神奈川県立外語短期大学

Digital Literacy and Learning Styles

JALTCALL 2009June 6 Toyo Gakuen University Tokyo

Marcel Van Amelsvoort

Kanagawa Prefectural College of Foreign Studies

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Digital Natives?

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Digital Literacy

USA 56% (2005)

“Digital Literacy” is too simple a term

Computer literacy

Computer literacyAccess to tools

(hardware and

software)Digital learning literacy

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Computer Ownership Rates Percentage of Students with Computers (and Internet)

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

75%

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Digital Device Ownership Rates Digital Devices in 2007-09 (Incoming 1st Year Students)

% that have… 2007 2008 2009

MP3 Player

29% 47% 49%

Nintendo DS

12% 27% 26%

Sony PSP 6% 3% --

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Digital Learning Experience Digital Learning Literacy in 2007-08 (Incoming 1st Year Students)

% that have done… 2007 2008 2009Internet Listening 46% 53% 45%Podcasts (English) 9% 9% 22%Podcasts (Japanese) 12% 13% 27%Making Podcasts 1% 4% 6%Skype 12% 11% 22%Wikipedia 48% 64% 75%CALL Room 37% 37% 24%Social Networking (E) -- -- 13%Social Networking (J) -- -- 57%

Digital Writing Experience In 2007-09 (Incoming 1st Year Students)

% that have… 2007 2008 2009

Made a blog 29% 44% 48%

Posted blog comments in English

-- -- 17%

Posted blog comments in Japanese

-- -- 62%

Written an e-mail in English

55% 31% 42%

Digital Device Ownership Students and Teachers in 2009

Students Instructors

Mp3 Player 49% 7/10(only 2 use for language

study)

Nintendo DS 26% 1/10

Internet Learning Experience Internet Use in Language Learning in 2009

Students Instructors

Listening through the Internet

45% 6/10

Reading through the Internet

-- 9/10

Digital Learning Experience Technology for learning in 2009

Students Instructors

Keep (kept) a blog

48% 4/10

Listen to podcasts (in target language)

22% 2/10

Use Skype 22% 6/10(only 2 in target

language)

Teachers as Learners…

• Show a wide range of individual tool use (traditional, desktop and mobile)– Books and magazines (10/10)– Comp. reading (9/10)– DVDs (8/10)– TV (6/10)– Radio (5/10)

• Are hard to profile– But are definitely more PC-oriented

神奈川県立外語短期大学

“I don’t use technology very often but I

encourage students to.”

“I’m a paid member at Audible.com. I also record

radio programs and lectures for playback while I jog”

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Problems with encouraging new tools and techniques for learning

Culture of

Technology Culture of

Learning

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Culture of Technology

PC familiarity

Typing

Mp3 players: music or more?

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Culture of Learning

Teacher-centeredness

Autonomy

Focus on tests

Willingness to jump communities

Willingness to get involved

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Hubbard (2004)

• Experience CALL yourself

• Give learners teacher training

• Use a incremental/cyclical approach

• Use collaborative debriefings

• Teach general exploitation strategies (linguistic and technical).

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Our Approach for Implementation

Know Your Learners

Institutionalize (Multi-course and required) Immerse (Multi-course; regular assignments)

Support Actively (Multi-lingual; all stages)

Allow Sufficient Time

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Our Strategy

Teach and promote tool use in, across and beyond 3 courses

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Goals

Improve computer literacy

Improve computer learning literacy

Promote learner autonomy

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Subjects

18 (20 at start) 1st year students in the lowest proficiency class at a junior college in Yokohama.

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Tools

Blogs: As writing tool; web presence; personal learning space

Various Web 2.0 Tools: Voki (personalized talking avatars ） ESL Video (video learning) Voice of America (news and listening) IKnow (personalized social learning) Quizlet (personalized quizzes) Chatroll (interactive social writing)

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Institutionalize and Immerse

Writing 2 (1×90 min.) Blogs (but only 1 posting

required; more encouraged)

Workshop (2×90 min.) Blogs; ESL Video;

iKnow; Voice of America;

Quizlet; Voki

Writing 1 (1×90 min.)

Blogs; Quizlet;

Chatroll; Voki

Second TermFirst Term

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Results: Blogs vs. Journals

0%6%6%50%37%Improved

0%6%19%31%44%Enjoyed

0%6%6%50%37%Tried hard

Blogs

6%0%0%19%72%Improved

6%0%37%25% 31%Enjoyed

0 %6%6%31% 56%Tried hard

Disagree Strongly

DisagreeNot SureAgreeAgree Strongly

Journals

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Results: Blog Difficulty

By the end of the course…

0%28%61%0% 11%Difficulty

Very EasyEasyNot so Hard

HardVery Hard

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Blog Assessment by Learners

5%0%28%61%5%Interesting

BoringNot ReallyA LittleInterestingVery

0%0%61%39%Useful

Not at AllNot So Much

UsefulVery

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Learner Intentions and Reality

5%

No

45%50%Want to Continue Using Blogs

Haven’t Decided

Yes

• 17% wrote over the summer• Writing 2 produced an average of 4.1 postings

though only one was required (ranging from 0-9 postings)

神奈川県立外語短期大学

Factors We Found Important

Know Your Learners

Institutionalize (Multi-course and required) Immerse (Multi-course; regular assignments)

Support Actively (Multi-lingual; all stages)

Allow Sufficient Time