It’s the great debate in the language teaching world fluency versus accuracy or as it’s more commonly known: form. Fluency is typified by learners expressing language oral and/or written in a steady stream that is unencumbered by detours to correctly apply grammar rules. Form focus in language learning is the attention to the linguistic rules of the road – grammar, stress, intonation, etc. Exclusive focus on either impedes student development. Finding the right balance is the key. The current pedagogy leans toward cultivating fluency with a peripheral focus on form. Sun’s (June 2009) article “Voice blog: An exploratory study of language learning” brings the issue, of striking a healthy balance between fluency and form front, and center with its discussion of voice blog technology.
A voice blog is a very interesting concept and Sun studied its use in a language learning program teaching English to Taiwanese students. This article on vocal blogging intrigued me because blogging is a new technology for me and I was interested in how the vocal application would be applied in a language class. The rationale for incorporating a voice blog, where students post oral commentary on a class blog site, is similar to that of a written blog. Sun sites several studies that point to the educational benefits of blogging such as: “bloggers tend to have a greater sense of freedom to express their ideas and to make arguments than classroom-base participants”; “exposure to people of different backgrounds and circumstances” and “students take ownership of virtual space and the work they publish” p. 89.
While uncovering various blogging stages (conceptualizing, brainstorming, articulation, monitoring and evaluating) and their corresponding strategies, Sun discovered that many students focused heavily on the form aspects of their voice blogs. Many did not speak extemporaneously, but prepared and rehearsed edited scripts. It is not a bad thing to edit and rehearse what you are going to say. In fact, in most scholastic situations practice and perfecting is encouraged. However, if fluency is a goal, than this type of reflection runs counter to communicating extemporaneously as a means of developing proficiency.
Sun reports concerns from experts regarding a proclivity for blogs to shift the focus toward form. Also included are reports of how blogging technology promotes fluency. I agree with voice blogging proponents and think this technology can afford students the ability to participate at a higher degree than is possible in many classes. Additionally, voice blogging promotes student creativity and ownership for their work. But, best of all students overall liked blogging and believe it improved their “oral communication skills” p. 97.
I am a member of the camp that advocates for the balance between fluency and form to lean more toward fluency. I think that voice blog technology is a valuable tool for promoting fluency as well as form. Rubrics and grading associated more with project completion and creativity and less on grammar will help outcomes move toward greater fluency. It would be interesting to read a study on this issue. Either way, voice blogging was overall viewed in positive terms by the students and it provides for additional opportunities to practice speaking English outside the classroom. Voice blogging technology may have some inherent leanings toward form however, I believe, the technology affords each instructor the opportunity to help students achieve gains in both fluency and form and that the focus can shift by altering the assignment’s structure.
Sun, Y. (June 2009). Voice blog: An exploratory study of language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 13 (2), 88-103. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num2/sun.pdf
I can certainly see the value of voice blogging as described in the article – where the focus is on teaching a language and/or language skills. I do have personal problems with it for regular blogging because the human brain can process much faster than people can speak. This is why the players used on audio books for the blind have special sound processing systems to allow them to play at a faster speed than recorded.
I’m also concerned about voice blogging generically unless it is used in courses teaching communications skills. Most people, when speaking extemporaneously, tend not to speak in an organized manner, nor do they speak concisely. I just finished job interviews with 8 people and half of them took twice as long as needed to answer their questions.
After talking with you last week about voice blogging, and now reading your discussion of the article, i couldn’t help thinking that voice blogging might also provide good data for a research project where, for example, a researcher could compare students’ voice blogs when they were requested to make an extemporaneous entry to the blog (perhaps under supervision to make sure the entry was extemporaneous) and when they were allowed to prepare their voice blog in private and record and tweak as much as they liked. It would be interesting to see where the form and focus divide fell…
I can also see uses for voice blogs in other contexts. As several people in our group know only to well, busy lives squeeze time for writing. But if one could record one’s blog, while stuck in traffic or waiting for a child to emerge from practice, on a digital device, for example, and later post it, life might be simpler. If anyone wants to give it a go…..