The questionaire about TravelEng which we show to learners in Chinese:
1. 請問整體網站給您的流暢度?
2. 您對網頁文字的理解程度?
3. 請寫下你對我們主要的影片”TravelEng”的想法。聲音、發音、文字是否讓你可以清楚明瞭？
4. 請寫下你對我們單字教學影片的想法。
5. 請問當您瀏覽網站時，首頁的introduction是否對你了解這個網站的使用有幫助?
6. 請寫下對於本網站中的game 填字遊戲的想法。
7. 請問你知道本網站在您瀏覽網頁的過程中，曾要求你做什麼嘛? 若是不知道，請問是什麼原因讓你不知道?
8. 請寫下對本網站中的reading部分的想法。
9. 請寫下對本網站中的oral 口語訓練部分的想法。
10. 本網站最後的要求是請你寫一篇短文章，請問這對你是否有挑戰? 如果挑戰太大，你會希望做什麼樣的修改?
2009年1月14日
2009年1月13日
Introduction of TravelEng
Nowadays, more and more foreigners come to Taiwan to learn Chinese. As citizens of Taiwan, we have lots of opportunities to meet these foreign friends. And it is also a great opportunity to introduce our country to these people from other countries.
In order to be an English-speaking tour guide for these foreign friends to know more about Taiwan. We design a set of English learning tasks to help Taiwanese become an English-speaking tour guide.
First of all, the target learners of the learning are the college students who are not in any language departments and whose English skill is under the level of High-Intermediate of GEPT.The reason why we focus on the college students is that we find that in most colleges, there are many foreign students. For students, except studying, the only thing they can do is play around. And who accopanies with these foreign students? Of course the Taiwanese students.
And the objective is make the learners be able to be a guide about Taiwan for their foreign friends by speaking and writing. Just as what I've mentioned in the first paragraph, there are more and more foreigners coming to Taiwan. If they just come here to learn language, it would be very boring for them. As a native of Taiwan, we must do something to welcome these visitors. To a person who never been in Taiwan or who knows few about Taiwan, it will be very interesting for them to know Formosa much more. And how to speak with them? Of course, in English. Even though they come to learn Chinese, when they just come to Taiwan, English must be the main communicative language.
CMC is famous now. And because computer is a common tool everywhere, we use the Internet as our tool and build up a website. This website is basically used by teachers in oral and writing class. Students, however, can get the website to learn themsleves. The link is below:
http://play.ncu.edu.tw/team1/
In the website, called TravelEng, there is a short movie we filmed ourselves. There are many traveling films in the Internet. Why don't we pick up anyone of them to be our teaching material? It's because that we want to make the learners feel comfortable. Some leaners think it's not familiar and a little bit "culture shock" to watch a foreigner-host teaching film with the language in the film is foreign. And most importantly, our object is encourage Taiwanese students to sharing our country with those foreigners. It is better for us to be the host the film.
In TravelEng, we design a set of activities, including watching the film, learning vocabulary, play words-filling game, reading comprehention of the film, oral task, and writing task. There are different training in each part of activities. But the main purpose is all make the learners be able to introduce Taiwan to foreigners through talking and writing by themselves.
The first level is watching the film. We make an example about how to introduce a place in English. And then the second level is learning the words we've mentioned in the film. Therefore, they won't feel difficult to understand the film. And moreover, there are some useful words they can use as they guide the foreigners in other places. With the words learning, there is a game for the learners. It can strengthen the learners' knowing to these words. And it also help them learn how to explain some words in English. In the third level, it's a reading comprehention task. According to the subtitle in the film, learners can try to answer the questions. The forth level is oral. Learning up the some basic words and the example we show in the film, it's time for learners try to talk! And the last part is writing. Some learners think English writing is torture. But it's necessary to learn writing because that there are more and more opportunities for language users to express on the Internet by writing. So, we hope that the learners can try to write an English article to introduce places.
We invite some students to play TravelEng. And the finding is below:
In order to be an English-speaking tour guide for these foreign friends to know more about Taiwan. We design a set of English learning tasks to help Taiwanese become an English-speaking tour guide.
First of all, the target learners of the learning are the college students who are not in any language departments and whose English skill is under the level of High-Intermediate of GEPT.The reason why we focus on the college students is that we find that in most colleges, there are many foreign students. For students, except studying, the only thing they can do is play around. And who accopanies with these foreign students? Of course the Taiwanese students.
And the objective is make the learners be able to be a guide about Taiwan for their foreign friends by speaking and writing. Just as what I've mentioned in the first paragraph, there are more and more foreigners coming to Taiwan. If they just come here to learn language, it would be very boring for them. As a native of Taiwan, we must do something to welcome these visitors. To a person who never been in Taiwan or who knows few about Taiwan, it will be very interesting for them to know Formosa much more. And how to speak with them? Of course, in English. Even though they come to learn Chinese, when they just come to Taiwan, English must be the main communicative language.
CMC is famous now. And because computer is a common tool everywhere, we use the Internet as our tool and build up a website. This website is basically used by teachers in oral and writing class. Students, however, can get the website to learn themsleves. The link is below:
http://play.ncu.edu.tw/team1/
In the website, called TravelEng, there is a short movie we filmed ourselves. There are many traveling films in the Internet. Why don't we pick up anyone of them to be our teaching material? It's because that we want to make the learners feel comfortable. Some leaners think it's not familiar and a little bit "culture shock" to watch a foreigner-host teaching film with the language in the film is foreign. And most importantly, our object is encourage Taiwanese students to sharing our country with those foreigners. It is better for us to be the host the film.
In TravelEng, we design a set of activities, including watching the film, learning vocabulary, play words-filling game, reading comprehention of the film, oral task, and writing task. There are different training in each part of activities. But the main purpose is all make the learners be able to introduce Taiwan to foreigners through talking and writing by themselves.
The first level is watching the film. We make an example about how to introduce a place in English. And then the second level is learning the words we've mentioned in the film. Therefore, they won't feel difficult to understand the film. And moreover, there are some useful words they can use as they guide the foreigners in other places. With the words learning, there is a game for the learners. It can strengthen the learners' knowing to these words. And it also help them learn how to explain some words in English. In the third level, it's a reading comprehention task. According to the subtitle in the film, learners can try to answer the questions. The forth level is oral. Learning up the some basic words and the example we show in the film, it's time for learners try to talk! And the last part is writing. Some learners think English writing is torture. But it's necessary to learn writing because that there are more and more opportunities for language users to express on the Internet by writing. So, we hope that the learners can try to write an English article to introduce places.
We invite some students to play TravelEng. And the finding is below:
- Pronunciation is quiet important for the learners whose listening skill is not good. We have to speak clearly, slowly and moreover, the funner, the better.
- To the learners whose English is not quiet well, it's good for them to learn in a familiar context.
- Simple guide is good to inspire learners' potential creation.
Task1, Vocabulary
The English abilities of our target students are not above the standard. Therefore, the “VOC” puzzle aims to help them build their foundation of English at the beginning of online English learning. Students could be more impressive of how to spell the words during the process of filling the blanks. It helps them memorize vocabulary so that they could establish their foundation to the further learning. While reading vocabulary descriptions students would think which word they saw before fits in with the description, this could make them realize meanings of words rather than recite them.
Before they start to play the puzzle, we would like to have them to watch videos which are used to make students learn the correct pronunciation of vocabulary and how their lips and mouths should shape while speak those words. We would ask students to repeat after the video to recite vocabulary. By listening the pronunciation and then repeat.
This task is divided into three parts. There are three pictures and each one has many blanks on it, those blanks are used to fill words in. the answer words are chosen from what they recite with videos. Below the pictures are descriptions about the answer word, students should follow the descriptions to find the correct word and fill it into the blanks.
Generally, students like our target ones would reject English more or less because they don’t understand what it is saying, let alone put them assignments. To avoid such mindsets, I design the task as a game form and use simple words to describe those answer words. Thus, our target students would not worry about the problem. Therefore, they would not reject English as they were before, and they could have a chance to learn it well.
As the advantages of this task as concerned, put the vocabulary into a puzzle is fun. They are longer just assignment but a game, it adds funs to class.
The focus on this task is mainly on how proficient to vocabulary of students. Therefore, the evaluation depends upon how speed they finish it. However, students who finish slower not means they don’t understand, it related to his reading ability. Therefore, the speed and the correctness are the key points of evaluation.
Before they start to play the puzzle, we would like to have them to watch videos which are used to make students learn the correct pronunciation of vocabulary and how their lips and mouths should shape while speak those words. We would ask students to repeat after the video to recite vocabulary. By listening the pronunciation and then repeat.
This task is divided into three parts. There are three pictures and each one has many blanks on it, those blanks are used to fill words in. the answer words are chosen from what they recite with videos. Below the pictures are descriptions about the answer word, students should follow the descriptions to find the correct word and fill it into the blanks.
Generally, students like our target ones would reject English more or less because they don’t understand what it is saying, let alone put them assignments. To avoid such mindsets, I design the task as a game form and use simple words to describe those answer words. Thus, our target students would not worry about the problem. Therefore, they would not reject English as they were before, and they could have a chance to learn it well.
As the advantages of this task as concerned, put the vocabulary into a puzzle is fun. They are longer just assignment but a game, it adds funs to class.
The focus on this task is mainly on how proficient to vocabulary of students. Therefore, the evaluation depends upon how speed they finish it. However, students who finish slower not means they don’t understand, it related to his reading ability. Therefore, the speed and the correctness are the key points of evaluation.
Task2 Reading
Objective: in the film, you will see the subtitle. During the process of watch the film, we can read faster with the listening comprehension. And then we will have some tasks in order to evaluate whether students understand or not. However, we do not want the participants to realize by the picture on the film. We hope they could read the subtitle.
How: Because we want to ask the participant to really comprehend what’s the meaning of subtitle. We will design some question about each part film in order to evaluate the participants. Each question is all about the film, if you could read the subtitle carefully. You must find the right the answer from the choices. We design some multiple choice questions, each choice have the vocabulary we mentioned. However, it also has some misunderstanding choice in the question. You need to be concentrate on reading the subtitle, enable you to answer these questions.
How: Because we want to ask the participant to really comprehend what’s the meaning of subtitle. We will design some question about each part film in order to evaluate the participants. Each question is all about the film, if you could read the subtitle carefully. You must find the right the answer from the choices. We design some multiple choice questions, each choice have the vocabulary we mentioned. However, it also has some misunderstanding choice in the question. You need to be concentrate on reading the subtitle, enable you to answer these questions.
2009年1月10日
Task3 Oral Training
Task three is designed as an oral training task. The main focus of task three is to enable learners to become more used to speaking during conversations. Learners of a foreign languages often have difficulties speaking the language because they are not used to spontaneous responses, and instead rely on a reading a script. The task is designed so that learners can develop their oral skills by speaking spontaneously instead of relying on a pre-written script. The task is split into three parts to allow learners to progress step by step.
The first part of the task prompts the learner to decide on a location or place to introduce. Then the learner is to brainstorm vocabulary that can be used in describing the location. This helps the learner in that the vocabulary can act as a reference and reminder of the topic, and allows the speaker to focus on the development of sentences to introduce and describe the location.
The second part of the task involves the user recording either a video file or a sound file and uploading it online so the file can be shared with other learners. This will allow other learners to comment on the introduction and give peer feedback.
The third part of the task allows learners to communicate with a peer by introducing a location or place in English. This task enables learners to practice their oral skills by speaking with one another through the introduction of various places.
The design of the task is focused on oral training, akin to giving a speech after given a random topic. However, what is different is that by asking the learners to list a vocabulary, they can use the vocabulary as a means to describe the location and allow them to focus more on the development of sentences instead of deciding on what word to use. Because this is an online task, there exists difficulties as communicating orally online is more difficult and more insufficient than in a face to face situation. The effectiveness of oral training also becomes less effective. For example, if a learner posts a video or sound file online for other learners to give feedback, there will be a longer lapse of time than if the two learners were face to face. Using a computer as a platform also reduces the user’s concentration as there are more distractions, either programs, chats, or games, that will reduce the learner’s focus.
The first part of the task prompts the learner to decide on a location or place to introduce. Then the learner is to brainstorm vocabulary that can be used in describing the location. This helps the learner in that the vocabulary can act as a reference and reminder of the topic, and allows the speaker to focus on the development of sentences to introduce and describe the location.
The second part of the task involves the user recording either a video file or a sound file and uploading it online so the file can be shared with other learners. This will allow other learners to comment on the introduction and give peer feedback.
The third part of the task allows learners to communicate with a peer by introducing a location or place in English. This task enables learners to practice their oral skills by speaking with one another through the introduction of various places.
The design of the task is focused on oral training, akin to giving a speech after given a random topic. However, what is different is that by asking the learners to list a vocabulary, they can use the vocabulary as a means to describe the location and allow them to focus more on the development of sentences instead of deciding on what word to use. Because this is an online task, there exists difficulties as communicating orally online is more difficult and more insufficient than in a face to face situation. The effectiveness of oral training also becomes less effective. For example, if a learner posts a video or sound file online for other learners to give feedback, there will be a longer lapse of time than if the two learners were face to face. Using a computer as a platform also reduces the user’s concentration as there are more distractions, either programs, chats, or games, that will reduce the learner’s focus.
Task4 Writing
The main objective of task four is to improve learners’ writing skills by letting the learners write a paragraph on the place they want to introduce. The writing is then posted on the site to allow other learners to give feedback and comments. The feedback and comments allow the learner to understand and amend his/her mistakes while other learners giving feedbacks can also improve their language skills by going through and correcting the mistakes of their peers.
2009年1月9日
The Evaluation From Learners
According to our target learners requirement, the learners we invited to play TravelEng mostly belong to business department and science department. Their level of English is under High-intermediate of GEPT. And one learner is from Malaysia. The others are native Taiwanese. Things below are the response we've gathered from them. We have integrated the responses into 5 points.
1.The participants said “the pronunciation is clear, but some words are too easy such like “miss”.
2.For the learner at home, the words in the blank in the Game part are too small.
3.Some participants said the ppt of reading is not smooth. The animation of the answer pages are not accurate, it resulted in the unparallel to question. However, it is more suitable to be the oral training.
4.Fro the oral aprt, the participants said it is too complicated. Though if the website was for the beginner, it is a little bit hard, and the sentence is too long. If the website was for the intermediate learners, though the content is easy to read. But I hope you can adjust the word form.
5.The learners though it is too troublesome, if there is someone would teach them or even guide them. Maybe they will have the strong eager to answer the question.
1.The participants said “the pronunciation is clear, but some words are too easy such like “miss”.
2.For the learner at home, the words in the blank in the Game part are too small.
3.Some participants said the ppt of reading is not smooth. The animation of the answer pages are not accurate, it resulted in the unparallel to question. However, it is more suitable to be the oral training.
4.Fro the oral aprt, the participants said it is too complicated. Though if the website was for the beginner, it is a little bit hard, and the sentence is too long. If the website was for the intermediate learners, though the content is easy to read. But I hope you can adjust the word form.
5.The learners though it is too troublesome, if there is someone would teach them or even guide them. Maybe they will have the strong eager to answer the question.
訂閱：
文章 (Atom)