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Showing posts from July, 2016

Educational Planning in India

Meaning : There is a saying that if there is a will there is a way. It signifies the will of an individual comes into picture after thinking which can be done through planning in mental level. The term planning is the major guideline for development of any individual, institution, organisation and society in every respect. ‘Now our country India is a democratic, dynamic and developing one marching to become a country of super power by 2020 A.D. Behind this target there is a systematic and deliberate planning. Planning is essential for development of every nation and according to which changes would have been brought in social, political, economic, cultural and educational sphere in a systematic and orderly manner.Simply speaking planning means to think before acting, and to act according to facts, not, conjectures or speculation. Definitions : “Planning is to design some action to be done before hand.” —Oxford English Dictionary “Planning selects among alternatives explor

The first audiobook by Matt Rubery (Steve Cleary)

The first audio book What was the first audiobook? This is a question I’ve been asked a lot while researching the history of audiobooks as an  Edison Fellow  at the British Library. It’s a difficult one to answer since a lot depends on what counts as an audiobook in the first place. People have been recording literature since the phonograph’s invention in 1877. Shortly after its debut, Thomas Edison proposed using it to record Dickens’s  Nicholas Nickleby . This would have been the first audiobook if it had ever been recorded. Recording an entire novel on wax cylinders was all but impossible however, since each one played for only a few minutes at a time. Listening to poetry was far more practical. Here’s a sketch from 1895 of a woman listening to a book read aloud in her Paris apartment: Full-length novels were not recorded until the 1930s. That’s when talking books—that is, books recorded on a set of gramophone records—were made for people with visual disabilities in A

history of audio book

Who invented the audio book? - A brief history of talking books. For most of us, audio books seem to have always been around. But have you ever stopped and thought about how, why and who invented them? There was a time when the audio book simply didn’t exist! Here’s a brief history of the audio book with some trivia thrown in for good measure. The Beginning and early years The idea of the audio book, or talking book, first originated in the Uk when the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) tested different ways to produce "talking books" in the 1920s and was investigating the use of the long-play record as a viable means of producing the spoken-word novel, but it was in America during the 1930s with a project called "Books for the Adult Blind Project" in which the first talking book appeared in 1934 which included excerpts from  Helen Keller ,  O. Henry  and The Bible . In the Uk, on 7th November 1935, the RNIB delivered the first talking books

Benefits of Computer Assisted Language Learning

Benefits of CALL While there are those who are still sceptical about the use of a computer to teach language (an inherently human activity), the many benefits of a CALL program have been generally accepted. Some of these come from the general field of CAI, while some are specific to language learning. Learner Autonomy  Probably the most important benefit is that of Learner Autonomy. Learner Autonomy has been discussed in section 2.5, p24. With a CALL program, learners can work at their own pace. The learner can spend more time on those topics that are causing difficulty. Information can be reviewed and tasks can be repeated until the learner is happy to move on to a new topic. The learner feels in control, which usually enhances satisfaction levels with the learning process. Successful language learners assume responsibility for their own learning (Naiman et al., 1977).   Privacy Another benefit of CALL programs is the private environment it offers for self-conscious langua

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

What is CALL? Definitions of CALL: - Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) was the expression agreed upon at the 1983 TESOL convention in a meeting of all interested participants. This term is widely used to refer to  the area of technology and second language teaching and learning  despite the fact that revisions for the term are suggested regularly ( Chapelle , 2001, p. 3). -  Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) may be defined as  the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning  ( Levy , 1997, p.1). - Given the breadth of what may go on in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), a definition of CALL that accommodates its changing nature is  any process in which a learner uses a computer and, as a result, improves his or her language  ( Beatty , 2003, p. 7). - CALL has come to encompass issues of  materials design ,  technologies ,  pedagogical theories  and  modes of instruction . Materials for CALL can include