If you aren't familiar with the real Rosetta Stone, it is a stone artefact found in the middle east that is a critical piece of history in the understandingn Egyptian writing.  It contains multiple types of writing (translations of the same text) all in one stone slab and is perhaps the single most important 'document' in the understanding of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  It is because of the multiple languages on this stone that early linguists were able to discover the meanings of many previously unknown hieroglyphics.

OK, so what does this have to do with computer assisted language learning? Well there is a great piece of software called "The Rosetta Stone" that was developed to help students learn language more quickly.  I had the opportunity to review a demonstration copy of the software recently and found it very easy to use, well designed pedagogically (it builds very naturally from easier topics and materials to more complicated as a student works with the software).  The software works on developing a students vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and reading skills primarily.  For what it provides (hundreds of hours of practice and materials to work on), it is very affordable.

I'd say that it is very well suited to use in public school language programmes, for home study, community language programmes, and in private language schools that focus on communicative language development.  It may not be ideal for programmes with a heavy academic focus, but would still provide a great deal of practice for students.  The software is also available for teaching/practice in dozens of different languages (not only English instruction), so if you are teaching Italian, French, Turkish, Thai, Greek, and any of 20 or so other languages, the sofware is available for study in those languages as well.

When I was talking with a rep recently I found out that they are now offering the software with a free headset (that includes a microphone), and free shipping.  Considering that they also provide a 6 month return guarantee, it is a really great opportunity to get a copy of the software.  You can also send your students to read this page so they can look into getting a copy for themselves.

You can read more about it in detail here: 

Cheers,

Eric

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For students who are learning a new language pronunciation is a hurdle that seems to take a long time to jump over.  Long after grammar and reading skills have developed and vocabulary knowledge has been built, pronunciation lingers as a problem area.  Often, the problem is more in the speaker's mind then a real source of comprehension problems - however that in itself is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

For teachers who are working in classes with students from a variety of backgrounds working on pronunciation issues can be a challenge as pronunciation problems vary according to a student's first language.  Koreans have touble with f/v, p/b; French speakers with th/d; Japanese with r/l if we are only looking at individual sounds.  Move into rhythm and intonation and you've added in another whole level of complexity.  Despite having a tonal language (Mandarin for example), Chinese students of English are notorious for flat, monotonous speech in English.

So can English pronunciation software help teachers and students with their pronunciation problems?  The most basic answer is yes.  There are a selection of good pronunciation software packages that can help both teachers and students alike.  As a teacher, you can work on more global issues in class and then have your students work on problem areas that they are personally experiencing with pronunciation software.  Students can also do self-access or self-study with pronunciation software on their own time to further work on their spoken English.

Here are some English pronunciation software packages that I'd suggest checking out:

• eyespeak - Good for word and sentence level practice.  Also provides some good practice on phoneme level issues.  Provides good visual cues on a student's voice patterns
• Pronunciation Power I and II - Very easy to use software that provides a TON of practice opportunities over roughly 60 different phonemes.  Provides practive at both word and sentence level.  Corrective feedback and suggestions are not really a part of this software, but it is very well liked.
• Connected Speech - A good package of listening and speaking activities that are theme based.  The focus of this pronunciation software is to work on sentence level issues (prosodics: suprasegmentals, rythm, stress and intonation)

Using software to work on English pronunciation isn't the end-all and be-all.  A student must get real life exposure and practice speaking as much as possible.  Improving pronunciation is a lot like playing professional sports.  You can practice all you want, but until you get into the game, your skills don't really shine or let you down.  It is in the 'game' that you learn where you need to work on your pronunciation and what is already OK.  Getting students to do that…well that is an issue beyond any pronunciation software.

Cheers,

Eric

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Using sample sentences taken directly from your ESL students is  a great way for them to work on their editing and error recognition and corrections skills.  There really isn't too much to complicate this idea as it is really quite simple in practice.

What you do is collect a series of sentence examples from your students' work.  You can choose to select sentences that all display a similar problem (verb tense for example), or simply collect any examples you wish.  I would suggest that you get permission from your students before you do this and then make sure to keep them anonymous.  I've never had any student refuse, but it best to respect their privacy.  On that note, be sure to choose sentences that are not personally revealing either in terms of personal information/experiences or just basic "I can guess who wrote this" information.

So what do you do with these example sentences?  Well you give them to your students to work on.  Their goal should be to find and correct any errors in logic, grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice etc.  Of course you as the teacher can limit them to working on only very specific issues (find all spelling mistakes).  I typically give 3-4 sentences out to a class and give them about 20-30 minutes to work on them.  Usually individually at first, and them in pairs or threes.  Once you think they have done enough, be sure to go over them in class.

What you will find is that as long as you have used sentences from students at the same basic ESL level, they will struggle mightily with this task as they are trying to find the same errors that they typically make. 

If you have access to a computer lab, you can have them do this in a word processor which allows them to manipulate and move the words around very easily.  It is also very good to do the review on a computer with projector so that they can see you move the words around as well.

Without fail students come away from this activity with a much greater appreciation for error recognition and correction.

A simple extension of this into the speaking realm is to have students transcribe some free speech (a commentary on a picture perhaps) and then do the error hunt and fix afterwards.

Here are a few examples to give you an idea of some basic ESL sentence examples you could work with.  There are from an intermediate academic prep class I taught a few years back.

1. It is hard to see snowing in my hometown so I am very exciting.
2. It is unreasonable for me, in fact I should be exciting and happy.  Because she studys in University of British Columbia.
3. When my friend has arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia.  This feeling is stronger than before.
4. Braised pork slices is my favorite but my mother is board chairman in her company she hasn’t time to cook for me. but she teached me to cook some of my favorite food, especially when I came to Canada.
5. I see other people wear less clothes than me, sometimes I think “why they can wear so less, and Don’t they feel cold?”.

Example sentences are very easy to collect, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't actually use these.  Use examples from your class, they will match your students' levels better.

Cheers,

Eric

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Speaking practice activities don't need to be super complicated, they only need to provide a student with the opportunity to speak and get some kind of feedback on their speaking.  Feedback doesn't mean a test mark, in this case it is more in keeping with what Krashen talks about, getting a response to your production (your speaking) so that you know if what you have said has been understood or not so that you can try to make adjustments in your speaking.

In this way of thinking feedback can be as simple as a raised eyebrow showing confusion or someone saying "can you say that again please".  This is the kind of immediate feedback that over time produces the best results.  It is also the kind of feedback to which students are most afraid of exposing themselves.

OK, so what is a really simple form of speaking practice that can give some decent feedback without being a test, and without too much stress?  Well recording and transcribing is a very good option.  In this kind of activity, the speaking practice takes two and a half steps (more or less).   Here is how it works…

1. You as a teacher collect a selection of short reading passages, or have your students write something short (100-200 words max)
2. hand them out to the students.  You have a choice to make this more or less impromtu by changing the amount of time in advance the student can see the writing
3. have each student record their text. You can do this on a PC or tape deck, it doesn't matter.  I have a lab with 22 PCs so that works well for me, but if you don't, just be wise in the use of your resources (like a boy scout).
4. Once they are all recorded, have students swap recordings (or move to a new PC) and spend some time transcribing their classmates audio.  Tell them to write only what they understand, and as they understand it (even if it means writing a word they don't really understand  phonetically).  Also, they should NOT have seen or read the text previously.  Ideally they would do this with several students to get transcriptions from several sets of ears.
5. They then hand their transcription to the student who did the recording.
6. The original student then reviews the audio and transcription(s) looking for problem areas to work on  (this is step 2 in the speaking practice )

Do it again next week or as it fits your schedule.

This is a very simple way to take advantage of call technologies (computer recording software and word processing) to help with speaking practice in an interesting way.  You may find it a bit chaotic the first time you do it, but it provides your students with a good source of feedback without a lot of stress.

Cheers,

Eric

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