Technology and language learning

Hmmmmm.......

I have been using text to speech almost exclusively for reading articles on the web, newspapers, and courese reading for a course in Leadership I am taking at Case Western Reserve University. I love the e-readers ( Read and Write Gold; Kindle, and Audio books)  because I can jack up the speed and read with my ears as fast as non dyslexics who are fluent readers read with their eyes. We need to understand the 'cost' of eye reading to dyslexic students even when they "graduate" from OG or Wilson: the burden of phonological processing is too high in terms of fatigue. If we don't make the technology more available and acceptable in schools we will deny intelligent students with print challenges the opportunity to study in college, graduate or professional schools. 

I still read paper books.  Right now I am reading  A light in August by Faulkner. It is on my night stand and it is a wonderful if slow experience for me. For some, print will never 'fall away' and allow for effortless decoding and pholonological recoding.--Lou  

Excerpt:

"Understanding how reading on paper is different from reading on screens requires some explanation of how the brain interprets written language. We often think of reading as a cerebral activity concerned with the abstract—with thoughts and ideas, tone and themes, metaphors and motifs. As far as our brains are concerned, however, text is a tangible part of the physical world we inhabit. In fact, the brain essentially regards letters as physical objects because it does not really have another way of understanding them. As Wolf explains in her book Proust and the Squid, we are not born with brain circuits dedicated to reading. After all, we did not invent writing until relatively recently in our evolutionary history, around the fourth millennium B.C. So the human brain improvises a brand-new circuit for reading by weaving together various regions of neural tissue devoted to other abilities, such as spoken language, motor coordination and vision..."

I can see this being used for more than just invitations - for anything ongoing as well.

Very interesting! Could be even more interesting is used as a class project (project-based learning?). 

Some good suggestions here, but I still feel it desn't quite go far enough. I think we also need assignments that require and inspire personal reflection and a degree more critical thinking.

Great Reading site for students.

This is a great reading site for all levels.

Helping to improve your English reading skills

:) let's hangout sometime, please... :)

This is a really great example of augmented reality which connects Wikipedia to your local environment. Great for doing research projects into the things that surround you. Just open up the app and point it in any direction.