Khai thác hiệu quả phòng Internet để phát triển kỹ năng tổng hợp tin tức cho học viên khoa Quan hệ quốc tế Học viện Khoa học Quân sự

Bài viết này trình bày tầm quan trọng và những lợi ích của việc hướng dẫn học viên khai thác Internet để tổng hợp báo cáo tin tức quốc tế, từ đó gợi ý các bước giảng dạy và đặt ra những yêu cầu đối với giảng viên đảm nhiệm giờ học này.

NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI v KHAI THÁC HIỆU QUẢ PHÒNG INTERNET ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG TỔNG HỢP TIN TỨC CHO HỌC VIÊN KHOA QUAN HỆ QUỐC TẾ HỌC VIỆN KHOA HỌC QUÂN SỰ ĐỖ VĂN TOÀN* * Học viện Khoa học Quân sự, ✉ dvtcontact@gmail.com Ngày nhận: 13 /4/2017; Ngày hồn thiện: 06/5/2017; Ngày duyệt đăng: 10/5/2017 TĨM TẮT Đối với học viên Quan hệ Quốc tế, Học viện Khoa học Quân sự, việc rèn luyện phát triển kỹ tổng hợp tin tức quan trọng tổng hợp tin tức quốc tế nhiệm vụ học viên phải đảm nhiệm sau tốt nghiệp cương vị ban đầu trợ lý đối ngoại Để phát triển kỹ cho học viên, giảng viên hướng dẫn học viên khai thác hiệu phòng-thư viện Internet Học viện Bài viết trình bày tầm quan trọng lợi ích việc hướng dẫn học viên khai thác Internet để tổng hợp báo cáo tin tức quốc tế, từ gợi ý bước giảng dạy đặt yêu cầu giảng viên đảm nhiệm học Từ khóa: khai thác Internet, quan hệ quốc tế, tin tức, tổng hợp tin tức quốc tế INTRODUCTION For cadets of International Relations at Military Science Academy, learning to report current affairs is necessary because reporting news is one of their future responsibilities as international relations officers The Internet, with its ‘abundance of authentic material and information’ (Motteram, 2013, p.98), can be a useful tool to help the cadets hone their news reporting skills How to employ this tool is a matter of concern for lecturers of the International Relations Department This article discusses exploiting the Internet room of Military Science Academy to develop news reporting skills for cadets of International Relations Firstly, the article presents two major reasons why it is important to teach these skills to the cadets It then discusses the benefits of using the Internet to gather topical news, followed by some general requirements for a news report The two last sections of the article will suggest some teaching procedures and lay out requirements for teachers in charge of this skills development lesson For the sake of its length, the article focuses on news reports which are done orally only, not in writing IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING NEWS REPORTING SKILLS Cadets of International Relations at Military Science Academy are trained to become international relations officers after graduation KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 93 v NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI One of their responsibilities is research and write reports on current affairs all over the world Teaching them how to report news compiled from a wide range of sources is very important since this practice helps the learners develop occupational skills, such as searching for needed information, to handle future tasks assigned by their superiors resources avalable for public use When being asssiged to report a particular event, the cadets can access various articles, each written in its own stand, covering the story This is very beneficial to the learners as their thinking is not framed by any one-sided opinion while they analyze world news stories which are often complex and contingent in their developments When the cadets work on the assigned news on the Internet, they enrich their specialized background knowledge (Motteram, 2013, p.131) This knowledge is essential to develop their expertise which is needed to fulfill the asignments of many academic subjects during their course at the Academy Such subjects as History of International Relations, Vietnam’s Foreign Policy and Theories of International Relations require the cadets to have a deep accquaintance with not merely past stories but also updated news in politics both in Vietnam and around the world Thus, they might risk producing naive research were they to support their arguments with insufficient knowledge When reading news online, the learners can also improve their command of English in general and their language skills in particular (Motteram, 2013, p.101) Researching various sources of news and interpreting their authors’ views enhance the learners’ reading comprehension ability and enrich their vocabulary Also, discussing what they have collected with their peers in the class helps them develop their speaking skills and, at the same time, consolidates the acquired language items Besides, the learners’ listening ability can be upgraded when they work on online video news reports Thus, the learners’ language intake is much facilitated through this intergrated skills practice (Hirvela, 2012) BENEFITS OF USING THE INTERNET TO RESEARCH NEWS There are various ways to research news For example, one can read conventional newspapers to grasp what is going on in world politics, listen to news reports on a local radio station, or go to a library to obtain a detailed account of a news story Unfortunately, these ways may not satisfy those who wish to access not just the past events of a story but also its current developments However, as a ‘World Bank of information’ (Loan, 2012), the Internet can accommodate such needs of the news researchers; in fact, it can bring substantial benefits for cadets of International Relations in producing news reports, and below are three prominent advantages in the writer’s view Most major press corporations and official portals publish news and information on particular topics on the Internet with many 94 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 Finally, in terms of language acquisition psychology, the learners’ enthusiasm for learning is stimulated when there is a switch from conventional learning environment with much familiar arrangements to a new one with different settings (Hannah, 2013) Also, the online material with up-to-date information and topics is ‘more motivating’ for the learners than traditional textbooks (Motteram, 2013, p.101) These postitive effects, thus, can make up for the cadets’ possible tiredness caused by working on news reports within the stipulated time REQUIREMENTS OF A NEWS REPORT News reports come in different forms depending on the assigner’s requirements For example, a news report to be shared within a small group can be dissimilar from the one to be presented to a larger audience or the one to be NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI v submitted to a superior The teacher may wish to remind the cadets to be aware of this flexibility But whatever a particular requirement might be, the writer suggests that a news report should at least the following Present accurate and credible information Numerous reports covering a single event mean a varitey of views reflecting and explaining it The cadets should be taught to retell these reports accurately, without exaggerating or understating any views Moreover, the news reports should be credible with identified sources The cadets’ linguistic ability also plays an important role in interpreting the published news because simplistic intepretation of an utterance could lead to improper reflection of it All these are critical, especially in the military context where leaders’ direction is often based on their inferiors’ reports Summarize different views on the issue An occurance in politics is better understood when it is studied from different viewpoints It is the reporter’s responsibility to select and include most valuable positions When news reporting skills are practiced in the class, it lies with the teacher to provide a ‘rich’ requried reading list for the cadets The reading should reflect multiple perspectives to make sure that coverage of a news story is not one-sided Provide conclusions or recommendations from what has been reported In the military, news reports are made to be submited to superiors Providing conclusions or recommendations at the end of the report is needed, for the superiors often base on these lines to give directive instructions The cadets, therefore, should have the opportunity to practice formulating their recommendations from what they have collected This part is not necessarily too long in a news report, but it should be clear and concise to meet the superiors’ needs TARGETED LEARNERS FOR NEWS REPORTING LESSONS Most English news is written with nativelevel linguistic sophistication For this reason, it seems that reporting news is only suitable for third and fourth year cadets when their language skills are more proficient, and it could be an obstable to learners with a poorer command of English Fortunately, a number of news websites, such as voanews.com with its Special English site and bbc.co.uk with its Learning English site, provide simpler English news reports for lowerlevel language learners Therefore, freshmen and sophomores can work on these special sites to research news In fact, however difficult the language of an article is, experienced teachers would know how to design the reporting tasks to suit their cadets’ linguistic ability This means easier research questions can be assigned to learners with lower linguistic competence while more difficult ones to learners with better command of English (Harmer, 2001, p.127) PROCEDURES FOR TEACHING NEWS REPORTING SKILLS Below are two workable plans that the teacher can follow: one with all activities done within a two-period lesson’s time (90 minutes) and the other with some researching activities done prior to the lesson For all-in-one lessons First of all, the teacher assigns the cadets research questions accompanied by a list of required links and articles The cadets then access the Internet, reading those articles to answer the questions After this, the cadets work in groups, discussing what they have collected Each group then presents their collaborative work in front of the class, followed by other groups asking questions or voicing their views on their presented material At the end of the lesson, the teacher can draw some conclusions on the researched topics, give comments on the KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 95 v NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI research methods used by the cadets, provide some language correction if necessary, etc This plan is more suitable for those cadets with greater linguistic proficiency since it requires the learners to work very hard and possibly causes some stress due to the workload In fact, international relations officers may sometimes have to work under pressure to meet the deadline of their assigned reports For this reason, the 90-minute lesson is a good opportunity for the learners to prepare themselves for their future tasks For lessons with the cadets’ prior preparation The teaching procedures are similar to those of the all-in-one lessons above except that the step of researching news online has already been done prior to the lesson The cadets then have more time for discussing their gathered news Further investigation into the assigned issue could be done right in the Internet room when necessary under the teacher’s instruction and observation To begin with, the teacher should make sure that the cadets have been familiar with working in groups Such groupwork skills as sharing information, discussing, and assigning roles should have been practiced in previous lessons When the cadets have already mastered those skills, they will spend more time on their research work This way, the outcome of groupwork can be maximized (Ellis et al., 2005) Second, the teacher needs to instruct the cadets how to research news from different sources, read effectively, take notes, present what has been collected, and, when required, provide recommendations on the researched news These study skills should be introduced and practiced in the first lessons According to Gettinger and Seibert (2002, p.350), the ‘knowledge and application of study skills’ would help the learners to ‘acquire, organize, retain and use’ information efficiently; and this can enhance their performance and competence REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHERS Third, the teacher should be well-prepared, understanding deeply the topics assigned to the cadets A list of articles and their links should be given to the learners so that the teacher can have control over what they read For developing news stories, the teacher may wish to update them right in the class in addition to managing and observing the learners As Harmer (2001, p.121) points out, the teacher needs to have planned in advance, ‘have a destination they want their students to reach’, and remain ‘flexible’ in the class All these will contribute to the teacher’s effective prompts for the learners, especially in the news reporting skills development lesson A lesson conducted in the Internet room is different from that in a conventional classroom For example, the news stories can be up to the minute, or the learners may be distracted from their assignments due to other things on the Internet Therefore, the teacher needs to comply with a number of requirements in order for the lesson to be fruitful Fourth, the teacher should master the English language knowledge to a certain degree, especially vocabulary associated with the assigned topics In fact, there are chances that some political terms, phrases, and expressions are out of the teacher’s awareness zone A thorough study into the related language would help the teacher manage linguistic situations well This plan is more suitable for those cadets with lower linguistic competence since they have more time for preparation The teacher may have to work harder, however, giving more careful instruction and more detailed feedback This plan can also work for the learners with better command of English when the teacher wishes to make a change in the teaching procedures or when the researched issues are more complicated, asking for discussion at great length 96 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI v in the lesson However, according to Harmer (2007, p.110), the teacher should not be be an all-time resource for the learners who sometimes need to look for the answers themselves under the teacher’s guidance Fifth, the teacher should have good class management skills to deal with study problems in the class (Harmer, 2007, p.153-155) This is because rows of computers in the Internet room are arranged differently from desks and chairs are in a conventional classroom, and the teacher cannot see all the learners’ screens at the same time Some cadets may be distracted from their main job by the lure of other things on the Internet An experienced teacher would know how to encourage the cadets to focus on their work and bring those distracted back to their tasks It is important that a set of regulations for working in the Internet room be introduced, and the teacher may wish to remind the cadets of those rules before each lesson if need be Sixth, the teacher should master some techniques for researching online news (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, p.29-34) There are a number of ways to find exactly what you are looking for in most cases on the Internet Also, it should come to the teacher’s knowledge that there are those websites with reliable contents and those without When the cadets are aware of all these, possible harm or drawbacks could be avoided The teacher can introduce and let the cadets practice all the techniques for working online in the first lessons of the class Finally, the teacher may want to anticipate what might happen technically when the class is in progress, and adopt appropriate solutions (Maher, n.d.) For example, there should be an alternative, which has been prepared in advance, when there is a sudden power cut Similarly, when the Internet service breaks down or its download speed is too slow, the teacher should switch to some substitutes Another unwanted possibility is that when an individual link to an important required article does not work, the teacher may provide the learners with another working analogue Thus, teaching in the Internet room does need the teacher to make contigency plans CONCLUSION Using the Internet room to teach news reporting skills to cadets of International Relations is needed since this practice helps them improve their English language skills, build their International Relations background knowledge, and train their professional skills needed for future work There are numerous things the teacher needs to for the lesson in the Internet room to be successul, from preparing the material to adopting a workable procedure, anticipating unexpected technical situations, and meeting a series of requirements Future studies on exploiting the Internet room can focus on development of other English language skills or those skills in other foreign languages being taught at Military Science Academy References: Dudeney, G and Hockly, N (2007), How to Teach English with Technology, Longman, Harlow Ellis, A P J., Bell, B S., Ployhard, R E., Hollenbeck, J R., and Ilgen, D R (2005), “An Evaluation of Generic Teamwork Skills Training with Action Teams: Effects on Cognitive and SkillBased Outcomes”, Personnel Psychology, 58 (3), 641-672 Gettinger, M and Seibert, J K (2002), “Contributions of Study Skills to Academic Competence”, School Psychology Review, 31 (3), 350-365 Harmer, J (2001), How to Teach English, Longman, Harlow KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 97 v NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI Harmer, J (2007), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, Harlow Hirvela, A (2012), “Teaching Integrated Skills”, The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, Iowa State University, Iowa Loan, F A (2012), “Impact of the Internet Surfing on Reading Practices and Choices”, Webology, (1), retrieved on February 17, 2017 from Maher, H D Jr (n.d.), Potential Challenges Common to a Laboratory Teaching Assistantship Assignment and Some Possible Solutions, retrieved on February 2, 2017 from Motteram, G (2013), Innovations in Learning Technologies for English Language Teaching, British Council, London 10 Ryan, H (2013), The Effect of Classroom Environment on Student Learning, Western Michigan University, Michigan EXPLOITING THE INTERNET ROOM TO TEACH NEWS REPORTING SKILLS TO CADETS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - MILITARY SCIENCE ACADEMY DO VAN TOAN Abstract: Reporting world news is one of the important skills that cadets of International Relations at Military Science Academy need to practice because it is part of their future job as international relations officers The Internet room of the Academy is a useful facility that can be made use of to help the cadets develop their news reporting skills The lecturers of the International Relations Department should understand deeply the importance of teaching those skills to the cadets, adopt workable teaching procedures, and comply with a range of requirements in order for the lessons in the Internet room to be successful Keywords: using the Internet, International Relations, news, news reporting skills 98 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 ... order for the lessons in the Internet room to be successful Keywords: using the Internet, International Relations, news, news reporting skills 98 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 ... and information on particular topics on the Internet with many 94 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 Finally, in terms of language acquisition psychology, the learners’ enthusiasm for learning... the researched issues are more complicated, asking for discussion at great length 96 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰ Số 07 - 5/2017 NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI v in the lesson However, according to Harmer