This study explores critical incidents regarding differing cultures-of-use in telecollaboration against the backdrop of Hong Kong and German teacher education contexts. The rationale for the exchange was to model technology use and task design with the ultimate goal of internationalizing teacher education and supporting global citizenship. Participants in this project are 58 English majors in a graduate-level sociolinguistics course at a public research institution in Hong Kong and 15 EFL student teachers in a language teaching and new media elective course at a public education university in Germany. Using social media tools for interaction such as Facebook, Skype, WeChat, and WhatsApp, 11 telecollaborative teams engaged in three sequential tasks: (a) engaging in topical exchanges using Facebook, (b) writing a literature review in Google Docs, and (c) making recommendations on team websites using Wix. Research questions focus on critical incidents identified by participants during these tasks, particularly in relation to tool engagement. Data triangulation includes reflections, surveys, and online interactions. Findings indicate that the majority of Hong Kong teams cite low experience with certain tools, unfamiliarity with alternative tools (e.g., WeChat), and differences in tool access and use as constraints in achieving effective communication. Implications address sensitizing participants to their partners' tool socialization through implementing the critical incident technique.
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This paper reports on the syllabus design and implementation of an English for Science and Technology (EST) course at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. The course combined elements of project-based learning and a "pedagogy for multiliteracies" (New London Group, 1996) to produce a strong learner autonomy focus. A major component of the course was a student-centered digital video project, in which students created and shared a multimodal scientific documentary. A range of new technologies and Web 2.0 platforms (including YouTube and Edublogs) were integrated into the project process in order to create a technologically rich learning environment. The design of this structured technological learning environment was informed by existing case studies of students' autonomous language learning in unstructured online spaces. In this paper, we draw on students' accounts (from questionnaires, focus group interviews, and Weblog comments) to evaluate the digital video project and associated technological environment. In particular, we describe the potential of the project to provide students with opportunities to exercise their capacities as autonomous learners within a structured language learning context.
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Despite the imperatives of policy and rhetoric about their integration in formal education, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often used as an "add-on" in many classrooms and in many lesson plans. Nevertheless, many teachers find that interesting and well-planned tasks, projects, and resources provide a key to harnessing the educational potential of digital resources, Internet communications, and interactive multimedia to engage the interest, interaction, and knowledge construction of young learners. To the extent that such approaches go beyond and transform traditional "transmission" models of teaching and formal lesson planning, this paper investigates the changing requirements and new possibilities represented by the challenge of integrating ICTs in education in a way which at the same time connects more effectively with both the specific contents of the curriculum and the various stages and elements of the learning process. Case studies from teacher education foundation courses provide an exemplary focus of inquiry in order to better link relevant new theories or models of learning with practice, to build upon related learner-centered strategies for integrating ICT resources and tools, and to incorporate interdependent functions of learning as information access, communication, and applied interactions. As one possible strategy in this direction, the concept of an "ICT-supported learning activity" suggests the need for teachers to approach this increasing challenge more as "designers" of effective and integrated learning rather than mere "transmitters" of skills or information through an add-on use of ICTs.
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The study investigates a relationship between what is looked up about new words when different kinds of information are available and how well these words are remembered. The dictionary information has been incorporated into a CALL programme which was comprised of a text, highlighted low-frequency words, and access to different lexical information about these words (explanation in English, translation into L1, sound, root, and "extra" information).
The subjects were English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university learners in Hong Kong and Israel. The target words examined for incidental learning were 12 low frequency words. Pre-tests showed that they were unfamiliar to most subjects. The subjects were asked to read the text on the screen and understand it so that they could take a comprehension test after reading it. Unknown words could be looked up in the CALL dictionary built into the programme. During the task, log files registered every selection of dictionary information. After task completion, subjects were unexpectedly tested on meaning recall of the target words.
Recall data were analysed (ANOVAs, repeated measures, and correlations) to establish possible connections between retention and lookup behaviour (type of information selected, and number of lookups for each word). Results suggest that different people have different lookup preferences and that the use of multiple dictionary information seems to reinforce retention. The teaching implication is, therefore, to provide a variety of lookup options catering to different lookup preferences in paper or CALL dictionaries when assigning tasks that involve reading comprehension and understanding of unfamiliar words.
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This article presents data from a qualitative case study examining secondary ESL students' attitudes toward and perceptions of a collaborative e-mail exchange between a Form 4 (10th grade) ESL class in Hong Kong and an 11th grade English class in Iowa. The exchange was based on a researcher-designed instructional model, utilizing widely accepted theories and methods for modern second language instruction: cooperative learning, communicative language learning, process writing, project-based learning, and an integrated approach.
After exposure to the exchange, Hong Kong students were questioned about (a) changes in attitude towards computers and language learning; (b) effect of computer background on attitude, interest, and motivation; (c) perception of their acquired reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills; and (d) attitude towards cooperative learning. Data was collected primarily from pre- and post-model surveys and personal interviews.
The majority of Hong Kong participants said they enjoyed the exchange, gained general confidence in English and computer skills, and felt that they made significant progress in writing, thinking, and speaking. They were, however, ambivalent as to whether it improved standardized exam-related skills such as grammar usage and discrete language functions. As the project progressed, students with strong computer skills indicated less satisfaction than those with weak computer skills.
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