Tech tools in EAP: an #EAPchat contribution

The topic for next Monday's #EAPchat is:

"What tech is good tech for EAP?"

As I'm going to be away and will miss the chat, I thought I'd share my contribution in advance here instead. To be honest, on the very short, intensive, pre-sessional courses I teach on, I don't get much chance to play around with all the tech stuff I'd really like to, but below are a few things I have managed to squeeze in successfully in the past:

Online dictionaries: Perhaps unsurprisingly with my lexicography background, I'm keen on teaching/ encouraging dictionary skills and I think for EAP, that element of independent learning is even more important, so I use dictionaries a lot in class. Having them up on screen means I can more easily highlight useful features like collocations in examples and specialist senses (which are often the ones relevant in EAP and which students often miss down at the bottom of an entry). I tend to swap between the different online learner's dictionaries available to demo what's available to students:

OUP:  http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ 
CUP: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Macmillan:  http://www.macmillandictionary.com/

Vocabulary Profiler: I try to demo the Compleat Lexical Tutor vocab profiler at least once with each class when I'm talking about the nature of academic language and the AWL. I put a text we've been working with through it to highlight the AWL words and show the breakdown of vocabulary (top 2000, AWL and 'specialist'). I don't generally make a big thing of the AWL (there isn't time on such a short course), but I find it helps students get a feel for academic vocabulary and style. Some students, especially from science and engineering tend to like the statistical/mathematical element of it and in my last group, a couple of students (one engineering and the other seismology) independently put their own writing through it and brought me the results. One lad consciously worked on getting his AWL 'score' up to 15% and I have to say, his writing style did noticeably improve! It's probably not an approach I'd actively promote, but if it works for some students ...

Corpora:  I also try to demo a corpus search at least once with a group and again, it depends on the type of students as to whether they latch onto it or not. (I don't push it if it doesn't get a good reaction.) A few years ago, I had a group of mostly Taiwanese English teachers preparing for an MA TESOL who were very into language and loved it. I try to introduce it when a language query has cropped up in class or in feedback on a writing task. I probably wouldn't risk doing a live off-the-cuff search as a first demo (in case it turns out to be messy and more confusing than helpful), instead I'll trial it at home first and if it's looking good, I'll repeat it in class. Patterns following a particular word (following prepositions or verb forms) work particularly well as they show up really clearly on screen (search for the key word then sort right and the patterns appear as if by magic!). Nowadays, I tend to use the BAWE corpus, made up of student writing, because it's the most relevant to what my students are aiming to produce. I know it's available on various platforms, but I access it via Sketch Engine: https://the.sketchengine.co.uk/open/ 

Whenever I use a tool or website in class, I put the link and some basic instructions on Blackboard (the university's online platform on which each class has its own space), so that students can follow up for themselves if they want. I'd love to experiment with other things, but on an intensive course there are so many competing priorities and things to fit in, I'm just pleased with whatever I can squeeze in and even more happy when it turns out to be just the thing to pique some students' interest.

Sorry I won't be able to join in on Monday, but I'll look forward to catching up on all your tips and links after the event ...

The joys of freelancing #6 ... dealing with downtime

My broadband internet connection is generally pretty fast and reliable (thanks BT!), but just occasionally, it decides to stop working, like it did after lunch today. I tried switching my router off and on again, to no avail, and as I was working on some online corpus research, I couldn't really get on until I was back online.

Rather than staying sat at my desk, feeling frustrated and clicking away every couple of minutes, I headed down to the garage instead and spent a very satisfying half an hour painting some more planks of wood (that I'm using to build some raised beds), while listening to the cricket commentary on the radio! I can definitely see the attraction of sheds ...

Anyway, by the time I'd rinsed out my brush, washed my hands and headed back up to my desk, I was back online and able to carry on having had a good break and achieved something too.

The wonders of technology

Well, my first lesson with my new class didn't quite go to plan ... I had a really swish lesson planned with a PowerPoint presentation, an activity using online videos and a demonstration of online resources that I wanted my students to look at for homework. Inevitably though, when I got to my classroom, a funny little basement room I'd never used before, half an hour before the start of the lesson, I discovered that although the computer worked, it wouldn't link to the big screen at the front of the class. After a bit of fiddling, I called technical support, but they didn't make it to me until halfway through the class and even then, couldn't fix the problem on the spot. So I had to do a bit of thinking on my feet!

After years of working with computer technology, I know not to rely on it 100% and wasn't too fazed. It was a shame though as it didn't quite create the impression that I'd hoped for my first class, especially with all the faffing around and interruptions from the engineer.

It does reinforce though what I often think when I go to conferences and people are extolling the wonders of new technology in the classroom. It's all well and good when it works, but all too often, it lets you down and you have to be ready with a backup plan. And if the setup at a well-equipped UK university can have glitches, I'm sure that teachers working in less supported contexts around the world must have an even greater struggle to 'keep up'.

I'm not a technophobe and I think there are some wonderful things you can do in the classroom with technology, I'm just very aware of not relying on it too heavily and always keep a couple of marker pens in my bag, just in case! Keeping fingers crossed that the problems are fixed for my next class ...