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Making Revision Fun
English Language Learners Enjoy Editing Electronic
Texts
By Joseph Laturnau
The use of the computer as an interactive instructional
medium enhances literacy instruction for English Language Learners, complements
the reading-writing process, and promotes student ownership of learning.
Another positive outcome of using computers is the increased cooperation
as students work together to generate ideas, solve problems, and complete
tasks.
As an elementary school English as a Second Language teacher in the early
1990s when computer-based activities such as games, word processing, and
the Internet began to become prevalent in classrooms, I was astonished
to see how much and how quickly my students learned by working with electronic
texts (e-texts). Why was it that when I asked them to edit their work
on paper they were reluctant? Why were they so enthusiastic about editing
when their texts were on a computer screen, and how were they able to
spot their errors so quickly?
In many respects e-texts are different from print on a page. Print on
a page is permanently static; e-texts are instantaneously changeable.
E-texts provide information in a variety of forms and are not restricted
to a closed set of words on a single page. Finally, e-texts promote collaboration,
language use, and literacy as students talk to their peers and teachers
about the content of the e-text as well as the operation of the hardware
and software.
By chance, my poor typing ability provided another benefit – oral
language development. I have a tendency to say what I’m typing as
I peck on the keyboard with one finger. So as my students sat with me
as I typed their stories, I would say their texts, for example, “and
the teacher said comma, quotation marks, capital W, what if everybody
did that, question mark, quotation marks.” The students thought that
my utterances were part of the lesson so they cheerfully chanted along
with me!
Joseph Laturnau is the English as a Second Language Specialist for the
Pacific Comprehensive Regional Assistance Center.
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