The effect of learner training on the use of Digital tools to support English Writing Skills
Research findings
Students' digital practices
On the other hand, Wikipedia was mostly
used on a weekly basis. More than 40% of the students mentioned that they never used web
conferencing or video chat for educational purposes
they claimed that their use of digital devices for college work was limited to zero to 12 hours per
week (mean 5.8 hours, SD 3.8)
Survey results: the most common devices among students were a computer at home and personal smartphones
E-book readers and tablets were the least common devices
The participants reported spending an average total of 4.3 hours a day online, with quite a range between the most and least online activity (1-8 hours/day; SD 1.8)
Students’ perceptions and beliefs about use of technology for language learning were identified with the help of above questions:
Although students perceived technology as a help to them in every aspect of their lives, they realized the importance of the skills required to better utilize it
how useful they found the technology to be
how easy the technology was to use
how important the need for training in the use of the technology was
Students’ were also asked questions about their practices in the use of MS Word before they began the training programme
Literature review
Sauro (2009) and Ulusoy (2006) have focused on particular tools within word processors:
Supplying prompts for the writers
making spelling mistakes visible
making the editing of work easy
more advanced features:
Speech recognition
Audiofeedback
Word prediction and etc.
Prensy (2001) pointed out, the effectiveness of technology is directly -> the users' knowledge of technological tools, their expertise and level of comfort while using these tools.
Xu and Ding (2014) explored-> Chinese Tertiary EFL learners by observing them while writing on computer -> differences in the pause patterns in writing between the skilled writers and less-skilled writers.
Screen and input capture software was used to capture students’ computer activity.
The skilled writers used web searches in English during their pre-writing, whereas both groups used bilingual dictionaries during the actual process
The less skilled writers used dictionaries more often to compensate for their linguistic
deficiencies
Gupta (1998) found that -> students in Singapore using early word processors managed to locate and correct some of their spelling errors; and they also used the spelling checker to generate words that were in their receptive but not in their productive vocabularies.
Rimrott and Heift (2005) found that ->While working in German as a target language -> MS Word (as used in 2003) missed almost half of the learners’ errors.
-> suggested 1)to understand undetected words are not necessarily correct and that the target word is not necessarily in the list of alternatives provided by the spell checker; 2) using a dictionary as a complement to a spell checker.
Hubbard (2004) described CALL environments as powerful learning environments + learners must be prepared adequately in order to learn in these environments
offer significant self-learning opportunities, which can yield negative results if learners exhibit lack of technical, strategic and pedagogical skills
(Reinders & White, 2010) mentions some of the constraints associated with CALL
Distraction from the enormous amount of information available on the Internet
a lack of necessary support structures
the hidden costs of available resources
web-advertising
a lack of systematization
limited quality control
Several researchers (Healey, 2007; Hubbard, 2004; Shetzer & Warschauer, 2000) pointed out that...
The main goal of CALL training must be to create
autonomous users of technology, which can be achieved by providing both technical and strategic training to the learners
Authors: Una Cunningham & Shaista Rashid & Thin Le (2019)
Key words
CALL
Learner training
Writing Skills
Spell check
Grammar check
Word processor
Digital practices
Introduction
Connectivity, technical sophistication and access to technology have continued to increase
The TESOL organization set out its Technology Standards Framework for teachers and learners in 2008
The use of digital tools is not homogeneous all over the world
Previous studies have found that computers offer multiple benefits for teaching and learning writing skills
The use of word processors can offer writing support of various types: automatic corrective feedback and stimulate collaborative learning.
International telecommunication Union (2017) has reported a continuing wide gap in the use of Internet: Africa - 21.8%; Asia - 43.9%; Europe - 79.6%.
Method
Context
A language College in New Zealand
Participants
English for Academic Purposes course students
Time
30 hours per week
20 hrs in the classroom
5 hrs for self study
5 hrs for online class
Research design
The study was descriptive in nature, involving
pre- and post-training interviews
freewriting
a survey about digital practices
the training sessions
The object of the training programme was for participants to learn how to use some of the writing support tools available in MS Word
Grammar, Synonyms, Thesaurus, Spell check, Translation and Textto-speech
Data collection and analysis
A modified version of the SEET questionnaire
(Gosper, McKenzie, Pizzica, Malfroy, & Ashford-Rowe, 2013) which was originally designed for tertiary students in Australia, was employed to elicit information about students’ attitudes, beliefs and practices of technologies. It consists of 3 parts:
1st part: to explore the digital tools that students had access to and used for various purposes.
2nd part: investigated how students employed technology for various educational purposes;
3rd part: involved demographic information such as age, gender, education level and the amount of time students spent using digital tools each week
Training
Hubbard’s (2004) principles of learner training and Romeo and Hubbard’s (2010) model of training were adopted
The training session was based on three interlinked and sometimes overlapping categories
Technical Training
Pedagogical
Training
Strategic Training
Discussion & Conclusion
Richardson, Nash, and Flora (2014) also pointed out a direct relationship between accessibility and students attitudes towards the use of technology. In the present study, a smartphone and a computer or a laptop at home were common devices accessible by more than 95% of the participating students and they also exhibited a positive attitude towards the use of technology.