Financial Center, New York
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A computer-centered text reconstruction experience
Ana
María Burdach R.
Olly Vega A.
INTRODUCTION
Computer assisted language learning can be of great methodological help in the language teaching environment; this potential can be exploited to improve specific linguistic skills and the language learner's motivation towards L2. This paper, part of a research carried out at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile to implement a Multimedia Centre in the Department of Modern Languages, explores the use of an authoring program, Storyboard, in the de-velopment of the ability to understand and to reconstruct written texts. In what follows we explore the possible uses of the computer in the development of linguistic abilities, the testing instrument, the methodology, the difficulties encountered by the subjects, an observation of their strategies and the results achieved by the experimental and control groups. The experiment was carried out with first year Spanish speakers who are learning English or French as a foreign language.
THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
For some time a number of technological devices (language laboratories, videos, slide projectors...) found their way into the foreign language teaching classroom to improve the language learning-acquisition process. In the same way, nowadays, computers are being introduced into the foreign language classroom with the purpose of developing specific linguistic skills. CALL, or Computer Assisted Language Learning, emerges in this field, as a new methodology which emphasizes the use of the computer as a means of reinforcing and evaluating the
Ana María Burdach R. and Olly Vega A. teach at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
67 development of specific linguistic skills. The computer, with its reinforcing and evaluating role, has consequently come to shift the traditionally teacher-centered language learning-acquisition process, with its traditional initiation-response-feedback classroom structure exchange (Coulthard, 1975), into a learner-oriented process in which the learner is stimulated to develop strategies of discovery through which he can "learn how to learn" (Johns, 1991).The use of the computer has then come to be conceived not as surrogate teacher or tutor, but rather as a special kind of informant which stimulates inquiry and speculation on part of the learner; in other words, as a coordinator of a student-oriented interactive learning process. Consequently, the learner is conceived as an interactive discoverer whose learning needs to be driven by access to linguistic data stored in the computer.
THE COMPUTER AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LINGUISTIC ABILITIES At the morphosyntactic level, the types of programs available for the development of grammatical language competence favor mainly multiple choice, information gap, sentence matching, question and answer, sentence word order inversion and concordancing programs. Although the make-up of many present an inductively oriented approach, which favors inferencing through trial and error, the KWIC or keyword-in-context concordancing program, seems to be the more successful one, particularly, if a text data base is available. It makes possible a new style in grammar teaching, namely, "grammatical consciousness raising"
(Rutherford, 1987) in a "data-driven learning" approach (Johns, 1991).
Concordancing programs place the learner's own discovery of grammar at the center of language-learning; they stimulate inquiry and speculation, and help to develop the ability to view patterning in the target language and to form generalizations which account for such patternings with evidence drawn from authentic language texts.
At the lexical level, the activities are also varied. Many programs require the learner's discovery procedure of lexical elements based on cloze testing, word formation, word association games, lexical fields and collocations. The identification of lexical discoursal clues constitutes also an efficient activity for which text reconstruction and concordancing programs provide a rich source of data to stimulate the learner's questions.
At the textual level, authoring programs prove to be valuable means of identifying text organization, cohesive devices and language functions. In the stored texts the learner can find lexico-grammatical signals, and social and cul-tural information around which the texts are structured.
If the learner uses the computer as text processor, he can correct errors, insert words and phrases, make structural changes, discuss the right strategies to use, and change the order of sentences and paragraphs by taking care of their cohesive devices. This improves his ability to produce well structured coherent
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descriptive, narrative, and argumentative texts, and his attitude towards writing in the foreign language.
OBJECTIVES
The wide range of methodologies offered by CALL motivated us into finding out whether the use of the computer constituted an efficient language teaching device in the foreign language teaching classroom.
For this purpose we established the following objectives in which, on the basis of the student's background linguistic knowledge, he was to develop the ability to reconstruct medium-sized texts on the screen by skimming and scanning for global and partial meanings, by identifying lexico-grammatical elements and by discovering their functional distribution in text.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The testing instrument
To prove the efficiency of the use of the computer in the language class-room we used the computer program Storyboard (1990), an authoring program for computer assisted language learning, available at our Department in its Macintosh version.
Unlike the cloze test methodology developed for reading comprehension, where missing words are inferred from the context, Storyboard obliterates the whole text, leaving only title, punctuation and spacing intact. The learner is then highly motivated to solve the linguistic puzzle by guessing single words which, when found, are printed wherever they occur in the text. He is also given a breakdown of his performance with the number of wrong guesses, help features and the number of the right words recalled.
69 Figure 1 Working with Storyboard.
We thought this experiment, proved to be a good opportunity to evaluate the six original English texts included in Storyboard and the six newly authored French texts. The stored texts were similar in thematic, lexical and grammatical complexity and contained a large number of high frequency words, repeated words, a title reflecting content and a textual organization providing clues to its typology (dialogic, narrative, argumentative, advertising). Their extension did not exceed the 1100 characters required by the program.
Selection of the sample
To asses the results of this experimental research experience, we evaluated a sample of 50 first year students (30 students of English and 20 of French) in their second semester of Applied English and French Grammar in 1992. The English test, the TOEFL, and the French test, elaborated from two exams on linguistic knowledge of the United Nations, were applied at the beginning and end of the experience. In both cases, the audio-oral and writing sections were omitted.
Given that we had only two Macintosh Classic 4/ HD computers available to carry out our experience, we selected a restricted sample of twelve subjects, six students of English and six of French, of which three belonged to the experimental group and three to the control group. The selected sample was classified according to the results obtained in the tests into high, mid and low (65,9%; 42,5%; 29,3% and 64,2%; 41,6%; 24,6%, respectively.
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Pre-testing stage and research plan
We considered it necessary to start our experience with a pre-testing stage with one subject from each language. For this purpose, a text with similar characteristics to the selected ones was authored. Both subjects followed the same methodological steps designed for the experimental group. They were instructed about the use of the program and the computer keyboard; the initial approach to the text (reading aloud 2 minutes) and silent reading (2 minutes); filling in cards with words of different grammatical categories to facilitate recall; the text reconstruction procedure and the evaluation of the activity (score obtained, time and help features required).
After the pre-testing stage we programmed six sixty-minute working sessions within a period of two months. In the first sessions the subjects worked in groups of three, interacting in the target language; in the last two, individually. In each session they proceeded in the same way as in the pre-testing stage: skim-ming and scanning the text on the screen; re-reading the text; writing down grammatical and lexical units; text reconstruction, and help features. After each group and individual session their score was written down. The observation of their strategies was recorded according to a teacher reading strategies observa-tion guide devised by Hosenfeld et al. (1981)
THE RESULTS
After the text reconstruction sessions, the subjects of the experimental group were asked to fill in a questionnaire to give an overall evaluation of the activity, the results of which we present in this section. We also include the results of the observation of the reconstruction strategies and the linguistic competence achieved by both the experimental group and the control group.
Initial experimental difficulties
An analysis of the responses of the subjects showed that they had a fair amount of difficulty regarding the linguistic complexity and length of the texts (66.6%). The same numbers claimed that lack of vocabulary in the target language made text reconstruction more difficult. Likewise, 50% felt that the initial reading time assigned to scanning and skimming the text on the screen had been too short. This was reflected in their difficulty to recall words (50%); a fact which, however, did not diminish motivation towards the activity.
Table 1 Initial experimental difficulties (%)
71 high average little
complexity of text 16.6 66.6 16.6
lack of vocabulary in L2 16.6 66.6 16.6
short initial reading time 16.6 50.0
Lexicogrammatical difficulties
An analysis of the types of lexicogrammatical difficulties encountered showed that they related mainly to tenses (66.6%), identification of grammatical categories and their functions in text (66.6%), subordination (50%), compound sentences (50%), affixation (50%), conjunctions (66.6%), proforms anaphoric and cataphoric (66.6%), polysemy (66.6%), unknown words (66.6%) and formulaic expressions (66.6%).
In general, these results show that the nature of the difficulties point to the morphosyntactic, cohesive, logical and lexical relationships established by the lexicogrammatical elements in a text; in other words, to the textual organizing features.
Table 2 Lexicogrammatical difficulties (%)
great average little
tenses 66.6 16.6 16.6
grammatical categories & their functions 66.6 33.3
subordination 50.0 50.0
compound sentences 50.0 50.0
conjunctions 16.6 66.6 16.6
proforms (substitutions) 16.6 66.6 16.6
affixation 50.0 50.0
polysemy 66.6 33.3
unknown words 16.6 66.6 16.6
formulaic expressions 66.6 33.3
correlation of form & gender 33.3 66.6
Opinion about the computer program
As to the opinion expressed by the subjects about the computer program, 66,6% found the activity highly motivating. They felt the experience increased their vocabulary (66.6%), improved correlation of form and gender (66.6%), helped to keep the contents of the text in mind (66.6%) and to understand and re-construct texts (66.6%); 50% wanted more sessions, and other programs
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integrated into the activity. The students enjoyed the opportunity offered by the program as it presented a different approach to the language learning-acquisition process.
Table 3 Opinion about Storyboard (%)
high mid low
motivating 66.6 33.3
more sessions 50.0
more variety of programs 50.0
increases vocabulary 66.6 33.3
improves correlation of form & gender 66.6 33.3
helps to keep content in mind 66.6 33.3
helps to understand & reconstruct texts 16.6 66.6 16.6
Observation of the activity
The observation of the reconstruction process, done according to the reading strategies observation guide devised by Hosenfeld, revealed that the subjects of the higher level inferred the overall content of the text from the title;
whereas the subjects of the mid and low levels acquired this ability in the fourth session. Furthermore, the subjects of the higher level tended to keep whole senten-ces in mind and to infer meaning from previous and subsequent contexts, while the subjects of the mid and low levels recalled only words in isolation.
Nevertheless, the mid and low levels gradually developed the ability to recall sin-tagms, whole sentences, and to deduce the meaning of unknown words during the group sessions. In spite of this, evidence shows that 66,6% managed to infer meaning from the text and 50% kept global and partial meanings in mind.
On the other hand, the subjects of the higher level tended to use their world knowledge to reconstruct the texts and to recognize fixed formulae and content-specific expressions; whereas the subjects of the mid and low levels gradually developed this ability by interacting with the higher level subjects.
Hence this reduced the number of calls for letter help features, frequently required in the initials sessions. Due to their restricted linguistic competence, all three levels encountered orthographic difficulties, but throughout the experiment, 50%
managed to improve it. In addition, 50% of the subjects of the three levels gradually overcame the difficulty to identify grammatical categories.
Final evaluation of the subjects
73 After two months, a final evaluation of the subjects revealed that both the experimental group and the control group improved their general linguistic competence by 30.75% and 20.9%, respectively. Thus the experimental group achieved 9,85% more than the control group. This degree of improvement was particularly noticeable in the high and low level subjects of the experimental group who showed 7.35% more than the high and low level members of the control group.
CONCLUSIONS
The positive results achieved prove that the use of the computer for text reconstruction makes demands on the learner's general linguistic competence of the target language not just at the level of lexis and grammar, but also at the level of text. Through it the learner is stimulated to make his own judgments as to what combinations of words are permitted by the grammatical rules of the language and what grammatical forms words should take. Consequently, it reinforces the ability to solve linguistic tasks by inference and deduction, association, analogy and contrast. It activates the learner's cognitive processes to understand and reconstruct texts, and to improve his ability to write coherent texts.
By interacting with the text during the reconstruction process, the learner becomes aware of the cohesive devices and stylistic features which give coherence to texts. Thus he is allowed to control previous and subsequent paragraphs, a strategy usually applicable at later stages in written production. The learner progressively advances in the identification of the form and function of text genres, and improves his general apprehension of global and partial meanings in text.
In addition, it develops the learner's conscious or unconscious ability to use his world knowledge, his expressive knowledge or his awareness of what is adequate in L2, and his idiomatic knowledge, all of which apply to the written production of foreign language texts.
Furthermore, the use of the computer in text reconstruction stimulates motivation to wards language learning tasks. It proves to be a new challenge which requires the learner to use his linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge.
Likewise group interaction activities stimulate the improvement of communicative competence in the foreign language and lead the learner towards linguistic autonomy.
Moreover, authoring programs are a natural tool for the teacher who encounters new materials or wants to create or present material in a new stimulating way. As such they become flexible tools that can be used at practically any level from elementary to native speaker.
For all the above stated reasons, computer assisted language learning can and should be included in the methodological activities of foreign language learning.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALARCÓN, M., ALARCÓN, I. Sistemas de aprendizaje interactivos y adquisición de lenguas. Ponencia al IX Congreso SOCHIL. Concepción: Universidad de Concepción,1991
ANTONIOLI, G., VEGA, O. Aplicación de un modelo comunicativo basado en estrategias discursivas.
Proyecto Fondo de Desarrollo de la Docencia, Santiago: P.U.C., 1992.
ANTONIOLI, G., VEGA, O., OJEDA, M. Estudio de los programas de Gramática Aplicada y de Compo-sición Francesa. Proyecto Fondo de Desarrollo de la Docencia. Universidad de Carabobo, 1991.
BURDACH, A. M. Reading aloud and silent reading: two L2 reading strategies, en Actas de Ventesol, Venezuela: l o de la Docencia, Santiago: P.U.C., 1990.
HOSENFELD, C. Second language reading: a curricular sequence for teaching strategies, en Foreign Language Annals, 14, Nº5, 1981.
JOHNS, T. Should you be persuaded: two samples of data-driven learning materials" en ELR Journal 4, 1990.
JONES, C., Fortescue, S. Using Computers in the Language Classroom. London: Longman, 1988.
JONES, Ch. & Trackman,I. Storyboard: an Authoring Program for Computer Assisted Learning.
(Macintosh version). London, Wida Software Ltd., 1990.
RUTHERFORD, W.E. Second Language Grammar: Learning and Teaching. London: Longman, 1987.
SINCLAIR, J., Coulthard, M. Towards and Analysis of Discourse. Oxford: O.U.P., 1975.
SONAPLES. El video y el computador en la Enseñanza Superior, en Actas, Sociedad Nacional de Profesores de Lenguas Extranjeras en la Enseñanza Superior. Santiago: USACH, 1987.
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The use of video in intercultural projects as a means of promoting learner autonomy
Maria
da Graça Gomes Paiva Rosalina Donadio Franco
One must be proud of belonging to his/her culture, at the same time that he/she is open to a plurality of cultures in or outside his/her country. (Gomes de Matos, 1991 our translation).
Based on the statement above and on an experiment as an intercultural project with junior high school students of English as a foreign language at a local state school, working cooperatively with American students of two schools in Indiana the sister-state of Rio Grande do Sul the present workshop aims at inviting the participants to reflect upon the relevance of the use of video in intercultural projects as an effective teaching aid to promote learner autonomy.
The main objective of this workshop being held at the XII National Convention of College Teachers of English (ENPULI), however, is to make 3rd-level teachers reflect upon the possibility of developing similar projects but with college students, while sharing a common goal, that is, better promotion of autonomy in the classroom and the broadening up of learners' own concepts and knowledge of the world.
Considering that students' linguistic and communicative competences at 3rd level are at a more advanced stage than that of the students who were involved in the present project, it is assumed that the chances of a positive outcome may be considerably higher compared to those of the formers.
The workshop has been divided into three moments:
First moment
• review of terminology (based on your own teaching experience, how would you relate or not the following words: video, intercultural projects and autonomy?)
Maria da Graça Gomes Paiva teaches at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Rosalina Donadio Franco teaches at Escola Estadual de 1o Grau Oswaldo Vergara, Brazil.
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• simulation of a situation in which a proposal of producing a video with emphasis on intercultural education is presented.
• reading and discussion about project layouts Second moment
• presentation of a video with emphasis on intercultural education.
• critical reflection upon the feasibility and/or constraints with regard to the production of intercultural videos.
Third moment
• designing an intercultural project with the use of video.
• presenting the projects in a poster session.
• final comments about the workshop as a whole.
As warmers charts with quotations and students' and teachers' opinions introduce every session, aiming at making the participants reflect or question upon the activities to be developed. Tasks to be carried out in small groups were divided according to the following criteria:
• type of institution (private or state schools, private English courses or colleges)
• students' grades (first, second or third level).
As for the simulated pedagogical tasks, the participants are invited to reflect upon the following questions:
Now imagine you are regular students at one of these levels (junior or high school, college or private English courses) and we are teachers at each one of those institutions. We've just received an invitation from three teachers of our sister state of Indiana. Here is the invitation:
Suggest to your students the design of a project with video whose objective will be the exchange of cultural issues both American and Brazilian by only using the English language knowledge they already have.
In small groups, participants are asked to make a sketch of an intercultural project, having the following texts as references:
Summary of the main ideas about project work from the book: Project Work by Diana L. Fried-Booth. Alan Malley (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
CARMONA, Rodrigo Fernandez et al. Developing Project Work in the English Classroom. In: English Teaching Forum. v. XXIX, n. 3, July 1991, p. 45-7.
77 As a second step, the video "Welcome to our world", devised by 7th and 8th graders of Escola Estadual de 1o Grau Oswaldo Vergara under the supervision of Mrs. Rosalina Donadio Franco the state school teacher is shown to the group with the following objectives in mind:
• to illustrate what a proposal for intercultural education would be like through the use of video;
• to reflect upon the feasibility/possibilities and/or constraints of such a project in the educational context the participants of the present workshop belong to.
As a closing-up activity, the teachers are requested to devise a similar proposal of an intercultural project with the use of video, having as references:
• the texts previously discussed;
• the quotations and/or students and teachers' opinions presented on the charts;
• the video shown as an example of intercultural educational project, as well as the new concept for the use of video as a means of promoting learner's autonomy suggested by the authors of the present paper.
The chart below illustrates what the new concept is and how it differs from the traditional one.
Use of video
Current Concept Proposed Concept
- promoter of equality;
- promoter of reproduction of external models, instead of different identities;
- transmitter of knowledge;
- unidirectional.
- a broader renewed concept;
- no reproduction of ready-made, external things;
- production of new knowledge;
- student as author, actor, consumer and exporter;
- promoter of autonomy, of differences;
- promoter of different cultures;
- promoter of universalism, solidarity, world peace;
- promoter of a new concept of cognitive man for the 21th century;
- bi-directional.
As a third step the projects are then presented to the whole group in a poster session as the closing-up activity, followed by the conclusions, final comments, suggestions and evaluation of the workshop.
Before concluding, we would like to emphasize that all the workshop was inspired by the following thoughts:
I don't want to be confined in my house, as if there were neither doors nor windows. I want all cultures from every part of the world ventilate my homewith