Online Assignment- WAYS OF INTEGRATING ICT RESOURSES IN TEACHING OF PROSE , POETRY , VOCCABULARY AND GRAMMAR

JITHI.S.L

B.Ed ENGLISH

ROLL NO. 16514300006

INTRODUCTION

Information and communication technologies today have transformed

the way humans communicate as well as doing things. In education,

ICTs plays vital roles in facilitating teaching and learning. They have

transformed classroom communication methods and modified

instruction strategies. Also ICTs have made teaching and learning

interactive and collaborative instead of the traditional teacher talking

and student listening approach. Large class sizes are common

phenomenon almost world-wide. In order to achieve quality education

in large classes, teachers have to take extra steps. Teachers of English

Language utilize ICTs in teaching almost every aspect of English

Language teaching.

Today we are drowned in the deluge of information. A gale of

change is blowing in the pedagogy of Teaching English Language and

Literature. ICT is a catalyst agent. .  Computer Assisted language

training (CALL).  Computer-Enhanced Language Learning will

enable learners to pool their knowledge in effective ways and enhance

peer correction and language repair work.  Multimedia-assisted

language learning and Internet-based instruction contribute

to EFL (English and Foreign Language) students “cross cultural

competence.”  Technology is used to simulate real-life situations and

helps learners to have control over the learning process.  Therefore,

technophobic teacher have no place in this new world order.

“Information and Communication Technology in education is the

key to unlocking the skills and knowledge of our future generation of

young people.  It is the tool for learning for the 21stcentury”, observes

the Kate Mckenzie.  ICT resources have become the toolkit of teacher

as it increases pupil’s interest and motivation and engagement in

learning.  There are many ways of integrating ICT resources in the

teaching of Prose, Poetry, Vocabulary, and Grammar.

INTEGRATING ICT RESOURCES IN TEACHING OF PROSE

Prose is meant for learning a language. Teaching prose means

teaching reading with comprehension. The learners are taught the skill

of reading. The next step is to teach them reading with

comprehension. Reading with comprehension helps the learners to

acquire new vocabulary and content words. The power of

comprehension can be promoted through reading and listening.

Teaching prose enables the students to understand the passage,

to read fluently, to enrich their vocabulary and to enjoy reading and

writing. It enables the learners to extend their knowledge of

vocabulary and structures and to become more proficient in the four

language skills. It develops the ability of speaking English correctly

and fluently.

The main aim of teaching prose is to develop the language

ability of the students. It is the intensive study of a language. The

language ability helps the learners to use English language without

any problem.

1.      The main aims of teaching prose are

a)      literary and

b)      content

To achieve the literary and content, the aims of teaching of prose

should be intensive and extensive.

2.      General  aims of teaching prose:

To enable the students

a)      To understand the passage and grasp its meaning.

b)     To read with correct pronunciation, stress, intonation, pause and

articulation of voice.

c)      To enable students to understand the passage by silent reading.

d)      To enrich their active and passive vocabulary.

e)      To express the ideas of the passage orally and in writing.

f)      To enjoy reading and writing.

g)     To develop their imagination.

English Language teaching at secondary level now a days seeks

the help of ICT.  The use of Overhead Projectors (OHP), CD/DVD

plays, Internet, power point files, online dictionaries and thesaurus,

LCD projectors, several websites etc. and other applications have

changed the scene.  If we want to teach a novel, today we can use

power point files to show the publication details and also about the

author through projectors.  Sometimes we can use CD/DVD players

with television for viewing movie/plays downloaded from web

portals.

FILM ADAPTATION OF LITERARY TEXTS

Film adaptation is one of the advanced products of the Information

and Communication Technology.  A film adaptation is the transfer of

a written work, in whole or in part, to a feature film.  It is a type of

derivative work. Film adaptation of literary texts is one of the highly

effective methods to teach prose; especially novels.  A common form

of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film. 

Other works adapted into films include non-fiction (including

journalism), autobiography, comic books, scriptures, plays, historical

sources and even other films.

Thus we can teach prose; fiction as well as non-fixture by

connecting “the words to pictures.”  The novels 1984, Alice in

Wonderland, Catch 22, Devil in a Blue Dress, Doctor Zhivago, The

English Patient, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Life of Pie etc. are

some of the examples for connecting into films.

Audio podcasts are also used to teach prose.  A podcast is a

digital medium, consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF,

or a Pub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication

or streamed online to a computer or mobile device.  Podcast is a

portmanteau derived from “broadcast” and “Pod” from the screen of

iPod, as audio podcasts are often listened to on portable media

players.

Using the application software Pod catcher can easily teach

prose by using audio podcasts.  “Netcast” as well as “Oggart”

replacement other audio related technologies instead of the iPod, can

also be used for making teaching-learning process much effective.

ICT RESOURCES FOR TEACHING POETRY

Poetry is an expression of aesthetic experience of a poet. At the time

it is written, it consists of phrases that have a strong rhythmic beat.

But on the printed page we have merely a colourless record of this

emotion and music. It is the duty of the teacher to recreate and convey

to the student this original musical beauty and emotional intensity;

for, the printed words are only symbols, which may or may not arouse

the imagination and feelings of the reader to the required degree.

Therefore, the teaching methodology of poetry should be simple,

natural, and spontaneous, stressing the emotional and sound values of

the poem.

In teaching poetry, we focus on the following:

1. Exposure to and familiarization with poetic terminology and

devices.

2. Development of the skills necessary to engage with a poem's

components and thus come to an initial and then refined

understanding of the meaning of that poem.

3. Drafting and revision of the original works of poetry, followed

by appropriate written reflection on the creative process, and

culminating in a student poetry reading.

4. Independent, careful reading and reflection on a broad selection

of poems.

5. Participation in informed discussions of a select group of poems

representing a variety of periods, themes, and techniques.

6. Creation of their writing to show each student's understanding of

the reading, understanding, writing, and revision process behind

poetry and its meaning.

7. Development of creative and imaginative thinking as well as

aesthetic sense.

8. Develop inspiration to write simple poem in English.

Today an English language teacher should demonstrate proficiency in

the use of ICT in the following areas.

→ basic operational skills.

 → information-technology skills.

 → effective use of the internet.

→  software-evaluation skills.

→  pedagogical skills for classroom management.

We have a good resource of VCDs/DVDs/Audio books which are

related to the poems and the teacher can resort to advanced softwares

to teach poetry.  ICT tools can make literature classroom highly

resourceful and interesting.

The real beauty and meaning of poetry lies in its recitation. 

All teachers are not good at reciting.  And even someone that is good

at reciting may face problems with various poems, ballads, epics,

sonnets etc.  The website, www.librivox.org or even YouTube will

provide the poems in audio version, recited by the native speakers. 

We can freely download them and choose the best one for our

classroom.  Teachers and students can upload their own versions of

poems and recitation to the site.  Thus, it motivates students to sing

poems, record it and upload to the site.  We use sound editing

software like Audacity for recording and editing recited poems.  The

teachers can use pictures, critiques of poems, analysis and various

interpretations downloaded from different websites and display them

in classrooms with the help of laptop or tablet, as power point files or

even using LCD projectors.  Interactive White Board (IWB) can be

also used as a learning tool as it.

ICT RESOURCES FOR TEACHING VOCABULARY

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings.

OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

→ The major objectives of teaching vocabulary are:

                  →  It helps the learners to express any subtle ideas, or shades

of meaning through suitable words.

                         → It helps the learners to familiarize new words.

                         →   It helps students to familiarize synonyms, antonyms and

homonyms.

                         → Enriching word power.

Most of the secondary school learners are very poor in vocabulary

ability.  Instead of the advanced ICT resources, teachers here adopted

many ways to teach new words like: by showing objects, pictures or

charts, by performing action etc.  They also resorted to several

language games also.  But today with the help of OWB, internet, and

by playing CDs/VCDs with the words and its pronunciation, the

English language teacher can enrich the vocabulary capacity of the

learners.

Teachers sometimes face problems in teaching vocabulary like

how to select the words to teach and how to teach etc.  For instance,

words like, ‘book’, ‘chair’, ‘pencil’, ‘desk’ will be easier to explain as

the word represent concrete objects.  But if we want to teach words

such as ‘kind’ and ‘honest’, we may seek the help of some videos and

audio clips.  We can teach them by creating or showing situation

using ICT resources.  This method will also help the students to retain

the new words they learned for a long time.

In implicit learning paradigm, we can be developing in normal way

by repeated experience, mainly through reading and listening.  In the

second type, contexts are the main source for acquiring vocabulary. 

In both types, power point files, IWB, graphics, LCD presentation,

audio and video clips played through CDS and DVDs etc. are used to

create contexts and reading and listening materials.

As one of the tool in teaching Vocabulary, ICT has some

significant benefits.  It has the capacity to control presentation,

increase variety and creativity and provide feedback on learning

activity.  Today we can access to online dictionaries, available in

mobile phones.  Instead of reading and memorizing, students can

directly involve in to the activity today.  The Internet is a tool which

has great potential in the languages classroom, but its effectiveness in

practice depends to a large extent on the way it is exploited by teacher

and students.  Multimedia-enhanced electronic dictionaries are helpful

for English language learners because they have several built-in aids

that their book counterparts cannot provide.

Eg: the Longman Interactive English Dictionary, the Oxford Picture

Dictionary Interactive etc.

 Analogus Games (High School Analogy Match), Context and

Definition Games (100 High School Word Search. 1984 Vocabulary

Match game, High School Crossword Puzzle, Romeo and Juliet

Context Game etc.)

 Antonym Games (College Prep Word Antonyms, Waiting for the fun

to start!)

 Synonym Games (9th -12th Homephone, High school Synonym

match)

 Prefix Word Games (Divide the Prefix, HS prefix Meaning Match)

 Homophone Word Games (Homophones: Bazaar, bizarre, High

school homophone game)

 Word Play (8 Letters in search of a word, Hig Pig Word game)

 Idiom Games (Animal Slang Game, Money Slang Game)

etc. add fun in learning words, thus enriching the vocabulary

ability of the students.  These language games are available in the

website.

 ICT, the internet and modern technology is on the forefront of

language teaching offering students and teachers opportunities to

explain and even explicit English in many ways that were not possible

before.  A good CALL program can also add to the methodologies to

teach vocabulary.  Impeccably true, ICT plays a vital role in

vocabulary acquisition.

 Vocabulary acquisition is also possible through audio podcasts,

listening to speeches and pronunciation and communication practices

with the help of internet and multimedia devices or gadgets.

INTEGRATING ICT RESOURCES IN TEACHING

GRAMMAR

“Grammar is the means through which linguistic creativity is

ultimately achieved”, observes Wilkins.  Grammar refers to the

formal analysis and description of the rules of the language.  It also

refers to the rules for the correct use of a language which may be

prescribed for its uses.

OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING GRAMMAR

The main objectives of teaching grammar are:

                          i.    it helps to use the language effectively.

                        ii.     knowledge of the underlying ‘rules’ of grammar is

provided.

                      iii.      to develop students insight into the structure of English

language.

                     iv.       to enable students to annihilate the correct patterns of the

language.

                       v.         to teach grammar as a rule governed behaviour.

                     vi.          to develop a scientific attitude in pupils.

Grammar has been taught in various ways throughout the history of

language learning.  The interest to involve computer in teaching

Grammar are awakened in late 1990s and has since then grown. 

There are two major advantages of ICT-it helps learners to gain

control of their own learning and it can help individualize teaching. 

“Grammar is not just a dry list of facts and rules.  It is in our heads

and it is a living resource…”, Jim Scrivence says.

Smart Notebook Software for smart boards will help the teachers to

teach English Grammar effectively.  Once we resorted to Grammar

translation method, Direct method and suggest to teach English

language.  Teacher also taught grammar through several games for

example Grammar Ninja, Grammar Blast, and today teachers usually

seek the help of the “BBC’s skills wise website which is a great

resource for a wide variety of content areas.  The British Council’s

Learn English website offers 69 interactive activities for learning the

rules of grammar.  Grammar Bytes is a great website for language

Arts teachers.  It offers teachers and students handouts, interactive

exercises and slide show presentation.  Each slideshow is a

accompanied by a handout for students to complete as they view each

presentation.  Daily Writing Tips is a blog and recently, they

announced the release of an eBook about English grammar.  Apart

from those ICT resources, we can use, IWB, power point files CDs

and VCDs etc. for teaching grammar.

The following are some of the websites which can be used for

teaching grammar effectively:

 Self study Grammar Quizzes: http://a4esl.org/h/grammar.html

 English Grammar Quiz: http://englishgrammarcorrection.com/egi-

bin/gran4.p/

 Grammar Bytes: http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm

 Daily Grammar

Lessons: http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.shton/

 Online English

Grammar: http://www.edufind.com/englishgrammar/subids.cfm

CONCLUSION

ICT education is basically our society’s efforts to teach its current and

emerging citizens valuable knowledge and skills.  ICT is complex and

quickly changing.  ICT involve innovations in microelectronics,

computing telecommunication and opto-electronic micro processors,

semi conductors and fibre optics.  Then innovations later forms a

remarkable land mark in the areas of education.  ICT focus on the

learner as it can,

→ Motivate the learner.

→ Unleashing creativity in learning.

→ Allowing independence in learning.

→ Developing collaborative and team working skills.

REFERENCE

Meiers, M.  The use of ICTs in Schools in the Digital Age. 

Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 2009.  Print.

http://www.edcuation.vic.gov.au/school/teacher/profdev/

http://www.mpict.org/ict_education_defined_importance.html/