Would you like to receive publication updates from HLT? You can by joining the free mailing list today. |
Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 3; May 02
Do It Yourself Humanism - courtesy of Blogger
Larry Davies,FUN-Hakodate, Japan.
That undefinable beast we call the Internet is in the throes of yet another revolution. The flavor of the month is none other than http://www.blogger.com. a one-man show where you can quickly create a website where you can post your innermost thoughts in a Web-based log(or weblog, or, shortest of all "blog"). Blogging has entered the mainstream, and folks from all walks of life are signing on in order to pontificate about whatever is of closest interest to them.
The revolution, though, is in the fact that blogger is a free service, and you can be up and running in a matter of 20 mouseclicks. What this means for education should be readily apparent, but is worth exploring in some detail in this article.
PERSONAL JOURNALS
Weblogs, used as personal journals, are both intensely private spaces and intensely public spaces. Individual users have complete control over the content they provide in the log. With a quick course in HTML, users can provide links to interesting websites they have discovered, pictures they wish to share, sounds they wish people to hear...the power of personal, free and quickly accessible publishing is assured.
But, as the blog is posted on an Internet website, the audience is worldwide at an instant. In a classroom, this means that blogging moves beyond private dialogue journals between one student and one teacher. Now, everyone in the class has full and open access to everyone else in the class. The obvious advantage of this is that students produce materials for the consumption of other students and adds a here-to-fore impossible advantage of instilling more robust communication among students.
Some examples, drawn from the tens of thousands of existing blogs:
This is the blog of Adam Curry, a former VJ for MTV. In his blog, he attempts to put a truer spin on the music industry. Here is where the power of blogs challenge the status quo of large media conglomerates. He is forthright in his blog about what he was permitted to say and not to say in his job, compiling an ever growing list of stories, especially pertaining to the many rock stars and other celebreties he met during his stint at MTV.
Like Adam Curry's blog, sites such as Cursor seek to provide an alternative (in this case, left-wing) spin on world news items. Items listed provide an eye-opening perspective on events that happen in our continuously shrinking global village.
Wil Wheaton (the boy star of the movie "Stand by Me") has emerged from acting obscurity to weblogging fame with his highly personal, and immensely popular, blog. Wheaton's blog, like many others, also contains links to other blogging friends, thus his personal community serves as an ever expanding portal into the world of blogs.
FEEDBACK
Beyond even these sites, though, lies the promise of instant feedback that can be programmed quite easily into any blog. So, you can post your opinion about mundane topics such as "Will Argentina smother England in the upcoming World Cup?" or more complex cultural topics such as "What's the best way to refuse a party invitation if I am in Spain?" For both of these topics, you can program a link to get people to share their opinions of your opinion, thus, the element of interactivity. Students in your class can respond, but any visitor with Internet access might also respond.
Second language writers would find themselves engrossed in the continuous process of writing and rewriting commentary for an on-demand audience. Such an audience is much more stimulating for the student writer than his teacher, obsessed with correctness but for didactic rather than communicative reasons.
CREATING A LEARNING SUPPORT NETWORK
Blogging's most interesting phenomenon, though, (as I hinted at above) is that the more proficient bloggers quickly form a virtual community.This usually comes about as people send responses to things that are being posted in personal blogs. Links are exchanged, mini-banners to other blogger sites are exchanged, email word-of-mouth spreads and some bloggers find themselves on the winning end of 15 minutes of fame. "Communities" form around salient points made in logs. Debate is not too uncommon, but blogging communities are more interested in the dialogues that ensue, rather than proving someone else right or wrong. A look at the more proficient blog layouts finds not just a single page of information, but a multi-columned layout where links to other blog members run, like a virtual rolodex, down the sides in columns.
In a classroom situation, students might be encouraged to send feedback to bloggers, raising points or questions about particular entries.Students can experience the myriad points of view of those who access logs, thus, begin to move within the nuances that learning any language entails. In addition, as students get more into blogging and their personal community grows, friendships are forged and the free,unexpurgated sprit of blogging is clear to see. An ever growing rolodex would be considered clear progress in using the target language successfully. Success measured, finally, in human terms!
GET BLOGGING!
I'll be using blogs with my students from this year. It's an experiment that I'm sure will produce some very interesting results. I would expect at least 15% of students to continue blogging beyond the confines of my short time with them. This type of success rate will vary with your approach to using blogs. My advice of course is to spend at leasta couple of hours looking at the amazing variety of blogs out there, and having your students sample some of the more provocative and personal sites. Finally, I'd be very happy to have readers of HLT participate with my students,and I will encourage my students to become participants in your classes, too, for in the final analysis, blogging is about connecting people with people.
Larry Davies is an Associate Professor at Future University (FUN)
Hakodate in Japan. His PhD work through Monash University will explore cultural approaches to technology in education. You can visit his blog
at http://ghotibowl.blogspot.com.
Larry Davies, Associate Professor, Future University - Hakodate (^o^)/~
116-2 Kameda Nakano-cho, Hakodate, Japan 041-8655
TEL (W) +81-(0)138-34-6526 - http://www.fun.ac.jp/~davies/index.html
icq:9137406 | aim:zenmzee | schmooze:godzilla | achieve:larry
