I frequently use google chat to talk to my Costa Rican host family brother, Ignacio. Sometimes we speak in English and sometimes we speak in Spanish. Based on my experiences, I believe that an NBC chat tool like google chat could be really valuable for second language learning because there are text chat, voice chat, and video chat available in the same forum. So when my brother and I are voice chatting, if there is something that I said that he doesn't understand, I can type what I am saying into the gchat so he can see what I am trying to say and look it up if necessary. Also, this reinforces the authentic forms both through vision and hearing. Additionally, I can choose to save a record of the chat, so anything that we typed to one another can be looked at later. These feature help bridge the gap between oral fluency and grammatical competence.
The ability to add text to an audio chat reduces anxiety for both of us too because the text chat can be used to negotiate meaning, while a chat over the phone would be more intimidating because if we do not understand one another, then there are only so many things we can exhaust before we give up and move on. Also, I think a lot of students have a natural propensity to use chat forums anyway so this will likely lead to lowering affect in the classroom. However, if the students are not the greatest "typers" chatting may add a new complication to their lives and actually raise affect. For classrooms, the transcript could be a great tool for grading, and for the students to review later.
Any other ideas??
I like the idea of saving the transcript of the chat for students to review their work. If this were to be an ongoing process, it would be a great way for students to see the progress that they have made over time.
ReplyDeleteChristine,
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of combining face-to-face interaction through video chat along with text-based chat. As you describe, meaning can be negotiated through both listening/speaking and through written text. Students are practicing a wider set of skills at once. Thank you for describing this!