Blog Task - Creating Hypertext & Hypermedia

Ikebana

Ikebana ("arranged flower") is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kadō ("way of flowers").

More than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of floral arrangement as a collection of particolored or multicolored arrangement of blooms, ikebana often emphasizes other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. Though ikebana is a creative expression, it has certain rules governing its form. The main rule is that all the elements used in construction must be organic, be they branches, leaves, grasses, or flowers. The artist's intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece's color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the usually implied meaning of the arrangement.

Another aspect present in ikebana is its employment of minimalism. That is, an arrangement may consist of only a minimal number of blooms interspersed among stalks and leaves. The structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on a scalene triangle delineated by three main points, usually twigs, considered in some schools to symbolize heaven, earth, and man and in others sun, moon, love and earth. The container is a key element of the composition, and various styles of pottery may be used in their construction.

Task 2

Task:
1. Choose a journal article on the use of technology in second or foreign language teaching and learning preferably an online article. The article must be from the year 2002 onwards.
2. Write a review on the article you have chosen and post it on your blog.

Title: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer Technology in Second Language Acquisition

Journal: National Journal for Publishing and Mentoring Doctoral Student Research

Volume: Volume 3 Number 1

Year: 2006

Author(s):

• Cheng-Chieh Lai - PhD Student in Educational Leadership, Prairie View A&M University, College of Education
• William Allan Kritsonis - PhD Professor, PhD Program in Educational Leadership, Prairie View A&M University, Member of the Texas A&M University System

Link: Derived from HERE.

Summary

The major ideas that the author wants to point out is pretty clear as stated in the title of the article; that there are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to using computer technology in the second language classroom. Some of the major advantages comprises of the fact that currently computer technology can provide a lot of fun games and communicative activities, reduce the learning stresses and anxieties, and provide repeated lessons as often as necessary. Those abilities will promote second language learners’ learning motivation. Another important point of advantage of computer technology is that through various communicative and interactive activities, computer technology can help second language learners strengthen their linguistic skills, affect their learning attitude, and build their self-instruction strategies and self-confidence.

The disadvantages on the other hand comprised of four major points as stated in the article. First, it will increase educational costs and harm the equity of education. This will cause unfair educational conditions for those poor schools and students. Second, most teachers today do not have sufficient technological training to guide their students exploring computer and its assisted language learning programs. Therefore, how will the teachers be able to educate the students appropriately if the teachers themselves are not aware of what they have to do? Third, the software of computer assisted language learning programs is still imperfect as most of the coursewares today deal with reading, listening, and writing skills. Fourth, computers cannot handle unexpected situations. This is due to the limitations of computer’s artificial intelligence, computer technology is unable to deal with learners’ unexpected learning problems and response to learners’ question immediately as teachers do.


Personal Reaction

In my opinion, I do overall agree with the author's views of the advantages and disadvantages aspects of using technology in the SLA classroom. The world is moving fast-forward to a technology-savvy era where children and teenagers nowadays are familiar with gadgets and the World Wide Web. I myself experience these type of teenagers during my practicum. Everyday, I will be able to hear them talking about their MySpaces, their blogs and their handphones. It seems so long ago the days that students would just sit around gossiping behind their teacher's backs. It is not really surprising as we face technology everyday. However, it is a sad fact that to incorporate technology into today's teaching is not that easy as pointed out by the disadvantages mentioned in the article.

I have experienced first-hand the trouble of going through the process of implementing technology in my teaching during my practicum where I wanted to utilize a courseware to teach literature to my students. Some of the problems I faced were the fact that the Computer Room needed to be booked as early as possible, without the guarantee that the computers are all functioning well. This led me to use the science labs where each lab was equipped with a projector for me to show the students the content of the courseware. However, this was not a first hand experience for them as they only sat there to watch and listen. It would have been more interesting for them if they were to play around with the courseware on their own. Coursewares like so would be very interesting for students and would motivate them to learn in a fun way. This is due to the fact that it would be a nice break from the usual chalk-and-talk teaching method that they usually face. Appropriate coursewares are highly recommended for teaching but should be assisted with proper guidance by the teacher just in case they may face any problems.