I love cooperative learning! I like its ideas of learning by doing as well as learning in a community. It is exactly the same as language learning. Language learning shouldn’t be done alone. People must practice with somebody to see how it works. By using cooperative learning approach, students can practice the target language in front of a group of people that they feel comfortable with before saying it out loud to the whole class. Also, it is always effective when students have more opportunities to talk in such small groups. More importantly, when students learned how to learn from each other and communicate with others in the class, I believe that they can keep learning outside of the classroom.
When I try to apply this to my future teaching, I think of combining what I’ve learned in ECI 513 that I can have students in small groups to make videos together. I think it would be a great idea to let students have chance to write a Chinese script and then act it in Chinese! Or, I can even ask them to record each other’s pronunciation and compare the differences to the teacher’s/instructional tape’s pronunciation. I think that will be neat for them to see themselves speaking Chinese! I can’t wait to search more strategies that could be applied to Mandarin teaching.
Although I think cooperative learning will get the greatest outcome when people talk to each other face-to-face and sit in the same classroom surrounded by its safe and comfortable atmosphere, I still believe people can do it on the web, just like what we’re doing in this course. But when it comes to language teaching, I would suggest using web cam as well as headset to facilitate the communication process. It is always difficult for people who don’t have a mutual language to understand each other without seeing their facial expressions and gestures. In addition, I think that teach only one group of students synchronously would be better. I don’t believe that a teacher can monitor two or more groups’ discussion online at the same time without being disturbed by so many people talking at the same time. (Unless there is a computer program that you can switch from one group to the other, I don’t know one, but just think that there is always a possibility.)
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Miya - I always enjoy reading your posts and your application of the tools to foreign language. I have an undergraduate degree in French and I always wonder if our instructors had used Web 2.0 tools or online tools if we could have benefited more.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I would caution (this is mentioned in this week's reading) is not to have groups at the same skill level. We did a lot of partner work so my friend and I always worked together - but we were at the same level and so we couldn't correct each other very well. We were too similar to be constructive. Good luck!
Morgan
From Jennifer Knott: Until I read your post, I had not considered Cooperative Learning in an online arena. I guess that's exactly what we've been doing in this class - right on the nose. I'd be interested to see this work with teaching languages too.
ReplyDeleteJill Sipe
ReplyDeleteLanguage learning in a cooperative group sounds like a fun way to learn, and is such a good example of why it would be important to have learners of various abilities involved in the process. For instance, an advanced student would be able to correct and guide the other less advanced students and would gain new knowledge as they sought answers for situations where they are not sure of correct usage. I think this would be beneficial to all members of the group.
Hi Miya,
ReplyDeleteI really like your ideas for using cooperative learning to teach languages. I agree that students will be much more comfortable talking in front of a large group once they have practiced within their small group. The Web is really a great medium for cooperative learning and I think it will also work very well for language learning.
Mary Ellen
Hi Miya,
ReplyDeleteI like your reflections so far as every time I get to read different things in the field of Language learning. I came across Chinese alphabets just out of curiosity, and I really think that pronunciation of alphabets can well be learn using collaborative learning approach.Since Chinese has different uses of tones, in small groups advanced students will prove more helpul for beginners.
While I agree with my peers' comments about CL and foreign language instruction - I want to acknowledge your first few sentences about learning as doing and learning in community. I liked those components as well. ;)
ReplyDeleteMiya,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I am still searching for a way to use Cooperative Learning in an online environment. Do you suppose for one project/ assignment students could write a short story in Mandarin together? This could be asynchronous, and each group would provide one story. It might help you stay sane too! :)
Miya,
ReplyDeleteVery insightful! I was very much opposed to cooperative learning until reading your post. You made some very good points about how cooperative learning can be beneficial online and in the classroom. I'm going to take your suggestions to our foreign language teachers! I know they would love it. Thanks Miya!
Anni Carroll
Miya,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you mentioned using the web cam for online Cooperative Learning. It would be interesting to see how that would work. It would be a great replacement for face to face with online students. I never thought of that. Thank you for sharing that thought.