Why discussion forums?
I've chosen online discussion forums as my next adventure! Since I have recently begun to teach in the Direct Entry Program (DEP) at Griffith University's English Language Institute, our students are using online forums on a weekly basis. DEP is a 10 week university preparation course for English Language Learners that entails four courses. Research Preparation and Practice which includes time management skills, academic writing skills and requirements. Critical Thinking which includes debating strategies and critical analysis of various texts. Issues in Australian Society and Language in Use dealing with Australia news and intense use of grammar in English. As part of the Critical Thinking course that I am teaching, students must respond to a weekly question on the discussion forum and respond to at least one other student's comment.
First, what is an online forum and how do I use it?
Online forums take place on many university and higher education websites. At Griffith, we have learning@griffith and at USQ we have USQ Connect. Both of these areas on the websites require the users to sign in with a user name and password, then click on the appropriate area to make their contributions. Online forums usually have a title and that you can click on to access. Once you are in the forum area, you can view all the previous submissions by other group members and hit a "REPLY" button. This will give you a new window that looks like a word processor. You can type in your comments, do a spell check and then press "submit" and ta-da your submission is now visible to all the other participants. What about editiing? Well, every onlinne forum is different and some do not allow you to edit your work once it has been submitted, others may give you a 5 minute editing window to modify your entry.
Why are online forums beneficial in second language learning?
1. Developing communication skills in writing, discussion, expressing opinions and ideas via electronic medium
2. Developing critical analysis and of several topics.
3. Developing argument skills with supporting statements.
4. Developing accurate writing and grammar skills.
When have you used online forums in education?
I invite you to share your thoughts and comments about online discussion forums and their benefit in second language learning.
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5 comments:
Hello! I am just testing to see if this is working.
Online discussion forums will improve more writing skills than oral skills as you mentioned. I am not an English major but I feel our interaction in our daily life is more oral than written. I teach at an institution where English is the second language and was told that students can write better than what they can speak because word can do many corrections when they write up essays etc. I do agree they have many benefits as people learn to develop rational, logical ways to defend arguments. Allows them opportunity to hear other points of views and teaches them to be tolerant of other views. Saying this I still feel that oral communication is more important than the written communication..
Allycat
Hi,
I also believe there can be many benefits for the second language learner when using discussion forums. If you can encourage usage you can allow students to become immersed in the language in an informal environment. Another advantage is the fact it allows students that perhaps struggle with face to face teaching, due to a lack of confidence, a chance to take part in discussion using the second language.
In my environment I teach the English language to younger Thai students, and I've created a social network, using Ning, as a support for them. This includes a discussion forum. I hope to be able to encourage the use of this, as students have limited time in the classroom to practice their English speaking skills.
english-study.ning.com/
What I like about the Ning environment for second language students is that it combines many Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, discussion forums, audio and video - all that have proven benefits for second language learners - in one simple customizable format.
Hi
I am expected to make 10 posts for part of my Masters in Applied Linguistics. Or keep a journal on the topics. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated by the other students's comments so prefer to submit a journal!
Christine
Hi Christine;
I teach English as a Second Language to pre-university students and I agree it can be a little intimidating when we (or our students) post something on a blog as, in a sense, we all bare our souls when we do this - both with regard to form and content. In other words not only our grammar, spelling and sentence structure but also the depth of our ideas and how well we link them.
I do think it is important for us to think our ideas through in advance though and then to check our planned posts for any errors in grammar, logic or even tone before we actually post our comment as we do not want to start an unintentional war of words. That way we can rest assured that we have said what we meant to say and that any criticism is less likely to be personal.
I also think we should make our students aware of these points and remind them that we teachers also have to check our work before submitting it.
This might help boost students' confidence too.
Vincent
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