Computer-Supported Collaborative English Language Learning - Research Proposal Example

1.1 Introduction of the resreach This paper is about the computer-supported collaborative English language learning implementation within the Arab Middle East in order to further understand the importance of it’s its utilization in a language training course at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. The paper will first describe how computer-supported collaborative English language learning is important in the background of Omani education as well as research a number of the theoretical theories and present practices o computer-supported collaborative English language learning. 1.2 Importance of the study Major importance of the paper is based on the hard work within the Arab Middle East, and particularly Oman, to apply computer-supported collaborative English language learning and other collaborative methods and study the extent implementation of theories of computer-supported collaborative English language learning in the Omani background. The paper shall conclude with a review of a computer-supported collaborative English language learning project implemented in Oman which further reviews the implementation of computer-supported collaborative English language learning . CONNECTING EDUCATION WITH WORK A key aim in educational research and practice is to develop an association between classroom instruction and real-world potential in so that the global workforce and support in social and economic growth may be provided . To fulfill this objective , international organization like the UNESCO and the World Bank along with educational researchers have considered constructivist-based teaching approaches for of initiating globally-connected knowledge societies.. It is assumed by such organizations that at educators all around world are capable of reducing the importance of passive reception of legitimate information by means of memorization and recall, however it is required to develop abilities of information gathering, assessing source quality, cooperation , analyzing , and eventually knowledge creation. Although a few question the importance of the before mentioned objectives in promoting the program of the reputable education system (Donn & Al Manthri 2010), the change to constructivist-based pedagogies has a lot of ability to improve the quality of education all over the world . A number of nations which may , as knowledge societies, profit a lot constructivist methods persist in promoting the education approaches which are based mostly on the instructivist point of view; with this regard it may be highlighted that , they depend on verbal transmission of information by using various lectures and textbook material and giving extreme importance to memorization of distinct information that can be evaluated by means of high stakes exams. Therefore these approaches do not give importance to dialogue by organizing instruction and appraisal by utilizing the banking model, as the teachers make use of information which may be later obtained from students in the examination (Freire 2000). This educational course is omnipresent all over the Middle East/North Africa region, as the customary instructivist approaches usually are utilized to fill the gap between education and the work force. This in turn creates difficulties as graduates cannot find jobs because of the shortage of appropriate as well as skills. whereas numerous high profile policy makers support the constructivist-based social learning approaches as an essential for educational development a change like the before mentioned one has both supporter as well as critics. Like , Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) regard the constructivist approaches as being worthless for cognitive science and do not support theories regarding cognitive load and expert-novice differences. However, Dakers (2005) and Amory (2010) support the behaviorist instruction, particularly when technical education is considered , as it gives emphasis on the economic importance and standards of the control and that educators must to move to better dialogic and inter-subjective approaches of learning to organize their pupils in a manner that they completely understand their prospective in the twenty first Century of intense competition. Regardless of the opinion for or in opposition to constructivism, the definite development of the shift from instructivist to constructivist approaches is still inadequately analyzed (Catterick 2007). moreover, shifts regarding the instructional culture need important changes in analyzing how language teaching ought to be carried out and managed, this also involves important institutional reorganization, change in social relations among students, instructor, and supervisor, and important cultural change by all those involved on the process (Porcaro & A. S. Al-Musawi 2011). As a type of constructivist-based education, numerous education experts suggested Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning as a method to help distance learners and also help fill the bridge among learners and related performance (Collis 2008) during English language learning while giving importance to the objective of adopting collaborative knowledge creation (Scardamalia & Bereiter 1993). nevertheless there is still less information regarding the international usage of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language tools . in the past weeks various kinds of research based on the research of information by the assistance of colleagues was carried out to support this research , oman was selected as a it promotes a traditionally instructivist learning culture. 1.3 Research questions The present research is based on how personal and institutional issues may effect the adoption of Computer- Supported Collaborative English language Learning as an inventive learning tool. note the lack in cross-cultural studies of Computer- Supported Collaborative English language Learning that address questions such as “How do students who are used to quietly receiving information respond to the discussion and argumentation that are central to Computer- Supported Collaborative English language Learning?” Lin and Hatano 2002). Learning of a language is quite a difficult task , the study of l which factors effect locally-relevant values for a suitable and proper CSCL program regarding English language is extremely important , although it is usually considered as unimportant in education research. This paper shall be based on the concept of the relevant literature for the implication of Computer- Supported Collaborative English language Learning in Arab, and particularly from Oman ’s language development and Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning point of view. 2 Philosophy 2.1 Theroprtical prespective Omani Education Oman’s government has always worked hard in the domain of education , and has always also encouraged the teaching of different languages in schools and higher education . the fact that in Arab countries mostly their mother tongue is spoken thus they have to teach their people English as a second language . Oman tends to invest a lot on developing the language skills of it’s younger generation, as they know it is important for them to develop such skills inorder to prosper internationally. Oman has invested the most as compared to other Arab countries The national government even gives the curricular investment for primary and secondary schools, as well as a consistent curriculum and course books. Ever since the reforms have taken place the importance of the teacher’s role in using innovative resources in language classroom, included online resources as well. Furthermore, the Omani educational system regarding language teaching has undergone immense changes in the past four decades. For example they introduced new and innovate methods of teaching English. These changes had an impact on SQU graduates and other SQU students who have the desire to improve their English , so it is worth briefly noting how the goals, structure, and assessment requirements of these reforms may affect the adoption of CSCL in Omani classrooms. Even though the education system of Oman went though many changes it still was still weak in the domain of technology , research carried out in the field of technology utilization showed that Oman had weak network performance and did not even have proper resources to develop their computer learning programs (Osman 2005). until recently they depended on fixed/portable equipment” and a dependence by teacher on “outdated equipment,” like simple film cameras, VCRs and slide projectors for teaching new languages or other courses. Oman did not even have good internet usage and the links were quite weak , the services used were mostly down. The concept of ICT for any subject was something new for them. The reforms helped Oman needs to adopt educational technology for almost every subject especially for teaching second languages such as English. The comparatively pathetic technological condition is expectantly getting better with the current concern of the national-level Information Technology Authority (Elnaggar 2007) and dvevelpoments in the technological infrastructure may also improve. Even though Oman’s improvement, and on hand infrastructure, support, and developments in policies, English language class still depend on manual teaching method , and little or no technology is utilized in the language classroom (Sherif & Khan, 2005). Thus considering this it may be said that CSCL has great prospective as a means for improving the English language teaching methods for Omani students, this intrun will help to develops their social learning skills, and train then them to even go broad for further studies or apply for over sea jobs. This concept my be discussed in detail regarding how the theoretical foundations of CSCL help students to develop better language skills, especially when it comes to a second language like English. 2.2 Constructive perspective Using Cscl To Build Knowledge Theories based on the Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language research and practice promote the importance of englihs language learning by using such systems. Vygotsky (1978) is a good example od such studies to as it helps to understand nature of collaborative learning. Learning, Vygotsky, emphasis on a goal-directed learning environment, the utilization of mediational tools, along with chances to interrelate with more educated people in a “Zone of Proximal Development” Stahl, Koschmann and Suthers, (2006), regard this as the measurement of the distinction among individual aptitude and collaborative results. The above mentioned theory has greatly helped to understand the learning of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language by means of social practice theories of learning, these theories greatly support the kind of learning being discussed in the paper. The theories which support language learning through Supported Collaborative Learning are as follows : Brown & Palincsar, (1986), situated learning given by Lave & Wenger (1991), situated cognition given by Brown, Collins, & Duguid (1989), cognitive apprenticeships given by Collins et al. 1(987), distributed cognition given by Salomon (1997), and knowledge-building given by Scardamalia & Bereiter (1993). 3. Constructivist view 3.1 Ontology Technology’s Role in CSCL in Saudi Arabia Moreover, computers have a dual implication , first being a learning resource and second being a technology which helps in intervention (Van Drie et al. 2005), they are particularly important when a collaborative situations is required . apart from of the designer’s fundamental model, Kolodner and Guzdial (1996) support the fact that computers have the ability to enhance collaboration by encouraging conversation enhancing the process of knowledge building, providing recordkeeping, help in providing communication across long distances distance, enhancing reflection, and assisting in teacher scheduling and completion of collaborative based practices (Koschmann 1996). This further highlights the fact languages like English can be proficiently learnt by means of this method. Keeping this in mind Saudi Arabia has turned to technology to teach their people English as distance learning they can get better and more proficient teachers . These features and ability the above mentioned reasons for using computers for language teaching is particularly essential when considering the ever evolving Web 2.0. in such conditions new teaching method are required and thus Saudi Arabia has made the best of ‘its resource to implement such practices for the teaching of English language. 3.2 Definitions CSCL : Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning 3.3 Ontology In Relation To the Research Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language in the Arab Middle East In Saudi Arab Middle East, the utilization of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language is fairly limited. From the research carried out , very few can be noted as being based particularly on Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language . 3.5 Epistemology A few studies took another direction by encouraging cooperative work through the use of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language. However a few studies did support the importance of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language for the teaching of languages to students. A research was carried out by Hoter, Shonfeld, and Ganayim (2009) in which the utilization online tools by pre-service in order develops students understanding among the groups. The study included the online inter-group contact hypothesis, the students worked together to developing technology resources for teaching English , the interaction slowly developed into face to face interactions and made the teaching and learning process of English language easier. Khan (2006) carried out a study in Saudi Arabia, he studied thirty six female post-graduate English language teaching-certificate programs to determine what their point of view was regarding the process use in computer collaborative education especially for English . It was found out that many teachers approved of the approach fro teaching languages. As it helps students to further find out the pronunciation of the words. 4 Axiological 4.1.1 Definition The method used is the qualitative method in which literature shall be used for analysis 4.1.2 ethics All material shall be referenced and permission shall be taken from the library to use the journals 4.1.3 axlogical relationship why the method was selected it may be said that in a number of ways , Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language represents an completely new approach for teaching languages in Oman as well as Arab Middle East. whereas a lot of of the studies support the qualitative and quantitative advantages for using Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language in Saudi Arabia , the researches mentioned in the paper do not demonstrate any overwhelming support towards the positive effect of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language on language teaching , nitether do they support the extraordinary use of Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning English language teaching in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the above mentioned studies do support the fact that , when properly prepared, there are no issues present in Saudi Arabia which may prevent the successful usage of Computer- Supported Collaborative English Learning. References Amory, A. 2010. “Instructivist ideology: Education technology embracing the past?” Interactive Learning Environments. Brown, A. L., & Palincsar, A. S. 1986. Guided, Cooperative Learning and Individual Knowledge Acquisition. Technical Report No. 372. Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. 1989. “Situated cognition and the culture of learning”.Educational Researcher, vol 18, no. 1, pp. 32-42. Catterick, D. 2007. “Do the philosophical foundations of online learning disadvantage non- Western students?” In: Edmundson, A., ed. Globalized e-Learning Cultural Challenges. Information Science Publishing, Hershey, PA. pp. 116-129. Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. 1987. Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Craft ofReading, Writing, and Mathematics. Technical Report No. 403. Collis, B. (2008). Reinterpreting Distance: What Higher Education and Corporate Education Can Learn from Each Other. Presentation given at The Institute of Higher Education, the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Dakers, J. R. 2005. “The hegemonic behaviorist cycle”. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 111–126. Donn, G., & Al Manthri, Y. 2010. Globalisation and Higher Education in the Arab Gulf States. Symposium Books, Didcot, Oxford, England. Elnaggar, A. 2007. “The status of Omani women in the ICT sector”. International Journal of Educational Development using Information and Communications Technology, vol. 3, no. 3, 4-15. Freire, P. 2000. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. M. B. Ramos, Tran. (30th ed.). Continuum, New York and London. 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In: Lave, J., & Wenger, E. 1991. Situated Learning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Lin, X., & Hatano, G. 2002. “Cross-cultural adaptation of educational technology”. In Koschmann, Osman, M. E. 2005. “Students' reaction to WebCT: Implications for designing on-line learning environments”. International Journal of Instructional Media, vol 32, no. 4, pp. 353-62. Porcaro, D. S. & Al-Musawi, A. S. 2011. “Lessons Learned from Adopting Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning in Oman”. Educause Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 4. Salomon, G. (ed.). 1997. Distributed Cognitions. Psychological and Educational Considerations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. 1993. “Computer support for knowledge-building communities”. Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 265. Sherif, J., & Khan, R. 2005. “Role and relevance of web supported learning for first generation learners”. 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