I discovered an amazing source today about the use of transcribing techniques to teach English to non-native speakers. The article, entitled "Learning from the Transcripts of an Oral Communication Task" by T. Lynch, talked about the practicality and effectiveness of using transcribing activities in classrooms. The reason I am dedicating a whole post to this article is because of how it answers so many questions I have recently asked (and should have asked) about my project.
The article analyzes a study completed concerning the effectiveness of using recorded oral practice in classrooms and having the students later transcribe the recorded conversations. This is exciting for me because the study showed that having students transcribe their own conversations greatly increased the attention that they gave to the language and how it works. In other words, transcribing is a wonderfully effective strategy for language acquisition.
This is splendid news! That means that the thing that I was dreading as taking up the most time (transcribing) will actually help me to achieve the thing that I wanted most out of my trip to Mexico (that is, bettering my Spanish skills). Not only that, but the two methods that were tested gave me some great ideas about how I can be more accurate, and get the most language learning, out of my transcribing time.
The study was conducted to measure (in part) the difference in effectiveness between two methods of transcribing. For both of the methods the students will complete a first-time transcript of the oral practice, but for the first method the students will come back to their transcript and edit it along with their peers, paying special attention to words and sections that were problematic during the first attempt. This methods is intended to greatly increase the attention that the students will give to the language and require them to look more closely at words at familiar to them. The second methods requires more teacher involvement, meaning that the teachers would provide their version of the transcripts for the students to learn from.
The study showed that the first, peer-review method, provided more long-term learning for the students. Which is great, because it gave me the great idea to find a friend that I can have help work with me through the tricky sections of the audio recordings. This article has taught me things that will help me to not only improve my Spanish, but the methods therein will provide assistance during my transcribing periods, granting relief during some of the most challenging portions of my project.
Showing posts with label Language Acquisition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language Acquisition. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Fears
I've been meaning to do this post for a little while, and I hope that I can do so in the right way. You see, it is important sometimes to acknowledge our fears so that we can take a closer look at them and realize that they may not be that scary after all. Fear all really stems from one thing: the unknown, think about it and you will recognize that most of your fears will come from, at least in part, the fact that you don't know how things will be.
What are some of my fears in going to Mexico? First of all one of my major fears is not being able to communicate well. I am still learning the language and I don't want to be stuck inside my head surrounded by people that I don't understand. I am practicing Spanish everyday, and I am overall not too concerned, however I do sometimes wonder what hinderences will bar my path because of my inability to express myself fluently or understand others completely.
I suppose this stems from not know the full extent of my Spanish abilities, coupled with me not know how well I will be able to understand the native speakers there. There are a few things I can do about this: first, I need to get a better understanding of my speaking level. This is tied to the idea that I need to create a better study plan to acquire the Spanish language. Second I need to practice my ability to understand native speakers.
Both of these problems are primarily solved by practicing speaking with people from Mexico, and I am lucky that I have a few Mexican friends. But I can also practice comprehension by watching movies in Spanish and practice speaking by setting a certain amount of time each day that I will speak Spanish with my roommate or class mates or others. Lastly, I can always ask for help and advice from a large group of friends that served foreign language missions and have more skills and experience in language acquisition than myself.
So... that's the plan (rule the world). It's simple right?
Benjamin
What are some of my fears in going to Mexico? First of all one of my major fears is not being able to communicate well. I am still learning the language and I don't want to be stuck inside my head surrounded by people that I don't understand. I am practicing Spanish everyday, and I am overall not too concerned, however I do sometimes wonder what hinderences will bar my path because of my inability to express myself fluently or understand others completely.
I suppose this stems from not know the full extent of my Spanish abilities, coupled with me not know how well I will be able to understand the native speakers there. There are a few things I can do about this: first, I need to get a better understanding of my speaking level. This is tied to the idea that I need to create a better study plan to acquire the Spanish language. Second I need to practice my ability to understand native speakers.
Both of these problems are primarily solved by practicing speaking with people from Mexico, and I am lucky that I have a few Mexican friends. But I can also practice comprehension by watching movies in Spanish and practice speaking by setting a certain amount of time each day that I will speak Spanish with my roommate or class mates or others. Lastly, I can always ask for help and advice from a large group of friends that served foreign language missions and have more skills and experience in language acquisition than myself.
So... that's the plan (rule the world). It's simple right?
Benjamin
Friday, February 17, 2012
Interview Method Practice and Language Acquisition
This morning I interviewed my roommate, Gordy, about his mission. I wasn't going to find anybody to interview about the history of the church in Irapuato, Mexico, so I figured that because he served in Samara, Russia, that was the next best thing... right?
Luckily I did find some correlation to my project. While I was learning about missionary work in Russia, Gordy brought up language study, which is something that I didn't have to do on my mission. In response to my questions he explained the difference between a good language study plan and a bad one.
A bad language study plan errs very close to not having a language study plan at all. For a little while on his mission he said he would just read the scriptures in Russian and, though it helped a little, there is only so much you can learn from this approach. It is important to try lots of different approaches. As he taught me, "you are going to speak the language about 5,000 more times than you will read or write it," so it is very important to incorporate that usage of speech into your language study plan.
Some of the things that he found effective, that I want to try not only while in the field but as I study the language before hand, include activities that he would do throughout the day. For instance, if he was talking with someone and he heard a word he didn't understand, he would write it down to look up later. Also, if he was trying to communicate something but didn't have the right vocabulary or grammar structure in the moment, then he would be sure to make note of that and learn how to correctly say that at a later time.
As language acquisition is one of the main focuses of my field study, I am very grateful for these methodological insights into language study plans. I feel that this interview/methods practice proved more helpful than I originally thought it would be.
¡Chido!
Luckily I did find some correlation to my project. While I was learning about missionary work in Russia, Gordy brought up language study, which is something that I didn't have to do on my mission. In response to my questions he explained the difference between a good language study plan and a bad one.
A bad language study plan errs very close to not having a language study plan at all. For a little while on his mission he said he would just read the scriptures in Russian and, though it helped a little, there is only so much you can learn from this approach. It is important to try lots of different approaches. As he taught me, "you are going to speak the language about 5,000 more times than you will read or write it," so it is very important to incorporate that usage of speech into your language study plan.
Some of the things that he found effective, that I want to try not only while in the field but as I study the language before hand, include activities that he would do throughout the day. For instance, if he was talking with someone and he heard a word he didn't understand, he would write it down to look up later. Also, if he was trying to communicate something but didn't have the right vocabulary or grammar structure in the moment, then he would be sure to make note of that and learn how to correctly say that at a later time.
As language acquisition is one of the main focuses of my field study, I am very grateful for these methodological insights into language study plans. I feel that this interview/methods practice proved more helpful than I originally thought it would be.
¡Chido!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)