- Abstract
- Introduction
- Theoretical
framework - Research
design - Data
analysis - Conclusions
and implications - References
- Glossary
This research aims at analyzing the potential benefits
of interaction with multimedia
software
environments by providing strategies to enhance teaching and
learning processes. It illuminates some aspects resisting the
development of quality interaction while using teaching-learning
English as a foreign language multimedia.
Interaction includes communication or inter-personal-machine
contact and multimedia includes audio (speech, sounds, music),
video (text,
graphics, pictures, animations, movies) and interactivity (via
keyboard, mouse,
microphone). A combined ethnographic and oral analysis is used to
describe the participants group dynamics. In the development of
this research, adults from the Extension English Program were
observed in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Gran Colombia
University Language Laboratory. Following the communicative
approach, the purpose of the study is more to observe what
learners do each other around the computer rather than examining
what they do with the machine. The teacher is considered as
participant observer who describes step by step the
students’ behavior in the learning process. The scope is
intentionally limited to research concerned with evaluating the
nature of interaction and teacher and student’s roles.
Results from this study are expected to contribute to the area of
TEFL and to raise critical questions about the integration of
multimedia in the curriculum and
to study how to foster interaction amongst learners, teachers and
the use of multimedia software.
This study discusses the nature of interaction and
participant’s roles during ten months observation of
students and teachers using the Discoveries multimedia
teaching–learning software. Interactivity in learning is "a
necessary and fundamental mechanism for knowledge acquisition and
the development of both cognitive and physical skills" (Barker,
1994:1). The role of interaction in foreign language curriculum has
grown since its beginnings. There is a high body of research
reported about interaction in the traditional classroom. However,
there is a little body of research reported about interaction at
instructional settings equipped with computers and programs. At
the lab, it is very important to identify ways to promote quality
interaction amongst students, teachers and computer software.
Quality interaction is understood as the one that allows the
development of knowledge acquisition and the one that promotes
language use.
The Discoveries multimedia learning software gives a
diverse opportunity to interact with learners and teachers.
During a typical multimedia session in the computer lab, each
student sits (or two students) in front of a computer terminal to
work with multimedia programs. The teacher walks around the lab
in case any student needs some help. Adequate assistance to
students is a very important teacher task because it promotes
interaction.
This project evidences the fact that computer pair work
enhances interaction. Pool (1999) argues that a growing number of
research indicates that group work is an efficient model. In this
research, there is evidence that students learn better when they
cooperate with others students that when they work alone by their
own way.
Several aspects motivated me to study about the use of
multimedia in English learning. For instance, computerized
classrooms are becoming in something normal in Colombian schools
and universities. We need to know how to incorporate the computer
in the curriculum and to assist teachers in a effort to become
the best educators.
Multimedia is one of the many tools and techniques that
can improve the students learning environments available for
them. The new technologies for education have increased
responsibilities, creativity, productivity and team work.
Interactive Teaching Approach and computer-assisted language
learning usually look into the topics in their own domain. The
research combining the two fields is not common so far, which
makes this study important.
This research is related to the conceptual and empirical
fundamentals of the technology and education research area
presented in the Master’s program in Applied Linguistics
because through observation, use, and appraisal in the computer
laboratory of a computer specific multimedia application which is
thought to be an important alternative that teachers have in
preparing future English speakers in the area of foreign
language. Ortega (2002) affirms that language learning is
concerned with the development of communication skills and
teachers and students have traditionally and creatively exploited
all these communication elements. The results of this project
offer another opportunity for English teachers and foreign
language programs to achieve objectives focused on technology and
education.
In this study I see to gain insight into what impedes
the development of quality interaction while students use
multimedia in a setting were I work as the multimedia EFL
language laboratory teacher. Recently, I have developed a
pronunciation program called "Talker" which complements the
Discoveries multimedia activities. With a lesser amount of
frequency, students also interact with various multimedia
programs like "Talk To Me," The Internet, and they even
design electronic Power Point
hyper-histories. In spite of this, the report of this study is
limited to subjects interacting with the Discoveries because at
the laboratory in the research setting is the software most used
by students and teachers.
The findings stemming from the existing body of
interaction research on multimedia were critically examined. In
addition to analyzing interaction outcomes by means of
well-motivated measures of communication use, a multiplicity of
data sources be used in research, so as to be able to document
the processes learners actually engaged in when interpreting and
carrying out multimedia tasks. A process and ethnographic-driven
research was accomplished with the ultimate goal of describing
the nature of interaction and the interlocutors (learners,
teachers and computers) adopted roles as well as the
context-related specific emerging roles while working with
multimedia.
The present thesis is organized as follows. Section one
contains the statement of the problem, the objectives and the
rationale that supports this study. Section two presents the
theoretical framework which explores the relevant theory for this
study, the concept of interaction, multimedia, collaboration,
autonomy, forms of negotiation of meaning, talk taxonomy, input
modification devices, knowledge construction and teachers and
learners roles. Section three describes the research design,
methodology, and data collection. Section four refers to the
instructional design. Sections five, six, seven, and eight
present findings and discuss the issues raised by the study with
pertinent pedagogical implications, some limitations of the
study, and recommendations for further
research.
Gran Colombia
University has a modern Internet language laboratory
equipped with new hardware and software that
is not fully exploited as a tool for foreign English language
teaching because the absence of current knowledge about effective
use of technology and empirical knowledge about the best way to
interact with multimedia. For years the teaching of English at
Gran Colombia University has used teaching methodologies with a
multimedia material and audiovisual rooms, which have not
fulfilled the needs and expectations of both students and
teachers in the learning process of English as a foreign
language. A common concern among students from the Language
Center is the technical problems. Some students also ask for an
adequate guidance during the multimedia sessions because some
teachers lack training in using multimedia.
Due to my studies as a systems engineer in the field of
computer science, I was appointed as the new language laboratory
English teacher hoping to solve both technical problems and
unsuitable guidance. To solve technical difficulties is easy
because their mechanical and predictable origin. On the other
hand, the complexity of teaching and learning is a matter of
systematic research. The technical details of the mouse are
simple but the teaching principles are complicated; for that
reason, we need to consider the effectiveness of learning through
multimedia.
Breakthroughs in technology have made possible for
students to be in contact with multimedia simulations of the
target language. Teachers are introducing multimedia software as
a means of exposing their students to native realistic activities
of the target language. Students now have the opportunity to
interact with simulations of residents of different communities
and as a result realistic input takes place. After reviewing the
literature and having had some teaching experience, I found that
in a Colombian context and more specifically at Gran Colombia
University the nature of multimedia interaction has not yet been
explored. These were the main reasons which motivated me to start
this research about quality interaction more in agreement with
the new technology of the world the students are living in and
more related to their interests, likes and needs.
To see to what extent the use of multimedia software
enhances the communicative behavior of the students and teachers
and promotes interaction within the language laboratory so as to
enrich and improve the teaching-learning processes when learning
a second or foreign language.
- To identify the oral and multiple-level of students'
interaction while using multimedia software. - To establish the role of interaction in EFL
multimedia classes.
The role of interaction in foreign language curriculum
has grown since its beginnings. Interactivity in learning is "a
necessary and fundamental mechanism for knowledge acquisition and
the development of both cognitive and physical skills" (Barker,
1994:1). Today, computer technology helps the communicative
approach of learning that is concerned with the interaction
between the teacher and learner, and in which the teaching
strategy is dependent upon students' learning needs and learning
styles.
Due to the significant changes in second language
teaching and learning (the role of the teacher, the role of the
learner, the role of multimedia, and the way the learning process
has to occur in the language laboratory settings), interaction
has become an increasingly important and relevant area of study
in the field of second language acquisition since it reflects
what goes on in formal learning and teaching
processes.
The role of interaction in the foreign language
curriculum is increasing with influential works like the one done
by Warschauer, M., & Healey, D. (1998) about software-related
research in CALL such as the amount and type of interaction at
the computer and attitudes toward computers and CALL. Interaction
is intrinsic to success, effective instructional practice as well
as individual discovery. The implementation of interactivity can
be perceived as an art (Sims 1997) because it requires a
comprehensive range of skills, including an understanding of the
learner, an appreciation of software engineering capabilities,
the importance of rigorous instructional design and the
application of appropriate graphical interfaces.
The increased quality interaction is directly translated
into increased performance. This expectancy theory of the value
of interaction states that a learner’s performance is based
upon a quality interaction between the learner’s and a
qualitative input. The source of qualitative input ranges from
pair, teacher and multimedia. The introduction of multimedia
technology into the education process in higher education not
only provides an opportunity to reconsider teaching strategies to
be adopted but also requires reconsideration. This
reconsideration should address the opportunities for promoting
the efficiency and effectiveness of learning through the use of
this new technology.
We must therefore specify the value of how multimedia
can enhance interaction to enhance learning. Warschauer, M.,
& Healey, D. (1998) state that the type of software and the
task teachers set for students had a large effect on the type and
quality of student interaction with each other when working in
pairs or small groups. English as a foreign language Colombian
teachers may want to work on preparing students for meaningful
learning, recognizing the role of multimedia, context and
interaction in language teaching. With the continuing development
of technological advances in the areas of communications,
information networks, and multimedia and with each new
development, the challenge for foreign language classrooms goes
far beyond current knowledge about effective use of
technology.
Results from some studies, which I refer in the
literature review, show that multimedia interaction opens the
doors to different points of view, different ways of behavior,
beliefs, linguistic expressions, and styles of communication.
With the advent of multimedia computing and the Internet, the
role of computers in language instruction has now become an
important issue confronting large numbers of language teachers
throughout the world.
Interaction and technology are of special interest for
the area of applied linguistics since, as it was mentioned
before, it is a topic not far from the foreign language
classroom, curriculum and programs. For instance, Gran Colombia
University is interested in giving ample opportunities for
teachers and students to interact with virtual environments.
Within this view, the administrative staff of the Language Center
promotes the need on behalf of the University, to adapt to these
new technologies, and to analyze concepts on education
technologies applied to the language development. Furthermore,
the third semester exploratory hyper-stories seminar at the
Master program in Applied Linguistics at Universidad
Distrital has contributed, with high level of impact, to embrace
these new technologies in our teaching learning rooms.
The objective of this research is to observe and
describe the communicative and social interactional events that
take place in the language laboratory in order to understand how
learning opportunities are created. It should be an attempt to
demonstrate the effects of different types of interactional
opportunities on L2 because according to Ellis (1994) few studies
have investigated this relationship directly.
To answer the research questions, the theory reviewed in
the following pages is relevant to the work with multimedia
learning software to promote interaction in an English as a
foreign language teaching and learning setting. The literature
quotations and references review facilitate the incorporation of
technology in education.
The present theoretical framework, which explores the
relevant theory that supports this study, is organized as
follows. Part one contains the concept of interaction and the
notion of interactive in the technological field. Classroom
Interaction and its modes of negotiation of meaning, talk
taxonomy and input modification devices. Part two presents the
theoretical review of multimedia for this study. Part three
examines the concepts of collaboration, autonomy, knowledge
construction and teacher and learner roles..
Through decades the role of the students have been
changing from a receptive agent (Behaviorism) to more active one
(Interactionism). This is why cognitive approaches emphasize the
importance of what the learner brings to any learning situation
as an active meaning-maker and problem-solver. Thus, the learner
plays a central role in this model. Examination of humanistic
approaches emphasizes also the development of the whole person in
educational settings and to suggest that language
teaching/learning can and should be seen in this
light.
Social interactionism emphasizes the dynamic nature of
the interplay between teachers, learners and tasks, and provides
a view of learning as arising from interactions with others.
Since learning never takes place in isolation, it is also
recognized the importance of the learning environment or context
within which the learning takes place.
Williams and Burden (1997) have identified four key sets
of factors which influence the learning process – Teachers,
learners, tasks and contexts. However, none of these factors
exists in isolation. They all interact as part of a dynamic,
ongoing process.
Teachers choose tasks which reflect their beliefs about
teaching and learning. Learners interpret tasks in ways that are
meaningful and personal to them
as individuals. The task is therefore, the interface between the
teacher and the learners. Teachers and learners also interact
with each other. Besides that, the context plays an important
role here since according to it, the tasks have special
characteristics and parameters to be developed.
The way that teachers behave while teaching reflects
their values and beliefs and the way in which learners react to
teachers will be affected by the individual characteristics of
the learners and the feelings that the teacher conveys to them.
These three elements : teacher, task and learner are in this way
in dynamic equilibrium (Williams and Burden, 1997).
Defining
classroom interaction
Learning a foreign language, like the learning of
anything else, is essentially an individual achievement, and
exploitation of the capacities of the brain to make sense of the
environment. But typically this private process takes place in
the public context of the classroom , the individual is one of a
group, a member of the class, and the activities which are to set
the process are determined by the teacher. The assumption is that
this internal process of learning will come about as a
consequence of the external interaction which takes place between
the two kinds of participants: the teacher on the one hand and
the learners on the other. To be in agreement with the preceding
views; subsequently, it is necessary then to talk about different
aspects such as: Classroom action, Action and actual reaction,
Classroom interaction and Cooperation and conflict.
This aspect refers to the plans teachers have in order
to develop their classes, so as to establish what they want to do
in their lessons by means of having a clear idea of the aim of
the lesson. Therefore a good plan for
classroom action is a first step to succeed in the teaching
goals.
After having a plan of action,
the next step is to put this plan into action, from which the
students are expected to evoke some sort of reaction. Teaching is
undertaken so that learning can occur. Hence the success of any
lesson can be best judged in terms of the learning that results
from it and in terms of the kind of interaction learners and
teacher have.
The first two above-mentioned aspects do not constitute
quality interaction. On the contrary, they need to be implemented
in order to have quality interaction. Interaction is more than
action followed by reaction, it is acting reciprocally, acting
upon each other; that is to say, the teacher acts upon the
students, but the class reaction subsequently modifies his next
action and so on. The learners’ reaction becomes in itself
an action evoking a reaction in the teacher, which influences
his/her subsequent action. There is a constant pattern of mutual
influence and adjustment (Malamah-Thomas, 1988).
The notion of
interactive in the technological field
The Collins English Dictionary (New Edition) unlike many
other contemporary dictionaries includes the vocabulary of modern
technology in its aim to represent its increasing use in
contemporary English language. It contains two definitions of
interactive. First, allowing or relating to continuous two ways
transfer of information between a user and the central point of a
communication system, e.g. computer. Second, two or more persons
or forces acting upon or in close relation to each other. Even
from a superficial glance at these definitions one can see
clearly that the first is the technological
definition.
As is clear in definition 1, the word
interactive in the technological field denotes two-way
communication between a computer system and its operators. Its
common usage has earned it an entry in the dictionary and it is
not difficult to see why this particular word was
chosen: it reflects, as previously mentioned, the developments in
technological communication systems. The ability to send a signal
to access
information from the main communication system and have it sent
to the user's workstation has demanded a descriptive label versus
the linguistic interactive. Out of the applied linguistic
community the term interactive could be described as the two-way
transfer of information. But, to the language teacher and applied
linguist, definition two relates far more closely to their
concept, which is more complex and certainly more
dynamic.
Ann Malamah-Thomas (1987) expands on its definition:
`Interaction is more than this, more than action followed by
reaction. Interaction means acting reciprocally, acting upon each
other'. In the language classroom, then, interaction does not
only denote the presentation of material followed by a programmed
reaction from the student. Included in this term are the
student’s responses to it and the teacher's pragmatic
reaction to that response and so on; each is dependent on a
variety of influential factors and capable of producing an
infinite number of variations. For instance, oral interaction
involves the combining the listening and speaking skills in order
to exchange information and to respond to the speech of
others.
Sims (1994) has proposed 7 levels of interactivity:
Object, Linear, Support, Update, Construct, Reflective and
Simulation Interactivity. Object interactivity (proactive
inquiry) refers to an application in which objects (buttons,
people, things) are activated by using a mouse or other pointing
device. Linear interactivity (reactive pacing) refers to
applications in which the user is able to move (forwards or
backwards) through a predetermined linear sequence of
instructional material. About support interactivity One of the
essential components of any software application is the facility
for the user to receive performance support, which may range from
simple help messages to complex tutorial systems.
Update interactivity relates to individual application
components or events in which a dialogue is initiated between the
learner and computer-generated content. The construct class of
interactivity (proactive elaboration) is an extension to update
interactivity, and requires the creation of an instructional
environment in which the learner is required to manipulate
component objects to achieve specific goals. A classic example of
this form of interaction is a lesson created for the original
PLATO system (0distill) which required the learner to construct
distillation apparatus from component parts.
Reflective interactivity records each response entered
by users of the application and allows the current user to
compare their response to that of other users as well as
recognised "experts". Simulation interactivity (which ranges from
reactive elaboration to mutual elaboration, depending on its
complexity) extends the role of the learner to that of controller
or operator, where individual selections determine the training
sequence. With hyperlinked interactivity (proactive navigation),
the learner has access to a
wealth of information, and may "travel" at will through that
knowledge base.
The theory relevant to interaction, the input
modification devices, talk tanonomy and the different levels of
interactivity helped me answer the first subquestion. The aim was
to find out about the nature of interaction. The intentions of
the participants in producing their oral interaction were
critically examined. I hoped to describe the most common
students’ interaction patterns while using multimedia
software.
Input perspectives on interaction and negotiation in
language learning stem at least in part from the theories of
Krashen (1981; 1985; 1987), who postulated that language learning
is directly related to the amount of comprehensible input a
learner receives. While later researchers rejected some of
Krashen's other points—for example, the view that
acquisition is an unconscious process (the significance of
noticing and awareness will be discussed later in this
paper)—the notion of comprehensible input has nevertheless
inspired an active school of research. Scholars such as Long
(1980; 1989; 1991; 1996; Long & Sato, 1984; Long &
Porter, 1985), Pica (1983; 1993; 1994; Pica and Doughty, 1985;
Pica, Kanady, & Faladun, 1993), Gass (1990; Gass &
Varonis, 1994), and Varonis (Varonis and Gass, 1985) have
directed their attention to examining what features of linguistic
interaction and negotiation seem to make input more
comprehensible and facilitate language learning. Proponents of
input-processing models make a number of claims about the
relationship of interaction and negotiation to language learning.
The first claim, related to Krashen's views as well as to
research by Long (1980; 1985), is that "comprehension of message
meaning is necessary if learners are to internalize L2 forms and
structures" (Pica, 1994, p. 500).A second claim is that
interactional modifications due to negotiation for meaning
facilitate language learning (Long, 1980; 1996). Negotiation is
defined by Pica (1994) as "modification and restructuring of
interaction that occurs when learners and their interlocutors
anticipate, perceive, or experience difficulties in message
comprehensibility" (p. 495).
Input modification devices deemed beneficial include
repetitions, confirmations, reformulations, comprehension checks,
recasts, confirmation checks, and clarification requests (Long,
1996). Research has indicated that these input modifications "are
significantly more abundant during negotiation than during the
rest of learners' interaction" (Pica, 1994, p. 506); they also
occur to a greater degree in NS-NNS speech than in NS-NS speech
(1994). There are three possible interpretations as to how these
interactions assist language learning: (1) they make input more
comprehensible; (2) they draw attention to L2 form (see next
claim below); and (3) they help provide negative evidence to
learners, that is, information as to the inappropriateness of
certain linguistic forms (Long, 1996). A third claim—and
one that will be especially important when we later discuss
computer-mediated instruction—is that some form of
conscious awareness is beneficial if not required for language
learning to take place (Long, 1996; 1990; Schmidt, 1993). Schmidt
(1990) makes a distinction between input and intake, which he
defines as "that part of the input that the learner notices" (p.
139). Schmidt's earlier longitudinal study (1986) of his own
experiences learning Portuguese demonstrated a high degree of
overlap between the linguistic forms that he noticed in the
process of learning the language and those that later appeared in
his own speech. A number of researchers have given further
attention to the relationship between noticing and learning (see
discussion in Long, 1991), and have demonstrated that enhanced
input benefits language learning by calling learners attention to
certain linguistic forms (Doughty, 1991; Sharwood-Smith,
1993).
Pica T. & Doughty C. (1987). Have establish the
following taxonomy. Confirmation checks, Clarification Requests
and comprehension Checks. Furthermore, Long (1996) has identified
a number of Input modification devices that include Repetitions,
Confirmations, Reformulations and Recasts.
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The interactive perspective
According to the interactive perspective, learning a new
language is a function of social and meaningful interaction
(Long, 1983); the degree of language learning success depends on
the quality and type of interactions between learners and teacher
(Long, 1983; Pica, Kanagy, & Falodun, 1993). In this view,
language learning is enhanced `particularly when they [the
learners] negotiate toward mutual comprehension of each other's
message meaning' (Pica et al., p. 11).
Long (1983) proposes that during meaningful interaction
learners use different communicative strategies, ranging from
modifying and adjusting input to using facilitative strategies
such as requests for clarification, requests for repetition, and
comprehension checks. It is argued that these strategies promote
negotiation of meaning and consequently enhance second language
acquisition; they make input comprehensible and result in further
opportunities for communicating thoughts in a meaningful context
(Gass & Varonis, 1984; Pica et al., 1993; Swain,
1985).
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One more aspect to be considered when talking about
interaction is cooperation and conflict. As is well known,
interaction is a two-way process with a positive state, where the
interactants feel that something worthwhile is being achieved as
a result of the interaction, or with a negative one when the
opposite happens. How the situation actually develops depends on
the attitudes and the intentions of the people involved and their
interpretations of each other’s attitudes and intentions
.
As seen, having a plan of action means that the teachers
knows what he or she wants to do in the classroom. The teachers
have something to communicate to the students, but having
something to communicate is not the same thing as actually
communicating it. In order to achieve this, the plan of action
must be carried out in a context of interaction. The teacher must
engage in the sort of interaction with the learners which will
enable communication to take place.
Where there is no interaction, but only action-reaction,
there can be no communication. Where there is conflict in the
interaction, communication breaks down. Only where there is
co-operation between both sides involved in the interaction can
communication effectively take place, and learning
occur.
Knowing what you want to do, what you want to
communicate to your students in the classroom, is a good start.
Actually doing it, actually achieving communication, requires a
lot more effort and expertise ( Malamah-Thomas, 1988).
Tinzmann (1990) affirms that effective communication and
collaboration are essential to becoming a successful learner. It
is primarily through dialogue and examining different
perspectives that students become knowledgeable, strategic,
self-determined, and empathetic.
Moreover, involving students in real-world tasks and
linking new information to prior knowledge requires effective
communication and collaboration among teachers, students, and
others. Indeed, it is through dialogue and interaction that
curriculum objective come alive. Collaborative learning affords
students enormous advantages not available from more traditional
instruction because a group–whether it be the whole class or a
learning group within the class–can accomplish meaningful
learning and solve problems better than any individual can
alone.
Vygotsky (1986) has influenced some of the current
research of collaboration among students and teachers and on the
role of cultural learning and schooling. His principal premise is
that human beings are products not only of biology, but also of
their human cultures. Intellectual functioning is the product of
our social history, and language is the key mode by which we
learn our cultures and through which we organize our verbal
thinking and regulate our actions. For example, children learn
such higher functioning from interacting with the adults and
other children around them.
Vygotsky’s work (1986) has also major influence on
learner autonomy. His emphasis on social relationships in the
development of mental abilities and thus also learning underlines
the importance of peer support for any form of learning. Central
to his theory is the idea of "the zone of proximal development.
It is the distance between the actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem solving and the level of
potential development as determined through problem solving under
adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers"
Vygotsky (1978). The Vygotskian approach, then, emphasises the
need for a collaborative learning environment where learners are
enabled and encouraged to interact and give each other support
with their language learning, a public space characterised by
interaction and scaffolding.
The book Dialogic Inquiry by Gordon Wells characterizes
a unified picture of knowledge and knowing. This social
constructionist model, with an emphasis on the importance in the
`co-construction' of knowledge, is presented as an alternative to
unstructured discovery learning. A number of specific educational
activities and classroom practices can be constructed.
As with many modern investigations of learning, Wells
begins with discussions on the meaning of knowledge itself,
leading to the spiral metaphor shown in Fig.(1). The projection
into the figure characterizes varying modes of knowing, ranging
from the `Instrumental' knowledge of basic tools on the part of
primitive humans to the development of Theoretical (scientific)
knowledge within the last three millennia. While the
identification of socio-historical phases in the development of
knowledge is clearly interesting, it is the common, spiral model
of constructing knowing within each mode that is more important
for the present study purpose.
According to the spiral metaphor, knowing is achieved
(or, more properly, incremented) in a four step process. First,
experience: an individual's social history defines the context
within which new stimuli are to be encountered and processed.
Second, information: this is, in general, an `interpretation of
others' – an expression of meaning as construed and presented by
some external, often authoritative, agent. It can come in a
number of genres, including speech, written text, physical
artifacts, and works of art.
Third, knowledge Building: in order to assimilate
externally provided information, the learner must construct, use,
and progressively improve various representational artifacts.
Ideally, this produces a consistent, coherent `internalization'
which is, however, individual and personalized. Fourth,
understanding: With time (and recurring use), the internal
representations constructed during knowledge building become
`second nature', and part of the learner's enhanced experience
base. This transformation of `knowledge' into `understanding' is
almost holistic.
The cycle then repeats. Beginning from a personal
experience base, knowledge building transforms new information
into understanding. Understanding, in this sense, is taken to be
the real goal of any educational activity. Vygotsky ideas helped
me provide answers to the study research questions and Wells
model was significant to understand the way participants
constructed understanding while working with Discoveries
multimedia software.
Forms of
Negotiation of Meaning
Littlejohn, A. & Breen M. (2000) established three
types of form of negtiation. PERSONAL: A psycho mental process to
discriminate, analyze, synthesize, memorize or recall, and so on.
INTERACTIVE: spontaneous social events when people use language
to share meaning. PROCEDURAL: The discussions between people who
seek to reach agreement.
Peter Scrimshaw (1995) has identified three types of
talk after the analysis of students interacting around the
computer. DISPUTATIONAL: Characterized by disagreement and
individualized decision making and it challenges other views.
CUMULATIVE: Speakers build positively but uncritically upon what
other has said. EXPLORATORY: Partners engage critically but
constructively with each others ideas.
"Space age multimedia technology might
replace stone age methodology."
Hardisty & Windeatt (1989) establish that CALL
(Computer Assisted Language Learning) is the term most commonly
used by teachers and students to describe the use of computers as
part of a language course. According with the English Discoveries
teacher’s pedagogical guide interactive multimedia (IMM) is
one of the aspects of CALL that is effective in language
learning. The word multimedia comes from the latin multus =
"many, multiple" and medium = "a channel or system of
communication, information, or entertainment.
Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art,
sound, animation and video that is
delivered by computer. When you allow the user–the viewer of the
project–to control that and
when these elements are delivered, it is interactive multimedia.
When you provide a structure of linked elements through which the
user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes
hypermedia.
At the beginning, during the period before multimedia
were used in the language laboratories the term multimedia was
used in the field of education to describe the audiovisual tools
to teach. The actual version of the word, just differs in what it
consists of more equipment such scanners, CD laser units,
remote controls, digital picture and video cameras, etc. To use
the equipment it is necessary to have the computer programs
required to adequately run each device. To the aims of this study
multimedia is the integration of: Audio (speech, sounds, music),
Video (text, graphics, pictures, animations, movies) and
Interactivity (via keyboard, mouse, microphone).
Because multimedia technology, which integrates
graphics, sound and text, is someway similar to the relational
manner of human thinking, I consider that multimedia software
might be effective to language learning. Therefore, it is
important to develop pedagogy and methodology related to
multimedia learning software. In fact, to engage the learner
actively in the knowledge construction process, three main things
should be considered. First the multimedia software; second the
methodology and third the student's task.
The best technological description of multimedia might
be "the integration of two or more media forms on a computer."
The possible media forms include text, graphics, animation,
video, music and digital audio. But merely defining multimedia in
the context of the technology alone does no more justice to the
concept than describing books as pages of paper with printed text
on them.
The uses of multimedia are even more diverse than the
numerous variety of media combinations. Initially, multimedia was
no more than a enhanced version of a traditional slide show, but
in today’s times multimedia is being used more and more to
present information to the masses as information kiosks,
interactive manuals and encyclopedias, product demonstrations,
and interactive training packages as well as providing
entertainment in the form of computer games.
On the conceptual level, the potential of multimedia
represents a fundamental change in the way we communicate.
Multimedia allows us to use the best combination of media to
present compelling information suited to specific situations and
allow user-control over how
and when that information is accessed. This technology empowers
anyone with a message to communicate his or her ideas effectively
to others.
One of the constructs of an English program can be to
return the control of the learning process to the learners. For
example, Soo and Ngeow (1998) worked in a university program
study in which one of the constructs was to give control of the
learning process to the students through multimedia. Probably,
students can construct meaning by interacting with the multimedia
listening and speaking segments that includes speakers of the
target language in authentic situations. Soo and Ngeow (1998)
also found that the creation of the learning environment was
crucial to the success of the project and that it would have been
made much harder without appropriate software. Their findings
make me think about the importance of having a good multimedia
program but at the same time how equally important is to have an
appropriate methodology.
Discoveries CALL
software
English Discoveries is a interactive multimedia computer
to learn English as a Foreign or Second language.. It combines
high resolution color graphics,
animations, videos, text, music, digital voice and a voice
recognition function. English Discoveries presents the basic
linguistic structures and aproximately 3000 lexical elements.
Students do not need previous computer experience to work with
English Discoveries. The initial proficiency level of English
Discoveries is cero (students do not need previous English
knowledge) and the final level is advanced. The complete course
covers more than 1500 academic hours of study and it is divided
according with the following levels:
· Let's Start (First steps)
· Basic (Beginners)
· Intermediate (Intermediates)
· Advanced (Conversation)
· The Executive (Commercial English)
With English Discoveries, students can chose their own
road of learning. Using the mouse they can click on the activity
that they are more interested in: a linguistic structure, a
structured lesson, a test, or an
adventure game. Students can navigate through the modules at
their will. The program is always there to help and to orientate
students. Some students become addicts to work with the
linguistic interface (picture 1) with the many options available,
they always have a new learning experience.
Communicative CALL corresponds to cognitive theories
which stresses that learning is a process of discovery,
expression, and development. Discoveries CALL software includes
text reconstruction programs (which allows students working alone
or in groups to rearrange words and texts to discover patterns of
language and meaning) and simulations (which stimulates
discussion and discovery among students working in pairs or
groups).
When working with multimedia software the role of the
teacher as authority source and expert changes. She or he becomes
a mere participant as stated by Warschauer, 1998. Hence, the
teacher does not dominate the floor and does not do most of the
talking. Besides, he or she does not direct and redirect the
development of the topic, pose display questions, nominate
students as next speakers, or evaluate individual student's
contributions, all of which is the norm in traditional
teacher-fronted EFL classrooms. Then again, multimedia provides
another light that can be turn on in the students mind. Thanks to
multimedia, teachers can explain old ideas in new
manners.
As pointed out by (Warschauer, Turbee, & Roberts,
1996), the teacher must learn to become a "guide on the side"
rather than a "sage on the stage". A situation which is likely to
lead to the kind of atmosphere optimal for language learning. The
guide on the side teacher labor does not imply a passive role for
teachers. Teachers' contributions in a learner-centered,
multimedia-enhanced classroom include coordinating group
planning, focusing students' attention on linguistic aspects of
computer mediated texts, helping students gain meta-linguistic
awareness of genres and discourses, and assisting students in
developing appropriate learning strategies.
In the traditional classroom students are more willing
to pay attention to the teacher lecture. In contrast, at the
laboratory, according with Huang 2000 the student-teacher
communication seemed to be blocked to some extent by the layout
of the multimedia lab. Physically, the multimedia lab is larger
than the traditional classroom. The physical distance enlarged
the psychological distance. It has the tendency that the two-way
communication between the teacher and the students turned to be
the one-way teacher to student communication.
The role of the teachers and the learners are influenced
by interpersonal factors and task-related factors:
Interpersonal Factors:
Status and Position
Teachers and learners are accorded a social status
depending on what we value in their performances. The relative
positions are usually fixed, although types of teaching and
learning situations differ a great deal.
A power relationship exists between teachers and
learners in which power is not shared equally. This fact,
combined with perceptions of status, gives rise to social
distance.
Attitudes, beliefs
While teachers have a set of professional attitudes,
personal attitudes and beliefs are likely to differ considerably
between teachers and learners. The attitudes may be towards
teaching and learning, the ‘content’ of learning, or
each other as people.
Personality
All individuals bring their personalities into social
encounters. Indeed, social life is a major factor in shaping
personality. In the intimacy of the teaching/learning situation,
it is extremely likely that personalities will be modified. An
additional complication arises in the situation where learners
are trying to cope with a foreign language. The internalization
of the new language may bring about changes in the personality of
the learner.
So far, we have pointed out the various factors which
influence the way teachers interpret their roles in the
classroom. Our aim in this section is to find out what teachers
and learners actually do in the classroom; our focus is on the
teacher and learner role behavior.
Essentially, teachers have two major roles in the
classroom:
1 To create the conditions under which learning can take
place: the social side of teaching.
2 To impart, by a variety of means, knowledge to their
learners: the task-oriented side of teaching.
The first is termed the ‘enabling’ or
management function and the second the instructional function.
They complement each other ; the latter would be more or less
impossible without the former. In practice, it is very difficult
to separate the two and often one act in the classroom can
perform both functions simultaneously.
In relation to the instructional role of the teacher, it
can be scrutinized from three broad perspectives:
1 Modes of instruction
2 Instructional material and resources
3 The management of the knowledge
- Modes of Instruction
A teacher can persue his/her instructional goal in a
variety of modes. It is rare for a classroom language teacher to
stick to only one mode during the course of a lesson. Based on
this, some possible instructional modes can be found, like
:
Lecture
The teacher expounds at length on a topic. Learners
listen and may take notes. The lecture can be interrupted by
questions from the learners, but these normally occur at the end
of the lecture.
A ‘mini-lecture’ is also used quite
frequently, to explain what appears to be a misunderstood
concept, for example, ‘explaining’ is often a form of
mini-lecture.
Elicitation
Teachers probe learners through close questioning in
order to bring previously acquired knowledge to the surface. In
this way teachers either clarify that knowledge or get learners
to say or do something with the knowledge as a prelude to
embarking on new knowledge.
Evaluation
The means by which teachers assess what the learners
already know or have learnt as a result of the new language
having been presented through question and answer
routines.
Demonstration
It is the most relevant to this study. The means by
which teachers introduce the fundamentals of a multimedia
software program. The teacher expounds at length on a navigation
system. Learners listen and may take notes. The demonstration can
be interrupted by questions from the learners, but these normally
occur at the end of the demonstration.
Lockstep Activities
The teacher leads the class through a tightly controlled
sequence of activities centered on a new language point. All the
learners work at the same pace under the direction of the
teacher.
Learners Role
The social climate of the classroom depends, to a great
extent, on the strength of each individual’s contributions.
It is how, the role of the learner in the context of a group
activity will be dynamic or receptive depending on role teacher
takes whereas the roles these learners -looking at them as
individual subjects- will be determined by their
personalities.
Personality
Four main types of learners are distinguished in this
analysis. Individuals could can differ according to the degree of
the tendency towards being of any one type, the types are as
follows:
1 The enthusiast : This type of learner has the teacher
as the point of reference but at the same time is concerned with
the goals of the learning group.
2 The oracula: Once again this learner centers on the
teacher ; however, s/he is much more oriented towards the
satisfaction of personal learning goals.
3 The participator: Focuses attention both on group
goals and on group solidarity.
4 The rebel: Leans towards the learning group for his or
her point of reference but is mainly concerned with the
satisfaction of his own goals. (Wright, 1991).
The above mentioned kinds of learners are taken into
account when analyzing the roles of the learners during the
laboratory classroom interaction.
There are multiple orientations for doing research.
There is not simply a finite number of these orientations, nor is
there a simple dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Indeed, there is an off-cited division in the SLA
field between those researchers who favor qualitative
methodologies and those who prefer quantitative ones. The
prototypical qualitative methodology is an ethnographical study
in which the researchers do not set out to test hypotheses,
but rather to observe what is present concerning their focus, and
consequently, the data are free to vary during the course of
observation.
The ethnographic methods which characterize qualitative
research were initially developed by social anthropologists to
study the cultures of different social groups, they have been
used since the late 19th century, and have become
increasingly popular amongst educational researchers during the
last quarter of the 20th century. Qualitative research
methods have been describe by a number of authors such as Patton
(1980).
This research thesis is presented as a qualitative case
study. A qualitative research is a study that serves as a
foundation for the understanding of the participants worlds and
the meaning of shared experiences between the participants in a
given social context. Because the subjects will be observed
behaving in a natural manner at their computer laboratory
setting, then this study has a qualitative
orientation.
The qualitative research gives an important role to
participants, it allows researchers to listen to their ideas, and
to incorporate them into the research, it has a strong commitment
towards the values of the fieldwork. Merriam (1988) states that a
qualitative case study is "an intensive, holistic description and
analysis of a single instance, phenomenon, or social unit" (p-9).
Following Merriam statement, the objective of this research is to
qualitatively examine the nature of the oral interaction within
the laboratory setting in relation to the teaching-learning
processes.
The following questions were used to guide this
research
What type of interaction happens when students construct
understanding using multimedia learning software in an English as
foreign language setting?
Sub-questions
What are the most common interaction arrangements
between students, teacher and computers while using multimedia
software? Distribution
What type of interaction appears at the lab from the
allocation of students, teacher and computers’ while using
multimedia software?
What is the most common oral interaction that takes
place while using multimedia software?
What are the most common roles learners and teachers
assume in a multimedia class?
The instruments to observe the classes and see to what
extent the communication within the computer laboratory fosters
oral interaction are an observation scheme, transcripts done by
means of video taping the classes and questionnaires during ten
classes. Also, a semi-structured interview was carried out with
the same group of students. A technique such as transcribing
classes by means of videotaping them was used in order to gather
data in relation to laboratory class interaction since these
transcripts are the closest or the truest probes of every single
situation that actually will occur during the class
sessions.
This case study was carried out in one specific context
– at Gran Colombia University Languages Center a private
university located in Bogotá. The present study was
conducted in the first semester and second semester of 2002. The
study took place in the setting of the students "Mutimedia
Practice" laboratory. All the subjects that participated in the
research are students from Gran Colombia University Languages
Center which offers fifteen different English courses. The aim of
the courses during first and second semester was to further
expand students' English oral skills to a more communicative
competence. The teacher and students met for one 1 hour session
every week. Most of the students graduated from secondary school.
Eighth subjects for the study were randomly chosen for the
research aim.
Students were familiar with the basic operation of
computers such as saving and retrieving files because most of
them took a required computer introductory course at secondary
school and meanwhile were taking an optional basic computer
science course. The instructor did not instruct and guide the
English conversation practice in a classroom merely equipped with
only desks, chairs, and a large blackboard. Instead, the course
was carried out in a multimedia computer language
laboratory.
There are sixty Pentium class
personal computers in the lab. They are all networked. Two
computers are set for instructor use only. The multimedia lab
shares some features with the traditional audio-lingual language
lab. The teacher can broadcast the teaching materials by playing
audio tapes, video-tapes, or CDs. Students practice with each
other in pairs by themselves.
The multimedia lab has some features that traditional
language lab cannot compete. First, a traditional language lab
does not have the function of video on demand. Students can
choose an English teaching program they are interested in and
learn on their pace of learning. The English learning program
will just serve the student's desired goal of learning. In one
sense, students easily get the individual attention from the
computer. Second, the function of a multimedia lab is multiple.
It can not only assume the role of a traditional language lab,
but also offer teachers more powerful teaching tools with the aid
of modern computer technology. For instance, the Internet
projects and electronic hyperstories can be created y
designed.
The participants for this project were a group of 8
English students of the extension program of English with
Emphasis on Teaching English as a Foreign Language. They ranged
in age from about 14 to 40 years old. Six students were female
and 2 were male. Students received 10 hours of English per week.
From these 10 hours, students met for 1 hour in the multimedia
laboratory, which had installed the Discoveries network version.
This group of students was selected at random from a group of 20
students. These criteria were pertinent in order to be coherent
with the characteristics of the project.
The abovementioned criteria, as well as the requirements
are shown in the following section: the instructional design.
Since I was the 1 hour multimedia English instructor for this
group of students, I had the possibility to implement the
research project at the laboratory. All of the points mentioned
above were logically connected with the dynamics and the intended
results of the multimedia interaction project.
Procedures and
Instruments for Data Collection
The information collected for this study was obtained
from various sources: teacher journal, videotaped classes,
students’ questionnaire and observations made by the
teacher during the laboratory sessions. Also, a semi-structured
interview was carried out with the same group of students. Patton
as cited in Merriam (1988) states that "qualitative data consist
of detail descriptions of situations, events, people,
interactions and observed behaviors, experiences, attitudes,
beliefs, and thoughts; and excerpts or entire passages from
documents, correspondence, records, and case histories"
(p-23).
During 10 months, in agreement with the proposed
methodology, data was collected and presented in a qualitative
form. A student’s questionnaire was administered and
classes were videotaped to collect data. Annex No. 1 is a copy of
the questionnaire. The ultimate purpose of the questionnaire was
to understand how students feel and communicate their experiences
at the level of language behavior in the computer lab.
Transcripts excerpts illustrate the interpretations and have been
chosen as representative episodes.
During the two semesters (40 weeks), we had 40 sessions
in the laboratory. The students had their first multimedia
session on February, and the project was formally completed on
the last week of November. During that period I wrote down the
teacher journal entries, videotaped the classes and conducted
both the questionnaire and the interview. During all the
laboratory sessions, students had the opportunity to interact and
comment with their teacher about the activity at hand. This
interaction allowed me to observe the whole machine, multimedia
software and interlocutors project process very
closely.
Piloting the instruments and collecting data, I realized
that it was important to conduct an interview with the students
in order to confirm some assumptions that were not explicit in
the data. During two sessions, I interviewed the students who
participated in the multimedia project. The interview was audio
taped to facilitate the classification of the
information.
To guarantee the validity of this study, a triangulation
process was carried out for the data analysis. It was based on
the confirmation of the categories through an in depth analysis
of the information gathered by different instruments for data
collection. The teacher’s journal, videotaped records,
students’ questionnaire and the transcription of the
interview provided the information in order to illustrate the
reflections of students in the nature of pair interaction, oral
devices, roles and their social role at the
laboratory.
I videotaped students to observe their oral interaction
and body language as well. The information was qualitative
because they behaved naturally as usual; I videotaped as many
classes as possible avoiding that they would have changed their
behavior because the feeling of being observed. The information
was gathered from students, teacher, and the computer. For the
reason that the setting is an EFL and the institutional educative
goal, the focus was more on, listening and speaking students'
needs. I looked for patterns and commonalties that match the
student’s styles; for example, I looked at who was working
alone and who was speaking to collaborate and to work in a
team.
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