FLEAT III

FLEAT III Conference Presentations

received by 15 July 1997

Languages, Resouces, Cultures

 

Reading Strategies of EFL Learners in Japan

Natsumi Wakamoto, Yoshiko Nakanishi, Yasuyo Edasawa, Minako Fukuchi, Shuhei Kadota, Judy Noguchi, Iwao Umeda

This study was done to clarify some of the salient features of Japanese learners' strategies in comprehending written English text. More than 250 Japanese college and high school students were given a written passage together with 10 or 12 comprehension questions and also a questionnaire concerning how they actually read the passage and answered the questions. Their task was first to read the passage and answer the questions, and next to respond to a total of 34 items in the questionnaire.

Analyses of the collected data, including descriptive and correlational analyses, were done. One remarkable finding was that the subjects favored top-down rather than bottom-up comprehension strategies from the viewpoint of their metacognitive awareness (i.e. their questionnaire scores). Several other findings and suggestions are also offered about the nature of Japanese learners' strategies and their metacognitive awareness in EFL reading.

This study was done by the following active members of a study group, Kiso Riron Kenkyukai of LLA Kansai Chapter, Japan: Yasuyo Edasawa, Minako Fukuchi, Shuhei Kadota, Yoshiko Nakanishi, Judy Noguchi, Iwao Umeda, and Natsumi Wakamoto.

An Experimental Study for the Search of an Algorithm for Retrieving Idioms

Yukio Takefuta and Shuji Hasegawa

The purpose of the present study was to develop a set of computer programs with which English idioms could be retrieved from a data base as accurately as possible. These programs could be used to count or estimate the frequency of occurrence of the idioms, and also to help students observe how each of the idioms is used.

We experimentally developed nine basic programs which vary in the methods of retrieving idioms from a data base, and examined their operations. The results were classified, for each program, into four categories derived from Decision Theory: rates of 'hit,' 'false alarm,' 'miss,' and 'correct rejection.'

We do not believe that any simple computer programs can accurately retrieve all the idioms in a data base. However, we hope that, by further processing the results of the frequency counts obtained by using this set of programs, we will be able to make a fairly accurate estimate of the frequency count of each idiom under study.

The target audience of this study are linguists, ESL teachers, and programmers who are interested in the study of the use of idioms.

IALL: The Next Generation

Nina Garrett, Sue Otto, Mike Ledgerwood, Lisa Frumkes, Samantha Earp

This panel will present the perspectives both of experienced IALL leaders and of professional newcomers on the three kinds of education and experience needed to be an effective LTD

  1. the academic preparation needed to function knowledgeably and as equals with faculty on language program and research issues
  2. the technological familiarity needed to design, establish, and maintain the facility
  3. the administrative skill needed to manage a complex enterprise combining pedagogy, research, and service.

How can we educate students for the challenges of a LTD career? And how can we educate language departments and administrations to establish the right kinds of positions, and to search for candidates for the right qualifications? What initiatives could IALL take to shape true professionalization?

The Multilingual Mac Using Apple Language Kits

Ted Dorff, Sriram Subramanian

Scheduling Student Employees with Software

Bruno Browning

I have written some software which largely automates generating workschedules for student-hourly employess, taking their class schedules into account. (Something tells me that this might interest IALL members.)

Peer Tutors in a Learning Centre

Joan Barnet

Peer Tutors in a Learning Centre help students at risk in a learn by doing approach. Tutors coach students in learning strategies for one hour a week, and students practice these skills on paper, or on self-access computerized learning programs. The Tutors and the students receiving help both benefit from the experience. The students build confidence and improve learning strategies, and the tutors develop an awareness of their own learning strategies, and thus also improve as learners. Douglas College Learning Centre focuses on skill development in writing, study skills, exam preparation, word processing, keyboarding, reading and vocabulary development, spelling and math. The Learning Centre also offers free workshops to all students on a wide selection of topics related to improving reading, writing, lecture notetaking and test taking. Students may follow up by practicing the skills outlined in the workshops on self-access computerized programs. All self access computer programs used in the Learning Centre have been purchased from outside the college, and are commercially available.

The Ethics of Technology

Read Gilgen

The business of instructional technology is heady stuff. New developments appear almost daily even as we rush headlong toward implementing the latest and greatest.

Are there ethical concerns we need to consider in our role as technology facilitators? While technology may make certain tasks easier or more effective, are there side effects we may not be considering? For example, are we helping create a different type of social being as students interact in a virtual setting? Do we raise expectations that may not be able to be met? Are we setting ourselves up for long term disappointment? With what enthusiasm should we be pushing for instructional technology and how fervently should we hold on to more traditional approaches?

This brief presentation explores these and other related questions. Resources will be provided for those who wish to study the topic in greater depth.

Languages at the Centre of the University

Bob Powell

This lecture will be of interest to language centre directors, programme managers, language teachers and tose responsible for staff development. It will include direct reference to four of the broad themes of the conference: Management issues, Staff training and Professional developement, Relations within the institution Integrating software into courses

As Director of a Centre with a large team of full-time and part-time lecturers and tutors catering to over 1500 student registrations per annum, virtually all of whom are non-specialist linguists, my main concerns of the past few years have been:

Using my own institution as a case-study, I shall describe the developments of recent years which have seen the language Centre increase the range of its services to the University and local community.

I will also identify those conditions and activities which have provided special impetus for these developments. Notable among these is a linguistic audit of University personnel and the subsequent creation of language learning opportunities specifically for those among the staff expressing interest in further language learning.

Central to my philosophy is the need to create a staff team capable of planning and delivering flexible courses and helping to combat false perceptions that a language centre is a physical space equipped with specialist technological equipment!

JavaScript in Language Teaching Websites

Martin Beaudoin

JavaScript is a client-side scripting language allowed in Netscape and Internet Explorer that is integrated into a web page to add functionality and interactivity.It can easily be used for language teaching web pages. Automatic correction, conjugation programs, tracking progress and marking are only a few of the possibilities. This talk will discuss the pedagogical possibilities of JavaScript and provide scripts to perform these functions. Examples of applications in an active website will be presented.

The WWW and the Subversive teaching of English:
the example of Lotus and Rose, a virtual soap opera

Ken Keobke

The time available in schools and universities for the effective teaching of English as a Second Language is often too short and the materials too obscure, particularly in addressing local interests and concerns. This paper discusses one method of subversively stimulating an interest in English through the construction of a WWW-based soap opera, Lotus and Rose.

The soap opera, in sixteen bi-weekly episodes, traces the relationship of two young Hong Kong women and their friends as they underake a series of adventures documented in diary entries, with hotword connections to literary and cultural references, idioms, grammar notes and images of diary boxes. The technical aspects of constructing a serial drama website are discussed in terms of the administration of text, images links and those features which can serve to distinguish the WWW from traditional language teaching practice and media.

Knowledge Sharing among Language Classrooms:
Interactive Web Page for EFL Learners

Seiko Oguri, Shuji Ozeki

World-Wide Web is widely used in language classes because it is the most effective way to expose learners to authentic texts of the target language. Classroom tasks such as dictionary retrieval and summarizing are often self-paced in these classes. We are proposing a use of WWW as a more interactive, knowledge-sharing resource for EFL learners.

We have created a group of web pages called Web Notebook with an aim to foster learners' initiatives in building useful vocabulary. The Notebook provides students online glossary which contains technical terms, contextual phrases, and abbreviations accumulated respectively to a variety of topics. The words are sorted out alphabetically for the convenience of users in search of words. Leaners can either add their findings to the page or request to have another page set up for new topics, and their contributions will be reflected immediately

The system allows students to take initiatives in compiling useful information.It can bring them an opportunity for independent but collaborative learning among classes in any parts of the world. From a glossary to a Q&A page, the Notebook can be designed for any collective usage.

Differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face prewriting discussions held in an EFL writing class in Taiwan

Su-yueh Huang

Teachers in Taiwan have been using small-group discussion to help students generate ideas for writing in the prewriting stage. With the recent introduction of computers into EFL classrooms, some teachers have started to use networked computers to facilitate prewriting discussion. However, in the past, little research has examined the differences between student interactions mediated by the computer and those produced in face-to-face discussions. This study wishes to look into the differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face prewriting discussions concerning the quality of the ideas that students exchange and the nature of students' social interaction. This study consists of two case studies of English majors in a composition class at Tunghai University. Each case study is based on a writing group comprised of four students. Three types of data are used: transcripts of students' computermediated discussions, audiotape recordings of students' face-toface discussions, and audiotape recordings of the researcher's interviews with students about the latters' feelings about the above two types of discussions. Data are collected over the course of one year, in which eight writing assignments are completed. Implications for teaching and research are also discussed.

Supporting the User in the Virtual Language Laboratory

Sharon G. Scinicariello, Carmen Mattei Greenlee, Robin Lawrason

With the widespread use of networked computers connected to the many resources of the Internet the language laboratory has changed from a defined space with a defined collection of materials to a "virtual" lab. While this change has not affected the primary role of a language laboratory-- to provide instructional support for the learning of languages-- it is making a profound difference in language laboratory management.

After a brief definition of the virtual lab, this panel will explore from the perspective of three different academic environments the users' changing support needs and their impact on language laboratories. Carmen Greenlee will discuss the resources for "virtual" lab management, particularly those used by librarians, as she outlines changes the virtual lab has made in the hiring and training of staff and the lab budget. Robin Lawrason will discuss the changing role and training of the language laboratory director from the perspective of one who has been "redefined" twice in the past year. Sharon Scinicariello will talk about collaboration with and absorption by other academic and support units, particularly libraries and information services.

The target audience for this panel is all language laboratory and media center directors who work in networked learning environments, including those whose "network" is limited to the students' private Internet access at home.

The LLTI: An Old Friend Gets Even Friendlier

David Pankratz, Otmar Foelsche

Everything you need to know about the LLTI, the Language Learning Technology International listserv used by nearly 1000 professionals. This session, intended for newcomers as well as experienced users, will explain this free service; how to subscribe, practical every-day uses, and conducting research through archival searches, which are now web-based and thus much more user-friendly.

D. Pankratz will provide an introduction to the LLTI, and explain subscription and basic uses. O. Foelsche will demonstrate recent changes in procedures for searching the archives, a valuable research database. Presenters will provide handouts and display techniques. A question and answer session will follow.

National and International co-operation:
update on the CTI Centre for Modern Languages and EUROCALL

June Thompson

The CTI Centre for Modern Languages (a national organisation) at the University of Hull is also the Headquarters of EUROCALL, which includes members in Europe and further afield, and is affiliated to similar organisations worldwide. This presentation will provide up-to-date information on how the Centre and EUROCALL approach their common aims of promoting and encouraging the use of computers in the teaching of Modern Languages. Issues addressed will include:

Icing on the Cake: Using Dt. Welle's "Made in Germany" weekly business magazine to enhance Business German

Albert K. Wimmer

For University of Notre Dame students Business German is offered as an alternative to an otherwise literature-oriented curriculum for majors. The purpose of this course is not only to train students with business-related majors in the proper use of Business German, but also to broaden the skills of majors. Since Dt. Welle's weekly business magazine is at the cutting edge of news and developments that relate to German business practices within the global setting, using up-to-date segments of the magazine IS AN exciting and pedagogically valuable enhancement of the Business German curriculum. The lecture/presentation will focus on how these taped segments ARE incorporated and how they also serve as a significant learning AND TEACHING tool when used in a communicative and group-centered manner.

Summary Writing for Documentary News Programs in Listening Comprehension Practice

Yumiko A. Imai, Yasuyo Edasawa

Though TV news are considered to be good materials for listening practice, many EFL learners still find news is hard to understand. Pre-listening activities such as providing vocabulary and building schema are necessary to facilitate learners' comprehension. However, it seems such activities are not sufficient for most intermediate students to have a good understanding of the news. To promote learners' comprehension, writing summaries of the news was introduced.

This research aims to examine the effects of the use of summary writing as a listening task for Japanese learners of English. The sample of this study were about 200 junior college students, divided into two groups, one which wrote summaries regularly throughout the yearlong course, and one which did not. The students' feedback on summary writing will also be analyzed.

Multimedia TextBook: an Integrated Multimedia Interactive Textbook

Shoichi Fujikake Noriko Aotan

We have been developing a multimedia English language learning program, which I have named Multimedia TextBook (not a registered name yet) using Asymetrix's Multimedia ToolBook ver. 3.0 & 4.0 on Windows 95 environments. Multimedia TextBook is expected to provide a learning environment aiming at the integrated development of four skills with little help by instructors. This learning environment I would like to name CELL (Computer Extended Language Learning), because the learners use their computer as an extension of their learning abilities. As an multimedia application, Multimedia TextBook has sounds, graphics, videos, and animations accompanying the texts. In my presentation, we will explain about the theoretical concepts and framework of Multimedia TextBook by demonstrating how it works.

It is almost impossible to explain the features of Multimedia TextBook by words in the form of abstract. That is why we have chosen Demonstation session and want to participate in the Daily Demo to have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with delegates to discuss and try out Multimedia TextBook.

Students' Use of Listening Comprehension Strategies in Multimedia Applications

Robert Fischer

The presenter will discuss the didactic framework of a series of multimedia listening comprehension lessons in French created by means of the Libra authoring system. That framework, derived from foreign language schema theory, models appropriate listening comprehension strategies and guides students in their effective use. Evaluation of the instructional value of the lessons has shown that their pedagogical design has a significant impact on student performance.

The presenter will also discuss the results of a research project focusing on students' use of instructional components during lesson use. Libra's internal tracking mechanism recorded students' selection of specific lesson components and provided patterns of lesson use by individual students. These patterns of lesson use were then compared to the students' scores on a free recall protocol posttest on the video content of the lessons. Comparison of the student use data with the free recall protocol scores yielded highly suggestive insights into students' actual use of listening comprehension strategies as they relate to language learning achievement levels.

*Supported by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

An Empirical Study of Computer-Assisted Class Discussion:
Effects on Social Interaction and Group Dynamics

Xinchun Wang, Rebecca Hurst

This study describes the use of a computer network used to enhance class discussion. A group of university students participated in a 30-minute synchronous online discussion followed by 30 minutes of oral discussion on the same topic. The study focuses on the dynamic changes in social interaction during the online discussion.

The results of this study proved to be consistent with previous claims concerning the benefits of using networked computers to facilitate class discussions in terms of fostering social interaction and encouraging participation. Participants' attitudes toward the online discussion were consistently positive. They took more than twice as many turns in the online discussion as they did in the oral session. Furthermore, online discussion reduced the social pressure of participation and helped to restore voices to the shy. There was also a tendency toward more active participation of women who felt more comfortable in the network discussion. Students reported that it was easier to disagree with others in the online discussion. In addition, participants had more direct, interpersonal contact when they directed questions and responses to each other. The networked computers as a medium for discussion also facilitated simultaneous subgroup discussions, a feature commonly referred to as multiple thread.The constant shifting of topics and the chatty nature of the talk was found to be another characteristic of the online discussion.

A major drawback of the online discussion was dependence on typing skills. Another disadvantage was the overwhelming amount of information flashing across the screen. The fast speed of the passing of messages can sometimes cause frustration. Although less cohesion of the online discussion has often been cited as a disadvantage in previous studies, we treat it as a characteristic rather than a drawback, depending on the task.

We suggest the evaluation of the benefits of the computer-assisted discussion should be framed in terms of definite goals. What is considered to be a benefit in a foreign language class discussion may not necessarily prove to be an advantage in a discussion about literature. Similarly, general purpose discussions vary in terms of goals and topics.Therefore, it is important for instructors to clearly set the goals of the online discussion.

Since this is a relatively small-scale study, we consider the results of our study only as an effort to explore the role of computer assisted general class discussion. Like the multiple thread nature of the online discussion, our experiment is only one of the threads that will interweave with others to encourage new studies toward the same goal in the future.

Functional and Phonetic Analysis of Connective Words between Japanese Students and Native Teachers of English

Masatoshi Tabuki

Our project is twofold: a functional analysis and a phonetic analysis of connective words which mark units of utterances in conversation. Traditionally discourse analysis has narrowly dealt with the text database apart form the actual spoken data. On the contrary, we have tried progressing our project by investigating the digitalized spoken data (texts and sounds). In so doing, we can process a huge amount of spoken data more effectively.

The functional analysis portion of our project intends to investigate the discourse functions of English connective words used in interviews between Japanese Students and native teachers of English, focusing on what connective words are used and how.

Moreover, we will see the phonetic aspects of connective words. English intonation by Japanese students has a poor pitch variation and a narrow pitch range, which obstructs smooth communication.

This study, as a phonetic analysis of connective words, mainly focuses upon their pitch variation, pitch range, intensity and pause duration around them, and investigates 1) the relationship between the functions of the connective words and the phonetic data above; 2) the difference of the data between beginning, intermediate and advanced learners, and native speakers of English.

Pronunciation of English by Japanese Learners of English:
from Segments to Prosody

Kazuo Kanzaki

Spoken Maya and MacNorsk 2:
A Tale of Two Software Development Projects (Original Construction vs. Prefab)

Karen Landahl, Barbara Need, Mike Ziolkowski

The motivation behind both projects is similar: to offer a CAI self-tutor to students of a less commonly taught language. But their specific goals differ: MacNorsk addresses multiple facets of Norwegian language instruction (listening comprehension, pronunciation, lexicon, syntax, etc.), while the Maya program focusses solely on the granunar and pronunciation of colloquial Yucatec and Quich6 Maya. Their software bases also differ: MacNorsk uses HyperCard; Spoken Maya uses public domain code tailored by a project programmer--a time- and cost-effective strategy. Students interact with MacNorsk using the keyboard and mouse and receive yes/no feedback. Spoken Maya accepts speech input and provides a listen-and-compare function.

In this presentation we will discuss the pros and cons of both programs, highlighting differences in scope, software construction, and, especially, flexibility. Given the enormous time and monetary demands characteristic of CAI development, longevity is a vital issue when determining worth. If less commonly taught languages are involved, the issue becomes even more critical since the money for such projects is usually limited and sporadic. The ideal, therefore, is a product that, while excellent in itself, yields components that are as independent as possible of particular technologies or pedagogical theories.

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