Mobile Learning with Nearpod

Mobile-Assisted-Language Learning (MALL) has been rather favourable since its first appearance in 2009 with language learning mobile apps, such as those from the British Council and popular English video search engines and podcasts like FluentU and Podbean. It's great that these apps enable learners to practice independently in their own time, but MALL also fosters learning and exploration inside the classroom just as well as outside of formal school hours. Especially now that new mobile devices are rapidly emerging and cutting-edge features are constantly updated on a monthly-basis, there's so much we can do within the lockstep of the classroom to produce more language output with MALL in addition to controlled practice. I recommend Nearpod for simple and effective implementation of MALL in your ELT lessons.

Why use Nearpod?

Here is an introductory video from Ryne Anthony on how to use Nearpod in the classroom. Have a quick look at it if you're not already familiar with this tool.



One of the perks of using Nearpod is the level of engagement from the students. It's a more hands-on experience where students can complete tasks and at the same time produce linguistic output during the course of the lesson - be it a recorded speaking, some piece of short writing or quick responses to the teacher's prompts. Students submit their work and teachers are present to provide instant feedback. Furthermore, teachers are aware who are on track and who still needs further assistance in class. The quiz feature lets students retain materials recently introduced to or provides a venue for reading and listening comprehension practice. What sets Nearpod apart from other resource compiling and quiz generating site, like Blendspace, is this live session feature, that lets teachers control the pace of the lesson (when necessary) and monitor students' in class participation and progress. Another leg-up, you can say goodbye to photocopying handouts as all your resources are all archived on the site - videos, PDFs, slideshow, quizes, you name it.

What are some limitations to using this tool in the English classroom?

Collaboration is set aside for this type of MALL application as it facilitates more whole-class teaching with the teacher controlling the pace of the lesson like a lecturer would, and students responding in short instances within the limited T-S connection. More analytical learners would benefit from this teaching approach as they would visually see concepts, and break down linguistic patterns as they are introduced. Conversely, more global/synthetical learners who rely on trial and error in producing the target language and thrive in a more social-constructive learning atmosphere would not necessarily enjoy the restricted student-tablet interaction and rather teacher-controlled lesson flow. Therefore, if the activities are constrained to gap-filling exercise or polls, although MALL in the classroom is technically face-to-face, the lesson is heavily centred on the teacher as the disseminator.

How can I use Nearpod in my English lesson?

When designing MALL for your classroom, it's good to keep in mind the SAMR model (Substitution - Augmentation - Modification - Redefinition)  to assure that your activities are optimally "consuming" technology and not for the sake of merely looking fancy or techy. For my peer teaching in one of my MA modules, I''m attempting to use Nearpod for an inductive grammar teaching approach.

I'll start with a listening activity which is filled with the linguistic pattern (i.e. Adjective Clause) I want the students to notice. Students respond to the content of the listening through answering questions and submitting them to the teacher for me to share to the class to prompt a discussion. This step I believe encompasses the Substitution and Augmentation level.

For a consciousness-raising activity, students are sent the transcript of the video which they will highlight the structure being learned. This way students are picking up on the grammar form and how it's used in real context. This may well be included as another substitution activity (replacing the use of pen and paper to highlight text).

For a Modification level of MALL, I'll ask the students to work in pairs to derive the pattern of the grammar until the are able to produce a solid easy-to-remember grammatical rule for adjective clause.  Here the tool enables them to scaffold each other, rehearse, trial and repeat their understanding and concept-building.

I'll end the class by having students write a post (perhaps for a personal or class blog) on a certain topic using the target structure - this calls for another Modification activity for generating rehearsal and revising in producing output.

Have a quick skim through my Nearpod lesson below and tell me your thoughts on it. My personal limitation is that I am completely at a loss for designing Redefinition activities using MALL. Perhaps you have brilliant ideas that you don't mind sharing.

Because there are so many great reviews of this tool, you might as well try it out to see what the hype is all about. Maybe you'll find that it transforms your lesson in a positive way, or instead you might notice some other glitches or barriers that we should know about. Update me on how it goes!