Exploiting the Internet for Foreign
Language Input:
Resources, Tools and Techniques for Accessing Text and Audio
Gary
Cziko
University of
Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
Presented at
English
Teacher's Association-Republic of China (ETA-ROC)
14th International Symposium and Book Fair on English Teaching
Taipei City,
Taiwan
Province, Republic
of China
11 November 2005
Abstract
The
Internet provides access to an enormous and ever growing amount and
variety of
written texts and audio in many languages. These resources are
particularly
valuable for foreign language learners as sources of reading and
listening
input to facilitate language acquisition and as sources of information
on the
history, culture and current events of other countries. However, the
large
amount of material available can make it difficult to find interesting
and
appropriate language input. In addition, having to use an
Internet-connected
computer to read or listen to foreign languages and manually download
text and
audio files may not be convenient or even possible for many language
learners.
This
paper focuses on three aspects of exploiting the Internet for foreign
language
input. First, ways to find interesting text and audio from around the
world are
provided. Second, tools to make authentic foreign language text and
audio more
comprehensible are presented. Finally, techniques that make reading and
listening to foreign languages more convenient are offered. These
latter
techniques include the use of RSS feeds, automatic downloading of text
to PDAs,
automatic downloading of audio programs to portable digital audio
players
(podcasts) and rebroadcasting foreign language audio programs from the
Internet
using low-power AM and FM transmitters to make these programs
accessible to
learners via inexpensive radios throughout one’s home,
workplace or campus.
Outline
Notes:
- This outline is available on the web via garycziko.net -> Presentations -> 2005 -> Taiwan
- More information on Internet Input plus Interaction, Exercises
and Assessment available in the Autonomous Technology-Assisted
Language Learning (ATALL) Wikibook at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ATALL (or search via Google using "ATALL Wikibook")
- To find out about new tools, resources and language learning activities using technology
- To share what you have discovered with other language teachers and students
- More on the ATALL Wikibook at my workshop tomorrow afternoon
- Almost all resources mentioned here are free.
Introduction
- The importance of input
- The concept of input is perhaps the single most important
concept of second language acquisition. . . . In fact, no model of
second language acquisition does not avail itself of input in trying to
explain how learners create second language grammars (Gass, 1997, p. 1)
- We cannot ignore the fact that learners need access to abundant
amounts of comprehensible input in order for acqusition to happen.
(Wong, 2005, p. 34)
- There is disagreement concerning whether input is sufficient for the acquisition of both receptive and productve second language skilss, but universal agreement that it is necessary.
- Huge difference in the accessibility of foreign language input: 1970s (me) vs. 2000s (today's students)
Internet Text
- Sources of Internet text
- Project Gutenberg
- Started in 1971 by Michael Hart at the University of Illinois before the Web existed
- 16,000 copyright-expired ebooks have now been published, most of which are in English
- Google News
- Wikipedia(s)
- Blogs
- "A weblog or blog is a web-based publication of periodic articles (posts), usually presented in reverse chronological order. It is an online journal with one or many contributors" (from the Wikipedia).
- Facilitating access to Internet text
- Customizing Google News
- RSS
- ". . . allows internet users to subscribe to
websites that have provided RSS feeds; these are typically sites that
change or add content regularly. . . The RSS formats provide web content or summaries of web content
together with links to the full versions of the content, and other
meta-data. . . . RSS allows a website's frequent readers to
track updates on the site using a news aggregator." (from the Wikipedia 2005-10-27)
- RSS Reader (directory)
- Teachers and students can make their RSS feeds public to share with others as in:
- Can be downloaded directly to PDA
- AvantGo
- Provides automatic download selected channels of text to your PDA
- I use AvantGo to automatically download the latest news
stories in English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese that I
always have with me on my PDA.
- Facilitating comprehension of Internet text
- Easy English
- Dictionaries and translators
- Gives "mouse-over" translations for any
webpage from one language to another involving English, French, German,
Chinese and Japanese (e.g, Google News in English: words translated in
Chinese)
- User can place seleced words in list for study and flashcard creation
- Someone should make a Web reader English -> English dictionary (Google?) useful for all intermediate readers of EFL
Internet Audio
- Sources of Internet audio
- Facilitating access to Interet audio
- Podcasting
- "Podcasting is a means of distributing audio and video programs via the Internet
that lets users subscribe to a number of files, also known as "feeds,"
and then hear or view the material at the time that they choose." (from Wikipedia 2005-10-27)
- "Pod" comes from iPod, but an iPod is not necessary and it's
better to think of a podcast as a radio program that is Portable On
Demand
- Programs can be played on computer or automatically "synched" to iPod or other portable digital music player
- -> Demonstration of iTunes with Podcasts with NPR podcasts
- Are podcasts are the future of radio?
- Easy for individuals to make their own podcasts and reach a huge audience with little expense
- Broadcasting on low-power FM or AM transmitters
- Facilitating comprehension of Internet Audio
- Speed control with Windows Media Player (Windows) or QuickTime (Windows and Macintosh)
- -> Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (chapter 1 MP3; go to 00:25 (title, author, notice)
- Combining text and audio (prereading)
- eBooks with Audiobooks
- News
- Suggested method
- Read text (plus possibly background information)
- Listen to audio at
- Slow speed (slow enough to understand almost all: i + 1)
- Normal speed, and perhaps even try
- Faster-than-normal speed (I like to listen to French at 1.5 x normal speed to exercise my brain!)
Internet Video (special bonus!)
- Still in its infancy, but getting much better with some important developments over the last few months
- Sources
- Atom Films
- Large selection of free short films and animations in English
- No subtitles or captions
- Must view short advertisement before selected film
- Google Video (beta)
- Growing collection of all types of video
- From home movies of birthday parties to documentaries and TV programs
- Search: Rainbow Warrior
- Can upload unlimited number of own videos for free or paid playback
- Videos converted to Flash format for easy playback with Flash Player (included in most browsers)
- iTunes video (new)
- Small amount of paid (mostly music videos for $1.99 US)
- Can be viewed on computer or on new Video iPod
Conclusions
- We've looked at
- Customized news pages
- Blogs
- Wikis
- RSS
- Low-power radio broadcasts
- Podcasts
- Google Video and Atomfilms
- A somewhat bewildering array of new technologies for language input
- But all these tools have the potential of making language input more accessible and more comprehensible
- A typical day of English student in Taiwan:
- Breakfast
- Wake up, put on coffee maker, put on computer
- Check latest podcasts in English -> new NPR podcast on Environment automatically downloaded overnight
- Play podcast on computer connected to low-power FM transmitter
- Put on FM radio in kitchen and listen to program while making and eating breakfast
- Commute to campus
- Finish listening to podcast on way to campus using iPod or other MP3 player in car, bus or train
- Walking between classes on campus
- Listen to the news in from the BBC broadcast on campus
by a low-power radio station automatically transmitting programs from
the Internet
- Waiting in line at cafeteria for lunch
- Read news stories and movie reviews on PDA via AvantGo
- Commute home
- Listen to another podcast on iPod or other portable MP3 player in car, bus or train.
- Evening
- Check RSS feeds on home computer for interesting news stories in topics of interest
- Play a short mystery film in English on computer from Atomfilms
- Bedtime
- Fall asleep listening slowed-down chapter of Huckleberry Finn broadcast from home computer to bedside clock radio
- I encourage English teachers and students to explore these and
other new technologies for language input and share their experiences
with each other, thereby helping to "bridge the gap between teaching
and learning.
- I hope to read about your experiences and discoveries in the ATALL Wikibook (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ATALL).
Copyright © 2005 -- Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Last updated 2005-11-11 by
Gary A. Cziko [
e-mail: g-cziko@uiuc.edu]