With the growing use of technology for daily routines, it's crucial that all students are working towards being digitally proficient. Available technologies not only engage students, but they also help to build the 21st century skills that are necessary for success in today's world. Many ELLs struggle with an affective filter that limits their ability to acquire and use new language, but when students are given the opportunity to communicate through technology, they are more willing and able to express themselves using the English language.
Using podcasts is a great way to increase student motivation in writing. In "Podcast Time": Negotiating Digital Literacies and Communities of Learning in a Middle Years ELL Classroom, a researcher investigates how podcasts revolutionize the writing process for a group of ELLs. Students who were once reluctant readers and writers are taking the time to write, edit, re-read and add voice to their writing. After the writing process is complete, they strive to build fluency as they read their work to others and provide constructive criticism to their peers. Students who struggled with paragraphing suddenly knew how to organize their writing better as they placed sound effects between ideas, and those who had a hard time with reading with expression re-read until they were confident they could engage their audience. Students are motivated by technology, and podcasting gives ELLs a safe and fun way to share their learning.
In "English-Language Learners, Fan Communities and 21st Century Skills", an author looks into the effects of publishing student work to a public space on student literacy as well as digital literacy. Students read and write fan fictions, texts written about media and popular culture by fans, as they explore web editing and design. They become critical of what they read online and they are more able to identify good information from the bad. Rather than sending language learners to classrooms where they are focusing on traditional literacy, here students master traditional literacy skills with a 21st century twist. "ELLs are developing language, literacy and social skills across national borders."They are able to review other people's work, and read the positive comments strangers leave for them, boosting self-esteem and increasing the desire to grow as a writer.
Black, R. W. (2009). English-language learners, fan communities, and 21st-century skills. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(8), 688-688-697. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216927556?accountid=28167
Smythe, S., & Neufeld, P. (2010). "Podcast time": Negotiating digital literacies and communities of learning in a middle years ELL classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(6), 488-488-496. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216922412?accountid=28167
Meghan, do you have any questions about the articles? Will you use podcasting and publishing your students work in the your future classroom? If so, what are some ways you would incorporated them?
ReplyDeleteObviously, you could do these steps without the podcast as the desired end product. But it seems that having an authentic end product increases motivation and a willingness to increase the quality of the work, maybe because of the potential audience. And hey, it's kinda cool to add background music, jingles, and sound effects.
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