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THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BIM SON UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TOOLS TO FACILITATE LEARNING AND MOTIVATE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUBJECT AT BIM SON HIGH SCHOOL Teacher: Hà Thị Lý Post: Teacher School: Bim Son upper secondary school Subject: English THANH HOA YEAR 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research As being a teacher of English at high school level for more than 15 years, I always keep in mind the idea that technology plays an important role to both language teachers and language learners The use of technology has become an integral part of the learning process in and out of the class Every language class usually uses some form of technology Technology has been used to both help and improve language learning Technology enables teachers to adapt classroom activities, thus enhancing the language learning process Technology continues to grow in importance as a tool to help teachers facilitate language learning for their learners Another compelling reason for my research is that due to negative impact of the spread of Covid 19, many of my classes have to shift from traditional classrooms to blended or hybrid classrooms in which we combine face to face learning and online leaning This type of learning would be effective or even impossible without the help of educational technology tools For any purpose of teaching, I like to use technology in the classroom because it allows my students to interact more and helps me make my class more participatory This means getting more of my students to interact with me as a teacher and with other classmates In my traditional face- to face classes, I’ll often have one, may be or two students who really answer most of the questions, and, as a result, I’ve looked for tools that can get more of my students participating in the classroom In doing those mentioned above, I’ve come across a series of tools that I’m really in favor of using in my classroom to make my class more blended between face-to face and online So I would like to share some of those tools and discuss how we can fit them into our teaching practice through the research: “Using digital technology tools to facilitate learning and motivate learners of English language subject at BimSon high school” 1.2 The objectives of the study Explore digital tools teacher can use to support students, deliver content, and create engaging activities for face to face and online learning to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Bim Son high school 1.3 Scope of the study Researching in the process of teaching English lessons at Bim Son high school The study focused on 89 11 th graders from two classes 11B1 and 11B6 1.4 Measures carried out Studying reference materials, discussing with other teachers, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences CONTENT 2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Technology has been defined by different researchers According to İŞMAN (2012), it is the practical use of knowledge particularly in a specific area and is a way of doing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge The usage of technology includes not only machines (computer hardware) and instruments, but also involves structured relations with other humans, machines, and the environment (İŞMAN, 2012) According to Hennessy, Ruthven, and Brindley (2005) and Pourhosein Gilakjani (2017), technology integration is defined in terms of how teachers use technology to perform familiar activities more effectively and how this usage can re-shape these activities Dockstader (2008) defined technology integration as the use of technology to improve the educational environment It supports the classroom teaching through creating opportunities for learners to complete assignments on the computer rather than the normal pencil and paper In recent years reference to ‘digital technology in the classroom’ (DTC) can be taken to mean digital processing systems that encourage active learning, knowledge construction, inquiry, and exploration on the part of the learners, and which allow for remote communication as well as data sharing to take place between teachers and/ or learners in different physical classroom locations This is an expanded notion of technologies that recognises their development from mere information delivery systems and also clarifies their role in classrooms in contrast to their wider use across schools and learning centres The potential benefits of DTC are that it can foster dialogic and emancipatory practice – Dialogic practice is that in which students are active, engaged and empowered participants in a conversation from which learning emerges For example, learners working on a maths modelling programme can start to have conversations about what they see on a computer screen without having to rely on terminology that they may not yet have (look at ‘that’, what happens if you ‘this’?) The teacher can then add the appropriate language into the conversation as the project develops Emancipatory practice is that in which an individual student’s ideas go beyond the learning prescribed by the teacher/syllabus as they draw on knowledge gained outside formal education to construct understanding For example, in music lessons learners can use their own knowledge and expertise of playing instruments or using technology to construct their own recording environments (perhaps using their mobile phone) They can then bring in ideas that they have created at home or in instrumental music lessons • Different technologies can improve learning by augmenting and connecting learning activities For example, in a geography lesson two classes in different schools may link up via the internet to explore cultural differences in relation to a particular global issue such as pollution or energy supply The groups could work together to understand not just the issue itself but its impact on communities and individuals by talking to real people In situations where bandwidth is limited this could be done at a whole class level via video or even over email or SMS (Short Message Service) messaging • Digital technology can often also be exciting for learners and offers a potentially more engaging alternative At the same time it is important to be aware that some learners may be less confident in learning with digital technologies and steps need to be taken to ensure equality of access • Digital technology offers immediate feedback for both the learner and the teacher What are the challenges/criticisms of digital technologies in the classroom? • A lot of time and resources are currently being invested into technologies and applications that have yet to be proven to be effective or efficient when compared to more traditional classroom learning contexts Teachers and schools need to think carefully about when, why and how to use technologies as well as evaluating their efficiency and effectiveness • There is a ‘digital divide’ – the divide between those who have access to digital technology and the internet, and those that not • Implementing and then maintaining technology is costly particularly as systems can quickly become out of date • There may be problems with the existing infrastructure, for example internet connections may be inconsistent and/or slow • Safety for students and teachers is a key challenge with prevention of cyber-bullying, the hacking of personal information, access to illegal or banned materials and distractions from learning (such as social networking and mobile phone use) all being high on institutional agendas • Some uses of technologies can be harmful For example, poor posture and eyestrain are common problems when working at desktop computers for prolonged periods Also Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a risk that occurs from the repeated actions necessary to control mobile devices • Evidence suggests that at the moment the potential of digital technologies in the classroom is not being realised A report on digital technologies from the charity Nesta in the UK notes, “What is clear is that no technology has an impact on learning in its own right; rather, its impact depends upon the way in which it is used” (2012:9) 2.2 THE SITUATION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING BEFORE THE APPLYING NEW WAYS OF TEACHING By my experience of teaching and through discussing with other teachers who are doing the same job as mine, I found that traditional English classes were often boring to both the teachers and the students The after classes seemed to repeat the one before as the teacher gave some exercises, questions or tests and students were forced to deal with them in a fixed time The teachers then gave feedback and asked students to remember some skills that might help them in the real GCSE exams Most students expressed that they felt really tired and they could’t concentrate on what they are doing More than 70% of the 12 th form students agreed they didn’t like sitting in revision classes The only reasons for them to attend those classes are to meet their parents’wishes as well as to follow the school’s curriculum Despite the teachers’ efforts, the students seemed not pay attention and started creating noisy chatting classes Sometimes, the classroom happened to be a bedroom because many students dozed off Although my colleagues and I have confronted a number of difficulties, one of which was students’ lack motivation Another problem is during the teaching process, I encounter a number of shy students who have never had enough confidence to answer any question or express their own opinion on any topic There was time I got frustrated and felt as I have nothing to for those shy and less confident students 2.3 SOLUTIONS 2.3.1 Changing traditional (face to face) classrooms into blended learning classroom Blended learning is when we use technology on internet-based tools in our face- to –face classroom So we might have an online component in our face- to-face classroom A blended learning classroom can be more than just using technology in the classroom A blended classroom can also be one that mixes face-to face learning and online learning, for example, you might teach your student face- to-face on Monday and they online self study on Tuesday When we start using technology or an internet component in our class, that’s in a blended learning classroom The advantages of this type of classroom is that it introduce web-based learning activities to complement face to face work It can help to reduce students’ seat time and it take advantage of webbased and face to face tools to interact and take the advantages of the best feature of each 2.3.2 Consider how to evaluate and select educational technology tools When I ask myself if a technology tool will be a good fit for my classroom, I like to use Carol Chappelle’s (2001) criteria for evaluating technology for the language classroom Choosing the right tools + Language learning potential Does the technology allow my students to acquire language or use the language in practice? I like to ask myself, can these tools help me teach something more effectively or can my student use the tool to practice language skills outside of the classroom? This is always a critical question for me If I answer no to those questions, Im not going to use that technology Sometimes a technology just won’t work What’s great for us as language teachers is many of the tools will really work for us Math teachers, science teachers, history teacher, they may have a little more difficulty in finding tools that have potential, but for us, language learning potential is everywhere, which makes it much easier for us + Learner fit Does the technology match my students’ needs and abilities? Will it be easy for them to use and understand? Some tools are great for learners of all ages, but some are not Be sure to consider your students’ ages, language levels, and technology abilities before using a tool in class If students are expected to use a tool for class but they don’t know how, it can be very frustrating, and this is why it can be tilt to recommend a piece of technology for everyone because we have to evaluate each of them in term of our own students, and who knows your students better than you? The answer is no one except for students themselves Ask yourself with each of the tools we look at today, each of the technology tools we see in the future, does the technology match my students’ needs and ability? Will it be easy for them to understand and use? This is really important because it will help keep them from being frustrated More importantly, give the students time to play with the technology Once students have practice with the tool, you will get much better results So the first time we use it in class, it may not go very well because the students are learning how to use the tool, you are learning how the students interact with the tool But the second time, the third time you use this, the twentieth time you use it, you will be much more successful And remember to give yourself to play with the tool as well before using any technology in the classroom, spend a few hours trying it out yourself and seeing how it works + Meaning focus When using technology, the teacher must decide how to use the technology to teach specific language material This goes back a little bit to an idea of fun We always think of technology as motivating, engaging or fun A toll may be fun for students, but are they learning? When bringing a tool into the classroom, we should ask ourselves how this tool will help us delivering learning What I want to teach with this technology? If we have a tool but we don’t know what to teach with it, we shouldn’t use it Even if it is motivating and engaging, we want to make sure that it really is direct and focused Having technology that supports our lesson goals, our lesson objective is always a critical component When we think about meaning, something that’s similar to that is considering whether the technology is meaningful to the language we want to teach and whether it is meaningful to our students, and that’s what we call authenticity + Authenticity This is the next criteria of Carol Chappelle is authenticity Does the technology let my students use language in creative ways? Do they get to see and use language in a specific context? Because a great reason to use technology in the classroom is to bring more authenticity to our classrooms When we use technology that help our students be creative in their language, for example, they may need a textbook exercise and there is often correct answer if we use technology, we want to use it to give students more freedom answer and use their language in new and creative ways, allow for multiple answers That’s what I like to think about when I think about technology is does it let my students new things with their language? And this goes into Carol Chappelle’s fifth idea, and that is positive impact + Positive impact Using technology in class should help our students become successful Be sure to evaluate all technology on its ability to motivate and encourage student We want to make sure that we use technology in class in that it helps our students be successful Technology that demotivates our students or punishes them in some way can really have a negative influence on their learning Instead, we want to look for tools that provide a positive impact For example, in my classes I struggle with getting shy students or less confident student to speak It won’t speak in my speaking class So what I should I look for technology tools that allow students to ask and answer questions in class anonymously So don’t have their name associated, they don’t have to raise their hand Instead, they can use the technology to ask questions So how I reach out to those shy students, those less confident students? One way is by hiding their names It gives them more opportunities to speak out in this class The + Practicability Can I use this in my class? This is the most important thing to think about when we think about technology Before bringing technology to the classroom, be sure it will work If we set up time for the technology and it’s too long to set up or you lack the resources in the classroom to use the technology, then you shouldn’t use it Sometimes pen and paper are still the best approach 2.3.3 Types of digital technology tools applied “Freemium” products are tools that have a basic version available for free If we want more features, we may have to pay a subscription or buy the software But for the tools I’m recommending, they are all free to use And the basic version is really all we need And the wonderful thing I like about them is that they don’t require students to sign up, which means one thing we have mentioned in Carol Chappelle criteria “practicability” The first type of tool I think about a blended learning classroom is how we deliver information to our students So just like in the real world, we have a classroom where all our student come together, we want to have a place on the internet for our students to come and together and get information and interact So I like to think about an online platform as my classroom space on the internet Therefore, whether in a computer lab or your classroom, you won’t have to download special software If you have internet web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet explorer, you will be able to access these websites These platforms can be used to get students focused on the material and it is great to share materials between teachers and teachers, between teachers and students, and between students and students as well Padled If a school doesn’t have an online platform, padlet can be brief option for getting started It’s an online bulletin board You start with an empty page that you can fill with a links that your students can click on and access When students have a link to this page, they can access the materials posted anytime day or night This online platform allows teachers to add writing materials, video, audio, reading material etc And once the teacher posts something, student can have access to it in one click So the students can go to the teacher’s padlet, click on a particular item, open it up, they can download it, they can read it, they can post a response so it is a great place to put all our material and keep it all in one place on the Internet And that really is kind of my blended teaching class is this online platform I often use it outside of class that’s where students can go when they are doing their homework That’s where they can go to find information Question and answer (Q & A) software Back to Carol Chappelle’s six criteria for technology in the classroom, we talk about positive impact This is why I use “Question and answer (Q & A) software” Some of my student are shy and they not often talk in class So by using “Question and answer (Q & A) software”, I can get more of my students participating in class; creating a space for shy student to ask question; assign homework by leaving the poll open outside of class time so students can submit questions after hours These tools use a second –screen approach The teacher has the question on the classroom screen, Students respond through their own screens (computer, phone etc) Students can ask any question they like or they can answer the question they have on the screen Teachers can create open ended or more controlled questions, they can things like multiple choice with four answers or more As students answer the question, the results will be update I can this in my classroom, which would be great when we are practicing grammar or vocabulary I can see everybody answering all the questions Presentation Software Most of us are probably familiar with PowerPoint, but some other options are Google slide or Prezi, Nearpod Such presentation software could be used for large classes to get student more engaged; understanding in real time where students are having difficulty and reducing student “seat time” by moving from passive to active lectures I can quiz students on the material immediately after I discuss it As students answer on their screen, I can get real time Update on my teacher screen that show me how well my students are doing and I really like it as a teacher because I can see it all of my students are getting the information correct and if my students are getting the information wrong So this software can help us be a better teachers as we can see each of our students ‘names; we can see their scores; which questions they got correct and then I could see an overall percentage of my students So I get real time data right in my lecture, So I am able to lecture, quiz and evaluate all the same time, which is a really great feature Another part that the NearPod is unique is that you can get all the questions asked during the presentation saved The teacher therefore can see how well each student did with the material and save this to my gradebook and keep that as evaluation as an assessment of my students By this way, I am able to use technology to make a traditional class approach such as a lecture or a presentation more informative for both me and my students Quizzing software When teachers want to have some form of assessment in the class, how we make assessment a little less stressful? How can we make quizzes more fun and help student who are not normally good test takers? I consider this a positive impact on my student Getting them to have more fun and be more open and take risks in their quizzes can really be helpful in a lot of ways for our students In fact, there is lots of great options We have thing like Clickers, Google forms, Quizlet, Kahoot! and there are many more options These quizzing tools can allow teachers to evaluate students in a fun and engaging way They could be used for large classes to get more students engaged; understanding in real time where students are having difficulty; Reducing student “seat time” by moving from passive to active lectures Take Kahoot as an example to see how this software helps to get our students engaged Instead of one or two students answering, we can get everyone answering It tells us how well each student is doing It gives us an assessment of our students and reduces seat time My students are not sitting and listening, but they are engaged and doing something Let’s look at specifically how does the Kahoot! website functions? As the teacher, I set up my quiz and once I have the quiz set up, I can invite my students, and both Kahoot! and Nearpod that we looked at use a pin to get into the quiz Students can type in the pin on their computer, tablet, phone and they can that by going to Kahoot!, putting in the pin to get into the quiz What is 10 nice about this is each time I the quiz, the pin will be different so if I’m teaching a 8:00 class and a 10:00 class, when I restart the quiz, that pin will change, so it’s unique each time I use it And again, it uses the second screen approach The students can join in with their names, so on their phone, they are entering their names and preparing for the quiz and on the teacher screen, I’ll see their names come up Now, once I start the quiz, the teacher screen will have four buttons on the bottom- Red, Blue, Yellow and Green- with answers The students have to choose the correct answer on the phones The faster the students, the more points they will get Actually, there’s a game element to this It turn a quiz into a game Students can play this game individually, or they can play in groups And once I ask question, once students have answered, we get the results immediately and I can see how well the class did I can see how many students answer each question with which answer That’s really a great feedback mechanism that happens after every question It also gives students a chance to kind of play and compete 2.4 RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING Students became more attentive and conscientious in class Through my class observation, I could see the difference in my students’ classroom behavior and performance when they were in second term compared to that of their first term First, class attendance was higher compared with that in the previous term In the previous term, in most cases there were three or four students absent and many students were late for class But during that fall term, only two students were absent only once throughout the whole term, because they were ill, and there was a student from another class who attended many of my lessons During the class hours, nobody dozed off, although we had our class in the afternoon They were active in taking notes, discussing with their partners, and checking their understanding Nobody referred to the teacher's book when we listened to some materials from the textbook Seeing this attention and conscientiousness on my students’ part, I felt quite rewarded and thought my efforts were not in vain Students became more enthusiastic about learning In addition to their attentive behavior in class, my students also did a lot of practice test in and after class, as shown from their journals From the randomly collected journals, I could see that all my students finished the tasks Shy and less confident students have chance to express themselves Students’ journals r e f l e c t e d that they were more able to concentrate on one problem at one time They are motivated to work in class and they really enjoy the class atmostphere The tools and interesting “performance” of their friends make them really excited and happy They are not tired of learning and trying to exercises given Now, they are eager to them Sometimes, I devoted several weeks focusing on one factor Later, through 11 students’ journals, I found that two students set themselves the goal of learning five new words each day, three students set the goal of improving their pronunciation, two students said they would learn more family words, and one student said he would read more news All of these showed that they began to understand themselves better, understand their own difficulties better, and could make their practicing more purposeful Students realized the importance of persistent practice Through students’ journals as well as the informal interviews with some of my students, I found most of them realized the importance of persistent practice in spite of the difficulties they were having then Three students told me that before they became conscious of their difficulties, they often felt frustrated because they thought they had practiced a lot but couldn’t see any progress After they became clear about their own difficulties, and after I told them the stories of some successful interpreters, they became more patient with themselves and were more determined to work hard and practice more This change was also reflected in three other students’ journals Here is one journal entry from one student translated into English: I always find English class the most difficult to follow New words, the complicated sentence structure usually block my way of understanding I know this is because I haven’t got enough practice Practice makes perfect So I must look for opportunities myself to practice more and I really happy to find my progress after each practise test.[2] Students like this way of teaching From students’ responses to my open-ended questionnaire at the end of the term, I learned that the majority of students were satisfied with this way of handling class Eight students mentioned the first session of this course and found it enlightening because it helped them to see what they should learn and how to learn Six students mentioned the teaching materials and classroom activities, thanking the teacher for carefully choosing and arranging the lesson materials, and the classroom activities were also well organized and enjoyable CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS When we think about some of these tools, there is a lieutenant of great ways we can bring them into our classroom What I want to stress here is there are many more tools out there And if you don’t know what to choose, think about the six criteria for the tools that we just looked at, think about each tool in terms of language learning potential, will it fit your learners, will it be authentic, will it have positive impact, and is it practical for your teaching context? The tools that we looked at today may not have the practicability for your classroom, but other tools out there The best way to learn about those is to get together for colleagues, share ideas Every teacher should take time to explore these tools at their own pace Even better explore them with a colleague, with other teachers 12 at your school or in your community, and think about how they should fit into your classroom practice, how you can start building out a blended learning classroom to take advantage of learning opportunities everywhere, whether they are in the real world or on the Internet Keep on mind Chappelle framework because it can really help us better understand how these tools should fit into our classroom, knowing all this terms and knowing all the tools can really help us better explain and show these tools to our friends and colleagues All teachers should bear in mind that technology keeps moving forward Since the time for applying the changes was only weeks, which might be not enough to see all the students’ reflections The results of the study, therefore, was drawn based mainly on speculation and this just can help to see the students’ motivation and attitude towards the activities, not exactly students’ improvement in their learning Therefore, the I hoped that more studies should be conducted in a more appropriate period of time to measure the effectiveness of other methods of using activities on students’ motivation as well as students’ achievement in students’ learning progress Sincerely thank you! Bim Son, May 18 th, 2021 CONFERMATION OF HEADMASTER Statement of authorship I hereby acknowledge that this study Is mine, The date and findings discussed in t thesis are true, used with permission fro associates and have not been publish elsewhere Author Hà Thị Lý 13 ... that they were more able to concentrate on one problem at one time They are motivated to work in class and they really enjoy the class atmostphere The tools and interesting “performance” of their... phone) They can then bring in ideas that they have created at home or in instrumental music lessons • Different technologies can improve learning by augmenting and connecting learning activities For. .. use to support students, deliver content, and create engaging activities for face to face and online learning to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Bim Son high school 1.3
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