Abstract
Using PowerPoint for student-created group projects can be motivating and enjoyable for both students and instructors while fostering a sense of student self-reliance and autonomy . After a brief review of the benefits of cooperative group work and scaffolding in second language learning, this paper highlights three different methods for using PowerPoint in a university classroom setting. The first method involves student construction of picture stories, the second describes making travel plans, and the third demonstrates guidelines for outside class group work on simple research projects, such as surveys of fellow students’ opinions . Finally, the authors give examples of peer and instructor assessment forms and offer possible future directions for research and implementation of PowerPoint projects in second language classrooms .
Highlights
Microsoft PowerPoint is well known as a popular presentation software program commonly used for business and academic meetings
Apple & Kikuchi: Practical PowerPoint group projects for the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom tive constructivism focused on mental processes which occur solely within the mind of the individual learner, social constructivism emphasizes the role of the social context and scaffolded learning
PowerPoint group projects, tasks to do in class PowerPoint group projects (PGP) can be considered identical to any other kind of scaffolding, cooperative group project, or tasks for students to do in the language classroom— except that the students are using a computer
Summary
Using PowerPoint for student-created group projects can be motivating and enjoyable for both students and instructors while fostering a sense of student self-reliance and autonomy. Students may be unable to solve language problems and may give up, but project work using PowerPoint encourages students to notice their language use and to scaffold from each other in a manner that is student-centered, self-directed, and motivating This noticing and co-construction of knowledge develops over the period of time necessary to create group projects; the process of learning is more important than the product. (“Self-determination theory,” Deci & Ryan, 1992) Or perhaps allowing students control in the CALL activity decision-making process encourages a sense of intrinsic motivation and desire to learn for the sake of learning (“Mastery goal orientation,” Ames, 1992) While it is beyond the scope of this paper to speculate on the motivational effectiveness of PowerPoint or CALL activities in general, our belief is that PGP, if evaluated on the basis of effort and task accomplishment, can provide the structure necessary to encourage a sense of success, mastery, and enjoyment for students. As we shall discuss below, this evaluation can take many forms
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