TECHNOLOGY HELPS ESL STUDENTS EFFECTIVELY DEVELOP SKILLS AND IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
Posted by Ed Lane on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 04:52 PM
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 80 percent of the 26.4 million immigrants living in the United States are older than 18. Other reports indicate that over 2 million adults and out-of-school youths are enrolled ESL programs.
THE CHALLENGES
The classroom environment has changed from many years ago. Instructors face the challenges of a large population who speak English as a second language, are older, or don't have easy access to educational opportunities. Though most ESL or EFL students are usually highly motivated, they too face challenges. They typically work, have families and limited resources - all the while adapting to a new environment and language.
THE OPPORTUNITIES
The language needs of ESL students have motivated instructors to seek new and innovative ways to educate these students. While some students excel in written work, others respond better to aural lessons. Aim for balance.
Emerging technologies provide opportunities for even more learning experiences. Lecture capture services, software, word processing, podcasts, video, graphics, and the Internet are all sources of different learning activities for ESL students. Moreover, these technologies not only facilitate learning, but they also help students learn more efficiently and achieve better results. (Example: Pensacola Junior College ESL study).
The emergence of Lecture Capture technology, for instance, expands opportunities by allowing instructors to serve both on-and-off campus students by recording and publishing lectures with a click of a button. Students can then access the lectures through computers, iPods, or mobile devices furnished by schools, local libraries, government or privately funded programs. Student benefits include:
- Increased comfort and satifaction, knowing technology is non-judgmental
- Individualized plans/assignments; instant feedback and assessment
- Empowerment that technology provides students
- Vocabulary and verbal language development through repetition in a self-paced, self-controlled environment
- Ability to replay lectures anywhere, anytime - and to adjust playback speed, pause, repeat, or even print out lecture materials when written work is preferred.
- Increase in study efficiency by quickly finding specific points in a lecture then repeating as necessary
- Share and interact with other ESL students through live chat, or by posting comments, samples, and questions
- 508 Compliancy
Sources for educators:
http://www.census.gov/
http://www.cal.org/
FREE Lecture Capture: Record up to 3 courses for 1 year - FREE - with Tegrity Lite!
Resources for ESL students:
- Wordsmyth: This integrated dictionary-thesaurus includes a database of more than 50,000 words.
- SchMOOze University: Virtual university for ESL students.
- Your Dictionary.com: This site provides links to a variety of dictionaries, including foreign language and specialty dictionaries, as well as a number of other language tools.