Web SpeakApps

Op 16 maart 2012 presenteerde de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) SpeakApps op de jaarvergadering van de NUT. De NUT is de vereniging van Nederlandstalige Universitaire Talencentra in Nederland en Vlaanderen. De jaarvergadering vond plaats op de Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA).

De presentatie over SpeakApps sloot aan bij de eerdere presentatie over spreekoefeningen in de klas van de UvA. Deze presentatie ging vooral over het oefenen van de mondelinge productie met het programma Conversations van CLEAR (Michigan State University).

Met SpeakApps worden cursisten via het platform in de gelegenheid gesteld om zowel de mondelinge productie als … Continue Reading

The term open is somehow finding its way into educational contexts. In 2006, Lankshear and Knobel introduced two mindsets and stated that according to mindset 2, which is typical for the contemporary knowledge society, a space is perceived as open, continuous and fluid. Thus, the emergence of digital technologies and changing mindsets are also challenging language educators to rethink how to design for learning in an open world.

Openness was also a focal theme of the Eurocall CMC & Teacher Education SIGs Annual Workshop, held this year in Bologna, Italy. As part of … Continue Reading

One more year, the SpeakApps project was presented at the Catalan Association of English Teachers (APAC) ELT annual convention. Celebrated at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, the meeting took place from 23th to 25th of February and gathered together opinions, thoughts and reflections of nearly the whole regional community of English teachers. Under the headline SpeakApps: Resources and Applications for Developing Oral Skills Online, the UOC team was in charge of one of the several lectures included in this edition’s programme, and the project attracted the attention of a large audience.

The APAC meeting … Continue Reading

In order to improve oral skills in foreign language students, SpeakApps is developing a set of tools for online working and practicing. One of these tools is Tandem, a content management system that allows doing synchronous oral tasks in pairs.

Sometimes, online students are not willing to interact since there is not always a reason for doing so.  However, Tandem gives them that reason to talk and interact, since they both need to work together to reach a specific goal. Another advantage of the tool is that teachers do not need to be there, and students can … Continue Reading

Ett av de viktigaste målen för SpeakApps-projektet är att undersöka nya sätt att undervisa och lära sig muntliga färdigheter. Under den första delen av projektet har detta stått i fokus för arbetet här i Jyväskylä.

Vår lokala projektgrupp har träffats vid olika tillfällen för att diskutera följande betydelsefulla frågor:

• Vad är muntliga färdigheter?
• Hur undervisar vi om muntliga färdigheter? Vilket är det viktigaste “innehållet” som ska läras / vilka är de viktigaste sakerna som studenterna måste lära sig? Hur lär man sig dessa bäst / hur undervisar man om dem?
• Hur bedöms muntliga färdigheter? Vilka är … Continue Reading