ESL Website - Plan B

Salam to all... This is my backup plan for ESL Website... You may go to my 2nd ESL website by clicking at this link Literature - Rumpelstiltskin

Nway, I prefer my first website because to me, building that website was more challenging than this website. I really hope Dr. Izaham and all friends could spend your time to access both websites and leave a comment of which one do you prefer the most (coz I think I am going to build one specific ESL website for my future students.) TQ

ESL Website

Assalamualaikum, Sir, I used Web Studio 5.0 without knowing that I have to purchase the software if I wanna upload the website online. So sorry but I need to inform this to you. This website is on the trial host which it can only be accessed within 24hours from now. (meaning 1 day only) - after 1 day I need to re-upload the website again...So, I hope you can access my website now. TQ sir!  
this is the link to my website...

WORLD OF LITERATURE

(p/s: Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm trying to build one more website using other software which can be uploaded freely on the net. Hope I can get it done before 11.59pm =p)

TASK 3: WEB BASED LESSON PLAN

Salam and greetings to all. This is my third task for CALL subject and for this task, I need to come out with a Web Based Lesson Plan. Below is my LP.

WEB BASED LESSON PLAN


Topic : BE GRATEFUL AND NEVER GIVE UP HOPE - LIVE LIFE WITH A BIG SPIRIT.

Level : Form 2 (Intermediate)

Time  : 70 minutes

Aims  : 

• At the end of the lesson, students should be able to  express their gratitude to whatever they have, find information in a specific website, and write a short passage that describes a well-known person with disabilities who succeed in life because of his or her never-surrender courage and spirit.

Technical requirements:

• One computer / pair
• Internet connection
• LCD projector
• Web browser
• Speaker
• Email accounts
• Class's blog
• School's Yearly Book

Websites :

• http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick
• http://2gamma2012.blogspot.com/ 
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002379/
• http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/tom_cruise/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002518/
• http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/jim_carrey/biography_5.html
• http://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/jim-carreys-life-with-adhd-1886.html

Preparation:

1. Prepare some pictures and make it as a desktop wallpaper. 
2. Download a video of Nick Vujicic from Youtube.
3. Try to play the video and check the quality of sound system
4. Locate site which provides info on Nick Vujicic.  ( http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick/)
5. Prepare worksheet based on the info about Nick Vujicic
6. Check site before lesson starts
7. Make sure at least one member in every pair has email account.

Procedures:

• Set induction (5-10 minutes)

1. Teacher informs students to look at the pictures on their computer desktop and asks them to describe the pictures. (Appendix 1)
2. Teacher asks students to compare with what they have with what the people in those pictures have.
3. Teacher relates the discussion to today's lesson which is 'Be grateful and never give up hopes'.

• Task 1(20 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students some questions regarding what they hope their physical looks like.
2. Teacher shows a video of Nick Vujicic to her students.
3. Teacher sends students to the chosen website which provides info on Nick Vujicic. (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick/)
4. Teacher asks students to read about Nick Vujicic in the website.
5. Teacher distributes a worksheet on 'True and False' statements about Nick Vujicic and asks them to complete within 3 minutes. (Appendix 2)
6. Teacher discusses the answer with the class.

• Task 2 (15 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students to list down Wh-Questions (Who, what, why, when, where, how) and describes the function of each Wh-question.
2. Teacher asks students to go to class's blog http://2gamma2012.blogspot.com/.
3.  Teacher sends students to a site to answer Wh-questions on nick Vujicic.
4. Teacher expects students to read the instruction before they answer the questions.
5. Teacher asks students to check their answer by clicking on the word 'CHECK' under the Wh-questions in that particular website. 

• Post stage/Task 3 (20 minutes)

1. Teacher asks students to choose a well-known person with disability from the class's blog and uses that person as their role model who motivates and inspires them to be grateful and to keep fighting to achieve their dream.
2. Teacher gives time for students to identify their role model and asks them to write a short passage of 80 to 120 words using Wh-questions as their guideline.
3. Teacher asks students to describe the person that inspires them and what they hope to  be and to achieve in future based on the task description on the class's blog. 
4. Teacher reminds students to use adjectives in describing the role model, and future tense in writing their hope for future, besides other parts of speech in their writing. 
5. Teacher asks students to email their short passage to her.
6. Teacher informs students that three best passages will be posted in the class's blog and the first best passage will also be displayed in the School's Yearly Book.

• Conclusion (5 minutes)
• Teacher recaps the lesson of the day.
• Teacher asks 2/3 students about the moral values that they have gained during the class.

• Follow-up activity/ies
• Teacher asks students to complete their task at home and they are expected to email their short passage within 2 days.
• All passages will be discussed next week to show to the class the strengths and weaknesses of each passage in order to let them know the marking system.

Appendix;

• Desktop wallpaper

JQUIZ

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zo5ngwul8yp8gi0/JQUIZ....htm

JCROSS - people in motivational theory

http://www.mediafire.com/file/455t5wp31gaty5g/motivation.htm

TASK 2 : ARTICLE REVIEW

A.      The Chosen Article.

Title                     : ‘Using Online EFL Interaction to Increase 

                               Confidence, Motivation, and Ability’.

Journal                 : Educational Technology & Society Journal, Volume 14, 

                              No. 3, page 118-129

Authors’ name designation and background:

                       1) Wen-chi Vivian Wu 

                           (from Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan)

     2) Ling Ling Yen 

         (from National Central University, Taoyuan County, 

         Taiwan)

     3) Michael Marek 

         (from Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska, USA)

Retrieved on         : March 23, 2012

Retrieved from     : http://www.ifets.info/journals/14_3/10.pdf.

B.      Summary of the Chosen Article.

The aim of this research was to find out which elements of learning via videoconferencing most beneficially affect students’ motivation, confidence and ability in learning EFL (English as the Foreign Language).

The subjects of this research were 227 non-major EFL learners from the business school of a technical university in central Taiwan with roughly equal numbers of male and female students. The classes lasted for the entire academic year and they had participated in five videoconferences with the American researcher, an American native English speaker and during that timeline, the Taiwanese teacher scaffold and supported them until they became more independent in the interaction process. After each presentation, the subjects were required to talk with the American native English speaker or present on the topic discussed. 

The methodology used in this research was the questionnaire about students’ perception which it consisted four major sections based on Gardner and Lambert’s questionnaire (1972) with some questions added from six different topics which were (i) Intercultural learning (Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, Shimizu, 2004), (ii) Learning English through different channels (Campell, 2004; Miyazoe & Anderson, 2009), (iii) Confidence in making foreign contacts (Cheung, 2001), (iv) Learning western culture (Muller-Hartmann, 2000), (v) Speaking English accurately, (vi) Understanding English conversation (Shamsudin & Nesi, 2006). The numbers of item asked in the questionnaire were altogether 34 items. The researchers used Likert-scale in their questionnaire which each question used a five-point scale – [1.00=“significantly reduced”], [2.00=”reduced”], [3.00=“no change”], [4.00=”increase”], and [5.00=”significantly increased”]. The survey questions were in bilingual (Chinese and English) in order to preserve similar meaning in both languages.

From this research, the researchers found out that videoconferencing gives positive result to the subjects’ motivation, confidence and ability. I is evident that more videoconferencing sessions improved the subject’s perceptions of their own motivation and confidence at a significant level. The students felt that their interaction with the American professor helped them to learn vocabulary and sentence structure which indirectly increase their English ability in a short time besides their enjoyment in the interactive classroom session which give impact on their motivation in learning and indirectly it succeed in increasing their perceived confidence and ability. In a nut shell, this research article has showed that the use of technology in EFL classes should integrate teacher scaffolding, interaction and active communication between the students and the native speaker of the target language, besides prepare a comfort environment for them to engage in the learning process because these elements of learning via videoconferencing do contribute in affecting students’ motivation, confidence and ability positively.

C.      My Feedback/Opinion/Reaction towards the Chosen Article.

This research really interests me because it shows the connection between the elements in learning EFL with students’ motivation, confidence and ability. In my opinion, this article can be very beneficial for the ESL and EFL scholars because it gives different view in making the ESL/EFL teaching and learning process a success.

This research can also be applied in Malaysia high institution and I think this strategy will surely attract university students’ interest in learning since they are going to be exposed to the native speaker of the foreign language and its culture using the technology. Using the actual native speaker of the foreign language can be both, meaningful and authentic learning to the students in which it will directly affect their motivation to learn and arouse their confidence in communicate or interact with the native speaker of the foreign language. Nevertheless, the most important thing is the effective interaction and teaching process between the native speaker, the local teacher and learners since it will lead to successful teaching and learning process. Therefore, we should not give prior attention to the technology but to the process of teaching and learning. This is supported by Miller (1992 in Doug Cronk and Sunah Cho, n.d) as he proposed ‘the importance of interaction between learners and the instructor because distance education is best defined not by the technology used for delivery but by the nature of interaction involved in the educational process’.

Therefore, I also agree with the idea of using the local teacher to give scaffolding to the students until they become more confident to take part in the communication process because through this way, they would not feel alien to the target language at first and hinder them from get to know the language and the culture. However, to implement it in Malaysian schools could be quite difficult since most Malaysian schools are not been equipped with this videoconferencing technology – poor internet line, inadequate teaching tools and infrastructures.

To conclude, this research is very useful for educational purpose but it will be more solid if the methodology includes interview session besides the questionnaire. It could not be denied that we still need human power to teach even when we use technology.

Work Cited

Doug Cronk and Sunah Cho. (n.d.). Developing Effective Interactive Learning Experiences for Online Distance Education Courses. Retrieved April 14, 2012, from https://www.google.com.my/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Miller%2C+G.+(1992).+-+interactive+learning&oq=Miller%2C+G.+(1992).+-+interactive+learning&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...5245.13003.3.13327.26.25.1.0.0.0.158.2384.17j8.27.0.dDgNScGWCR8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,

(820 WORDS – exclude title for each subtopic and the reference)

JCLOZE - THE RED MOON

Frankly speaking... I do hope someone come to me and inform me that there is such an awesome software for us to use before we went to our practicum school! Ahhhhh.. I feel so happy knowing that there is a genius man in our world creating this software for us - teachers!!! I could not forget the time when I had to crack my mind to prepare all the exercises for my students. Well, in this task, I use the same text as I've used during my practicum days which the text is entitled 'The Red Moon' and I feel so excited to do this task because the software is so fantastic. Will I use this software again in future - well, my answer is ABSOLUTELY YESSSS!!!' 


Kindly click on the link below to view the exercise that I have prepared. TQ!

close passage exercise - THE RED MOON

TASK 1

ESL WEBSITE EVALUATION 

1)     What does the application attempt to “teach”?

This application (http://www.usingenglish.com/) attempts to teach both teachers and students in mastering English language proficiency by providing the notes, examples, and quizzes in which these ESL tools and resources can be such a great help to its users. Besides that, it also provides specific links for teachers and students to access which the links are clearly publicized at the website. So, teachers and students could easily find the suitable online resources for them to use in their learning and teaching process. 

For students, this website gives them an opportunity to learn through online and teaching them to learn by asking question/s to teachers in the ESL Forum who will be there 24 hours per day to answer their questions and clear out the students’ uncertainty about some matters in learning English. I believe students nowadays are too attached with internet and they enjoy more if we, teachers, use this application as one of the teaching tools. 

Meanwhile, for teachers, this application teaches them to make varieties of teaching materials and types of test papers that they could produce in order to make their lessons always look new, fresh and exciting to their students, apart from providing the teachers with training handouts (related with classroom management, language games, etc). This could be said as the lifelong learning process for the teachers since they continue to learn new things and make progress with their teaching style, strategies and materials using the current technology. 

This application, in other words, can give a new learning and teaching experience to both groups – teachers and students – since they get the chance to use technology in improving their education level and do it outside from their normal classroom. In spite of this, it is important to point up that this application is focusing more on writing and reading skills instead of listening and speaking skills.

2)    What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

The users are expected to explore every link provided in the http://www.usingenglish.com/ website and use it for good. For example, if students go to the ESL Quizzes link, they are expected to answer the quizzes provided and check their answer. If they answer one question wrong, then they are expected to go back to the question and change the answer before they could get their full marks. Instead of making correction straight away, this application expects its users to learn through ‘try and error’ mechanism. This can be considered as a meaningful learning to the students since the format of questions is quite similar to the format of their examination paper and they could relate the new knowledge to the prior knowledge.

Meanwhile, teachers are expected to read through all lesson plans, notes, and the training handouts provided for them. As the users for this application, they should practice, adapt and carry out the lesson plans and the teaching materials in their everyday classes. Through this way, they can learn the contents in the application by experiencing it and modify the tools to suit with the classroom’s situation and the students.

 

3)     What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?

The application users are expected to have intermediate computer skills such as know how to connect to the internet, browse the internet webpage/website, use the features of a browser (back, forward, stop, search, refresh, history, home buttons, address bar, loading status) apart from knowing to switch on/off the computer, use the mouse and the computer keyboard to control/operate the computer. Besides that, the users also must know and understand the use of ‘links’ in a webpage, so that they could make full use out of it. In spite of this, both teachers and students do not have to feel afraid to access or assess this application because it is very user-friendly which means it is easy to understand to operate the website.

4)     While you are “playing”/ “accessing”/ “assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

My answer is absolutely yes! This application, UsingEnglish.com, reminds me of something that I did in my class (with my teachers during my old schooldays and also with my students during my practicum days) and also during self-study. While I am accessing and assessing the application, I noticed that the sections and format of question in the quiz are similar to the current format of English examination paper. 

      Besides that, while I was accessing the application, I noticed that it encourages the users to practice ‘try and error mechanism’ in which to me, I really like it because during my self-study I also did the same thing and I realized that we sometimes learn through mistake and it is not wrong to do a mistake as long as we learn from it and do not repeat it. During my practicum days, I also applied the same thing with my students in which I allowed them to make mistakes as long as they are willing to learn from their mistakes. As the result, most of them were willing to participate in the learning activity and some of them were very excited to write an essay even though they are from the low proficiency class.

 

5)    Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

I can pinpoint two (2) theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application and they are (i) Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis, and (ii) The Silent Way.

(i)               Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis

This theory is focused on the possible obstacles an individual might encounter while learning a new language which the obstacles include are motivation, anxiety and self-confidence. According to Krashen (1997, in Brown (2001)), “the best acquisition will occur in environments where anxiety is low and defensiveness absent or in contexts where the “affective filter” is low”. This means students will learn best in the atmosphere which they feel more relax, their anxiety low and indirectly their self-confidence will increase.

In the website UsingEnglish.com, I believe the users, especially students, will feel more relax and less anxiety when they answer the quizzes as they know that the correction is done between them and the application only without the other students knowing that they have made a mistake. They know that they will not become a laughing stock when they answer the question wrong so, it will actually motivate them to try to answer the question again. Subconsciously, they will try to apply their knowledge on grammatical rules, etc during the learning process.

(ii)              The Silent Way

                        This theory emphasizes the autonomy of the learner which in other words, it promotes students to learn through discovery. The users of this application (UsingEnglish.com) are expected to work on understanding the instruction/contents in the website and figuring out the questions given on their own - individually - since it does not provide manuals on operating the application/website. This means students need to be independent and learn to take responsible for their own learning (Brown, 2001). Thus, it depends on each students how they want to control their learning process, its speed/pace and also their commitment towards enhancing their English proficiency level.

6)     How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?

According to the website  http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/techcur/theory/constructivism.htm, constructivism is the theory that humans construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world from their experiences. This theory is applied to the chosen ESL website (http://www.usingenglish.com/) as when the students make mistake in answering the question, they get the chance to try again until they manage to answer the question correctly. Thus, they learn something new from the question and reconcile it with their prior knowledge and experience. It is just like an experimental learning to the students which involves problem-solving strategies using authentic and meaningful materials/information in order to gain new knowledge and relates it with their understanding. In constructivism theory, the learners are expected to ask question, explore and assess in order to know something and this is paralleled with the aim of this application which it hopes the application’s users to explore and assess all contents in it. 

Besides that, constructivism theory also stresses on active learning which is also applied in the UsingEnglish.com website. This application encourages the users to become an active learner and use all the teaching and learning materials wisely. In this application, a forum has been created for students as a centre for them to ask question and get feedback from the 24/7 online teachers. This indirectly related with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in which the students can make a progress to the next level after they get scaffold from the online teachers, understand the subject matter and know how to answer or use the knowledge correctly to complete a task without others helping them.

7)     In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation – was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students?

Based on my evaluation, I choose to say the computer is an “assistant” to the learning process instead of, saying the computer is neither the replacement for teachers nor merely obedient servants. This is because it provides useful information for teachers and students to use in the teaching and learning process. The computer cannot replace a teacher even though how great it has been invented by the people because whether we realize it or not we still need real teachers to guide, scaffold and facilitate our students’ learning progress. 

      The computer can gives advantages and disadvantages to the users and it is up to how they make use out of it. Therefore, parents and teachers nowadays can control the use of computer both at home and in school by blocking some dangerous and inappropriate websites in order to avoid our kids from accessing these kinds of websites. With this reason, we surely can say that the computer is not merely an obedient servant to students.

      In relation to my website evaluation, I can say that this application (UsingEnglish.com) is not a replacement for teacher, or merely an obedient servants to students. This is because it only helps teachers and students to improve their level of English proficiency by reading the handouts and working on the quizzes and test provided which it functions as the extra supplementary teaching and learning materials for them. Furthermore, this application cannot give further explanation to students when they answer the question wrong on the spot. People may say that these students can ask about it in the forum. Well, yes. It is true - but, please bear in mind that to do this, they need to have a computer and internet access 24/7 so that they can online when their online teacher gives feedback. So, for students with low socio-economic status (SES), they might not have this kind of facility at home. POOR THEM!

8)     Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work? Yes or no? Give reasons:

Yes, I would like to use the application (UsingEnglish.com) in my future work. One of my reasons is because the application is user-friendly. To me, it is a user-friendly application because I found out that it is easy to explore the application and obtain the info from it apart from easy to access it since the users will not be charged for browsing the page. Besides that, I will also use this application in my future work because it provides useful teaching materials (eg; notes, worksheet, quizzes, etc), which is suitable for me as I am going to be a teacher within 9 months. However, I will not solely depend on this web. I will burn a midnight oil to make sure I find other useful ESL websites which are greater than this one because it will help me to become a better teacher in future. InsyaALLAH. I hope my future students will feel excited to enter my class and I believe they will feel it when they see me incorporate technology in my teaching (but not in every lesson – please!). This is supported by Brown (2001) who said that language teachers are encouraged to use technology in their classroom as a way to motivate their students in learning. 

Suggestions/Recommendation.

This application should add a section which focuses on language games and make it more colourful. The application, itself, is quite dull since it only has two colours and no animation at all. The creator of this application should add Flash and Java script besides, incorporating the use of animation with attractive colours in order to catch the eyes of its users and attract more students and teachers to explore the website.

References:

1)     Brown H. Douglas. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (Second Edition). NY: Pearson Education.

2)     http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/techcur/theory/constructivism.htm

ELECTRONIC WORKSHEET... NEW ATTEMPT. HAYYYAAAA!!!!

ELECTRONIC WORKSHEET - simpler one~~~

ELECTRONIC WORKSHEET ON 'RUMPELSTILTSKIN'

Electronic Worksheet

CALL to know me...

Hi guys!!! I'm Nurul Aimi Fadzlin bt Mohd Radzif, a part 8 TESL student in Faculty of Education, UiTM Shah Alam. This year is my final year in UiTM, so I am so excited to enter all classes in this semester. Frankly speaking, I have two other blog accounts (one for personal use and another one for business purpose) but now I create this new blog for my final semester and it is also for my CALL subject.

Well... for my computer skills, how should I rate them? Hmm... Well, I think I can rate myself as a half-expert and not 100% expert nor computer savvy person. However, to measure my computer skills, I can say that my skills are for working purposes and not for gaming purposes.

I know how to use windows and Mac programmers since in my house, we have both - computers that use Windows and an Ipad2 which uses Mac. Besides that, for the computer software, I can say that I have mastered in handling Microsoft Office, SmartDraw, Adobe Photoshop, SPSS, etc. Meanwhile for the computer hardware, I don't know how to build a PC but I know how to setup the computer. 

I love to use my computer and the internet to find lots and lots of information. So, yes, I have experienced learning via my computer through online, using courseware,etc. 

If you ask me, did I try to incorporate technology in some of my lessons during my practicum, well... I will absolutely say "YES!!!" I did try to bring the technology in my class - not in every lesson but some only. If you ask me "Was it a success or a failure?" Then, I will answer "Both." It was a failure since I could not display the video that I wished to display on the LCD screen because the school's LCD projector had went missing but it was also a success since I managed to display the video that I gained from the internet using my two laptops (Yup... I brought two laptops to my school as my backup plan.) I believe all of us need to have Plan B for everything that we do.

In my opinion, it is a great idea to use computer/technology in language teaching but the school must first prepare sufficient facilities for teachers to be able conducting their lesson smoothly and successfully. Children and adolescents nowadays are more attracted to IT so it is a need for teachers to also use IT as a tool to attract their interest in learning. However, there is a strong reminder from me - DO NOT ALWAYS USE LAPTOP AND LCD IN CLASS. DO BRING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS AND CREATE GAMES FOR YOUR STUDENTS TO ENJOY THE LESSON. You will know the reason when you are having your practicum later. Good luck!

From this subject, I hope I could learn some other techniques for me to become totally expert in conducting/handling/managing everything that related to computer.

Now, I'm going to use SPSS to analyse data for my AE which entitled "Teachers' Job Motivation in Four (4) Urban Secondary Schools in KotaBharu, Kelantan. The reason for me to choose this topic is because during my school days I learned there are some factors that influence teachers' motivation in teaching and whether you believe it or not we could actually see the result through their attitude towards the job, school, and the way they treat their students. So, through this research I hope I could identify the main reason for most teachers entered this profession and their motivation level. I hope my supervisor, Mr. Fazyudi, could help me and guide me along the process of completing my AE. In order to make sure I manage to complete this AE on time, I used my 4-months-semester break to collect the data from those four particular schools and alhamdulillah I managed to get 290/320 respondents for my research. I hope in this new semester I could complete Chapter 4 and 5 within two months time. InsyaALLAH.