Cover Page

ASSIGNMENT

January 2015 SEMESTER

SUBJECT CODE

:EEC 412

SUBJECT TITLE

:COMPUTERS IN THE SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

PROGRAMME:Bachelor of Education

STUDENTS NAME

: MOHAMMAD FUAD BN ABD MALEK

MATRC NO.

:E30109120036

ACADEMC FACLTATOR

:Pn Rafdah Abd Karm

LEARNNG CENTRE

:POH, PERAK (COHORT 3 - PPG PROGRAMME)

Part A: 10% Read the article Develop and Evaluate the Effects of Multimodal Presentation System of Elementary ESL Students by Fang-o Kuo, Pao-Ta Yu dan Wei-Hung Hsiao.Answer the following questions:a)Describe the multimodal presentation system (MPS) use in this study 2 pagesAnswerStorytelling by adults is considered as a critical step that can facilitate comprehension and increase interest in teaching (Smith, 1988). Especially for language learning, storytelling is a practical and powerful teaching tool (Tsou et al., 2006). Chien and Huang (2000) claimed that predictable storybooks are effective in building ESL kindergarteners oral and literacy development. Recently, storytelling as a way of teaching children English has been flourishing in Taiwan (Lee, 2012). In addition, researchers have demonstrated successful usages of computer assisted English learning in significantly facilitating teachers storytelling and childrens learning in ESL classrooms (Lee, 2012; Tsou et al., 2006). However, to the best of our knowledge, research of exploring the effectiveness of IWB in English vocabulary learning through storytelling teaching method is rare, and therefore this has become an important issue of research.

As a result, this study develops a multimodal presentation system (MPS) to present multimedia instructional materials and manage interactive learning activities in the classroom. More specifically, the MPS is used to support the verbal instruction materials (e.g., printed words, spoken words) and the corresponding visual instruction materials (e.g., illustrations, photos, video, and animation) in the interactive instructional activity. In addition, learning achievement and satisfaction are the major objectives of learning activities (Long, 1985; Lu et al., 2003), this study thus to explore the learning achievement and satisfaction of English learning activity by use of the MPS.

In multimodal learning environments, students are presented content knowledge with a verbal representation and one or more corresponding visual representations. According to the modality principle of instructional design, learning outcomes will be optimized by presenting the verbal and visual representations of the knowledge in auditory and visual modalities (Moreno & Mayer, 2007). An interactive multimodal learning environment is the one in which the presented words and pictures depend on the learners actions and the communication is multidirectional during learning. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the multimodal presentation system (MPS). The MPS in the environment consists of four primary components, which are Office Card Component, Media Card Component, Annotation Card Component, and Manager Card Component. This multimodal presentation software was designed to bring students to the interactive whiteboard, more directly involving them in the lesson.

Office Card Component is used to manage software applications simultaneously, especially for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint software. Normally, for multiple PowerPoint presentations there is only one Power Point application can be activated at the same time. By using the functions provided by Microsoft OLE and COM Automations, Office Card Component is able to support the control of document, such as page up, page down, page jump, and change the view of document, etc.

Media Card Component is used to manage media object containers. For example, Digital Video is used to connect video devices and audio devices to display and record as a real-time streaming. Media Player Control provides scroll bar with play, stop, pause, etc. Browser Control and Image Control provides users with connecting Internet and image objects, respectively. Annotation Card Component supports three major functions. Capturing is used to record screen operations and sounds into video movie files. Handwriting is used to support teachers lecturing handwriting with notebook without electromagnetic digitizer. Focusing is used to emphasize the teaching materials by changing the background or frame colour of the object containers. Manager Card Component is used to manage authoring and presenting containers of materials. It includes five major control functions. Card Control is used to create, add, copy, rename, and delete the object containers. Location Control is used to move, switch, and arrange the location of object container. Resize Control is used to change the size of object container. Call Control can create the relation between related materials such as the major container and the child containers. It can record the numbers of object containers, show the previous pages of containers, and call the containers back to the primary monitor. Channel Control is used to present the object container to different monitors. Teachers can present instructional content in one or more columns scenario.

b) What are the findings of the study 2 pagesAnswerThe purpose of this study was to develop a multimodal presentation system (MPS) to support the English learning in the elementary English as second language (ESL) course to enhance the students learning effectiveness in the classroom setting. The results show that there are statistically significant differences between the students in experimental group and control group on measures of learning achievement and learning satisfaction. Here the mean of test scores was 79.78 (SD = 11.13) for the experimental group, higher than the76.20 (SD = 8.61) for the control group. In addition, the mean of overall satisfaction was 35.90 (SD = 4.91) for the experimental group, higher than the 25.91 (SD = 3.91) for the control group. The MPS facilitates the ESL learning effectiveness at the interface of technology, providing high level of interactivity and multimodal presentation, which are critical to the improvement of the whole-class teaching and learning processes. In addition, by conducting semi-structured interview of randomly selected students from the experimental group, the data show that the students are impressed by the interactive and multimodal features after study. Several important practical implications arise from our findings. First, the MPS promotes a learner-centered pedagogy where both teacher and students are learners. For example, both teacher and students generated common topics and tried to find out the answers jointly from the internet with the MPS. In addition, the more the students interacted with the MPS, the more they became adept in using its functions and features, and the more they would like to play with the MPS to see what it could do. Second, in spite of the promising findings shown in this study, the MPS is not a magic tool for improving ESL student academic success. More specifically, MPS cannot compensate for the teachers lack of subject matter content knowledge, capability to produce instructional materials, instructional competency, and classroom management skills. The MPS was simply a tool that improved the teachers innate and teaching capability in the ESL classroom. However, this tool, more than the basic computer and overhead projector, offered teachers a broader range of functions and features from which to provide a variety of contexts for students with diverse learning needs. Third, how and what teacher does in the classroom, normally being expressed in the teacher-student interactivities, is important to students academic success. Smith et al. (2005) claimed that teacher-student interactivity is the primary benefit of the IWB. Based on teacher feedback and observations in the classrooms, teacher-student interactivity could promote the students attention to instruction and participation in classroom discussions with teacher and other students. For example, as the teacher was instructing the vocabulary by using the MPS and could not implement one of the MPS features, some students actively proposed step-by-step guides to help the teacher recover the error. Subsequent investigation revealed that it was quite common for the teacher and students to help each other when technical difficulties arose in the use of the MPS.

This study contains several limitations that suggest future research directions. First, this study does not completely follow a truly randomized selection and assignment. Although the instructional approaches were assigned randomly to classes, this study nevertheless is limited in the way that in educational settings the intact classes are already constructed before the research is begun. Efforts to replicate this study using a truly random design would be helpful. Second, this study evaluates the post-test scores concerning learning achievement. Further research should include a delayed post-test for evaluating whether there is a stable and persistent change in the vocabulary learning. Moreover, further research should examine whether and the extent the MPS is able to help ESL students learn more materials in the same unit of time or learn a given unit of materials in less time than students in traditional classrooms. Finally, this study evaluates the learning effectiveness of elementary student in the context of ESL subject. Further research should investigate the potential of its use in other subject areas, such as art or math, or for students at other elementary grade levels or in higher education to generate empirical evidence with greater generalization.

c)Discuss some of the implications of the study in your classroom. 1 page

AnswerIt should be kept in mind that Malaysian language learners, like any other foreign language learners, have limited vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, the use of multimodal texts by language teachers can help language learners predict the content better leading to more effective long-lasting comprehension. As a result, learners who learn with words and pictures learn reading content more effectively and remember it better. The result of the study implies that guessing the story content from pictures was highly effective in increasing the learners reading comprehension ability. Chayaburakul (2003) maintained that pictures provide implication for the reader to make intelligent guessing. Reading pictures motivate the readers and capture their attention to the content of reading materials as well as reading tasks. Bowen (1982) explained that variation of pictures stimulates language learners' thinking process to gain a far better understanding of the reading passage.

Teachers need to use innovative digital technologies and new literacy pedagogies to improve reading ability of second language learners. The findings also indicated that multimodal learning is more effective than traditional unimodal learning due to the fact that adding visuals to verbal learning can result in significant gains in higher-order learning. Multimodal instructional materials facilitate reading comprehension process through the interaction between texts and images. Multimodal texts, especially non-printed texts improve learners pronunciation due to providing language learners with the opportunity to listen to the texts. Multimodal texts also increase languagelearners' motivation to process reading comprehension texts. Second language learners, who use multimodal texts, aremore motivated to deeply process reading texts than those who use linear texts.

Part B: 10% - 4-5 pages

Write a Report on the topic:

Integration of Technology in Teaching English in My School

AnswerDuring the last few years, many important changes have occurred in the education systems, which will require teachers to upgrade and refine their technology skills. Some of these changes are due to changes in government policies related to the use of information technology (IT) in schools while others are due to developments in state of the art pedagogical practices. Others are due to the continual advancements in technological products and systems themselves, both the hardware and the software. Most countries including Malaysia have been working hard for the last few years to develop policies and strategies for school to infuse technology into schools. The reasons for these efforts are not difficult to understand: a nations economic success in the 21st century will be linked to how well it can adopt and thrive in a global IT environment. The need for knowledge workers and become a developed nation place tremendous responsibilities onto schools and educators to prepare their children to meet global technological changes. In preparing students for their role in society, the Malaysian Ministry of Education has identified technology along with literacy and communication, problem solving and human relations as a foundation skill area to be developed in every subject. The uses of information, communication and technology (ICT) will not only enable the students to learn but to also enhance their understanding of the connections between technology, society and the environment. Hence this paper will discuss the methods and the importance of integrating ICT in teaching and learning and the concept of Smart School project. The role of the computer as a tool and a tutor will be highlighted. The relationship between learning theories and the use of ICT will be discussed. Furthermore this paper points out the role of the leader in developing IT culture through policy making and plan development, supervision of resources, staff development and community support in integrating technology into teaching and learning. Strategies of ICT integration in acquiring skills and knowledge among the school community will be suggested.

Part C: 20% - You decide on the number of pages

Finish the StorySubjects:Computers & Internet, Language Arts Grades:2, 3 Title Finish the StoryBy Daniel TroyerPrimary Subject Language ArtsSecondary Subjects Computers / InternetGrade Level 2-3Daniel TroyerComputer Use in EducationLesson Plan #4Topic of Lesson:Exploring the use of characterization in childrens literature.Finish the Story:Objectives:The students will be able to identify the main characters and label the conflict or problem faced by the characters. (Students will get an opportunity to write the conclusions to A Strange Dream, Caught in The Web!, The Missing Duckling, and My First Sailing Trip Ever, which are unfinished stories found athttp://goodnightstories.com/finish.htm.)Materials:One of your favorite childrens stories I will use the Three Billy Goats Gruff as an example, and a computer lab that is hooked to the Internet.Activities:Introduction(Introduce the story in an exciting manner.) Ask the students what they would do if a horrible mean troll were between them and something they really wanted.TransitionInform the students that today they will learn how they can write their own exciting stories and that they will be able to finish stories on the Internet.Sequence of Activities1. Read the story to the students or have the students take parts and read.2. Ask the students what they thought made the story that you read exciting. Get the students feedback.3. Show how the storyteller introduced the characters and then presented the conflict or problem for the characters to overcome (the problem for the three Billy Goats was getting across the bridge to the delicious green grass without being eaten by the troll!).4. Discuss how the conflict faced by the characters was brought to a good conclusion.5. In the computer lab, have the students go tohttp://goodnightstories.com/finish.htm. You can pair students on the computers if necessary. If you need to, give them instructions as to how to get to the web and to the site.6. Have the students choose a story out of the four mentioned in the objectives that interests them and instruct them to come up with and write out the rest of the story. Explain that the stories each present a unique problem or situation that needs to be resolved for the good of the character(s) involved.Closure:Allow the students time to compare their stories. You can allow your students to read out loud if time allows and they want to share their work. Review the importance of developing the problem facing the main character(s) in the story. Show the students how they brought a resolution to the plot.Evaluation:A quiz can be given that asks students to identify the main characters and the situations faced within the stories that they finished. (If you wish, you can give the students a grade based on how they resolved the problem in the stories. Be careful with your grading. Allow the students to be unique without stifling their creativity.)

Daly reflecton The focused skll was wrtng. Overall, was qute satsfed wth todays lesson because of some reasons. Frst, the objectves acheved. Pupls were able to wrte sx smple sentences about ther pet. They were able to descrbe the characterstc of ther pet. Second, pupls also were able to complete the worksheet wthn the tme gven. By the end of the lesson, pupls passed up ther exercse book and managed to check ther work and at the same tme corrected ther grammar errors rght on the spot. Thrd, pupls behaved and dd not make much nose today. They were a few pupls moved around and but they were able to fnsh and complete the work wthn the tme gven. Also, n todays lesson, used postve reward as a sgn of apprecaton portrayng good behavor. They looked very excted and motvated to answer all queston.However, there were some weaknesses dentfed n the lesson. Frst, the actvty n practce stage needs a lttle more to nvolve all pupls n the classroom notced only some of them were nvolved n the actvty. The rest of pupls only watched and lstened. Ths should not happened n teachng and learnng process because t caused pupls to become demotvated because they thought that the teacher only focused on some pupls (Carter, Sabers, Cushng, Pnnegar & Berlner, 1987).To mprove, wll prepare an actvty that wll nvolve every pupl n the classroom. must make sure that the handout gven should be suffcent so that every pupl wll be able to take part n the actvty. Maxmum partcpaton s very mportant to have smooth lesson. When all pupls are workng, they can be controlled easly.

Internet Based Language Instruction, A Lesson PlanLesson Overview Course: Second Year University English Language Program (Taiwan): Public Speaking Forum Number of Students: approximately 25 Age of Students: 18 to 35 years Level: Intermediate to Advanced. Duration: 1 Hour and 40 minutes, with a 10 minute break. Topic: Interview with an international volunteer. Objectives Give the students to practice their English with []

Written by Aubrey Neil Leveridge for TEFL.netLesson OverviewCourse: Second Year University English Language Program (Taiwan): Public Speaking ForumNumber of Students: approximately 25Age of Students: 18 to 35 yearsLevel: Intermediate to Advanced.Duration: 1 Hour and 40 minutes, with a 10 minute break.Topic: Interview with an international volunteer.

ObjectivesGive the students to practice their English with a native speaker without leaving the classroom.Question construction relating to a specific topic.Posting to a Blog.

Materials and equipment neededComputer Classroom with Computers running Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X or Linux.Data Transfer: networked computers with fast Internet connection (LAN with Internet)Video input: Web-cameraVideo output: ProjectorAudio input: Microphone with standAudio output: SpeakersSoftware: SkypeGuest Speaker: any world-wide location with Internet access, presented via Internet also with Skype, microphone, web-cameraBlog web page set up for the students to access.

Lesson Summary

The students will participate in a video conference with a native English speaker. The students will, after a brief introduction to the lesson, read pertinent information on a webpage and prepare questions for the video conference. Once these tasks are completed, the video-conference will begin. The teacher will assume the role of moderator; the students will assume the role of an informal interviewer and interview the guest speaker via the internet. At the end of class the students are to be instructed to post their thoughts on both the lesson and the topic to a pre-designated blog for homework.

Following this lesson, students should be able to:Navigate to a web pageConstruct questions appropriate to topicUse the internet as a means of communication.Take part in a live internet discussion.Post thoughts and remarks to a blog.

Notes to the TeacherLevel of proficiency: intermediate to advancedTime suggested for the activity: 1 hour 50 minutesThe class is made of two periods with a 10 minute break in the middle.The classroom must be set up in an appropriate way so that the students have easy access to the microphone as well as being able to see the screen.The microphone should be placed a few meters in front of the screen so that the students are looking at the screen when asking questions, not looking at the classroom with their back to the screen.The web-camera should be placed in close proximity to the screen so that when the students are looking at the screen, they are also looking into the camera. This will give the illusion of a face-to-face conversation as well as simulating eye-contact.The Red Cross Website is updated often. The content on the website changes often. For this reason, it is advisable to ensure that the web pages listed in this lesson plan are still relevant. It is advisable to be familiar with the website content before class.

IntroductionThe teacher will explain the benefits of video conferencing and how it can be utilized by students to advance their listening/speaking skills.The teacher will then explain about the topic (Volunteer work) and about the person they are going to have an informal interview with (an International Red Cross volunteer).The teacher will show the students the International Committee of the Red Cross webpage found at http://www.icrc.org/ and navigate to the English page. The teacher will then navigate to the Jobs at the ICRC page, found at http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/jobsThe teacher will then instruct the students to read from the field found at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/nepal-stories-310306The students will then be told that they are going to meet an international volunteer via the internet.

Pre-reading activity: group discussion.1. How would you describe a person who does volunteer work?2. What do you think about doing volunteer work for your entire life?3. What are some benefits/costs of dedicating your life to helping others?

Independent readingThe students can then open their own web-browser and navigate to the Red Cross website. http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/nepal-stories-310306Questions to think about as you are reading about Red Cross volunteers: How many people volunteer with the Red Cross? What kind of work do they do? Would you be interested in volunteering? Do you think the benefits outweigh the risks?

To Students:After reading, you will then discuss what you have read with your group partners and discuss cultural differences between countries.

Discussion activity:In groups of 4-5, talk about the similarities and differences between family life in the different countries you read about. Refer to the questions above to ask each other for more details.

You will then report what you found the most interesting about your discussion to the class.The students will then be told that they are going to meet an International Red Cross Volunteer and they can prepare questions in advance of the conversation.

Note to the teacher:This lesson is part of an English Conversation Class designed for second year university students. The students have prior knowledge of the vocabulary used on the websites. If a class using this lesson plan is not familiar with the necessary vocabulary, a vocabulary worksheet prepared for the students in advance would be necessary to ensure the class time is not devoted to terminology and explanations. The teacher must be certain of students computer ability and online reading as some students may need to be shown how to navigate to the designated website.

StagesMinutes (approximate)Learning ObjectivesProcedureExpected outcomes

Introduction to topic.10 MinutesThe students will be introduced to volunteer work. The benefits and drawbacks of working in this field.

The students will then be introduced to Internet video conferencing.The teacher will introduce the topic of volunteer work and the use of the internet for video conferencing. The students will be instructed to navigate to the International Red Crosss homepage.The students will gain a knowledgeable background of volunteer work as well as the use of the internet for video conferencing.

Read the guests Webpage10 MinutesPractice reading authentic web pages.Students read the webpage text independently. The teacher assists students in need and monitors the progress.Students independently practice reading an online, authentic English based webpage and navigate within the site.

Discussion15 MinutesShare ideas/peer editingDiscussion of the questions that the students may ask before they have been constructed.Students will gain further insight of the topic and guest through listening and sharing of pertinent ideas.

Question construction15 MinutesPreparation of questions appropriate to a live interview.Students can work in groups or alone, which ever they feel most comfortable. They can construct questions that they may ask of the intervieweeConstruction of appropriate questions for an interview.

Break10 Minutes

Video Conferencing35 MinutesA chance to utilize listening, speaking and conversational skills in real-time with a native speaker via the InternetStudents can come up to the microphone, introduce themselves and ask their question(s).Students utilize their language skills to interview a person.

Post Conference13 MinutesDiscuss the conference proceedings.Bring to the floor any questions so they may be answered.A chance for students to give feedback on their thoughts of the conference.A teacher mediated discussion of topics brought up during the conference. Teacher begins a discussion on the proceedings of the conference and elicits any questions students may pose. The teacher should vocalize some thoughts to initiate discussion.This activity will allow the students to voice their opinions and listen to others immediate reaction to the conference.

Follow-up Discussion2 MinutesStudents can post their view of the outcome of the conference after it has taken place in a non-classroom atmosphere.The teacher assigns the homework which includes directions on how to post to the blog. The teacher writes down the web-address of the blog. Students are requested to post their thoughts about the topic and conversation which took place. They are also asked to comment on each others postings.The students post their ideas and reactions to the Blog. This activity will allow the students time to reflect on what was learned and post thoughts of their learning experience as well as responding to others feelings. This will give all students a forum in which to express their feelings.

Post Lesson ActivityPost thoughts to a blog.HomeworkA reinforcement of what has been learned in class.

Write a Blog. Post it to the internet for others to read.

Issues: Video conferencing provides a virtual face to face meeting. When people meet in real situations, eye contact plays an important role. It gives cues for when to speak and when to listen as well as perceived attention and intent. Video conferencing lacks this eye to eye contact as participants tend to look at the screen to see the other person and not directly at the camera. This gives the impression that the participant is avoiding eye contact. This problem is currently under research consideration (Bekkering, 2006).

To alleviate this problem, the camera was placed so that when the students were looking at the interviewee (screen) they would be looking directly at the camera as well.

Justification:This lesson is designed to be authentic as well as including task based learning. Students are asked to work alone, in small groups and as a class. This is important to create different learning atmospheres. While working alone, students may encounter some difficulties which can be addressed while in small groups. On the other hand, students who feel uncomfortable speaking in front of a class will feel less stressful working alone or in small groups.Authentic interactions which are task-based foster student motivation. The students that I have encountered in Taiwan enjoy meeting new people as well as using chat or video conferencing. After using this lesson plan in class, students have later approached me to say that the interview segment of the lesson proved to be one of the most memorable experiences of their university education.

This lesson provides many different uses of web-based language learning. Including many types of web-based activities will avoid the lesson from becoming inactive. Each part of the lesson is designed to be supportive of the next stage. Each stage has an increasing amount of interaction. The final stage however, the blog, is designed the students to reflect on what has taken place as well as commenting on what others have posted. The use of Blogs allows the student to write, rewrite or edit their thoughts before posting them to the internet. This will minimize students fear of making a mistake in the second language as well as fostering confidence and reinstating what was learned.

Reference