"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles

Mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature.

You can see all my “Best” lists related to education research here.

Here are some new useful studies (and related resources):

Making the Case for Reading Instruction with Adolescents is by Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey and Diana Lapp.

Stories in Education: The Importance and Application of Storytelling in Inclusive Education is a new study. I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES ON TELLING STORIES WHEN WE TEACH.

The Impact of Feedback Methods on Student Achievement in Zhengzhou University, China: A Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy is a new study. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

The Impact of Digital Formative Assessment on Student Motivation and Learning Outcomes in the Technological Era is a new study.  I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Formative Assessment.

Application of the Jigsaw Technique to Enhance Student Motivation and Engagement in Vocabulary Learning is another new study. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE JIGSAW INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY,

     

Willpower Doesn’t Work. This Does. is the headline of a relatively recent NY Times Op Ed by Angela Duckworth of “grit” fame.

It’s about “situational agency,” which is a new-to-me term referring to removing temptations instead of using willpower to overcome them.

Though the word is new to me, the strategy isn’t.  In fact, Dr. Walter Mischel of the famous Marshmallow Experiment talked about some of the children who were most successful in resisting eating the marshmallow were ones who hid it.

And, of course, teachers apply “situational agency” all the time – having students sit apart from friends who might distract them, asking them to put their cellphones in their backpacks so they can’t see them, etc.

I always found a key to making this a successful strategy was talking privately with students about their challenges, inviting them to share their ideas on how to overcome them, and my suggesting ways they could avoid temptations.  I’m not sure you can use the word “agency” to describe any strategy that involves a person in authority telling someone else what they should do.

I’m adding this info to Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control.

     

About two years ago I wrote a post titled I Think This Study Shows The Best Way To Use AI To Help ELLs Develop Writing Skills.

In that study, the researchers showed that having students use a writing tool that periodically gave English Language Learners a few choices of words to use helped them become better writers.

Basically, it was a controlled Google “Smart Compose” or Apple autocomplete.

That made a lot of sense to me.  Unfortunately, Word Tune was the only tool out there that was similar (the researchers had built their own) and it was too expensive for most teachers to use.

Yesterday, on a whim, I tried to see if I could create such a tool through “vibe coding” – basically, using AI to create it for me (since I know absolutely nothing about programming).

First, I tried Google’s Gemini, which had a promising start.  In fact, it told me it could even connect a Google Sheet to it so that a teacher could see who used it, what they wrote, and which words they had actually chosen.  But, then its instructions got too complex and convoluted.   It ended up recommending that I take my idea to ChatGPT.

ChatGPT then basically threw up its hands (if it had them) and said it couldn’t do it.

Finally, I went to Claude.

After many exchanges, we created the “Write In English” tool, which is free and accessible to everyone and anyone.

In theory, after every few words you type into it, it’s supposed to show you three words to consider choosing as the next one (though you don’t have to accept its suggestions). The words it uses are supposed to be the 1000 most used English words, and its supposed to able to choose the three words by mimicking the literacy of a Beginning ELL. In addition, each of those three words has a short explanation of it.  It’s also supposed to tell you if misspelled a word, and how to spell it correctly (though seems to incorrectly flag some words).  It can offer topics, and many sentence starters.  It will also read aloud what is written.  It’s designed for Beginning English Language Learners.

It’s clunky and doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to do.  In fact, I don’t even think it works well enough that I’d use it in my own classroom.  

However, in a year or two, I bet AI coding will reach a point where any teacher could easily create something far more sophisticated.

Doing this took several hours – far longer than I had expected.  “Vibe coding” is not as simple as it’s supposed to be.

You might also be interested in I’ve Created Five Free Chatbots For Teachers & Others, And Some Have Become Quite Popular – Here Links To All Of Them.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST POSTS ABOUT USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH ELLS .

     

JessBaileyDesign / Pixabay

With fewer and fewer ELL Newcomers entering schools because of Trump administration policies, many schools will likely be eliminating classes dedicated solely to Newcomers.

Which means that many of them will be parachuted into classes composed almost entirely of English-proficient students.

Good ELL teaching is better teaching for everybody, since it requires teachers to make their content more accessible.

However, that’s going to be a big challenge for any teacher if they have a student who knows next to no English.

That’s where Google’s announcement today that simultaneous translation features on Google Translate are now available on iPhones and can be used with earbuds.  See Transform your headphones into a live personal translator on iOS.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP ELL STUDENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION IN THE CLASSROOM.

Here’s a video about how this new feature works:

     

Brent Warner is an ELL instructor who generally shares resources on multiple social media platforms, including a podcast.

I recently read a piece he wrote for TESOL, 4 Ways to Practice English With YouTube’s AI.

In it, he talks about how English Language Learners can use the “Ask About This Video” feature for language-learning.

You can identify videos that have this feature by a diamond icon next to the word “Ask” under the video (see the screenshot above).  Lots of videos don’t have it, but most of the  more education-related ones that I searched did.

You click on the icon, and this shows up on the side:

Brent’s post describes very creative ways motivated learners can take advantage of it.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST POSTS ABOUT USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH ELLS .