A C T A U N I V E R S I T A T I S L O D Z I E N S I S F O LIA L IN G U IST IC A 36, 1997
A gnieszka L en ko -S zym a ń ska
C O M P U T E R S F O R T E A C H IN G W R IT IN G IN A F O R E IG N L A N G U A G E
1. IN T R O D U C TIO N
In recent years, th e co m p u ter has established itself as an ed u c atio n al to o l in foreign language teaching. A lth o u g h the d eb a te s an d discussions a b o u t th e p ro p e r place an d the significance o f this m edium in th e e d u c a tio n al process still co n tin u e, th ere is little d o u b t th a t the m ach in e h as b ro u g h t in to the field a n u m b er o f benefits b o th fo r the learn er an d the teacher. M o re an d m o re C A L L (C o m p u ter A ssisted L an gu age L earn in g) p ro g ram s are being published w hich offer a w ide ran ge o f altern ativ es d ep e n d in g o n the le a rn e r’s age an d level, th e scope o f the m a te ria l, and the type o f activities.
H ow ever, m o st softw are curren tly available on the m a rk e t, e.g. E Teacher, Sortset o r Vocab, concentrate on teaching vocabulary and gram m ar. A lth ou gh th o se p ro g ram s are usually ed ucationally sou n d an d very attra ctiv e , they d o n o t differ m uch from trad itio n al, in k -a n d -p a p e r exercises. T h e im m ed iate fe ed b ac k , o n -lin e reference, an d a u to m a tic sco rin g a re so m etim es n o t sufficient to ju stify the high cost o f the c o m p u ter an d th e softw are.
T h e m eth o d o lo g y w hich is cu rren tly p re d o m in a n t in lang uag e teach in g is based on the com m unicative ap p ro ach . It requires th a t m o st classroo m an d hom ew o rk activities should co n c en trate on the d evelop m en t o f th e fo u r language skills: speaking, listening, read in g and w riting. H o w ever, very few C A L L p ro g ram s offer activities p ractising these skills. T h is evokes a lo t o f criticism an d h o stility to w ard s the co m p u ter, w hich is accused o f ca te rin g fo r obsolete m eth o d o lo g ies and teach ing principles. Very few teach ers know th a t th e c o m p u ter can be successfully used to develop th e fo u r lan gu age skills an d th a t these com m unicative activities m ay ta k e ad v a n ta g e o f th e full p o ten tial o f th e m achine.
2. C O M P U T E R FO R D EV E LO PIN G T H E W R ITIN G SK ILLS
A ll th e fo u r lan g u ag e skills can be p ra ctise d u sin g th e c o m p u te r. H ow ever, the m edium seems to be best suited for developing w riting. T his is because th e very n a tu re o f the c o m p u ter pro m o tes the practice o f this skill, since w ritten m essages are the basis o f co m m u n icatio n w ith the m ach in e. In ad d itio n , the c o m p u ter is ca p ab le o f sto rin g and processing lo n g texts.
3. W O R D PR O C E SSO R
T h e p rogram s th a t seem to be m o st effective and beneficial fo r developing the w riting skills o f foreign language learners are w o rd pro cessin g p ackages.
W ordprocessing is probably the m o st p o p u lar and w ell-know n app lication o f the c o m p u te r and it seems th a t it alone could ju stify th e inv ention o f the m achine. W ord processors are used w here th ere is a need fo r a large a m o u n t o f typed d o cum ents an d have alm ost replaced trad itio n al typew riters in offices o r a u th o rs ’ w orking room s.
A t the basic level th e w o rd p ro cesso r w orks like a ty p ew riter b u t is m u ch m o re powerful. F irst o f all, it m akes typing easier by perform ing autom atically som e o f th e ty p ist’s o p eratio n s such as carry in g fo rw ard text to a n o th e r line and p ag in atin g . M oreo v er, the w ordp ro cesso r m akes it possible to edit a text. It allow s n o t only the correctio n o f m in o r ty p o g rap h ic erro rs, b u t also changes to w ording, o r even th e relocation o f sentences an d p arag ra p h s. C hanges an d co rrectio n s can be m ad e co n stan tly , b u t the screen alw ays displays a neat, clean copy. T h e w ordp ro cesso r also m ak es it possible to use a variety o f typefaces. T h e final d ra ft m ay be p rin ted , o r a tex t m ay be stored fo r later editing, co rrectin g o r printing.
T h e w o rd p ro cesso r is also o f great use for developing th e w ritin g skills o f the foreign language learn er because it enhances m o tiv a tio n . It h as been show n th a t foreign languag e stu d en ts w ho use w o rd p ro cesso rs fo r th eir w riting assignm ents considerably change th eir a ttitu d e to w ard s w ritin g and th eir m o tiv a tio n increases [ D a v i s and H i g g i n s 1985]. T h e n ov elty o f th is techn olo gy is one o f the fa cto rs which plays a very im p o rta n t role in en c o u rag in g th e learner. T h e stu d en t is anxious to w ork w ith th e c o m p u te r as it is still a new and un k n o w n teaching tool. A n o th e r reaso n w hich plays a very im p o rta n t role in m o tiv a tin g the stu d en t is h is /h e r1 n o tio n o f the
co m p u ter. F o r young learners w ho frequently play c o m p u ter gam es, the m ach in e is associated with the idea o f having fun. A d u lt learners link the co m p u ter with the concept o f professionalism and m o dernity , since now aday s c o m p u te r literacy is a prelim inary requirem ent fo r finding a goo d jo b .
T h e w ordp ro cesso r itself also has m an y m o tiv atin g ch aracteristics. I f the learner uses such a p ro g ram fo r w riting his assignm ent th e final result is a printed d o cum ent o f very high quality. T herefore, th e learner is encouraged to p u t m o re effort in to w riting and p ro o f-read in g his text to en sure th a t the co n ten t o f th e w ork m atch es the quality o f its ap pearan ce. F u rth e rm o re , th e stu d en t enjoys using various letter fonts and different page fo rm a ts w hich m akes w riting m o re interesting to him .
T h e m o st im p o rta n t feature o f the w ord pro cessor w hich m ak es it such a good to o l fo r enhancing the language learn er’s w riting skills is its editing capability. W hen the learner prepares a rough d ra ft o f an assig nm en t in h an d w ritin g , he can m ak e very few co rrections and changes, otherw ise the piece o f p ap e r becom es illegible and has to be rew ritten. T h is is why th e stu d en t has to co n c en trate at the sam e tim e on all aspects o f w riting, such as the stru ctu re o f the com po sitio n, the developm ent o f p a ra g ra p h s o r the choice o f w ords. W hen using th e w ordprocessor, th o u g h , the learn er can m a k e a n unlim ited n u m b e r o f changes and th e screen o f th e c o m p u ter alw ays looks n ea t an d clean. T h u s, the process o f w riting can be b ro k en u p in to stages. F irst th e stu d en t can d o som e freew riting and th en m ove p a rts o f the text placing his ideas in the correct order. T h en he can co rrect the stru ctu re o f p a ra g ra p h s and im prove their developm ent. F u rth e r, the learn er can p ay m o re a tte n tio n to his sentences, deciding w h eth er they arc gram m atically correct an d w hether the choice o f v o cabu lary is good. T h e final step m ay be correcting spelling an d p u n c tu a tio n . In this w ay the stu d en t can co n c en trate b etter on each aspect o f w riting separately. G iven such an o p p o rtu n ity , the s tu d e n t is less in h ib ited an d feels freer to ex p e rim en t w ith d iffe ren t arra n g e m e n ts o f ideas o r d iffe ren t sentence structures. T his feature o f the w ordprocessor seems to be m o st ad v a n tag eo u s to the fairly advanced learners, bu t even in term ed iate an d beginner stu d en ts can benefit from it.
A n o th e r benefit o f using w ordpro cessors fo r w riting assignm ents is the possibility o f sto rin g a text fo r later correction. It h as been p rov en th a t the stu d en t loses interest in a text w hen he has su bm itted it to th e teacher. W hen th e teacher re tu rn s th e corrected p ap e r he barely look s a t it and p u ts it aw ay. W ith the co m p u ter, he can be asked to w o rk ag ain o n his text, even a long one, and subm it a corrected copy o f th e assig nm ent, since he n o longer needs to rew rite the entire text [ D a v i s a n d H i g g i n s 1985]. C o rrectin g the assignm ent reinforces the correct form s an d , in this w ay, it is an ad d itio n al activity co n trib u tin g to the im prov em ent o f w riting skills.
4. ADDITIONAL TOOLS
T h e im p o rta n t ad v a n ta g e o f the w ordpro cessor is th a t it offers a variety o f additional tools such as spellcheck, grammarcheck, and thesaurus. M oreover, electronic dictionaries can w ork in conju ction w ith it. T h a n k s to these extensions w riting becom es m u ch easier.
E lectronic m o nolingual and bilingual d ictionaries are usually sep a rate from th e w o rd p ro cesso r but they can be easily used w ith it. T h ey hav e all the characteristics o f a tra d itio n a l book d ictio n ary except th a t in fo rm atio n is presented on the co m p u ter screen instead o f in the pages o f a boo k. H ow ever, electronic dictionaries have som e ad v an tag es over tra d itio n a l ones. T h e first and the m o st im p o rta n t benefit is th e speed o f access. L o o k in g u p a w ord in a bo o k d ictio n ary usually tak es som e tim e and w hen th e stu d en t is confro n ted w ith several new v ocabu lary item s he gets d iscouraged very easily. E lectronic dictio naries deliver the answ er in s ta n taneou sly. A n o th e r ad v an tag e o f this type o f softw are is th a t it can execute a variety o f searches which w ould be im possible in a tra d itio n a l d ictio n ary . All these advan tag es encourage the stu d en t to use electronic d ictio n aries m o re freq uently which im proves the quality o f his w riting.
T h e thesauruses are a very useful featu re offered by the w ordp ro cesso r. In stead o f w asting tim e on brow sing th ro u g h a tra d itio n a l d ictio n ary o f synonym s, the stu d en t can have the answ er alm ost a t th e press o f a key. M o re o v er, the s tu d e n t’s a tte n tio n is n o t distracted by going back an d fo rth betw een the screen an d the dictio n ary . T hus, th e stu d en t is en co urag ed to use the th esau ru s m o re often and in th a t w ay he im proves his w riting.
Spellcheck is offered by m o st w ordprocessors. It p ro o fread s the entire text, finding all typog rap h ical m istak es an d spelling errors. E ach tim e the spellcheck finds a flaw it highlights it o n th e screen and presents the stu d en t w ith a list o f possible correct form s (F igu re 1). In such a way
proofread th e entire text finding all typographical mistakes and spelling errors. Each time the spcllchcck finds a flaw it highligts it on the screen and presents the students with a list of possible correct forms (Figure 1). In such a way the spcllchcck draws the student's attention to the spelling errors
D o c 1 Pg 6 Ln 7.67i Pos 1i
A. h ig h lig h ts
N ot fo u n d : 1 Skip O n c e ; 2 Skip; 3 Add; 4 Edit; 5 Look Up; 6 Ignore N um bers: 0
the spellcheck draw s the stu d e n t’s a tte n tio n to the spelling erro rs an d it reinforces the correct form by suggesting the correct possibilities from w hich th e stu d en t has to choose.
T h e g ram m archeck is usually n o t very sophisticated an d it is difficult to rely on it im plicitly. H ow ever, it can be useful to check if all paren th eses are paired, all sentences sta rt w ith capital letters o r if they are n o t to o long. T h e g ram m archeck can also correct the s-endings in the present sim ple th ird p erson singular, and o th e r small erro rs o f th a t kind.
A n o th e r useful fe a tu re o f th e w o rd -p ro ce sso r is th e p o ssib ility o f b reak in g up the screen and w orking with tw o d o cu m en ts a t th e sam e tim e. Such a possibility allow s m ak in g notes in one d o cu m en t an d w riting in the other.
5. D ESK -TO P PU BLISH IN G SO FTW A RE
D e sk -to p publishing packages are even m ore pow erful w o rd pro cesso rs. T h ey offer a range o f facilities enabling the user to create an d p rin t m ateria ls which previously could be p roduced only th ro u g h p ro fession al p rin tin g m eth o d s. T hey allow differen t kinds and sizes o f typefaces to be used. A text m ay be p rinted in colum ns; shapes (such as boxes and circles), graphics an d pictures can be added an d a d ocu m en t m ay be w rap ped aro u n d them . If a laser prin ter is available the result c a n n o t be distinguished from professionally produced leaflets, b rochures o r even new spapers.
D e sk -to p publishing p rogram s m ay be used fo r individual o r g rou p-w ork w riting projects. F o r exam ple, stu d en ts m ay create a b ro c h u re a b o u t th eir school o r th eir city in a foreign language. T hey m ay also publish a school new spaper o f professional quality. T hey m ay create p osters adv ertisin g after-class activities, for exam ple w atching a film in its original version w ith o u t subtitles.
T h e m ain benefit o f desk -to p publishing packages is th a t th ey arc highly m o tiv a tin g fo r th e student. T h e idea th a t he can create pro fessio n al-lo o k in g m aterials w hich m ay, and p ro b a b ly will, be read by people o th e r th a n the teach er encourages him to p u t a lo t o f effort in to his w riting.
6. C O M M U N IC A T IO N SO FTW A RE
C o m m u n ic a tio n p ro g ra m s en ab le u sers to c o m m u n ic a te d irec tly by m ean s o f th eir com p u ters. C o m m u n icatio n m ay be established betw een
m achin es in different room s in the sam e building, o r in d ifferen t buildings, tow ns an d even countries.
C om m unication program s allow users to interact in m an y ways. Electronic m ail is the m o st p o p u la r ap p licatio n o f this softw are. E ach user can have his ow n m ail box w hich receives in fo rm atio n sent to him , even if he is n o t w o rk in g w ith the co m p u ter a t the m o m en t. T h e user m ay com e later and read all the m essages w hich have been m ailed to him . H e m ay also send m essages to o th er users. A n o th er o p tio n offered by co m m u n icatio n packages is conferencing. U sers sit a t their com puters an d have a co n v e rsatio n by m ean s o f the k eyboard and the co m p u ter screen. E lectron ic bu lletin b o a rd s are a n o th e r possibility fo r com m unicating. T hey enab le th e user to p u t in fo rm a tio n u p fo r public viewing. T h ere is also a rang e o f services the user can subscribe to, such as m ultilingual d iction aries, on-line d atab a ses, o r m ailin g lists.
C o m m u n ica tio n p ro g ram s are also a valuable ap p lica tio n fo r im p ro v in g w riting. T hey create the sam e o p p o rtu n itie s fo r language learn ing and acqu isitio n as co rresp o n d in g w ith a foreign penfriend. H ow ever, they are m o re m o tiv a tin g as they reduce the tim e betw een m ailin g a letter and gettin g an answ er to a m inim um . A sh o rter answ er tim e encourages a m o re freq u en t exchange o f letters and m essages.
C o m m u n icatio n softw are m ay also be used to establish links am o n g schools, classes o r groups o f stu d en ts from different cou ntries. T h e p ro ject m ay be started by a class an d its teacher w riting a notice an d p u ttin g it u p fo r p ublic viewing o n an electronic bulletin b o ard . T h e notice m ay ask foreign stu d en t g ro u p s o r schools to get in touch. I f som eone answ ers, stu d en ts m ay sta rt to exchange electronic letters individually o r as a class. S tu d e n ts can exchange th eir creative and expo sitory essays, o r try to w rite a sto ry to g eth er (one g ro u p writes one page and th en w aits for the o th er g ro u p to w rite a n o th e r page).
T h e benefit o f this type o f softw are is th a t it allow s the s tu d e n t to w rite in a foreign language fo r the m o st n atu ra l an d realistic p u rp o se w hich is co m m u n icatio n w ith o th er people.
7. T EA C H E R ’S S U P P O R T
It is crucial to realise th a t all the p ro g ram s m en tio n ed so far w ere n o t designed w ith the foreign language learner in m ind an d they w ere supposed to serve o th e r p urposes th a n teaching w riting. T h a t is w hy it is u n realistic to expect these p rogram s to develop the w riting skills o f th e learn er by them selves. T h e w ordprocessor, the electronic d ictio n ary and th e co m
m u n icatio n softw are are only the tools w hich facilitate w riting; they d o n o t teach it. A s K e n H y l a n d suggests [1993] the m ach in e can assist w ritin g b u t only the teach er can im prove it. W ith o u t the teac h er’s su p p o rt the c o m p u ter can do very little for the student.
This is w hy the teacher has to offer the necessary help and encouragem ent to the stu d en t using the p ro g ram s m entioned above. H e has to teach the stu d en t how to take adv an tag e o f the full p o ten tial o f th e m ach in e and all the facilities it offers.
Initially, the teacher has to ensure th a t the stu d en t is fam iliar w ith o p eratin g the c o m p u ter and ru n n in g the softw are. T h e learn er h as to know how to sw itch the co m p u ter on, how to access the p ro g ram an d how to exit it. H e also should be able to save a d o cu m en t and retrieve it, o r to call u p a resident d ictio n ary o r a spellcheck. O therw ise, th e effects o f th e pro g ram s o n stu d en ts w riting m ay be fa r from desired.
M oreo v er, the stu d en t has to be ta u g h t and encou rag ed to benefit fully from the editing capabilities o f the w ordprocessor. H e h as to u n d erstan d th a t editing does n o t only involve m in o r lexical correctio ns, b u t th a t it gives the possibility o f m oving w hole blocks o f text, reord ering ideas an d changing the stru c tu re o f a co m position. T h e teacher m ust offer a variety o f in tro d u c to ry activities on the w ordprocessor such as rearrang in g p o rtio n s o f th e d ocu m en t in o rd e r to fam iliarize the stu d en t w ith th e features o f the p ro g ram .
T h e stu d en t also should be prep ared and encou rag ed to use spellcheck, gram m archeck, electronic diction aries an d th esau ru s in o rd e r to im prove the q u ality o f his language. O n the one h an d , he should realise how helpful they are and how m uch they can im prove the accuracy o f his language; on th e o th er h and; he should be aw are th a t he c a n n o t tru st them blindly, as som etim es they are n o t sophisticated enough.
A s fa r as the co m m u n icatio n softw are is concerned th e teach er also should n o t leave the learner on his ow n. I f the teach er w ants his stu d en t to exchange electronic m ail w ith a foreign penfriend he should help to set u p a co n tac t first. It is also good to establish links am o n g gro up s o f stu d en ts first before enco u rag in g m o re personal an d in fo rm al w riting.
8. PR O G R A M S FO R TEA C H IN G W R ITIN G
T h e kinds o f p ro g ram s discussed so far were n o t created specifically as C o m p u te r A ssisted L anguage L earning softw are an d they w ere n o t prim arily m e a n t to develop w riting skills. T h a t is why they c a n n o t dev elo p the le a rn e r’s w riting by them selves, b u t all they can d o is su p p o rt th e learn er by offering him a perfect en v iro n m en t fo r co m po sin g an d d raftin g .
H ow ever, there exist C A L L -dedicated p ro gram s w hich are designed specifically fo r teaching w riting. T h o se p ro g ram s actually show the stu d en t how to com pose ideas and how to p u t them in w ell-form ed sentences.
f1 = Ideas
FAVOURITE FOOD? b a n a n a s .
Figure 2. A screen dum p form (he M onster
O ne type o f this softw are presents the learner w ith som e ready -m ad e form s o f d o cu m en ts and asks him to supply th e variable in fo rm atio n . F o r exam ple, a p ro g ram by Jo h n H iggins called M o n ster is designed to teach children how to describe objects. T h e learn er is sup po sed to describe a m o n ster. T h e p ro g ram starts w ith asking th e learn er to d ra w a m o n ste r an d then it asks questions a b o u t th e co lo u r o f the m o n ster o r how m an y legs it h as (F ig u re 2). W hen the learner has answ ered all th e q u estio n s th e p ro g ram gives him a w ell-form ed d escriptio n o f M o n ste r (F ig u re 3). T h e sam e kind o f p rogram s exist fo r ad u lt learners and they m ay teach, for exam ple, w riting business letters.
The Pinky
A Pinky is a very big pink creaturo with 7 legs. It isn’t particularly scary though it is well known for speaking Chinese.
Its favourite food is bananas but it isn't very fond of spinach. When it eats, it sounds like a sheep.
It lives in a cave and sleeps in a bath. It usually gets up at 4 and goes to sloop a t 5 in the morning. Apparently it often dreams about becoming the President o f the USA. If you mot Pinky you'd certainly recognise it because you're so intelligent. Have YOU ever soon a Pinky?
Fig. 3. A screen dum p from Monster. T he w ords in italics are a student's answers to the questions asked by the program
A n o th e r p ro g ram called H ype acts on the principle o f th e hy pertex t. T h e h ypertex t has becom e a very p o p u la r ap p licatio n in C A L L . It allow s the arran g e m e n t o f a large a m o u n t o f texts n o t linearly, like in a tra d itio n a l bo o k , bu t in the form o f a net. T h a n k s to such a lay o u t, th e learner acquires easy access to all the in fo rm atio n he needs and is in terested in, w hich m akes him assum e m o re c o n tro l over his learn in g process.
H y p e allow s th e c reatio n o f texts w hich ca n b ra n c h o ff in m a n y directions. It m ay be used in class for teaching creative w riting. T h e teac h er m ay set up a project in w hich the learners are to w rite an in teractiv e sto ry, i.e. a story in w hich a re ad er can choose the fu rth e r cou rse o f events. T h e stu d en ts sta rt w riting the beginning as a g ro u p b u t then w ith each b ra n ch they have to divide them selves in to sm aller team s to co n tin u e each stran d o f th e story. T h e sto ry can b ranch o ff so m an y tim es th a t a t the end each learn er has to w rite the last p a rt o f the sto ry by him self. H ow ever, by this tim e each learner should have gained enough p re p a ra tio n and practice to be able to carry o u t th e ta sk individually.
H yperT ext---It was a dark and stormy night. John was sitting alone i his room. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. John was startled. W ho could it be? He w ent to th e door and looked through th e peephole.
It was Mary. No one was there.
< > Select < E s c > Exit Window PgUp PgD Pago
< Enter > View F10 Q uit
Fig. 4. A screen d u mp from Hype
9. C O N CLU SIO N
A s this p ap e r has attem p ted to show , the c o m p u ter does n o t hav e to be used exclusively fo r teach in g , p ra ctisin g an d testin g g ra m m a r and v o cab u lary in a foreign language. It m ay also be used to develo p th e fo u r lan guage skills and it offers quite a n u m b er o f activities to im p ro ve w riting. It is up to the teach er to use the full p otential o f th e m ach in e an d p u t it to good use.
BIBLIO G RAPH Y
D a v i s , J. and H i g g i n s , J. (1985) Using Computers in Language Learning: A Teacher’s Guide. Centre for Inform ation on Language Teaching and Research.
H y l a n d , K. (1993) “ ESL com puter writers: what can we do to help.” System 21: 21-31.
SO FTW A R E L IS T 2 Eteacher, N ahlik Soft, 1992.
Sortset, John and M uriel Higgins, R D A . Vocah, Christopher Jones, W ida Software. M onster, John Higgins, R D A .
Hype, Knowledge G arden Inc., 1987.
A gn ieszka L eń k o -S zym a ń sk a
PR O G R A M Y K O M PU T E R O W E D O N A U C Z A N IA PISA N IA W JĘ Z Y K U OBCYM
K om puter ugruntow ał już swoją pozycję w dziedzinie nauczania języków obcych, jednak zazwyczaj wykorzystywany jest on jedynie do tradycyjnych ćwiczeń dotyczących słownictwa i gram atyki. Celem autorki artykułu jest pokazanie, że prawdziwe możliwości k om putera są znacznie większe i m ogą one służyć kom unikatyw nej metodyce, szczególnie w zakresie polepszania umiejętności pisania.
W artykule przedstaw iono kilka typów program ów kom puterow ych w spom agających pisanie, takich jak: edytory tekstu, słowniki elektroniczne czy poczta elektroniczna. Jednakże au to rk a zw raca uwagę na fakt, że sam kom puter nie może popraw ić umiejętności pisania uczniów, jeśli nie jest on wspierany przez nauczyciela. A rtykuł om aw ia także różnorodne oprogram ow anie, które służy d o bezpośredniego nauczania i ćwiczenia umiejętności pisania.
