Tips and tricks for teaching Linguistics with technology (17 Feb 2005)

Programme | Abstracts | Event report

Past event summary

The Subject Centre in conjunction with CILT, the National Centre for Languages, hosted a free-of-charge one-day workshop to explore the ways in which new technologies can enhance the teaching of Linguistics.

In addition, attendees were invited to bring along and present examples of materials and techniques they have developed, and time was allocated for questions and further discussion. Examples of tools discussed included:

• use of common tools such as the Microsoft Office suite, e.g. Word, PowerPoint
• software designed specifically for supporting learning, e.g. Blackboard, WebCT and Moodle
• tools for creating electronic materials, e.g. concordancers, exercise generators and Web-authoring software

Programme

09.45 - 10.15	Registration and coffee
10.15 - 10.20	Welcome and introduction
	Session 1: Using web-based technologies and materials
10.20 - 11.00	Using Flash MX technology to support learning in Linguistics for speech and language therapy students Caroline Newton, University College London
11.00 - 11.40	Advantages of using web-based materials as a source of data for student assignments Samantha Hellmuth, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
11.40 - 12.00	Coffee and discussion/sharing of materials
	Session 2: Virtual learning environments and online materials2
12.00 - 12.40	Developing and implementing an online module on language learning: lessons learnt Miranda van Rossum, University of Hull
12.40 - 13.20	IT-supported 'active learning' methods in the linguistics curriculum Heike Wiese and Jörg Lüttgau, Humboldt-University Berlin
13.20 - 15.00	Lunch and discussion/sharing of materials
	Session 3: Concordancing and corpora tools
14.20 - 15.00	NooJ: An integrated linguistic development environment to process texts Tamás Váradi, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Max Silberztein, Université de Franche-Comté
15.00 - 15.40	Interpreting concordance lines Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham (Speaker) and John Sinclair, Tuscan Word Centre
15.40	Questions and discussion/sharing of materials

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Abstracts

Using Flash MX technology to support learning in Linguistics for speech and language therapy students

Caroline Newton, University College London

Download handout: Using Flash MX technology to support learning in Linguistics for speech and language therapy students (rich text format, 29Kb)

Students from many different educational backgrounds training to become Speech and Language Therapists must become proficient in a wide range of subject areas. They must also make the crucial links between the course units that cover professional studies (the theory and practice of working with clients with communication disorders) and other course units that develop foundational skills which are necessary in clinical work (e.g. analysing speech and language). Many students struggle to make such links, and therefore to apply skills learnt elsewhere to their clinical work. A 'Toolkit for Language Data Analysis' has been developed in the Department of Human Communication Science at UCL, using Flash MX animation software to develop tutorials and exercises to support students' learning of Linguistics and Children's Language Development and to start to apply that knowledge to the analysis of data collected by tasks they will use in clinical work. Flash technology enables step-by-step presentation of concepts and arguments, controlled by the user, as well as user activity on-screen (e.g. typing in an answer, moving an item on the screen) and provides a response to this activity. The technology has typically been used in educational settings for the presentation of scientific concepts (e.g. cell biology) but also offers a very useful environment for supporting learning in Linguistics.

Advantages of using web-based materials as a source of data for student assignments

Samantha Hellmuth, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Download presentation: Advantages of using web-based materials as a source of data for student assignments (pdf, 901Kb)

This presentation reports on use of open-access online materials as data for analysis in a course unit final assignment in phonetics and phonology for students of Applied Linguistics. The aim was to assess a learning outcome defined in terms of the ability to apply acquired knowledge in real world situations. Use of freely available semi-interpreted speech materials as input to analysis permits assessment specifically of the ability to interpret rather than merely observe phonetic and phonological facts, whilst keeping the resulting assignment within requisite length requirements.

In addition, the online database provided data from a very large variety of languages yet all students were required to perform the same task, and on materials presented in a uniform format. This combination gave students a degree of autonomy in choice of assignment topic (choice of languages), whilst facilitating consistent appraisal of performance and giving the tutor ready access to the speech material under investigation.

The presentation will show how the assignment was designed and implemented, and assess its strengths and weaknesses both as a means of accurate assessment and as a learning experience. Suggestions for adaptation of the design to other fields and online sources will be explored.

Developing and implementing an online module on language learning: lessons learnt

Miranda van Rossum, University of Hull

Download presentation: Developing and implementing an online module on language learning: lessons learnt (Powerpoint, 31Kb)

The Language Learning module was originally part of a f2f MA in Language Learning and Technology. It was then decided to include it in the online Post-Graduate Certificate in Advising for Language Learning. This presentation will focus on the implications of redesigning the module for online delivery, and the lessons learnt from this development process and subsequent implementation of the module.

IT-supported 'active learning' methods in the linguistics curriculum

Heike Wiese and Jörg Lüttgau, Humboldt-University Berlin

Download presentation: IT-supported 'active learning' methods in the linguistics curriculum (Powerpoint, 3Mb)

Today, most didactic theories agree that in order to motivate learners and to achieve long-term learning, traditional methods like whole-class teaching and plenary discussions have to be complemented by methods supporting 'active learning', that is, methods that do not treat students as passive recipients of the teacher's instructions, but as active participants in the learning process.

In a project carried out at the Institute for German Language and Linguistics of Humboldt-University Berlin, we employ such methods in an IT-supported paradigm that combines internet technologies (Moodle and a tailor-made internet exercise program, Lingutrain) with student-oriented classroom materials that are based on traditional technologies (in particular 'grammar games').

A major part of the students in our classes is studying to become teachers of German at (the German equivalent of) high schools and sixth-form colleges. Accordingly, our goals are two-fold. On the one hand, we want to increase students' interest in linguistic topics and enhance their learning suc-cess; on the other hand, we want them to experience 'active learning' methods that they can later employ when teaching grammar at schools.

As part of the curriculum, students acquire techniques of grammatical analysis and master central phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic phenomena of German from a cross-linguistic perspective. In support of these contents, our teaching paradigm has two main components that foster active learning:

(1) Self-instruction

Self-instruction is used for exercises where students familiarise themselves with grammatical analysis tools. This component is combined with whole-class teaching. Once the teacher has introduced the central concepts for a topic, he/she provides classroom materials that support independent studies, enabling students to learn together and by themselves, while the teacher is present and offers help when needed. Some of these materials have the form of 'grammar games', others provide short abstracts of grammatical phenomena and question/answer-cards or proposals for discussion. Exercises in class are complemented exercises out the meetings. For these independent exercises, students access a tailor-made linguistic training program on the internet, Lingutrain (www.lingutrain.de). Lingutrain offers short summaries of relevant phenomena and provides exercises in the form of open and multiple choice questions with answers that appear on mouse-click. In order to discuss problems and alternative an-swers with the whole group (including the teacher), students use a discussion forum provided by Moodle.

(2) Research projects

In research projects, students apply linguistic analysis tools to a grammatical phenomenon. Supported by the teacher, students choose a phenomenon they want to investigate, and then work on it independently (with intermediate reports in class): they formulate a working hypothesis, carry out an empirical investigation, analyse their results, and present them in class at the end of the term. These projects are carried out in team-work: students form groups that work together on one topic over the duration of the class and present their results together. Each team gets its own discussion forum via Moodle (in addition to the one for general discussions mentioned in (1)). These forums are vital to organise the work within the group, to discuss practical and theoretical problems, and to get in contact with other groups.

Taken together, the combination of student-oriented classroom materials with internet technologies that can be used by students independently and outside the classroom allows us to foster active and cooperative learning within the linguistic curriculum despite the need for concise instruction (given very tight time-tables, in particular for undergraduate classes) in classes that tend to be very large (sometimes over 100 students) and heterogeneous.

Interpreting concordance lines

Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham (Speaker) and John Sinclair, Tuscan Word Centre

Download handout: Interpreting Concordance Lines (rich text format, 116Kb)
Download presentation: Interpreting Concordance Lines (Powerpoint, 75Kb)

Concordance lines show examples of words or phrases, as found in a corpus of naturally-occurring language, in their immediate co-text. They bring together diverse experiences of language and can reveal patterning that is largely hidden to introspection. Looking at concordance lines can suggest regularities in meaning, grammar, and pragmatics that are difficult to see in individual examples. This talk will demonstrate how concordance lines can be 'read' and how such readings might illustrate or challenge ideas about how languages work.

NooJ: An integrated linguistic development environment to process texts

Tamás Váradi, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Max Silberztein, Université de Franche-Comté

Download presentation: Tips and Tricks with INTEX/NOOJ (Powerpoint, 817Kb)

NooJ is an integrated system ideally suited to develop complex linguistic systems that can be used to retrieve or mark up texts. It was designed to be three tools, a sophisticated corpus query, a grammar development and a teaching tool rolled into one. Key features of the system includes a sophisticated lexical component, a graphical tool to develop grammars, the facility to apply grammars to texts yielding concordances or additional markup. NooJ applies state-of-the-art finite-state technology to handle corpora, lexicons and grammars alike, ensuring exceptional speed and robustness in its application.

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Event report: Tips and tricks for teaching Linguistics with technology

by David Newton

A wonderful event, very friendly and competent organisers; I enjoyed it a lot!

- Workshop attendee

This event was attended by a wide range of participants - lecturers in Linguistics, Speech Therapy, Psychology, Applied Linguistics and English Language, as well as a number of postgraduate teachers. The day was divided into themes (see Programme), with two presentations on each theme.

A wide range of subject areas within linguistics were covered (see Abstracts), including phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, textual analysis and language acquisition, and a very varied selection of technologies and unique ways of teaching were showcased.

Feedback from attendees was extremely positive. Comments included "I found the whole workshop very helpful and interesting", "all very relevant and consistent quality" and "even sessions that presented more familiar material set off useful conversations."