Welcome to LLT 841 section 001 in Spring 2011 at Michigan State University!
This blog is our platform to reflect and share ideas.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Spring 2011
What are your expectations/wishes/desires/goals for this course? What are your professional goals and how does this course fit into your professional goals?
Basically, I like technology and I have been making use of it in some ways so far. But I am not keen on updating myself on it; therefore, I have kept using the same tools and sites over and over again, but I know there are a lot of potentials out there that I have not tried out. I hope to learn those in this class. In addition, I will start applying for jobs from April. In Japan, knowledge and experience of CALL is often stipulated explicitly as a requirement in the job description in order to get the job. In this regard, I am sure this course will help me with that. Related to this point, the documents that I am going to make in this course as well as the mock interview also help me to get a job (or at least, try to get a job).
I wanted to take this class because I feel like I know way too little about CALL and I really want to increase my knowledge in this area. Last semester I taught LLT 361 and I had one lesson on CALL. I wasn't very comfortable teaching it because of my lack of knowledge so since this semester I'm teaching this class again, I thought it would be great to know more about CALL. But of course, I'm not only taking this class so I can teach one lesson on CALL in LLT361! From a personal perspective, I enjoy using technology and I always like to learn more about things I don't know well (e.g., research on CALL)so I'm really excited about this semester. Also, I think that the fact that we have to do a project in this class is actually really motivation and I hope I will be very productive. Finally, I had my first guidance committee last week and we were discussing my career plans. In case I go into language coordinating, it would be necessary that I have background in CALL so I think this class might be a plus for my future career.
In this course I expect to learn how to do a number of different things. First, I would like to learn what contemporary technologies are being used in language programs today and familiarize myself with them. Second, I would like to discover what kind of a direction the field of CALL is going, i.e. what are current researchers' expectations for the future of the field, what kind of new technologies would they like to see, what would they like to be able to do to enhance DL and classroom learning? Third, I would like to learn how these different language technologies are created. Do SLA researchers and language educators pair up with larger corporations? indidvual programers? Fourth, I would like to learn how research is conducted in this subsection of SLA and how it is different from other methods I've previously been exposed to (are there standardized ways of testing in CALL or are they the same mixture used by other SLA researchers.
My professional goal is to become a professor in SLA. Although my interests lie more in the development of L2 syntax, I find it important as an educator to be up to date with current language teaching technologies and enhance my own courses with this technology. As discussed in Blake (2009), it is pertinent as a language educator to be able to integrate technology and learn new technologies or be replaced by others who can.
My expectations and hopes for this course are to get a better overview of the important discussions that have shaped CALL in the past and are shaping it in the future. As my dissertation is directly related to computer mediated language learning (specifically telecollaboration), I am hoping to get valuable ideas for my literature review section of my dissertation and will know better whose research and discussions to include and deal with in more detail. I am aslo hoping to get to know new technological tools that I can use in my own teaching to enhance my students' learning of German as well as their enjoyment of this learning process. I feel like I definitely could know more in this area and am looking forward to learning from the other students in the class. My professional goal is to become a professor for German (as a foreign language) at the college level somewhere in the world and I think this course is a good way for me to get up to date with some of the new or current technologies used for language learning.
I hope to gain a general understanding of current SLA research and theory. I am also very interested in implementing more technology into my language classroom. I have a love-hate relationship with the technology that I have used in my classrooms. Sometimes I just want to go back to textbooks, paper, and pencils. I figure "People for centuries have learned (acquired) language without the use of a computer or the internet," so why are they so vital now? I also recognize the importance they play, especially at providing a seemingly limitless supply of input.
With this course, I hope to learn how to focus more on the good of technology and learn how to overcome the bad.
My expectation for this course is to gain a better understanding for the use of technology in teaching a second language. I would like to see the role that technology can play in a classroom and the effect that it can have on a language learner. I feel that for the most part I am up-to-date with my knowledge of technology, but I know very little about utilizing these technologies within a second language classroom. I definitely know how to use PowerPoints, but I really do not know how to utilize other forms of technology to teach a language. Plus, I am sure that there technologies that have been recently developed that I am completely unaware of. I also hope to learn more about CALL and the implications that it has or will have in the field of language learning.
My professional goal is teach. I am still unsure in what direction I would like to go, but I do know that teaching is my ultimate goal. This course will be a valuable tool in my development and I hope to learn many valuable methods.
Looking at the field of ESL/EFL teaching, there is a growing need for teachers with technological experience. On my own, I have tried out some technological tools, but I am aware that there are a vast array of tools that could be used to improve my teaching. Through this course, I want to become more marketable in the job marked by having more experience in CALL. Also, I want to enrich my students learning by including the tools I learn in the classes I will teach in the future.
My immediate professional goal is to teach either in an ESL or EFL university setting, which I believe this course will help me to improve my teaching. In the future, I see myself moving into developing projects (using technology) that relate to teaching English.
My expectation and wish is that this class takes me slightly outside of my comfort zone. I don’t necessarily consider myself to be inept technologically, but I have had the strange sensation over the past few years that I’ve lost my footing a bit (my litmus test for this is that when someone says the word “cookie” in a technological context, it invariably conjures up images of those yummy fattening things with the chocolate chips). Everything changes so quickly, and letting new advancements pass you by for even a short period of time can mercilessly drop you in a technological hole. I’m hoping this class will help me inch my way back up before I fall even further down. This class will take me outside of my comfort zone not just because of the subject matter, but also because of the course expectations. Designing and conducting a research study in one semester (I’m picking the R option) will surely be a challenge for me, but it’s a challenge that I’m excited about. I haven’t conducted any research at MSU nor have I sent anything out to a conference as of yet, so I’m happy that this course will enable me to do that.
I’m not sure as of yet how this course will fit into my professional goals because I’m not quite sure what my ultimate professional goals are. Since I don’t have a Master’s degree and it’s my first year in the SLS program, I feel like I need to take a little time in deciding what I want to do with my life. Therefore, I want to know as much as I can about everything I can before I attempt to narrow down my focus. I see CALL as a field that is only going to increase in importance over time, so hopefully learning about it now will assist me no matter what I ultimately decide to do. That being said, I’m sure language teaching is in my future no matter what subfield of SLA I end up focusing on, I know that this course will be invaluable when it comes to planning my classes.
8 comments:
Basically, I like technology and I have been making use of it in some ways so far. But I am not keen on updating myself on it; therefore, I have kept using the same tools and sites over and over again, but I know there are a lot of potentials out there that I have not tried out. I hope to learn those in this class.
In addition, I will start applying for jobs from April. In Japan, knowledge and experience of CALL is often stipulated explicitly as a requirement in the job description in order to get the job. In this regard, I am sure this course will help me with that. Related to this point, the documents that I am going to make in this course as well as the mock interview also help me to get a job (or at least, try to get a job).
I wanted to take this class because I feel like I know way too little about CALL and I really want to increase my knowledge in this area. Last semester I taught LLT 361 and I had one lesson on CALL. I wasn't very comfortable teaching it because of my lack of knowledge so since this semester I'm teaching this class again, I thought it would be great to know more about CALL. But of course, I'm not only taking this class so I can teach one lesson on CALL in LLT361! From a personal perspective, I enjoy using technology and I always like to learn more about things I don't know well (e.g., research on CALL)so I'm really excited about this semester. Also, I think that the fact that we have to do a project in this class is actually really motivation and I hope I will be very productive. Finally, I had my first guidance committee last week and we were discussing my career plans. In case I go into language coordinating, it would be necessary that I have background in CALL so I think this class might be a plus for my future career.
In this course I expect to learn how to do a number of different things. First, I would like to learn what contemporary technologies are being used in language programs today and familiarize myself with them. Second, I would like to discover what kind of a direction the field of CALL is going, i.e. what are current researchers' expectations for the future of the field, what kind of new technologies would they like to see, what would they like to be able to do to enhance DL and classroom learning? Third, I would like to learn how these different language technologies are created. Do SLA researchers and language educators pair up with larger corporations? indidvual programers? Fourth, I would like to learn how research is conducted in this subsection of SLA and how it is different from other methods I've previously been exposed to (are there standardized ways of testing in CALL or are they the same mixture used by other SLA researchers.
My professional goal is to become a professor in SLA. Although my interests lie more in the development of L2 syntax, I find it important as an educator to be up to date with current language teaching technologies and enhance my own courses with this technology. As discussed in Blake (2009), it is pertinent as a language educator to be able to integrate technology and learn new technologies or be replaced by others who can.
My expectations and hopes for this course are to get a better overview of the important discussions that have shaped CALL in the past and are shaping it in the future. As my dissertation is directly related to computer mediated language learning (specifically telecollaboration), I am hoping to get valuable ideas for my literature review section of my dissertation and will know better whose research and discussions to include and deal with in more detail.
I am aslo hoping to get to know new technological tools that I can use in my own teaching to enhance my students' learning of German as well as their enjoyment of this learning process. I feel like I definitely could know more in this area and am looking forward to learning from the other students in the class.
My professional goal is to become a professor for German (as a foreign language) at the college level somewhere in the world and I think this course is a good way for me to get up to date with some of the new or current technologies used for language learning.
I hope to gain a general understanding of current SLA research and theory. I am also very interested in implementing more technology into my language classroom. I have a love-hate relationship with the technology that I have used in my classrooms. Sometimes I just want to go back to textbooks, paper, and pencils. I figure "People for centuries have learned (acquired) language without the use of a computer or the internet," so why are they so vital now? I also recognize the importance they play, especially at providing a seemingly limitless supply of input.
With this course, I hope to learn how to focus more on the good of technology and learn how to overcome the bad.
My expectation for this course is to gain a better understanding for the use of technology in teaching a second language. I would like to see the role that technology can play in a classroom and the effect that it can have on a language learner. I feel that for the most part I am up-to-date with my knowledge of technology, but I know very little about utilizing these technologies within a second language classroom. I definitely know how to use PowerPoints, but I really do not know how to utilize other forms of technology to teach a language. Plus, I am sure that there technologies that have been recently developed that I am completely unaware of. I also hope to learn more about CALL and the implications that it has or will have in the field of language learning.
My professional goal is teach. I am still unsure in what direction I would like to go, but I do know that teaching is my ultimate goal. This course will be a valuable tool in my development and I hope to learn many valuable methods.
Looking at the field of ESL/EFL teaching, there is a growing need for teachers with technological experience. On my own, I have tried out some technological tools, but I am aware that there are a vast array of tools that could be used to improve my teaching. Through this course, I want to become more marketable in the job marked by having more experience in CALL. Also, I want to enrich my students learning by including the tools I learn in the classes I will teach in the future.
My immediate professional goal is to teach either in an ESL or EFL university setting, which I believe this course will help me to improve my teaching. In the future, I see myself moving into developing projects (using technology) that relate to teaching English.
My expectation and wish is that this class takes me slightly outside of my comfort zone. I don’t necessarily consider myself to be inept technologically, but I have had the strange sensation over the past few years that I’ve lost my footing a bit (my litmus test for this is that when someone says the word “cookie” in a technological context, it invariably conjures up images of those yummy fattening things with the chocolate chips). Everything changes so quickly, and letting new advancements pass you by for even a short period of time can mercilessly drop you in a technological hole. I’m hoping this class will help me inch my way back up before I fall even further down. This class will take me outside of my comfort zone not just because of the subject matter, but also because of the course expectations. Designing and conducting a research study in one semester (I’m picking the R option) will surely be a challenge for me, but it’s a challenge that I’m excited about. I haven’t conducted any research at MSU nor have I sent anything out to a conference as of yet, so I’m happy that this course will enable me to do that.
I’m not sure as of yet how this course will fit into my professional goals because I’m not quite sure what my ultimate professional goals are. Since I don’t have a Master’s degree and it’s my first year in the SLS program, I feel like I need to take a little time in deciding what I want to do with my life. Therefore, I want to know as much as I can about everything I can before I attempt to narrow down my focus. I see CALL as a field that is only going to increase in importance over time, so hopefully learning about it now will assist me no matter what I ultimately decide to do. That being said, I’m sure language teaching is in my future no matter what subfield of SLA I end up focusing on, I know that this course will be invaluable when it comes to planning my classes.
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