Blog 10

Language Learning Challenge Week 6 (Revision of Tenses Covered)

Week 6 Summary

For the Final Week of the Language Learning Challenge I began with writing out 25 sentences using all tenses covered. (5 Sentences for each tense) 

I then completed a Lingolia quiz for each tense.

The final task to complete for the Language Learning Challenge was to listen to a podcast and for nostalgia's sake I picked "News in Slow French."

Week 6 Reflection 
This week was a challenging one yet again, the assessments never stop and like everybody I'm a tad stressed, however the Language Learning Challenge was still completed, just with the added dimension of stress, just to make it exciting. This week was slightly different in that I did not need to begin with a French tense definition, this was for the reason that I'm using the final week as a period for consolidation, therefore I began with writing out 25 sentences using all tenses covered during the LLC. I most definitely experienced an improvement in my comprehension of the tenses generally, especially the tenses covered in the first few weeks as I had the opportunity to revise them more often. This is both a success and a shortcoming for my LLC, on one hand it was a success because putting those tenses first was intentional as I thought they were what I most needed to work on and because of this extra focus there was improvement. The shortcoming is that some tenses weren't covered as much, they were still revised at least twice but in an ideal world there would be more revision.

As mentioned in the summary, after I completed the sentence writing task, I completed 5 Lingolia quizzes to evaluate knowledge as well as improvement, here are the results:

Tense	Score 1	Score 2
Passé Compose	9/15	10/15
L’imparfait	9/15	14/15
Conditionnel	8/15	15/15
Futur Simple	7/15	12/15
Futur Proche	15/15	15/15

All results were either improved or maintained, validating the efficacy of my Language Learning Challenge to a degree. I will now discuss the six components of my Language Learning Challenge Proposal.

My Challenge 
I personally struggled with learning French tenses and listening comprehension, my personal challenge was to improve these two essential components of language learning. This didn't change throughout the entirety of the LLC and I'm of the opinion that my LLC tackled this challenge more than adequately.

My Learning Goal
This did not change throughout the LLC, the learning goal remains to improve my ability to use the five French tenses mentioned as well as improve my listening comprehension to the point where I feel more comfortable in my intermediate French level class. The Learning goal was certainly met, I have both improved my understanding of the French tenses (As can be seen in the results above) and my listening comprehension, the listening comprehension is a bit more difficult to evaluate but I'm getting more confident in class and feel like my comprehension has improved.

My Learning Styles and Strategies
I have most definitely tailored my Language Learning Challenge to suit my learning styles, I am both a visual learner and a kinesthetic learner according to a quiz published by Warwick University. Therefore I have used platforms that require me to read and absorb information that way. I've also accommodated the kinesthetic aspect of my learning style by implementing periods for the LLC, after I've read an article or written a little bit of my blog I would get up and move around a bit and basically go over everything I had just done in my head.

As mentioned in a previous post I also completed a Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), the results indicated that I needed to work on managing my emotions and remembering more effectively. As predicted, these strategies were improved throughout the LLC via this blog for the managing of my emotions and the challenge itself for remembering more effectively.

Technologies
During the LLC I used a few more technologies than originally put forward, mostly because I found that I was easily bored and the critical attitude more successful language learning is motivation. I have used Lingolia, podcasts, forums, quiz sites, word, online dictionaries, a French pronunciation app and translation sites, forgive me if I've missed any. I would argue that all of which were useful for my Language Learning Challenge apart from the online forum (see previous blog post).

My Plan 
In the original proposal I outlined how the first step of my plan was to research all the technologies I was going to use thoroughly and I did for the first few technologies used, however as the LLC was going on I became more preoccupied with the after effects of the technologies and less concerned with analyzing them beforehand. In the beginning my plan involved writing 5 sentences a week, using a different tense for each, as this didn't seem like enough, it then evolved to the following plan:
Week 3- 15 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel
Week 4- 20 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel, 5 futur simple
Week 5- 25 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel, 5 futur simple, 5 futur proche
Week 6- Repeat week 5 to reinforce
I feel that this plan was significantly more effective, it allowed me to revisit tenses previously covered each week, an affordance not granted by the previous plan.

My Evaluation
My main source of evaluation ended up being the Lingolia quizzes, all of which pointed to personal improvement regarding my understanding of French tenses. The other more subjective method of evaluation was measuring how comfortable I felt during my French class and in the end this also improved.

Overall I feel that my Language Learning Challenge was an effective use of my time, I have seen improvement in both my French tenses and listening comprehension.

This concludes the Language Learning Challenge.

Blog 9

Language Learning Challenge Week 5 (Futur Proche)

Week 5 Summary

As has become tradition, I began the week with the Lingolia definition of the futur proche.

I then completed the Lingolia quiz to test my comprehension of the definition. 

Following the quiz I wrote 25 sentences, using all the tenses covered so far. 

After the sentences I took a soft schools quiz to reinforce the information. 

To finish the week I did some listening activities from the Nouveau Rond-Point 2 Cahier exercise book.

Week 5 Reflection
It's definitely getting more and more difficult to keep up with the SLAT2002 Language Learning Challenge as assessment for other courses is never-ending, however in saying that my learning goal has been maintained and I see a positive effect on not only my knowledge of French tenses, but my writing and speaking skills. I deliberately put the futur proche last because I felt that it was the easiest tense to wrap my head around, this prediction is reflected in my quiz scores, in which I scored 100% for both. In retrospect I think I should have done the futur simple before the imparfait as I still struggled a little bit this week with it, I will put an extra focus on the futur simple next week. I enjoyed all examples of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) this week, all were practical and easy to use for my purposes, I particularly enjoyed listening to the audio from the Cahier as it was just a change, diversity is undeniably an essential aspect of second language learning, when each week feels like a repeat, it is easy to get unmotivated, I will discuss diversity in content in more detail below. To conclude this was a successful week, I completed all tasks outlined in the learning goal, working on both French tenses and listening comprehension, and I enjoyed doing it which is always a positive.

Diversity in Content

During the Language Learning Challenge I have been presented with a multitude of options in regards to content, when I typed the words "French quizzes" I was offered pages upon pages of options, this makes it difficult to discern which option is most effective, it is essentially limited to trial and error. For me personally, diversity in content is a huge positive, all students learn differently, they have different learning strategies, different preferences, some may use technology as it was intended and some may use the technology in a way that helps them. Additionally, if you use the same technology and software every week it will get boring, leading to a lack of motivation and a loss of autonomy. In the future I will continue diversifying the technologies I use when learning a language. 

Repetition in Language Learning
My Language Learning Challenge is built around repetition, therefore I will explain the thinking behind it. According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, verb repetition "led to an increase in the syntactic repetition enhancement effect in language related brain regions." I know the idea that if you study and repeat you will learn is hardly revolutionary but I thought it was just an interesting side note.

Auditory Language Learning
One component of my Language Learning Challenge is listening comprehension, most learners struggle with this as it is "a highly complex problem solving process in which listeners must discriminate among sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, identify stress and intonation, retain what they have gathered and interpret the language output within the relevant sociocultural context (Chen, Zhang & Liu 2013). For the purposes of evaluating and improving my listening I will look at listening strategies, particularly O'Malley and Chamot's Taxonomy, this involves three Categories:
. Cognitive Strategies- Most common form of strategy used by L2 learners, refers to the direct manipulation or transformation of listening materials e.g. repeating the listening task, using imagery or key words, translating, taking notes, summarization, etc.
. Metacognitive Strategies- Help learners regulate their learning process, including planning, monitoring and evaluating e.g. planning for a listening task, identifying the purpose of the listening task, linking content with material.
. Affective Strategies- Allow listeners to manage their emotions e.g. writing about your feelings (blog) and communicating with peers.
I definitely employ cognitive strategies, after listening to the audio from the cahier I repeated the listening task and took notes, direct examples from the definition.

See you next week for the last blog entry. 

Blog 8

Language Learning Challenge Week 4 (Futur Simple)

Week 4 Summary 

I began the week with a Lingolia definition of the futur simple. 

I then completed the Lingolia quiz and scored averagely.

After the Lingolia quiz I completed the 20 sentences outlined in the LLC plan.

I then completed another quiz to see if I'd improved. 

After the quiz I looked on the French Stack Exchange forum, however did not find it particularly helpful. 

To conclude I listened to News in Slow French for five minutes. 

Week 4 Reflection

Even though this is the mid-semester break, it has probably been the busiest week of the year for me, it's been extremely difficult to keep up with the Language Learning Challenge. There has been course work due for other courses, work has been quite full on, not to mention there have been family events. This week was a pretty typical week in terms of the work I actually did for the Language Learning Challenge, I completed what I'd set out to do in the plan and have undoubtedly completed tasks in line with my LLC learning goal. I personally struggled quite a bit with the futur simple (as you can see in my quiz scores) I think this is because we haven't had a chance to cover it completely in class this week, so it is a new concept to me, however I do believe that because of the exercises I have a better understanding of the futur simple, it has at least laid the groundwork. I also took the time to look at a French language forum called "French Stack Exchange," this only lasted 5 minutes however, for the reason that I think I was just uninterested, basically what people were saying was boring and I couldn't really find any examples of language that was pertinent to my goal of learning the futur simple. To close out the week I went back to listening to the News in Slow French podcast, again it did not last long because I was unmotivated and was a bit overwhelmed with the work I had to do this week. 

Revisiting Cultural Influence on the Pedagogical Framework

As was previously mentioned in last weeks blog, I visited a French language forum called French Stack exchange, it was my hope that the forum would allow me to look at French tenses used in an authentic context, as well as allow for me to use the research of Levy to analyze this form of language learning., this was not the case. The first issue was that the forum was mainly used by those that are learning French, meaning that authentic language is difficult to come by, this was most definitely my fault as I failed to comprehensibly research the site before I used it. The second issue was that I just didn't care about what they were talking about, it was mundane things about their life that was in simple French, for me personally it was just uninteresting.  As the text was inauthentic there were very few examples of culture that I could see in the text, as everyone participating was from similar cultures (The majority was British, American and Australian). 

Translation in my Language Learning Challenge 

As much as all those that have attempted to teach me French will hate to hear this, translation, google translate specifically, plays a role in my French language learning, whether I'm reading a French novel or just trying to complete an activity in the textbook, I will use translation to help. Translation has been criticized for its propensity to traditional grammatical structures and the much maligned grammar translation method, it's seen as ineffective. Translation emphasizes form rather than meaning, an issue that has actually affected the LLC, as when I check the sentences I write out, google translate often fails to recognize the context. 

However, there has been a paper written by Inga Dagilienė that advocates for translation as an effective language learning tool, it argues that "When integrated into daily classroom activities translation can help students develop and improve reading, speaking, writing skills, grammar and vocabulary." Dagiliene found that translation was useful for preparation, and also found that more proficient language learners utilized translation. For me personally, I use translation because it is an autonomous activity that usually involves authentic French texts, I do not think that it is a harmful exercise. For this reason I will continue to utilize translation in my language learning challenge. 

See you next week. 

Blog 7

Language Learning Challenge Week 3 (conditionnel) 

Week 3 Summary

This week was a bit different, I began with a pronunciation exercise on an app called "French Pronunciation Speaking," this was because it had been pointed out to me earlier in the week that it needed work. As my week was still busy this acted as a replacement for the podcast. 

I then used good old reliable Lingolia and completed the accompanying quiz for 'le conditionnel.'

Next came the 15 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait and 5 conditionnel. 

Finally, to conclude the week I visited a website called "Soft Schools," I don't understand the name but the quiz was useful for consolidation. 

Week 3 Reflection

I really enjoyed this week in the language learning challenge, perhaps it was because I used some new technologies and changed it up a bit. I won't describe my experience with Lingolia this week because I'm pretty sure that you're aware that I love it, instead the two new technologies will be analyzed, first on the agenda is "French Pronunciation Speaking." During a French class earlier in the week we were given general feedback and it seemed focused on pronunciation, consequently this week I added a speaking component. The technology was easy to use with authentic audio however its downfall was that if you typed in a sentence, often the audio was a jumbled mess. This wasn't an issue with my personal use as I only had need for the pronunciation of single words. The second CALL tool was the website "Soft Schools," this was used as a consolidation tool, I was not wholly confident with the conditionnel so felt the need to reinforce what I'd learnt. This proved to be incredibly useful as after studying the sentences I'd written I achieved a 90% score on the quiz, an improvement on the earlier Lingolia quiz. 

Evaluation of Technologies (Level 3 Chapelle Framework)

French Pronunciation Speaking

Language Learning Potential- 5/10

Learner Fit- 7/10

Meaning Focus- 4/10

Authenticity- 6/10

Positive Impact- 5/10

Practicality- 9/10 

Soft Schools 

Language Learning Potential- 6/10

Learner Fit- 8/10

Meaning Focus- 4/10

Authenticity- 3/10

Positive Impact- 7/10

Practicality- 9/10

Cultural Influence on the Pedagogical Framework (Levy, 2007)

During this weeks SLAT2002 workshop the importance of culture in using new technologies was emphasized, an element of language learning that is often overlooked, and embarrassingly I have overlooked it as well. It is pertinent to the my Language Learning Challenge as next week I am looking to look at a French Website or discussion forum, this is because I've found that a varied approach to technology use keeps me engaged in the challenge and avoids the staleness that so often comes with language learning. According to Levy, there are five facets of the culture concept, culture as elemental, as relative, as group membership, as contested and lastly as individual. I will specifically look at "French Stack Exchange," a website that operates as a collaborative forum and look for the tenses I am trying to learn in order to contextualize it. 

The forum is an asynchronous method of communication, meaning that "there is time to consider features of their own cultural background and those of their partner." (Levy, 2007). As well as this, the example I put forward most commonly demonstrates culture as individual, the forums, this facet of culture has three components, "cultural knowledge varies from person to person and has many different levels, students and teachers are selective in how they represent their cultures and there is the aim of sharing individual experiences and building upon them. I will talk about my experience more thoroughly next week this was just a brief overview. 

I'll see you next week. 

Blog 6

Language Learning Challenge Week 2 (l'imparfait)

Week 2 Summary

Last week I made the statement that I would write 15 sentences using the tense, however that was unrealistic in the context of this week, instead 10 were written. 

I then used Lingolia to study l'imparfait and its structure to check accuracy, as well as completed an online Lingolia quiz.

Finally, to close out the Week I, listened a News in Slow French podcast. 

Week 2 Reflection

I am a little disappointed with myself this week, due to poor time management on my part I did not get to engage as much as I wanted with the Language Learning Challenges that I had set myself. However in saying this, I still exceeded the weekly goal set out in the LLC proposal, writing ten sentences instead of five and completing all other components outlined in the challenge. You are probably sick of reading it but I really like Lingolia for my purposes, again I found it quite useful for learning as well as practicing the tense, I did not use Word Reference this week as it seemed a bit superfluous after using Lingolia as well. The original plan was to write five sentences a week, and this week I increased the workload to ten sentences and I think I will continue to increase the workload by five sentences every week, I will elaborate more in the updated Language Learning Challenge Plan. I struggled with identifying when l'imparfait was being used during the podcast, contrary to the passé compose experience last week, however I will persevere as I quite obviously need  to work on my listening skills and listening for context in particular. 

Updated Language Learning Challenge Plan
The previous LLC plan was to write five sentences a week, using one specific tense each week, five separate tenses all up, leaving one week at the end of the challenge in which all five tenses will be used. I have decided that this is not the most effective way of second language learning, the new plan is as follows:

Week 3: Write 15 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel. 
Week 4: Write 20 sentences,  5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel, 5 futur proche. 
Week 5: Write 25 sentences, 5 passé compose, 5 l'imparfait, 5 conditionnel, 5 futur proche, 5 futur simple. 
Week 6: Repeat week 5 to further reinforce 

I'm under the impression that this is an improvement as I will be revising tenses learned every week and consequently not allowing myself to forget. Additionally, I will continue with the one podcast per week. 

My Learning Goal Progress
To refresh your memory I will reiterate my learning goal, by the end of the Language Learning Challenge, I wish to be able to use the five tenses previously outlined effectively, without having to pause or think too much, a skill critical to comprehending the French language. I also intend to improve my listening skills to the point where I'm comfortable listening to the intermediate level of French spoken in class.

The first component of the learning goal regarding the learning of tenses is progressing well in my humble opinion, I definitely feel like I have a much better understanding of the passé compose that can only improve as the challenge goes on with the new and improved plan. The study of l'imparfait this week proved to be more challenging, partly because it took me a little while to completely understand its meaning, but mostly because it is a new concept to me. Although I think that it will definitely become clearer as I will revise it every week and even though I say that I struggled this week, I still know more than when I started, a success in my book.

For the listening component there has been less obvious progress, but perseverance is key, I will not be able to understand French overnight. As well as this, there is a connection between learning and challenge, if I'm not challenged I am not effectively learning anything.

Next Week 
In week 3 I'm looking to change up the technologies used a little. Obviously I will continue with Lingolia because it is by far the most useful technology I have used thus far, however I will add to this with a BBC Bitesize conditionnel tense quiz. I may also change podcasts, instead listening to an intermediate level podcast titled "innerFrench."

More to come next week. 

Blog 5

Language Learning Challenge Week 1

Week 1 Summary 

This week I wrote five sentences using the passé composé

I then studied sentence structure using Lingolia and Word Reference to check accuracy as well as completed an additional test on Lingolia. 

To finish the week I then listened to the podcast "News in Slow French."

Week 1 Reflection

I have completed all of the tasks outlined in the original task. I decided to focus on the passé composé and personally I think it was a successful week, the only criticism that I would give myself being that I could stretch to 15 sentences using a tense per week. I feel that the increase is adequate as it is enough to make a difference and reinforce sentence structure in my head while at the same time not being so strenuous that it would impact time for other coursework. Additionally, I completed a test on the passé composé and achieved a passing mark. I enjoyed listening to the podcast as I not only was challenged but found myself being able to pick up when the passé composé was being used. In conclusion, I am under the impression that this format will work for me and help achieve the learning goal of being able to use the French tenses effectively and improve my French listening comprehension. 

Evaluation of Technologies Using Level Three of Chapelle Analysis 

Word Reference 

Language Learning Potential- For word reference the language learning potential (LLP)  is quite low. The criteria for LLP according to Chapelle are; "interactional modification, modification of output, time pressure, modality, support, surprise, control, and stakes." Word reference does not identify strongly to these criteria. It is limited by purely being an information based example of CALL, there are no tasks outlined by the technology itself. 

Learner Fit- I would say that Word reference is an accurate learner fit for me, as I prefer to be independent and develop tasks on the basis of what information I need to learn, rather than just have a task handed to me to do. As mentioned the language learning challenge proposal I am also a visual learner meaning that I am more likely to remember what I read rather than what I hear, an online dictionary is therefore the perfect choice. 

Meaning Focus- As I am mainly using the online dictionary as a means of revising sentence structure and tense, it is possible to say that there is more of a form focus. It may seem counterintuitive as I am literally using a platform designed for finding meaning but it seems to be working for me. Therefore, it can be said that Word Reference scores poorly in meaning focus. 

Authenticity- According to Chapelle, authenticity refers to " the degree of correspondence between an L2 learning task and tasks that the learner is likely to encounter outside of the classroom." Going by this definition there is certainly a lack of authenticity with the online dictionary. 

Positive Impact- Positive impact is the degree to which the CALL task will motivate the student to develop their learning skills outside the classroom. In this respect I think using the online dictionary was effective for me in learning grammatical rules in particular, I am quite an independent learner and anything that involves me listening or watching I will often very quickly lose interest. 

Practicality-  Word Reference is an extremely practical and accessible platform for language learning, subsequently Word Reference scores highly in this criteria. 

Lingolia 

Language Learning Potential- Lingolia is quite similar to Word Reference in this criteria, though I believe it is a little better. Lingolia offers both a more detailed outline of the passé composé and a quiz to take afterwards to measure comprehension. The quiz was quite helpful is it was not just testing the basic forms of the tense as most sites do, there were reflexive verbs and differing structures. I would rate the language learning potential as medium. 

Learner Fit- As with Word Reference, Lingolia fits my preferred learning style perfectly, the work is independent and there is a comprehension test where the results are instaneous. It also fits my personal schedule as it's possible to use while travelling and not so strenuous that I'm stressed out to do, it is actually quite fun which I think is a good sign. 

Meaning Focus- Lingolia scores quite poorly in this criteria as it uses more form-based tasks to teach, for example filling in correct verb tenses. I do not see this as an issue as it's my belief that there is more of a meaning focus in the French workshops I am already attending and hopefully that is enough to be able to learn effectively. 

Authenticity- Lingolia gets another low score for authenticity, as there is little active engagement, however the usage of verb tenses is a everyday  occurrence so I would argue that it is authentic in some way. I do not think that authenticity will play a very big role in whatever technology I use for learning French tenses, it is very much an independent task that does not require all that much communication at the moment. 

Positive Impact- For me Lingolia has definitely had a positive impact , I am motivated to do it again next week as a feel that it has reinforced and strengthened my knowledge of the passé composé. I enjoyed using the technology and am excited to use it again next week. I am therefore giving Lingolia a high mark in positive impact. 

Practicality- It is much the same as Word Reference, it is highly accessible, practical and easy to use, I can't find many faults in Lingolia for my purpose. 

"News in Slow French" Podcast

Language Learning Potential- The language learning potential for the podcast is quite limited in my view, as a tool it is only useful when you have quite a high degree of previous knowledge and access to people you can communicate with in your L2. However, the podcast was very useful in reinforcing what I had learned using Lingolia and word reference, I was able to identify at various points when the passé composé was being used, additionally it undoubtedly helped with listening comprehension. I give the podcast a low to medium mark for the language learning potential criteria. 

Learner Fit- Because I am a visual learner I had a bit more trouble using this technology, I am just too easily distracted, I can't sit still and just listen, I feel like I need to be doing something else at the same time. In saying this however, I will persevere as I feel that in the long run it can only be beneficial for my French listening skills. I will give the podcast a medium ark for this criteria as I need to earn how to listen. 

Meaning Focus- There is a heavy meaning focus as this is purely a listening task, I need to be engaged in order to understand what is going on. Communicative learning has been proven to be the most effective form of learning, so it cannot hurt to have one task focused on communication and understanding meaning. The podcast has a high meaning focus. 

Authenticity- The podcast also scores highly in this criteria as the news, as well as listening comprehension in general is an essential aspect of language and will be useful beyond the classroom. This is by far the most authentic CALL system I will be using in the language learning challenge. 

Positive Impact- Personally I am a lot less motivated to listen to the podcast compared to my willingness to engage with the other two platforms. However, as previously mentioned, I will continue with the use of the podcast as I don't see another more effective way of improving my listening skills. The podcast scores quite low in the positive impact criteria. 

Practicality-  It is every bit as practical as the previous two technologies, its only downfall being that it is hard to follow sometimes and on a few occasions I had to use an online dictionary to figure out what had been said. 

I will be back next week. 

Blog 4

Final Proposal Language Learning Challenge 

My Challenge

I am currently enrolled in the Bachelor of International Studies program at the University of Queensland, a degree that involves a language component. For the language component I have chosen French because I had the chance to learn the basics of the language during the first two years of high school and am looking to continue with learning the language finally. I am at an intermediate level of French at the moment, however I still feel that I need to improve the base of my language learning, especially the essential skill of memorizing tenses. I personally struggle with all the tenses we have leant so far apart from the  present tense, to be specific the passé composé, l'imparfait, conditionnel, futur proche, and the futur simple. Additionally, I need to work on my listening skills, I find that in both exams and just during class generally, I struggle with listening comprehension. To conclude, my personal challenge is to improve my ability to use French tenses as well as my listening comprehension. 

My Learning Goal

By the end of the language learning challenge (LLC) I wish to be able to use all the French tenses mentioned above effectively, without having to pause or think too much, this is a skill critical to comprehending the French language. I would also like to improve my listening skills to the point where I'm comfortable listening to the intermediate level of French spoken in class, both are goals that I believe are achievable and essential if I'm to continue improving my French language skills. 

My Learning Styles and Strategies 

I have taken a quiz published by Warwick University to determine which of the three VAK learning styles suited me best. The results suggested that I am both a visual and kinesthetic learner. This means that, as you can probably guess, I acquire information more effectively when I can see it in front of me, for example it is easier for me to learn via reading rather than absorbing what I hear. For this reason there will be a focus on technologies like online dictionaries that require reading. I am also a kinesthetic learner, meaning that I would rather learn by doing, I am an active learner, this is useful as I prefer to learn by doing and in this case communicating. A useful learning style to possess when you take into account that a communicative style is seen to be the most effective in learning a language. 

I have also done a strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) profile, the results of which revealed that I need to work on managing my emotions and remembering more effectively. In order to improve the managing my emotions aspect of the strategy inventory, I am writing this blog to record and hopefully reflect on the language learning process. In my opinion the more important aspect of the strategy inventory that needs to be improved is remembering more effectively, as it is a direct link to language learning, this can basically be improved by dedicating more time to studying, the LLC will provide a platform for me to achieve this. 

Technologies

Throughout my time attempting to learn the French language I have tried to use a multitude of digital platforms and other technologies such as google translate, various online games, YouTube videos (only in class), Duolingo and the ever useful online dictionary. However, when using these technologies, I have only used them in the sense of 'Tool CALL,"  a tool for teaching rather than a substitute and will continue to do so as I believe there is more potential to learn. For the listening component I will utilize platforms such as streaming services (Netflix, YouTube, Spotify Podcast). I feel that this technology will most definitely be effective in developing my listening comprehension skills, specifically I will be listening to the podcast titled "News in Slow French," this is for the reason that as well as being able to practice my listening, all the tenses I'm looking to learn, or at least most, should be used.

For the writing and memorizing aspect of the LLC I will be using more traditional means of language learning, I will be writing with a pen and paper mostly but an online dictionary will be used for memorizing the syntax and verb endings. I will also use a website called Lingolia as it has a function where you have to complete sentences using different tenses and it will definitely be useful for revising.

Carol Chapelle offers three levels of analysis; Level 1- software only, Level 2- Task/Activity with software, Level 3- Analysis of learners performance. For the purposes of the LLC we are only going to focus on level 3. There are six criteria which will be reviewed every week on the blog and marked out of ten, they are:
1. Language learning potential
2. Learner fit
3. Meaning Focus
4. Authenticity
5. Positive Impact
6. Practicality

My Plan 

The first step of my learning plan is to learn as much as I possibly can about the chosen technologies in order to be able to use them as effectively as possible. I will write 5 sentences a week using one specific tense each week, there are 5 tenses of which I am setting out to learn comprehensibly, this leaves one week at the end of the Language Learning Challenge in which I will revise all five tenses. Alongside the sentence writing, I will use Lingolia as a form of revision  and do a page of activities that correspond with the tense studied that week . I will also listen to "News in Slow French" once a week as I'm under the impression that it will reinforce what I've learnt and improve my listening. 

Evaluation

I think that my Language Learning Challenge may be difficult to evaluate, especially for the listening comprehension, the only tangible way to access my progress will be with how comfortable I am during the my French class and the marks I end up with for listening during the French course I'm taking. It is a tad easier with the sentence writing, I will evaluate my sentences by either checking online or with my teacher, as well as this, Lingolia also has a function where it can quiz you, specifically with French tenses, I will record my score for this weekly.