Empower English Language Learners With Tools From the Web

Lori Langer de Ramirez

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781412972437
• eBook ISBN: 9781452236704
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Technology

"This timely, user-friendly book provides inservice and preservice ESL teachers with the background and tools needed to implement Web 2.0 technologies in their classes today. The ELLs in these classrooms will benefit from learning English (and content) through rich and motivating technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, visual media, social networking, and Second Life. Designed for teachers who need some guidance in using technology as a teaching tool, this handbook is very easy to follow and provides step by step instructions for even the most inexperienced ?digital (non) natives?!"
—Holly Hansen-Thomas, Assistant Professor of Bilingual and ESL Education
Texas Woman?s University

Discover how Web 2.0 tools can advance English language learning!

Today?s interactive Web tools offer teachers of English language learners a wealth of opportunities to inspire and motivate their students. This user-friendly, research-based guide shows how the "read/write" Web can enhance classroom learning and extend English language acquisition beyond school hours.

Lori Langer de Ramirez, a nationally known expert on ESL teaching and curriculum development, offers strategies for both ESL and mainstream classroom environments. Aligned with national TESOL standards, this resource provides:

• A step-by-step guide for a wide range of relevant Web tools/activities, from blogs and podcasts to social networking and more
• Classroom-ready projects designed to benefit learners? social and academic language development
• Guidance on how and when to use Web tools with elementary, middle, and high school students
• Personal narratives from teachers who have successfully used Web tools to teach English language learners
• Teacher-tested and parent-approved guidelines for safe and appropriate Internet use

Support your students in gaining language proficiency and 21st-century skills through working with creative, collaborative Web tools!

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Why Use Web 2.0 Tools With ELLs?

INTRODUCTION

Web 2.0 tools are becoming more and more commonplace in schools. With the change of a “read” Web to a “read/write” Web, teachers are discovering new ways in which to engage technologically savvy students in computer-based educational activities. Publishing student work to the World Wide Web is a means of providing an authentic global audience for classroom productions. When students write or speak for a broader and more international audience, they pay more attention to polishing their work, think more deeply about the content they produce, and consider cultural norms more thoughtfully. These benefits serve to strengthen all students’ skills, but they are particularly relevant to the English language learner (ELL) who is beginning to acquire or continuing to develop his or her proficiency in English in the school setting.

ELL’S IN SCHOOLS: SOME CHALLENGES TO CONSIDER

According to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs (n.d.):

Based on state-reported data, it is estimated that 5,119,561 ELL students were enrolled in public schools (pre–K through Grade 12) for the 2004–2005 school year. This number represents approximately 10.5% of total public school student enrollment, and a 56.2% increase over the reported 1994–95 total public school ELL enrollment. Among the states, California enrolled the largest number of public school ELL students, with 1,591,525, followed by Texas (684,007), Florida (299,346), New York (203,583), Illinois (192,764), and Arizona (155,789).

Whether you are an ESL teacher or a teacher of any other subject area, you have almost definitely worked with English language learners in your classrooms. These eager students are faced with the challenge of learning a new language and culture while also studying subjects like science, math, English language arts, art, music, physical education, and health. This can be an incredibly daunting task—even for the strongest of students who have consistent schooling and can demonstrate good literacy in their first language.

According to educational researcher Jim Cummins (1979), English language learners acquire basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS)—also known as social language—within the first two years of exposure to English. This is the language of personal conversations, expressing opinions, requests for information, and expressions of need. However, it takes between five and seven years to develop their cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP)—also known as academic language. CALP is the language of textbooks, class lectures, essays, and educational videos. It is the language that students need to succeed in their academic life in an English language medium school (Cummins, 1979).

When thinking about BICS and CALP, it can be enlightening to consider a hypothetical situation in which you were a teenager and somehow relocated to the Philippines to attend a public school there. You will likely learn key words and phrases in Tagalog fairly quickly. It will take a lot longer to be able to write a cohesive essay on the history of the Philippine rainforest—in Tagalog (note: for a more challenging scenario, replace the Philippines with Thailand, where not only the language is different, but so is the script).

So, time is of the essence, and yet our ELLs can’t afford to wait on either front. They must learn English alongside their other subjects. They don’t have the luxury of acquiring CALP first and then entering classes involving the other disciplines. The challenge to learn English and succeed in school—not successively but rather simultaneously—is a daunting one, but it is quite common in most schools across the United States.

WHY WEB 2.0 WITH ELL’S?

The gift of time is the greatest gift that an ELL could possibly receive in school. But since the gift of time is one that we simply cannot give, we must look for ways to extend English language acquisition beyond the school day and means of maximizing learning for our students. Web 2.0 tools can provide students with extra opportunities to do meaningful language-learning tasks from the comforts of their own homes or local libraries. On a receptive level, they can sign on to a podcast for extra listening practice or view an instructive video on YouTube. However, Web 2.0 tools work best when students are asked to develop, create, and share their work online. It is in this way that they are active learners, negotiating meaning and creating media for a worldwide audience. For example, students can “meet” virtually with classmates via the Web and work on collaborative projects on a wiki. They can also create blog entries, videos, or comment on a classmate’s work—all after the school building has closed down for the day.

For beginning English language learners in particular, Web-based platforms can also provide a safer, more anonymous space in which to practice English. Beginners can be reticent and uncomfortable speaking in class, sharing their writing with peers in a face-to-face situation, or presenting work to large groups. Part of the reluctance comes from insecurity and fear of making errors and often coincides with the “silent period” in which students are taking in the new language but not yet ready to start producing it on their own. Web 2.0 tools are particularly helpful during these early stages of acquisition as they allow ELLs to be in control by giving them the opportunity to produce work in a controlled setting. If they are creating videos or audio files, they can practice, record, and rerecord until they are satisfied with their work. If using a wiki, they can cocreate work with the help of a stronger peer in a comfortable, nonthreatening online environment. Virtual worlds like Teen Second Life offer students an anonymous place in which to meet others, have conversations, and make mistakes—without need to do so in person. Web 2.0 tools are forgiving of errors and provide students with ways to save face as they practice their new language in cyberspace.

Web 2.0 tools are also beneficial in that they support and even entice students to become creators and not merely recipients of knowledge. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, it is crucial that our students come away from their K–12 educational experience with the ability to not just consume information but also create it. This creation of information has gone from a one-person endeavor to a collaboration with people from many different cultures and from all parts of the world.

Using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom involves students in activities that expand their problem-solving skills as they are required not just to find information but also to judge its worth and accuracy. With the inception of the read-write Web, anyone is capable of authoring material. This democratization of the Web has lead to a proliferation of information—not all of it trustworthy. Media literacy—in the past mainly focused on television and print media—now includes the Web and its explosion of information and material. And since ELLs are only just acquiring more challenging language, such as idiomatic expressions, they are especially vulnerable to advertisements and other media that often use this type of language as a means of persuading audiences. Now more than ever, it is imperative that our students become critical consumers of the material that is available to them at the click of a computer key.

While there are many reasons why Web 2.0 tools are beneficial for ELLs, perhaps the most convincing reason is the one that we teachers often underestimate: The World Wide Web is fun! There is a solid base of research available on the link between the use of technology with English language learners and motivation and/or improvement in certain skill areas. A study by Johns and Tórrez in 2001 found that “the new technologies offer many possibilities to the second language learner” (p. 11). Svedkauskaite, Reza-Hernandez, and Clifford (2003) have also found that

technology has evolved from its support function to play a role in initiating learning processes. It can provide a flexible learning environment where students can really explore and be engaged. Hypermedia, for example, individually addresses levels of fluency, content knowledge, student motivation, and interest, allowing inclusion of LEP [limited English proficient] students, who can thus monitor their comprehension, language production, and behavior. (“Frameworks for Successful LEP Learners” section, para. 4)

More recently, research about the use of Web 2.0 tools in the language classroom has shown that the use of technology is appreciated by students (Stanley, 2006), linked to greater motivation (Goodwin-Jones, 2005), and tools like blogs have been responsible for improvements in students’ writing (Thorne & Payne, 2005).

Students come to us with preestablished positive relationships to these technologies. They own and view MySpace and Facebook accounts, write and read blogs, create and view videos on YouTube, and record and listen to podcasts. The exciting aspect of their familiarity with these platforms is that they not only access and consume but also develop, edit, and share their work with classmates and others via the Web—and they are not being asked to do it! What better way to motivate, excite, and connect to our students than to dive into the media that they already know and love?

PREPARING ELL’S FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

English language learners in K–12 schools are charged with the task not only of acquiring a new language and increasingly challenging subject area content (i.e., science, math, social studies) but also to be a successful citizen of 21st-century global society; students are also required to be fluent in the use of the most important technologies. While it is still important to have basic core knowledge and skills in a variety of...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• 1. Why Use Web 2.0 Tools With ELLs?
• 2. Blogs: Online Language Portfolios
• 3. Wikis: Collaboration in a Virtual Space
• 4. Podcasts: Get Them Talking!
• 5. Viewing, Creating, and Sharing Video:
• 6. Sharing Visual Media: VoiceThread and Flickr
• 7. Social Networking: Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
• 8. Social Bookmarking: Diigo and Del.icio.us
• 9. Virtual Worlds: Panwapa and Teen Second Life
• Index