Jane Austen’s novels are so readable in part because she wasn’t an ordinary kind of novelist: she wanted her work to help us to be better and wiser people. Her novels had a philosophy of personal development at their heart.
Saturday 28 May 2016
Thursday 26 May 2016
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson taught us about the presence of nature and something a little divine inside all of us; simultaneously helping usher in what was considered, "America's intellectual declaration of independence."
Friday 20 May 2016
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation to Learn
photo credits: Educational Psychology Interactive |
Regarding motivation as a set of biological and psychological mechanisms which allow triggering an action, its orientation and finally the intensity and persistence (Lieury &
Fenouillet, 1997:9), it becomes impossible not to consider motivation as a crucial factor in the teaching and learning process, because the more motivated the student is, the more persistent and productive his activity will be.
Lieury
e Fenouillet mention two types of motivation: intrinsic (in which the activity is appealling in itself) and extrinsic (which depends on a wide range of outside rewards, such as, grades or prizes). From here we can conclude that the current use of the term motivation refers to the intrinsic type. Teachers always prefer this one because it creates better results. That is why it's so important to identify and promote factors as challenge, control, responsibility, curiosity, fantasy, cooperation and acknowledgement. (Raya, Lamb &
Vieira, 2007:62) These authors also highlight that intrinsic motivation is in inverse proportion of constraint, for example, surveillance or teacher control. It has been proved that students' discouragement is born out of a learning process.
Puzzle of Motivation (Lieury & Fenouillet) |
For all these reasons, it is very important to promote tasks that may increase intrinsic motivation (less exposed to constraint), such as, portfolios, group presentations, personal data files, where the teacher's role is much more of giving information, rather than controlling or evaluating, as students are intrinsically motivated and perform all tasks with pleasure. To sum up, motivation can be seen as the puzzle on the left, in which all the mentioned components find a match.
Friday 13 May 2016
Multimedia in ELT
image credits: Robert Campbell |
English Language Teaching is one of
the fastest growing sectors in the world. The use of new technologies is an
integral and driving component of this growth. Computers deliver
multimedia presentations for entertainment, advertising, or education.
Edutainment is the term used to refer to the applications which incorporate
multimedia entertainment with educational objectives. Multimedia incorporates
text, audio, graphics, animations, or real video into English lessons.
Curriculum developers and
instructional designers collaborate with skilled teachers and subject experts
to create effective, integrated learning strategies which strengthen teachers’
professional skills, make optimal use of classroom time, and broaden student
access to learning materials. Audio Streaming, Power Point
Presentations, Flash or Java Animation, Video, etc. are the different
multimedia tools used in teaching English.
image credits: opened web |
Multimedia plays an important role
in all the stages of second language acquisition. Multimedia tools are used
widely by second language learners. The
different multimedia tools available to teachers include video and data projectors, videos, Internet, and course management programs.
There are many advantages of using
multimedia tools in the language classroom. These include more active
learning, diversified teaching methods, better student attention, less time and
energy for professors, and visual stimulation. However, there are some
downfalls to using technology when teaching the courses. They are equipment
failures, need for back-up plans, anxiety for teachers, time spent learning new
technologies, etc.
The advantages for using technology
often outweigh the disadvantages. Many of the problems with using technology
and learning materials can be overcome by testing the equipments beforehand and
learning how to properly use each multimedia tool. Multimedia has the potential
for much more than text-based communication of ideas. It alleviates the
loneliness of books, because it is interactive. Multimedia enables text,
images, sound, and video to be combined into one and plays an important role in
teaching English.
Why choosing multimedia resources?
Multimedia is becoming
indispensable in the classrooms. It allows teachers to diversify their
lectures, display more information, and enhance student learning. It helps them
save time and energy; it allows for more attention to be paid to the course
content. There are different multimedia tools available in the market. Audio
streaming, PPT, animation, and video are quite familiar with the teachers and students.
Pronunciation, accent, vocabulary building, note-taking or note-making skills,
reading comprehension, writing skills, etc. are taught using the multimedia
tools. There are different purposes for
analysing the multimedia tools:
- To decide whether the multimedia tool has had the intended effect;
- To identify what effect the multimedia tool has had;
- To justify future courses of action;
- To identify areas for improvement in a multimedia tool.
Multimedia tools prove to be
effective in teaching English. However, they are not tailor-made. Teachers should analyse them predictively and
retrospectively to use them effectively in the classroom. Feedback from the
teachers and students can be utilised to improve the efficiency of the
multimedia lessons. Multimedia tools should be used appropriately and
frequently to increase the scores of the ESL students.
To sum up:
You may also like to have a look at Richard Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.
To sum up:
Cognitive models for multimedia learning with animated pedagogical agents (image credits: db-thueringen) |
Source: "Multimedia in English Language Teaching", Jaya Parveen and V. Rajesh, Journal of Technology for ELT(slightly abridged and adapted)
Monday 9 May 2016
Thursday 5 May 2016
Lingvarum Arena - Didactics Magazine 6th edition
If you are interested in Didactics, check the sixth number of Lingvarum Arena, the Language Didactics magazine of Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.
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