Online Language Translation Services
- Translations of words, sentences, and webpages happen easily and quickly.
- Notes, assignments, and other materials can be provided in English but also in other language. (Malay, ch. 10, p. 247)
I would have to say "lucky" to today's classroom students. As an English language learner, all I could think about using technology in class was an electronic dictionary. It helped me find the meaning of a vocabulary pretty fast that speed up my understanding of class teaching. However, I remember in some classes, teachers didn't let me use it because they thought that it would distract their learning, like cellphone in today's classroom. A lot of teachers didn't recognized the importance of technology use back then. For now, it's a totally different story. Technology is a big part of teaching. I would say "lucky" to students now because of this reason. They have so many options of different technology tools, softwares to choose from that will enhance their learning. Especially for English language learners, it would be much easier to understand the class content and easier to communicate with teachers now using technology where getting translation from a friend who speak English was the only option for me to understand what was going on in class and to ask questions to teachers back then when I came here.
Assistive technologies apply the concept of technological convergence to the ways that information technologies enable teachers to differentiate instruction and pursue universal design. These tools enable individuals with disabilities to do thing they might otherwise not be able to do.
Assistive technologies make it possible for individuals with hearing, sight, mobility, or cognitive challenges to translate text and understand spoken words and data with the aid of a supportive tool.
- Speech Recognition Software- Displays a person's spoken words as written text on a computer screen.
- Text reading software (text-to-speech software)- lets computer users hear written text read aloud by a computer.
Different types of text-to-speech software
- Screen reading software
- Optical character recognition and reading software (OCR)
- Word prediction software
From the video clip that we watched in class, I was surprised to see all different assistive technology is being used in classroom. One thing that I remember is that the machine that specks for the child. He probably couldn't express himself before using that technology and had a lot of limits when learning. Now he can express himself, ask questions and have more opportunities. Assistive technology not especially to student with severe disabilities but to any students struggling, could be a very helpful tool for their learning.
Assessment is central to the work of teaching. Every teacher, in planning lessons and delivering instruction, evaluates student learning. If learning is to be successful, assessment must be practiced not only by teachers but also by students. Failure to give students a voice in educational decision-making is an opportunity lost. Individuals are more likely to become and remain invested in activities and procedures that they have a role in creating and maintaining. One way is to use Clickers.
Student participation systems with clickers have numerous instructional advantages.
- Active learning- students are alive participants who must express their opinions electronically.
- Student involvement- Because students make selections anonymously, individuals worry less about the embarrassment of giving a wrong answer.
- Real-time feedback- The teacher has immediate feedback about students' content knowledge and test performance.
- Question-centered instruction- Students are given a challenging question and ask individually, in pairs, or in small groups to consider possible answers.
Questions:
1. How does technology promote learning success for English language learners?
2. How all different assistive technologies help student with disabilities?
3. How can teachers use different technologies to differentiate instructions in multicultural classroom?
To answer your first question, technology can promote success for ELLs in many ways. Technology supports the education of students learning English. There are countless websites that offer translating services(albeit some more accurate than others) websites that are multilingual, and other websites that offer assistance to these students. When given the correct resources, students may do better and feel more comfortable while learning their new language, so of course, anything that helps is a good resource!
ReplyDeleteI think technology can help students who are learning english in a lot of ways. It can serve as a middle ground for not only communication between students and teachers, but also as a way to help students learn the language of their classrooms. Tools such as translators allow students to learn basic words and phrases while website translators allow them to have access to the same information as their classmates. As a two-way translation tool it allows students to compare and contrast their native language versus the other language which they are learning. As the book notes, there are also many classroom uses. "Notes, assignments, and other materials can be provided in English but also in other languages--an important resource when there are speakers of multiple languages in the classroom" (p. 248). Additionally, this tool helps with communication to parents and families in order for them to provide support at home.
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