The Language Teacher
03 - 2002
Utilizing eGroup for Japanese Students
Ayako Shibuya
Soka University
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: CALL, class supplement
Learner English Level: All, with computer access
Learner Maturity Level: High school and up
Preparation Time: 10 minutes to set up a group
Activity Time: A few minutes to add features. The rest depends on
the activities chosen.
eGroup is a free mailing-list service provided by Yahoo! Anyone can create their own group or join an existing group. Once you create or join a group, you can send a message to the group address, and everyone in the group receives your message. eGroup has other useful free features that can be utilized not only for CALL classes but also for other language classes as helpful supplements.
Computer-based language teaching has become popular worldwide in recent years, but it may not be easy for language teachers in Japan to implement for several reasons: teachers' own limited computer skills, students' diversity in computer and typing skills, school facility limitations, and so forth. For those teachers who are a little hesitant to use a CALL room for their course but would like to try some CALL elements in their class, eGroup will be very useful. In this short paper, I would like to introduce how I created a class eGroup and used it to supplement my courses without using a CALL room.
Creating a Class eGroup
Creating a class eGroup is easy if you have access to the Internet. Visit <www.egroups.co.jp> for Japanese or <www.groups.yahoo.com> for English and click "Create New Group." You can collect your studentsÕ email addresses in class and type them into the directory by yourself to create a class eGroup. An easier way is to assign students to send an email directly to you and copy and paste the addresses into the directory. This will save time, and you don't have to worry about misspelling your students' email addresses. If you have a computer wizard in your class, you may ask that student to create the group for you and the other students. Once you set up a group, a welcome message will be sent to each member in the group, and by replying to it or accessing the group homepage, students can activate their eGroup accounts. As an owner of the group, you may prevent other people from logging in and reading messages.
eGroup Features and Lesson Ideas
Exchanging Messages: This is the main feature of the eGroup. All members of the group can receive and read the email messages sent to the eGroup address. Questions and answers about class can be exchanged between students and teacher through eGroup and the whole class can benefit from it. In this way, you can also avoid answering the same questions to each student. These question and answer exchanges can also be done successfully between students.
Online discussions: This activity is based on the exchange of messages. My students had a lesson about prejudice and non-violence and discussed these issues in class. Small group discussion often works, but uneven patterns of participation cannot be avoided in many lessons due to the difference in students' speaking ability and the level of willingness to communicate. Moreover, students seemed to have a lot to say but there was not enough time for discussion. Therefore, as homework, I asked them to email their own opinion about the topic to the eGroup, read their classmates' opinions, and reply to at least one message. The students expressed their opinions and were involved in the discussion much more than I had expected. Shy students who usually do not participate in class discussion expressed opinions elaborately in online discussions, and greater participation was witnessed, as in Warschauer's (1997) study on electronic discussions. Later I received feedback from my students; most reported that they enjoyed the assignment.
The Calendar: eGroup offers a calendar feature. I posted the class schedule and list of homework assignments on the calendar, so absent students and attending-but-absentminded students could check out anytime online what they were going to/had to do and homework due dates. By doing this, I could avoid having "I was absent, so I didn't know the homework for today" type of excuses. You can also set a reminder to be sent to members at a certain time and date with this feature.
Polls: eGroup has a poll feature where you can set up a poll in which members cast votes. I once used this feature to get students' feedback on which of the units in the textbook they were interested in for class discussions. By doing this, students could be more involved in class decisions, and they felt more responsible for class activities. You can also set the deadline of a poll and have the results sent to group members. Students can also utilize this feature themselves to conduct surveys.
Shared Folders: Group members can share folders online. Images, documents, and files can be uploaded and downloaded with this feature. My students were given a group project leading to a group presentation toward the end of the semester. I told students that pictures of each group would be taken and shared in the eGroup folder. This motivated the students to be well prepared for the project and gave them something to look forward to.
Links: Links and their descriptions can be shared online with this feature; you can post links for students to check out, and students can also post their favorite sites. Instead of posting a site description, another way to utilize this feature is to post questions and create a Scavenger Hunt. Students visit the site posted and find answers to the questions.
Conclusions
I created a class eGroup at the beginning of the school year and have been maintaining it throughout the year. In the second semester, I conducted a survey of my students that revealed that they "like it," or feel it is "convenient," "good," and "should be used more." I have never used a CALL room for class meetings, but the eGroup features have been very useful for both students and me, and activities using these features have worked well in my class.
Reference
Warschauer, M. (1997). Comparing face-to-face and electronic discussion in the second language classroom. CALICO Journal,13 (2&3), 7-25
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