15Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH LITERATURE AND STUDENTS' ASSESSMENT AT THE LESSONS
Dr. Khatab Muhammed Ahmad Al-Jabouri
Assistant professor of University of Tikrit, Iraq
ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to illuminate the teaching English literature by using the innovative technologies and assessment of students at the lessons.
Keywords: illuminate, innovative technologies, assessment, digital natives, language acquisition, digital tools, social media, interpreting a literary work, distinctive scientific fields, breaking boundaries and interdisciplinary.
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze the latest technologies in second language teaching, notably teaching English literature to 'digital natives', the modern generations of students raised in media-saturated world who need the instructors and educators in good command of the most recent teaching methods in order to excel academically. The paper sheds a new light on the second language acquisition in the context of reading and interpreting both contemporary and classic literary texts by using digital tools, social media and other sites of Internet. By offering a thorough analysis of the impact of modern technologies on teaching literature, we endeavor to determine the position of literature in the 21st century and point to its significance for students' mental, emotional and moral development.
Not many students (and teachers) like to study (and teach) literature. Reading, analyzing and interpreting a literary work may be a time-consuming and exhausting task especially for those who are not bookworms. How can teachers motivate students to read literary works and make them develop critical thinking? In the age of digital natives where everything starts and ends with a "click" on the swift keyboard, this seems to be a far-fetching undertaking. However, the use of audio-visual devices and various online educational tools in teaching bot-foreign language and literature -might trigger motivation and encourage the learning process. This paper aims to identify, explore and analyze innovative approaches to foreign language acquisition, more precisely, English language teaching and learning, by using literature (prose and poetry) as an unconventional teaching tool. Apart from the works of classical literature, the creative works of pop culture such as films, TV series, video games and
Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
songs will be used as a powerful means of breaking boundaries, learning and integrating, studying and having fun.
METHODOLOGY
Language teaching is perhaps the most open and adaptable to the integration of the latest technologies since it is interdisciplinary in its nature and as such more ready to embrace the novelties originating from distinctive scientific fields. Teaching literature under the umbrella of language teaching is even more challenging if considered in the light of its adjustment to the latest developments in the IT world, since it may be quite challenging to bridge the gap between love of technology and love of a written spoken word as a part of the artistic expression.
Compared to other subjects and courses, teaching literature has proved to be most resistant to the integration and use of modern technologies, as literature was predominantly associated with deeply spiritual, emotional and mental notions that could hardly be linked with the utilitarian world of technology. If we make use of technology in teaching literature despite the fact that we know that technology is intimately bound with the dehumanization of society, how can we successfully and adequately "identify, explore and interpret the human values lying in the core of any literary work". Taking this into consideration, there is a strong need for a redenition of the goals set and methodologies used in teaching literature, in order to harmonize the traditional and conventional approaches with the innovative and more modern ones. Many scholars address the question of how new media influence the way we read and understand the literature written prior to the digital age. They mostly agree that literature teachers need to include new media such as periodicals, films, images, digital texts, blogs, Web sites, online videos, etc. into the literature classroom and point to the importance of acknowledging the fact that these texts are being woven into both our culture and literate experience.
In the lesson process the effective teaching and assessment of students from English literature is divided in to 3 parts:
1. Online teaching;
2. Traditional teaching;
3. Hybrid teaching. I. Online Teaching
The main purpose of online teaching is to save time, organize convenient teaching process, create conditions for individual study. Moreover teaching English as a second language online is a great opportunity for anyone looking for a flexible,
Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
home-based opportunity. In higher education especially, a virtual learning environment (VLE) is sometimes combined with a management information system (MIS) to create a managed learning environment, in which all aspects of a course are handled through a consistent user interface throughout the institution. Physical universities and newer online-only colleges offer to select academic degrees and certificate programs via the Internet. Some programs require students to attend some campus classes or orientations, but many are delivered completely online. Several universities offer online student support services, such as online advising and registration, e-counseling, online textbook purchases, student governments, and student newspapers.
Literacy is popularly understood as an ability to read and write in at least one method of writing, an understanding reflected by mainstream dictionaries. In this view, illiteracy would be considered to be the inability to read and write. The use of multimedia, electronic editions, variant materials and other visual resources not only help to bring literature to life but also enhance its complexity in a manner that students do not find intimidating, but intriguing and thought-provoking. Students are invited to become literary detectives in their own right and hopefully some seeds are sown for the future generation of researchers.
DISCUSSION
The use of new forms of media - video games, graphic novels, interactive hypertexts, language platforms or digital tools - in teaching literature inspires students to think critically as the skills they develop by analyzing these media forms can be applied to studying traditional literary texts. Also, teaching a traditional literary text can go along with its reinterpretation in newer media, as notices in his blog about the use of technology in teaching literature by taking as an example 'choose-your-own-adventure-style' game /http://gamebookad-ventures. com/ game books/to-be-or-not-to-be/ based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Namely, in this game entitled 'To Be or Not to Be' the players are allowed to decide what happens next in the narrative by choosing between three Shakespeare's characters. They can 'play as Hamlet and revenge their father's death', 'play as Ophelia and make scientific discoveries', and 'play as King Hamlet, Sr. and die on the first page'. The game features tiny Yorick skulls that mark the choices Shakespeare took in his play. The players may opt for following these skulls for the original story or create their own adventure. The game combines time travel, pirate fighting and murder investigation with specially composed soundtrack and sound effects. The players can listen to the narration as they play the game, learn new words and phrases and look for secret
Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
messages hidden throughout the game-book. Also, the game uses dyslexic friendly font support to aid readers with dyslexia. The use of such media form adds new meanings to the already existing interpretations of Shakespearean play and triggers new discussions arising from the textual analysis.
Summative and formative assessments. Students when receiving the assessment usually pay most of their attention to their scores and are almost negligent to the instructional comments given by the teacher for future improvement. 'Summative assessments' often take place at the end of a unit, module, or a whole course. The focus tends to be on the mark and the idea is to evaluate how well the student has learned what has been presented. Formative assessments take place during a course, module or unit. The focus is more on gathering data about the student's progress and using this data to help them improve. We often read about these two forms of assessment as if they are clearly distinct from each other. However, it is our view that the distinction between summative and formative assessment is perhaps exaggerated, and that if greater use was made of the information from summative assessments, then in reality they too could inform. The distinction between the two types of assessment really develops out of how the information from assessments is used. Summative assessments often come at the end of the course and therefore the information gathered from them cannot always be acted upon since the teacher may not continue teaching the class.
CONCLUSION
The literature often talks about product and process. When we provide formative feedback we are trying to focus more on the process and helping students to produce better drafts or recordings. Focus on the product is providing feedback on the final outcome. What is perhaps more important, is that the formative assessments and summative assessments are well aligned and that what is summatively assessed at the end of a course or unit has been supported by the formative assessments that take place during the learning.
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Innovative Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages and Learner Assessment in Online Education
Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute of Tashkent region
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