Running Header: TEACHING GRAMMAR USING TECHNOLOGY TO LINGUISTS

TO ACHIEVE HIGHER PROFICIENCY STANDARD

Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

Nina Gill

California State University Monterey Bay

IST520 Instructional Design

Professor Dr. Donald Fischer

February 9th, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3

Analysis.......................................................................................................................................3- 4

Needs Assessment...........................................................................................................................4

Learner Analysis………………………………………………………………………………….7

Context Analysis………………………………………………………………………………....9

Design ........................................................................................................................... ………... 9

Learning Objectives …………………………………………………………………………….9

Test Instruments ...........................................................................................................................10

Delivery System and Media Decisions........................................................................................ 11

Instructional Strategies and Activities...........................................................................................11

Agenda .................................................................................................................................. .….11

Development and Implementation ................................................................................................12

List of Major Deliverables.................................................................................................... ……12

Development Plan ........................................................................................................................13

Implementation Plan...................................................................................... .…………….……13

Evaluation ....................................................................................................................................14

Formative Evaluation......... ………………………………………………………………….….14

Summative Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 14

References .....................................................................................................................................15

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 Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

This instructional design project will be used to teach Grammar (Past tense), to the Semester

One Students at DLI (Defense Language Institute). DLIFLC is one of the finest Institutions in the

United States of America where military soldiers from all branches are trained to learn a foreign

language. DLIFLC gives culturally based foreign language training and has language instructors

with different sociocultural backgrounds, skill sets, and educational level, as there are around

twenty-four languages taught to soldiers and instructors are from over twenty-four countries. The

goal of DLIFLC is to make these soldiers proficient linguists who have sociocultural linguistic

competence in speaking, reading and listening skills.

DLIFLC is focused to incorporate technology in the classrooms, to make teaching more

interactive and student-centered. The curriculum support department has developed UCAT

(Universal Curriculum Assessment Tool), which consists of modules with various activities for

students, this is now being used mostly for homework and to some extent in the classrooms by

many language schools within the DLIFLC. The plan is to implement the training in June 2018.

The Final evaluation will be done once the training is completed and students are successfully able

to do the modules created for them. The course will be instructor-led in a classroom with power

point presentation. At the end of the training post-test will be given to check what the learners have

learned.

Analysis

Needs Assessment

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 Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

The students will study Past Tense as a part of their homework (flip grammar class).

A Pre-test will be given to students on how well they have understood the simple past tense and

all its forms which includes Simple Past, Past Perfect, Habitual Past and Past Progressive Tense.

They will also be given a survey questioning, on what are the issues they face when attempting the

grammar exercises in the UCAT at home. This survey will be given prior to giving the grammar

exercises to the students in UCAT modules. The DLI is promoting the use of technology so that

students can get to higher proficiency level which is a 2+, 2+, 2 by the integration of technology.

The Urdu Department is particularly challenged by low speaking scores in the DLPT, and the

problem that is surfacing is the difficulty in using and transitioning from past tense to any other

tense.

Although the instructors are focusing on the grammar in every hour, making students use

past tense in class, homework and speaking hour. Instructors are also using FLIP Class as a method

to improve the grammar of the students. Curriculum team has created exercises in the UCAT which

students are supposed to do as homework, but they are not eager to do and have complained that

these activities are not beneficial. The instructors have also pointed out some advantages and

disadvantages of using UCAT and what are some factors limiting the use of this tool in classroom

instruction. The Multi-Language School at Defense Language Institute would like to use UCAT

in the classrooms for language learning to make language learning more interactive and

meaningful. Defense Language Institute is promoting the use of technology for military linguists’

DLI wide in every language school. The main focus is implementing the usage of UCAT by

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instructors in class so students can learn vocabulary, grammar, transcription, listening and reading

comprehension by using a variety of interactive activities.

Currently, students are using UCAT to preview vocabulary and grammar and this is given

as homework by most instructors. Instructors feel that UCAT is time- consuming and tedious to

use in the classroom, so they prefer to follow the traditional curriculum. The Defense Language

Institute has invested a large number of taxpayers dollars and manpower in developing this tool

which is not being used in its entirety by the instructors or students.

A relevant article that I researched for my project, which also reveals that many

organizations ignore the fact that there might be a number of employees in their organization who

shy away from technology. This is a valuable study that talks about the usefulness of online

resources in the decision-making process by publicly elected school board leaders. The study

participants were 164 elected school board trustees sampled from a population of 330 English –

Language public school trustees across Ontario, Canada. As their decisions have a huge impact on

the lives of millions of students studying in public schools throughout Ontario, Canada and also

how billions of tax dollars are being used once these decisions are made.

It is important for these decision makers to have reliable sources and data available to make

these important decisions. This study not only investigates what resources these individuals are

using and could be used but also reveals the several barriers that are encountered by many of them

in acquiring the data. A very pertinent point mentioned in the study was that many of the trustees

stated, the huge amount of time spent in order to use online resources and also making sure about

their trustworthiness. Many teachers at DLIFLC face the same issues to access online resources

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and create activities that can be used online time is the main issue.

Another very important point discovered was how comfortable the trustees were using

technology and what resources were available to them. Inability to use social media, clipping

services, and Google Scholar for research by some trustees was also an important finding which

makes it noteworthy for any organization not to take for granted that all employees are tech savvy.

Another problem worth mentioning is that once a training is given to introduce a new

technology tool it is not monitored whether the instructors can actually apply that in the classroom.

And if the tool is not used what is the reason behind. This problem can be resolved and dealt with

proper planning and effective training.

The instructors need to be motivated by making them aware of the fact that students, who

are the end users of this technological tool are the millennials, and they are spending most of their

time using technology. It would be an excellent idea to introduce something which is a big part of

their lives into their classrooms and get them excited to learn. Instructors also need to let go of

their traditional teacher-centered classroom teaching and adopt a new methodology to promote

learner-centered interactive classroom teaching.

Instructors should also be provided more hands-on training to acutually learn how to use

different apps used in developing activities in UCAT and they should have enough time so they

can actually start developing their own activities, that would benefit and enhance language learning

for the students.

The main organizational goal of the DLIFLC is to incorporate current technology in

language learning, for students to become proficient in second language acquisition in speaking,

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 Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

reading and listening skills. The main learner goal is to acquire the knowledge of Past tense so

they can you use this tense fluently in the OPI and score at least a level 2 on the ILR level. They

should be able to use all forms of Past Tense which include Simple Past Tense, Past Perfect, Past

Progressive and Past Habitual Tense.

Learner Analysis

A pretest will be given to the students, they will be tested on their prior knowledge of the

Past Tense. As the students are supposed to study the grammar feature of the day prior to classwork

and they need to come prepared for class.

A very relevant research article (Online Student Services: Current Practices and

Implementation by Tabitha Bailey and Abbie Brown) that emphasizes the role of leadership in the

incorporation of technology in online courses, discusses current practices, recommendations and

implementations of online services for students and emphasizes the role of active leadership and

their planning to retain students in an online course. The authors are Tabitha Bailey and Abbie

Brown. Tabitha Bailey is an e-Learning Student Support Coordinator for Stanly Community

College. She designs and implements training for student- centered support and process for online

and hybrid students. Abbie Brown is a Professor at East Carolina University teaching in

Instructional Technology Program.

The article emphasizes the need of readily available support to students who are studying

online, be it in the form teacher feedback, availability of material, answering common problems,

providing other resources like online library access and exam taking. If there is no proper support

system for students they tend to drop out. To retain students, they need to have a sense of

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 Teaching Grammar in The Classroom Using Technology

community and belonging. On line services are provided by means of learning management,

systems, websites, student portals and social media.

In order to run an efficient online program, great leadership which is upper-level

administrative support, along with dedicated faculty and staff are key elements. On- line education

is not easy for the learner and even more difficult task for the provider if it is not developed

properly chances are that the program will not retain students. This article is very relevant to my

research which is to implement technology in The Defense Language Institute we need a more

efficient support system at the highest level.

It is also important not to assume that all young students who are natives of technology

will prefer technology mediated teaching over traditional teaching in the classroom. As in this

research article, the authors examine the use of technology in the classroom by digital native

student teachers. They discuss the barriers that teachers encounter while using technology in class,

with digital generation student teachers, joining the teaching profession it is assumed that this

problem will be eliminated, but this study shows that this is necessarily not the situation.

Furthermore, the article talks about the external and internal barriers that digital generation student

teachers face while incorporating technology in the classroom. The study also shows we cannot

take it for granted as the digital generation moves into teaching they would start integrating new

technology into the classroom.

It is very interesting to read about the internal barriers which are self-efficacy, risk taking,

attitudes, and beliefs. Self-efficacy plays an important role in the motivation level and performance

of a student and it is not necessary that students prefer doing UCAT Grammar Exercises over

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traditional handwritten exercises. Although with the digital generation mobile learning has taken

a place in linguistics, research shows that it has a negative effect on the writing skill especially

with grammar and spelling. (Computer-Mediated Communication for Linguistics and Literacy,

chapter 9, 2010). Many professors especially at Defense Language Institute forsee the

disadvantages of ICT in language learning and hesitate to use it.

Context Analysis

The first source for this information would be a Pre-test for students checking their

knowledge on the Past tense.

Through observation, we can check if the smart board is working and there are no server

issues and all students have fully charged MacBook’s. Training will be done in building 633 in the

Defense Language Institution Monterey California. Training sessions will be divided in groups of

five so that students get more handson and one on one instructions.

Design

Learning Objectives

Declarative Objectives

 From memory, the Urdu DLI students will be able to state at least three advantages and

disadvantages encountered while using UCAT Grammar Exercises in the classroom with

100% accuracy.

Procedural Objectives

 Given a rubric, the Urdu students will be able to evaluate their performance on how well

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they did, in doing the Categorization activity in UCAT according to Standards set by the

instructor their scores should be within a 80% match to those of their instructor.

Test Instruments

Declarative Test Items

1. Which of the following is the main issue when using UCAT in the classroom? Choose the right
answer.
a. Website down

b. Teacher readiness

c. Student readiness

d. Laptop not functioning

Procedural Test Items

1. The Instructor has the Urdu students to create the Categorization activity.

CATEGORIZATION
2. Insert each item as a category
3. The answers are ITEMS under the category (A, B---- this is just an example for now)
4. Don’t forget that correct answers are in green CHECKMARK
5. DISTRACTORS have a red X and can go under any category

HANDS- ON EXERCISE
Insert a CATEGORIZATION component.
Use the following content given to do a CATEGORIZATION task.

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Category Simple Past Past Perfect Past Progressive

A D G
B E H
C F I

Given the rubric by the instructor, the Urdu students evaluate how accurately they

have done the activities. They will score themselves according to the rubric.

On the rubric ten being the highest score if the students do, all the steps correctly.

Media and Delivery System Decisions

The training will be instructor- led in the classroom and the activities that the Urdu students

will do would be online. The reason being many students have complained about the several

difficulties while doing UCAT Grammar lessons and other exercises in the Grammar Workbook.

Many teachers want the trainer to explain more than just the information which is in the handout

or online in order to get a better understanding of how to create the activities in the UCAT.

Instructional Strategies and Activities

Agenda

1. Introduction (5min)

A. What is the training about

B. Why this information is being presented

2. Difficulties with learning Past Tense, advantages, and disadvantages of using UCAT

Grammar in class (10 min)

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A. Write three advantages and disadvantages of using UCAT Grammar in the classroom.

(5 min).

3. Read and perform the activities in the UCAT Grammar and practice. (15min)

4. Watch the demonstration and do the Categorization activity. (15 min)

5. According to the rubric evaluate yourself and check how accurately you created the

activity. (10 min)

6. Summary (5 min)

Major Teaching /Learning Activities

Agenda Item (Teaching/Learning Activity)

 The Urdu students will watch a Presentation on all forms of Past Tense.

 The Urdu students will do the grammar activities in the UCAT after watching a

demonstration by the trainer.

 The Urdu students will read the rubric and evaluate the activities if that were done in the

UCAT Grammar module were helpful or not in learning the Past Tense.

Development and Implementation

List of Major Deliverables

• PowerPoint slide presentations for each of the sections.

• One interactive video created from the PowerPoint slides with a script.

• Quiz questions for the interactive video.

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• Rubric to grade the activity.

• Feedback questions on the course.

Development Plan

The training will be approximately one hour long. The cost is minimal as far as money is

concerned. The major constraint is the time needed for me to create the course and the time needed

for the students to complete the course. The general timeline for this project will be approximately

six months to create the course. Implementation will take place in June of 2018.

Implementation Plan

To implement this instructional design module, the students need to be comfortable

with computers, smart board, MacBook and accessing the Internet, a rubric will be provided for

the activities and the final evaluation.

Evaluation

Formative Evaluation

The most appropriate method of evaluating and improving instruction is to look at the

success rate of the formative assessments throughout the course. If they are not learning, then we

need to look at the design and make possible changes. I would need to analyze the data and the

feedback of the course to discover where we can improve the design. Each section will have a

formative evaluation to give me feedback on the success of the students learning. I will evaluate

the results and consider the changes needed.

Summative Evaluation

The summative evaluation of the students learning will be given at the end of the training,

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I will not be conducting transfer, payoff, or ROI evaluations for this course. The last thing the

students will do in the course is the formative feedback evaluation of the lessons.

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References

Bodomo, A. (2010). Computer-mediated communication for linguistics and literacy: technology

and natural language education. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Retrieved 2010.

Kay, R. and Carruthers, L. (2017). Examining school board leaders’ use of online

resources to inform decision making. Canadian Journal of learning and Technology, 43,

2-25.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1137649.pdf . Retrieved 2017.

Li, L., Worch, E., Zhou, Y., & Aguiton, R. How and Why Digital Generation Teachers

Use Technology in the Classroom: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study.

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,9(2).

doi:10.20429/ijsotl.2015.090209. Retrieved 2015

Piskurich, G. M. (2015). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (3rd ed.).

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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