Blyth discussed some benefits of applying CMC in foreign language learning, such as great students participation, great L2 production, improved quality L2 discourse (Kern, 1995), and explicitly error correction, and decreased L1 use (Beauvois, 1998). I do notice these advantages when we had our group discussion done via chatroomlast Tuesday. I feel more comfortable than I do during face-to-face communication in that I have more time to think before speaking up. Now, here comes my question. How can learners practice their oral communication skills via chatroom?
For some students who are visual learners, chatting online might be a better way than interact person-to-persoan. They are motivated and become more confident in communicaing in L2. It seems that they "speak up" more, but is this the real "speak up"? In other words, listening and oral skills are less emphasized. Suppose that students communicate effectively via chatroom, but they still cannot be easily understood due to their poor listening skill and incorrect pronunciation when communicating face-to-face. I assume that learners have to acutally say the language, not just write in that language, in order to develop their communicative competence.
How to use CMC to improve students' oral communication skills? Do you come up with some opinions, or possible solutions?
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12 years ago
Good question, Yi. I think we shouldn't expect that chatting can act as a substitute for, let alone replace, instruction in oral skills. It may be useful, though, for building fluency, as opposed to accuracy, and that fluency may transfer to speaking competence, as some research has shown. But I don't think we should think of chatting as deficient speaking, or deficient writing, I think it's something new altogether, worth doing in and of itself.
ReplyDeletewhat if you chat with video or just audio? you can do so using msg that's the way I chat with my relatives... do you think Ss would like to try it or would they prefer to be anonymous? I think that if we have the resources we should give it a try... and for the shy Ss, audio only can be the option. They can have the opportunity to practice their pronunciation and fluency. Do you think video interaction would be the same as face-to-face? I mean do we have as many interruptions? what have you noticed when you use it (video chat)?
ReplyDeleteHi, Mig~
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, I use both video and audio chat with my family. I feel that video interaction is not the same as face to face one. In my own case, less interruptions occur during video chat because I still feel the distance between the interlocutor and me. I become more patient (I don't know why, subconsciously?)
I think video and audio chat can also be used to help students with their listening and speaking, but students might feel more stressful at the very beginning. When they(especially introverted ones) become more familiar with the chatting tool and the interlocutor, they can try video and audio chatting (anyway, it depends on Ss' personalities