The Perceptions, Beliefs and Attitudes of EFL Writing Teachers Toward Online Collaborative Writing
Mahatma Gandhi said, “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
Introduction
English is becoming the world’s language of the 21st Century. It is now the second most widely spoken language in the world, with only Chinese dialects spoken by more people. English is overwhelmingly the second language of choice for non-English-speaking people. It is also the official language of the European Central Bank and the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN.
It is difficult to estimate exactly how many English speakers there are, but according to one estimate there are more than 350,000,000 native English speakers and more than 400,000,000 speakers of English as a second language, or foreign language ( 2000).
English is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control, and it is used even for internal air traffic control in countries where it is not a native language. American popular culture–primarily movies and music–carries the English language throughout the world. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be more speakers of English as a second language than speakers of English as a first language, and that most students will be studying English not to interact with native speakers, but to access information in English and to interact with other non-native speakers (2003). Some people think that if mankind uses one language (i.e., English), disagreements will be solved and strife and military conflicts will be resolved through friendly negotiation. Today English is the tool for global communication. In fact, the number of people using EFL for communication far exceeds the number of native speakers. Non-native speakers come from different countries and cultures. As such, they use English against the backdrop of their cultural socialization. This can result in miscommunication, sometimes with dire consequences. In addition, English-for-all gives native speakers an enormous lead in power and influence over non-native speakers. So we see that there are many aspects at play in the use of Global English: the political or power aspect, the cultural aspect, the linguistic aspect and the educational aspect.
What is EFL/ESL?
A second language is any language other than the native language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. The term is to be distinguished from foreign language. In contemporary usage, a “foreign language” is one that is learned in an environment where the language is not spoken outside of the classroom. A “second language” is one that is learned where the language is spoken. However, this distinction is not universally accepted. Linguist uses second language in his critical period hypothesis to mean a language consciously learned or used by its speaker after puberty. In most cases, people never achieve the same level of fluency and comprehension in their second languages as in their first language.
Nowadays, English is considered the world’s most widespread second and foreign language, it is used in areas as diverse as the internet television and radio, and international aviation. The success of English throughout the world stems from two major causes, the far reaching influence of the British Empire and the 20th century (and continuing) dominance of the United States in the fields of business and entertainment.
The Importance of teaching English as Foreign Language
The importance of learning a second language was never been more completely emphasized than in the time of the advent of computer technology and the internet. The world in the words of a famous writer was transformed into a one giant village, where interaction was made possible by the popularity of the Net. The need for a universal language that would incorporate all business transaction into a smooth communication process was inevitable. And English with its widespread reach of the world was unofficially declared as such. The importance of learning secondary language is not only important in the world of trade and commerce and entertainment, but studies have shown that there are cognitive benefits as well in learning secondary language.
Children in foreign language programs have tended to demonstrate greater cognitive development, creativity, and divergent thinking than monolingual children. Several studies show that people who are competent in more than one language outscore those who are speakers of only one language on tests of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. (1974; 1986; 1986). When children are adequately exposed to two languages at an early age, they are more flexible and creative (1991), and they reach higher levels of cognitive development at an earlier age than their monolingual peers ( 1986). Studies also show that learning another language enhances the academic skills of students by increasing their abilities in reading, writing, and mathematics. Studies of bilingual children made by child development scholars and linguists consistently show that these children grasp linguistic concepts such as words having several meanings faster and earlier than their monolingual counterpart.
EFL Writing Teachers and Online Collaborative Writing
The face of education is changing rapidly as a direct result of the innovative and dynamic world of computer technology. Many parts of the modern world are saying goodbye to chalk dusts floating in the air and repetitive multiplication and grammar exercises. Modern students of today are more likely to face computer screens than blackboard. As the tools of education change, so too does the nature of learning and acquiring knowledge. But how effective is computer aided learning to traditional teaching methods is yet to be proven. The many number of “online educational” program now a days would give as an idea how the Net have revolutionized the teaching profession and teaching methods as well. Online courses offer flexibility unmatched in real-world programs. Generally, the only formal schedule is the requirement to provide lectures on a specific day. Otherwise, you can prepare lectures, review homework, and discuss student questions on your own time, just as students can take the course on their time. And since there is no scheduled meeting time or place, your students can come from around the country and from around the world.
Online Collaborative Writing: EFLs’ new frontiers
Because of the relative newness of writing in the foreign language as a field of expertise, very few resources have been produced to help pre – and in –service teachers to become experts.
The attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of EFL writing teachers towards online collaborative writing is as varied and contradictory with the theories of teaching writing class with the use of technology (world wide web) versus traditional classroom teaching. Since this is a relatively new field in education, most teachers’ pre conceived bias of teaching writing classes to EFL students are rooted with their previous experience in teaching the course to “native speakers”.
Research on the use of technology against the traditional classroom setting in teaching writing class revealed conflicting findings. Studies by (1998), (1999) found that the use of word processing, use of supplementary program that guides students through the writing process, computer conferencing, computer based instruction, electronic mail and world wide web page design had no significant differences on the writing quality nor attitudes towards writing between “native” users of the English language in elementary, middle school, secondary and college students who used technology and those who did not.
On the other hand, studies by (1994), (1999) and (1994) found that word processing, participation in a project using personal computer to teach the writing process, and using a computer assisted collaborative writing by elementary, middle school, high school and college students increased the quantity of writing instruction and the amount of student writing more than those using traditional instruction. The quality of students’ writing and their attitudes towards writing on the computer improved as well. Similarly, (1996), (1997) and (1997) found that the writing of ESL students who used word processing, a computer mediated networked environment and web based materials improved significantly.
Surprisingly, in some EFL classroom settings in Japan traditional instruction was found to be more effective. (1966) found that technical essays produced by the EFL college students using computer workstations were not well organized and were significantly shorter than hand written essays. Results of a study with the college students of Taiwan found that face to face discussion preceded writing activities in a traditional classroom were superior to computer mediated discussion in producing written comments and explanations of their plans for writing more. Students in the face to face group could support and refute each other’s arguments better (1998). No wonder some writing teachers in EFL felt frustrated of the lack of interaction of online based teaching and the lack of dynamic collaboration between students.
Teaching Online: Teachers’ Concern
Though most of the world is already connected to the internet, there are still a significant number of people who have low access to the World Wide Web. Either they don’t have a personal computer at home or a slow modem is still being used in some countries and in some household. This kind of problem is one of the many concerns for writing teachers in EFL. In one online writing class, Writing without Borders by NICENET, where students coming from Ukraine had limited access or they had difficulty connecting to the internet, which made browsing slow and tedious and sometimes impossible (2000). Because of this, some students did not have enough time to respond to discussion threads, some could not access the website, and others still found documents difficult to understand as they come across difficult words and spent a lot of time looking up their meanings. From the same study, they found out that Saudi students were slow in typing, and as the number of documents and post increase many of them found that reading all of it was a chore and could not cope up with them. A few number lost interest since the teacher was not physically present.
A teacher of online writing course for EFL students encounter many different problems ranging from cultural diversity and to attitude problems arising from students, arising also from the fact that the teachers are not physically present in the teaching process.
The Challenge to ESL Teachers
Both teachers and students have active roles in the co-construction of knowledge with in any kind of classroom settings, teachers’ beliefs and experience are important sources for us to better understand the complexity of teaching writing with computers.
Teachers find it increasingly necessary to expand or refresh their technological skills and to find out about new ways to incorporate technology effectively in their teaching. One of the best ways is, of course, to take advantage of the myriad presentations and workshops offered at the annual international TESOL convention and/or the conferences organized by the regional/international TESOL affiliates (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). However, great distances, lack of funding for conference travel, or conflicts with professional commitments often prevent teachers from being able to further their professional development through these means.
Many EFL instructors are faced with the challenge of getting their students to participate in the language classroom. As language instructors, part of this challenge is creating interesting activities to increase students’ motivation.
One of the more pervasive issues that an educator faces is the “age-old concerns about ethical practices in assessment (i.e., cheating)” (2000). In considering the issue of ethics and distance education, however, the age-old concerns about ethical practices in assessment take on new twists in the distance-learning environment. Students are no longer in close proximity. In fact, they may be separated by thousands of miles. Distance, however, does not diminish the possibility of students cheating, with or without an accomplice, on online assessments; instead of developing codes or passing erasers, students pass private emails, which instructors have no means of intercepting. In some cases, students can also download an assessment, look up the answers before actually taking it, and share those answers with classmates. Instructors can no longer depend on different handwriting, a change in ink color, or the detection of eraser marks on an assessment as evidence that a student has changed answers after having taken the assessment. Under such circumstances, it would seem that ensuring the integrity of online assessment is almost an impossibility.
Teachers in full online classes thinks that the lack of synchronous communication and face to face interaction is a major shortcoming in online writing classes, which leads to the teachers’ uncertainty about the effectiveness of his or her instruction. The ways to check students’ learning and progress are limited to giving online reading comprehension quizzes and examining differences between students’ drafts. Others are concerned about technical glitches that can happen during actual class time in computer facilitated teaching while voicing some students’ level of English proficiency and computer literacy. Synchronous interaction is hardly possible since other students from other countries have different time zone. Some teachers’ perceived themselves mainly as the “assignment giver” and the “paper revisioner”.
Other teachers have positive feedbacks about online teaching because on certain days students could do their assignments and submit them from anywhere. And since they could always sit down with them while video conferencing and help the students with their problems in real time, computer technology for them is a useful resource that facilitates instructional activities.
The need to have an online lounge for writing teachers of EFL is necessary for the teachers to discuss teaching techniques, experiences and to help each other solve problems related to teaching. Other teachers felt isolation in teaching online that a need to interact with “colleagues” is what they need.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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