Zoe Armstrong – MET

LANGUAGE AS TECHNOLOGY: WRITTEN LANGUAGE

What effects has writing has on human thought processes?

As Gnanadesikan (2011) discusses, writing was ultimately invented to help humans remember information. Because of this, thought processes were able to gain in complexity as individuals no longer had to hold everything inside their brains. They were able to use written resources to support their theories, discoveries and adventures. Though Plato believed that writing gave the illusion of wisdom while fostering forgetfulness (Haas, 2013), I believe that it allowed for expansion of knowledge on certain topics. It allowed thought processes to expand beyond what an individual was capable of remembering.

Does it weaken memory? If so, does this matter?

In our digital age, I am more of the opinion that it matters less. When I reflect on the students in my class, some of them have “stronger” memories than others. That being said, those who lack in memory capability are typically quite good little researchers. With the answer to every question at our fingertips, I think memory is becoming less and less important and being able to research, be resourceful and think critically are more important skills. I try to provide more opportunities for students in my classroom to gain experience and expertise in these areas versus activities that require them to work with their memory.

As mentioned above, Plato may disagree with my teaching style on this one.

Is rote learning of any use in literate cultures with easy and affordable access to various methods of information storage? 

Yes and no. Yes because a strong memory and body of knowledge within one’s own brain is going to make it faster for them to accomplish certain tasks. Meeting deadlines might be easier for these individuals if the skills and information they require to complete a task is already within them. No because with the right skills, all information can now be found within seconds. It might not be as timely, however I am of the belief that all humans are capable to learn anything they desire to.

How has technology of writing change the act of teaching?

Hugely. It is not longer acceptable to provide students with information in only the oral form. I can’t tell you how many times I have to repeat a direction to my students for them all to hear it and understand what needs to get done. But, the second a put a page number on the board, they know that task that needs to be accomplished.

We talk a lot of different learning styles and how as educators we can meet students who ingest information in a number of different ways. The constantly changing world of educational technology and more specifically writing technology has made it (in my opinion), easier for students to share their ideas and knowledge in the written form. Advancements in writing technology have made learning more accessible for learners.

On the flip side of the coin, writing technologies have also changed the dynamic in the classroom. Instead of worrying about students passing notes (which is also a writing technology), we now have the struggle of making sure students are on task and using their laptops and tablets responsibly. This is my first year having my own classroom laptop cart. It makes it easy to use technology in my daily lessons but it also allows provides a distraction for students who struggle to keep on task. Digital citizenship is a crucial 21st century skill that the advancement of writing technology has reminded educators we cannot ignore.

TASK: VOICE TO TEXT

For this text I made 2 attempts, once in English, which is my first language, and once in French which is my second language. I teach French immersion so I am fluent but I learnt as a young kid so my accent is not perfect.

My first observation is that there are 13 different options for English and only 1 option for French. Though English is more largely spoken, there is a significant difference in the dialect of French spoken here in Canada compared to France, compared to Cameroon for example.

I would consider mistakes in these texts to be either the appearance of a different word than that which I said out loud, the absence of words uttered or the addition of words that were not said. The most common mistakes within both the texts are words that I likely did not enunciate enough. Because the task was to speak unscripted, I stuttered at times with what I wanted to say next and that is where the software made a problem. In the French text specifically, anglicisms that I use often did not record well and the software instead stuck in the closest sounding French word.  There were far more errors in the French text than the English.

Had I scripted this text prior to speaking it, I would have made edits along the way and it likely would have sounded more put together. I was describing the activities I did this past weekend so I would have taken more time to reflect on each of them and the things that I felt were most important to mention. Instead, I spoke them without any preparation and what came out resembles a little more like word vomit than I’d like to admit. As Gnanadesikan (2011) mentioned in this week’s reading, writing is usually held to a higher prestige and we take more time to craft it and review it. We typically don’t do this with oral language. What comes out is typically more natural and with less of a thought behind it.

I think oral storytelling and written storytelling differ considerably. With oral storytelling there is more wiggle room. The presenter can read the audience and make adjustments as they go. The story has the ability to evolve and change a little bit each time it is being told. Written story-telling remains consistent. Once printed, it rarely evolves unless a new edition comes out. Though Schmandt-Besserat (2009) shared that there the two major systems for humans to connect and express are art and writing, I would argue that orality is even more significant.

English Text:

French Text:

References:

Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011).“The First IT Revolution.” In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (Vol. 25). John Wiley & Sons (pp. 1-10).

Haas, C. (2013). “The Technology Question.” In Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy.. Routledge. (pp. 3-23).

Schmandt-Besserat, D. (2009). “Origins and Forms of Writing.” In Bazerman, C. (Ed.). Handbook of research on writing: History, society, school, individual, text. New York, NY: Routledge.