10th confession: Have you listened to yourself speaking another language?




In my previous post I talked about PowerPoint Presentations that students are implementing inside their oral English classes. However, students also implement Audio Voice Recording.


Most students are already familiar with audio recording in some form: voice messaging, playing online in Virtual Worlds and even Now recording apps make it easier than ever to use audio recording as a classroom tool (King, M. 2016). Besides, hearing one’s own voice on audiotape can be an eye-opening experience. Having the opportunity to record can be a powerful method for promoting independent judgement and goal setting, along the ownership of the learning process (Hudson, R. 2005).



In my introductory class, students experimented with an IPA website in order to be able to read pronunciation. By doing so, pupils were encouraged to study more efficiently by promoting the use of digital technologies and carrying out more dynamics activities implementing Audio Voice Recording (AVR) and an IPA webpage. They were given the chance to have a standard model for pronunciation and make sure that their approximations of it were consistent and understandable (Lewis, M. & Hill, J 1992).




How is Audio Voice Recording (AVR) implemented in my oral English lessons?



By doing listening exercises, students are usually exposed to different varieties and accents. In today’s world they need to be exposed not only to one variety of English but also to varieties (Harmer, J 1998). Learners also need to learn to listen to their classmates’ English and AVR gives an opportunity to do so when:

•        Working by groups of 2, 3 or 4 students

•        Choosing a recording of a listen exercise from a specific topic in the textbook (a week in advance)

•        Listening to the recording as many times as necessary.

•        Typing the text from the recording and translate it into its phonetic transcription using an IPA website.

•        Practicing the recording among their group members (students will take roles since these listening exercises are usually conversations) using the phonetic transcription and paying attention to the stress and intonation of each word and sentence.

•        Audio recording themselves.

•        Sending the audio voice recording (listening exercise) and the typescript of the text and the phonetic transcription to the teacher’s e-mail.

•        Bringing the audio voice recording (listening exercise) in a flash driver and a copy of the typescript.

•        Listening to their classmates’ recording and developing exercises in class.

•        Checking possible errors and highlight them on the typescript (by the teacher, themselves or their classmates)

•        The students and the teacher will provide feedback.      



Professionals in education have claimed that by doing this type of exercises, students have a chance to listen to their voice-recordings themselves and have their recordings evaluated by an audience, thus enabling them to self-evaluate by questioning their mistakes. (Han, T. and Keskin, F. 2016).



Why to encourage students to record themselves for the listening exercise?



This week I conducted a poll to know which activities implemented were the most popular and AVR activities were among the preferred ones; meaning that students felt more comfortable doing this type of exercise. One of the most significant advantages that can be found in these types of tools is that it relaxes students. It has been proven that voice messaging or Audio Voice Recording are able to lessen students’ anxieties (Han, T. and Keskin, F. 2016).



 

Additionally pupils are able to practice their pronunciation (accent, intonation, speed of speech) while rehearsing for the recording, all while exposing themselves more to the language and building positive feelings towards speaking (Han, T. and Keskin, F. 2016).
poll about the four activities implemented in class

It can be said that for teachers, audio recording logistics are simple easy to adapt and in most cases, free. With any device with a recording app, students find a quiet place to talk with their group members, rehearse and record themselves. Depending on each IT preferences, students can upload the recording on the web, email the file to the teacher, or save it on the course management system (King, M. 2016)



Furthermore, group work gives students the chances for greater independence because they are working without the teacher controlling every move; they take some of their own learning decisions and decide how to produce the language in their Audio Voice Recording (Harmer, J 1998).




What are the possible pitfalls?



•        Students will tend to just read without any intonation making it plain. An option that can be implemented is to tell students that they need to “feel” the conversation and make it “theirs” even to the extent of adapting the typescript if necessary.

•        The volume of the recording could be too low. It is recommended to encourage the learners to listen to their recording and make sure that the volume is acceptable to be played in class. If it is emailed to the teacher, he or she can listen to it in advance and approve the quality of the recording.

•        Students, who are listening, tend not to pay attention and do something else. In order to motivate them, it is necessary to plan tasks with or without the textbook. There are lot of opportunities to develop different kinds of activities that develop metalinguistic awareness, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring of oral production (Salas, M. 2015).

•        When working with technology, it is necessary to have plan B and even C. It can give you surprises most of the time. Students and teachers should have a copy of the recording and for worst case scenarios; teachers should have the original track from the textbook ready in case of an emergency.





What did I learn from implementing AVR activities in my class? 



It is known that what works one day with one class, does not necessarily work with a different class, or even on a different day with the same class. The activities that I implemented are thought for a specific group of students within a particular context. However, I consider that by sharing my experience, I am contributing to the construction of better language teaching methods and pedagogical knowledge.



As a reflection of my pedagogical practice I have to say that I feel that I could have planned these activities in better ways. For instance I did not explore the option of using Edmodo (Virtual Learning Environment) for students to interact among themselves inside and outside the classroom. Nevertheless I plan to act on it taking into account all the contributions and observations from students and colleagues.         




Social software tools can be effectively integrated into face-to-face classes where students can engage with peers, instructors, and the community in creating and sharing ideas (McLoughlin,C and Lee, M 2008).  With this idea in mind, facilitating a space in Edmodo where students can share their experience about doing an AVR activity, correct among them, and give suggestion to improve their oral performance. With this learner-based, communal, media-rich, flexible approach, students can implement software tools like Edmodo (Virtual Learning Environment) or even QQ (a cross-platform mobile messaging app like Whatsapp) to enable the development of dynamic communities of learning through connectivity, communication, and participation (McLoughlin,C and Lee, M 2008).



Additionally, by prescribing content there may have been some limitations, particularly if it limited the active student involvement in the construction of their knowledge, at the end of the course students stated that they wanted more options to choose from when implementing AVR activities and giving them more control over the content they have to develop, can be more beneficial for the success of it.



Reference:

Han, T. & Keskin, F (2016). Using a Mobile Application (WhatsApp) to Reduce EFL Speaking Anxiety. Gist Education and Learning Research Journal. No.12. pp. 29-50.

Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman Edinburgh.

Hudson, R. (2005).  Reading fluency assessment and instruction: What, why, and how? The Reading Teacher.

King, M.  (2016).  4 Ways Audio Recording Can Boost Classroom Learning; Edutopia.  https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/4-ways-audio-recording-can-boost-classroom-learning 

Lewis, M. & Hill, J. (1992). Practical Teaching Techniques for Language Teaching. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.

McLoughlin, C.  and Lee, M. (2008). Future Learning Landscapes: Transforming Pedagogy through Social Software. Innovate 4 (5). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=539

Salas, M. (2015). Developing the metacognitive skill of noticing the gap through self-transcribing: The case of students enrolled in an ELT education program in Chile. Colomb. Appl. Linguist. J., 17(2), pp. 260-275.



 




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