Wikiversity talk:A proposal of language learning policy
Interesting. Do you see opportunities to integrate the Learning by teaching method?--Jeanpol 04:24, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
- I believe that such methods should take place in wikiversity, but I don't think it is the question in this talk. Maybe we can begin a talk concerning pedagogical methods including Problem based learning, project based learning and other Active learning methods ? -- JmG 12:33, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
- OK. I'm keeping at this topic.--Jeanpol 13:22, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
Immersion is great but who is the lifeguard ?[edit]
I think that it is a great idea that students go to foreign universities. Interesting exchange of views will arise from people from different countries. Students will naturlly read texts in their new language.
I am not a language teacher, but will it be natural for "teachers" (I am not sure of my glossary) to attend course in a different university. On one other side, it will be certainly intersting for "teachers" from different countries to share knowledge, experiences in the same wikiversity.
For multilingual language learning projects, would it not be more practical to propose a portal in the different languages, and host discussion in any wikiversity, with possibly the same "beta" multilingualism system if useful as pedagogical method. -- JmG 12:22, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
- I don´t understand very well your doubt. You said:
- will it be natural for "teachers" (I am not sure of my glossary) to attend course in a different university.
If it is a question, I would answer that those who want to "teach" a language in Wikiversity should not have a problem to do it in the language they will "teach". They should use simple structures to communicate with the learners, easy vocabulary and simple explanations. Good tools for that are the monolingual dictionaries orientated to advanced language learners and the "teacher" may also have a look to language learning books where everything is written in one language, using many ilustrations. I don´t see the problem with that. Problems will arise to the student when he doesn´t understand something, but that belongs to the second language learning process. They should go through it. --Javier Carro 17:33, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
- Either way, this will provide more of a challenge for less experienced teachers. In addition, I've added the issue of languages which may never get wikiversities. 128.187.0.164 23:12, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
Learners having less than a basic understanding of a target language[edit]
Learners having less than a basic understanding of the language they are (about to start) learning must be treated differently. While language immersion is always a good tool, as to my understanding, not having a life guide or teacher at hand while reading, or while listening to a course may be not ideal. So helping the beginners to a level, where they understand enough of a language to be able to read several words or catch small sentences in a go without the aid of a dictionary on erery word, is likely a different type of task.
I sugest to follow these ideas:
- Many initial steps and subject matters of language learning are pretty much the same for almost all languages.
- Some basic vocabulary can the thaught associatively with annotated images and movies.
- Reading, writing, and speaking need not be taught at identical pace in an environment like ours.
Possibly a series of central ressources dedicated to the very initial steps of language learning can be created independant of any target language, and then targetted by language teachers. This will also be useful for "fuzzy learning" of related languages.
If well done, identical resssources can even be emplyoed - depending on learner preference or (dis)abilities - so as to split and/or differentiate study of different representational aspects of languages, such as sound, listening, or speaking, reading, or writing, script(s), etc.
While this many turn out to be useful, care must be taken to allow the user to clearly differentiate some aspects, so as not to associatively mix the learned of several languages, should one use identical materials learning different languages. That may involve setting distingtive colors, screen layouts, etc. As fas as html representations are concerned, much of it can easily had by varying CSS attribute properties, such as colors, fonts, male or female voices, background images, etc.
I think, such basic language learning ressources can be developped anywhere as a matter of the language of those developing them, but their deployment to learners shall be at the place where the target language(s) are thought, while their untargetted publication and explanation of use, etc. is likely to be best at a central place, such as beta.