Shiv on Learning

With enough imagination most of the tools available to teachers can be applied to their favored teaching methodology. A resource like a phonemic chart can easily and cheaply produced and used in classrooms as a printed chart, on an IWB, on a website or in a virtual world. Here is a simple example we used a couple of years ago at Languagelab to illustrate the power of virtual worlds.

The 4 types of phonemic chart are:

The wall chart

(image from ETAS learning technologies blog)

• It can’t talk, but the teacher can.
• It doesn’t light up but you can point at the squares.
• You can manipulate and change the chart.
• Can be used by whole class.
• Only used in class time.

The web page

(from teachingenglish.org.uk)

• The web page phonetic chart talks to you.
• Can be used with a teacher or self access.
• Gives a reminder of what the sounds are.
• Cannot manipulate or change the web page – static.
• Can be used alone or in pairs.
  

The IWB

(may be slow to load)

(from macmillanenglish.com)

• Just like web page but projected onto a larger screen.
• Students may only use the board during class time.
• Teacher centric activity – IWB is not multi-touch.
• Basically it is an old fashioned wall chart on a large white board.
• Only 1 or 2 students can use the board at a time – a paper chart is more flexible you can cut it up and distribute to the whole class.

The Virtual World

[Pictures from Languagelab.com 2007]

• Students physically move, jump or fly to the symbols
• Learn the meaningful distance between symbols and the relationships to one another.
• Student centered.
• Access anytime.
• Whole class can partcipate at the same time.
• Engaging, stimulating and fun

To sum it up, there is a not a great deal of difference between an old fashioned wall chart, a web page or an IWB. You can do all the same activities and the activities are generally teacher centric. Underhill’s reminders “Make Phonology Tangible; Find Phonology Everywhere; Phonology Supports Everything” ^[1], succinctly describe what virtual world phonetic charts do, they are tangible; they can be replicated and displayed at appropriate times and embedded in the environment and consistently support learning. Having a physical location where students know they can always focus on phonetics is a great tool for students. They also allow for maximum group participating – making the activity much more student centric.

By Jessica Driscoll

Reference:

1. Adrian Underhill
University of Oxford Seminar for English Language Teachers 2007
Course: Successful pronunciation learning Making pronunciation physical