Using the iPad to bring Language Pedagogy and Cultural Contexts Together

Shadow Play Karagöz and Hacivat

During the Spring 2012 semester, Erdağ Göknar will be using iPads with students in his course, Turkish through Screenplays and Film.  He describes how he plans to use second generation iPads with his students below:

Taking the ‘scene’ as a theatrical space of scripted and improvised language use, we ‘rehearse’ context-appropriate phrases, gestures, and interaction in the development of language acquisition and fluency. Students must have at least upper intermediate proficiency. The iPad 2 will be used as a pedagogical tool to facilitate the major course goals.

On the iPad students will:

  1. Read and mark-up Turkish language screenplays with the neu.Annotate PDF app, including pronunciation markers and phraseology for fluency.
  2. Record script dialogue and visual dramatic expression using Dictamus app and iPad Video. The goal is to have students begin to think of language in cultural contexts as dramatic performance.
  3. Upload and sync assignments between iPad and the Blackboard Mobile Learn app.
  4. Use the Pages app for written assignments, using the Turkish keyboard for iPad.
  5. Use the Press Reader app for access to Turkish language newspapers, increasing regular access to Turkish source material.
  6. Use the audio-enabled Sesli Sozluk app as a Turkish-English dictionary resource, allowing students to quickly access new vocabulary and hear the pronunciation of a native speaker.
  7. Use the iKaragöz and Karagöz & Hacivat Turkish Shadow Play apps to use traditional storytelling art to create scenes through character. The goal is to introduce this traditional art form as a means of developing cultural understanding while practicing language in scene/context.
  8. Create video clips and archive movie scenes in order to document students’ work and progress while giving them constant access to source material and authentic cultural context with which they can engage actively.