I was very proud of myself for not touching app inventor this week and solely using the time to prepare for the project ahead.
I've looked over my past blog posts, and there are a couple of things I would like to keep in mind:
- Dilemma #4: Design sometimes comes more naturally to me than content.
I would like to back up the content of my vocabulary learning app with research. I have started
and would like to continue this throughout the coming month. A description of the research I have
found follows later in the post.
- Dilemma #6: I tend to focus on independent work and neglect sharing and collaboration
opportunities.
I need to keep this point in mind as it continues to be a struggle for me. Sharing and testing apps
with friends and family has been relatively easy. Sharing the app with actual students or
colleagues of mine will be more difficult for me.
- Keeping the balance right for games and activities.
As I will be including games and activities in app, it will be important for me to remember the
principles I discovered earlier this semester. Keeping the games challenging but doable is
imperative. Also - keeping a learning objective in mind when putting together activities will help
me stay focused and keep the user in mind.
- Test key problem/question areas first.
Before integrating a key function into the app and assuming that it will "somehow" work, I need to
make sure that it will by testing it separately beforehand. That way, I can more easily find an
alternative before it is already integrated into the app. I've already tested out a few key trouble
spots but image importing is one issue I need to test, as it is an important feature for the app. In addition, it is necessary to create the app in bite-sized chunks, ensuring that each step works
before moving on to the next. Also - I need to pay close attention to the error messages - they
often give the answer to where the problem lies. Obvious - but sometimes it's so easy to just get
frustrated and close the app before carefully reading the error message.
- Take another look at solutions found in previous apps. Old solutions could be adapted to
solve new problems.
This has served me well in the past and if I'm stuck - it could be very useful to skim old app
behaviors to spark an idea for a new solution.
In addition to these thoughts, it has also been extremely helpful to think about my experience using an actual vocabulary box in a face-to-face teaching environment. This was an effective solution for my style of teaching, which generally does not include textbooks or any other material which follows an ordered approach to vocabulary acquisition. I needed to find an alternative to reviewing and incorporating learned words in a meaningful way. The box helped me and my students keep track of vocabulary learned and the small form of the index cards (about 2 inches wide) was great for playing vocabulary games and doing activities.
An app could go even further. Images are more possible, links are possible, each student can have a copy of the vocabulary words with their own personalized associations, and more importantly - a teacher is not necessarily necessary! A student can review at any time they like - with automatically generated activities. This helps - as many students have the desire to learn - but need to be given an explicit activity in order to do so.
Some of the research I have done this week is on methodologies associated with vocabulary acquisition for intermediate to advance second language learners.
The first source was an article I found in EDTECH 501 and re-visited:
Nisbet, D. L. (2010). Vocabulary instruction for second language readers. Journal of adult education, 39(1), 10-15.
The research reported in this article separates vocabulary words into three "tiers." The first tier contains "basic" cognate vocabulary words which are usually easily translatable in another language (i.e. dog, think). The second tier is composed of important and common words, but those which are more complex, abstract or varied in meaning (i.e. get, underestimate). The third tier is reserved for more uncommon specialized vocabulary, such as medical, technical or legal terms. The article goes on to state that tier two words tend to be the most difficult and most important words for intermediate and advanced speakers to learn. The shades of meaning and complexity of
usage are usually difficult to translate and the most effective means of teaching them is by
exposing the student to the word in varied contexts.
In my experience, most flashcard apps and resources for ESL learners tend to concentrate on Tier one words. These are the words that can most easily be translated or depicted visually. But tier two words add complexity and depth to a learner's repertoire. For example, a student can always use "good" to describe something positive - but there are so many other words that can more explicitly and richly express this adjective. Most of my students struggle with this very point. This app could help students learn tier two vocabulary words more effectively by allowing them to easily access examples of the target vocabulary in practice and to offer tips and activities concentrating on how to actively incorporate words into their everyday conversations.
The second and third sources were new to me:
Auerbach, E. R. (1993). Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 27(1), 9-32.
This article focuses on the effectiveness of using bilingual education versus using only the
target language for second language acquisition. It supports the position that bilingual education
is more effective for learners who have a lower level of fluency in their mother tongue.
The findings in this report were in my opinion, largely political and not directly relevant to my application. Evidence reported upon in the above article shows that monolingual second language education is effective for students with a strong literacy rate in their native language. The advantages of using bilingual education is more effective for those with a disadvantaged background. Although this is highly relevant for certain ESL classrooms (refugee courses, etc) - I feel that the typical independent user of a smart phone application will not fall into this category and my average student certainly does not.
This is still a hot topic in the ESL environment and I tend to take the position that while the use of the mother tongue should not be forbidden or punished, as a learner progresses to a higher level of English, translation and the crutch of the native language must be avoided. The fact of the matter is, the purpose of learning a new language is to communicate with people who do not speak your native language. The skills and flexibility necessary to do this in an effective manner (describing a word you do not know, the ability to accept the meaning of a word which can not be translated or only understood vaguely, etc) must all be practiced. This is why I've decided to not link a translation tool to the app. I will continue to research the topic, but as of now this is my position.
Another report which may alter the outcome of my app is:
Brown, T. S., & Perry, F. L. (1991). A comparison of three learning strategies for ESL vocabulary acquisition. Tesol Quarterly, 25(4), 655-670.
The findings of this report is that imagery is not necessarily the most effective means of recalling a
word. The study results indicate that the keyword-semantic approach is the most effective method for certain kinds of vocabulary. This means that certain words which are not easily translated into imagery are more effectively learned through providing both a keyword (a synonym, for example) as well as semantic "imagery," so to speak. An association with the word is made by manipulating the word in a sentence or other literary context.
It was not a surprise to me that semantic imagery is effective. I have often used this approach with my students. One of my favorite examples is how one German student of mine remembered the word "bruise." He associated it with an iconic action movie superstar: "Bruise" (Bruce) Willis! He never forgot the word. In my app plan at present, an image is required for each word entry. I will have to reconsider this. Although it was always clear to me that finding an image for each word would be challenging, I was under the impression that a visual clue would be more memorable than a semantic one. Hmmm...
I would like to research these and other topics more, but I'm having trouble accessing the Albertson's Library. I'm limited now to articles that are published online and these tend to be less current.
Although it will be difficult to incorporate all of the ideas that I have for this app in a month, I think it has huge potential for not only my work, but other language teachers and students as well. I consider this a long-term project and am excited to begin!
I've looked over my past blog posts, and there are a couple of things I would like to keep in mind:
- Dilemma #4: Design sometimes comes more naturally to me than content.
I would like to back up the content of my vocabulary learning app with research. I have started
and would like to continue this throughout the coming month. A description of the research I have
found follows later in the post.
- Dilemma #6: I tend to focus on independent work and neglect sharing and collaboration
opportunities.
I need to keep this point in mind as it continues to be a struggle for me. Sharing and testing apps
with friends and family has been relatively easy. Sharing the app with actual students or
colleagues of mine will be more difficult for me.
- Keeping the balance right for games and activities.
As I will be including games and activities in app, it will be important for me to remember the
principles I discovered earlier this semester. Keeping the games challenging but doable is
imperative. Also - keeping a learning objective in mind when putting together activities will help
me stay focused and keep the user in mind.
- Test key problem/question areas first.
Before integrating a key function into the app and assuming that it will "somehow" work, I need to
make sure that it will by testing it separately beforehand. That way, I can more easily find an
alternative before it is already integrated into the app. I've already tested out a few key trouble
spots but image importing is one issue I need to test, as it is an important feature for the app. In addition, it is necessary to create the app in bite-sized chunks, ensuring that each step works
before moving on to the next. Also - I need to pay close attention to the error messages - they
often give the answer to where the problem lies. Obvious - but sometimes it's so easy to just get
frustrated and close the app before carefully reading the error message.
- Take another look at solutions found in previous apps. Old solutions could be adapted to
solve new problems.
This has served me well in the past and if I'm stuck - it could be very useful to skim old app
behaviors to spark an idea for a new solution.
In addition to these thoughts, it has also been extremely helpful to think about my experience using an actual vocabulary box in a face-to-face teaching environment. This was an effective solution for my style of teaching, which generally does not include textbooks or any other material which follows an ordered approach to vocabulary acquisition. I needed to find an alternative to reviewing and incorporating learned words in a meaningful way. The box helped me and my students keep track of vocabulary learned and the small form of the index cards (about 2 inches wide) was great for playing vocabulary games and doing activities.
An app could go even further. Images are more possible, links are possible, each student can have a copy of the vocabulary words with their own personalized associations, and more importantly - a teacher is not necessarily necessary! A student can review at any time they like - with automatically generated activities. This helps - as many students have the desire to learn - but need to be given an explicit activity in order to do so.
Some of the research I have done this week is on methodologies associated with vocabulary acquisition for intermediate to advance second language learners.
The first source was an article I found in EDTECH 501 and re-visited:
Nisbet, D. L. (2010). Vocabulary instruction for second language readers. Journal of adult education, 39(1), 10-15.
The research reported in this article separates vocabulary words into three "tiers." The first tier contains "basic" cognate vocabulary words which are usually easily translatable in another language (i.e. dog, think). The second tier is composed of important and common words, but those which are more complex, abstract or varied in meaning (i.e. get, underestimate). The third tier is reserved for more uncommon specialized vocabulary, such as medical, technical or legal terms. The article goes on to state that tier two words tend to be the most difficult and most important words for intermediate and advanced speakers to learn. The shades of meaning and complexity of
usage are usually difficult to translate and the most effective means of teaching them is by
exposing the student to the word in varied contexts.
In my experience, most flashcard apps and resources for ESL learners tend to concentrate on Tier one words. These are the words that can most easily be translated or depicted visually. But tier two words add complexity and depth to a learner's repertoire. For example, a student can always use "good" to describe something positive - but there are so many other words that can more explicitly and richly express this adjective. Most of my students struggle with this very point. This app could help students learn tier two vocabulary words more effectively by allowing them to easily access examples of the target vocabulary in practice and to offer tips and activities concentrating on how to actively incorporate words into their everyday conversations.
The second and third sources were new to me:
Auerbach, E. R. (1993). Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 27(1), 9-32.
This article focuses on the effectiveness of using bilingual education versus using only the
target language for second language acquisition. It supports the position that bilingual education
is more effective for learners who have a lower level of fluency in their mother tongue.
The findings in this report were in my opinion, largely political and not directly relevant to my application. Evidence reported upon in the above article shows that monolingual second language education is effective for students with a strong literacy rate in their native language. The advantages of using bilingual education is more effective for those with a disadvantaged background. Although this is highly relevant for certain ESL classrooms (refugee courses, etc) - I feel that the typical independent user of a smart phone application will not fall into this category and my average student certainly does not.
This is still a hot topic in the ESL environment and I tend to take the position that while the use of the mother tongue should not be forbidden or punished, as a learner progresses to a higher level of English, translation and the crutch of the native language must be avoided. The fact of the matter is, the purpose of learning a new language is to communicate with people who do not speak your native language. The skills and flexibility necessary to do this in an effective manner (describing a word you do not know, the ability to accept the meaning of a word which can not be translated or only understood vaguely, etc) must all be practiced. This is why I've decided to not link a translation tool to the app. I will continue to research the topic, but as of now this is my position.
Another report which may alter the outcome of my app is:
Brown, T. S., & Perry, F. L. (1991). A comparison of three learning strategies for ESL vocabulary acquisition. Tesol Quarterly, 25(4), 655-670.
The findings of this report is that imagery is not necessarily the most effective means of recalling a
word. The study results indicate that the keyword-semantic approach is the most effective method for certain kinds of vocabulary. This means that certain words which are not easily translated into imagery are more effectively learned through providing both a keyword (a synonym, for example) as well as semantic "imagery," so to speak. An association with the word is made by manipulating the word in a sentence or other literary context.
It was not a surprise to me that semantic imagery is effective. I have often used this approach with my students. One of my favorite examples is how one German student of mine remembered the word "bruise." He associated it with an iconic action movie superstar: "Bruise" (Bruce) Willis! He never forgot the word. In my app plan at present, an image is required for each word entry. I will have to reconsider this. Although it was always clear to me that finding an image for each word would be challenging, I was under the impression that a visual clue would be more memorable than a semantic one. Hmmm...
I would like to research these and other topics more, but I'm having trouble accessing the Albertson's Library. I'm limited now to articles that are published online and these tend to be less current.
Although it will be difficult to incorporate all of the ideas that I have for this app in a month, I think it has huge potential for not only my work, but other language teachers and students as well. I consider this a long-term project and am excited to begin!