Critical pedagogical applications of CALL

A lot of times when we think of CALL we think of it in terms of its pedagogical applications alone. Many of our ESL students, however, immigrate under various circumstances, live culturally diverse lives significant to them, and often attend low-income schools. Many ELL's find themselves in competitive public school systems that value a particular cultural norm; what E.D. Hirsch or Ruby Payne (1997; 2000) might refer to as "cultural literacy", that is different than their own. Many experience a dissonance as they are removed from their cultural roots and experience, what W.E.B. DuBois (LaRaviere, 2008) reffered to as a sense of "two-ness", as sense of living two lives, one private and one public. How might you apply CALL in your classrooms to enrich the experiences of yours students who, in addition to language, may struggle with cultural meanings as well? In other words, how can we use CALL applications to teach ELL's to navigate the complex cultural, and often divisive, realities of American public education, while still giving voice and agency to their familial, cultural, linguistic, and historic heritage?



For more information on critical pedagogy and CALL go to:
lib.utsa.edu
click on "Find Databases & Artles"
click on "Education and Human Development"
Scroll down to and click on: "Eric via Ebsco"
Check the boxes: "Full Text" and "Peer Reviewed"
Type into the box: Author & Title or "CALL" and "critical theory"

Kellner, D. and G. Kim (2010). "YouTube, Critical Pedagogy, and Media Activism." Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies 32(1): 3-36.

LaRaviere, T. (2008). Chairman Fred Hampton way: an auto ethnographic inquiry into politically relevant teaching. Qualitative Inquiry 14(3), 489-504.

Hirsch, E.D. (1987). Cultural literacy: what every American needs to know. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. 13-23.

Payne, R.K. & Solcumb, P.D. (2000). Removing the mask: giftedness in poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process Inc

TUSD Media (Creator) & YouTube (Distributor). (2011). Retrieved March 28, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZHsvbmXLY

Google as a Language Corpus?

Guoquan Sha of Sichuan Economic Management College in Chengdu, China, wrote an interesting article at the end of 2010.

His main idea is that corpora has changed language learning and language applications over the past years. But aside from this remark, he mentions one of the most common tools available on the internet- Google.

Sha argues that Google has become a great platform or springboard tool for many university students in China that are learning languages. They utilize Google first as a method to solve their language learning or writing difficulties. He also mentions that in comparison with the British National Corpus, Google has different advantages. It provides spelling checks and has far more search results than this specific corpus.

This semester, I know we have discussed a variety of different technological aspects that should be considered in language learning. What about Google? How does this serve a function in light of language learning? Sha describes how it is used easily by students for working on translations or working with writing. How do you see this applicable in your own language teaching? Would you support using a tool like this in the language classroom? Do you find it comparable to other corpora out there?

Sha, G. (2010). Using Google as a super corpus to drive written language learning: a comparison with the British National Corpus. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(5), 377 — 393.

How do you develop discipline plans for online misbehavior?

Click on the image below to hear this week's blog topic:



It's been observed that when learners feel a sense of anonymity, sometimes their comments are just awkward, and at worst can be very unwelcomed. In the article "Virtual Harassment", by Ferganchick-Neufang (1998) the challenges of online educators are explored with some possible solutions.

So, how do you enforce the limits of socially acceptable behavior to prevent students from offending you and others in chat rooms, or on Facebook, and other sites? Additionally, if you had a Blackboard site (with a discussion board) and a student started posting complaints against you, what actions would you take?

Is You tube a very good tool for learning and teaching?

You tube is a very good tool for learning and teaching.
You tube is one of the most common tools used is classrooms. By using You tube one can provide supplementary information for classrooms. You tube helps teachers to bring the lessons to life, rather than traditional reading and listening. Also, by using YouTube, an instructor can create a more engaging and context-rich classrooms environment. Doing so, creates a more comfortable setting and encourages students to pay attention.
According to R. Mullen and L. Wedwick (2008), you tube is an easily accessible and effective tool for classroom instruction. Others however, caution that using media like YouTube are subject to certain rules and regulations that teachers must consider. (R. Talab & R. Butler, 2007)
Many school s are restricted in using you tube in classrooms. Do you think that using YouTube in classrooms has advantages/disadvantages? Please explain.

Talab, R. S. and R. P. Butler (2007). shared electronic spaces in the classroom: copyright, privacy, and guidelines. TechTrends. 51(1): pgs. 12-15.

Mullen, R. and L. Wedwick (2008). Avoiding the digital abyss: getting started in the classroom with youtube, digital stories, and blogs. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 82(2-), pgs. 66-69.