Hello. My name is Dilla Rohmadani. Today I am
going to talk about Digital News stories: Building
Language Learners’ Content Knowledge and
Speaking Skills.
Nowadays, the advent of Web 2.0 technology
brought new dimensions to foreign language
learning and afforded learners new avenues to
explore functional use of the target language.
Because it is challenging to help students develop
communicative language skills during limited face‐
to‐face class time, language practitioners have
embraced computer‐mediated communication
(CMC) technology to maximize use of the target
language beyond the classroom walls. CMC
provides not only a personalized but also a
collaborative and engaging setting where learners
create, share, and build second language
knowledge together. With CMC, students have a
moreu equal opportunity to contribute to the
discussion and feel less anxious as well as more
confident in expressing themselves than with face‐
to‐face interaction. CMC fosters learner
autonomy, as students take an active part in
decision making and problem solving within a
virtual learning community. Unlike real‐ time CMC,
such as Web chat and audio‐ video conferencing,
asynchronous CMC, such as wikis, blogs, and
podcasts, engages learners in constructing second
language knowledge at their own pace and
reflecting on content without time pressure.
Students thus tend to be more reflective and thus
produce more thoughtful responses.
Therefore aim of this study is to determine how
the creation of digital news stories in conjunction
with a four‐skills, integrated approach to task‐
based instruction promoted the development of
learners’ content knowledge and oral language
development. In parti cular, the study addressed
the effects of peer comments on asynchronous
CMC from sociocultural perspectives.
For the methodology.First, The participants were
15 university students who enrolled in a content‐
based, advanced reading course taught by the
author at a large public university in the 0;.United
States. The class consisted of freshmen (2),
sophomores (6), juniors (6), and one senior (1).
Four students were Spanish majors, and two had
double majors in Spanish and international
affairs.ii In general, students had sufficient
language skills to express personal meaning, ask
questions, and give appropriate answers in social
situations. Participants were tech‐savvy and
comfortable using social media (e.g., Facebook,
Twitter) and mobile devices (e.g., iPod, iPhone), as
they grew up with digital technology. However,
none of them had used Voice Thread for second
language learning prior to the project. Second,
regarding Course Materials and Digital News
Assignment: Students were assigned a variety of
out‐of‐class readings from authentic online
resources including newspapers, radio stations,
and television channels that addressed current
events and issues of the target culture. Various
types of tasks along with a four‐skills integrated
approach, for instance, listening to broadcasts,
Presentational Communication, Readings from
selective authentic newspaper.
There is also procedures in methodology section,
the steps are frist, At the beginning of the
semesterThe instructor informed the students that
they were required to use Voice Thread to create
digital news using various types of tasks. Second,
Students participated in a Voice Thread training
session. Third, the instructor posted a Voice
Thread tutorial video along with a guideline of how
to create slide shows in Blackboard. Fourth,
Students spent two weeks creating the first two
news reports. Fifth, students were required to
view and comment orally on their peers’ digital
news stories. Sixth, Students spent one week to
make comments. And last, At the end of the
semester, the instructor asked the students to
reflect on their experience with digital news
recordings in their blogs (in the end of semester).
Whereas for Data Collection and Analysis of this
study design as Qualitative and quantitative data
that were gathered from multiple sources,
including digital news recordings, reflections,
online surveys, and final interviews.
For the results, first towards perceptions of Digital
News Storytelling. Peer‐to‐peer interaction
empowered students to become more aware of
happenings
around
the
Spanish‐speaking
countries. Overall, there appeared to be a clear
consensus among the students that they enjoyed
creating digital news stories that required various
types of tasks and addressed a variety of topics;
they also enjoyed engaging in interactive peer
exchanges using Voice Thread. Second, Digital
news storytelling afforded students opportunities
to use the target language in meaningful ways. The
opportunity to regularly listen to and read
authentic texts is known to have a positive impact
on the development of students’ comprehension
and overall language skills; thus, although
challenging, participation in the project certainly
helped this student make important progress
toward proficiency. Third, Creating digital stories
requires learners to develop 21st‐century skills,
including digital literacy skills. Students believed
that the creation of digital news stories was
helpful, in particular in developing critical
reflective skills, peer‐to‐peer interaction and also
through social interaction, students learned about
different views of current debates. Whereas there
is also the Drawbacks of the Digital News Project.
First, it is skill‐intensive task and students felt
rushed by not having sufficient time to spend on
each assignment. Second, Students did not
regularly log into the site to listen and respond to
their peers because they had no idea when
comments were posted.
For the discussion, Students enjoyed making
digital news stories and sharing them with a
broader audience rather than only with the
instructor. Futhermore digital news recordings
enabled students not only to build their content
knowledge and share a range of perspectives, but
also to develop their oral language proficiency.
And also students’ positive comments on task‐
based instruction indicating that high‐interest and
carefully designed tasks allowed students to
integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking,
as well as build 21st‐ century skills including digital
literacies and critical thinking.
Whereas the lack of deep reflection on certain
topics demonstrated that students did not
challenge each other’s ideas but simply exchanged
news stories. the results indicated that students
found it cognitively challenging to articulate
different points of view, due to their or the
instructor’s limited proficiency in the language, or
to other students’ choice of topics.
In short, Creating digital news stories by using less
structure‐controlled and more open‐ended tasks
that are relevant to students’ personal interests
empowers them to be creative with the content
and for authentic communicative purposes, and
gained new perspectives on current social,
political, and cultural issues, broadening their
knowledge and understanding of the Hispanic
world. The integration of digital news stories and
content‐based learning can help create both more
frequent communication among students and a
greater sense of community and of interactive
learning than would have otherwise been possible
within the traditional classroom setting.
Thank you very much