[RNLD] Message to r-n-l-d at lists.unimelb.edu.au Exploring online language learning, for example 'Duolingo' or 'Say something in'

[Ruth Singer]

Hi Angela,

I'm just starting to build a Mawng course using LearnPress, which is a part
of WordPress.

Aiming for something like the Bininj Kunwok language course:
http://language-shell.cdu.edu.au/course/bininj-kunwok/

Cathy Bow (Charles Darwin University) who designed the Bininj Kunwok
course, with Jill Nganymirra (Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre) sent
me some instructions on how to set it up in LearnPress - you can add audio
and video and structure the course into learning units as you want. Because
it's on WordPress it should keep working for some time, without rebuilding,
that's the big plus in my view. But I'm not sure yet how much it can
tweaked to look good on tablets and phones.

Ruth

On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 at 17:27, Peter Nyhuis <p.nyhuis at student.unimelb.edu.au>
wrote:

> Hi Angela and Kumalie,
>
> It depends a lot on what kind of learners you have and what they hope to
> achieve. Are they adults or children? Are they heritage speakers or total
> outsiders to the language? Do they want to learn useful phrases, grammar,
> or do they want to expand their existing vocabulary? Are they literate in
> their first language?
>
> Most of the offerings out there (even Duolinguo, despite the way it sells
> itself) only really provide translation-based vocab training. If your
> learners don’t read English comfortably, or the platform doesn’t allow you
> to change the language of instruction to one they can read, then it won’t
> be very useful. And in the case of Duolinguo, it’s not even designed to be
> an open platform that you can contribute languages to – even if you did
> manage to convince them to work on an Arrernte course, it may be difficult
> for the language community to maintain ownership and control over the
> process. Memrise, on the other hand, allows contributions from anyone in
> any language, but is even more exclusively driven by translation-based
> vocab training. And if you are trying to teach young kids, they're probably
> not going to be very excited by flashcard-based apps for long, no matter
> how shiny and colourful. Even for adults, staying committed to regular
> practice of a new language is always a struggle, with or without an app (as
> I’m sure everyone here knows!). These flashcard apps work best when they
> support a larger learning pathway (including speaking practice, learning
> grammar, etc), rather than when they are just used in isolation.
>
> However, if you do want to go down the flashcard road, it might be worth
> taking a look at Anki, which is (like Memrise) a so-called ‘spaced
> repetition system’. It’s much uglier to look at than Memrise, but it’s more
> flexible, allowing flashcards where you have to fill the blanks (which can
> be useful for teaching grammar), or where you have a picture or video on
> one side and a word to learn on the other (which means you don’t have to
> rely on translation). It’s also open source, so if you have the funding you
> could get a developer to take Anki’s basic system and then design an
> interface that suits your particular needs, and you wouldn’t have to pay
> Anki anything for it.
>
> If you’re looking for some non-flashcard ideas, when I was working in the
> Wubuy revitalisation program at Numbulwar school I prototyped a few
> web-based video games for teaching kinship terms, verb prefixes, directions
> and so forth – shoot me an email if you would like to take a look. (They
> can all be freely adapted for other languages too)
>
> Hope that helps,
>
> Peter
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 4:12 PM Angela Harrison <
> angela.harrison at batchelor.edu.au> wrote:
>
>> We are looking at investing some funds to create online language lessons
>> in Arrernte. We have looked at a few platforms and are interested to hear
>> feedback from others in the language teaching world as to their experiences.
>>
>> We have looked at *‘Memrise’* – which looks good from the point of view
>> of accessibility, ease of use and vocabulary learning, however we would
>> like something which is more sophisticated and allows learners to learn to
>> build sentences.
>>
>> *‘Say something in’* looks like it uses a lot of the same principles as
>> master-apprentice, like focussing on intensive speaking and listening
>> rather than reading and writing. This one has the advantage that the
>> learner can listen and repeat without needing to look, which is great for
>> using on car trips, or while bike riding or walking.
>>
>> *‘Duolingo’* appeals the most to Kumalie Riley, Arrernte teacher, who
>> says it is most like the Arrernte teaching she is familiar with in that it
>> uses flashcards and has a focus on speaking and listening as well as
>> reading and writing.
>>
>>
>>
>> We have tried to contact both Duolingo and Say Something In but have
>> received no communication in response.
>>
>> We are interested to hear the experiences of others – is it likely that
>> we will hear back from them? Has anyone had experience with putting a
>> language into one of these platforms?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Angela and Kumalie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Angela Harrison
>>
>> *Project Manager*
>>
>> Centre for Australian
>> Languages and Linguistics (CALL)
>>
>>
>> *Desert Peoples Centre Campus Alice Springs*
>>
>> p:
>>
>> 8951 8344
>>
>> w:
>>
>> batchelor.edu.au
>>
>> <https://www.facebook.com/batchelorinstitute?ref=profile>
>> <https://twitter.com/Indigenous_Inst>
>> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/batchelor-institute-of-indigenous-tertiary-education/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Peter Nyhuis
>
> Language Documentation Lab
> School of Languages and Linguistics
> The University of Melbourne
> Parkville VIC 3010
>
>

-- 
Dr Ruth Singer
School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne
Research Unit for Indigenous Language (RUIL):
http://indiglang.arts.unimelb.edu.au/
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL):
http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/

https://unimelb.academia.edu/RuthSinger
http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person2621
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