Digital Technologies for English Language Learning

Teaching elementary students literacy strategies that enable them to engage with increasingly complex texts is not easy, especially when it comes to discussing ideas with teachers and peers. As such, it is important to teach students to both listen and speak effectively during the early stages of their education.

Speaking and listening benchmarks

Many states’ learning standards for speaking and listening require that students be able to:

·         Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

·         Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

·         Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

In order to achieve these goals, students must have opportunities to hone speaking and listening skills during classroom discussions, in small groups or with partners. They must be able to follow conversations and take part in discussions through adding relevant information, making accurate and just comparisons, and develop their points using evidence. To achieve this end, teachers can use a few strategies to get students to better engage as both listeners and speakers.

Five ways elementary teachers can help students improve listening and speaking skills

 

1. Provide pre-learning activities that enable students to focus on what is important

These activities might include key vocabulary terms, an outline of what will be taught, study guides and objectives. This information makes it possible for students to know where and how to focus their listening and then develop stronger oral responses that are more focused.

2. Stop repeating instructions

This advice may go against what teachers typically do, which is to repeat directions or steps multiple times to ensure student comprehension. However, giving instructions multiple times trains students that they do not have to listen the first time, and that the information will be readily available if they choose not to listen.

3. Model good listening and speaking behavior for students

Students learn by how teachers listen and speak, which means it is important for educators to model the behaviors they wish students to emulate. This means that teachers need to practice good listening skills (focusing their full attention on the speaker without interrupting) and good speaking skills — paraphrasing the other person’s ideas before responding, clearly articulating ideas and using correct grammar and structure.

4. Provide structured activities for students to do during or after the listening activity

              If students are watching a documentary or educational film, the teacher might pause periodically to have students write down questions. Alternatively, if students are participating in a group discussion, tell them to take turns as the speaker and provide specific instructions for those who are listening. This might involve taking notes on what the speaker is saying and reporting or paraphrasing their contributions. This strategies allows students to focus their points or ideas before participating in discussions.

5. Create ways for introverted students to participate and contribute to conversations

            Quiet or introverted students often get left out of large group discussions. In order to make participation easier for them, allow students to show their agreement or disagreement with an idea by holding up two fingers for “yes” or three fingers for “no.” This allows all students to participate and indicate they have been listening as well as respond in a way that best suits their needs.

            There are a number of ways elementary teachers can help students develop strong speaking and listening skills regardless of the curriculum they’re teaching. These practices will enable students to understand what is expected of them and how to perform well in their lives down the road.
 

10 Ways to Use Technology to Build Vocabulary

By: Bridget Dalton, Dana L. Grisham

Teaching and learning vocabulary

The first five eVoc strategies focus on explicit teaching of vocabulary and helping students become independent word learners.

eVoc strategy 1: Learn from visual displays of word relationships within text

Wordle is a free Web application that allows you to create a word cloud based on the frequency of words in a particular text. It can be used to stimulate students' thinking about the meaning, importance, and relationship of words as they analyze, create, and publish Wordles. To create a word cloud, you paste text into the applet and then manipulate the visual display by selecting the color scheme, layout, and font. Word clouds can be used to highlight keywords and themes to prepare students for reading, as well as prompt discussion after reading.

eVoc strategy 2: Take a digital vocabulary field trip
        Teachers can create a digital version of a vocabulary field trip using a free online program called TrackStar (trackstar.4teachers.org). Like the popular WebQuest (Dodge, 1995), TrackStar allows you to collect a series of websites and annotate them so that students follow the online journey.
        eVoc strategy 3: Connect fun and learning with online vocabulary games
       We recommend two sites that offer a variety of activities to engage students in playing with words and word meanings: Vocabulary Games and Vocabulary. Games include crossword puzzles, picture-word matches, word scrambles, and 8 Letters in Search of a Word (a game that can draw you in unexpectedly as you race to create as many words as possible from eight letters within the time limit). The games are supplemented with themed word lists, test preparation items, and activities on prefixes and suffixes. These sites can be bookmarked for students' independent practice and can provide a basis for whole-group instruction.
       eVoc strategy 4: Have students use media to express vocabulary knowledge
        The previous eVoc strategies all require student interaction, from manipulating a visual word map to taking an online vocabulary field trip. This strategy focuses on students' vocabulary representations in multiple modes-writing, audio, graphic, video, and animation (Nikolova, 2002; Xin & Rieth, 2001). The first set of examples draws on promising research with universally designed digital text (Dalton & Proctor, 2007), suggesting the benefit of having students develop word meaning as they read a definition, view graphics, listen to the word, write or audiotape a personal connection to the word, create a caption for a graphic, and complete an interactive word map (Proctor et al., 2007; Proctor, Uccelli, Dalton, & Snow, 2009).
        This kind of collaborative publication and engagement with an external audience is characteristic of successful multimedia learning (Fadel & Lemke, 2008). There really is no end to the creative possibilities when students use media to develop and celebrate the wonder of words.
eVoc strategy 5: Take advantage of online word reference tools that are also teaching tools
        Many online word reference tools are also excellent teaching resources. For example, the Visual Thesaurus website complements its fee-based content with free information such as the Behind the Dictionary and Teachers at Work columns and teacher-created themed word lists. Many use multiple distribution platforms to reach learners wherever they are. For example, the Back in School webpage of Dictionary.com
Develop strategic digital readers with "on-demand" vocabulary help
This section highlights two online tools that provide just-in-time support while reading. Students can develop their strategic learning repertoire as they customize their own collection of supports.
eVoc strategy 6: Support reading and word learning with just-in-time vocabulary reference support
       Whether avid or reluctant reader, we all encounter unfamiliar words in our reading and need strategies for what to do when this occurs. Rather than using print dictionaries or asking the teacher, students can learn to use online dictionaries and thesauri.
Two popular free online dictionaries/thesauri are Reference.com and Merriam-Webster. Tools expressly designed for students include Word Central from Merriam-Webster , Back in School from Dictionary.com, and Yahoo Kids! American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
      A strength of digital text is its capacity to communicate in multiple modes, enhancing understanding by providing two channels of input, visual/spatial and linguistic (Mayer, 2001). Merriam-Webster offers an online visual dictionary (visual.merriam-webster .com/index.php), and Enchanted Learning provides a picture dictionary for young children. Be on the alert for educational sites that offer specialized picture glossaries, such as NASA's online space picture dictionary. These sites can be added to your browser favorites. And, finally, it is important to teach students to notice and strategically use the vocabulary help that is offered on various sites, such as the word wizard that pops up when students are reading Scholastic News Online.
eVoc strategy 7: Use language translators to provide just-in-time help for ELLs
       The value of a translator is that it supports learning words as they occur naturally in authentic text and allows students to view bilingual versions of a text side by side so that they can use their first-language knowledge to develop their English vocabulary. You can paste text into the translator field, select the input and output languages, and view the translation (see Babelfish, Google translator, and Bing Translator).
Expand wide reading and incidental word learning with digital text
Reading widely and deeply is important for vocabulary development and reading comprehension. These two strategies help increase students' volume of reading and, indirectly, their incidental word learning (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2001; Nagy & Herman, 1985).
eVoc strategy 8: Increase reading volume by reading digital text
      Class libraries, read-alouds, book clubs, and independent reading time during the school day can increase the amount and variety of student reading. However, it is challenging to find the resources and time required to provide up-to-date material, to be responsive to students' interests, and to accommodate readers at different reading levels.
     Many educational publishers and organizations provide free online content, including articles and media about current events, some of which are generated by students themselves. A few of our favorites include the following:

       Time for Kids

   Weekly Reader

       National Geographic Kids

   National Geographic Kids' blogs

       Science News for Kids

eVoc strategy 9: Increase reading volume by listening to digital text with a text-to-speech tool and audio books

A common concern among educators is the readability of websites and Internet content. One powerful strategy is to allow students to listen to text with a text-to-speech (TTS) tool or, when available, listen to audio narration. This provides students with access to age-appropriate content and grade-level curriculum, a right mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. For struggling readers, TTS increases their reading speed, reduces stress, and for some, but not all, improves comprehension (Elkind & Elkind, 2007).

         Fortunately, there are free TTS tools that can be mounted on the browser toolbar for easy access while reading, such as Click, Speak for Firefox (click speak.clcworld.net), or downloaded to your desktop, such as the NaturalReader free TTS utility. Balabolka is a PC-based TTS application that can run off a thumb drive. Some e-book readers such as Microsoft Reader are free to download and can be used with public domain content that is part of their e-book library.

eVoc strategy 10: Combine vocabulary learning and social service

        This final eVoc strategy is a free online vocabulary game, Free Rice that has attracted millions of users, young and old. We believe it offers an opportunity to promote students' engagement with words while contributing to the social good.

Free Rice presents a word and four answer choices on the screen. For each correct answer, the United Nations World Food Programme donates 10 grains of rice to countries in need. The game adjusts its difficulty level based on the response, filling a bowl with rice as the player adds to his or her score. As a class activity, the teacher could project the website on screen and guide students in playing the game for 5 minutes daily, discussing choices (e.g., "I think it must be 'x' because 'y'") and strategies (e.g., "Any words we can eliminate? Does the root word give us a clue we can use?"). Students can play individually or with a partner, reporting back to class on their rice earnings and sharing intriguing new words.