ICT has been demonstrated to engage the learner and to provide him or her with the autonomy that is required to improve motivation and instil greater self-confidence (Leach 2002), I set out to determine in this paper whether using ICT, in the form of Web 2.0, could help my pupils to improve their ability to speak Spanish more often in class, as well as increasing their willingness to communicate. 2.3. USING WEB 2.0 TO ENCOURAGE SPEAKING Web 2.0 is not a new version of the World Wide Web but rather a collection of online applications and websites that encourage participation by offering popular services, often at no cost to the user, such as social networking or photograph and bookmark sharing sites. Indeed sharing and collaboration can be described as the main charac- teristic of the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon. Walker, Davies and Hewer (2008) describe Web 2.0 as “an attempt to redefine what the web is all about and how it is used”. For me the key advantage of using Web 2.0 tools is their online aspect. These applications generally do not require the downloading of software in order to make them work or specialist ICT knowledge in order to install the programmes, they simply run through a web-browser in any computer connected to the internet: just point and click. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 8

It is important to highlight that these Web 2.0 tools are generally designed to be intui- tive, easy to use without previous experience and easily accessible, providing there is a computer with an internet connection. Combine that with the fact that pupils generally ﬁnd them attractive and fun to use and one has the ideal medium through which to attempt to increase pupilsʼ willingness to speak in the target language. Voki is a Web 2.0 tool that enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using an avatar, a talking character (Voki 2008) which they can customise to their liking. I decided that Voki would be the ideal tool on which to base the three lessons that I chose to describe and evaluate in this paper because: I. it can be accessed both at home and at school; II. it necessitates computer-pupil interaction, which, as described above, is a motivating factor; III. it enables the pupils to be creators of something unique, of which they have ownership; IV. it facilitates the transition from teacher-centred, class-based learning to one in which the pupil begins to acquire individual responsibility; V. it makes it possible for the quieter pupils to make their presence felt and be heard; and VI. it allows the pupils to role-play and hide behind a mask (an avatar), creating a distancing effect which appeals to the more reluctant speakers. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 9

Therefore, by exploiting the potential that the combination of my subject blog and Voki offers students to access language learning opportunities from home and without any peer pressure, as identified by Dearing and King (2007) in their Languages Review, as well as by catalysing pupilsʼ interest and activity (Thomson 1994), the teacher ensures that a conducive atmosphere is created to foster the increase of self-assurance when it comes to speaking in a foreign language. This coveted self- assurance is obtained by allowing pupils to role-play and become someone else: a more confident self. 3. Implementation 3.1. HOW FAMILIAR ARE PUPILS WITH BLOGS AND VOKI? Leach (2002) points out that teachers ought to build on their pupilsʼ existing ICT knowledge and use the tools to which pupils are already accustomed. There is no doubt that, although my pupils might not be aware of the term Web 2.0, they are all familiar with the concept behind it: sharing, collaborating and networking online. Figure 2: Typical Voki created The vast majority of my pupils already use social net- by my Year 9 group. working sites such as Bebo or Facebook, albeit for pretty mundane and low-level purposes. It can be argued that most pupils are just gossiping online, but it cannot be denied that they are all sharing, collaborating and networking and they are doing so in a way which they enjoy and find engaging. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 10

Although my pupils were familiar with the term blog, since I use one to complement my teaching, none of my pupils had heard of Voki (Figure 2) before I introduced it to them. However they immediately understood the principles behind it and associated it with many other widgets 5 that they had already used in their proﬁle pages in the various networking sites they frequent. For example, they all knew what an avatar was and most had used computers to record voice messages or post videos online. I was very careful to introduce the idea of using Voki to my pupils so that they would be immediately engaged and enthused by the prospect of using it. I therefore decided to plan for serendipity and cheat slightly by making them think it was their idea to use Voki all along: I purposefully showed them a Voki during a lesson which had been recorded by my three year old son speaking in Spanish. I then waited until one of my pupils suggested that they could use Voki in their Spanish lesson, what a bril- liant idea! From this moment on, I deliberately tried to become a facilitator or a collaborator: a senior partner who would mentor them through the process of acquainting themselves with the new application and with the creation of their own Spanish-speaking avatar. After a quick demonstration (Appendix 1) in which I explained how to register on the website and how to obtain the necessary code to embed their ﬁnished Voki in our subject blog (Appendix 2), we decided that it was really easy and that we should use Voki to practise the latest topic that we had been revising: My Town (Home and Local Environment). 5 A widget is an addition to a webpage with which the user can interact and generally adds third-party functionality. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 11

3 . 2 . I N T E G R AT I N G W E B 2 . 0 TOOLS INTO THE SCHEMES OF WORK Having established above the reasons why the use of ICT and Web 2.0 tools would be conducive to achieving the desired goal of speaking more confidently in the target language, there are a number of other factors that have to be considered when de- vising and implementing a new series of lessons which include the extraordinary use of ICT within the existing schemes of work. These factors are both of a practical and pedagogical nature. Practical factors in this case included whether pupils had ready access to computers fitted with a microphone at home or school and whether the ICT centre was available to me during the allotted sequence of lessons. Since the ICT centre has 30 computers with internet connection and microphone fitted headsets and it remains open to pupils during breaks, as well as before and after school, lack of access to computers off timetable was therefore not an obstacle. I was also able to secure a booking of the ICT centre in order to ensure that at least one of my lessons could take place there. Once the practicalities had been dealt with, there were other pedagogical factors which weighed in my mind regarding the effective use of ICT in this context: McElwee and Swarbrick (2002) point out that, when implementing a new sequence of work using ICT, teachers have to have a very clear idea what the purpose of the activity is, whether pupils will be engaged by it and, most importantly, what the evidence of pu- pilsʼ achievement will be. Chapelle (2001) encapsulates my concern in this question: what evidence is there that using ICT would be a more effective way to achieve my aims and objectives than standard teaching practice? J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 12

Given that my objective was to increase my pupilsʼ confidence in speaking Spanish, in answer to the above question I surmise the following: since it is generally agreed that ICT both motivates and enthuses learners (Davies and Hewer 2008; Leach 2002) and it has been firmly established that pupilsʼ motivation bears tremendous in- fluence in the process of language learning and acquisition (Krashen 1981), it fol- lows, in my opinion, that motivation and encouragement should, per se, be an objective to be sought as a language teacher. Introducing the use Web 2.0 tools in the form of blogs and Voki into my schemes of work is therefore justified on the grounds that it will engage my pupils to a greater extent than traditional teaching methods; it will bestow in them a wish to participate (Jones 2002); it will provide a clear objective for my pupils, as well as a sense of purpose; and it will also provide evidence of their achievement which can then be pub- lished on the world wide web. 3.3. LESSONS, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES I set out to plan a series of three lessons, lasting forty minutes each, in which my pupils would acquire and revise the necessary vocabulary, visit the ICT centre and, finally review the outcome in class as a group. In the early planning for this series of lessons, I decided that pupils would make corrections and learn how to use Vokiʼs website under my supervision at school, but the bulk of their work, both written and spoken, would take place as homework, in order to capitalise on the fact that all my pupils, without exception, had a computer and internet access at home. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 13

Lesson 1 Lesson 1 focused on revising the appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures using an interactive whiteboard and introducing Voki to my pupils by: I. playing memory games with the aim to consolidate key vocabulary (I used Lin- guascope <http://www.linguascope.com>, a fee-based subscription website); II. using Notebook (SmartBoardʼs proprietary software), I placed the recently re- vised nouns on the interactive whiteboard together with some key verbs and conjunctions to be rearranged by pupils with the aim of forming increasingly complex sentences; and III. introducing Voki to my pupils as described above. At the end of the lesson, I set a homework task of writing between 80 and 100 words in which they had to describe their city, town, or village so as to base their Voki speaking task upon it. They were made aware at this stage that they were to aim to increase the range and complexity of their Spanish and that the speaking task was going to be the following weekʼs homework. Since my pupils have only studied Spanish for two terms and have low conﬁdence regarding their ability to write in suitably complex Spanish, I decided to take in the homework and highlight corrections before moving on to the recording stage for two reasons mainly: to increase my pupilsʼ conﬁdence in their own work and to ensure that the language that is committed to recording is the best language each pupil can produce according to their ability. This would also guarantee that they acquired language and grammatical structures which are as accurate as possible. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 14

At this stage, their work was closely controlled in order to make certain that the aim of producing as rich and complex a target language as possible for each individual pupil was adhered to. Lesson 2 After I had reviewed their homework task and returned their books with highlighted errors and some corrections, I took my pupils to the ICT centre for lesson 2. The lesson was divided into two main parts: I. Pupils were instructed to make corrections to their homework using a word proc- essor. They were encouraged to work together, in groups of three or four, so that they could compare and contrast what each one had written, while I advised and made constructive suggestions to individuals regarding the quality of their work (this took around 25 minutes). II. I then asked my pupils to open their web browser, navigate to the Voki website and register as users. I encouraged them to play around and familiarise themselves with the application for the remainder of the lesson. This ensured that pupils acquired the appropriate ICT skills to achieve the goal of producing a Span- ish speaking avatar. They also enjoyed changing the charactersʼ appearance, often with a wacky and colourful outcome, and recording test utterances in the target language and hearing themselves through the avatar on the screen (ap- proximately 15 minutes). The main objectives for this lesson were therefore to produce a piece of writing on which to base their speaking task and to familiarise pupils with Voki. By setting the J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 15

objective of writing in Spanish, I ensured that it was clear in pupilsʼ minds that there was a tangible outcome to this task and that the ensuing speaking task was also real work and not just a game (Barton 2002). By allowing pupils to interact and share the feedback from the written task, highlighted errors, corrections and suggestions, I had created an environment in which the pupils were learning from each other (Papert 1996). This further enabled me to act as a facilitator who could hover from group to group, offering advice and guidance, as opposed to instruction. Already at this early stage I noticed how pupils were beginning to lose some inhibi- tions and, even those who were normally quieter and more reticent to participate during ordinary lessons, focused on recording themselves speaking in the target language just for fun. Some pupils later remarked that this had been the ﬁrst time that they had spoken Spanish for their own amusement and without the pressure put on them by the environment in a standard classroom, where both teacher and, from their adolescent point of view, peers are listening carefully. Finally I set my pupils the task of producing a Spanish speaking Voki for homework on the topic of My Town following these instructions: I. Create or add the ﬁnal touches to your Voki. II. Record yourself: speak clearly, in Spanish, into the microphone. III. Make a concerted effort to pronounce each word with your best Spanish accent. IV. Remember to include a variety of vocabulary and sentence structures, including conjunctions. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 16

Pupils were expected to complete the task outside lesson time, either at home or in the ICT centre and they were also instructed to send their finished work to me via email or via my subject forum6 before our next lesson the following week. In order to do this, pupils had to copy the appropriate string of code (Appendix 1) from their finished Voki and paste it into an email or a forum thread. Lesson 3 Once I received all the finished Vokis electronically, I was able to embed them into our subject blog, creating individual post entries for each boyʼs Voki (Appendix 2). I was then ready to teach my third and final lesson in this sequence and I was very much looking forward to doing so: the use of blogs and Voki in this sequence of lessons had succeeded in motivating me as well as my pupils. The boys arrived to the lesson eager to see their Voki in place in the blog, as I had promised. They were obviously excited and asked me questions such as did you see my Voki? or did you like my Voki, Sir? I explained to my pupils that the objective of the lesson was to watch as many Vokis as possible in the given time, with the aid of the interactive whiteboard, and to evaluate each otherʼs work by means of taking notes and then sharing their findings with the other boys in English. This was the set of criteria that I asked my pupils to con- sider: I. Was the pronunciation accurate as far as they could tell? II. Did the Voki include a wide range of vocabulary, as studied in Lesson 1? 6 Avaliable online at <http://www.asisehace.net/forum> J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 17

III. Was the Voki sufficiently complex? i.e. did it include conjunctions? I had selected two Vokis to watch first, as examples: one which I deemed excellent and another one which was a little short and not so good. I kept the reasons for my choice from the boys so as not to cause hurt or embarrassment to the pupils concerned. After teacher-guided feedback for the first two Vokis, highlighting and agreeing on what had been good and not so good about them, we continued by listening to the other Vokis for the remainder of the lesson (around 25 minutes) but, this time, I only intervened occasionally, mainly as as moderator when there was confusion as to how a word was pronounced or, on a couple of occasions, when a boyʼs Voki was criti- cised too harshly by a fellow pupil. This was not due to malice, but rather to a lack of the necessary pedagogical skills on the part of my pupils to feed back constructively, which I found understandable given their young age and lack of experience in this type of exercise. The lesson adopted an informal tone with frequent pupil intervention: pupils were able to give each other constructive feedback, making the sort of contributions a teacher normally makes, such as your accent was very good, you should have said x instead of y or you should have included more conjunctions. Each pupil, in effect, was allowed to take charge of the lesson: they became the teacher for a moment. Papert (1998) highlights the importance of engaging pupils in activities like this, which allows them to learn from each other and from their experience in an enjoyable manner. I would add that, as all teachers know, the best way to learn something is to teach it. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 18

As I expected, both teacher and pupils enjoyed the lesson thoroughly and ﬁve minutes before the bell rang the end of the lesson I set my pupils the ﬁnal homework task: to add feedback comments (Appendix 3) on the blog from the notes they had taken in the lesson. These were the instructions I gave them: I. I would like you to add comments to, at least, two Vokis; and II. the comments should follow the formula two stars and a wish: two positive comments plus an area of improvement. 3.5. OUTCOME By the end of this sequence of three lessons (and related homework tasks) each pupil in the class had successfully created a virtual Spanish speaking avatar using Voki which, more or less successfully, adhered to the criteria I had outlined at the beginning of the sequence. They had also engaged in open epistemological discussions regarding the quality of the Spanish language they had used in their Vokis and had learnt from each other and from the result of our conversations, both in the classroom and online via the subject blog, about the use of more complex sentence structures in the target language and the importance of demonstrating knowledge of a wider range of vocabulary. In addition, the Vokis they had created in this sequence of lessons had been pub- lished and were available to a large audience on the world wide web, in itself a motivating factor (Walker et al. 2008). The fact that pupils were willing and able to show friends and relatives over the internet what they had achieved in their Spanish class, J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 19

gave the subject an extra dimension: Spanish was no longer the language you spoke on Monday period 4, it now had a life beyond the classroom walls. 4. Evaluation Assessment is, of course, a major consideration when planning a new schemes of work. As already implied above, a teacher must ensure that there remains evidence of learning after the sequence of lessons and that the construct validity of the assessment method is able to measure what it sets out to assess (Leung and Lewkowicz 2006). In this case, the use of Voki as an assessment method enabled me and my pupils to assess, not only the improvement in their Spanish, as measured by the increase in the use of conjunctions and a greater range of vocabulary, but also whether there had been an improvement in their ability to sound Spanish. Measuring the success of the original objective of improving confidence in their spoken Spanish is altogether more difficult, as my pupils recorded their Vokis in the safety of their own privacy, at home in most cases. Although I can already detect signs of improved participation in class in terms of hands raised and increased number of target language utterances, I will only be able to empirically assess whether this aim was fully achieved in subsequent weeks and months, if and when the quieter pupils for whose benefit this sequence of lessons was devised begin to demonstrate a greater, sustained willingness to participate in class in the target language. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 20

Another consideration for the assessment of this sequence of lessons is the fact that pupils were able to informally assess each other and, therefore, learn from each other. Informal assessment is closely linked to learning and “it provides the integra- tion between current and future learning” (Atkinson and Lazarus 2002, p200), it allows pupils to build on what they know by listening to other pupils explain in their own words. However there were complications which, in hindsight, I should have been able to foresee, as I was dealing with boys who, after all, will be boys. The main stumbling block I encountered was the fact that boys, as already highlighted by Spokes (2007), tended to overestimate their ability regarding the use of ICT, as proven by the number of boys who presumed they had understood how to obtain the necessary code to embed the Voki in the subject blog when I explained it in Lesson 1 but, in fact, failed to seek clarification during the lesson and then had to come and find me during breaks for help. It was poignant to me to remark on how boys could be so overly confident about one thing, to the extent of being lackadaisical, and yet they could be so self conscious and shy when it came to speaking in Spanish. In the initial stages of planning and writing of Lesson 1, I followed Wringeʼs (1989) advice and closely controlled what pupils wrote in preparation for the spoken task and did not give them total freedom of choice as to what to say, as this would have diluted the final objective and purpose of the sequence of lessons to such an extent that it would have been counter-productive in terms of achievement and motivation. This prescriptive approach, however, resulted in the boys needing constant guidance and advice on how to tackle the writing task, given that I had perhaps curtailed their J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 21

creativity and, as a result, had unwittingly undermined the boysʼ confidence to produce a suitably good piece of written Spanish. This is an aspect of the lesson planning into which I would have to look carefully in order to be able to outline clear and concise objectives to my pupils in the future, whilst not being overly prescriptive or restrictive. Later on, once the basic writing framework had been established, pupils were allowed more freedom to alter and improve their writing, following the guidance given in Lesson 2, and to work at their own pace outside lesson time, either at home or in the ICT rooms, giving them an opportunity to foster the development of autonomous study skills (Walker et al. 2008). It also facilitated an environment which was less in- timidating than the classroom, free from embarrassment or self-consciousness, which might have adversely affected pupilsʼ confidence to speak out loud in the target language as they recorded their Vokis. In Lesson 2 pupils were encouraged to check each otherʼs work and to offer help and advice if necessary to other pupils in their group. Although pupils appeared reluctant to share experiences orally at first, they were immediately very keen to read each otherʼs piece. Only then did they start to compare and contrast what each one had written and therefore a zone of proximal development was created, in which pupils ceased to be limited by what they could learn by themselves and started learning via interaction with others (Vygotsky quoted in Warschauer 2005). Peer assessment also formed an important part of my planning. In Lesson 3, I wanted my pupils to listen to each otherʼs work and to provide a measured assessment of each Voki following guidelines I had provided. I was very pleased with both J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 22

the quantity and the quality of the comments that my pupils made on each otherʼs Voki in the subject blog following the two stars and a wish formula (see Appendix 3): the comments proved that my pupils had understood and taken on board the advice I had given them regarding increasing the complexity of the target language and improving their pronunciation. Although listening to their own recorded voices on the computer may have been painful and moderately embarrassing at ﬁrst, my pupils were able to discuss amongst themselves how to perfect their pronunciation and, by repeatedly rehearsing and listening to the structures they had produced, they consolidated existing knowledge, which is the most important step to acquiring new knowledge (Field 1999). Finally, by allowing my pupils to work on their Voki outside lesson time, I succeeded in creating an environment in which my students had increased control over their learning, since they could work at their own pace, able to spend more or less time at each stage of the task according to each pupilʼs ability (Warschauer 1996). 5. Conclusion Teachers must be able to put themselves in the shoes of the learner so as to produce new, exciting and challenging learning opportunities. I was a boy once, so I can therefore draw from my own experiences as a pupil when it comes to planning and implementing interesting lessons using ICT, which encourage and promote achievement. In this way, teaching becomes an informed process in which the teacher is aware of the needs of the learners and is willing to implement whatever changes are J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 23

necessary in the schemes of work for the benefit of the learners (Al-Mahmood and McLoughlin 2004). By adapting my schemes of work to include the use of my subject blog and Voki in this way I demonstrated that it is possible to increase pupilsʼ oral participation in the target language and that common misconceptions, such as “the computer seems better adapted to use of the written rather than spoken medium” (Wringe 1989, p144), can be safely put to rest. However it is important to point out that the use of technology alone did not improve achievement and motivation among my pupils, it also necessitated the careful planning and implementation of a pedagogically sound schemes of work, as well as effective teaching (Felix 2003). Warschauer (1996) agrees with this last point when he states that the effectiveness of CALL 7 is heavily dependent on how it is put to use. It is nevertheless absolutely clear that, by selecting activities which had direct rele- vance to boysʼ interests and which were designed for a specific purpose, so that boys had a clear objective throughout the sequence of lessons, I was able to increase my pupils motivation (Millard 1997). Using ICT and Web 2.0 in the form of my subject blog and Voki clearly motivated and enthused my pupils: it succeeded in instilling in them a willingness to participate and it improved their self confidence. Pupils felt they had achieved a tangible outcome, a Spanish speaking avatar, and they had succeeded in improving their written and spoken Spanish, as well as their confidence and motivation. They had been engaged throughout the task and, although technology was used initially as a motivating factor, perhaps not surprisingly, 7 CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 24

the most powerful motivator for continued learning and engagement turned out to be the growth of my pupilsʼ conﬁdence in speaking Spanish. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 25

6. Appendix Appendix 1.- Illustration of how to obtain the required code to embed Voki on a webpage. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 26

Appendix 2. - Voki embedded into our subject blog <http://www.asisehace.net/blog> J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 27

Appendix 3. - Sample of comments left by pupils. J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 28

References i. AL-MAHMOOD, R. and McLOUGHLIN, C. 2004. Re-learning through e-learning: Changing con- ceptions of teaching through online experience. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (eds). Beyond the Comfort Zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference. Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December: ASCILITE. [Online] [Accessed on 20th May 2008]. Available from the World Wide Web <http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/> ii. ATKINSON, T. and LAZARUS, E. 2002. Assessment. In: A. SWARBRICK (ed.) Aspects of Teach- ing Secondary Modern Foreign Languages. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 200-210 iii. BARTON, A. 2002. Learning styles: the gender effect. In: A. SWARBRICK (ed.) Teaching Modern Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 272-285 iv. CHAPELLE, C. 2001. Computer Applications in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University press v. DAVIES G. & HEWER S. 2008. Introduction to new technologies and how they can contribute to language learning and teaching. Module 1.1 in Davies G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. [Ac- cessed 22 May 2008]. Available from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-1.htm> vi. DEARING, R. and KING, L. 2007. Languages Review. London: Department for Education and Skills vii. FELIX, U. 2003. Teaching languages online: Deconstructing the myths. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 118-138.[Online]. [Accessed on 22nd May 2008]. Avaliable from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/felix.html> viii. FIELD, K. 1999. Developing productive language skills - speaking and writing. In N. PACHLER (ed.) Teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Advanced Level. London: Routledge, pp. 184-208 ix. HARRIS, V. 2002. Treading a tightrope: supporting boys to achieve in MFL. In A. SWARBRICK (ed.) Teaching Modern Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 187-202 x. HILL, B. 2002. Video in language learning - Developing oral skills. In: A. SWARBRICK (ed.) As- pects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 99-106 xi. JONES, B. 2002. Encouraging more talk in the Modern Languages classroom. In: A. SWAR- BRICK (ed.) Aspects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages. London: Routledge- Falmer, pp. 82-98 xii. KRASHEN, S. 1981. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon xiii. LEACH, J. 2002. Teaching, learning and the digital age. In: B. MOON, A. SHELTON MAYES, S. HUTCHINSON (eds.) Teaching, learning and the curriculum in secondary schools. London: Rout- ledgeFalmer, pp. 142-164 xiv. LEUNG C. and LEWKOWICZ J. 2006. Expanding horizons and unsolved conundrums: language testing and assessment, TESOL Quarterly 40/1 pp211 – 234 xv. MAYNARD, T. 2002. Boys and Literacy: Exploring the issues. London: RoutledgeFalmer J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 29

xvi. McELWEE, J. and SWARBRICK, A. 2002. Planning your use of Information Communication Technology. In: A. SWARBRICK (ed.) Aspects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Lan- guages. London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 182-199 xvii. MILLARD, E. 1997. Differently Literate - Boys, Girls and the Schooling of Literacy. London: Rout- ledgeFalmer xviii. PAPERT, S. 1996. Computers in the Classroom: Agents of Change [Online]. [Accessed 22nd June 2008]. Available from the World Wide Web: <http://www.papert.org/articles/ComputersInClassroom.html> xix. PAPERT, S. 1998. Child Power: Keys to the New Learning of the Digital Century [Online]. [Ac- cessed 22nd June 2008]. Available from the World Wide Web: <http://www.connectedfamily.com/frame4/cf0413seymour/recent_essays/cf0413_cherry_2.html> xx. SPOKES, G. 2007. Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Website: Inspiring Boys to Learn in MFL [online]. [Accessed 21st May 2008]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/article.aspa?PageId=218868> xxi. THOMSON, N. 1994. Computers, curriculum and the learning environment. In B. MOON and A. SHELTON MAYES (eds.) Teaching and learning in the secondary school. London: Routledge, pp. 203-208 xxii. Voki. 2008. [Online]. [Accessed 29th May 2008]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.voki.com> xxiii. WALKER R., DAVIES G. and HEWER S. 2008. Introduction to the Internet. Module 1.5 in Davies G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. [Accessed 21st May 2008]. Available fromWorld Wide Web: <http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-5.htm> xxiv. WALKER R., DAVIES G., SAARENKUNNAS M., KUURE L. and TAALAS P. 2008. Exploiting World Wide Web resources online and ofﬂine. Module 2.3 in Davies G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. [Accessed 21 May 2008]. Available from the World Wide Web: <http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod2-3.htm> xxv. WARSCHAUER, M. (1996) Computer Assisted Language Learning: an Introduction. In Fotos S. (ed.) Multimedia language teaching, Tokyo: Logos International: 3-20. xxvi. WARSCHAUER, M. 2005. Sociocultural perspectives on CALL. In J. Egbert and G. M. Petrie (eds.) CALL Research Perspectives (pp. 41-51). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum. xxvii. WRINGE, C. 1989. The effective teaching of modern languages. London: Longman J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 30

J Picardo - 200375143 - MA ICT and Education - EDUC5979 31

http://23thingsnt4me.wordpress.com	29
http://www.lmodules.com	1
http://mmecurrie.typepad.com	1
url_unknown	1

Using Blogs and Voki to increase motivation and oral participation amongst boys in Modern Foreign Languages

by José Picardo on Apr 28, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

4 Embeds 32

Statistics

Using Blogs and Voki to increase motivation and oral participation amongst boys in Modern Foreign Languages — Document Transcript