Annotated Bibliography #1

Rosenthal, Judith W.,   (2000).  Case Study #1: Foreign Language Instruction and Technology in Handbook of undergraduate second language education.  Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=gQj2MBa2MG8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

     This book (with an online preview) includes a very interesting "Brief History of Technology and Language Learning" which illustrates the follies of several "best" practice educational reforms throughout the years. (p.304).  The book also contains several case-studies of technology and second language teaching.  Of particular interest is "Case Study #1: Foreign Language Instruction and Technology" which focuses on Yoko Koike, a Japanese teacher at Haverford College.  The study discusses how she has managed to depart from the traditional educational model that emphasizes "learner centered interactions," as apposed to teacher focused lectures, and she uses various technologies to accomplish this.  

I particularly related to her desire to help her students "come to see themselves as skillful communicators in Japanese, rather than as simply learners of the language."  In my own classroom, I use Japanese even when I'm not teaching a lesson, and when the students are also encouraged to play-along, they suddenly discover that Japanese actually relates to them since they are able to use Japanese in their lives (as opposed to just for a test).  They come to find that they are more skillful than they had ever envisioned and this gives them tremendous courage to learn more.

     An interesting concept that Yoko Koike discusses is the idea that although technology is invaluable if applied correctly when teaching, it also has the potential for be "noisy," meaning that "learning to use them can get in the way of and overshadow the true goals and processes of her communicative approach." (p.310-311)  This struck a chord with me as I've personally experienced the almost distracting excitement students face with new technology, and the learning curve they must summit before they can even begin to use the technology to learn Japanese in the way intended.

     As I have a challenging teaching position (with five different classes to prepare for daily), technology has become an invaluable tool to help me serve the needs of my students.  I teach one class at Harshman Magnet Middle School, and four levels of Japanese at Arsenal Tech High School.  The students are mostly inner-city children of single-parent families, but I've had great success in spreading enthusiasm and facilitating their learning.  In my favor, most of the students have elected to take Japanese themselves due to some personal interest as apposed to most core classes which they are mandatory. 

Please feel free to post comments to this Annotated Bibliography. Hopefully it is suitable, and perhaps even exceptional as a first attempt, but any suggestions for revision are always welcome.