Theoretical Framework
Pedagogical Framework
TBLT is in line with a learner-centered educational philosophy. Hismanoglu and Hismanoglu (2011) state that TBLT can “provide learners with a natural context for language use, present a fruitful input of target language for learners, increase their ability to communicate effectively, and to maximize their motivation to the lesson” (p. 49). It stresses communicative fluency while not disregarding accuracy. When completing the task of writing a narrative story writing and making an animated movie, students will work collaboratively by using language to communicate actively with each other, therefore they will have many chances to practice speaking naturally; while when they write the story, form is also emphasized.
González, Saenz, Bermeo and Chaves (2013) indicate that collaborative work provides students many learning opportunities that they usually do not have when working individually. In this task, students will work collaboratively in the whole production process, including the writing part and the movie making part. Dobao and Blum (2013) point out that collaborative writing enables them to pull individuals’ ideas and knowledge together, discuss and plan, provide each other with immediate feedback, and provide and receive assistance from peers. Also, pulling ideas together allows more creativity. Moreover, the joint-writing activity pushes learners to discuss their language use, which generates collaborative dialog, “the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language” (Swain, 2006, p. 89). In collaborative dialog, students “use language as a tool to co-construct new language knowledge”, and “they are able to scaffold each other and achieve a level of performance that is beyond their individual level of competence” (Dobao & Blum, 2013, p. 366). Such collaborative writing and dialog in this project will help students to enhance more vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and thus generate a higher quality of work. In addition, creating a Stop-motion movie collaboratively can increase students’ self-confidence with the completion of tasks (Doban & Bulm, 2013; Chin et al, 2016). The feeling of accomplishment and confidence promotes learning (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).
TPACK Framework
TPACK stands for technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. TPACK framework is a complex interaction between technology, pedogamy, and content knowledge that produces effective teaching with technology (Koehler, Mishra, & Cain, 2013). It is a “unifying framework designed to bring together elements of content, pedagogy, and technology in a manner meant to assist teachers in delivering effective, technology-infused instruction” (Hilton, 2015, p. 69). Teachers need to understand which specific technology is best suited for addressing subject content and for addressing pedagogy that is applicable to teaching this specific content. Using TPACK as the framework in this project represents how the instructor’s knowledge of the technology will interact with my pedagogical knowledge and the content knowledge in my particular teaching context.
In order to make a meaningful integration of these three types of knowledge, I need to first think about what I want students to acquire (the content). Students have recently learnt how to write a narrative story with elements of story plot; they have been practicing using adjectives to write more descriptive sentences and using similes to create descriptive sentences. In this project, the subject content is mainly focused on 1) having students to demonstrate and enhance their understanding of important elements of story plots by writing a narrative story; 2) applying their knowledge about descriptive writing in this writing task; 3) being able to practice speaking and listening through collaborative work, and 4) promoting higher order thinking skills. Then I need to consider how she will help students to acquire these abilities (the pedagogy) – by having students to collaboratively create and retell a narrative story in a task-based classroom, following with students self-assessments, peer reviews, and teacher’s feedback. Lastly, I have to consider what technology will interact with my content objectives and pedagogical designs that allows me to deliver effective technology-infused instruction collaborative work – by using Stop Motion app to create Stop-motion movies. When I consider to apply this technology, I realize that not only my content objectivities and pedagogical designs seem likely to be met, but it also offers opportunities to for students to learn construction, art, and dedication to the completion of a long-term project. Hoban and Neilson (2014) cite Traxler (2010), that such technology provides students with more ownership of knowledge and responsibility for their learning, which are important elements to promote learner autonomy (Jacobs and Farrell, 2003).