Hello Lance,
Welcome to the group!
I have developed a site you might find interesting. I also use WebQuests for
a project format. Take a look at this page and let me know what you think.

http://www.nelliemuller.com/Collaborative_Projects.htm

All the best,
Nellie Deutsch
http://www.nelliemuller.com


-------Original Message-------

From: wordsurfing@...
Date: éåí çîéùé 13 ðåáîáø 2003 11:12:50
To: wordsurfing@...
Subject: [wordsurfing] constructivism

Hi there all,

I just joined recently and have been listening in a bit. "constructivism"is
a topic that is very interesting for me as i find it has the most practical
teaching value. so far I have been deploying it in practice through the use
of guided tasks that allow for independent research opportunities. that is,
students submit research proposals that delineate topic, and genre. then
they compose and submit along with a reflective piece of writing. This
approach is different entirely from me telling them what to do.
however, i am finding i am reaching the end of my expertise with it and
would like to hear how others are bringing constructivism into their classes


cheers,
Lance.

Steve Neufeld <steven.neufeld@...> wrote:
Nellie

You've raised some interesting issues...the underlying principle to this
approach is a sort of 'discovery' learning, a la 'constructivism'. I'm
still trying to discover for myself how this works in practice!!! As an
institution we try to use things like WebQuests and action mazes to
encourage critical thinking in our students. However, this is an uphill
battle, as their educational background tends to stifle creativity and
encourage more rote memorization. In the context of lexis, this means that
the classic (and often sole) method students employ in learning vocabulary
is simply an alphabetical list of words with an L1 translation. This is why
we're interested in innovative concepts in vocabulary learning, like Will's
wordsurfing idea.

Working with corpus-based tools is difficult in a paper-based medium, but it
is much more meaningful in a web-based medium. You can have a look at a
fascinating site (we rely heavily on the tools provided at this site)
developed by Tom Cobb at the Compleat Lexical Tutor - http://132.208.224
131/ . Tom has done a lot of research in this area, and we are trying to
apply some of the concepts here at our institution.

I work at a university in Cyprus, and we are trying to develop a systematic
approach to lexis, based on the GSL and the AWL. You can have a look at an
approach to the AWL in a pilot we are conducting at http://eps.emu.edu
tr/lexis/awl_courses/engineering_01/ . Some of my colleagues are
experimenting with a similar approach at lower levels (Beginner/Elementary)
and you can have a look at their pilot at http://eps.emu.edu.tr/lexis/owl/.
[You may have trouble opening these sites...our internet backbone is very
weak in this part of the world.] What we haven't incorporated into these
pilots is specific learner (and teacher!) training and guidelines for
students to record the vocabulary they are learning (which is why we are
interested in Will's wordsurfing concept).

If you're interested, I can send you several WORD documents that illustrate
some approaches to this. Meanwhile, I've copied and pasted some useful
links related to data-driven learning. I hope the hyperlinks remain intact.
If not, send me a message directly to steven.neufeld@... and I'll
send you the attachment.

Optional Reading list (From CTD150 – Data Driven Learning - our in-house
teacher training course)

Rundell, M. (1996) "The corpus of the future, and the future of the corpus"
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~barlow/futcrp.html
Talk given at Exeter, special conference on 'New Trends in Reference Science
(29/3/96).
Thompson, P. & Tribble, C. (2001) 'Looking at citations: using corpora in
English for Academic Purposes' Language, Learning & Technology 5/3
(September 2001): 91-105. http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num3/thompson/default.html
†Tribble, C. & Jones, G. (1990) Concordances in the Classroom London:
Longman. Also available now from Athelstan. Available in the TRC
Tribble, C. (1997) 'Improvising Corpora for ELT: Quick and Dirty Ways of
Developing Corpora for LanguageTeaching' in B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and J.
Melia (eds) Proceedings of the First International conference on Practical
Applications in Language Corpora http://web.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/palc.htm
Useful websites
Tim Johns’ Home PageThe web page of one of the earliest practitoner's in
data-driven learning.
Using Corpora in Language Teaching and LearningLanguage, Learning &
Technology Special Issue 5/3 (2001) Using Corpora in Language Teaching and
Learning. edited by Chris Tribble and Michael Barlow.
http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num3/default.html
Michael Barlow’s Home PageSomeone who has both produced and sold a
concordancing in program -- MonoConc -- which is available on Vol1. You
might be familiar with his company Athelstan. A comprehensive set of
academic links.
OUP ELT WordSmith PageOne place where you can download a trial version of
this popular package. OUP sell this exclusively through the web. See the
instructions if you are interested. The SFL has purchased a single-user
license for this if you are interested in doing more serious linguistic
research.
Concordances and Corpora: ConcordancersThis website gives a description of
concordancing with examples. A good place to start for a background
description, particularly if you don't know much about the area.





-------Original Message-------

From: wordsurfing@...
Date: Monday, November 03, 2003 23:17:19
To: wordsurfing@...
Subject: Re: [wordsurfing] Re: Semantics in the wordsurfing concept

Hi Steve,
Great work on the word "light". I have three comments:

1. How do students apply this? How do they learn the concepts? Do they
memorize the meanings, sentences samples or
do they generate their own sentences for each concept?
2. Semantics is one thing, what about grammar? How do they apply the
concepts and generate authentic sentences of
their own? Do they write compositions? Do they work individually or
collaboratively?
3. Learning has to be meaningful. Any ideas on how to go about getting
students motivated to practice these concepts.

All the best,
Nellie
http://www.nelliemuller.com





-------Original Message-------

From: wordsurfing@...
Date: éåí ùðé 03 ðåáîáø 2003 13:37:39
To: wordsurfing@...
Subject: Re: [wordsurfing] Re: Semantics in the wordsurfing concept

Nellie

My attachment seems to have been lost in cyberspace (or judging from the
message at the bottom, removed by yahoogroups.) I'll try to copy/paste the
example here, but I fear that it won't appear correctly when you read it.

Steve

Concordances for light with associated = 205WordNet entries for light


1 id Pencroft. "It will be enough to light a fire at the entrance of the
cave
11 w it out, make openings to let in light and air?" replied Pencroft,
who now
13 make the lower end. The breeze was light, and as the current had then
lost
16 YONE WHO HAS turned on the kitchen light and heard the skittering
sound of
17 was made. The sailor then struck a light and set fire to a twig. This
light
24 Ferranti family's demands came to light as a result of an approach by
repre
25 versies and frailties in a kinder light, as perhaps the peculiar
byproducts
29 ty ....28 Northampton ......4 THE Light Blues looked anything but
lightwei
30 croft had kept his promise, and a light boat, the shell of which was
joined
36 which supplied not only heat and light, but the mechanical power of
the "
60 pression that all is sweetness and light. Ever since Prost confirmed
his in
69 till had to receive a final green light from the president once he had
work
85 eam is Michael Simmonds, a leading light in right- wing think tank the
Adam
87 g the materials and techniques of light industry, Ebner produced
series af
99 he room for a few minutes, when a light knock was heard at the door.
Almost
105 nd another opponent in a negative light. Ms. Fields's campaign
responded q
121 lity of the null hypothesis in the light of experimental data.
Depending on
126 GTON (AP) - President Bush, making light of surgery to remove a cyst
from h
140 short, decisive, and clear, threw light on some important point.
Besides, h
144 nday. The discovery may help shed light on the nature of Jupiter's
volatile
170 made of a sort of red cedar, with light, strong branches; and this
apparatu
193 ld be the works on the subject of light warfare remembered from the
Revolut
199 uency spectrum. Radio waves, like light waves and sound, are a means
of tr
200 sed by the sea. But the artificial light, which escaped in long
streams fro

Note that not only does this data give the student a picture of the meanings

of the word, it starts to give them information about collocations (words
that commonly occur together). It also shows them how complex learning just
one word can be.
The concordancing tool from which the data above was taken is one of a
variety of lexical tools available on a very dynamic and fast-developing
site called The Compleat Lexical Tutor.


-------Original Message-------

From: wordsurfing@...
Date: Monday, November 03, 2003 13:10:11
To: wordsurfing@...
Subject: Re: [wordsurfing] Re: Semantics in the wordsurfing concept

Nellie
I'm particularly interested in combining the WordSurfing concept with
principles of data-driven learning. In particular, corpus-based techniques
have a lot of potential to help provide students with a 'new window' on the
English language. This does require a large element of learner training, but

I think that the WordSurfing concept and corpus-based techniques can be used

in combination to great effect.
I'm quite interested in exploring the use of concordances in this context.
For example, attached is a sample from the concordance for the word `light`
from the University Word List concordance. A student can spot many different

meanings and uses from this, rather than at random when reading or listening

for the word. However, without a 'system' to record their observations of
the behaviour of words in this context, students cannot fully exploit these
additional resources.

Steve

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