Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching

Instructor: Chi-Fen Emily Chen  陳其芬

Department of English

National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Unit 9.  Using Technology to Teach Thinking Skills

9.1   The Role of Thinking Skills in Language Learning 

9.2   How Technology Supports Thinking

9.3   Thinking Skills and the Use of Computers

9.3.1   Perceptual Skills

9.3.2   Conceptual Skills

9.4   Designing Inquiry-based Learning Activities

9.4.1   Instructional Models

9.4.2   The Web and Thinking

9.1  The Role of Thinking Skills in Language Learning

1. There is a danger when working with language learners of confusing a student's ability to use the target language with his/her thinking abilities.

2. Language learners need to be given opportunities to engage in high-level thinking and inquiry-based learning (also called problem-centered, problem-based, or project-based learning).

3. In terms of language learning, the use of inquiry is tied closely to the cognitive academic language learning approach (CALLA) for supporting language and content learning (Chamot and O'Malley, 1994).

4. Both inquiry learning and CALLA envision the student as a co-constructor of deepened content learning aided by the development of cognitive strategies.

9.2   How Technology Supports Thinking

1. Technology can be used to support thinking if teachers design classrooms in which

1. learning activities are informed by an understanding of the cognitive processes involved in language learning and thing;

2. technology tools are carefully selected to support a wide range of thinking and problem-solving opportunities; and

3. these tools are used within an learning approach based on an understanding of inquiry, problem-based learning, and language learning.  (Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003, p. 166)

2. Technology needs to be examined and selected in terms of how it supports a thinking-oriented environment, that is, a constructivist learning environment where students are allowed to construct meaning for themselves and learn more deeply.

Characteristics of technology (computer tools) that are considered important in the support of a constructivist view of learning (Polin, 1992, cited in Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003, p. 176):

1. The learner performs a whole, meaningful task, not a subskill.

2. The tool carries some of the burden of the task. It "scaffolds" the elements of the task the learner cannot accomplish alone.

3. The tool allows increasingly complex versions of the task to be carried out by turning back some of the task burden to the learner.

3. Computers are used as Cognitive Enhancers.

Computer technology provides tools and programs that scaffold thinking and support collaborative problem solving.

1. Content-free computer tools (e.g., word processors, illustration programs, spreadsheets, databases, presentation programs, webpage authoring programs, sound recording and editing tools) help learners to remember, comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, and reflect on information through writing, sketching, or recording with multiple modalities.

2. The computer-mediated environments assist learners with problem solving because they provide a source of scaffolded information for thinking and a way to share the cognitive load of a task, especially when students are struggling with new language.

3. Multimedia and hypermedia environments can be interactive and afford a person control over visual images, animation, sound, and text. The capability of the computer to provide this interactivity and user-control is an important reason why computers and the networks are likely to have a longer instructional shelf life than traditional media.

9.3   Thinking Skills and the Use of Computers

9.3.1   Perceptual Skills

1. Everything students learn must first come through the senses. The initial stage of cognitive processing requires perception. That is, the first step for students to learn is to get their attention to the essential features of an environment. 

2. When teaching students to use a technology program, it is important to help them pay attention to the meaning of computer icons and menus and how each menu contains related functions.

3. In order for students to become self-directed learners, they need to understand the program and how it works, rather than just asking them to follow a set of written directions. They need to understand the generic features of menus and icons used in computer applications (most computer application programs have similar interface designs).

4. Computer programs require attention to the display of information and its relevance to the processing of information. Improving students' perceptions of important words and functions in a computer-based learning environment can assist thinking and language learning.

5. Visual perception is important not only in learning technology tools but also in learning content and language. Visually oriented programs help students build a visual and intuitive understanding of objects in relationship to each other and a nonverbal way to think about any concept.

9.3.2   Conceptual Skills

1. Beyond perception is the development of conception, that is, the mental manipulation of ideas and concepts, or the ability to form or understand mental concepts and abstractions.

2. There are two types of knowledge used in language learning that are processed differently (Chamot and O'Malley, 1994):

1. Declarative knowledge: involving the mental manipulation of concepts, principles, and vocabulary.

Using a multimedia program that contains pictures of objects and backgrounds can help students gain new vocabulary and new information within a comprehensible context.

2. Procedural knowledge: involving the process of managing and obtaining knowledge. Procedural knowledge ranges from cognitive strategies for solving problems to metacognition (the ability to think about one's own thinking). Procedural knowledge is best learned by "practicing a complex procedure that has meaning and achieves an important goal" (Chamot and O'Malley, 1994). 

Procedural knowledge is supported by problem-based learning and inquiry. It cannot be taught by asking students to read, memorize, and report back information. Rather, it is acquired by students through struggling with puzzling problems and constructing satisfying solutions for themselves. Web-based learning activities, such as WebQuests, can be designed to gain procedural knowledge.

3. Comparison between short-term memory and long-term memory:

In order for the brain to remember and later recall declarative knowledge, this information must pass through short-term memory and stay there long enough to be encoded in long-term memory.

1. Short-term memory is visual and auditory in nature. Presenting information using different modalities can help students remember information as they interact with it in short-term memory.

2. Long-term memory is semantic in nature and organized in terms of meaningfulness to the learner. Things are most easily stored and retrieved if they are connected to already existing mental schema or their experiences (i.e. constructivist learning theory).

9.4   Designing Inquiry-based Learning Activities
 

9.4.1   Instructional Models

1. Bloom's Taxonomy of the cognitive domain (1956):