Reading & Writing Skill Online Tools

Introduction

Tweet, use Facebook or blog in English. It's a great way to get practice writing and can help you to learn new idioms and expressions as you connect with other English speakers and learners online. In present time, everything is dependent on internet because it's internet age so for improving skills like reading and writing there is various tools available which we discussed below. This blog is based on assignment activity.

Facebook as online tool of reading and writing skill :

  1.Writing summaries 

     Teachers can post a short article from the web related to the lesson and then ask students to write a brief summary of the article in a word processor. This activity aims at raising the critical thinking of students and improving the cohesion and coherence in their writing. They will practice how to summarize and paraphrase. Once they have their document ready, they should name it after their names for example: “summaryJuan.doc” and let them attach it on the group site. This activity improves writing summaries and reading comprehension.

 2 Collective Story Telling 

        Teacher can try Collective Story Telling. He/she posts a series of pictures to the group, explaining that students should continue the sentence he/she has started (e.g. “A beautiful morning, in a beautiful  forest,  a  sparrow  saw  a worm  in  the  ground…”),  every  student should  write  at  least  a paragraph. At the end the story should be revised and corrected if there are any mistakes.  

3. Picture Descriptions 

      In this  activity, teacher  posts a picture to  the  group he/she  has created; letting  students comment on the  picture  and  guessing what is  in  the  picture? Where  was  it  taken?  How  old  is  it?  Etc.  It  is always a good idea to provide useful vocabulary to make the activity easier. Students comment on the picture and describe it using the useful vocabulary provided. If there is an English class the next day, the night before the teacher can  post this picture and raise the questions: What might be  the feelings of the man and the woman in this picture? The man and the woman do the same work, but they look different. Why?  After the picture is posted, the students will add comments. The teacher can join the discussion to warm up the atmosphere. There  may  be  different  points  of  view;  this  activity improves the  critical thinking of students. 

4. Picture Comparison 

      With this type of task, students can learn techniques to describe pictures. To start with, the teacher can   post two  slightly  dissimilar pictures, then  ask  students  to  contrast  the  pictures  posted,  after some certain  time, let  every  student  comment  on  the  picture,  the  teacher can  also provide useful vocabulary to facilitate the activity. At  the end of discussion teacher will provide feedback to the students.

 5. Collective Writing (Mini-project)

         The teacher can ask students to work cooperatively to write about their school, a tour destination, a place they have visited or topics they know. For example, about Cultural Diversity, teacher will organize an activity named Around the World. The teacher will divide the class into groups and each group will be in charge of an online presentation about a famous city in the world. They have to look for the information, the picture and they will prepare a written introduction about that city attached to the pictures. Every member of the group has to be in charge of completing the writing of their part. This activity will help students to increase their collaborative learning.

6 Writing Portfolio

     In order to tackle writing portfolio tasks, teachers are expected to put a lot of effort into expanding their pedagogical portfolio, to promote active learning through a learning community, and to test the effectiveness of on-line learning communities through this social network. Students can write about what they can learn from the classroom. They also can write about the advantages and disadvantages that Facebook bring to them. Using that portfolio, teachers can adjust the way they are managing and organizing the activities on Facebook. 

5. Assessment 

      The nature of Facebook is not to study but to keep contacts and entertain one‟s self. It is not a good idea for teachers to try to force students to study seriously and competitively via Facebook. However, Facebook is a good supplementary tool for learning, in this case for learning English. I strongly recommend that teachers should not evaluate the study process via Facebook too severely. Instead, use Facebook as a tool to motivate students and foster their learning process, especially to improve the writing skills of students gradually and naturally. This is just to aid the classroom learning activities. Otherwise, if teachers don‟t control or evaluate the learning process via Facebook learning, the implementation of Facebook in learning will not be successful. So, this is a really controversial matter. How can teachers balance the nature of learning and the nature of Facebook? This question is quite hard to answer. In my proposal, my main purpose is to improve students‟ learning in an unforced and natural manner. 

    However, to make students more conscious about what they do, I will give marks to them. The mark that students receive accounts for the 15-minute test and a writing competition accounts for the 1 hour test. Students will be motivated to take part because of the assessment. I will focus more on the quality of the writing not the enthusiasm of students. There should be some rules for the class page, for instance, avoiding using Vietnamese language. This is a good way to foster students‟ use of English. 

 6 Anticipated Problem 

      There might be some problems while this proposal is applying in the real life context. Teachers can be overloaded with work. They have to read through the writing of students to assess them and their writing ability. If teachers want to check the spelling, it is quite hard for them to check on Facebook because they cannot highlight the mistakes of every single student. To improve this shortcoming, teachers should not post too many assignments. Maybe there should be one post for one unit which is taught in 3 classes. Teachers can take note of the most common mistakes that students encounter and then write them on the blackboard in the class. In this way, it is less time consuming in assessment.

Blog as reading and writing tool :

   

      Blogs can be used as group discussion, peer review and collaborated project. Blogging about a subject is more engaging than simply reading.Benefits of Blogging for Students promote self-expression develop analytical thinking exercise students’ creativity improve students’ writing skills encourages the sharing of resources among students and teachers blogging gives students the opportunities to speak their ‘unique voices’. Students can practice their communication and conversation skills when they comment on others’ postings or reply to others’ feedback on their blogs. Blogging can also help students be courteous and thoughtful.  

      Blogging develops students’ analytical thinking and increases learning to a higher level, not merely just “understanding” and"remembering” instructional materials. Before their thoughts can be written down, students need to analyze the subject and then clarify their thoughts about the subject. Then, they need to carefully formulate and stand by their own opinions. Blogging encourages students to contemplate how their opinions might be interpreted and reflected upon by others.  

      Blogging facilitates creative expression when they develop original content and layout of their blogs. Students can be creative in terms of customizing the themes, selecting relevant images or videos, and designing the layout. This is the visual platform in which students can express themselves. Blogging can turn learning into a fun process.  

   Blogging involves a lot of writing. However, an improvement in writing skills doesn’t come automatically. Instructors need to give explicit directions at the beginning of the project as far as; step-by-step directions on how to blog, how to be authentic, how to support your opinions, as well as communicate expectations for the learner.Guidelines and Expectations of Blogging before asking students to start commenting on a subject, instructors need to develop clear guidelines and expectations for your students.  

Some acceptable blogging policies are listed below:  

• Stay on topic 
• No spam, chain message, hoaxes in the comments 
• Follow netiquette rules and respect for others 
• Offer some concrete suggestions 

Benefits of Blogging for Instructors 

From the instructor’s point of view, blogs can be used for their own professional development. It promotes the exchange of their teaching experiences or ideas for transforming education. In addition, instructors’ are able to share where to find free software and educational tools.  

Google classroom as tool of reading and writing skill :

As a free online learning platform, Google Classroom offers several benefits for students and teachers. Here’s 10 reasons why teachers should give it a try.

Accessibility

Google Classroom can be accessed from any computer via Google Chrome or from any mobile device regardless of platform. All files uploaded by teachers and students are stored in a Classroom folder on Google Drive. Users can access Classroom anytime, anywhere. Students no longer have to worry about crashed computers or hungry dogs.

Exposure

Classroom provides students with exposure to an online learning system. Many college and university programs now require students to enroll in at least one online class. Exposure to Google Classroom may help students transition into other learning management systems used in higher education.

Paperless

Teachers and students won’t have excessive amounts of paper to shuffle since Classroom is completely paperless. When teachers upload assignments and assessments to Classroom, they are simultaneously saved to Drive. Students can complete assignments and assessments directly through Classroom, and their work is also saved to Drive. Students can access missed work due to absences and locate other resources they may need.

Time Saver

Classroom is a huge time saver. With all resources saved in one place and the ability to access Classroom anywhere, teachers will have more free time to complete other tasks. Since Classroom can be accessed from a mobile device, teachers and students can participate through their phones or tablets.

Communication

Built-in tools make communicating with students and parents a breeze. Teachers and students can send emails, post to the stream, send private comments on assignments, and provide feedback on work. Teachers have full control over student comments and posts. They can also communicate with parents through individual emails or through Classroom email summaries which include class announcements and due dates. 

Collaborate

Classroom offers several ways for students to collaborate. Teachers can facilitate online discussions between students and create group projects within the Classroom. In addition, students can collaborate on Google Docs which have been shared by the teacher.

Engagement

Most digital natives are comfortable with technology and will be more apt to take ownership in their learning through use of technology. Classroom offers numerous ways to make learning interactive and collaborative. It offers teachers the ability to differentiate assignments, include videos and web pages into lessons, and create collaborative group assignments.

Differentiation

Through Classroom, teachers are easily able to differentiate instruction for learners. Assigning lessons to the whole class, individual students, or groups of students takes just a few simple steps when creating an assignment on the Classwork page. 

Feedback

Providing meaningful feedback to students is a valuable part of all learning. Within the grading tool of Classroom, teachers can send feedback to each student on assignments. The ability to create a comment bank for future use is also available within the grading tool. In addition, the Classroom mobile app allows users to annotate work.

Data Analysis

In order to make learning meaningful, teachers should analyze data from assessments to ensure students are understanding learning objectives. Data from assessments can easily be exported into Sheets for sorting and analysis. 

Google Forms as tool of reading and writing skill :

       Google Forms is a web-based app used to create forms for data collection purposes. Students and teachers can use Google Forms to make surveys, quizzes, or event registration sheets. The form is web-based and can be shared with respondents by sending a link, emailing a message, or embedding it into a web page or blog post. Data gathered using the form is typically stored in a spreadsheet. Although there are other online survey apps, Google Forms is an excellent free option.

google forms, question types create polls, surveys, quizzes, and event registration sheets using Google Forms.Here are the top 5 reasons to use Google Forms:

1. Create Surveys to Meet Curriculum Objectives

It is likely that your students are required to make surveys. Take a look at your math curriculum. Learning objectives typically include research design, data collection, data analysis, and reporting outcomes (often these appear in the data management, statistic, and/or probability section). Now take a look at your science curriculum. Scientific inquiry should be listed as a learning objective, which includes asking questions, collecting data, organizing findings, analyzing and interpreting data, and communicating results.

The great news is that Google Forms can help your students meet curriculum requirements! Your students will be able to pose a meaningful research question, select a sample group from the population using an appropriate sampling technique, design a questionnaire without question bias, administer the survey, analyze the data using graphs, data tables, and pivot charts, and draw conclusions from the data. Google Forms is a useful tool for meeting objectives

2. Ask Various Types of Questions

Google Forms allows you to ask both open-ended and closed-ended questions. You can use drop down menus, multiple choice, checklists, rating scales, and short answers text boxes to gather data. Below are the types of questions you can use in a Google Form:

• Text
• Paragraph Text
• Multiple Choice
• Checkboxes
• Choose from a list
• Scale
• Grid
• Date
• Time

3. Apply Validation Options to Control Data Entry

Data validation is a rule applied to data entry to make sure that the information is correct and/or useful. Google Forms offers many options for controlling answers provided by respondents. Questions can be set to required to prevent respondents from skipping a question. A number or text can be restricted to a specific entry, character count, or range. A checklist can have the number of options selected limited. As well, the order of choices for a question can be shuffled to avoid placement within a list influencing selection. Validation options provided by Google Forms help to improve the quality of the data recorded.

4. Create Professional Looking Forms using Themes

Google Forms helps you create a professional looking form. Themes are available allowing you and your students to select from over twenty pre-set designs. In addition, a custom option promotes creativity. The header, text, form background, and page background can all be customized. It is fun to explore the library of header images (some are animated!). One feature I like is the ability to set the page background. You can upload a picture, take a snapshot, or load an image from a URL or Google Drive to create a custom look. With so many web apps limiting the creative process, it is refreshing that form appearance is not restricted to only a few templates in Google Forms.

5. Multiple Ways to Administer Forms

Google Forms lets you and your students collect data using multiple methods. A form can be included in the body of an email allowing a respondent to submit their responses from their Inbox. A link can be generated allowing respondents to answer the questions using a web-based form. Code can be generated and then embedded into a blog or web page as another option for data collection. As well, if a paper/pencil method is preferred the form can be converted into a PDF file using Google Chrome. 

Conclusion 

        Facebook, Google classroom, Google form and Blogger all these tools are widely used for improving skills especially reading and writing skill. Thus , all the tools are available free so that it is available for everyone. In technological world online tools are so effective that provide platform for reading and writing.

Work credit

1. Benifits of Google classroom. The teach advocate.

2. Loan Tean.  Using Facebook tool to improve writing skill. 2019.

3. Reason to use Google form. Technokids.2014.