First Discussion for TESL CALLspot by Jeremy

Should Certain Topics be Off-Limits for Students in Classroom Blogs?

I began to think about this topic after getting my class schedule at work for the coming week.  For the first time in almost a year I will have a class with no students from Saudi Arabia.  My students from there have always been great, but I have noticed that some topics, noteably those concerning religion and politics, are avoided or you find that a student makes a statement and everyone fully agrees.  I always get the feeling that some students don't actually agree, but don't wish to raise a dissenting voice.  In a forum like blogs, where students may feel more relaxed should instructors restrict topics, even if students find them interesting?  Will there be any retaliation towards students if they post a dissenting view from their countrymen?  I tried finding articles online, but nothing really jumped out at me.  I did ,however, find a list of ten blog topics that definitely don't work well.
-Top Ten Worst Blog Topics http://dds.hubpages.com/hub/Top-ten-WORST-blog-topics

Automated Essay Scoring!

So we all know teachers never have enough time to implement all the awesome things they have planned. One seemingly efficient way to evaluate learners is through automated systems. State tests are all multiple choice and scantron answer documents are read and digitally recorded with very little human input. That may be great when the only possible answers are A, B, C, or D, but what happens with writing?

As an English Language Arts teacher, I dread the evenings after my students write essays because I know that I need to respond promptly and get the various stages of drafts back to my students for improvement. But what if a computer program could do it for me? Would I trust the reading of essays to algorithms? My school has a program that students can write in and hit “grade” and in a matter of seconds get a mock “TAKS” score and some stock feedback comments. They can then go back and improve their response.

Automated essay scoring systems (AES) are a type of writing assessment tools. Research on the effectiveness and validity of AES varies. Aside from the actually difference in scores given by AES and human-raters, other studies the frequency and type of feedback is compared in AES and teacher written feedback. Many studies are conducted with native-English speakers and ELLs.

This is important to anyone taking a standardized test in the near future. Could a computer be grading your essay? Do you want that? Why or why not, or does it not matter to you? Do you use programs like these? Would you? Is it okay to take the human element out for the sake of efficiency? Can these e-raters be truly valid?

There is always a level of subjectivity in grading writing. I don’t even let the school’s grader grade my students’ work.

This is a study with one e-rater program with ELLs. The literature review is of particular interest.
Automated Essay Scoring Feedback
Dikli, S. (2010) The nature of automated essay scoring feedback. CALICO Journal. 28(1), 99-134.

To Mobile or To Not Mobile?

Hello TESL call spot! Let’s get our discussion on shall we?

First, think about all the people, including yourself, that own a mobile device. This mobile device can be a personal laptop, cell phone, e-Reader, iPad, iTouch, smart/iPhone etc. Nowadays and coupled with seemingly easy and free access to the internet via these mobile devices, it’s possible for anyone to receive, send, view, and process information from almost anywhere and anytime (even on airplanes!). This has many implications for language learning. Please share any opinions, experiences, or insight you have on using mobile devices for language learning. Feel free to also connect your postings to last week and this week’s readings (e.g. pros and cons of mobile devices, possible design and evaluation issues related to a language course utilizing mobile devices).

For those interested, this discussion question was inspired by an article featured by Apple online: Use of iTouches to teach fourth grade English Language Learners (ELLs) at Central Elementary school in Escondido, CA increases reading fluency and comprehension.