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Week 3: Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks


This week, our class continued to learn about different websites for developing speaking and listening skills, as well as how to use social bookmarking sites effectively.

According to Chinnery (2005), the use of computer technology in language learning, also known as Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), has increased rapidly over the past few decades. With significant technological advances, ESL/ EFL teachers and students now have access to a multitude of speaking and listening activities, which, I believe, can positively influence second language acquisition.

There are a wide range of useful websites for building oral/ aural skills mentioned in our online discussion, of which I am most familiar with Flipgrid and Elsa. Regarding the former, I first experienced this tool as a sophomore. Specifically, one of my lecturers at ULIS established a class on Flipgrid and invited us to join. Weekly, she posted a topic with one or two discussion questions for us to practice our speaking skills. We, as students, had to record our answers in a two-minute video and then uploaded it onto the platform, along with giving comments on the video responses of at least two other peers. This interactive approach not only helped us improve our oral communication skills but also fostered a sense of community within the class, as we were actively participating in each other’s learning journey. In the future, I will try integrating Flipgrid into my teaching so that my students have a safe and comfortable space to express and exchange their ideas with their friends. In terms of Elsa, it is a mobile app designed to practice English pronunciation. I used this tool with my 9th grade class last year, and experienced firsthand its effectiveness in improving my students’ vocabulary and pronunciation skills. Normally, after each lesson, I created a list of vocabulary we learnt in class on Elsa, published it, and sent the link to my students. At home, they had the responsibility to review the new words, practice their pronunciation (with at least 80% accuracy on ElsaSpeak) and sent me the evidence one day before class. Gradually, their pronunciation improved and they gained a wider range of vocabulary, as evidenced by their higher scores on monthly practice tests.

In the rest of this module, we were introduced to the concept of social bookmarking and learnt how to use it efficiently. Social bookmarking is defined as “a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online” (Amal & Jawad, 2014). These bookmarks can be saved either publicly or privately, or shared only with specific people using a direct link. One of the most widely used social bookmarking tools is Diigo. This site has a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of saving and organizing bookmarks, making it accessible even to those new to social bookmarking like me. Besides, Diigo offers users a plethora of features to enhance their bookmarking experience, of which I find tags to be the most useful. By tagging bookmarks with keywords, I can organize them in an efficient way that allows me to find my own links faster when I have a lot of bookmarks. Overall, Diigo is a valuable tool for anyone searching for an effective social bookmarking website that seamlessly integrates into their digital workflow.

In conclusion, this module has provided me with invaluable knowledge of tools to help improve students’ oral/ aural skills as well as efficient resource management. I am really looking forward to the next module to learn more about useful websites for reading and writing skills.


References
Amal, A., & Jawad, B. (2014). Social Bookmarking as a Knowledge Sharing Tool. International Journal on Information, 17(2), 435-442. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261874046_Social_Bookmarking_as_a_Knowledge_Sharing_Tool 
Chinnery, G. M. (2005). Speaking and Listening Online: A Survey of Internet Resources. English Teaching Forum, 43(3), 10-17. https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/05-43-3-c.pdf
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