Stockwell’s (2012) reply to Ballance’s (2012) commentary: An annotated bibliography

Source: Stockwell, G. (2012). Working with constraints in mobile learning: A response to Ballance.  Language Learning & Technology. 16 (3), 24-31. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2012/stockwell.pdf

In his online periodical article, Stockwell (2012) responds to Ballance’s (2012) claims by explaining not only the nature of the activities presented, but also the purpose of introducing Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) outside the classroom. In order to back up his explanation, the author provides evidence from his previous articles to answer Ballance’s (2012) criticism pointing out relevant information, explaining that when selecting the activities, he considers students preferences, needs, particular reality and the learning environment.

Stockwell (2012) exposes the need to engage language learners in vocabulary activities and take advantage of dead time, highlighting the usefulness of this approach. He highlights that students would be utilizing an everyday device to learn vocabulary, and that the tasks could be completed, for instance when travelling. He also points out advantages of using the pre-smart phone platform since, contrary to Ballance’s (2012) conclusion, the majority of students are not smart-phone users and activities completion does not require high technology command.

Since foreign language students usually have limited opportunities to approach the target language only in the classroom, Stockwell (2012) reflects on these issues declaring that technology should be used wisely to maximize learning opportunities; he also points out that teachers should choose technologies available in the current environment or the ones that they can master. He defends his research in a trustworthy way, supporting his answers with significant extracts of his earlier works to explain himself.

References

Ballance, O.J. (2012). Mobile language learning: More than just “the platform”. Language Learning & Technolog. 16 (3), 21-23. Retrieved from  http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2012/ballance.pdf

Stockwell, G. (2010). Using Mobile Phones for Vocabulary Activities: Examining the Effect of the Platform. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 95–110. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/ vol14num2/stockwell.pdf 

An outline on Ballance’s (2012) commentary on Stockwell’s (2010) article

Purpose: To illustrate Ballace’s (2012) position as regards using Stockwell’s (2010) study into the effects of Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) on vocabulary activities in Second Language classrooms.

Audience: Teachers and second language students. Educators and professionals interested in technology.

Thesis statement: According to Ballance (2010), Stockwell’s (2010) results in the empirical research do not guarantee success in Second Language classrooms, due to the rapid pace of technological development as well as its limited scope.

1.      Stockwell’s (2010) findings are obsolete since students entered to a new MALL research area.  

1.1.   Rapid pace of technology

1.2.   i-Phone and Android platform was already released

1.3.   Pre-smart phones weakness

1.3.1.     Internet access cost

1.3.2.     Scrolling time

1.3.3.     Small screens and keypads

2.      Smartphone’s benefits

2.1.    Wi-Fi admission

2.2.   Application (apps) integrated

2.3.   Touch screens

3.      Activities designed were not appropriate for the use of MALL

3.1.   They were designed for pen and paper or computer completion

3.2.   The PC and mobile phone platform were similar

3.2.1.     Students would choose to work with PC platform

3.2.2.     Students would choose to work with the mobile phone platform

3.3.   They prevent students to take advantage of “dead time”

4.      Conclusion

4.1.   The data gathered does not show the usefulness of using MALL in classroom environment. 

References

Ballance, O.J. (2012). Mobile language learning: More than just “the platform”.Language Learning & Technology. 16 (3), 21-23. 

Retrieved from  http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2012/ballance.pdf

Stockwell, G. (2010). Using Mobile Phones for Vocabulary Activities: Examining the Effect of the Platform. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 95–110. 

Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/ vol14num2/stockwell.pdf 

Becoming Academic Writers Using Wikipedia: An Academic Summary of Tardy’s (2010) article

The article Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing (Tardy, 2010) depicts the usefulness of utilizing the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to help second language (L2) students to become academic writers. Tardy (2010) describes the process to compose an article for students to gain master literacy skills while writing an article for the online resource focusing on a real audience. 

To write a formal text, learners need to be acquainted with some specific knowledge of the academic genre. Tardy (2010) states that “it is useful to begin by finding out what students … know” (p.14). After sharing Wikipedia articles and analyzing their common features, students can be conducted on the procedures of outlining and paraphrasing, formatting sources, checking grammar, and publishing their works, applying Wikipedia conventions.

According to Tardy (2010), “the Wikipedia-writing project described [in the text] introduces students to many skills of academic research writing in a manageable and interested way” (p. 18). As learners are aware that the page is available for everyone to post and edit any text and that it reaches masses all over the world, they may feel enthusiastic for having the chance to publish for a worldwide audience. Moreover, they “enjoy the satisfaction of seeing their work published on a high-traffic global website” (Tardy, 2010. p. 18).

On the whole, although academic writing posts lots of challenges to L2 students, by exploiting Wikipedia, they can discover many of the skills needed to write a coherent text while working with a well-known source and for a real public.  By considering Tardy’s practical step-by-step guide, students will improve their academic skills so as to become members of the academic writing community.

Reference

Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1, pp. 12-19, 27. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/docs/10-48-1-c.pdf

Inconsistencies in Citing Sources

APA format is a standard set of conventions for formatting academic texts. There is a recognized need for standardization of these formats in order to make it easier for readers to be able to understand texts with the greatest possible ease and efficiency. Moreover, citing appropriately gives credibility and prestige to the writers.

The article written by Dalvit et al., (2005) follows some of the requirements proposed by the American Psychological Association (APA), as regards citing sources. The APA style format sets the rules for in-text citations and reference pages (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012).

Although Dalvit et al., (2005) combine different ways of referring to the wok of others, such as paraphrasing, summarizing, citing an organization, among others, they do not make use of direct quotes. This fact prevents the text to flow naturally.  Furthermore the authors make use of signal phrases. When summarizing the interviews made with lecturers, in their article Dalvit et al. (2005) use in text-citation such as:

“The tutor and the students indicated that besides lack of exposure to computers up to the university level, this might be due to two sets of factors: language problems and problems of communication and organization in the classroom” (Dalvit et al., 2005, p 73).

Paraphrasing is used to restate ideas and information using the writer’s words, for instance, “According to Heugh (2002), little has changed since the end of Apartheid.” (Dalvit et al., 2005, p 72). All the quotes written in the article follow the rules provided by the APA manual. Regarding summarizing all of them have the author’s last name and date of publication (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012). When paraphrasing, each quote follows APA conventions, that is, the author’s last name and only the date of publication in parenthesis are used. (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012)

The reference list does not follow all the requirements proposed by the APA manual. Firstly, the word “reference” is not in the centre of the first line and it is in bold font. Secondly, entries do not begin flush left and additional lines are not indented five spaces. (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012). Thirdly, although the reference list is alphabetized, entries with two authors do not include the ampersand but the word “and”, as in the case of “Halliday, M.A.K. and Martin, J.R.” (Dalvit et al., p 75).

When citing books, online dictionaries and articles, the authors capitalize all words except short ones, for instance: “Heugh, K. (2002). The Case Against Bilingual and Multilingual Education in South Africa: Laying Bare the Myths. Perspectives in Education” (Dalvit et al., p 75). The APA manual suggests that only the first letter of the word of the book is capitalized. (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012). The only issue that coincides with the rules set by the APA manual is that when citing online sources the authors include the retrieval entry, since the content of these resources might be updated. (The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2012)

Overall, after analyzing the article it can be seen that the amount of knowledge on these standardized formats is not enough to write an academic paper. This might have a negative impression in the discourse communities who are acquainted with APA principles on how to write properly. Acknowledging sources would give not only reputation but also reliability to the authors.

References

Dalvit, L., Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2

students of computer science at a South African University. US-China  Education Review, Sep. 2005, Vol. 2 (9)

Halliday, M.A.K. & Martin, J.R. (1993). Writing science: Literacy and discursive power.

Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. In Dalvit, L., Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2 students of computer science at a South African University. US-China Education Review, Sep. 2005, Vol. 2 (9)

Heugh, K. (2002). The case against bilingual and multilingual education in South Africa:

laying bare the myths. Perspectives in education, 20, 1-196. In Dalvit, L., Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2 students of computer science at a South African University. US-China Education Review, Sep. 2005, Vol. 2 (9)

The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. (2012). In-Text Citations:

The Basics. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/2012-03-14

The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. (2012). Reference List: Basic Rules.  Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/2012-07-27