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Abstract: Electronic text teaching represents one of many resources that are being integrated into instructional activities, features such as publicness, democratization, anchored referents, and malleability of E-text strongly support such activity. It provides novel, empowering tools for teachers and learners as well as accompanying forms of constructive, literacy-centered discourse; discourse that is in keeping with the needs and goals of the second language and literacy learner.
Key word: Electronic Text; Teaching English as a Second Language
1 Introduction
Providing opportunities for ESL learners to develop English language and literacy skills is a continual challenge and concern for schools. Recent interest in technologies1 as a means of supporting language development has brought ESL teaching professionals around the country to include computers, multimedia, and telecommunications as tools for instruction.
2 Goals and Procedure of Teaching English as a Second Language Instruction
The ESL professional’s major concern is to design and implement activities that guide learners to attend to the linguistic forms and meaning of content. At the same time they encourage the development of appropriate linguistic and cognitive strategies for understanding and production. A balanced focus on form and meaning is particularly critical for this population.
3 Electronic Texts
We use the term ‘technologies’ to refer to computers, multimedia, and telecommunications.
The term ‘electronic texts’ refers to any information displayed electronically on a computer screen.
Electronic texts (e-texts), by virtue of their unique characteristics, play a potentially powerful role in school-based TESL contexts and can be viewed as a good venue for literacy activities in classrooms. They can also serve as rich contexts for the active negotiation of meaning by students in need of this kind of linguistic/cognitive engagement. E-texts consist of on-screen information (visual, textual, and aural) within computer, multimedia, and/or telecommunications environments. They are what people from all walks of life, especially school-age children, are becoming accustomed to encountering, reading, manipulating, and producing as part of daily activity. They include games, databases, talking books, hypermedia and telecommunications. E-texts are becoming widely used by contemporary students as a matter of course for both deliberate and incidental instruction and they offer several features that can, when deliberately exploited for instructional purposes, enhance learning across grades and subjects. E-texts have features and accompanying capabilities that are qualitatively different from what has traditionally served as our primary tool for literacy activity the print medium. The attributes of e-texts differ from those of print in many significant ways. For example, where print is permanently static, electronic texts are dynamic, malleable and manipulable. E-texts are typically linked to a variety of information in a variety of forms. Meaning is not restricted to a single, closed set of words on a self-contained page. E-texts, particularly in the public settings of classrooms and laboratories, are also open to viewing and, by extension, to critique and commentary. 4 The unique features of e-texts
The unique features of e-texts lead to a type of literacy activity that is qualitatively different from the reading of print. The malleability of words and screens place the "reader" in a position of power in which she can move in a variety of directions at any given moment. The visual and functional nature of this activity is not reading but "e-texting" a term that will be used here to describe computer-based activity whereby an "e-texter" interacts with written and visual information on the screen. This activity, while not completely unlike print reading, represents expanded and unique opportunities for working with language. E-texting, then, involves reasoning with both the aural/written word and visual information and this engages cognitive processes that are viewed not only as parallel, but also as inter-working systems of understanding.
The unique Features of E-texts differences between print and e-texts are summarized below in
4.1 Anarchy
This feature directly contrasts with traditional linear/hierarchical forms of representation characteristic of the print medium, especially school-based print. This feature is defined as learners exercising volition and control over the order and direction of their interaction with electronic texts. Evidence is discourse and action that reveals learners interacting with information in an anarchic, rather than preset, linear fashion.
4.2 Publicness
The feature of publicness is defined as public nature of electronic texts that prompts, supports, and facilitates rich discourse on the part of learners and their teachers.
4.3 Instability
Electronic texts are unstable. Information appears, disappears, and changes. Relational structures of information is often invisible. This lack of predictability provokes the kind of thinking and conjecture reflected in critical thinking and the literacy/acquisition oriented discourse that accompanies it.
4.4 Malleability
Electronic texts are subject to mutilation by learners. As such, their malleability provokes thinking and accompanying discourse that pertains to changing and shaping both form and content.
4.5 Democratizing
When learners, and learners and their teachers work together around e-texts, there is potential for a leveling of authority. Learners who may not otherwise have opportunities to express and enact their beliefs and opinions may do so by virtue of the machine. It is evident that E-texts has a unique commitment to its students. Learners in the ESL program are supported by a range of technology resources (computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, camcorders). Both teachers see the computer as a rich venue and stimulus for meaning-based acquisition. The tight alignment of textual, aural, and pictorial representations in conjunction with teacher scaffold meaning making an ideal context in which learners can come to exercise and own content words and concepts. What appears on the screen belongs to the child, who in turn experiences empowerment by demonstrating capabilities she might not otherwise be equipped to express. The computer is a self-motivator. Students are just naturally interested in the computer, and I think it’s a chance for them to show what they can do or to explore and take a risk without having to speak. They can develop a lot of vocabulary and the thought processes that go on.
5 Conclusion
For developing notions of an “electronic literacy”, literacy-focused activity around machines, features such as publicness, democratization, anchored referents, and malleability of E-text strongly support such activity and. Language professionals support social interaction around any number of different forms of related realia to elicit thinking and communication in the target language. Electronic texts represent one of many resources that are being integrated into instructional activities. It provides working examples of this integration and offers a clear view of unique features of electronic texts shaping novel, empowering roles for teachers and learners as well as accompanying forms of constructive, literacy-centered discourse; discourse that is in keeping with the needs and goals of the second language and literacy learner.
References:
[1]Barker, P. (1996). Electronic books: A review and assessment of current trends. Educational Technology Review, 6, 14-18.
[2]Ellis, R. (1993). The structural syllabus and second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 27, 91-113.
[3]Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, D. Coste, R. Ginsberg, and C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Means, B., Olson, K., & Singh, R. (1995). Transforming with technology: No "Silver Bullet." The Education Digest, 61, 4.
[4]Meskill, C., Mossop, J., & Bates, R. (1998, April 13-17). Electronic texts and learners of English as a second language. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
[5]Papert, S. (1993). The children's machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. New York: Basic Books.
[6]Ulmer, G. (1989). Teletheory: Grammatology in the age of video. New York: Routledge.
[7]Winkelmann, C. (1995). Electronic literacy, critical pedagogy, and collaboration: A case for cyborg writing. Computers and the Humanities, 99, 431-448
◇责任编辑：龙惠慧◇
Key word: Electronic Text; Teaching English as a Second Language
1 Introduction
Providing opportunities for ESL learners to develop English language and literacy skills is a continual challenge and concern for schools. Recent interest in technologies1 as a means of supporting language development has brought ESL teaching professionals around the country to include computers, multimedia, and telecommunications as tools for instruction.
2 Goals and Procedure of Teaching English as a Second Language Instruction
The ESL professional’s major concern is to design and implement activities that guide learners to attend to the linguistic forms and meaning of content. At the same time they encourage the development of appropriate linguistic and cognitive strategies for understanding and production. A balanced focus on form and meaning is particularly critical for this population.
3 Electronic Texts
We use the term ‘technologies’ to refer to computers, multimedia, and telecommunications.
The term ‘electronic texts’ refers to any information displayed electronically on a computer screen.
Electronic texts (e-texts), by virtue of their unique characteristics, play a potentially powerful role in school-based TESL contexts and can be viewed as a good venue for literacy activities in classrooms. They can also serve as rich contexts for the active negotiation of meaning by students in need of this kind of linguistic/cognitive engagement. E-texts consist of on-screen information (visual, textual, and aural) within computer, multimedia, and/or telecommunications environments. They are what people from all walks of life, especially school-age children, are becoming accustomed to encountering, reading, manipulating, and producing as part of daily activity. They include games, databases, talking books, hypermedia and telecommunications. E-texts are becoming widely used by contemporary students as a matter of course for both deliberate and incidental instruction and they offer several features that can, when deliberately exploited for instructional purposes, enhance learning across grades and subjects. E-texts have features and accompanying capabilities that are qualitatively different from what has traditionally served as our primary tool for literacy activity the print medium. The attributes of e-texts differ from those of print in many significant ways. For example, where print is permanently static, electronic texts are dynamic, malleable and manipulable. E-texts are typically linked to a variety of information in a variety of forms. Meaning is not restricted to a single, closed set of words on a self-contained page. E-texts, particularly in the public settings of classrooms and laboratories, are also open to viewing and, by extension, to critique and commentary. 4 The unique features of e-texts
The unique features of e-texts lead to a type of literacy activity that is qualitatively different from the reading of print. The malleability of words and screens place the "reader" in a position of power in which she can move in a variety of directions at any given moment. The visual and functional nature of this activity is not reading but "e-texting" a term that will be used here to describe computer-based activity whereby an "e-texter" interacts with written and visual information on the screen. This activity, while not completely unlike print reading, represents expanded and unique opportunities for working with language. E-texting, then, involves reasoning with both the aural/written word and visual information and this engages cognitive processes that are viewed not only as parallel, but also as inter-working systems of understanding.
The unique Features of E-texts differences between print and e-texts are summarized below in
4.1 Anarchy
This feature directly contrasts with traditional linear/hierarchical forms of representation characteristic of the print medium, especially school-based print. This feature is defined as learners exercising volition and control over the order and direction of their interaction with electronic texts. Evidence is discourse and action that reveals learners interacting with information in an anarchic, rather than preset, linear fashion.
4.2 Publicness
The feature of publicness is defined as public nature of electronic texts that prompts, supports, and facilitates rich discourse on the part of learners and their teachers.
4.3 Instability
Electronic texts are unstable. Information appears, disappears, and changes. Relational structures of information is often invisible. This lack of predictability provokes the kind of thinking and conjecture reflected in critical thinking and the literacy/acquisition oriented discourse that accompanies it.
4.4 Malleability
Electronic texts are subject to mutilation by learners. As such, their malleability provokes thinking and accompanying discourse that pertains to changing and shaping both form and content.
4.5 Democratizing
When learners, and learners and their teachers work together around e-texts, there is potential for a leveling of authority. Learners who may not otherwise have opportunities to express and enact their beliefs and opinions may do so by virtue of the machine. It is evident that E-texts has a unique commitment to its students. Learners in the ESL program are supported by a range of technology resources (computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, camcorders). Both teachers see the computer as a rich venue and stimulus for meaning-based acquisition. The tight alignment of textual, aural, and pictorial representations in conjunction with teacher scaffold meaning making an ideal context in which learners can come to exercise and own content words and concepts. What appears on the screen belongs to the child, who in turn experiences empowerment by demonstrating capabilities she might not otherwise be equipped to express. The computer is a self-motivator. Students are just naturally interested in the computer, and I think it’s a chance for them to show what they can do or to explore and take a risk without having to speak. They can develop a lot of vocabulary and the thought processes that go on.
5 Conclusion
For developing notions of an “electronic literacy”, literacy-focused activity around machines, features such as publicness, democratization, anchored referents, and malleability of E-text strongly support such activity and. Language professionals support social interaction around any number of different forms of related realia to elicit thinking and communication in the target language. Electronic texts represent one of many resources that are being integrated into instructional activities. It provides working examples of this integration and offers a clear view of unique features of electronic texts shaping novel, empowering roles for teachers and learners as well as accompanying forms of constructive, literacy-centered discourse; discourse that is in keeping with the needs and goals of the second language and literacy learner.
References:
[1]Barker, P. (1996). Electronic books: A review and assessment of current trends. Educational Technology Review, 6, 14-18.
[2]Ellis, R. (1993). The structural syllabus and second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 27, 91-113.
[3]Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, D. Coste, R. Ginsberg, and C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Means, B., Olson, K., & Singh, R. (1995). Transforming with technology: No "Silver Bullet." The Education Digest, 61, 4.
[4]Meskill, C., Mossop, J., & Bates, R. (1998, April 13-17). Electronic texts and learners of English as a second language. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
[5]Papert, S. (1993). The children's machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. New York: Basic Books.
[6]Ulmer, G. (1989). Teletheory: Grammatology in the age of video. New York: Routledge.
[7]Winkelmann, C. (1995). Electronic literacy, critical pedagogy, and collaboration: A case for cyborg writing. Computers and the Humanities, 99, 431-448
◇责任编辑：龙惠慧◇