Social Presence Functions in Task-Based Language Activities in a Virtual Classroom in Second Life

As the developments occurred in terms of technology, new tools and platforms started to be used in classroom settings. However, there is a need for discourse analysis of these tools and environments in order to better understand the flow of communication. This study aimed at determining discourse patterns in terms of social presence observed in a course carried out in a 3D environment, Second Life. At the end of the study, it was found that the most frequently used social presence functions were expression of emotions, vocatives and asking questions respectively; the least frequently used social presence functions were phatics and salutations, referring explicitly to the others' messages and quoting from others' messages. The findings of this study were found to be in parallel with the literature. This study might be helpful for researchers, educators and students in order to better understand the contexts created in 3D virtual worlds.

Mastering Technology-Enhanced Language Learning, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

This chapter explains the overview of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL); the overview of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL); the relationship between Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and language learning; the overview of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL); and the technological utilization for language learning in the digital age. TELL, CALL, and MALL significantly deal with the impact of technology on teaching and learning the second language or foreign language. TELL, CALL, and MALL are the utilization of the advanced devices as the technological innovation to display multimedia as the modern language learning methods in the digital age. TELL, CALL, and MALL effectively improve learning motivation and develop better attitudes in students and language learners toward language learning. The chapter argues that encouraging the applications of TELL, CALL, and MALL has the potential to improve language learning performance and reach strategic goals in the modern language learning environments.

Impact of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning on the Writing Skills of Engineering Students

The present case study investigates the effectiveness of technology use in the writing skills of the students at the tertiary level. The subjects of this research were 80 students of an engineering college of Punjab, India. The project was implemented on the basis of the experimental method with a pretest-posttest control group design. At the outset of the project, all the subjects were given a standardized writing test. Following which, the students of the experimental group were made to perform their writing activities using technology in the language lab throughout the semester. Thereafter their performance was assessed and the results were further compared with the students of the control group as well as with their own performance in the pre-test. The results revealed that the achievement in the writing skills of the students under treatment improved significantly. Lastly, the researcher elicited information about students' perceptions on the use of technological tools.

Challenges Facing E-Learning

The rapid advancement in technology has set the stage to change teaching dynamics worldwide. Today's learners are very techno savvy. To enhance teaching and learning outcomes it is important to focus on using this new technology to engage with learners. E-learning is part of the new technological advancement taking place in teaching. Khan (2005, pp. 6-7) argues that the success of an e-learning system involves a systematic process of planning, designing, evaluating and implementing online learning environments where learning is actively fostered and supported. An e-learning system should be meaningful to all stakeholder groups including instructors, support service staff, and the institution. E-learning introduces learners to a new environment. In this system, learners are independent and must be self-motivated and committed to their learning. E-learners need to know how to use and manipulate software. According to Jones (2003), e-learning technologies bring as much change to instructors as they do to students, again requiring a new set of skills for success.

Dynamic Assessment and Multi-Media Language Instruction

ABSTRACT Dynamic Assessment (DA) illustrates classroom interactions in which teaching and assessment must be integrated as a single activity seeking to identify learner abilities by actively supporting their ongoing developmental process. DA is based on the Vygotskian notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which captures the uniquely human potential to exceed our present capabilities by working in cooperation with others. Moreover, with prevalence of multimedia language learning materials in foreign/ second language classrooms, their design is an important avenue of research in computer assisted language learning. This chapter will present an in-depth analysis of DA's application to particular problems of L2 development. It includes detailed discussions of the core DA theoretical tenets as well as implementing multi-media based DA principles in L2 classrooms. The information can be beneficial for language teacher educators, language testers, students and researchers in the areas of SLA, language pedagogy, and assessment.

Attitudes of Adult EFL Learners towards Preparing for a Language Test via CALL

The present study focuses on the attitudes of adult language learners towards an Internet-based computer program designed to prepare the users for a language test. The participants were the attendees of a YDS (National Foreign Language Examination offered by the Turkish Council of Higher Education) preparation course which was conducted at a state university in Turkey. Sixty participants contributed to the study. Their attitudes towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) were measured via two different instruments: a questionnaire and an interview. The results indicated that lower level learners had significantly better attitudes towards CALL compared to higher level learners. In general, the participants found computers to be more interesting, motivating and encouraging but did not consider the traditional classroom teaching substitutable with CALL. The findings revealed no significant changes pertaining to the participants' attitudes towards CALL after their language learning experience with computers for four months.

The Impact of TED-Vodcast on Iranian EFL Learners' Academic Oral Proficiency

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of TED-Vodcast on academic oral proficiency, with a focus on accuracy and fluency of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. There is no doubt that most of the university students in different fields of study face a lot of hardships while attending international conferences for presenting a paper which is due to lack of English proficiency. In this research, 34 female freshman students of English Language and Literature at Semnan University aged between 18-27 were selected and assigned into 2 groups of experimental (N=19) and control (N=15). TED-Vodcast was integrated into experimental group and conventional method of teaching listening and speaking was applied for the control group. Both groups took pretest and posttest which were in the form of interviews. The relation of 3 dependent variables of the two groups were computed by MANOVA and independent sample T-test was used as well. The findings of the study indicated that TED-Vodcast had significant effects on learners' oral proficiency as well as accuracy but not on fluency.

Encouraging Communication through the Use of Educational Social Media Tools

Over the last decade, our society has embraced social networking and web-based and mobile technologies. In an attempt to stay current with social trends, educators have become increasingly interested in how best to harness social media tools to enhance their teaching practices. This paper will explore the use of social media tools, such as Edmodo and Glogster, with 30 Japanese high school exchange students in Sydney, Australia. Given that the classes were homogenous, the teachers' biggest challenge was to create a classroom environment that encouraged students to use English rather than Japanese to communicate with one another. By using social media tools, students were given the opportunity to embrace and explore different technologies while creating a space to communicate with their peers and teachers in English. This article will discuss the types of activities and tasks employed and student and teacher feedback. New technologies continue to emerge and evolve, shaping how our society communicates, works and learns. Educators, in particular, have attempted to harness various aspects of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Given that social networking and web-based and mobile technologies have become an integral part of young people's everyday lives, educators have become increasingly aware of the need to incorporate these social media tools in the learning process. The impetus for the action research presented in this paper was born from a desire to promote English language communication through introducing social media tools, such as Edmodo and Glogster. The aim was to explore how a variety of tasks and activities are employed and received by both students and teachers.

Technology-Enhanced Vocabulary Development through Semantic Network Development Model vs. Syntactic Structure Development Model

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of integrating technology-enhanced instruction with semantic network and syntactic structure development models on EFL learners' improvement in vocabulary learning. Therefore, 75 Iranian EFL learners received VKS, a pre-test and a post-test to measure their current vocabulary knowledge and development. The findings showed that both models and technology were significantly effective in improving the development of vocabulary. Moreover, those learners who received their instruction based on semantic network development and syntactic structure development models incorporated in CALL out-performed significantly those who were exposed solely to the two models of vocabulary instruction (i.e. semantic network development model and syntactic structure development model). The results suggest that teachers can consciously benefit from the mixture of technology-enhanced instruction and the models (and other successful teaching techniques) to improve the learners' vocabulary learning as well as other language skills and sub-skills in general.

Teaching Collocations through Web-Based Concordancing

With the advent of language corpora and concordancing activities, teaching collocations knowledge of which is considered significant for appropriate and fluent language use has gained new dimensions within the context of technology enhanced language learning. The present study investigates the impact of web-based concordancing activities on EFL learners' achievement and retention of verb-noun collocations compared to paper based-activities. A total of 62 EFL learners participated in the study by taking a pre-test and an immediate and a delayed post-test. Results indicated that learners in experimental group outperformed the control group making significant improvement in their knowledge of verb-noun collocation immediately after the web-based practice. Although both groups regressed later, final performance of the experimental group was still better than that of control group. This study, therefore, suggests that EFL practitioners craving for creating variations in their instructional settings employ web-based concordancing activities to raise collocational competence of learners.