The Use of ICTs to Improve Listening Skills in Formal and Informal Settings

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Departamento de Filología Inglesa Máster de Profesor de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas Trabajo de Fin de Máster The Use of ICTs to Improve Listening Skills in Formal and Informal Settings Autor: Isidro Femenía Gómez Tutor: Elena González-Cascos Departamento de Filología Inglesa Universidad de Valladolid 2018 - 2019 ABSTRACT In the current society, ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are developing astoundingly fast, and they have become an important part of individuals’ lives, especially for young people; therefore, technologies are opening a whole world of opportunities with regard to teaching and learning. The aim of this MA dissertation is to make readers aware of the importance of technologies and inclusive education within formal settings to boost students’ motivation, and to provide some resources, as well as some strategies, which will be greatly helpful for educators and learners to develop listening comprehension skills. The resources are going to be thoroughly explained, so that they can be used in both formal and informal settings. Keywords: ICTs, Listening comprehension, UDL, App, Learning, Formal settings, Informal settings. RESUMEN En la sociedad actual, las TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación) se desarrollan a una velocidad asombrosa y se han convertido en una parte importante de la vida de las personas, especialmente para los jóvenes; por lo tanto, las tecnologías están abriendo todo un mundo de oportunidades con respecto a la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. El objetivo de este Trabajo de Fin de Máster es concienciar a los lectores sobre la importancia de las tecnologías y la educación inclusiva en los entornos formales para potenciar la motivación de los alumnos, así como proporcionar algunos recursos y estrategias que serán de gran ayuda para que los educadores y los alumnos desarrollen sus habilidades de comprensión auditiva. Los recursos van a ser explicados a fondo, para que puedan ser utilizados tanto en entornos formales como informales. Palabras clave: TIC, Comprensión auditiva, DUA, App, Aprendizaje, Entornos formales, Entornos informales. INDEX 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….. 1 2. Theoretical framework…………………………………………………….... 3 2.1. Millennials………………………………………………………………… 3 2.2. E-Learning………………………………………………………………... 5 2.2.1. Mobile learning………………………………………………………... 8 2.2.1.1. Mobile learning in formal settings………………………………... 11 2.2.1.2. Mobile learning in informal settings……………………………… 11 3. Contextualization…………………………………………………………….. 13 3.1. Listening comprehension skill…………………………………………… 13 3.1.1. Listening strategies……………………………………………………. 15 3.2. ICT integration in Secondary School……………………………………. 16 3.3. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)…………………………………… 18 3.3.1. Principles to make the most out of UDL……………………………... 20 3.3.2. Essential principles of the UDL……………………………………….. 21 3.3.2.1. Representation……………………………………………………… 22 3.3.2.2. Action and expression……………………………………………… 22 3.3.2.3. Engagement…………………………………………………………. 23 4. Design………………………………………………………………………….. 25 4.1. BBC Learning English…………………………………………………….. 26 4.2. Language Learning with Netflix………………………………………….. 30 4.3. Lyrics Training…………………………………………………………….. 35 5. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………. 39 6. Bibliographical references……………………………………………………. 41 Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 1 1. Introduction The 21st century is bringing about huge changes. The world is witnessing a breakthrough in the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which advances at a staggering rate. This can be easily seen everywhere: it is nearly impossible to find someone without a mobile phone, and the vast majority of homes possesses an Internet connection. Also, new generations of individuals are adapting perfectly to this increasingly technological world, to the extent that a big deal of kids have portable devices such as phones and tablets; this is something that was unthinkable a decade ago. However, the field of education, with regard to the subject of English as a Foreign Language, does not develop as quickly as technologies. To this day, most educational centers still rely on the usage of textbooks due to the curriculum, as well as on traditional teaching methods, where educators teach a topic and students limit themselves to doing activities included in those textbooks. These methods of transmitting knowledge are mostly grammar-based, and do not make use of any technological resources; they are focused on writing and reading skills, and they pay less attention to listening and speaking. While all 4 linguistic skills – now called “reception,” “production,” “interaction,” and “mediation” according to the Council of Europe’s Companion Volume (2018) – are crucial when learning a language, listening comprehension (included in the reception skill) is one of the most important ones to develop, since it is needed in order to be able to maintain a successful face-to-face conversation. Including technology in some classroom activities might make a change in English education for both teachers and students, making lessons more dynamic and, therefore, more motivating for learners; furthermore, the use of technology will make it easier to incorporate materials for developing students’ listening skills in an effective manner. However, the inclusion of technologies is not the only necessary requirement to improve the quality of the lessons; teachers also need to know their environment, that is, the characteristics of the students within the classroom. It is fundamental that learners do not feel left apart because, if that were to happen, their motivation and eagerness to learn might drop dramatically. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 2 For this reason, the aim of this dissertation is to raise awareness of the importance of technology in educational contexts, to provide several resources which are useful for both teachers and students to develop listening skills, and to shed light upon the aspect of inclusion within educational contexts. By means of these resources, educators are going to be able to do engaging activities within formal contexts using authentic materials, and students are going to boost their auditory skills, as well as be encouraged to use the resources outside the educational centers. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 3 2. Theoretical framework 2.1. Millennials The ICTs, beyond a shadow of a doubt, have completely changed the current society, and the new generations of Millennials make for a perfect evidence of that. Nowadays, kids begin to use devices such as mobile phones and tablets at a really early age; previous generations have never imagined that something like this would happen but, since technology advances at such a staggering rate, it has now become a reality. The Pew Research Center 1 (2010) characterizes Millennials as confident, optimistic, more educated than previous generations, liberal, open to change, always connected, steeped in digital technology and social media, and embracing multiple modes of selfexpression. The vast majority of people who belong to this category “makes an active use of digital media that has changed their notions of communication, knowledge management, learning, and their personal and social values.” (Noguera, 2013, p. 49). Noguera (2013, p. 45) states that “if society changes education must change, thus, the characteristics of Millennials have significant implications on how they learn and how they need to be taught.” Since they use digital devices very often, they can be considered as “digital learners.” This kind of learners differ from other generations in several aspects, which are the following: firstly, they are able to multitask easily and in an effective way; secondly, according to Hofstetter (in Noguera, 2013), they are multiliterate 2 ; another aspect is that they extensively navigate through the web in order to learn or to be entertained; and last but not least, they learn in situated actions, that is, through real-world contexts. From these differences, it can be seen that the evolution of technology is bringing about huge possibilities for the new generations to take advantage of. With regard to digital media, Tapscott (in Noguera, 2013) lists a series of new ways of thinking about teaching and learning on the part of teachers and pupils: from linear to 1 “The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.” (Taken from the Pew Research Center website). 2 Being multiliterate means that a person possesses the ability to be literate in terms of text in media other than paper (Definition extracted from the YourDictionary website). Millennials are considered as multiliterate because they are literate in both paper and digital media. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 10 developers – or mobile coaches – of such applications will be able to personalize the apprentices’ learning experiences, as well as giving them some guidance in case that doubts arise. b) Enhanced pedagogical learning process. Mobile learning is different from the conventional electronic one; as a result, the traditional pedagogical theory should be gone over so that it fits the features of mobile environment. This dimension is employed to make the learning in mobile activities easier; it also facilitates cooperation, and scaffolds several social practices related to learning. Thus, “the traditional pedagogical theory can take advantage of mobile technology and bring more efficient learning process to mobile learners.” (Jeng et al., 2010, p. 7). c) Situated learning environment. Mobile technologies, through discussion, access, and sharing of information via social networks, encourage learners to interact more frequently with their peers. Being able to move and communicate freely thanks to handheld devices enables learners to get knowledge through authentic learning activities by reproducing a situated learning environment. The interaction that happens in this realistic environment is an important feature of the positive impact that mobile learning possesses. d) Virtual group awareness and strategies. Bringing portability to face-to-face CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning) environments when learners are interconnected wirelessly benefits those students, according to several studies (Danesh, Inkpen, Lau, Shu, & Booth; Mandryk, Inkpen, Bilezikjian, Klemmer, & Landay, in Jeng et al., 2010). Also, Uzunboylu, Cavus, and Ercag (in Jeng et al., 2010) researched on the inclusion of cellphones and data services for the encouragement of learners’ use of mobile technologies and the development of environmental awareness, and the outcome of that investigation was that pupils’ attitudes concerning environmental matters were more positive. In short, these four dimensions, if successfully fulfilled, provide effective mobile learning environments. Jeng et al. (2010, p. 8) explain that “many currently available mobile learning applications highlight the mobility, ubiquitous computing, and portability features to facilitate learning process by utilizing those features.” Mobile learning can be incredibly useful for students, making people’s process of knowledge acquisition much easier and convenient by having the possibility of learning anytime and anywhere through authentic materials. After having clarified what mobile Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 11 learning is and how it is positive for learners, it is important to take into account that this type of learning can be carried out in two different settings: the formal and the informal. Lai, Khaddage, and Knezek (in Grant, 2015) describe formal learning as “learning in a physical environment in a classroom setting” and informal learning as the one that “occurs outside a formal classroom setting.” Nevertheless, Eshach (in Grant, 2015) states that relying only in features related to the physical environment might not be enough to make a distinction between formal and informal learning environments. It is preferable and forward thinking to distinguish both types of learning with regard to their origins and the motivations of the students (Grant, 2015). In addition, Looi et al. (in Khaddage et al., 2016) argue that the difference between them can be observed in the existence or dearth of a formal curriculum. In the following sections, more details about both learning types are going to be given. 2.2.1.1. Mobile learning in formal settings Formal learning is understood as the one where learners are engaged with software developed by teachers, trainers, or faculty members which are going to be used throughout a teaching program in an educational context (Halliday-Wynes & Beddie, in Grant, 2015). Eshach (in Grant, 2015) explains that formal learning is structured and prearranged, and learners’ motivation towards it is extrinsic, that is, students are encouraged to do something so as to get an external reward, such as good grades. Grant (2015) argues that, if an instructor needs to ask learners to gather, produce, analyze, or review something outside the classrooms, this still would be considered as formal learning. This is an important reason of saying that formal learning should not solely depend on characteristics associated with the physical environment. 2.2.1.2. Mobile learning in informal settings On the other hand, informal learning is defined as the learning that individuals do independently (Hrimech, in Grant, 2015), and learners’ motivation towards this type of learning is intrinsic, which means that they acquire knowledge because they want to, and because it is satisfying for them. Activities such as Internet searches, reading, going to Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 12 local events, and visiting community resources like museums and libraries are deemed informal learning (Grant, 2015). Apart from the previously mentioned examples, it is of great significance to add a few more to the list, which are downloading and learning through mobile applications, listening to podcasts, and watching movies and series. Those instances are important because of several reasons: they are massively used worldwide, they are a great source of English learning in an informal setting, and there are a great number of podcasts and apps about pretty much everything, as well as myriad movies in English. Barron (2006) affirms that mandatory formal learning may bring about an interest in informal learning on the part of the students. For instance, a pupil loves the English language, as well as the English lessons given in the educational center they attend. They do their homework at home and feel that it is not enough; there, informal learning comes into play. This student, driven by their intrinsic motivation, decides to read a book in English, to download an English learning application, or to listen to a podcast about their favorite topic in English – or all of them –, in order to get a deeper knowledge of the language. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 13 3. Contextualization 3.1. Listening comprehension skill “Listening is an active, complex process of constructing meaning by applying linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge to the incoming sounds.” (Chang, 2012, p. 166). Listening is an active skill because the interpretation of the text is constructed by the recipient by giving a meaning to the information received. The linguistic knowledge consists of a wide array of variables such as lexis, semantics, phonology, discourse, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics, while the non-linguistic one includes background knowledge of what is spoken, as well as general knowledge. This skill is usually regarded as the most difficult language skill, since the utterances are conveyed in real time and need to be processed at the same time as they are heard (Buck, in Chang, 2012). That is, individuals cannot manage the speed of the spoken text or rewind it to listen to it again (unless that text is recorded). The recipient must understand and make an interpretation messages by using a number of different resources, such as discriminating between sounds, understanding lexicon and grammatical structures as well as stress and intonation, retaining everything done in the previous steps and, eventually, interpreting the spoken message according to the sociocultural context (Buck, in Chang, 2012). As it can be seen in the previous paragraph, there are many things to be taken into account during the listening comprehension process. As a result, it might be a true challenge to appropriately understand spoken texts. Aspects like the dialectic variations and sociolinguistic characteristics can make comprehension harder, since the recipient might not be familiar with either – or both – of them (Buck, in Chang, 2012). Furthermore, unless the oral text is recorded, it is not possible to control the speed of the utterances or go back to previous parts of the spoken text; thus, unlike with written texts, listeners cannot revise the utterance. Chang (2012) explains that this can be really frustrating for students due to two reasons: first, they are usually inhibited by their own mental blocks and, when encountering incomprehensible parts, they stop assimilating the information, convincing themselves that they are unable to understand what it is said; and second, there are not any set rules, Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 14 like in grammar, so this skill has to be learnt on one’s own, by continuous exposure to the language. Because of the listening nature, it is not only really hard to learn, but also to teach, and instructors have a tough time trying to get the most out of their students’ listening learning. Field (2004) divides the listening process into two levels: the recognition level, in which items like phonemes, words, phrases, and intonation take place, and the selection level, where the message units are isolated, for comprehension purposes, without paying attention to single components in a conscious way. Developing the latter proves essential with regard to listening comprehension since it is a must for understanding what it is uttered. “Despite its critical role in language acquisition and effective communication, listening in educational environments does not get enough emphasis and is generally neglected.” (Ciğerci & Gultekin, 2017, p. 252). Listening is one of the most important skills, if not the most important and, within the classrooms, the most dealt with skills are reading and writing. There is great emphasis on grammar, but students need a solid proficiency in both listening and speaking if they are to use a second language in an appropriate way. This is not a critique to grammar: it is absolutely necessary to get a good language base. However, pupils spend too much time learning it, which leads to a dependency on its use. Students will always think about speaking with the utmost correctness, and that does not help to get fluency whatsoever. Besides, in order to be able to talk with other people, individuals must comprehend what they say; neglecting the listening skill will make learners have a low comprehension level, so having a good grammatical level will barely be of use. Educational settings, regarding second language teaching, should emphasize the use of listening activities. Ciğerci & Gultekin (2017) argue that those activities should be designed so that students get interested and eager to do them, as well as pay attention to them; furthermore, students need to be motivated towards listening tasks, so teaching techniques should be employed to encourage pupils to do them in order to improve their skills. Technologies are really useful for that purpose, so integrating them in educational settings may give a boost to both teachers’ and students’ motivation. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 15 3.1.1. Listening strategies As it has been aforementioned, listening skill is something that is difficult to learn and teach. Chang and Read (2006) explain that “students of English in a foreign language environment have difficulty comprehending the spoken language, especially in one-way listening situations where they do not have the opportunity to see – let alone interact with – the speaker” (p. 375). Because of that, it is deemed important that learners are taught some strategies in order to make the most out of their listening development. Luca Lampariello, an Italian polyglot and language coach who has learnt 13 languages, has written about strategies to improve listening comprehension on his website; these are as follows: a) Learners should choose comprehensible input. By “comprehensible input,” Lampariello means audio files that individuals understand by a 60-80%. This strategy is essential to boost comprehension since, if people barely understand what is being uttered, they will not get the gist of it, which is going to lead to them getting frustrated and not seeing any improvement. b) Students should listen to what they enjoy, that is, resources that are entertaining and relevant to them. This one is important because, when individuals are fond of what they listen to, their focus, as well as motivation, will be increased; thus, people should choose the materials carefully, and not listening to everything they find. c) Students should focus on the big picture, not on the small details. What people tend to do when listening to something is try to understand every single word that is being said; this is a mistake as, when they do not comprehend a few words, they stop listening. Because of this, it is fundamental to get the general meaning of what is listened to: this way, even though individuals do not comprehend some parts of the audio resource, they will know what it is about, thus feeling motivated towards further listening. d) Learners should listen and re-listen at different speeds. Language spoken at native speed is really quick, so it is a good idea to listen at a slower pace, and making it faster bit by bit, so that people will not get overwhelmed by the speed and fluency of native speaking. In order to do that, individuals must find recordings that can be slowed down; fortunately, most of them have this feature, so it is easy to take advantage of this strategy. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 16 e) Students should learn actively by taking notes. They do not need to do anything to listen to something, so they usually learn in a passive way, just relaxing while watching a movie, or listening to music. However, in order to learn in a productive way, it is essential to listen actively; by doing this, people are going to understand – as well as retain – the content much more effectively. Taking notes during the process of listening is a magnificent way to be active towards learning. Jotting down the gist of what the audio is about, as well as writing down new words that are not understood so that they are looked up later, are methods that will make people learn to comprehend much more effectively; in addition, they are going to get new lexicon that they are going to learn almost unconsciously. f) Learners should be patient. This is the most important tip for every learner; it takes a great deal of time to develop listening skills. Consistency is the key to making these skills grow so, if individuals are patient enough to follow a daily listening routine for months – or even years –, their effort will definitely bear fruit. These strategies, if employed effectively, can be extremely helpful not just for students, but also for teachers; both can benefit from them and, furthermore, educators will be able to make use of them for educational purposes within formal settings. 3.2. ICT integration in Secondary School Young generations, as previously stated, make an over-the-top use of ICTs; but most of that use is for entertainment. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp are employed by millions of people all over the world. While social networks can be perfectly used for learning – there are a myriad of educational pages of all types within those apps –, most youngsters use them to look aimlessly at their friends and famous people’s timelines for hours; this is understood as a social use of ICTs. In order to actually take advantage of what ICTs have to offer, an academic use of those technologies (ICTs used in educational contexts or to learn) should be carried out. Using technologies in educational contexts is easier said than done, though. Noguera (2013) states that integrating the ICTs in educational centers does not imply a change in methodologies, but a focus on providing tools and access to the Internet. In OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries which, according to its website, is an international organization that promotes equality and prosperity for Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 17 everyone, most schools possess a minimum of one computer and Internet connection (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], in Noguera, 2013). However, despite the fact that it is widely encouraged that teachers use ICTs in the classroom, online learning is still not very widespread in Europe and, furthermore, in some countries, computers are not accessible to students in the classroom yet (Eurydice, 2011). Balanskat, Blamire, and Kefala (in Noguera, 2013) explain that ICTs have a positive impact on educational performance, as well as on learners and learning, and that in emature schools (centers which are ICT-friendly) there is a quick increase in performance scores; among the positive aspects that ICTs have over learners, there are the competences, motivation and assessment, adaptation to individual needs, independent learning, teamwork and student-centered learning approach, and critical thinking. Those advantages have not been overlooked by educators all over Europe, who seem to like the new technologies judging by the following cite from Noguera (2013): “Most European teachers have a positive attitude towards ICTs (the most skeptical are the most experienced teachers) because of its potential to create new dynamics of classroom work, to individualize learning, to promote creativity and to motivate students” (p. 52). If well used, ICTs have a huge potential to help teachers and students to improve the effectiveness of the lessons. As time goes by, developers create an increasing number of software that may be employed within the classrooms. Motivating students is an essential task, since a motivated student is much more eager to learn; sadly, is it equally important and hard. English is, in some cases, not a loved subject at school, and most pupils start the lesson with zero motivation. If ICTs are integrated in an effective manner, they will most likely give a boost on the students’ eagerness to learn, especially because they encourage working in groups. This does not only help students to increase their motivation, but it is also a great way to learn, since pupils will interact with each other in the target language, and they are going to improve their level while having fun. Even though ICTs are positive if used in educational contexts, providing students with computers does not suffice to exploit those technologies. Obviously, not only students attend the schools, but also teachers, so formal training related to this field is a must for them if ICTs are to be utilized in the educational centers. Most of those centers have followed the same teaching methodology for decades; as a result, the system has become very rigid, so the use of ICTs is low. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 18 Still nowadays, in the majority of schools, the subject of English is carried out through the traditional method of following a book, and it has to be finished by the end of the school year. Finishing a book is difficult even when dedicating 100% of the time to it during the lessons – there are several holidays, and unforeseen events such as demonstrations might happen –, so if ICTs are to be used, it would suppose losing time to dedicate to the book, so it would imply an even greater challenge. Besides, it is much more comfortable for teachers to follow a book where everything is already pre-made and the guidelines are still written down rather than preparing everything for themselves, which requires a great deal of work at home. To sum up, ICTs have a positive impact in secondary school education, but they are yet to be integrated in many centers. 3.3. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) It is known that not all people are the same and, in educational contexts, this is no exception. Inside the classrooms, there are students of all kinds: smart, hard-working, absent-minded, talkative, and eager to learn, to name a few. Within those kinds of students, there are some which are considered to have educational needs; in other words, they learn at a slower rate than the average. This diversity of pupils in the same classroom makes learning, as well as teaching, a difficult task. The contents of the curriculum are required to be fulfilled by the end of the school year, so educators cannot slow down their teaching pace; in addition, the curricula’s objectives and resources are elaborated for a big number of average students (Alba Pastor, Sánchez Serrano, & Zubillaga del Río, 2016). This results in the learners with educational needs to fall behind the rest of their classmates, which in turn might lead to a reduction of those students’ motivation and eagerness to learn, since the objectives of the curriculum are, in most cases, out of reach for them. Inclusive education has become a goal for educational systems from all over the world (Katz, in Katz, 2013). If equity in education is to be achieved, obstacles like the aforesaid one must be overcome; thus, it proves essential to give a response to the educational diversity that exists in the classrooms, making sure that each and every student is provided with everything they need to learn effectively (Alba Pastor et al., 2016). Inclusive Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 19 education must establish elevated standards for all learners and, at the same time, aiding those students to reach them (Katz, 2013). However, this is not a simple thing to carry out, so the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) 4 created an approach under the name of Universal Design of Learning (UDL), which has been designed so that the contents of the curriculum will be accessible to all learners, regardless of their traits. The UDL was originated in 1990 by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer. In the CAST website, a definition for this approach is provided, which is the following: “Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.” At the beginning, the UDL focused on the use of technologies in order to make accessibility easier; nevertheless, Burgstahler (2008) argues that further development of the approach acknowledges instructional pedagogies to ease that accessibility. Therefore, UDL is not just about the usage of technology in education (Rose & Meyer, in King-Sears, 2009), but also about the pedagogy utilized for all students (King-Sears, 2009). According to Ayuso del Puerto (2017), the Universal Design of Learning is presented as a flexible, innovative proposal that allows to meet the students’ needs. It is innovative in the sense that it does not only benefit all students, but also allows them to choose the most convenient and comfortable option for them (Alba Pastor et al., 2016); thus, this approach enables learners to develop their knowledge, skills, motivation, and eagerness to learn. Researchers from the CAST found out that the technologies which they designed were used by students of all kinds, even though they were destined to be utilized by students with diverse needs. The most common choice for students is the use of technologies, since they have grown up using them, and they usually find them more interesting than textbooks; therefore, the use of the latter, having the option of picking ICTs, is not a particularly attractive idea to them. The UDL is very beneficial for all students, and especially for students with learning difficulties or disabilities. This group of students reveal increased academic results (e.g. literacy and general knowledge) when put into inclusive environments, in comparison with peers with the same disability level located in segregated settings (Ruijs & Peetsma, 4 CAST is a non-profit-making organization related with the field of education that works to increase learning opportunities for everyone by means of UDL. (Definition extracted from the CAST website). Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 26 experience. This kind of apps are scarce, and a few instances of them are Duolingo and Memrise. Even though they are well-made apps, they are not particularly useful for the purpose of this project, that is improving the learners’ listening comprehension skills, since the listening exercises that both contain always consist in recognizing a single word or sentence and include robot recordings instead of audio recorded by natives. In addition, their use is mainly useful in informal settings; their usefulness in formal ones is little. Next up, some apps which are particularly helpful for getting learners’ auditory comprehension skills to the next level are going to be analyzed. All of them possess magnificent contents fit to use in both formal and informal settings, and these apps are going to help students transfer from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. 4.1. BBC Learning English This app, as the name implies, has been developed by the British Broadcasting Corporation, well known as the BBC. It is a multimillion company, and it is known worldwide, so before downloading it, one can expect to find a complete learning resource, and not only it is magnificent, but also free of charge and without any kind of annoying adverts, so this app will live up to every learner’s expectations. What’s more, it is incredibly useful for the purpose of this project. Of course, all this cannot be stated without giving any reasons, so now this amazing resource is going to be analyzed thoroughly, explaining the motives of its brilliance. To begin with, BBC Learning English is a very user-friendly app with a simple interface, so it is truly simple to navigate through the app; furthermore, users do not need to sign up in order to begin using the tool, so they just need to download and enjoy. The app basically consists of a huge number of varied lessons, dealing with many different topics that will delight each and every student of English. Besides, the lesson database is updated on a daily basis, so it is almost impossible for people to run out of learning materials. Those lessons comprise an audio file – some of them even include a video file together with it –, a synopsis of the chapter, a lesson tab, and a transcript of what is uttered in a transcript tab. They are very complete, providing everything needed to make the most out of every lesson. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 27 • In the lesson tab, users are going to find everything related to the lesson: what it is about, what is going to be learnt, the most relevant lexicon together with its definition and, in some cases, quizzes to be answered by the learners after having completed the session, which are going to help them interiorize the content in a more effective way. • It is likely that some students do not fully comprehend what is spoken in the audio file. Some of the files do not include subtitles, but that will not pose any problems due to the fact that each and every lesson has a transcript of the audio text, so in case of having a hard time understanding it, users just need to go to the transcript tab, which will definitely come in handy for learners to not get lost. Moreover, the important lexicon appears written in bold, so people will always know which the most useful words or sentences are to learn. Lessons are divided into levels, from lower-intermediate to advanced. This app is not fit for absolute beginners but, in order to use it, users do not necessarily need to have a minimum level of lower-intermediate since, as it has been aforesaid, all BBC Learning English’s lessons contain explanations and transcripts, which makes them effortless to follow. Moreover, it is possible to pause the audio file at any moment so, in case people do not understand some parts of the file, they can go over it as many times as they need; that is going to help students boost their aural skills, since they are going to learn common intonation and rhythm patterns of English sentences through repetition. All the lessons included in the app are not only divided into levels, but also into 6 different categories, which are the following: Business English, Everyday English, Grammar, Learn with the News, Pronunciation, and Vocabulary. Those divisions make it much easier for users to look for a specific lesson depending on their learning aim; for instance, if an individual wants to work in an important company and needs to be competent in business English, they just have to go to the “Business English” category, choose a lesson fitting their level, and improve their proficiency in that field of English, as well as their listening skills. Another interesting feature of the lessons included within the app is that they are very short. They last from 1 to 10 minutes, and most of them last 6 minutes or less, so even busy learners will not have any problem clearing their schedule to go through a lesson or two. There are some that last more than 6 minutes, but they are the ones that belong to Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 28 the Grammar category so, taking into account that each lesson deals with a specific aspect of grammar (e.g. countable and uncountable nouns, reported speech, and question tags), it is a more than reasonable time. The app’s lessons belong to different programs from the BBC, namely “6 Minute English,” “6 Minute Grammar,” “6 Minute Vocabulary,” “Bad Dates,” “English in a Minute,” “English at Work,” “The English we Speak,” “Grammar Gameshow,” “How to,” “Lingohack,” “News Review,” “Phrase Frenzy,” “Small Talk,” “Sounds of English,” “This is Where,” “Tim’s Pronunciation Workshop,” and “We Say – You Say.” This is a very varied number of programs, so users will have many options to choose from. As a result, they will be less likely to get bored and more likely to keep a high level of motivation towards English learning. Upon entering the app, users are going to see 3 tabs on the bottom part of the screen: “home,” “programmes,” 5 and “my learning.” • Home. This is the tab that shows the first when getting into BBC Learning English. Here, a small number of lessons appear, which are the ones that have been uploaded the latest, regardless of the category they belong to. This tab is particularly helpful for learners who are not demanding with relation to lesson choosing because, in order to begin learning, they just have to enter the app and select any of the lessons there, without having to make a thorough search. • Programmes. This is the tab that appears on the right from the “home” one. Here, people will find all the lessons included within the app. At the upper side of the screen, they will be able to choose between looking for them by category 6 and by programs. In the former, the lessons from each category are sorted in chronological order, from the latest to the oldest, and in the latter, programs are sorted in alphabetical order. As a result, it is easy for users to find the lessons they like to learn from. • My learning. Here, two sub-tabs show in the upper part of the screen: following and history. o Following. In this sub-tab, a big “+” icon is going to come into view, together with a message that goes “you’re not following any programmes. 5 This dissertation is written in American English; however, BBC Learning English uses British English. That is why “programmes” is written instead of “programs.” 6 See previous page to look for the categories into which the app’s lessons are divided. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 29 Tap the + icon when on a programme to keep up with the latest episodes.” As the message says, people will be able to follow a program they are interested in, so that they are notified in case a new chapter belonging to that program is uploaded. In order to follow a program, users just need to go to the “programmes” tab, select any chapter included within a program, and click on “+ follow…”, located just below the synopsis for the episode. After doing that, they need to go back to “my learning,” and that chapter will appear. This sub-tab makes it very comfortable for users to learn, since it helps them to not lose track of the chapters from their favorite programs and, furthermore, they are notified of lessons’ updates, so they do not even need to get into the app to check whether there are new chapters. o History. In this sub-tab, users will be able to see which lessons they have already learnt, including the title of the chapter, the program it belongs to, and the date in which they have last watched it. It is particularly useful for learners to remember if they have gone over a lesson or not, or in case they want to review it another time. This app looks perfect so far but, as everything, it has a few drawbacks which might hinder the users’ learning experience through this app. The first one is that, in order to make use of this resource, an Internet connection is needed at all times. There is not any possibility to download the lessons on the phone, so learners who want to study English and happen to lack a connection to the Internet will not be able to do so. In addition, a second disadvantage consists in the app not having any search bar; therefore, if people desire to find a specific lesson (to recommend or share it, for instance), they will have to remember where it is. The first disadvantage could be solved by adding a feature that enables users to download the lessons on their phones, so that they can learn despite not having online connection. The second one, though, can be easily solved; normally, users who want to find a specific lesson will have already gone over it, so if they enjoy it, they just have to follow the program where that lesson is, and look for it afterwards. BBC Learning English, as it has been explained, has a huge number of engaging materials that are constantly updated, so there are lessons that deal with current issues; as a result, it is interesting to make use of this app in formal settings. A proposal to use this app is Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 30 the following: teachers can do activities to improve students’ listening comprehension by selecting a video that is appealing to their students, making sure that they select a video which has an appropriate level and length for their learners, so are going to pay attention to the full video without getting bored, as well as understand its general meaning; if there are hearing-impaired students, educators should choose a video which also has subtitles. Next, they play it in class and then ask questions about the gist of the video. Through this kind of tasks, several of the listening strategies aforementioned – comprehensible input, listening to what students enjoy, and focusing on the big picture – are going to be employed, which is going to be helpful in developing students’ aural skills; furthermore, the use of a technological resource is likely to motivate learners to keep on increasing their skills, and even use it outside the educational context. On balance, the positive aspects that the app possesses make up for the negative ones. It is a magnificent, free of charge resource for language learning, and everyone with a mobile phone is able to enjoy it. What’s more, the fact that all lessons include an audio file recorded by native speakers makes it a perfect, completely recommended app for improving listening comprehension skills. This tool can be used in both formal and informal settings. Regarding informal settings, users will learn English through an enormous number of varied lessons which provide learners with everything to make them easy to follow and, as a result, users are going to be motivated and more eager to learn. With relation to formal contexts, teachers will be able to create, in an easy manner, countless listening exercises using audio files from this app. Instructors, as well as students, are going to find a great resource in BBC Learning English. 4.2. Language Learning with Netflix Netflix is, if not the most, one of the most popular video streaming services in the world. It includes a wide array of award-winning TV series and movies, as well as documentaries of all sorts. It is available in no more and no less than almost 200 countries, and more than 130 million people are subscribed to this platform. Netflix is a magnificent streaming service, but it does not come for free. Users must pay a monthly subscription in order to get full access to the software. This subscription amount depends on the plan selected; the gettable plans can be seen in the following table: Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 31 Plan Number of devices at the same time Video quality Pricing Basic 1 SD (Standard Definition) 7,99€ / month Standard 2 HD (High Definition) 10,99€ / month Premium 4 HD / Ultra HD 13,99€ / month Figure 1. Netflix pricing. As it can be observed, the pricing is quite low considering the quality of the platform. Furthermore, the first month is free of charge, so that users have enough time to think whether it is worth it or not. Millions of people are currently enjoying the contents of Netflix: most of them get the premium plan in groups of 4, since they can make use of Netflix at the same time, as well as watch videos at the best quality, for the meager price of 3,50€ per month. Previously, it has been mentioned that few resources are worth investing money on them in order to boost learners’ aural comprehension abilities; the one that is going to be dealt with next, called “Language Learning with Netflix,” or LLN, is one of them. It is an extension 7 for the Google Chrome browser which has been released in 2018. Although the extension in itself does not require any kind of payment, users need a Netflix subscription and access to the Internet in order to use it. Netflix has been a great language learning resource for years, and it is used for this purpose by many people. Having a huge number of titles available in several different languages (both audio and subtitles) is something that has not been overlooked, and users began watching series and movies in original version with subtitles to sharpen their listening skills and broaden their lexicon. Language Learning with Netflix takes language learning a step further. It provides the video streaming service with new possibilities for boosting learners’ language competence with regard to lexicon learning and listening comprehension skills, having the extension a big number of titles available, and growing with time, as well as having the possibility of choosing among 29 different tongues, from English to exotic ones like Thai. As a result, not only students of English will be able to take advantage of LLN, but also extends to students of many other languages. 7 An extension is a module that extends the utility of a web browser, adding features and modifying web pages. In this case, LLN modifies Netflix. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 32 To begin utilizing LLN, individuals need to click on the extension, located to the right of the browser’s address bar. When this step is done, 4 options will unfold, namely catalogue, help, feedback, and Facebook. • Catalogue. This is going to be the users’ main choice; here, all the available titles are going to be shown. In this new page, the first things to be encountered are two boxes where people will choose the language that they study, as well as the country from where they employ Netflix. Both boxes must be filled because of the following reasons: first, the target language must be chosen since not all the titles are available in every language, especially considering that LLN is relatively new, and second, not all the series and movies are available in all countries, so selecting the actual country is essential; otherwise, it is likely that users will find something to watch that is not available in their own country. After having filled in the boxes (e.g. language you study: English; your Netflix country: Spain), the accessible titles are going to appear below. Currently, the catalogue of English movies and TV shows in Spain compatible with LLN is quite big, with more than 300 in total. • Help. This section contains the instructions on how to use LLN, together with some study tips to make the most out of the language learning process. • Feedback. The developers of LLN care a lot about the proper functioning of the extension; that is why they have this section. Here, people can either report any issue that might occur during the video playback or give proposals for new ideas to implement in the extension, with the objective of improving it. • Facebook. This link is going to lead to the LLN Facebook page. In this page, important information about the resource, such as updates, bug fixes, or new titles available in a certain language, is posted in a regular basis. In order to make use of LLN, people need to pick up their favorite movie, series, or documentary on Netflix, either through the extension or through Netflix itself. Once selected, they need to click on the red “LLN” icon situated to the bottom left part. It is mandatory that subtitles are on; otherwise, nothing is going to appear in the subtitle part. Once this is done, two lines of subtitles will show on the bottom part of the screen: on the lower side, the original ones, and on the upper side, the translation into the target language. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 33 Now, users will have many possibilities to benefit from language learning, and they are going to be explained next. First of all, there is the possibility of pausing the subtitles automatically after they have been uttered; in order to do that, people only need to turn on the “automatic pause” button, located to the bottom right. This is mostly helpful for beginners, since they will not have to be pausing the video manually, which is a big nuisance. Another useful tool is the keyboard shortcuts for subtitles. Students will normally have many doubts when learning, so these shortcuts will make it more pleasant for them to take full advantage of LLN. The shortcuts are as follows: pressing the upper arrow key allows to pause and reproduce the video file; pushing the left and right keys enables to jump directly to the previous and following subtitle line respectively; and selecting the down arrow makes the current subtitle line to repeat. The settings option, which is the gear-shaped icon appearing to the right, contains magnificent features to push the users’ language proficiency forward. Those features are lexicon highlighting, target language translation, possibility of showing automatic or human translation, and slow down speech segments. • The lexicon highlighting, despite being in its beta version (experimental phase), is one of the most useful tools for language learners. What it does is emphasize a number of words, which will appear white-colored in the subtitle lines, while the rest of the words will be grayed out. Those words are not randomized, but carefully selected according to the learners’ proficiency; what’s more, if the cursor is put on any of the highlighted words, a translation for it is going to be put into sight, which is great in case that doubts arise. Users can choose among 8 different levels, each one differing from the others in numbers in number of words: level 1 emphasizes 300 words; level 2, 800; level 3, 1500; level 4, 2500; level 5, 4000; level 6, 6200; level 7, 9500; and level 8 emphasizes each and every word. Due to this level division, users will be able to personalize their learning experience, just focusing on the words that fit their level. As a result, they are going to get a boost in their listening and grammar skills, as well as in their motivation. • The target language translation can also be useful, since it lets users change the subtitle translation. When choosing a language, many of them appear, but only those available in the title will appear below; for instance, if a title only has Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 34 English and Spanish subtitles, LLN will only show the subtitles in those 2 languages, while the other choices will be blank. This feature is particularly useful for students who learn English and speak widespread languages, since most Netflix titles include subtitles in those languages. Being able to have both languages at the same time is going to facilitate users’ understanding of the target language, therefore getting more motivated towards learning. • This extension enables users to choose among profiting from a human or an automatic translation. Automatic translations are very similar to those found on YouTube, for example; in other words, even if they are not completely bad, they are not reliable either. Human translations, on the other hand, are pretty well done, so the most sensible option for learners is to make use of the latter in order to enjoy quality subtitles which, as in the previous feature, are going to make comprehension easier, thus leading to a boost in users’ motivation. • The last feature allows people to slow down speech segments by 20% when a subtitle is active. This is remarkably helpful for learners who are not able to get the grasp of a specific segment, since it will help not just to understand that fragment, but also to improve their listening skills in an unconscious way. LLN can be used in both formal and informal settings, although it will mostly be used in informal ones. Regarding formal contexts, teachers can make use of fragments of titles to do activities depending on the students’ needs, so that they do not always utilize the textbook; and with relation to informal contexts, users can watch anything they like whenever they want and, with all the help provided to learn a language, users do not have any excuses to do so. Despite all the great things LLN has to offer, it possesses a negative aspect which might back out some people. This aspect is that a huge amount of patience is needed when using this resource. Users will often need to stop the video for the sake of learning (e.g. repeating subtitles, slowing speech down, looking for translations); therefore, a 20-minute chapter from a series would take double the time – or even more – to watch, and the same goes with movies and documentaries. This may lead to not enjoying the title’s plot because of the focus on learning the language, so LLN might not be fit for people who are not patient enough to interrupt the video playback frequently. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 35 By means of LLN, hundreds of different activities can be done in formal settings. A proposal for a listening activity using this app would be the following: the teacher may choose one – or several – fragments belonging to a Netflix title, preferably from a series or movie that is popular, so that students will know it and feel engaged. The fragments chosen must serve a purpose; for instance, if the past simple is being learnt, excerpts where instances of that verbal tense should be selected. Also, the fragments should be slightly above the students’ level, and human subtitles may be used, especially if there are students with auditory difficulties. Those excerpts are going to be played twice: once at normal speed, and then using the feature of slowing down speech segments. What students have to do is take notes of the instances of past simple that they hear, and then separate them into regular and irregular verbs. In this task, students actively taking notes, listen and re-listen at different speeds, listen to what they enjoy, and listen to comprehensible input; those strategies are going to help develop their aural comprehension skills, as well as encourage them to learn more. All in all, LLN is an invaluable tool for language learning. It is relatively new, and some features are still in the experimental phase, but it is already a magnificent resource with a huge potential. People enjoy watching series and movies, and having so many titles at hand in several different languages, as well as the added help of the extension, makes them eager to learn a new language. LLN is not free of charge, since users need a Netflix account in order to use it, but it is fairly cheap, completely worth every cent of what it costs, and a perfect resource for the purpose of this project, which is improving users’ aural comprehension skills and motivation towards learning. 4.3. Lyrics Training LyricsTraining is a magnificent app that allows people to rise their auditory skills of a foreign language by means of watching music videos and their lyrics. Music is a fun way to hear different accents, sound patterns, and pronunciations; this is the best method of practicing listening comprehension, since it is what people will hear in real-life contexts. Practicing by hearing perfect pronunciations might not be completely useful, because that is not what individuals are going to hear when going to the foreign country, so this resource is great for boosting listening skills. Universidad de Valladolid. Isidro Femenía Gómez. 42 Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). 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