"La Fin" [The End]

To conclude this Language Learning Challenge, I would like to write a post discussing the outcome of my challenge and consequently the effectiveness of the technologies used. I will analyse the results of my six implementations graphically and reflect on goals and strategies set in my proposal.

Results

Online Verb Conjugator 
I have put my results from the weekly verb conjugator test in a graph in order to be able to analyse the results more easily. For the first two tenses - where I didn't do an initial test at the start of the week - I actually did two tests and used the result from the first as my initial score. On the chart I have allocated the benchmark of 80% I set in the proposal. The numerical scores are also listed.

As can be seen on this chart, my scores improved dramatically from the start to the end of the week - a weekly average of 19.2%! All final results were (well) above the goal of 80% I set, showing my learning challenge was effective in terms of identifying, learning, and practicing the tenses focused on. With this result, I can continue to use the same learning strategies in order to further optimise my ability and become confident that I know and am able to use the appropriate tenses.

Paragraph Conjugation
The paragraph writing activity performed ultimately demonstrates evidence of proficiency in use. For example, using the right verb and tense in the right context. After this challenge, I feel much more confident in this area, and I undoubtedly feel as though my French abilities have increased as a result.

As seen on the chart, overall there is an upwards trend in the results. However, this type of test is not really a continuous one that builds off the previous week, as a new tense was learnt every week. Another important point to note is that for all tests, the number of verbs assessed was between 9 and 13 - a number so small that one error shows a significant percentage change. 

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Further to my results analysis, in this post I will reflect on whether the implementation of the challenge aligned with and achieved the goals set in my proposal.

What was my challenge and did I succeed in this challenge?

1. To identify, learn, and practice several different tenses and ultimately become proficient and confident in using these
2. This was to be achieved by the following steps:
1. Writing down the tense and its rules and conjugations
2. Using colour/visual aids to make it more memorable
3. Doing simple conjugation exercises on an iPhone app ('Très Bien')
4. Practicing conjugation further using an online French Verb Conjugation Trainer
5. Finishing the week by writing a paragraph using predominantly that tense and asking my dad, who speaks fluent French, to correct it.

Discussion: I definitely achieved the first point of this challenge. As discussed in my results above, after doing the challenge I feel much more confident in my knowledge of tenses and conjugations. I am definitely much further on the way to using these fluently. The second point however, was not executed as successfully. For points 1 and 2 I ended up just briefly looking these up at the start and then learning on the go. With regards to 'Très Bien', I think I did not completely succeed with this as a lot of information actually was not present on the app, discouraging use. The online verb conjugator was extremely beneficial and used repetitively. Therefore, overall I believe I succeeded in achieving my goal, yet some aspects such as app usage and time allocation could have been further investigated and optimised. 

What were my Learning Goals and did I fulfil the requirements?

• To achieve a score of above 80% in online verb conjugator tests
• To become proficient in using the tenses in writing
• To spend 1 hour each week on different activities related to each tense

Discussion: I consistently achieved a score of over 80%, satisfying and exceeding my set goal. In doing so, I feel like I have become more proficient in using the tenses in writing. From now on, I would like to focus on using the tenses more spontaneously and rapidly in speaking. The only aspect of my challenge that failed was meeting the time allocation. Some weeks I completed all activities on their respectful day as outlined in my schedule, but often I found myself falling behind and not spending sufficient time practicing. Upon improvement, my scores could further increase. 

Favourite and least favourite challenge activities:

Using an online verb conjugator as a way of constantly practicing and being exposed to verb conjugations was fantastic! The website allowed you to keep trying to correct wrong answers until they were wrong, allowing more thought being given into why what is right and why what is wrong. The most unfortunate thing was that the website broke down!

'Très Bien' was unfortunately not able to be successfully incorporated into my learning challenge as it lacked many of the tenses I was using. When I did utilise this technology, I enjoyed the reward of getting a gold star when achieving 100%. The app in itself is not badly designed, it just didn't prove to be suitable to the occasion. The use of another app - or even the development of a tense and conjugation practice specific app - is highly recommended!

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So this is it...

In my Symposia Presentation next Monday, I will discuss more in depth whether the activities in my challenge were effectively supported by my own learning styles and strategies. I will also include some recommendations for further Language Learning Challenge development. That is it for now. Thank you for paying attention to this blog, and until next time!

P.S. In case you have been wondering what the trees in the background of my blog represent - it's actually a photo I took of the Eiffel Tower! Unfortunately the content of the blog posts are slightly more important and therefore the picture stayed hidden behind!

Week 10 - A discussion on course concepts and implementation #5

In-Class Discussion

As I approach the end of this learning challenge, I will reflect again on some concepts we have discussed in-class that relate to my learning challenge. Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) (week 9) is something I explored during my challenge by using an app which allows you to select the correct conjugation. According to Ally (2007) "mobile technologies...enable interactive learning to take place anywhere, anytime, and at the pace of the learner". It allows learning to take place more opportunistically, and increases portability - two aspects that I have found extremely beneficial in my situation. I definitely lack effective planning skills, so a technology that allows me to learn on the go, whenever I want, is exceptionally useful. This is further exemplified by 'contingent learning' - being "instant follow up with further investigation based on their hunches or curiousity [when one] hears a word or see[s] something that promotes learning in real time (Levy, 2013). I have often found myself doing this during the challenge, as well as in general with my language learning. However, MALL does not come freely without any challenges. Luckily, in my case, the only real challenge faced was the cost of the mobile app.

Push vs pull learning (Kuhlmann, 2012)

Another principle I have found relatable to my challenge is "pull vs. push learning", as demonstrated in the image on the left. "Pull" refers to seeking out information for yourself, which I have done by taking initiative to look up conjugation rules and using an app to practice conjugations. With the "push" aspect, "information is made available to learners without effort on their part" (Motiwalla, 2007), for example resources on different tenses made available by my FREN2010 teacher.

In week 10, translation was a key concept discussed during the workshop and in online readings. Google translate, a statistic machine translation that seeks patterns in large amounts of text to create the most appropriate translation, is one of the main tools I have used during my challenge. However, I haven't found it to be that grammatically correct in terms of grammar and verbs, likely due to the issue with translating some tenses directly as opposed to just understanding the 'gist' of the tense. Another issue is that there is no option to select different levels of politeness such as 'tu' vs 'vous' - a critical grammatical aspect of French language.
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The Learning Challenge

With respect to my actual learning challenge, I have encountered an issue preventing me from doing my final implementation regarding final assessment quizzes. The website on which I was doing my quizzes is not working anymore. When clicking next to start the quiz, the usual list of verbs and text boxes for the answers does not show up anymore. I have tried to access the quiz from multiple different laptops, phones, and web browsers, but nothing has been able to fix it. It looks as below.

Therefore, I have not been able to complete my final assessment. Despite this, I have realised that it is in fact not a critical issue, due to an adjustment I made to the structure of my assessment after implementation #1. Doing a quiz at the start and end of each week to record my progress has provided sufficient information for me to judge the effectiveness of the challenge. Therefore, I will not be doing a fifth week of implementation. Since I completed two tenses per week twice, I still applied the challenge six times, actually proving 6 implementations.

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In my next and final blog post, I will be discussing the results from my LLC, and judging the effectiveness of the challenge as well as the technologies used as per the goals from my learning challenge proposal.

References:

- Levy, M. (2013). Week 9: Mobile Language Learning and Apps [Lecture recording]. Retrieved from SLAT2002, University of Queensland Blackboard Online: https://learn.uq.edu.au/
- Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: A framework and evaluation. Computers & Education, 49(3), 581-596. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.10.011
- Kuhlmann, T. (2012). Do You Know the Answers to these Rapid E-Learning Questions? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/do-you-know-the-answers-to-these-rapid-e-learning-questions/

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Week 9 - Implementation #4

This week was the last proper implementation of my challenge, as I learnt my last tense before I revise them all - the futur simple. We also studied this tense in class this week, so this challenge has nicely complemented my in-class learning by reinforcing this new tense. Unfortunately, I once again could not use the online verb conjugator, not because the tense wasn't on the website, but because the test would not load. I therefore chose the following two websites to do this week's test on:

• Website 1: https://francais.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/le-futur-simple/exercises
• This website is where I also sourced most of the rules I found, therefore specifically reinforcing these rules
• Website 2: http://www.tolearnfrench.com/french_lessons/futur-simple-test
• I chose this test due to its variety of conjugation practices available for the verbs that have exceptions to the normal rules

The main struggle I have been having with regards to my learning challenge is undoubtedly timing. Despite having set daily goals, I am finding myself getting distracted from these doable targets, and falling behind significantly. This is something that I personally struggle with even in all my other subjects. I believe this issue could impact on the effectiveness of my challenge, as well as the validity of the technology evaluation, as I am not getting enough time to utilise each one enough.

Implementation

The general rules for the futur simple are as follows (Lingolia, 2016):

• Used to express an intention for the future (demain je rangerai les dossiers); or a supposition about the present or future (tu ne finiras jamais en une journée); or conditional clauses (si on range à deux, on finira plus vite)
• Conjugation: take the infinitive (take of 'e' for 're' verbs) and add ai, as, a, ons, ez, ont
• Avoir (aur) and être (ser) are irregular
• Exceptions:
• Short e in word stem receives grave accent
• Some verbs double consonants (i.e. jeter = je jetterai)
• Some verbs ending in rir, i is omitted before adding future ending
• For verbs ending in yer, y becomes i
• Verbs ending in oir (+ aller, envoyer, faire, venir) are irregular. I.e. pouvoir -> je pourrai

My results for this week's test along with a brief discussion are shown below.

Online Verb Conjugator Result:

Discussion: This second future tense was slightly more difficult than the futur proche, since there are more irregular verbs to be conjugated, however, these were quite easily learnt. 

Paragraph Conjugation Result:

Discussion: This week's paragraph described what I will do in 3 months, using the futur simple to represent thing in the more distant future. I am quite happy with my result.

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My next blog post will be the final week of implementation, where I will be revising all the tenses I have learnt and testing to see how well I have retained the knowledge gained during this learning challenge. 
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References:

- Lingolia. (2016). Le futur simple (future). Retrieved from https://francais.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/le-futur-simple 

Week 8 - Implementation #3

This week I focused solely on the futur proche (near future) tense. I am fairly certain I learnt this tense in high school, however I haven't worked on it since so I thought it would be a good idea to review the tense. This week in FREN2010 we have also been learning the futur proche.
Unfortunately, the futur proche was not available on either the app I am using, nor the online verb conjugator. Therefore I chose two other websites to do the test and practice on, explained below:

• Website 1: 'Ch4 Ex 4F Le Futur Proche' from a companion wbesite to the Pearson textbook 'En Bons Termes'. I chose this website since it makes you rewrite the whole sentence, which is good practice, and it also asks you to conjugate negations. [Available http://wps.prenhall.com/ ca_ph_parmentier_enbons_7/46/11984/3067975.cw/content/index.html]
• Website 2: 'Français Facile - Futur Proche'. I chose this website because it includes conjugations for reflexive verbs. [Available http://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-12541.php]

I did both my assessments and exercises on these websites and found them to be although somewhat repetitive, also quite useful through providing context by including the verb in a sentence.

For future reference, I will also put the general rules of the futur proche in this blog post:

• Something that is going to happen soon, upcoming event which is going to occur in near future.
• Characteristic of spoken French, used in informal writing.
• Can be used with the imperfect to explain what someone was going to do. I.e. ils allaient partir pour Byron quand ils ont vu un éclair.
• Basically "going to"
• Conjugate 'aller' + add infinitive
• To negate, place ne ... pas around the conjugation of aller, i.e. je ne vais pas nager
• For reflexive verbs, put reflexive pronoun between aller and infinitive of reflexive verb

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Online verb conjugator result:

Discussion: I am very happy with this score and think it accurately reflects my ability. From class, I knew the basic rules but not more than this, which is why I initially made some mistakes. The futur proche actually turned out to be a relatively easy tense to learn and use, allowing me to reach a final score of 100% on both websites.

Paragraph correction result:

Discussion: As above with the online verb conjugator test, I am not surprised (yet extremely pleased!) with this result. In my paragraph I tried to incorporate as many perspectives (i.e. I, you, he, they, etc.) to practice each conjugation.

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My next (and last) tense challenge is the futur simple - assumedly more complex than the futur proche. À la semaine prochaine :)