Readings #2

Egbert, J. (2005). CALL Essentials: Principals and Practices in CALL Classrooms, Ch. 1. Introduction: Principles of CALL

Egbert provides a framework for viewing the baisc principles and conditions of the effective use of computer technology in language learning settings.

I believe the most important of these principles for language educators are:

a. The focus should always be on language USE rather than on language STUDY

b. learners should use CALL for authentic (useful) tasks, in order to maximize student motivation.

c. learners should be encouraged to interact in the target language-- not just with teachers, but mostly with other learners.

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Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for the classroom (Chapter 3)

Here, Richardson gives some basic but very practical advice on how teachers can begin using blogs in their classes. He makes an excellent point about why teachers should blog themselves: "to show students that it is something of value and to model appropriate ways of doing it."

He points out that it is OK for teachers to mix personal interests with the purely academic content of their blogs, but encourages teachers to be prudent and to be aware of your particular school's "comfort level" for teacher blogging. Also, it is the teacher's responsibility to teach children how to blog safely and securely, and how to react to possible problems. Parents and administrators also need to be clearly informed of such projects.

Another obvious but practical point is to first be aware of how much access students may or may not have to computers and the internet. The remainder of the chapter is focused on advising teachers on the basic steps involved in setting up a 'blogspot' blog.