David Hattem English Language Teacher United Nations English Language Programme hattem@un.org

Appropriate For:

Small, medium-sized grammar, writing or vocabulary classes

Objectives focused on syntax, accuracy, complexity, and sentence-level writing

Intermediate to advanced levels | CEFR A2/B1/B2/C1

Hybrid or distance learning environments

Students with no or minimal experience with digital communication tools

Students with home internet access or smart phone

Visual learners

ACTFL Standards:

Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express

feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or

readers on a variety of topics.

Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.

Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for

personal enjoyment and enrichment.

Thinking Objectives: (Bloom, 1956)

Remembering – Listing, Retrieving Understanding – Comparing, Exemplifying Applying – Using, Executing Evaluating – Checking, Experimenting, Judging, Monitoring Creating – Planning, Producing

7 Principles for Using Twitter in Language Classrooms

1. SURVEY: your students experiences with digital communication tools. Learn about their

preferred methods of communication and accessibility to various tools. Understanding your

students can help you with task design and implementation as well as who may need assistance.

2. DISCUSS in detail the privacy settings available on Twitter and any concerns any student may

have about privacy. Make sure students understand the different settings and how they can be

changed. Respect students’ privacy to not do the task as part of a group. If they feel any anxiety,

sympathize and discuss alternative ways to complete the assignment, including allowing them to

work individually or write sentences in journal.

3. DESIGN: a task appropriate for the class. Consider such factors as course goals and objectives,

previous experience, access to tools, existing social networks, and motivation. However, remain

open to task transformation at any time during the task based on action research or how the

students may reshape the learning context to better help them achieve their own learning goals.

4. OUTLINE: your expectations of the task for both teacher and students clearly before using

Twitter as well as the grading criteria. It is important that all the participants have a clear set of

guidelines to follow so that the task is fair. Quantify the amount of tweets the students are

expected to write. Break them down into smaller, achievable goals that occur at regular

intervals, such as weekly, mid-semester and/or final goals.

5. DEMONSTRATE to students how to use the necessary features and functions that you have

included in your task and assess to make sure they understand. Be ready at all times to assist

students. A handout explaining such functions and features is a helpful and necessary tool. You

can create your own or find them online. There are some short and useful videos available on

YouTube.

6. MOTIVATE your students by encouraging them to tweet regularly and check their newsfeed,

email, and mentions. Consider adding points, awards, medals or badges for reaching the goal or

parts of the goal to help motivate students. Demonstrate effective tweeting in the class by

showing student examples.

7. ENJOY and have fun. Twitter is a relaxed learning environment that presents many

opportunities for informal and additional learning opportunities.

Suggestions for Microblogging in Grammar Courses

These suggestions can be applied in addition to the 7 principles outlined above.

If possible, require participation.

Retweet and favorite normative tweets for positive feedback

Provide positive exemplars of target structures or vocabulary

Deliver timely and varied corrective feedback

Sit with students and discuss their tweets with them

Create polls and surveys to test background knowledge of grammar structures

Have Ss make tweets more salient through codification and/or capitalization of grammar structures

Have Ss partner up to monitor each other’s tweets throughout the semester and offer corrective feedback

Have Ss link vocabulary or structures with pictures and links

Have Ss write collaborative chain stories 1 tweet at a time.

Have Ss search for, favorite and retweet authentic examples of target constructions

Have Ss search for and collect tweets on current and historical events

Have Ss analyze and favorite their classmates’ tweets for grammaticality judgment quizzes

Have Ss favorite their own tweets to create a learner portfolio

Have Ss make controlled exercises from their favorited tweets

Have Ss search internet for particular constructions and then tweet them

Have Ss follow native speakers, including their favorite brands and entertainers and maintain a journal about what their learning about language and culture from the tweets

Have Ss portray alternate native speaker identities and role play the identity

Have Ss contribute read and contribute to trending topics

Have Ss backchannel or write examples sentence at different parts of the lesson Sample Codes for use with Grammar classes:

Code Construction Code Construction Code Construction

AC Adjective Clause

PPP Pres. Per. Prog. SPr Simple Present

RAC Restricted Adj. Clause

PP Pres. Perf SP Simple Past

NRAC Non-restrictive Adj. Clause

PaPr Past Progressive SF Simple Future

APP Appositive PrPr Present Progressive

SPr Simple Present

Radj Reduced Adj. Clause

M Modal SC Subordination Conjunction

PV Passive Voice

MP Modal Past CA Conjunctive Adverb (Connectors)

PVG Passive Voice with Get

Q Question Form Pr Preposition

PVing/ed Participial Adjectives N Negative +P Adjective, Noun, Verb + Preposition

Sample Task Handout

Rationale

Output, or production of language, contributes significantly to language acquisition by allowing the student to test

ideas they have about language, by noticing a gap in their language output, and by giving them the opportunity to

use meta-language to reflect on their production (Swain, 1995). In addition, becoming a member of an English

language community also can aid acquisition, both cultural and linguistic, by allowing the student to participate in

a community first on the periphery, then as an outright member Finally, micro-blogging helps to build classroom

community (Newgarden, 2009).

Background

Microblogging is a social media platform which has become quite popular in the United States. It consists of

writing short messages, or updates, of 140 characters or less, and then posting them to a public timeline, which can

be viewed by anyone. A person builds their network by following people. As you follow people and they follow

you, your messages appear on their home page, and vice-versa. This is the core of the microblogging network.

Similar to Facebook and other social-networking sites, users can post short messages, photos, videos and audio to

their profile, and even engage in conversations; however, microblogging differs from social-networking in that

one’s network of friends may be based on similar interests, rather than on prior friendship or acquaintances.

The most popular microblogging service to date is TWITTER. Twitter is used by more than 6,000,000 people in

the United States, including famous actors and celebrities, well-known businesses and news outlets, even President

Obama. Being the most-well known service, Twitter will be the microblogging platform used for this class. To

further acquaint yourself with microblogging and Twitter, view these two short videos: http://tinyurl.com/384n2f

http://tinyurl.com/d33ul4

With Twitter you can:

Update your status: 140 characters including spaces

Send direct messages: private messages to your friends

Favorite someone’s tweets

Retweet: display a friend’s tweet so all of your other friends can see it

Reply to someone: use the @username to reply to someone’s tweet.

Search the public timeline: use the search box to enter words you want to search on Twitter.

Objective

To develop grammatical competence especially accuracy and complexity in sentence writing and conciseness

through micro-blogging.

Microblogging

Summary

During the course of the sessions, it is your option to use Twitter. I suggest you write a total of 75 tweets. This

averages out to approximately ten sentences per week. However, I encourage you to take advantage of this

opportunity to have your English reviewed and write as many sentences as possible. I will give you suggestions

during each week about which grammar constructions should be in your updates; the content of the updates should

revolve around your life and interests.

As you begin to Tweet, I will do one of two things. First, I might REPLY to a tweet you have written and

MENTION your name. If I do this, the tweet is non-normative and should be corrected. Second, I might

FAVORITE and RETWEET your sentence. This means that the sentence is normative.

Assessment and Grading Criteria

This assignment is optional and does not count towards your grade, but should you choose to do it, you should aim

to write 10 sentences per week throughout the session. I will provide you with feedback for all the sentences you

write.

Twitter’s Layout

Home Page

On your home page is where you write your sentences. You write them in the box that says WHAT’S

HAPPENING? Also on your home page, you can check any mentions by clicking on the @username link. Those

are the two tabs useful to you for this task

Profile Page

Your profile page shows all of the tweets you have made. It also shows you any tweets that you have favorited as

well as any people you are following.

Message Page

On Twitter, you are allowed to send users private messages, messages that only you and the user can see. You can

do this on your message page. Simply create a new message and choose which user you would like to send it to.

Follow Page

On the following page, you choose who you want to follow. Enter their twitter name or email in the user box.

When the user appears, click on the FOLLOW button. This user’s updates will now appear on your page.

Twitter Resources

Getting Started: https://support.twitter.com/articles/215585-getting-started-with-twitter Twitter Guidebook by Mashable:

http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

7 Things You Should Know About Twitter https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELi7027.pdf The Voice of Twitter Users: Evan Williams (Co-Founder of Twitter) http://www.ted.com/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users Twitter for Teachers: Enza Antenos-Conforti http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/37678-Twitter-for-Teachers-by-Enza-Antenos-Conforti A Visual Guide To Twitter: http://bigbible.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visual-guide-twitter.jpg

References

Twitter

Briggs, L. (2008, March 5). Microblogging with Twitter. Campus Technology. http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2008/03/Micro-Blogging-with-Twitter.aspx?p. Accessed 12-09 Carter, S., Weerkamp, W., & Tsagkias, M. (2013). Microblog language identification: Overcoming the limitations of short, unedited and idiomatic text. Lang Resoucres & Evalutation. 47(195), 195-215. Doi: 10.1007/s10579-012-9195-y

Deleon, N. (2010, February 1). Terrible Grammar? Blame Twitter. Tech Crunch. Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/01/terrible-grammar-blame-twitter/. Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/01/terrible-grammar-blame-twitter/

Greenhow, C. & Gleason, B. (2012). Twitteracy: Tweeting as a new literary practice. The Educational Forum, 76, pp. 463-477. Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131725.2012.709032#preview

Grossman, L. (2009, June). Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement. Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00.html.

Heverin, T, and Zach, L. (2010). Microblogging for Crisis Communication: Examination of Twitter Use in Response to a 2009 Violent Crisis in Seattle-Tacoma, Washington Area. Proceedings of the 2010 ISCRAM Conference. Seattle, Washington Honeycutt, C. & Herring, S. (2009). Beyond microblogging: Conversation and collaboration via Twitter. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-42).Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Press. Retrieved from http://www.ledbetter.de/pdf/beyondmicroblogging.PDF

Hughes, Amanda lee, and Palen, Leysia. (2009). Twitter Adoption and Use in Mass Convergence and Emergency Events. Proceedings of the 2009 ISCRAM Conference. (conference paper) Humphreys, L. (2010, April). Historicizing Microblogging. Paper presented at the CHI Workshop on Micro-Blogging 2010. April 10–15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved from: http://cs.unc.edu/~julia/accepted-papers/Humphreys_HistoricizingTwitter.pdf

Java, A., Finin, T., Song, X., & Tseng, B. (2007). Why we twitter: Understanding microblogging usage and communities, Proceedings of the 9th WebKDD and 1st SNA-KDD 2007 workshop on Web mining and social network analysis, pp. 56–65, August 12, 2007, San Jose, CA. doi: 10.1145/1348549.1348556

Kelley, S. (2012, August 23). Texting, Twitter contributing to students' poor grammar skills, profs say. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/texting-twitter-contributing-to-students-poor-grammar-skills-profs-say/article4304193/ Lampos, V., and Cristianini, N. (2010). Tracking the flu pandemic by monitoring the Social Web. 2nd International Workshop on Cognitive Information Processing. Elba Island, Italy June. Meier, F., Elsweiler, D. & Wilson, M. (2014). More than liking and bookmarking? Towards udnerstanding Twitter favouriting behaviour. Eighth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Retrieved from: http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM14/paper/view/8094

O'Neil, L. (2013, June 28). School kids correct celebrity grammar on Twitter. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/06/school-kids-correct-celebrity-grammar-mistakes-on-twitter.html

Sarah, G. (2014, July 10). Kelsey Grammer Is Correcting Everyone’s Grammar On Twitter. Time. Retrieved from: http://time.com/2972958/kelsey-grammer-is-correcting-everyones-grammar-on-twitter/

Shah, D. (2010, August 26). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6505/The-March-of-Twitter-Analysis-of-How-and-Where-Twitter-Spread.aspx

Shellenbarger, S. (2012, June 20). This embarrases you and I*. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303410404577466662919275448

Zappavigna, M. (2011). Ambient Affiliation: A linguistic perspective on Twitter. New Media Society,

13(5), 788-806. doi: 10.1177/1461444810385097

Microblogging and Language Learning

Acar, A. & Kimura, N. (2012). Twitter as a tool for language learning: The case of Japanese learners of English.The eigth internation conference on eLearning for knowledge-based society, 23-24 February 2012, Thailand. Antenos-Conforti, E. (2009). Microblogging on Twitter: Social networking in Intermediate Italian classes. In L. Lomicka & G. Lord (Eds.), The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning, (p.59).

Borau, K., Feng, J., Shen, R. & Ullrich, C. (2009). Microblogging for language learning: Using twitter to train communicative and cultural competence. Lecture Notes and Computer Science. Vol 5686. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-03426-8_10 Fouz, J. & Mompeán, J. (2014). Twitter and English Pronunciation Teaching. International Conference ICT for Language Learning, 5th edition. Retrieved from: http://conference.pixel-online.net/ICT4LL2012/common/download/Abstract_pdf/118-IBT24-ABS-Fou-ICT2012.pdf Grossek, G. and Holotescu, C. (2008, April). Can we use Twitter for educational activities? Scribd. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2286799/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational- activities Harmandaoglu, E. (2014). The use of Twitter in language learning and teaching. International Conference ICT for Language Learning, 5th edition. Retrieved from: http://conference.pixel-online.net/ICT4LL2012/common/download/Paper_pdf/211-IBT41-FP-Harmandaoglu-ICT2012.pdf Hattem, D. (2012). The Practice of microblogging. The Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research. 1(2), 38–70. Retrieved from http://pops.uclan.ac.uk/index.php/jsltr/article/view/47 Hattem, D. (2014). Microblogging activities: Language play and tool transformation. Language Learning & Technology, 18(2), 151–174. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2014/hattem.pdf Lomicka, L. & Lord, G. (2011). A tale of tweets: Analyzing microblogging among language learners.

System, 40(1), 48–63. Naaman, M., Boase, J. & Lai, C. (2010). Is it really about me? Message content in social awareness streams. The 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

Newgarden, K. (2009, September). Twitter. TESL-EJ 13, 2. Retrieved from: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume13/ej50/ej50m2/ Perifanou, M.A. (2009). Language micro-gaming: Fun and informal microblogging activities for language learning. Communication in Computer and Information Science, 49 (1), pp.1-14. DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-04757-2_1 Ullrich, C., Borau, K. & Stepanyan, K. (2010). "Who students interact with? A social network analysis perspective on the use of Twitter in language learning", In Proceedings of EC-TEL 2010. pp. 432–437. Springer-Verlag. Second Language Acquisition Aljaafreh, A., and Lantolf, J.P. (1994). Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language journal, 78, 465-83. Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language

teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.

Corder, S. P. (1967). The significance of learners' errors. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, 160-170.

Corder, S. P. (1975). Error analysis. In J. P. B. Allen & S. P. Corder (Eds.), Papers in applied linguistics, The Edinburgh course in applied linguistics, vol. 3: Techniques in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

DeKeyser, R.M. 1998. Beyond focus on form: Cognitive perspective on learning and practising second language grammar. In C. Doughty and J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 42-63). New York: Cambridge University Press. Doughty, C. & Pica, T. (1986). “Information Gap” tasks: Do they facilitate second language acquisition? TESOL Quarterly, 20(2), pp.305-325. Doughty, C. (2001). The cognitive underpinnings of focus on form. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 114-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ellis, Nick. (2002a). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, pp.143-188.

Ellis, Nick. (2002b) Reflections on frequency effects in language processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, pp.297-339. Ellis, R. (1991). The interaction hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Paper presented at the Regional Language Center Seminar. Singapore, April 22-28. Ellis , R. (2007). Corrective feedback in theory, research and practice. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on ELT in China & the 1st Congress of Chinese Applied Linguistics , Beijing , China , May 2007.

Ellis, R. (2008). The Study of Second Language Acquisition, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fotos, S. (1992). Consciousness raising: Grammar task performance versus formal instruction. Paper presented at the 26th Annual TESOL Convention. Vancouver, BC, March 1992. Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. (1985a). Task variation and NNS negotiation of meaning. In S. M. Gass & C. G.

Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 149-161). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Gass, S. M., & Varonis, E. M. (1985b). Variation in native speaker speech modification to non-native

speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7, 37-58.

Goodwin-Jones, B. (2003). Blogs and wikis: Environments for on-line collaboration. Language Learning and Technology, 7(2), 12–16. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num2/pdf/emerging.pdf

Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. Oxford, UK: Pergamon. Retrieved from http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf

Lantolf, J. P. & Thorne, S. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lai, C., & Zhao, Y. (2006). Noticing and text-based chat. Language Learning & Technology, 10 (3), pp.102-120. Long, Michael (1996). "The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition". In Ritchie, William; Bhatia, The. Handbook of second language acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press. pp.413–468. Oxford, Rebecca. (1990a). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House. Mackey, A. (Ed.) (2007). Conversational interaction in second language acquisition: A collection of Empirical studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sauro, S. (2009). Computer-mediated corrective feedback and the development of L2 Grammar. Language Learning and Technology, 13 (1), pp.96-120. Schmidt, R. and Frota, N. (1986). Developing basic conversational ability in a second language: A case study of an adult learner of Portuguese. In R. Day (ed.), Talking to learn: Conversation in second language acquisition, pp.237-326. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Schmidt, R. (1993). Awareness and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, pp.206-226. Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction. (pp.3-32). Cambridge University Press. Sharwood Smith, M. (1981). Consciousness raising and the second-language learner. Applied Linguistics, 2, pp.159–168. Smith, B. & Sauro, S. (2009). Interruptions in Chat. Computer Assisted Language Learning 22(3), pp.229-24. Sotillo, S. (2005). Corrective feedback via instant messenger learning activities in NS-NNS and NNS-NNS- dyads. CALICO Journal, 22(3), pp.467-496. Stefanone, M. & Gay, G. (2008). Structural reproduction of social networks in computer- mediated communication forums. Behavior& Information Technology, 27(2), (pp.97-106). Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209-241. Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97-114). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Swain, M. and Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371–391. Swain, M. (1995) Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (eds.). Principles and practice in the study of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tarone, E. (2012). Interlanguage. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.