I found Jarek Krajka’s article about Using the Internet in ESL Writing fascinating. It provides many useful ideas to implement in our classes. Aside from his suggestion on how to help students write formal letters, which I mentioned on my post on Nicenet, I also liked his on-line lesson with tips for enhancing the teaching of writing argumentative essays, both for and against.
I totally agree with the fact that teenagers in general lack the necessary background knowledge that enables them to know what to say about specific topics. Giving them the possibility to read about them online first and reflect upon the information, may help them come up with more sound arguments to defend their positions on a controversial issue. Undoubtedly, content and accuracy of information is as important as language form and use.
I explored The Ohio University CALL Lab page suggested in the article, (http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/project/index.html), which lists the most common topics for essays. Inside Society and Politics, for instance, I found excellent material for students to read, discuss and write about the Death Penalty, a topic which is dealt with at the advanced level at the Alianza. The URL is http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/node/5. It’s very complete and you can find arguments in favor and against different aspects of the topic such as Deterrence, Retribution, Innocence, Arbitrariness and Discrimination.
The good thing about implementing the task as suggested in the article is that students would be sharing both sides of the story, deciding whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and choosing the most suitable arguments (for example in their culture or political/social reality) to defend their viewpoints. This task would foster the development of higher order thinking skills such as analyzing, summarizing and evaluating information together with a great deal of vocabulary building.
Margarita
Hi Margarita
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea about lack of background knowledge and schema, but I would extend that into early adulthood as well. I see it in the undergraduate students I sometimes work with. It is particularly true about issues that are more regional, or centered on the US. But even with what I would hope would be a universally important topic, such as global warming, I've had students who've had no ideas, and very little background exposure. So I've had to spend a fair amount of time making sure we build - and not just activate - schema in some of my classes. The internet has definitely helped with this.
Robert
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteI see your point. The thing is that most of our young adult learners are university students who come to the Alianza to study English. In general, they are well-informed, concerned about relevant world issues and even opinionated. The lack of enough background knowledge and opinions is more evident with our teenage students, which to a certain extent is due to their young age and lack of maturity. However, we must also admit that, unfortunately, the quality of education in our public high schools has been diminishing in the last few years because of a number of interrelated socio-economic and policital reasons. Thus, the experience you make reference to in your comment also takes place here particularly with students in other educational contexts.
By the way, some colleagues and I were having an interesting exchange of ideas some days ago about something that somehow relates to this topic. We were saying that, on one hand, students have access to a lot of information on the Internet nowadays. On the other hand, there's growing concern about the use of cutting and pasting and plagiarism when they submit the essays assigned for homework. There's an interesting book called "Beyond Cut and Paste" (can't remember the author right now) that warns about the fact that students' having access to so much already digested information on the net can promote "shallow thinking".
In any case, I think it's a challenge for us, educators, to use the Internet wisely in class. It's up to us to plan purposeful online tasks to be carried out in class that would motivate and engage students and enhance the develoment of their critical thinking skills.
It's fascinating food for thought, isn't it?
Thanks for you comment,
Best,
Margarita
Hi again Robert,
ReplyDeleteThere's a typo in my reply. I meant 'political'reasons. I couldn't find the way to edit my comment after posting it.
Margarita