Your Genially presentation is gorgeous and easy to follow, it is the perfect size and scope of content and leaves the audience member feeling like you have absorbed just the right amount of information for one sitting but leaves you wanting more! Also, you have chosen an amazing topic and another fantasy forecasting tech item of mine! I have been a language teacher for many years and the biggest barrier has definitely been experiencing students fear and a lack of confidence when it comes to speaking their chosen foreign language in public or even just one-on-one.
Language learning anxiety is something I have copious experience with from both from an instructors and a learners perspective and something like your idea would be a saving grace for many foreign language students. I have often imagined creating a VR technology where students could immerse themselves in a sand-box type of environment and practice natural conversations in various places throughout the world without feeling the extreme anxiety they (and I!) do when trying to converse in language classes or real-life situations. Different cultures behave differently (yes duh!) to language learning but some are more natural outgoing and less prone to feelings of shame. In Japan, learning English is a national obsession but Japanese people are naturally quite shy and fearful of making mistakes and ‘losing face’ so this makes the language teaching process even more challenging so a Conv AR application would be even more useful and relevant in a place like Japan.
I would be very interested in hearing from language teachers in other parts of the world about their students/cultural groups reactions to language learning in comparison with Japanese society? I have studied numerous languages myself and know that even the choice of language can influence the emotional reaction and amount of anxiety that results from having to speak publicly. I don’t feel shy at all when trying to speak Spanish but I get highly anxious trying to make sure my Japanese sounds correct. It is an interesting phenomenon and I wonder if it’s a reflection of the cultural norms associated with a given language/group? Thank you again Safa’a for a highly worthwhile presentation.
Thank you for the pleasure of reading a project about teaching a foreign language. You brought up a burning question of anxiety as a barrier to practicing a foreign language speaking.
While a mobile phone does make learning more personalized and comfortable, what is your take on the issue of learning space?
According to Stockwell (2021), “while it is true that mobile devices do indeed give learners enormous freedom to choose the “anytime” and the “anywhere” in their learning, how mobile can we really expect the learning experiences in the daily lives of average learners to be without some kind of intervention? As appealing as the catchphrase sounds, the reality is that learners need to have “sometime” and “someplace” in which to complete required tasks, and these need to be budgeted for within their busy lifestyles” (p. 175).
Adult English learners in Canada quite often live in crowded spaces to economize while English speaking can be enhanced only through speaking. Thus, the first thing I advise people who are determined to start learning English for real is not to be afraid to look crazy to their roommates or family members. “Be prepared to talk to yourself because it is necessary”.
Anxiety is a problem, and that is why I ask adult learners to use imaginary scissors to cut their excessive thoughts about past mistakes and focus on the future instead – “Next time I will say it’s better”. Practice makes perfect.
I wonder what tricks and techniques you use to calm anxious students down and make them more comfortable. Also, do you use different methods for men and women?
Personally, I liked very much your slide about app features and technologies. But I also remembered that for some adult learners using technology in the classroom looks like cheating. Even my female friend thinks that a YouTube video for learning a language “is not serious”. She prefers good old textbooks instead. Well, tastes differ, of course, but we as teachers should be ready to even this reaction from our students.
Safaa, I truly enjoyed studying your artifact, and I am happy to be your groupmate.
I wish you all the best and look forward to your response.
With warmest regards,
Anna from Toronto, North York
Reference
Stockwell, G. (2021). Mobile assisted language learning: Concepts, contexts and challenges. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108652087
Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. I believe the nature of mobile AR technology solves the problem of learning space, at least in the future as I predict. One very important thing I learned about educational technologies is that they might not appeal to everyone, especially adult and older learners who are so comfortable in their own ways that they have been using their entire lives. This is understandable of course. After all, it is only natural for learners to have different preferences regarding learning tools and styles.
It is interesting to hear that there are different methods for different genders to deal with speaking anxiety. Have you noticed any differences? I personally have not dealt with many male ESL learners so I can’t say for sure if there is a difference. I don’t think there is but would very much love to hear your thoughts!
Some tricks and techniques I used were for example not putting shy learners on the spot, allow them to speak to partners then small groups then the whole class, provide lots of encouragement and moral support, and just give them the time they need.
Safaa, I really appreciate the idea you’ve put together here and that you’ve focused strictly on speaking skills, which is arguably the hardest and most intimidating of language skills to practice. What I really liked about your proposal is the consciousness to use AR instead of VR to keep learning in the real world and support more authenticity of learning. I can envision myself using an app like this to overcome my fear of making pronunciation mistakes before interacting with real humans.
What a great presentation here. As said in previous posts, you have definitely identified a need that is not often addressed. Since communication and collaboration are such a huge portion of the BC curriculum, I can definitely see how this could be useful to non-native English speakers to increase their comfort levels while working in groups, or speaking out in class.
I think you have identified a specific need in an educational area for which there is no technological solution at the moment, and it is an idea that is very worthy of pursuing. The barriers to learning to speak a language due to anxiety or other social conflicts is a significant one; I know my daughter struggled much more through high school French Immersion than my son did, due to their significantly different personalities–my son is the actor, so performing in speaking to groups was something he enjoyed, but my daughter was very uncomfortable doing so. The days or hours leading up to a presentation were the worst to her. Language learners having a “safe” environment in which to practice, and receive pertinent feedback (through AI, NLP, and the other technologies), should alleviate anxiety, fear or embarrassment. I would think it would have great value as well for learners who are on the Autism Spectrum.
I completely understand your daughter’s feelings as I have been there myself as a young learner, even as an adult learner sometimes! I am certain with time, practice, and encouragement, she will conquer those fears. I very much like your thought about the potential of this tool to be valuable to ASD learners. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful idea! I really like the specific nature of this app. The concept of anxiety when publicly speaking a language is being learned is not something that I had previously thought about, but it absolutely makes a ton of sense! I have only travelled to a country that spoke a different language than my own (English) once, and I was with a person who spoke the language, so I didn’t really have to do any speaking. I could only image how different that experience would have been if I was not with a person who spoke the native language.
I think that the perspective that you’ve highlighted is extremely important, and as someone who teaches quite a few ESL (English Second Language) students, I will try to be a bit more conscious of the anxiety that students may be feeling around speaking a new language, especially in the age range that I teach (grades 4/8) where social challenges are already more than present enough! I really like how focused this presentation was, and appreciate reading information that is so relevant to my own practice. Great work!
Thanks, Jamie. Glad you found this relevant and useful. ESL learners indeed do need use to be more conscious of their language barriers. I can’t say how many times ESL learners wanted to contribute to group work or class discussion, or even say a simple right answer, but hesitated due to speaking anxiety.
Hi Safa’a,
Your Genially presentation is gorgeous and easy to follow, it is the perfect size and scope of content and leaves the audience member feeling like you have absorbed just the right amount of information for one sitting but leaves you wanting more! Also, you have chosen an amazing topic and another fantasy forecasting tech item of mine! I have been a language teacher for many years and the biggest barrier has definitely been experiencing students fear and a lack of confidence when it comes to speaking their chosen foreign language in public or even just one-on-one.
Language learning anxiety is something I have copious experience with from both from an instructors and a learners perspective and something like your idea would be a saving grace for many foreign language students. I have often imagined creating a VR technology where students could immerse themselves in a sand-box type of environment and practice natural conversations in various places throughout the world without feeling the extreme anxiety they (and I!) do when trying to converse in language classes or real-life situations. Different cultures behave differently (yes duh!) to language learning but some are more natural outgoing and less prone to feelings of shame. In Japan, learning English is a national obsession but Japanese people are naturally quite shy and fearful of making mistakes and ‘losing face’ so this makes the language teaching process even more challenging so a Conv AR application would be even more useful and relevant in a place like Japan.
I would be very interested in hearing from language teachers in other parts of the world about their students/cultural groups reactions to language learning in comparison with Japanese society? I have studied numerous languages myself and know that even the choice of language can influence the emotional reaction and amount of anxiety that results from having to speak publicly. I don’t feel shy at all when trying to speak Spanish but I get highly anxious trying to make sure my Japanese sounds correct. It is an interesting phenomenon and I wonder if it’s a reflection of the cultural norms associated with a given language/group? Thank you again Safa’a for a highly worthwhile presentation.
Dear Safaa,
Thank you for the pleasure of reading a project about teaching a foreign language. You brought up a burning question of anxiety as a barrier to practicing a foreign language speaking.
While a mobile phone does make learning more personalized and comfortable, what is your take on the issue of learning space?
According to Stockwell (2021), “while it is true that mobile devices do indeed give learners enormous freedom to choose the “anytime” and the “anywhere” in their learning, how mobile can we really expect the learning experiences in the daily lives of average learners to be without some kind of intervention? As appealing as the catchphrase sounds, the reality is that learners need to have “sometime” and “someplace” in which to complete required tasks, and these need to be budgeted for within their busy lifestyles” (p. 175).
Adult English learners in Canada quite often live in crowded spaces to economize while English speaking can be enhanced only through speaking. Thus, the first thing I advise people who are determined to start learning English for real is not to be afraid to look crazy to their roommates or family members. “Be prepared to talk to yourself because it is necessary”.
Anxiety is a problem, and that is why I ask adult learners to use imaginary scissors to cut their excessive thoughts about past mistakes and focus on the future instead – “Next time I will say it’s better”. Practice makes perfect.
I wonder what tricks and techniques you use to calm anxious students down and make them more comfortable. Also, do you use different methods for men and women?
Personally, I liked very much your slide about app features and technologies. But I also remembered that for some adult learners using technology in the classroom looks like cheating. Even my female friend thinks that a YouTube video for learning a language “is not serious”. She prefers good old textbooks instead. Well, tastes differ, of course, but we as teachers should be ready to even this reaction from our students.
Safaa, I truly enjoyed studying your artifact, and I am happy to be your groupmate.
I wish you all the best and look forward to your response.
With warmest regards,
Anna from Toronto, North York
Reference
Stockwell, G. (2021). Mobile assisted language learning: Concepts, contexts and challenges. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108652087
Hi Anna,
Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. I believe the nature of mobile AR technology solves the problem of learning space, at least in the future as I predict. One very important thing I learned about educational technologies is that they might not appeal to everyone, especially adult and older learners who are so comfortable in their own ways that they have been using their entire lives. This is understandable of course. After all, it is only natural for learners to have different preferences regarding learning tools and styles.
It is interesting to hear that there are different methods for different genders to deal with speaking anxiety. Have you noticed any differences? I personally have not dealt with many male ESL learners so I can’t say for sure if there is a difference. I don’t think there is but would very much love to hear your thoughts!
Some tricks and techniques I used were for example not putting shy learners on the spot, allow them to speak to partners then small groups then the whole class, provide lots of encouragement and moral support, and just give them the time they need.
Safaa, I really appreciate the idea you’ve put together here and that you’ve focused strictly on speaking skills, which is arguably the hardest and most intimidating of language skills to practice. What I really liked about your proposal is the consciousness to use AR instead of VR to keep learning in the real world and support more authenticity of learning. I can envision myself using an app like this to overcome my fear of making pronunciation mistakes before interacting with real humans.
Thank you, Lynsey.
Hi Safa,
What a great presentation here. As said in previous posts, you have definitely identified a need that is not often addressed. Since communication and collaboration are such a huge portion of the BC curriculum, I can definitely see how this could be useful to non-native English speakers to increase their comfort levels while working in groups, or speaking out in class.
Thank you for a great resource to watch out for!
You are welcome. Happy you found it great.
I think you have identified a specific need in an educational area for which there is no technological solution at the moment, and it is an idea that is very worthy of pursuing. The barriers to learning to speak a language due to anxiety or other social conflicts is a significant one; I know my daughter struggled much more through high school French Immersion than my son did, due to their significantly different personalities–my son is the actor, so performing in speaking to groups was something he enjoyed, but my daughter was very uncomfortable doing so. The days or hours leading up to a presentation were the worst to her. Language learners having a “safe” environment in which to practice, and receive pertinent feedback (through AI, NLP, and the other technologies), should alleviate anxiety, fear or embarrassment. I would think it would have great value as well for learners who are on the Autism Spectrum.
Hi Allan,
I completely understand your daughter’s feelings as I have been there myself as a young learner, even as an adult learner sometimes! I am certain with time, practice, and encouragement, she will conquer those fears. I very much like your thought about the potential of this tool to be valuable to ASD learners. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Hello,
What a wonderful idea! I really like the specific nature of this app. The concept of anxiety when publicly speaking a language is being learned is not something that I had previously thought about, but it absolutely makes a ton of sense! I have only travelled to a country that spoke a different language than my own (English) once, and I was with a person who spoke the language, so I didn’t really have to do any speaking. I could only image how different that experience would have been if I was not with a person who spoke the native language.
I think that the perspective that you’ve highlighted is extremely important, and as someone who teaches quite a few ESL (English Second Language) students, I will try to be a bit more conscious of the anxiety that students may be feeling around speaking a new language, especially in the age range that I teach (grades 4/8) where social challenges are already more than present enough! I really like how focused this presentation was, and appreciate reading information that is so relevant to my own practice. Great work!
Thanks, Jamie. Glad you found this relevant and useful. ESL learners indeed do need use to be more conscious of their language barriers. I can’t say how many times ESL learners wanted to contribute to group work or class discussion, or even say a simple right answer, but hesitated due to speaking anxiety.