Journal 3

Highlight anything that you have learned through this course and discuss why this is meaningful for your learning and instruction?

6.10
I am sincerely sorry for the late post. I thought I have done posted this journal on time, but I only saved the post as a draft. And it obviously was not shown on my blog. I will try to double-check my blog posts in the next time. Sorry again, professor Kim.

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I am very glad that I get to take this course in the 2014 spring semester. Obviously, I am still in a junior year of college and this course is supposed to be open for senior students. When I tried to come up with the schedule for this semester, 'Teaching Second Language Reading' was not even in my option. However, I got a text from the department office that juniors are allowed to take the course if desired. The course perfectly fitted into my schedule and I decided to take it because I, as a future English teacher and a current English private tutor, teaching reading was the hardest of all four major language skills.

It is hard to list all of the things i learned through this course, because there are too many of them. The one that I want to highlight the most is metacognitive skills. Before I take this course, I didn't have any idea how one's metacognition could enhance second language reading experiences. But through several literature reviews on metacognition and reading, I, as a language learner, figured out why I struggle in reading English. This insight gave me some confidence that I can teach students in a way that they can avoid such struggles. Even in L1 reading, metacognition and vocabulary knowledge are highly related to reading comprehension more and more. Considering the fact that every L2 learner already has their L1 skills inherited, learners' metacogntion can be surely transferred to this L2 reading comprehension with some monitoring.

Also, I now have a clear vision about what reading skills are. Before then, I just thought simply there is easy reading and difficult reading. That is all I thought. I didn't think about why the text are easy and difficult for certain learners. The discourse on reading skills was much bigger than I thought and it seems like more researches are still ongoing. However after understanding separability and hierarchy of skills, it became more clear to me that why interactive approach is important in teaching L2 reading. I think skills should be taught with more consideration on current issues.

Last but not least, I think the best part of this course was that there are only 8 students in total. It seems like we are having a small seminar every week and I could learn a lot from the countless discussions and interactions with peers and the professor. This was one of the most unique experiences I could ever have in the college. Because I could feel it that good learning not just comes only from textbooks, but interaction. I don't think what I learned will be as good as it is now if we had a big class.

I would like to thank all my peers and of course, professor Kim for the hard work.

Journal 2

Q. Discuss readings skills that you have learned in this class, but have rarely used in your reading. Do you think they are really necessary ones for better reading? Why or why not?

 

A: There has been a variety of researches done about categorizing reading skills. The main topic in reading skills will be 'separability of skills' and 'hierarchy of skills'. Many applied linguists have come up with various ideas how reading skills are organized and how many are they. However, they seem to reach an agreement that skills, unlike strategies, are acquired unintentionally. Everyone already has reading skills from their first language, as long as he or she is literate. The important thing is that everyone's ability to transfer their L1 reading skills into L2's varies. Most reading skills I have, therefore, are rather acquired from my L1 rather than learned in the L2 class.

 

I personally like the Barrett taxonomy of cognitive and affective dimensions of reading comprehension. I think Clymer (1968) categorized reading skills in a very effective way for both L2 teachers and learners could refer to. In the taxonomy, the skills are divided into 5 subcategories and each subcategories has its own lists of skills. Out of 5 subcategories of skills, I think evaluation is the least used in my own reading experiences. Evaluation skills contains 'judgments of reality of fantasy', 'judgments of fact or opinion', 'judgments of adequacy and validity' and so on. I think these skills are necessary only when you read productively. I think my reading experiences are mostly passively done. I read because I have to, not because I want to. Therefore, I tend not to constructively evaluate the text I read. I just accept it as it is, without questioning about the righteousness of the text.

 

I think in Korean English learning context, other skills are more frequently highlighted. It is because the importance of Korean SAT. The English part of Korean SAT is mainly required L2 learners to be equipped with literal and inferential comprehension skills. I think in general, those two skills are important to have in reading. Literal comprehension, just as it is placed in the lowest skill in the Barrett taxonomy, is the most basic skills. L2 learners need to take texts as it is given. Other comprehensions steps, whether they are hierarchically organized or completely separate, comes after a learner understands the passage as it is written. Also, inference skills are important because in written communication where there is no other communication methods involved such as voice tone, body language, or facial expressions, writers often imply their ideas by putting the words and sentences in a certain manner. As a future English teacher, I would like to work on coming up with good classroom techniques in order for students to develop both literal and inferential comprehension skills.

Journal 1

Q: Suppose your younger brother, nine year old, did not read in English yet, so your mother decided to send him to Hakwon. But 3 months later he ended up feeling that English was simply nightmare. He hated doing phonics workbook and memorizing words. He didn't want to go to Hakwon anymore. Your mother was now anxious and worried about her son. Your mother asked for your help. How would you help your brother enjoy reading in English?

A: First of all, I would be really sad!, if my own younger brother suffers from reading English books! As an English Education major student, I can think of a few solutions to give.

From the above statement, I can guess that my brother does not fit into language-focused learning principle. Most Korean Hakwon, for its full efficiency, teaches with this principle. However, as our textbook says, good teaching L2 reading lessons should pursue a good balance among all four principles.

Plus, he is not able to read English, meaning no recognition of written English letters and no production of spelling is happening at his stage of learning experience.

Therefore, I would blend other principles, such as meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output and fluency development principles, into his L2 lessons. For example, to give him more meaning-focused input, I would encourage him to read more something that is easy enough for him to read. (i-1, not i+1) The primary focus here is for him to enjoy reading English. The books or any other materials will be fine, but they should be fun enough for him to keep reading. In my brother's case, those materials can be an easy chant book or phonics reading books for young learners.

An example for meaning-focused output practices can be a spelling test. This is primarily for L2 learners to produce some kind of output from their learning experiences, not for an evaluation purpose. Some phonics and spelling activities that L2 learners learns can be done for giving such an opportunity.

Last but not least, for his successful improvement in fluency of reading L2, he should practice 'reading aloud' activities as many as possible. Maybe, shadowing can be another good one for beginner levels. Such beginner level learners like my brother, simply need to repeat what the native speakers says spontaneously, without thinking and processing. 

CALL Review 3

Time flies! It's already half past November, and there are not many weeks left until winter vacation. And this will be my last CALL review for this semester! :-( I think I was fortunate enough to take this course and was able to learn (and will learn for next few weeks) a lot of ICT second language teaching materials and resources. I would never have known these much about CALL and MALL which is very crucial and play central roles in teaching L2 in recent years.

I have learned many tools for teaching speaking and writing (+ a few teaching reading tools) ever since I have written my second CALL review. Speaking and writing, as reproductive skills that are often neglected in classroom instruction in Korean educational context, can be implemented through CALL tools and materials. On this CALL review, I would like to elaborate more on "Wikispace." (http://www.wikispaces.com/)

I can explain Wikispace with 4 keywords borrowed from applied linguistics terminology; Collaborative writing, Classroom management, Social writing, and Formative Assessment. Let's look into one by one.

First, as you can guess from the word 'wiki' that it contains, Wikispace is a great tool for collaborative writing. If you ever have googled something, you must have heard of (or presumably used) Wikipedia before. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which anybody who has a connection to the Internet can create and edit articles. Basically, someone who play a role in creating and processing can become a co-author. Wikispace adapts the similar system, which certain participants can collaborate in writing and adds educational features to be used in classrooms. You can have every member of your classroom in one of your 'wikis' you create on Wikispace and participate in writing project. Process Approach is the key approach here,

Secondly, Wiki participants can have a social communication as well. They can comment each other freely on their writing projects or talk in general just like you do in Social Networking System. The different thing is that it is for more closed groups. You won't be able to participate in any sort of communication unless you are a member.

Thirdly, Classroom management is also an important educational feature of Wikispace. Since all participants are in the wiki and a teacher is able to look at each's contribution to the project, managing is not a big issue on Wikispace. It is rather easy! You can send out every one the message though Social communicating feature and be able to see their log-in time and so.

Last but not least, formative assessment will be easily completed. As I have mentioned earlier, Wiki is a big help for process approach of teaching L2 writing. In process approach, formative assessment is crucial, not summative assessment. A teacher will be able to evaluate student's in-process participation with a graphic aid. Formative assessment can enhance collaborative writing.

I have look through the features of Wikispace. I think wikispace is a very educational website and depending on a teacher's intention, it can be very useful in both in-class and out of class activity and writing task for students.

CALL Skill Practive 5

http://hyeonq.wikispaces.com/Being+Tardy
A wiki story created by Hyeon Gyu Ko and Taewhan Kim