Reading and Writing II

Research Paper
Autors: Ana María Pita
Andrea Torrealba
María G. Lugo

The effects of online classes in EFL on Social Skills

Abstract:

Nowadays, online classes for a EFL are commonly used for many people around the
world, and in contrast with traditional learning process they offers a very high
potential in the development of EFL skills giving a good and productive experiences
to EFL. Some researchers have examined the results of these new platforms to learn
a new language and its benefits in among the young population and also have
examined the academic results of students who have undertaken online courses
compared to those who have taken the same course conducted in a more traditional
approach. The purpose of this research paper is demonstrate the social impact of
online learning environments on those who participate in these courses.

Online education has evolved over the last 18 years as technology continues to
advance. Starting at age 5, children are able to enjoy in websites where they can
learn in an interactive way with many platforms different languages having a good
impact in their improvement of social skills associated to EFL especially.

Keywords: Online classes, Social Skills, Learning, Languages, EFL.

Introduction

All the people in the world have a educational process and commonly this
process is different around it, because we have many cultures, languages,
behavior patterns, among others. On other words, education is a system that
respond to changing circumstances at every level and it depends of culture,
curriculum, literature, geography, etc. For this reason the students need to
develop some skills with the objective of ‘have success' in their life with the
society, there are called social skills.

Social skills are the abilities to communicate, persuade and interact with
others member of the society without conflict or disharmony. They are
developed by the humans when they are children, principally when they start
to share with other people. Many theories such Vigotsky, Piaget, etc. specify
the importance of this contact with other contemporary partners to the
process of learning.

These days the education also has a virtual aspect, all the technology that
develop the humanity and its different uses help the process of learning and it
also facilitates the access to general information in many languages;
additionally, the current technology has been developing applications which
help the students to learn or to contact specialist or friends and with this
experience, they share value information. Incorporating online learning for
everyone, from preschool students through to those enrolled in post-graduate
studies means society as a whole is presented with a chance to improve. Not
only is digital learning creating a smarter civilization, but one that is well-
informed on new technology and on top of the latest and greatest trends within
their chosen field.
 Online classes are virtual spaces where people can study with digital
resources, sometimes guided by a teacher. Commonly the languages are the
most popular on the online resources; for example there are plenty of
applications and programs that people can find on the internet to have access
to learning English as a foreign language, and in them they can find many ways
to learn and to practice in order to develop their skills in the social and
intellectual ambit. As simply as press a button, people can learn to speak,
write, understand and read English only using these tools that they can
download or just open in a web site.

All this information that people share through online resources show
that the social interactions are also in the online contact; Singer-Califano
(2008) says the important role that technology has in the learning process of
social skills, she includes the evidence of some studies and theories about
modeling of behaviors in child with behavioural and developmental problems.
So, people can develop a good social interaction or social skills learning with
technology devices, apps, amount others.

This research shows the importance of interaction during the learning

process, including virtual contact with other people. On other hand, it shows
that the knowledge is not only in a classroom, people can find different and
dynamic ways to learn English as a foreign language, or also other topics. This
paper is structured in three parts, on first place previous investigations and
some theories that antecedent this paper. On second place the methodology
that the authors use to organized and write the paper and finally, the results
and conclusions of this STUDY.
Outline
I. INTRODUCTION
II. CHAPTER I: Online classes in the educational process.
III. CHAPTER II: Social Skills and the educational process of EFL on the
virtual world.
IV. CHAPTER III: Methodology.
V. CHAPTER IV: Results and conclusions.

Online classes in the educational process

Often people opt to learn English as a foreign language on the internet

and educational apps due to their lack of time to learn it in a traditional way.
They find these ways of learning more functional and easier to adapt to their
busy lives.

Online classes require a certain amount of computer technology and

savvy and also offers availability to students regardless of their ability to
travel to a physical campus. This gives a wide variety of students access to
college courses versus a traditional class which requires presence in class to
enroll.
 Taking lessons fully over Skype would seem like a natural next step from
that. They definitely offer a completely new level of flexibility, since neither
the teacher nor student needs to spend time commuting to their agreed
destination for the lesson, and require the most basic of tech equipment –
usually a laptop and an Internet connection to which most people these days
have easy access.

There are uncountable applications and websites where you can learn
English easily and as fast as press buttons. In this paper we talk about several
of them, the most important in our point of view.

DUOLINGO:

This app is laid out like a game and has a visually appealing interface.
The game is set up as a tree that you must slowly work through. When you get
to the end, you’ll get a cute little trophy wearing a flag that represents the
language you’re learning. Each lesson is a level that you must beat by
answering questions until the bar fills up, with correct answers bringing the
bar up and incorrect ones bringing it down. The types of questions include free
translation, putting together a translation with a set of given words, speaking
exercises, listening transcription, and picture matching.

ENGLISH LIVE AND OPEN ENGLISH:

Open English and English live have the same strategy to make people
improve their English skills. The platform shows at first sight the option to
make some equivalences between the knowledge that the student has and the
things that has to improve, and there’s when the fun part begins. A test is
made to measure the level where the student has to start in the platform and
the schedule is made for the student’s comfort. Once you started, you can have
some Multimedia lessons (with podcasts, videos and conversations given by
the platform where you have to answer some questions in order to understand
what is happening in every situation).

HELLOTALK:

HelloTalk is a mobile app for learning foreign languages. The app

connects native speakers from around the world to chat and interact with each
other for free. The app allows you search for language partners based on
criteria such as age, location, language and the level of fluency in a particular
language.

SOCIAL SKILLS AND THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD

Nowadays, learning a second language means an improvement in every

area such as education, work and relationships. In spite of learning a foreign
language is also a way to improve your retention of information. One of the
most common languages is English.

In addition, it is very important to show the basic definitions of this

section: learning and social skills. Moreover the benefits and even the
consequences that education in the virtual world has. Therefore, Learning is
the act or process of acquiring knowledge or even a skill where the student can
interact with native speakers or other students that are studying as well a
second language. This happens thanks to an ability which is “Social Skill”. This
term means: The ability to communicate with other people and interact with
them by a language. This process could happen by social networks using
smartphones or other technological devices. For instance; laptops, computers,
etc.

In the last century, the process of EFL was really outmoded, using books
and improving your listening skills by cassettes or traditional classes in an
institute were the ways to teach a new language; however, Technology has
changed this and the results are completely different now. Due to many people
use this developments to increase their wisdom using online conversations,
audiobooks, and also chat rooms. Social Skills consists in interact with others
while you are in a process of learning using those platforms on Internet that
are considered really useful nowadays.

There are many ways to get knowledge about a second language and they
are really effective, such as we mentioned in the chapter before. Furthermore,
many applications or web pages are available where the student can interact
with other people in the language that they are learning. However, several
students does not know how to use it in the correct form, so at the end they
decide to give up. So, it is important to know how we can use this social
networks in the correct way to focus on that and achieve.

METHODOLOGY

(esta sección debería estar más bien metida como

parte de la introducción, un poco antes de su cierre,
SIN SUBTÍTULO)
 This research paper has a documentary design that corresponds to the
study of situations or topics with the purpose of amplifying and deepening the
knowledge. In previous information or works and according with UPEL-
FEDEUPEL (2011), this kind of studies consist of comparing, criticizing or
deepening in theories.

The main idea of this documentary research is to support a point of view

with others documents, videos, arguments, books, or any information sources.
The case of this specific paper is to provide necessary arguments for the
learning process of English as a foreign language and the development of
social skills on virtual classes.

The writing of this research paper was possible by a process that consist in
some steps. First, we chose a topic, using as a referent English as a Foreign
Language. Then we selected some previous investigations and we completed
readings with the idea of learning and producing the first draft of the
introduction and body. At last, we made the necessary corrections to end it.

Commented [1]: En general el paper parece bien,

volver a revisar para ajustar la redacción un poco más
que no queden las ideas tan fragmentadas. Hacen falta
Results and conclusions (más bien digamos sólo CONCLUSIONS, porque no hicieron párrafos de transición. Pero en general bastante bien.

un experimento)

The process of learning a foreign language is hard because people need

to understand not only the grammar and meanings, they need to understand
how people use (in the context) different sentences or phrases. Definitely, a
student of EFL need to develop some social skills that are directly related with
the language.

Many people on the world use some technology devices or apps as a

method to study, and also they need to take account that it is (if not free)
extremely cheap, and probably has more interactions that those with a face to
face teacher, having on these web sites or applications more dynamic activities
in order to improve user’s creativity and imagination, not only reading some
books and copying from a board.

The research paper has as a result or conclusion the importance of

teaching on the correct way and with cultural information the EFL students. As
Singer-Califano (2008) expresses the technology has an important role
modeling the social skills of a person; with this, people who created apps or
teachers of EFL need to think in what they are showing, because the learners
are copying and changing their behaviors.

References

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. (Magazine Online). Retrieved

from: http://ascilite.org.au/ajet/submission/index.php/AJET/article/view/237
Baleghizadeh and Oladrostam (2010). The effect of mobile assisted language
learning (MALL) on Grammatical Accuracy of EFL students. Mextesol Journal
(Magazine Online). Retrieved from: http://www.mextesol.net/journal/
index.php?page=journal&id_article=50
Hwang, Huang, Shadiev, Wu and Chen (2014). Effects of using mobile devices on
English listening diversity and speaking for EFL elementary students. Magazine
AQUI FALTAN ALGUNOS DATOS, CIUDAD, EDITORIAL O DE DÓNDE SALIÓ (URL)
Singer-Califano,A. (2008) The Use of Technology in Enhancing the Social
Skills. I-manager's journals of educational Psychology. vol 1. N 4. SI ES UN
ARTÍCULO DIGAN LOS NÚMERO DE PÁGINAS.
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disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_Effect_of_Whatsapp_Electroni
c_Dialog.pdf ESTO LE FALTAN DATOS. REVISAR NORMAS UPEL.