Reading Prompt 10 reply

Richardson shared several interesting ways to use Flickr as a fun way to learn in the language learning classroom. Similar to the model of J. Goodall’s camp in Africa, a flower or vegetable garden in a student’s backyard would be one idea. This would include using the annotation tool to identify the different features of the garden. Or creating a Flickr photo of a flower and using the annotation tool to describe the different parts of the flower, including its stem. Another idea I might use with my adult ELLs is to take a poem or any short text and link Flickr photos to tagable words. This could be done in pairs or groups to promote interaction and collaboration. And…it could be a learning tool for increased vocabulary acquisition as well. Richardson barely scratched the surface on using Flickr in the classroom.

Kern’s discussion of electronic literacies fascinated me. Sociocultural context of CALL does shape the nature of online teaching and learning. Electronic literacies seem to be a by-product of CALL. After re-reading the concept of textual identity from Lam’s research of Chinese students, I see their development of new identities not only from their online usage and discourse. Escapism from their government-run state that subverts individualism is likely at work here, too. The internet has come to serve as a mask for their self-expression. Many people in our country and around the world have also developed textual identities online (for various reasons), and teachers (and parents) need to be aware of such. Psychologist perspective is needed to further research this phenomenon of textual identity. Moving on, Multimodal texts are excellent learning tools, largely due to the logics involved. Digital storytelling, as with our final projects, involves using various modalities to compose a product. I think learners need a certain degree of L2 composition knowledge and experience before venturing into multimedia authoring. Going full circle, multimedia authoring can further enhance their off-line literacy skills. While I’m not sure about the identity construction angle of internet literacies, online learning can be beneficial to SLLs. More qualitative research and longitudinal studies involving Chapelle’s suggested research teams is definitely needed. Pedagogically, smart decisions about how to integrate electronic literacies into a curriculum is essential toward fully developing L2 literacy. I don’t think traditional classroom literacy teaching is sufficient today.