Voxopop ia an asynchronous voice tool that works well in communicative language classes because it allows learners and whole classrooms to connect from anywhere they have Internet access. From the authors:
"Used by educators all over the world, Voxopop talkgroups are a fun, engaging and easy-to-use way to help students develop their speaking skills. They're a bit like message boards, but use voice rather than text and a have a specialized user interface. No longer confined to a physical classroom, teachers and students of oral skills can interact from home, or even from opposite sides of the planet!"
Type of Material:
Voice tool
Recommended Uses:
Students from various geographical locations could engage in discussions, debates or do joint presentations.
Students could use Voxopop for oral introductions, reports or debates. It could also be used for a joint brainstorming session.
Technical Requirements:
Internet access, microphone for voice recording.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Students at all levels can perform communicative tasks, whether interpretive, interpersonal or presentational. Language students could improve speech fluency and work on accent and delivery in the target language.
Target Student Population:
All levels could use this free tool, from elementary to advanced grades.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
A microphone and Internet access.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Voxopop is the vehicle for the content, not the content itself. The content is made up of all the contributions of native speakers of the target language who share their ideas from across the miles and sometimes from different parts of the globe.
Voxopop has proven a very effective software for target language use and for cultural awareness. With it, there is no reason to speak any language but the target language. The ability to record and re-record gives the user time to practice and perfect his/her accent and to restate any ideas that might not have been perfect the first time. In this way, there is a lot of language practice going on. The user is in control of the quality of the end product and perfectionists will spend more time on task.
Concerns:
Students using Voxopop must be trained to be critical about the messages that they send. They should think about what they are going to record and practice several times before sending a message. The delivery of the message is simple, the language practice comes in with the construction of a completely coherent message.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
Students will enjoy the authenticity of the messages they create with Voxopop. They can debate approaches to global warming, talk about their favorite recipes or music or films. The sky is the limit on topics to produce conversation. They can also have discussions about target language culture- the products, practices and perspectives.
Concerns:
Being asynchronous, it may be necessary for faculty to remind students to contribute multiple times to sustain conversation. Students must learn to rerecord, if the quality of a posting is not the best it can be.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
Voxopop is intutitve and very easy to use. There is a very useful page that teachers should read before working with it. It is aptly named "Help":
http://www.voxopop.com/help
There is also a Voxopop blog.
Concerns:
N/a
Other Issues and Comments:
no
Creative Commons:
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