Assalamualaikum
and Hello Dr Burn,
The use of
wireless mobile technology such as tablet, Smartphone and laptop in education
is making teaching and learning experience become more flexible where students
can learn from anywhere and at anytime. In fact, research shows that mobile
devices can be more easily integrated across the curriculum than desktops
(Moseley & Higgins, 1999). This is possible since many students already have
mobile devices as it is not as complex as desktop computers. Additional
research shows gains in students’ motivation, analytical and organizational
skills and comprehension, writing, grammar skills, and originality.
For the
purpose of this task, I’ll choose Smartphone as the best mobile technology to
be used by students in ESL classroom. Each one of the mobile technology listed;
Smartphone, tablet and laptop has their own advantages and weaknesses. However, in my point of view, Smartphone is a
great choice to be used for teachers and students in an ESL classroom as one of
the tools to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Apart from it is not
as big as laptop and tablet, nowadays students can get a Smartphone as low as
RM200! Note to be taken that not all students capable to buy a laptop or a
tablet, but generally they are capable to buy a Smartphone since there are a lot
of choices given to buyers to be choose on. In current situation, it is quite
normal to see all students in one classroom to have a Smartphone, but it is
quite uncommon to have every student to have their own tablet or laptop,
especially for students in sub urban and rural areas.
There are a
lot of applications that can be used by using Smartphone in ESL classroom. One
of the applications that can be used is known as ‘Rosetta Course’. The good
thing about this application is that, you can choose your level by choosing the
option given which are; beginner, intermediate, advance. If you choose to have
a beginner level, it actually really treats the ‘learners’ as a blank slate as
it teaches the learner from the basic form to a more complex form. It may sound
irrelevant for those who have a strong foundation in English, but take into consideration
for those students that are really weak in English. Thus, teacher can adjust
the level based on the students’ proficiency.
The other
application that can be practice in an ESL classroom is known as ‘FluentU’. It is
indeed an interesting application as it promotes a very fun and interactive way
of learning to the learners. As for instance, there are numbers of music videos
and movies provided for learners to watch on. Uniquely, all the videos are also provide with English subtitles to allow learners to watch, listen and read at the same
time. Learners can indirectly learn the correct way of pronunciation when they
listen to the audio and read the subtitles at a time. Other than that, learners
can also attempt several level of quizzes provided to see their performance or
ability in English. The most important element here is that, it will easily able to attract students’ attention to it as it really meet most of the students’
interest by providing current music videos and movies.
In the
nutshell, mobile technology can be a great tool to be used to in ESL classroom.
However, teachers need to always aware on how to ensure that the lessons created
are suitable with the target students in term of the location of the school;(
urban, sub- urban, rural), level of proficiency; (low, intermediate, advance)
as well as their family background or SES (poor, average, rich).
Thank you.
Thanks for your blog entry, Hanisah. I agree with you that with a smartphone, there are so many ways and strategies that teachers can use to teach English. Also, I think that with smartphones, teachers are not limited to having students using them individually, but they can also use it in groups or in pairs. However, all of this would depend on the teacher's creativity in managing the classroom and planning the lesson. I hope you would try using the smartphone with your students. And maybe you can tell us how that go.
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