2. Glogster and Edraw as Edcuational tools for teaching writing to ESP learners --- by A.Shahin Sultana

In recent years, technology has become an integral part of language teaching. The use of technological tools has been recognised as innovation for providing exciting and stimulating learning environment for students. Language teachers use a variety of web 2.0 tools such as blogs google, edraw, glogster , etc. to create interest among students. The author advocates the use of two such web 2.0 tools glogster and edraw to teach paragraph writing to ESP learners. As writing is considered to be a daunting task to learners, the author designs tasks and uses the multimedia tools glogster and edraw. While edraw is a mind mapping tool used to brainstorm ideas, glogster is an interactive visual platform used to create a poster or a webpage.

The objective of this paper is to examine how these multimedia tools be used effectively in enhancing the writing skill of ESP learners and in particular writing coherent paragraphs. It shows how each individual learner can be stimulated to participate in the class room activities using these potential tools. The author is of the conviction that it is highly important to improve the skill of these learners in producing structured paragraphs by exploiting the modern technological aids.

Profile of students of engineering colleges

The students who join an Engineering college hail from schools of other states, in addition to the schools in Tamil Nadu. Some of them are from English medium and others are from Tamil medium schools with very little exposure to English outside the classes. So there is a mix of students who have a wide range of abilities. Since there is a multi-level group, the teacher should adopt an interactive methodology that suits all the levels of students. The author is of the opinion that with the help of multimedia tools the teacher can achieve this objective. Koeke(1998) addresses the issues in designing CALL for multiple language learning styles. He believes that the students can learn languages best when the programmes are geared to their learning styles which is not possible in traditional class rooms. McKenzie (2002) demonstrates how educators can harness the power of teaching in their instructional planning. He believes that the integration of multimedia needs to be judicious. So ESP teachers have to analyze the needs of learners and design suitable tasks.

As a next step the students are given the task of reading the text thoroughly and performing activites based on it. The teacher can enter the various expressions related to the rhetorical function- cause and effect using the mind mapping tool -edraw in a jumbled format. She explains the causal-relation by providing models .Students have to re- arrange and match the expressions of causes with those of effects by going through these models given.They are also required to pick up similar phrases from the text .Thus they become familiar with the causal -relation patterns.

1. The specific needs of ESP learners are:

2. To follow and understand the subject lectures.

3. To write reports, paragraphs, etc.

4. To converse fluently with their peers.

5. To present seminars.

They have to use language to define, generalize, and hypothesize and to draw conclusions and to perform other such rhetorical acts. They should, therefore familiarize themselves with the distinct rhetorical functions that abound in EST discourse.

The ESP teacher has to take into account the needs of the learners and include the teaching of one of the rhetorical functions such as “Cause and effect” while teaching paragraph writing. According to Ashraf Rizvi(2005), “Developing the ability to write effective paragraphs is essential because all technical documents contain series of related paragraphs”

Therefore, training the students to write coherent paragraphs is necessary for ESP learners. Before embarking upon teaching, a text of current interest which is of general appeal to students such as ‘Tsunami and its effects” may be chosen. Care has to be taken to see that the text deals with the rhetorical feature: cause and effect relationship. It has to be ensured that the tasks designed on the text are contextualized, authentic and learner- centered. A glogster has to be created with the text and pictures.

A visual representation of using glogster as a Multimedia tool.

Illustration - 1

The next task is a vocabulary exercise matching the words with their meanings. After they are sufficiently equipped with the necessary information generated by way of group discussion, interpretation of visuals(by answering a few textual questions)and having learnt the use of the rhetorical function- cause and effect , they are assigned the task of writing the paragraph on “Tsunami and its effects” and to publish it in the glogster. They may be asked to create images related to the natural disaster. All these graded activities progress in a systematic way and equip the learners for managing the paragraph writing exercise. Students are thus prepared for the major task of paragraph writing.

Before they set to write these tasks, the teacher has to explain the principles of writing a coherent paragraph by presenting models of it and by teaching them how the ideas are presented in a logical sequence. The positioning of a topic sentence and its function can be made clear with well-chosen constructed paragraphs. The students find these multimedia activities leading to writing very interesting.

Research has shown that the information presented through visual and auditory channels has a significant impact on the students’ learning. The multimedia tools, especially glogster and edraw can be used as excellent resources for teaching writing. Thus ESP teachers provide a true learning environment in which all the learners are actively involved in performing the tasks and learn to write organized paragraphs. Students find the task of writing an easier and enjoyable experience.

Resource material &Tasks

1. Group Discussion:

a. Name some natural calamities which bring about the deaths of a large number of people.

b. Describe a disaster which occurred recently in India.

c. What are the measures taken by the government to prevent such disasters?

2. Read the text and answer the questions:

A magnitude of 9.0 earthquake ravaged Japan, shaking buildings in Tokyo for several minutes .Japanese officials confirm at least two thousands more injured or missing .Within the same 24 period more than 150 aftershocks of magnitude greater than 4.5 occurred. Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning ‘harbour wave”. It refers to a series of large ocean waves that hit a shoreline. These waves may be as long as 100km and travel across the ocean at a speed of up to 800 kmh. There may be a constant stream of waves that batter the shore for about10 to60 minutes.

Tsunami is caused by sudden movements of the earth that happen under the sea. The earth sits on about a dozen tectonic plates. Under sea earthquakes happen when one of these plates is rubbing against another at a plate boundary. The two plates may become stuck as the heavier plate tries to slide under the ligher plate. This causes a built up pressure known as subduction. A point comes when the lighter plate can no longer take the intense pressure and suddenly snaps back upto the surface where it had been before. The incredible force of the earth plate shooting upwards in the water causes huge rise in sea level. A vast body of water moves upward like a huge mountain of water in the sea.

A Tsunami is a series of huge waves that occur as a result of a violent underwater disturbance, such as earthquake or volcanic eruption. The waves travel in all directions from the epicenter of the disturbance. The waves travel in the sea as fast as 450 miles per hour. They can grow as high as100 feet. The after effects of Tsunami are many.

They range from destruction, damage, death, millions of dollars of financial loss and long lasting psychological problems for the inhabitants of the region. There are people who are depressed because of loss of home, money, etc. The sewage and fresh water supplies for drinking are damaged due to Tsunami. As a result of this disease spread. So Tsunami causes great damage to people and leaves a lasting effect on people.

a. What causes Tsunami?

b. Describe the effects of Tsunami.

c. How do you think the people be educated to face such natural calamities?

3. Match the following words with their meanings.

a. Tsunami - i) faults or volcanic action

b. Devastating – ii) exertion of continuous force of the atmosphere

c. Earthquake - iii) series of high waves caused by disturbance of ocean floor

d. Pressure - iv) very effective

4. Language Development:

Examples of Cause & Effect pattern:

a. Living conditions in Japan was terrible. Therefore, many people moved to other countries for a better life.

b. Tsunami is caused by sudden movements of the earth that happen under the sea.

c. People moved to other countries from Japan as a result of poor living conditions in Japan.

d. There were many people, who were depressed because they had lost their home, money and their family.

5.Pick up some expressions related to causes &effects from the passage.

6. Match the causes with effects and write sentences using suitable causal relations presented in the edraw.

7. Write a paragraph on ‘Tsunami and its effects ‘in 200 words and publish it in the glogster created by you.

Initially the students should be asked to view the pictures and work in groups and answer a few questions. A video pertaining to the context can be uploaded as a simulation technique. The link to the video can be given in glogster.

In the glogster the teacher can upload graphics and visuals. The graphics when clicked will demonstrate how tsunami takes place, the sample of which is presented below in a series of pictures. The students are expected to visualize these graphics and involve themselves in a collaborative task.

As students love to work in groups, they will discuss together and come up with ideas. Mariam and Napisah(2005) postulate that when peer interaction was incorporated in learning writing, the students generated ideas and constructed sentences together. This will lead to a better understanding of the topic on which they are required to write. They will also be able to write concrete, accurate and creative pieces of writing. Beare(2009) suggests that the most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make a learning experience of lasting value.This is one of the strategies known as brain storming that is adopted in the pre-writing stage. So the teacher has to pool in ideas on the topic given by using this strategy.