Y.H.Chen's Linguistic Site

my second published article

2005-03-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

I am glad to annouce that I've published my second article related to CALL.

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EFL Blogs-the obstacles and solution

2005-01-25T21:20:00.000-08:00

There are many articles that suggest involving language learners into blogging experience can benefit and maximize the learning. Here I won't talk about the benefits anymore; however, I would like to list several obstacles that EFL teachers usually face to in traditional classrooms and suggest how teachers can do with weblogs to solve the problem.

(1). insufficient exposure to the target language (TL)

EFL learners usually do not have enough exposure to the TL. Apart from the textbook and other printed materials that the teacher gave in class, learners usually do not have chance to be exposed to sufficient and suitable authentic materials (for authentic materials are usually designed for readers from the target culture, not for language learning).

->suggestion: I often try to find interesting articles or discussion topics online, and then rewrite it to suit my student's langauge level. After rewrite it, I post it on the classblog and have a discussion with my students afterwards. After the class, I would also post several links related to the discussed topics for mere entertaining materials (sometimes as homework) and encourage them to write their comments. Learners can arrange their own time to learn online, post comments and homeworkl; learning becomes 24 hours and is not restrained in time and space.

(2). individual inequality to use the TL in tradional classroom

EFL learners usually only have 3-5 hour English class (at most) per week. there are usually at least 8-10 students in one class (in junior high or high schools, there can be more than 35 students in one class). Factors of learners' different personalities, learning and response pace, motivation, and language proficiency can all lead to individual inequality to speak up in class or in groups. It has always been a challenge for EFL teachers to make interaction going and maximize the learning.

=>suggestion: by involving learners in blogging experience, teachers can promote social equality and identity. It is because that learners usually have more time to think and plan their language output before they post their voice on the blog, and they do not have to be stared by the whole class. Online communication is usually more face-saving than face-to-face communication. Every class member has equal chances to express their feelings and practice the language; individual differences leading to social inequality to speak in traditional classrooms can all be overcome; more!! teachers can give comments (or encouragement) to individuals (learners usually feel great about this).

(3). insufficient chance to learn the target pragmatic knowledge

EFL learners generally do not have enough chances to learn the target pramatic knowledge for they do not have opportunities to take part in the target social and cultural context. For not to experience 'culture shock', EFL learners, who grow up in different cultures, need to learn not only 'language with correct grammar' but 'appropriate language'.

=>suggestion: how to let our students take part in the sociocultural context? teachers can try to pair up our students with learners from other culture, better from the target culture (or put several learners in a group). Teachers can create a 'multicultural blog' for students and ask them to introduce their own culture by showing photos, pictures, or links to audio and video files to other students and encourage question asking. Teachers can offer help to put the photos, pictures, and links online.

So...blogs are very helpful to language learning; I would say it is especially helpful for EFL learners to get one step closer to the target culture and improve the language proficiency without spending money to go abroad.

so, when using weblogs to language learning, there are several principles that EFL teachers need to know about:

1. design tasks/lessons that is related to the target culture (learners need to learn not only the language but the culture)

2. create motivation by giving collaborative tasks (eg. pair up students to keep story journal together)

3. encourage online opinior exchange (the more the better)

4. more links to authentic materials. ( eg. I use text-to-speech software to create authentic-like listening practice for learners, upload to a server, then give links to learners, and ask them to download the listening files)

Computer can talk-my experience of teaching businesspeople English on the net

2005-01-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

what's the most obvious barrier that most EFL teachers may face to? Well, according to my biggest problem is that my students do not have the environment to learn English. Most EFL learners would complain that they are not having much chances to listen to and speak English. It is usually difficult for EFL teachers to find not only authentic listening material but a suitable one. For example, listening to BBC news or Discovery may help; however, for businesspeople who want to improve their very basic listening and speaking skill (for handling basic conversation with foreigners), those materials may be too difficult or not very helpful to them.

I am now teaching businesspeople English online. I ask my students to download English materials from the learning blog before class and upload their homework on it after class. We use msn to text and audio chat about a central topic, which is similar to everyday conversation. We only meet at least 4 hours every week.

For listening practice, I use text-to-speak software to create sound files with clear and natural voice and then I upload those files on the net, making available for learners to download and listen to them. Teachers, especially EFL teachers, do not need to spend money and time choosing suitable listening materials for their students.

The best text-to-speak software I have found so far is AT&T natural Voices. If teachers do not want to spend money buying the software, they simply can come here and try their Demo. Both US and UK English are available (even German and French). You can also choose voices spoken by different people to create a conversation.

This is my fist time teaching English on the net. The learning outcome is still unknown; however, it is sure that EFL learners can have more chances to get one step closer to the target language.

the 180kg love story

2005-01-14T04:28:00.000-08:00

I just received a mail, in which a very cute photo album was attached. If you would like to see the 180kg love story, you should come here and have a look http://member.verywed.com/timpani/album/10889

Sometimes we just care too much about people's appearance...looking at this photo album, don't u just believe that there is always someone out there waiting for you??

Not a Linguistic Blog anymore?!

2005-01-14T01:07:00.000-08:00

Searching for a job is easy; however, to find a job that I really like and wish to devote myself in is not as easy as I thought. However, finally, I found one! and now I am working as a senior English editor in a English textbook and magazine company, which you can find here at

I actually tried to find a job related to CALL-Computer Assisted Language Learning; While I was searching for it, I found now many companies and schools in Taiwan are trying to integrate classroom English learning with online technology. The term, e-learning, becomes very popular. However, it seems like different companies are trying to develop different kinds of online learning system, and most of them are still paying more attention on the presentation of lessons to learners and ignore the more effective side of CALL (interactive and experience learning).

While surving in the EVO 2005 yahoo group, a question 'how does a blog different from a forum?' caught my eye, and I did spend some time thinkging about this question. Except for the sense of 'ownership' that learners can have during the process of learning, what benefits are worth of talking about? and more, I also though of the courseware of Moodle and blackboard where teachers can post lessons, discussion topics, and other extra materials online. Without trying to figure out different features of forums, blogs, and online courseware, teachers can definately make good use of these 'free' resources and upgrade our teaching quality.

So... the main reason, or the most reasonable reason, for companies and schools to hire professionals of IT and develop a new, hopefully a better online learning system is to create or enlarge the market.

The goal is to 'attract customers and earn money'!! I was actually hoping 'probably I can learn something' from my job if I could find something related to CALL; however, while sitting in front of the managers and listening to the description of how they want their E-learning products to be, the only feeling I had at that time is 'I will not be able to fit in this place!"

Anyway...although I didn't step on the route that I planned, I chose another one that I am also interested in. (reading and writing). I am thinking...probably this blog shouldn't be called 'linguistic blog' anymore :P cuz I am really not sure whether I will still write something about teaching and CALL in the future.

so fragile

2005-01-02T23:47:00.000-08:00

Saw an interesting report hereHow Did Animals Escape Tsunami?
"I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening."

it's pretty amazing that the animals can sense disaster... human beings, the smartest creature in the world, seem so fragile.

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Teachers should not just provide knowledge-the role of LLS(language learning strategy)

2004-12-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

Warden wrote his opinion about the diverse research arguments for the impact of grammatical correction on language learners' learning.

"By citing a few others who tell their opinions and a couple studies that failed to find a significant influence from grammar correction, a conclusion is reached that it doesn't work. The problem with this logic is that not finding something does not prove it is not there, and you need to compare it to something else to understand which method is more effective. NO DIFFERENCE means all methods are equal. Call them bad or call them good--it is the same"

I believe many language teachers must find language learning theories not as helpful as they should be in practical classroom settings; after all, learners are individuals. I've always struggled to use different teaching techniques on different learners or in different classrooms. Just as Warden suggested learners in different cultures may prefer different kinds of learning ways.

There are also several articles suggest the importance of training learners to learn in a certain way. To teach learners how to learn (learning strategy) should be more helpful than just pouring knowledge to them and expect them to absorb everything.

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lifetime career..must be a great one!

2004-12-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Haven't updated for a long time!! I went back to Taiwan for one month and came back to Melbourne yesterday (with my Mom). The 12 -hour flight almost killed me..felt so tired!
Well, I actually have finished everything here...today is my graduation ceremony!! [:)], which means I will finally get my degree today!! After the ceremony, I will travel around Melbourne with my Mom for about 1 week and then will back to Taiwan; hopefully I can find a good job afterward.
What kind of job that I may be interested in? Well, it's still in the air; however, I think I may try to do something different... hmm... it will be a lifetime career..I should choose something that I really like!

To Teach Grammar or Not?

2004-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished my SLA essay, related to the role of attention on form. Whether to teach grammar in language learning has always a very controversial topic. According to Chomsky's universal grammar, Krashen's natural order hypothesis, monitor hypothesis and input hypothesis (1982, 1985), language learning should be entirely natural and conscious learning of grammatical knowledge is considered to be a negative effect to learners' language production, especially speaking production.

Indeed, if we look at the teaching outcome of Grammar translation and audiolingualism, we can find learners generally cannot speak fluently and express what they want to say. Also, teaching grammar seems to be not quite effective if the hypothesis that learners' L1 will cause negative transfer to their L2 learning. No matter how hard teachers teach rules... learners are still making the same error...

For this reason, language teachers believe that as long as we involve leraners into authentic interaction and give them sufficient input, they will naturally acquire the language. Is that true??? The point that input and interaction are essential can be justified; however, without teaching rules, how much time that a learner needs to spend in order to fully acquire the language? the Natural approach is now very popular in EFL teaching; after all, there is an age factor in the learning. We don't want to teach kids grammar...and we are not allowed to teach children grammar..that's too boring..

What about adults? can an adult learn from the natural approach? I doubt it! And..recently researches have shown that without the teach of grammatical knowledge, learners are not able to produce grammtical utterance. their speaking production is facing fossilization and become pidgin-like langauge...; that is their acquisition of the target language becomes incomplete although they can use the language to communicate with others.

While I was doing this essay, I found it hard to stand in either argument. Sometimes I really don't understand why theoretical concepts in SLA can never be clear stated : this is how language is learned! ..or this is what teachers should adopt in your classroom.

I mean, what's the point of writing about a controversial issue? As a teacher, I recognize both sides can be a benefit to my students' langauge learning. Different learners have differnet kinds of learning style..and for different learners, we use different approach. When teaching EFL learners, I would consider giving them chances to use the language and authentic input is very important; however, at the same time, teaching grammatical knowledge may help as well. Can't we just adopt the good side of those theories and create a better one? why it has to be controversial???

my other blog

2004-11-09T04:28:00.000-08:00

Oh! ha! I just got Blinger's message asking me if I am still around... Yes, I am still here...it's just I am so busy working on my essays. Hmm.. I actually try to make this site looks more professional...haha~so I choose not to write my personal life here. But if you want to know more about my personal life..and what i look like.. you can come to my the other blog, which is definately more interesting than this one

good luck for my essays!

need to stay up late again..SIGH...

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LookWayup online concordance

2004-10-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got an email from Tony, who told me that he read my published article about concordance the other day and recommand the LOOKWAYUP online concordance. I went to the website to have a look; I actually found it amazing that this online concordance is quite easy to use. User just need to install it to the browser and only by double click they can look up words. If you would like to have a try before you install it, you can come to this page; simply try to double click anyword you want to look for meanings! Also, you can listen to the pronunciation of words as well.

This is certainly a very good tool for language learners! one thing that concordance benefit language learning is it tends to offer authentic sentences or contexts. Usually dictionaries can only give at most 3 sentence examples for each word entry; and those sentences are usually artificial...

However, learners still need to be trained prior to the use of concordance for they will be exposed to very large amount of data. I am still looking for a suitable online concordance that is suitable for EFL learners, especially for younger one.

Culture and Language Teaching Through Electronic Technology

2004-10-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

Authough more language teachers now acknowledge the importance of communicative language teaching, that focus on learners' communicative competence; for the limitation of traditional classroom where interaction mode tend to be liner, teachers do feel difficulties to promote learners' communicative competence; this is especially the case for teachers who teach English as a foreign language; interactions that allow langauge practice is usually insufficient.

The constrains that makes the practice of communicative language teaching difficult usually become an excuse that justify 'focusing on form accuracy' teaching.

Using CMC tools for langauge teaching is proposed by lots of reserachers; however, most articles focus on the suggestion that CMC encouraging more interaction among students can helop promote learners linguistic knowledge. I recently have uploaded some CMC articles here.

Today, I finally saw an article talking about the use of technology to teach pragmatic. It is a research article that discusses about an experiment on the electronic communication effect on Arab students' pragmatic learning. The conclusion is : electronic communication can make the gap between two cultures smaller.

If I Keep Listening...Will I be Able to Understand?

2004-10-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

The other day, Paul just wrote about his experience of using TPR (Total Physical Response) approach in an EFL classrooms. I belive the TPR approach was based on Krashen's comprehensible input, which suggests that all language teachers need to do is to provide authentic and sufficient input for our students; when learners are ready, they can start to produce language output.

As soon as the hypothesis was proposed, some researchers was ready to attack. Yesterday I happend to read some research findings related to comprehension-based ESL/EFL classrooms in Lightbown & Spada's (1999) article-Second Language Learning in The Classroom. I couldn't find it online..do want to recommend it though it's a little too long.

So, the conclusion of those research findings is ' although comprehensible input seem contribute positive effect on language learning, it is considered to be insufficient to help learners develop their language ability to advanced levels.

A possible explanation is 'when learners are exposed to language input, they are more likely to acquire forms that frequently appear in the input' That is, for some less-frequent words or phrases, unless learners pay more attention on them, they are not likely to be acquired.

Go back to the TPR approach, I would like to agree that it is very useful to motivate our students; and it also allows our students to learn some English usages that are frequently used in the classroom (eg. stand up, turn to page 6, class dismissed...and etc.) However, I would still want to emphasize the importance of instruction.

References
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). Second Language Learning in The Classroom. How Languages are Learned. (Ch 6).

Don't let anyone kill your language and culture

2004-10-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

English, as a global langauge, is now getting even stronger. It seems like everybody is learning English for getting higher pay, for learning more about western culture, for fashion, for prestige...etc. English reflect modern life!! Everybody loves English!!

It is certainly a good thing to see people from different cultures can communicate by using the same langauge; however, it is also the sad thing to see other languages dying and disappering... can we blame English as a killer of other less-popular languages?? well... if you want :) However, I would rather focus on how we teachers or members of ethnic groups should do to support the less-popular languages?

Language is not just a mean of communication but also about culture and identify. An article 'language gap' pointed out 'Middle Eastern linguists are hard to find' although the government has been funding in this field. I believe the same thing is happening to other less popular languages...it is just the 911 event caught people's attention to this particular area.

The other day I wrote about the Ethnic community, which is an online community that aims at bring teachers teaching ethnic languages together and exchanging new teaching ideas. When involving in this project of supporting the ethnic groups, I keep having one very bad feeling that I had never had before I came to Melbourne: why PRC Mandarin? rather than both PRC and ROC??

I would never want to talk about politics! however, I would still want to emphasize that PRC and ROC Mandarin are so different (not just writing system but also pronunciation, typing system, pronunciation, and terms). As a linguist, a teacher, and a Taiwanese, I really do not want my language and culture to disappear; at least do not disapper because we are colonized by China. Please excuse me...but I do think so :(

I do feel I have the responsibility to keep Taiwanese language and culture; it is not just because I am a Taiwanese but because I am a linguist (though I still have a lot more things to know about) and I know what will happen if we do not care enough. So...if you have the same concern as mine, you are invited to join our ethnic community. Or, even better, please help me forward this blog to other teachers you know. I will be very appreciate.

Cheers,

Stella

The EVO Online

2004-10-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

The other day I just got an invitation mail from EVO (Electronic Village Online). So I followed the link to the website. Basicly, this is nearly like an academic conference that educators get together to present their new teaching approaches or strategies about teaching. Computer and technology certanily can change how people communicate and learn; now teachers do not need to cancel their classes and travel to the other end of the world to attend the conferences. From 1999, TESOL and CALL members started to organize this online conference. For more information about what EVO is and how you can participate in, you can come here.

Can pragmatic competence be taught???

2004-10-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

According to Kasper's article CAN PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE BE TAUGHT?, it is proposed that pragmatics can't be taught in classroom (I guess he means 'not to directly teach on the board'). She suggested that pragmatic competence, whether pramalinguistic or sociopragmaic, needs to be acquired through noticing the input, understaninding and using the pragmatic knowledge.

In Kasper and Roever's paper, they suggested the pragmatic knowledge is teachable; instruction has certain advantages to learners' pragmatic acquisition.

According to the interlanguage hypothesis, direct instruction on linguistic form is not beneficial to learners' acquisition of the target language. I myself suggested explicit instruction on form is still important . I would be very happy to agree on the idea that instruction can be beneficial to the interlanguage of pragmatics.

So... how can EFL teachers help learners acquire the target pragmatic? For EFL learners, there is usually insufficient access to the target language. Providing authentic input that enables learners to learn pragmatic knowledge becomes a challenge for language teachers. I would like to suggest that by creating authentic-like interaction between studnets or providing audio or video tape with authentic interaction examples to learners, teachers can engage learners into the learning of pragmatics.

To involve in interactions, notice and understand the pragmatic difference between their native culture and the target culture is crucial for learners to acquire the knowledge (Kasper, 1997). Discussions about the target pragmatics in the classroom can help learners understand the rules. Of course, learners' language proficiencies are still important; there are several studies showed that there is a correlation between learners' language proficiency and the develpment of pragmatics.

So... I was just thinking... can writing interaction be also influential to the learning of pragmatic knowledge???

I probably need to do more research on it...

Thanks for Bee's invitation- Webheads in Action

2004-10-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

I recently have been working on Japanese English-English loanwords in Japanese society. Read lots of articles! I will try to put something interesting here later as soon as I have time to do it.

Hmm..okay~ I guess it should not be the excuse for my laziness to blog. Anyway...today I came here and saw Bee's comment to one of my blogs that I posted the other day. Bee also goes to Barbara; she's from Brazil and is also interested in CALL.

Thanks for Barbara's comment and invitation to the community called Webheads in Action I went there and found there are lots of educators with the same interest with me (CALL). Really looking forward to exchange ideas with them.

Bee, Thanks again!!

Cheers,

Stella

Is that really a solution?

2004-09-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

Just replied to Blinger's post about the textbook 'SMILE'. I just couldn't help to say something good about it because I did have very good experience of using that textbook.

Blinger also mentioned that the author of the SMILE suggested that for each level it usually takes 3 months. This just made me think of the time when I was teaching English in Taiwan. Sometimes it was such a despressing situation that you couldn't make your students learn at the same pace. Older children are certainly quicker learners than younge children, especially for grammar and vocabulary. (I am not talking about long-term language acquisition situation because if we are talking about long-term learning, younger children seem do better). However, in Taiwan, or other EFL countries, language schools arrange their students to class according to their English ability, without regard to age differences. This just makes teaching become so difficult.

I used to have one EFL class, in which the oldest child is 12 years old whereas the youngest one is 7 years old. That class was certainly the toughese class that I had ever taught

At that time, I could notice that Janet (that oldest child) sometimes felt bored in class because I kept letting them practice the same sentence structure in different kinds of activities. According to the textbook syllabus, I needed to spend at least 2 weeks (that total 6 hours) teaching one lesson. However, at the same time, I also noticed some younger kids or slower kids had hard time to catch up.

I do believe many language schools have this kind of problem: not able to make the whole class learn at similar pace. Schools just couldn't do anything about it. I remember at that time I told my boss about this kind of situation. The answer was 'because of the budget, we need to have at least 10 students in one class'. At that time, I did understand the situation.

But... is that really a solution? We slow down fast learners' learning pace and at the same time we need to spend more time helping other learners who can't catch up.

If you have some ideas or similar experiences about this, please feel free to give me comments. By the way.. you can write Chinese here. 寫中文也可以唷!

Review on Dave's Article- Let's not be Left Behind

2004-09-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

I've just read Dave Sperling's article on ESL Magazine. It is quite amazing when searching 'ESL' on Google, you can always see Dave's name. Yes. I have encountered the same situations that Dave talked about in his article: 'teachers are afraid to get involved in technology'. Whenever I talk about utilizing computers to language teaching or other new perspectives on CALL, some teachers' responses are 'oh! that's too difficult for me' or 'Well...I don't know...I am sure that's good for teaching...but...'

I can still remember the excitement that I had when I learned about CALL the very first time. I can't describe that feelings...but I remember at that time I just couldn't wait to tell my boss about it.

I am actually very good at browsing websites though...but knowing ways to incorporate computer into language classroom is actually quite a new experience for me. I really can't wait to bring what I know about CALL back to Taiwan; I believe that by using technology in classrooms can make me a very cool teacher.

I believe most students nowadays have experiences on the internet, at least sending emails or using word processor. Like me, I sit in front of my computer at least 8 hours a day...I don't buy envelops and stamps anymore; instead, I use e-mails and e-cards to contact friends. Even now I am abroad now, 16 hours away from home, I can still use webcam to see my parents; it's just like home. It seems like internet just brings your loved person closer; communication is easier ever!! I mean... if most students are like me, rely heavily on technology, how can teachers know nothing about computer and internet?

So... come on!! We teachers need to keep learning new things...for nothing, just to keep catch up with our students.

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CALL for Teachers of Ethnic Communities

2004-09-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

CALL can certainly help supporting indigenous or less commonly taught languages such like Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian...and etc. For this semester, we are doing a CALL project which is going to provide teachers who teach less commonly taught languages new perspectives on CALL.

However, it is really quite depressing that not many schools have sufficient technology facility to support. Or teachers still prefer traditional teaching (eg. use textbooks, blackboard...). It, therefore, becomes so difficult to build something...i mean..if we do not know what our clients want, how can we have something terrific come out??

Anyway...if you accidently see this blog and you are also teaching languages other than English, you may find something very interesing and helpful in this community CALL for Teachers of Ethnic Communities . Please come by and let's have a talk!!

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CMC-does writing training help speaking proficiency?

2004-09-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

These days I've been thinking how blogs can help learners develp their speaking proficiency; since I knew the term CMC (Computer-mediated-communication), I read a lot of articles describing about how computer can provide global communication, enhance students' motivation, improve students' writing skills...and etc. Let's just not talk about the chatting tools! what about e-mails and blogs??? Yes, I do believe that they both can improve students' writing skills when globally communicate with others. What about their speaking ability???

It is proposed by Braine in his article 'Using Lans' that when students write in the target language, they actively think about the content(Fotos &Browne (ed.), 2004); i would say this is quite similar to the way how information is processed and given out in speaking tasks. Hmm...does that mean that training students to write can also improve their speaking???

Just like now...I am writing something..and at the same time I am kind of speaking to myself... speaking and writing and both kind of 'creation' and 'language output'.

I would say the output for both kind of communication can be similar; in writing forms, we can use symbols to express emotions :p we can kind of exaggerate our language by using CAPITAL LETTERS or changing the spelling (eg. you are soooooooooooooo beauutiful!!).

However, when giving output, we need to understand input first, especially in speaking task. To be able to understand someone is a prerequisite; listening and speaking, however, are very different.

So...I would like to assume that trainging students to write may not necessarily help them in spekaing; or probably may not 100% helpful???

Reflection on Commnets- create positive monitor for students

2004-09-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks for Prof. Warden's comment on my views on error correction. Cuz I want to make some links in my reply, I choose to post my another view here (still not quite familiar with the interface ><) Firstly of all, I am glad to see your research paper regarding to writing error correction. I agree with you. In Asian cultures such like Japan, Taiwan, or China, error correction is viewed to be very important; this is because teachers strictly focus on grammar and vocabulary instruction. I think the interlangauge hypothesis (Selinker, 1982) is mainly talking about spoken errors. I would like to reflect on Krashen's the monitor hypothesis that claims that when learners have more time to 'plan' their spoken output, they are likely to perform better. In other words, although learners know the rule, in the very quick turn taking conversation, they still make errors, which can be an evidence that they may just 'learn' the rule rathe than 'acquire' it.

In my opinion, no matter written or spoken errors, I do believe 'practice makes perfect'. In written task when learners have time to plan their output, explicit instruction is definately important. And...if we are talking about spoken errors, well, I would still anticipate my students to know how to use correct words or grammar; probably it can be 'positive monitor' when they are talking in the target language

correcting students' errors??

2004-09-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

i've just done a very little research on Selinker's (1972) interlanguage hypothesis, which hypothesized that L2 learning pattern is very similar to the L1 learning sequence; learners follow a certian learning stages to give hypotheses about the target language and test them in order to reinforce the knowledge. This hypothesis seems to suggest us that 'learning sequence can't be changed' and therefore when learners make errors, we should take those errors as learning steps, rather problems.
Well, if that's the case, then...what are language teachers for???
According to Krashen's idea, teachers should always respect students errors and only let studnets to correct their own errors. Joe (one of my classmates) also said that he found correcting studnets' errors never works! and today... when i was browsing linguistic logs, I came across David and Scott's idea exchange, which was very interesting as well.
I don't know... I guess I still belive explicit instruction about the target langague is still important. I mean whenever my students make errors, I just can't ignore them. I think I would like to give a try...although it probably will not help.

my first published article

2004-09-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today's my lucky day!! I've just got my first article published on an on-line TEFL journal. Though it's a very small journal, I still felt quite excited to see my name (Chinese Name) on the web. Haha. ^^ Well, that article is about how language teachers can use corpus in vocabulary classrooms. Well, cuz i'm doing CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning), definately need to write something about computer lo~ anyway..if you guys are interested, please take a look and feel free to give me comments.

first time using blog

2004-09-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

my first time using blog... actually i just want to try how this works...and probably i can make friends. Since i'm not a native speaker of English, i'm not very used to write something in English...haha~ BUT! for knowing how this works (so i can write an article about how blog can help learning a second or foreign langauge), i just gave a try!