First Assignment :Summary of "Language Learning Behaviour in a Virtual Environment"
ENGL 4740
Summary of “Language Learning Behaviour in a Virtual Environment“
by:
Muizatul Iman Bte Morsid 0634110
Nur Sakinah Bt Mohd Khir Johari 0810358
Nabilah Bt Mohd Lokmal 0713498
Dr. Rozina Abd. Ghani
Semester 2 2010/2011
A.
Introduction
This paper summarizes an article in a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) journal entitled “Language Learner Behaviour in a Virtual Environment” by Janie Roed from the University College London, UK. The article referred focused on the communicative behavior in the virtual environment participated by a group of Danish students at the University of Edinburgh and University of College London.
Purpose of study
This study is conducted in order to find the communicative behavior in the virtual environment and according to Roed:
“…how communicating online can affect both learner behavior and the perception of learner behavior, and how, consequently, the group dynamics of the classroom are altered once the classroom becomes virtual.”
In her study, Roed found out that those students who are not proficient in the second language especially in a face-to-face communication with other proficient students tend to refuse to participate in any group work involving language learning. She asserted the study conducted by Patricia Wallace (1999, p. 138) that this kind of student also found himself as not attractive and always felt hesitant to engage in any discussion as people often turned him down by ignoring his comments. However, he was able to participate more in online discussions.
Methods
Thirteen of first and second year Danish students were selected and they were invited to a garden party in conjunction with the 50th jubilee of the Queen Elizabeth II. The students were placed in a chat room in the royal grounds and a tracking system was set up in order to record the students’ participation. The researcher used simple linguistic level so that all participants were included in completing the task given. The students were also made aware that their activities in the chat room might be tracked for research purposes; therefore, the students’ names have been changed to ensure anonymity.
Literature Review
MacIntyre & Noels, 1996 defines learning strategies as “Steps taken to facilitate the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information”. They also listed 50 language learning strategies – such as ‘make guesses’, ‘note my mistakes’, ‘relate old and new language’, find patterns in L2 and so forth and asked 138 students to rate these strategies according to four strategies and one of these categories was anxiety. They found the most anxiety in learning second language was: start L2 conversation, look for conversation, find ways to use L2, and ask questions in L2. They also found that students rated these strategies as the most uncomfortable strategies to them but highly affective.
Duval and Wicklund, 1972 focus on two-component self-awareness that affects learners of L2 in learning second language. The component self-awareness are; private self-awareness (the awareness of individual motivation and goals) and public self-awareness (the awareness of the possibility of being assessed). From the view of language learners, the private self-awareness is students’ desire to learn L2 so they can pass exams and communicate with native speakers. But once they start communicate in L2, the public self-awareness will takes place. They will start thinking of how they are perceived by other and how well do they blend in with native speakers.
Findings
This research has shown that when communicating online, students show fewer inhibitions, display less social anxiety, and reduce their public self-awareness. They also tend to be more willing to share their personal information and more honest in presenting their personal viewpoints. Based on these findings, it seems that a virtual learning environment may constitute a more relaxed and stress free atmosphere than a classroom. The low level of self-consciousness would be advantageous in foreign language learning, as it would result in increased language production.
Implications to language learning in general
Generally, CALL program provides a lot of benefits in language learning. First, it helps to gain students’ confidence in using second language as a communicative tool in learning process. Second, students can reduce anxiety in language learning. According to Roed, the anonymity that online works offer give an ultimate advantage to the shy and introvert language students. With the help of online learning program, they can gradually reduce the anxiety level and in the end, able to use the second language with confidence. Third, students will also not face any pressure in language learning process regarding on how to use the correct accents and the interference from teachers and friends.
B.
The research on “Language Learner Behaviour in a Virtual Environment” by Jannie Roed relates back to the Integrative Approach in the history of CALL. In this approach, according to Warschauer, language learners can communicate directly, inexpensively and conveniently with other learners or speakers of the target language every day. This type of communication can be done either not simultaneously through online tools such as electronic mail (e-mail) which allows participant to compose messages at their time and pace, or simultaneously by using CALL programs such as “MOO’s” that enable people all around the world to have a simultaneous conversation.
Integrative Approach focuses on computers as a tool in language learning. This can be seen in Roed’s research where the selected Danish students who were at first had no confidence in using English, after completing the Computer-Mediated-Communicative (CMC) task which was to chat online with other fellow classmates, they showed an impressive improvement by participating more actively in the conversation. This shows that computer works as an effective tool for effective language learning.
This approach used in the study mainly focuses on the learner-learner interaction. In the chat room, the students were fully communicating using English without any interference from the teacher, thus, the students, especially the shy and introverted students were able to freely express his or her thoughts and interact with other students without any pressure. This type of learning in the Integrative Approach can also be called the collaborative learning.
The Integrative Approach used in Roed’s study has shown that computer use in language learning has improved student’s ability in acquiring foreign language, and in this case, English language. This shows that there are many benefits that can be gained in CALL.
Among other advantages that CALL provides are such as it enhances student’s achievement in language learning, emphasizes the individual needs, reduces the learning stress and anxieties especially in students who are shy and have low self-esteem, thus, courage them to actively participate in any discussion pertaining to language learning. Students will also have the opportunity to observe and evaluate language used by native speakers.
Instead of the ample advantages that this approach offers, there are also drawbacks found in using this approach such as the low-income students and low-budget school will be of a disadvantage as they cannot afford to have a computer and provide computers for the students, the teachers and students who lack sufficient knowledge in technology will face many difficulties in CALL as CALL mainly use technology in learning and it is known that computers cannot handle unexpected situation and the problems arise in language learning are various and ever-changing.
Reflection :
We have summarized an article by Jannie Roed entitled " Language Learner Behaviour in a Virtual Environment. By summarizing and reading this article, we know the meaning of Integrative Approach that we've learned in the history of CALL. which focuses on computer as a tool in language learning. Besides that, we also learned that people do change their behaviour in online chat room but in a positive way.Generally, online chatroom provides a lot of benefits in language learning. First, it helps to gain students’ confidence in using second language as a communicative tool in learning process. Second, students can reduce anxiety in language learning. According to Roed, the anonymity that online works offer give an ultimate advantage to the shy and introvert language students . In Islam, women have to maintain their dignity, so by using this technology in language learning, women still can freely express their thought and and interact with others without any pressure. It is also prove that Islam is not troublesome for human because there are so many way to share our ideas and interact with people without any obstacle using the technology that we have nowadays.This is what we have learned through summarizing this article which was very useful for us.
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