IMPLEMENTATION

Google Classroom is a free learning management system which can be utilized by both teacher and students for more systematic and effective learning. This system by Google is free and can be linked to other applications such as Google Docs, Google Forms, YouTube and others. Through this system, lecturers are able to customize learning modules according to needs and preferences for groups or an individual. There are many unique features presented in Google Classroom which enables more variety and dynamic learning for the students. In this blog, I am only going to present features related to speaking practices conducted however if you are interested in incorporating the use of Google Classroom in the lessons, you may follow the full tutorial below:

Below are the features of Google Classroom in which solves the problems encountered by lecturers in speaking practices.

1. Keeping track of practices assigned and participation of students.

Tasks assigned are categorized accordingly depending on how you set up your categories. For language lessons, we focus on teaching the 4 skills namely listening, writing, reading & speaking. Thus the sample above is categorized based on the 4 skills. You may vary the categorization according to your preference or subject needs.

As for information on students' participation in the task, just click on the title of the task and a summary of participation will show (refer picture below): 

Turned in - total number of submission/participation

Assigned - total number of students this task was assigned to

Graded - total number of graded submission

*'Graded' is optional as it is based upon preference if the task is to be graded. If it is an ungraded task then it would not appear in the summary. 

Referring to the summary in the picture above, I know that the total number of students is 18. Only 16 of them have participated in or completed the task which was then graded and returned while 2 did not complete this task.

To know further as to who those 2 are, click on the 'View Assignment' and names of the individuals will be displayed (see pic. below).

With this individualistic feature, shy or weak students will have equal opportunity in practising speaking and improving their skills before transferring it into a spontaneous discussion in a classroom setting. It also provides students with ownership learning as they decide the pace of learning and amount of learning they need.

2. Feedback on students work

Google Classroom enables students to submit audio recordings or videos of their speaking practices thus even though feedback given is delayed, they are still able to identify errors made by reviewing their recordings. Feedback can only be viewed by the individuals thus reducing the anxiety of participants in being commented publicly and shying away from speaking practices.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

3. Encouraging NF2F speaking practices

As the task is assigned through this platform with a due date assigned to it, increased opportunities/ needs/ urgency is presented to the students to carry out practices outside of the classroom. Frequency and intensity of the practices will be controlled by the lecturer in terms of the amount of task assigned and duration given to complete a task.