This document discusses using polling and chat tools in the foreign language classroom to promote student participation. The author conducted a pedagogical experiment using Adobe Connect Pro in an advanced English grammar and translation course. Polling and chat allowed for widespread student involvement and feedback. Both students and teachers found the tools engaging and efficient. Challenges included blending oral and written communication, managing large chat texts, and limitations of computer labs for discussion. Overall, polling and chat can create an interactive learning environment that accommodates different styles while improving understanding between students and teachers.

1. Interactice technology in the
FL classroom: Using polling
and chat to promote student
participation in campus
education
Elisabeth Wulff Sahlén
Mälardalen University
Sweden
ICT for Language Learning
Florence, 20-21 Oct 2011

2. The traditional classroom

3. The traditional classroom
What are you thinking?
Did you understand?
WHAT did you understand?
What about YOU?
And you?

4. The traditional classroom
If students wrote their
answers in a chat, I would be
able to access everyone’s
understanding…

5. Communication and participation
Hrastinski 2007

6. Communication and participation
Hrastinski 2007
Students were more
motivated to
participate in chat
discussions because
of direct response.

7. Chat in education
 administrative information rather than supporting
cognitive aspects of learning
 communication in FL with native speakers and
other learners
 students are often more focused, thoughtful
and honest in discussions online than F2F– even
if in the same room!
 The Twitter experiment – Twitter in the classroom
to get students involved in discussion

8. Polling and chat in the classroom – a
pedagogical experiment
Setting and technology
On-campus course in grammar and translation for
advanced learners of English
Adobe Connect Pro to enable polling and chat
Seminars in computer rooms, 3
students/computer
Video projector to display student contributions for
oral discussion

9. Polling and chat in the classroom – a
pedagogical experiment
Aims
promote wider student participation
tap into everyone’s understanding in order to
provide feedback where it is needed the most

10. Adobe Connect Pro (ACP)
A web-conferencing solution where you can
◦ communicate through audio, video and chat
◦ show power point presentations
◦ share your screen, whiteboard and files
◦ create interactive quizzes
◦ let students collaborate in small groups
◦ record the meeting and distribute the URL
through e-mail or on your LMS
◦ etc… etc…

11. An example of ACP
add functionality requires Flash player
through pods +internet connection
pods may be moved
and resized app for iphone and
android
switch between
different layouts
(”rooms”)

12. Polling in ACP
Which of these
sentences contain an
agreement error? Check
all that apply!

13. Chat in ACP

14. Teacher experience
 no technical problems
 participation was remarkably wide throughout
 reduced waiting time led to active participation
 open channel between teacher and students
 informal and friendly atmosphere

15. What did the students think?
 fun
 modern
 worked well
 efficient use of class time
 we liked the star
 slightly chaotic when everyone started to correct
themselves

16. Challenges
 Shifting between written and oral communication.
 Chat is informal. This will affect the atmosphere
in the classroom.
 Managing large chunks of text in the chat.
 Traditional computer rooms are not ideal for face-
to-face discussion.

17. In conclusion
Using polling and chat in the classroom
creates a blend of oral and written
interaction that caters to different learning
styles while promoting wide student
participation. Chat, in particular, has the
potential to build a bridge between teacher
assumptions and student understanding.

18. Thank you for your attention!
elisabeth.wulff-sahlen@mdh.se

19. References
 Clyde, William & Delohery, Andrew. (2004). Using Technology in Teaching.
Yale University Press.
 Gonzalez, Dafne. (2003) Teaching and Learning Through Chat. A Taxonomy
of Educational Chat for EFL/ESL. Teaching English with Technology.
Vol.3, nr. 4:57-69.
 Hrastinski, Stefan. (2007). Participating in synchronous online education.
Akademisk avhandling. Lund: Studies in Informatics No. 6.
 Hrastinski, Stefan. (2009). Nätbaserad utbildning: en introduktion. Lund:
Studentlitteratur.
 Mitchell, Rosamund & Myles, Florence. (1998). Second Language Learning
Theories. London & New York: Arnold
 Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon.
2001, Vol. 9,5.
 Reynard, Ruth. (2008). Using Chat to Move the Thinking Process Forward.
Campus Technology. (Retrieved 5/9 2011)
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2008/10/using-chat-to-move-the-
thinking-process-forward.aspx
 The Twitter Experiment. (Retrieved 5/9 2011).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8