I think it’s fun creating our own project.

It’s quite a bit of work to think of everything and create the different tasks. That’s why I’m very happy to have my team By discussing the different tasks I’m sure we are on a good way to create our wiki quite good and make the tasks interesting for “our students”.

Nevertheless it’s a lot of work to design the whole thing and it’s difficult to keep everything important in mind. Because we prepare this for an “imagined class” it’s even more challenging to appropriately prepare evrything….

All in all I think it’s a good training for later and I get better in using and working with our wiki.

picture: desert_dan

1. What are the main ideas of the structural, cognitive and sociocognitive perspective to language learning?

Structural perspective to language learning:

The students are taught to reproduce language in a linguistic correct way. The focus is on practicing reading, speaking and writing, not on abstract knowledge. Grammar and communication are taught apart from each other. (F.e. translating texts, learning sentences in an isolated way) ->habit formation, behaviorism

Cognitive perspective to language learning:

Language learning is seen as an active process, students mentally construct the grammar of the second language. Mistakes tell aboutlearning process (f.e. overgeneralization). The focus is not on real social interaction, but on the process of language learning, they are exposed to the language as much as possible, to improve their language.

Bild: mushon

Sociocognitive perspective to language learning:

Language is seen as both a social and cognitive phenomenon. Learning becomes more learnier-centered, the goal is that learner develop intercultural communicative competence. Using the language shall be purposeful. Production is also very important, not only reception.

2. What is the role of the computer in each of these approaches?

Structural perspective:

(Tutor model, trial and error-system) Provide unlimited drill, practice, tutorial explanation, corrective feedback

-exercisive, gives feedback immediatly

Cognitive perspective:

Provide language input and analytical and inferential tasks

-can be desigend like a computer-game, internet as research base

Sociocognitive perspective:

Provide alternative contexts for social interaction, facilitate access to existing discourse communities and the creation of new ones.

-Wiki: negotiating of meaning,

3. Which of these approaches in your opinion can be best used with the web 2.0?

In my opinion the sociocognitive approach can be used best with the web 2.0.

Language should be seen as an unstatic, developing phenomenon. The web 2.0 contains a lot of real language/communication, by real people. Students can interact with others, whether those are their fellow students or other people. That’s why the teacher can create meaningful tasks and students can gain intercultural communicative competence by doing so.

I haven’t got a lot of experience with wikis. Actually, before this course I didn’t even know what a wiki is and so obviously I never participated in one… But I use Wikipedia a lot After working with the wiki in the course I have to say, that wikis are a good and useful thing.

In other courses, where I also had to use the wiki now, I experienced that it’s not too efective to let people plainly answer questions in a wiki. In these wikis nobody really reads the text of others or changes them. I think a wiki can be used more effectively.

On my way through the internet I found out, that there are loads of pages about wikis and many of them were connected with teaching… Didn’t expect that!

Bild: Matthew Hine

I’m astonished that many people are working with wikis in class already.

Most helpful are pages which help you dealing with this technology and which present examples on how you can use wikis and which show what classes have already done!

As a teacher this helps me to deal better with wikis and it’s good to be inspired for my own work…

I wouldn’t use a wiki as a “everyday-teaching-tool”, but I think, a wiki is a great thing to do some kind of writing-project, probably similar to the project which Mr Raith presented in class.

Probably it would also be useful to create some sort of dictionary or class-encyclopedia. This would be also nice for other subjects like biology.

 That’s all I understand about blogs and wikis so far…

Bild: vampirex                                                                            ;-)

 

Well, my expectations are that at the end of this course I will read O’Reilly’s article again and will finish it with thoughts like: Yes, I know what you mean and I can follow your ideas. I feel there’s a lot I have to learn about the web 2.0 and I’m looking forward to it!

Furthermore I hope the course will be fun and I will get plenty of new inspirations for future lessons and also for myself. It would be great if we would actively work with the tools we will get to know!

Bild: Kristi Evans