CALL REVIEW III (1)

CALL REVIEW III

 

<Go Animate>

 

I'm going to specifically talk about “Go Animate.” This Web-tool for teaching speaking, which is based on some approaches and techniques below.

Speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p. 13). To help students to practice speaking in the target language:

● Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

● Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language.

● Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter.

● Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.

● Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.

● Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency. (Nunan, 2003)

“Go Animate” is a tool of Computer-Mediated Communication, so-called CMC. CMC is an umbrella term which refers to human communication via computers (Herring, 2001). A distinction can be made between synchronous CMC, where interaction takes place in real time, and asynchronous CMC, where participants are not necessarily online simultaneously. “Go Animate” is a website for making a flash clip and uploading to the site, so it is a tool of asynchronous CMC. “CMC allows language learners with network access to communicate with other learners or speakers of the target language” (Kern & Warschauer, 2000, pp. 11-12).