Glyebova Iryna

The national technical university of Ukraine “KPI”

The new simulating linguistic computer applications as a new technical teaching aid for training speaking skills of students non-linguists.

In today's language classrooms, considerable emphasis is given to free oral activities in which learners use the language they have learned to communicate with each other. These activities include simulations, role - plays and discussions. Computer simulations can provide a motivating stimulus for such work, as they offer both a focus for oral activity and a continually changing scenario for learners to talk about.

As with any conventional classroom simulation or role-play, activities using computer simulations need careful preparation and careful management, and should not be undertaken lightly. We hope to show, however, that the extra effort can be worthwhile and that, used wisely, computers have a useful contribution to make to the development of oral skills. This is best done by taking a typical simulation program and describing how it can be integrated into a lesson or series of lessons.

A good example is GB Ltd, which entails running the British economy. Learners begin by choosing to which political party (Labour, Conservative, Liberal or Social Democrat) they wish to belong. They are then given information about the country's economy, which includes the rate of inflation, the exchange rate against the dollar, currency reserves, unemployment figures and the government's popularity rating.

They then run the country for a period of five years, deciding on rates of taxation, duty on cigarettes, alcohol and petrol, unemployment and child benefits, and old age pensions. Feedback is given at the end of each year. At the end of the five year period there is a general election, the results of which indicate the popularity and effectiveness of the learners' policies. As well as providing an ideal context in which to introduce the vocabulary of politics and economics and the concepts behind them, GB Ltd provokes a high level of debate among learners, and once used, is likely to be used again, both in class and for self-access.

Fast Food is one of a number of programs which simulate the day-to day operation of a small business. This time the task is to run a refreshment stall at an exhibition for a period of a few days. Using the daily information given, which includes a weather forecast and the attendance figures for the equivalent day during last year's exhibition, learners decide how much stock to buy of various foods and drinks (from a limited budget), and how much to charge for them. The feedback stage reveals which items sold out (and at what time of day), remaining stocks, and the day's profits. If a computer network is being used, several refreshment stalls can be run in competition with each other by groups of students at different machines.

Fast food

AIM______________ To develop oral fluency by giving the students a problem-
solving activity

LEVEL____________ Intermediate

TIME_____________ 60 minutes

PREPARATION Hardware

One computer per group, preferably on a Network.

Software

A spreadsheet simulation.

Knowledge

Teachers and students — entering information.

N.B. This lesson assumes that a particular spreadsheet

simulation is being used which involves running a fast food stall.

PROCEDURE Pre-computer work:

1 Ask students to write down the number of different kinds of fast food which are (i) locally; (ii) nationally; and (iii) internationally available.

2 Check this list. Elicit the specific characteristics of each kind of fast food. Discuss whether fast food is healthy.

3 Explain to the students that they are going to run a fast food stall at an exhibition, and that they will be doing this in competition with groups at other machines. Computer-work:

4 Students start the simulation. It is usually best to let them get used to manipulating the program by going through the first day themselves, then starting the simulation again for 'real', in competition with each other.

5 Students do the simulation, trying at the same time to cheat and see each other's prices.

Post-computer work:

6 The class compares results, and discusses which strategy
techniques were the most profitable.

NOTES__________ The program can be used with more elementary classes by

carefully explaining the task, then getting the students to decide on the numbers and prices for each category of fast food sold. More complicated simulations can also be made available to students in self-access. This would allow a class to use them more quickly, and efficiently. The students who had already used the program could explain it to the other students. It is possible to do this lesson with just one computer. With a simulation lasting six days, the class can be divided into six groups and they can each have a day in which they try to make as much percentage profit as they can. The major advantage of computer simulations is that they are very motivating - sometimes so motivating that care is needed to keep learners from slipping back into the mother tongue. By exploiting the speed and number-crunching capacities of the computer within a framework that provokes discussions, programs like GB Ltd provide a basis for activities that would be impossible - or certainly much slower and less convincing -using any other medium. They give learners instant feedback on the effects of their decisions, and this feedback itself stimulates arguments and comments, suggestions and counter-suggestions.

Moreover, the feedback the computer gives (in the form of an updated situation) is authoritative: it is accepted by learners as being the results of their decisions, in a way that similar feedback coming from the teacher might not be.

Because of the generally acceptable and comprehensive feedback given by the computer, the activity by and large manages itself. After the preparation stage, the teacher is therefore free to take a back seat and concentrate on the language used and the strategies adopted by the learners, in preparation for the feedback session.

The teacher may, on the other hand, want to intervene during the simulation, perhaps to deal with a language problem or give some tactical advice. With a conventional simulation or role-play, this can be a problem, and the teacher will tend to refrain from interrupting, even if the point is important, knowing that the learners will find it difficult to get going again. The interruption will destroy the illusion of reality that the teacher and learners have built up so carefully, and everybody will forget where they had got to before they stopped. The effect of interruption on a computer simulation, however, need not be so disastrous. The cyclical nature of the activity - in days, seasons or years - provides a series of natural stopping places, and, more important, there is no danger of learners 'losing their place': an up-to-date summary of the situation remains frozen on the screen during each interruption, and is ready to act as the focus of attention as soon as the action restarts.

So,having analised the problem the following conclusions can be made:

the best learning takes place when the learner is in charge. To a large extent this is true when learners work on computer simulations. They decide what action to take, and the computer tells them the consequences of their action. Even the teacher does not know exactly how the action will develop, as this depends on the learners' decisions and the random numbers generated by the computer.

The students therefore have a reason for speaking, since they need to communicate their opinions to the other members of the group, and a context within which to speak, that is, the framework of the activity.

We would not suggest that this kind of activity should take place every week. But even if it is done only once or twice a term, it will add an extra dimension to a language course, bringing an aspect of the outside world into the classroom and providing a new context within which learners can practice the language acquired in more orthodox lessons.