Teaching writing in a Creative way using Biteable

Skill: Writing; 4C Skill: Creativity; Web 2.0 Tool: Biteable

Mohd Tajulfatah B Rohim

AHmad Rusydi B Mahammed

Wan Fakhrurrazi B Wan Omar

fakhrurrazzie11@gmail.com

samurai_jack260988@yahoo.com.my

mohdtajulfatahofficials@gmail.com

Abstract

21st Century learning framework and the existence Web 2.0 are two major influence

of language learning in today's world. With learners competing globally, learning language in

the old traditional method has become less effective and with the advancement of

communication technology, the focus of language learning especially English has elevated

the importance of writing skills. Learners needs to equip themselves with 21st century 4C

learning skills and teachers needs to start integrating the learning object in their lesson to

teach the 4C skills in order to help learners compete in the global stage. Teachers need to

start changing their old ways of teaching and adopting new ways to suits the learners needs.

This bring about the issues of what changes does the teacher needs to cater to the demands

of the 21st Century education? What technology can be used to help learners learns the 4C

effectively? What examples of lesson that teachers need to plan? These questions are what

the author wish to address in this article. The purpose of this article is to give teacher and

educators out there an example or at least, an idea of what are required in today's teaching

of language. This review will talks about Technology integration in teaching language,
focusing on certain skills of the language (writing) to develop learners, 21st Century learning

skills (creativity). The author will explains about what is 21st Century learning, how

technology is integrated in a lesson, what theories related to the use of technology in

language teaching and an example of how teaching writing can be done in a creative ways

using technology. The author will also discuss issues, challenges, limitation and

opportunities that arise based on the lesson sample.

Introduction

Language is a growing entity especially English and throughout its existence, it has

undergone changes. As more people using the language, the language adapts and modifies

itself to suit the needs of the people. The globalization of communication between people

with the help of technology has greatly affected the English language learning since with the

invention of internet, English has been widely used around the world which further elevate

the status of English language in foreign countries. In the past, language learning has

always been about communication, learning how to speak, not really emphasizing much on

writing and the method used to teach language are basically the same, chalk and talk which

sometimes disinterest learners to learn, Quoting John Dewey (1859-1952) said “If we teach

today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow” (Randall, 1953: p. 9,

as cited in Kivunja, 2015) which saying teaching must change according to times and in this

21st century, technology play significant role in man's life especially in English language

learning, particularly writing since written form of English are the widely use means of

communicating and importantly, learners itself needs to equipped themselves with skills that

can help them to succeed in today's globalization era, competing with people from around

the globe. This prompted educator and pedagogues to address the needs for learners to be

equipped with new skills that differ to the traditional method which prompted the United

States-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) to create a framework called The 21st
Century learning .The 21st Century learning emphasizes learners embracing a set of skills

known as the 4 Cs—“super skills” for the 21st Century: Creativity, Communication, Critical

Thinking, Collaboration ( (Kivunja, 2015) coupled with Web 2.0 which can be defined as Web

based applications and services that provide users visual, textual, audial communication,

interactive information, shared content, collaboration, authenticity and digital literacy ( as

cited in (TILFARLIOGLU, 2011) has changed the ways people learn language nowadays,

especially foreign language. It brings about the integration of technology in teaching and

learning languages. However, in this article, we will be focusing on the integration of Web

2.0 learning objects in helping to improve learners' English writing as well as merging one of

the 21st Century learning 4C skills, creativity. This article will discuss about creativity and

learning to write, how the use of learning object like Biteable can promote creativity and

improve learners writing skills and issues as well as opportunities that arises from the

lesson.

Sub title 1: Writing in Language Learning

In the past, the purpose of learning a foreign language is to communicate with other

so the emphases are put on being able to talk rather than write. Thus, writing become

undervalued and lack of attention in L2 learning (Cook, 2008) which contribute to learners

not mastering the skills. However, with the emergence of internet and World Wide Web

(www), the importance of being able to write well has grown exponentially since people

using Web 2.0 like Facebook are communicating using written words more than oral.

Despite that, most language learners despise lesson on writing. It's involved a lot of

technicality it in a language and the lesson are usually not interesting enough for the

learners to be motivated to learn. Teacher usually teaches the rules of writing directly and

asks learner to practice writing to improve their writing. This impedes their interest in writing

thus causing them to be unable to perform well in the outside world. Other issues on writing

are the teachers are not being creative enough in teaching writing. They still hold on to the
traditional method of learning which can be considering being less effective in the 21st

Century. Drilling learners on writing is not wrong as they will gradually pick up the skill in time

but it does not help them to be creative in their writing. So, what teachers need to do is to

technology as a learning tool to teach writing to learners. Instead of using chalk and talk to

teach writing, teacher can use learning object like Biteable that has colourful animation,

audio and easy to use to teach learners about writing. Learners can use learning object to do

their writing instead of writing in a paper. Doing so, it will increase their interest in learning

about writing, help them to improve their understanding and most importantly, it helps them

to be creative in writing. Being creative in writing is important to help learners to market

themselves well in the outside world. In today's challenging world, having a different trait

from other would give an advantage and increases their chances of success in life.

Subtitle 2: The use of digital technology in teaching writing

The use of digital technology in teaching of writing is widely used now. Maybe in our

country, Malaysia we do not see the teachers using the digital technology very frequently in

teaching of writing. However, in the developed countries like United States and United

Kingdom, their teachers are using digital sources in teaching writing. In teaching students,

we should replace the old ways of teaching with the new ones. From using the chalks and

talks, we move towards the integration of technology. For example; in my group, we are

using Biteable to teach our students. Biteable is a website that can integrate technology with

the knowledge being taught. For example, writing easy and structurally correct sentences.

This kind of technology replaces the function of normal writing. Instead of our students use

the books and pencils, we replace it with e-books or laptops. In other name, we call it as

biteable. Students can type the constructions of sentences inside biteable. With its function,

we think it easy for students to use it. Furthermore, biteable is a type of fun learning. With

animation and easy to type, students are attracted to the biteable. Using SAMR Model as a

guide on technology integration that explains how teachers may effectively integrate

technology through enhancing and transforming the learning activities’. Inside the model of
SAMR, the teachers can use substitution and augmentation in integrating the knowledge

being taught. For example; substitution phase. As we argue earlier, it is the process of

substituting of the old ways of learning into the technology phases. In augmentation, after

the students have typed the sentences inside biteable, they can publish the learning object

into weebly.com and share them to their friends. Instead of using the old kinds of teachings,

students could experience the new look of technology and fun learning. According to SAMR

model, it is stated that, "redefinition is a technology that allows for the creation of new tasks,

previously inconceivable. While modification means that the technology allows for significant

task design”.

Subtitle 3: Using Biteable to teach student's to write creatively

As we argued earlier, using biteable is a fun learning. With its concept, 'the simplest

and easiest video maker in the world’, we can easy make the video from biteable. For a

newbie, it will be a little hard to make this video of biteable because of not knowing its

features. However, it is the simplest video maker in the world now. In our case, we asked the

students to make sentences inside biteable. Students must register their domain first before

proceed to use biteable. Now, let us take a look at Biteable features deeply. It is consist of

several slides and animations to make them be a video presentation. Each slide can play

around 3-4 seconds only. If we want to make a longer presentation, we have to add more

slides. For example, I, myself have 28 slides to make a video presentation with duration of

three minutes. Inside biteable, the spaces for make sentences are limited. So if we want to

use biteable, we have to be creative to make easy sentences yet correct sentences. In

teaching our students to be more creative, they have to think first before make the

sentences. They can make the easy sentences first inside the Microsoft word before transfer

them into biteable. This means is to teach the average or the lower brain students. The

sentences also must be short and creative and make sense. Before the students typed the

easy sentences, they must choose the animation slides which suit the sentences and needs.

After typed them, they must publish the animations into video presentations so that they can
show their creativities to the teachers and friends. Here, instead of students just write simple

sentences inside the books, they can change it into technology users. Furthermore, using

biteable they can show their creativity to the other people as we explained above. It is really

a fun type of learning. One question may arise on how the students may improve their

creativities in using biteable. If with the old methods of learning the teachers will correct each

exercise book of students, and students will take a look into the corrections of the teachers

made. In using biteable, it is the fastest way of correction. The teachers may take a glimpse

of what students have made of their sentences before students may proceed to the next

stages. After corrections have been made, they will publish their sentences into videos.

From the videos that have been made, they can take a look of videos whether they have

satisfied or not. With peer presentations also they can make self corrections. If they are still

not satisfied, they can reconstruct of the sentences and animations again. Hence, here we

can see the students are more creative while using the tool like biteable and also can be one

of the technology users.

SUBTITLE 4: The Lesson Plan
RANCANGAN PENGAJARAN HARIAN
MASA/KELAS/ DAILY LESSON
TAJUK/HASIL PEMBELAJARAN/ISI PLAN
PELAJARAN/AKTIVITI/PENYERAPAN/PENILAIAN
M.PELAJARAN/ TOPIC/LEARNING/OUTCOME/CONTENT/ACTIVITIES/ASSIMILATION/EVALUATION
TIME/CLASS/
SUBJECT
Subject English Language
Time 8.15 a.m. – 9.15 a.m.
Year 4 Al-Amanah
Theme World of Self, Family & Friends
Topic Our Community (MARKET)
Focused Skill Writing
4C skills Creative
Learning 3.3.1
Outcome Able to create simple texts using a variety of media with guidance:
(a) non-linear
(b) linear

Behavioural By the end of this lesson, pupils should be able to:

Objectives 1) Write simple sentences based on the given picture correctly
2) Create their sentences using the Biteable (Integration of technology)

Activities Pre teaching (Induction Set)

i. Teacher asks the students what they may know about market and what are
sold there.
ii. Students give their opinions about market.
iii. Teacher shows some realia related to the market (apples, vegetables)

While teaching
i. Teacher introduces the topic.
ii. A picture of a market is shown.
iii. A simple sentence explaining about the situation in the picture is shown to
the students.
iv. Teacher gives explanation on how to write simple sentence.
v. In pairs, students make their own simple sentences based on the picture of
the market provided.
vi. In pairs, the students are required to produce a Biteable project by using
their own simple sentences before.
vii. Each pair presents their project.
viii. Teacher discusses the sentences with the class.

Post teaching
i. Teacher recaps the learning objectives and values of the lesson done.
ii. Students are encouraged to explore more of the learning tool (Biteable) on
their own in order to enhance their interest in practising to write simple
sentences.

Teaching Textbook of Year 4, computer lab for learning tool (Biteable)

Aids
Reflection 16 / 20 students are able to write simple sentences and transfer the texts to the
digital writing (Biteable).

Subtitle 5: Discussion

Reflect on your teaching experiences and practices and discuss how Biteable can be

effective teaching tool for improving students’ creative writing (Predicted result). You

discussion should be supported by the literature / findings from previous studies of the

similar area.

For our group assignment, we have agreed to use and integrate one of the learning

tools we learnt from this course, the Biteable. Based on our lesson plan of Year 4, we think

that Biteable is one of the suitable learning tools to be integrated into the teaching practice.

The first positive feature of this learning tool is that it is very simple yet attractive to trigger

our students’ interest. As we are focusing on writing skill, normally the students are taught on

how to make simple sentences and even the complex sentences during the class lesson.

Usually the students are required to write their own sentences on the paper or the

whiteboard and then the sentences are discussed among the teacher and other students. In

contrast, the integration of Biteable in the writing practice will enable them to have active

participation as they type their sentences in the web itself and then students can easily

present their works (writing simple sentences) during the class lesson and then they can

even do revision by themselves as they can just reopen the Biteable at home. It shows the

extent of learning practice that can be achieved by the learners through the integration of

technology (Biteable). Second, we believe that this learning tool is very effective for the

teaching and learning process because it is quite easy to handle even for our year 4

students. So, simple instructions on handling the Biteable are good enough for the students

to understand as they can easily pick up the way to handle it and then proceed with their
own class project (digital writing). Furthermore, it can save time for the lesson and teacher

can also optimize their time of teaching better.

Other than that, Biteable also has various types of templates which are very

attractive and interactive where the users (students) can freely choose any of those to suit

their writing style during the lesson. The various types of interesting templates provided in

this learning tool give effective impact on the product (writing simple sentences) by the

students throughout this lesson. Students can freely choose any free templates provided in

order to match with their ideas of writing the simple sentences in the process, ergo stimulate

students’ creating thinking. For example, students can write (type) their simple sentences

based on the templates they have chosen to make it more interesting and understandable

for the others. The only thing that we think should be improved in the Biteable is its time in

finalising the draft. Usually, it takes some time to finalise the end product of the project and

this will affect our teaching lesson during that time. However, regardless of time constrain

during the lesson, it is still suitable and compatible with the students need and interest.

From our understanding of this study, our lesson plan is quite interrelated

with some of the previous studies of models in IT. For example, when we are designing our

lesson plan we are looking at the Technology Integration Planning (TIP) Model as our

guidance. It is important to identify what are our objectives and methods in teaching before

we can actually carry out this lesson to the students. So, by understanding the relevant of

TIP Model we have clear objective of what we want to achieve through this lesson. Then, we

start to design the integration strategy which the learning tool (Biteable). In order to design

the integration strategies, we also take consideration on preparing instructional environment

by identifying the facilities that are available in our school which is the computer lab. None of

these preparations could be achieved without the availability of computers in school. Final

preparation is to for us to make evaluation and revision on the lesson by discussing about

the final products made by our students using the Biteable.

 We also identify another model in IT study which is related to our lesson plan which

is the SAMR Model. However, we just use the first layer of the SAMR Model because our

target learners are just Year 4 students and they are identically quite amateur in this kind of

learning tool. We use the first layer of this model, Substitution to introduce our students to a

new way of writing which is by transferring their knowledge of writing simple sentences into

another medium, digital writing. The students are taking the first step into the world of

technology in education as they are required to make their own simple sentences and then

they type the sentences in the Biteable. This earlier step looks very simple yet it is quite

crucial for the learners as they learn that through technology, the knowledge and input are

everywhere and it can be transferred to different medium of learning. Only then, the learners

will proceed with the next layers according to the SAMR Model. As for now, we just introduce

them with the first layer based on the objectives and activities in our lesson plan.

As a conclusion, integrating technology like Biteable in lesson can actually improved

learning ability to think creatively as well as making the lesson become fun. Teacher needs

to be aware of the current changes in education and take proactive measure to effectively

help learners to learn the language better.

References

Bibliography
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Kivunja, C. (2015). Exploring the Pedagogical Meaning and Implciation of The 4Cs skills for the 21st
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TILFARLIOGLU, F. Y. (2011). AN INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF THE STUDENT’S ATTITUDES

TOWARDS THE USE OF ENGLISH IN WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of
Educational Technology , 6.

Schrock, K. (2013). SAMR AND BLOOMS

Retrieved 13 APRIL, 2018, http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html.