October - Asocopi

October, 2011
ASOCOPINewsletter
ASOCOPI - Carrera 27A No. 53-06 Oficina 405, Bogotá Tel/Fax (571) 211 50 18 - e-mail: asocopi@yahoo.com - www asocopi.org
Note from the President
Alvaro H. Quintero P. Universidad Distrital “Francisco José de Caldas”, ASOCOPI President
I am pleased to see that academic debate
in ASOCOPI (Asociación Colombiana
de Profesores de Inglés) is gaining
strength conference after conference.
In language education and language
teacher preparation, a discussion that
serves as an attempt to revise our
conceptualization of innovation and
research as an issue in English language
teaching (ELT) curricula is highly
needed. “The role of ELT innovation
and research in challenging times”
is the theme of this year’s ASOCOPI
Conference. We have great expectations
about what the scholars that appear in
the three-day Conference Program have
to share about the theme this year.
The terms transformation, change, and innovation
are closely related to one another. The term
innovation is related to the individual and collective
intentions to implement new alternatives in
educational practices. As for change, it relates to the
perspectives from which educators see their own
implementation and duration of their innovations.
Within a pedagogical innovation framework,
implementing transformations in the traditional
educational practices becomes essential. Language
education is not an exemption to this idea, thus
it is appropriate to propose ways to account for
dimensions of language teaching and learning
other than the mere linguistic and instructional
ones.
The individual and collective intentions to implement
new alternatives in educational practices relate to a
conceptualization of innovation. The responsibility
for innovation should be shared as policies alone
do not produce innovation. This is when language
teachers need to show themselves as able to question
and to transform practices, beliefs and habits even
in situations of difficulty inside and outside the
Colombian English language classrooms. Language
teachers need to take part in the decision-making
aspect of English language teaching and learning
in Colombia. They also need to take control as
activists of the multidimensional characteristic
of innovation: transformations in approaches,
methodologies, materials, and teaching styles. The
perspectives from which language teachers see
their own implementation of their innovations are
constructed through systematic hard work, that
is, research itself. Consequently, the 46th Annual
ASOCOPI Conference constitutes an open forum
for English language teacher-researchers to share
and disseminate their research and pedagogical
innovations that face the challenges posed by the
difficulties Colombia is currently living.
This year, as is usual in our Association’s annual
conference, the BODs and the Academic Committee
have been able to put things together in order to
assure a comfortable environment for international
and national plenary guest speakers, concurrent
session presenters, teachers, student-teachers,
and publishers to learn, share, and discuss along
with attendees. This makes it possible to offer an
academic program that balances construction of
local and global knowledge on issues associated
with innovation and research in ELT. I would like
to acknowledge the participation of the following
international and national plenary guest speakers:
ASOCOPI
Dr. Judy Sharkey (Professor at University of New
Hampshire, USA), sponsored by the United States
Embassy.
Dr. Ron Thomson (Professor at Brock University,
Canada), sponsored by ASOCOPI.
Prof. Pilar Aramayo Prudencio (Manager of
professional services at University of Dayton
Publishing, Mexico), sponsored by University of
Dayton Publishing.
Prof. Rosalba Cárdenas (Professor at Universdiad
del Valle, Cali), sponsored by ASOCOPI.
Dr. Marcela del Campo (Professor at Universidad
Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá), sponsored by
ASOCOPI.
Prof. Luz Mary Quintero (Professor at Universidad
Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga), sponsored
by ASOCOPI.
in this year’s program. To the authors of those
presentations go my recognition and gratitude for
helping to make our Association’s conference a
success.
I would also like to thank my fellow members of
the BODs, our ASOCOPI Office Manager, and other
colleagues and student-teachers from Universidad
Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá), Universidad
Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (Tunja), and
Universidad Distrital “Francisco José de Caldas”
(Bogotá) for their collaboration in the logistics of
the event.
To conclude, I would like to wish the very best to
our Association’s spokesperson and HOW Journal
Editor, Melba Libia Cárdenas B., who has left for
Spain to start her doctoral studies. People who
know Melba Libia are sure that she will do fine
and that she will be in permanent contact with
Colombia and our Association.
In addition to the plenary sessions, there are
around eighty concurrent presentations scheduled
ASOCOPI Mission Statement
4Improve the practice of English language
teaching.
4Provide a forum for the introduction and
exchange of new ideas and practices and for
the production of educational material.
4Strengthen the sense of identity of language
teachers through membership in a professional
organization.
4Encourage a high level of education and
professionalism among its members.
4Promote the exchange of ideas, resources,
information, and experiences between
language teachers on a national level as well as
at an international level.
4Provide a consultative and advisory road in
the development of educational innovations,
English for Special Purposes, Applied
Linguistics, Material Development, and
Academic Programs at the primary, secondary
and university levels.
4Promote high levels of education and
professional development of university
students, in the field of foreign language
teaching.
4Stimulate the cooperation of mutual support
among language teachers.
4Provide opportunities of continued professional
development of teachers.
4Organize support activities for the development
and maintenance of linguistic abilities of nonnative students and teachers.
4Encourage research in the area of foreign
language teaching and learning.
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From The Editor
By: Carmen Helena Guerrero Nieto, Universidad Distrital “Francisco José de Caldas”,
ASOCOPI Treasurer and Newsletter Editor in Chief.
Come on you all, join us for
our biggest event of the year:
The 46th Annual Conference
in Bogotá.
the language ability of teachers and feel they can
judge our “Colombian accent”; but our profession is
much more than just “accent” or “language”. We as
English teachers care about making of this wonderful
language a tool to signify the world, to create and recreate meaning and not simply to have “native-like”
pronunciation.
The 46th Annual Conference is around the corner; on
October 13th, 14th, and 15th a group of Colombian
and international academics will gather in Bogotá
to continue a dialogue on the profession of English
teaching.
As a sample of this concern for the holistic concept
of being an English teacher, in this issue Ana Clara
Sánchez Solarte, a teacher educator from Universidad
de Nariño, offers a reflection on a common yet complex
issue: classroom management. Times are changing
fast and children, adolescents, and young adults are
re configuring their identities and behaviors. Teachers
need to be prepared to deal with the new generations
and being proficient in the foreign language is not
enough. Mrs. Sánchez provides an invitation to think
of some elements that can give teachers tools to deal
with the complexities of the micro universe that is the
classroom.
This year, as the note from our President states, we
have an excellent group of national and international
plenarists who will be addressing the main issue of our
conference: “The role of ELT innovation and research
in challenging times”. As usual, their contributions will
bring thought provoking ideas and experiences that
are enriching the field around the world.
Along with our guest speakers, we have received
hundreds of presentations, most of them from
Colombian teachers but also some from international
teachers, which shows how big our Conference is
getting and how far it is reaching. This also shows that
there are common concerns among English teachers
around the world who constantly reflect and research
on their teaching practices to bring the best they can
to their classrooms.
Addressing another element of the already complex
classroom, Pineda and Tobón share their experience
of using blogs in the English classroom. Here again it
is demonstrated that while the media are concerned
about our “proficiency” in the language, we are
concerned about giving the best we can to our
students, to know their needs, their likes, and their
interests and respond to them with practices that
bring innovation to the English classroom.
The research and pedagogical experiences and
reflections that will be shared during the three days
of the Conference counter the official discourses
that circulate on the media about Colombian English
teachers. Most of these official discourses state that
Colombian English teachers do not speak English;
probably, they all should come to our event and
witness for themselves that English teachers from all
parts of Colombia gather during these three days to
speak, read, listen, write, discuss, and live English in
English. All the voices that come together during our
Conference are beyond “speaking English”. Our true
nature is to be teachers who happen to be English
teachers; what I mean is that lay people only see
I hope that all our members will enjoy reading this
second issue of the Newsletter and that everyone will
join us in October for another great conference.
NB: ASOCOPI is becoming more and more aware of the
importance of helping save the world (it’s the only one we
have) and as a small contribution we are trying to save trees
by not printing the Newsletter. We invite our members and
conference attendees to help us in this resolution, so this
year we are implementing a strategy we have seen in other
conferences around the world. This strategy is to send the
attendance certificate in pdf so you all can have it electronically
and resort to print only if necessary. We appreciate your help
on this matter, but above all, the future generations will be very
grateful to all of us.
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The Relevance of Classroom
Management
By Ana Clara Sánchez Solarte - Universidad de Nariño
It can be said that management refers to how
teachers deal with issues of supervision, facilitation,
and orchestration of class activities inside another
dimension of management: student behavior,
discipline and the general dynamics in a class. It
is also defined as “…a wide-array of proactive,
well-established, and consistent techniques and
practices teachers employ to create an atmosphere
conducive to learning” (Johnson et al., 2005, p.
2). Additionally, Evertson et al. (1983) states that
classroom management is more comprehensive
than the notion of student discipline. It includes
all the things teachers must do to enhance student
involvement and cooperation in classroom tasks
and to establish a productive learning environment.
Although student-teachers or novice teachers
commonly come to more experienced faculty
looking for solutions when problems have
appeared, classroom management can and
should also be concerned with the prevention of
difficult situations and practical strategies for these
teachers. Knowing the factors that affect classroom
management is a way to prevent problems. Brown
(2007), Harmer (2007), and Ur (1996) suggest
three components for it: the physical environment
of the classroom, teacher preparation and lesson
presentation and discipline.
When it comes to education, the term
management needs to be clarified
since we are not referring to a business
(although in our country we might
perceive that education has become a
very profitable business).
The Physical Environment: acoustics, seating
arrangements, tidiness and availability of resources
are included here.
Teacher Preparation and Lesson Presentation: are
related to teacher’s voice, attitude and rapport,
directions, transitions, time management, teacher’s
reactions to disrupting students, working with large
classes and/or limited materials.
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Third, avoid confrontations inside the classroom.
Deal with issues after class in a discreet way and
focus on how the misbehavior affects learning, (not
on ’punishing’ the person).
Discipline: defining it is difficult, but if learning is
taking place, teacher and students cooperate to
achieve a common goal, students are motivated
to engage in the tasks planned by the teacher and
the lesson is going as planned, then discipline is
present (Ur, 1996).
Fourth, know your strengths and weaknesses and
be aware of the things that trigger misbehavior.
Do things that work more often and try to avoid
situations or activities that get out of control.
Some reasons why classroom management is
important come next:
Finally, do not take things personally. If your
students are chit chatting or distracted sometimes
it is better to give in and wait for a minute before
starting the next activity.
• If the environment is not conducive to learning,
the very nature of teaching is lost.
• Knowing how to run a class gives teachers
confidence in initially approaching the task of
teaching.
Whatever you do, never lose your poise. No matter
how bad the class went you always have the next
class to start afresh. Do not be moody; classroom
management is based on respect, and on you and
your students cooperating to achieve a learning
goal.
• The confidence of teachers has an effect on
other aspects such as eye-contact, tone of voice,
and body language.
• It helps teachers establish clear roles in the class
and convinces learners to engage in the activities
they planned.
As Maya Angelou said: “I’ve learned that people
will forget what you said, people will forget what
you did, but people will never forget how you made
• Handling the variables of a class effectively
helps teachers make the most of the available
time and resources regardless of their teaching
conditions.
them feel.”
References
Brophy, J. (1986). Classroom management techniques.
Education and Urban Society, 18(2), 182–194.
After this brief overview, some hints which can
contribute to keeping the class running smoothly
are presented:
Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive
approach to language pedagogy. White Plains: Prentice Hall
Regents. First, be knowledgeable about the regulations
inside the school regarding student and teacher
behavior. Make that information well-known and
include key issues in your syllabus or explain them
on the first day of class (e.g. punctuality, use of cell
phones, consequences of cheating).
Evertson, C. M. & Harris, A. H. (1999). Support for managing
learning-centered classrooms: The Classroom Organization
and Management Program. In H. Freiberg (Ed.). Beyond
Behaviorism: changing the classroom management paradigm
(pp. 59-73). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching.
Essex: Pearson Longman.
Second, establish rules that are relevant for your
philosophy of teaching and stick to them. It is not
worth giving your students 20 rules on day one
and then ignoring them completely or, what is
worse, applying them occasionally or to only a few
students.
Johnson, D., Rice, M., Edgington, W. and Williams, P. (2005). For
the Uninitiated: How to Succeed in Classroom Management.
Kappa Delta Pi Record, 28-32.
Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching: theory and
practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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The use of blogs in the
language classroom as
teaching/learning platforms
By Jorge Eduardo Pineda & Martin Arnulfo Tobón – Universidad de Antioquia
The purpose of this paper is to share the experience
of the implementation of three blogs in different
language learning settings. The paper explores the
blogs’ features, their benefits and what went right
and wrong during the implementation.
The paper also addresses the opinions of some of
the participants in the classes where the blogs were
implemented as well as a series of pedagogical
implications that can be useful for teachers before
attempting to implement blogs.
Introduction
The use of blogs has increased in the last years.
People in general use blogs to express themselves
and teachers in particular are now more increasingly
using blogs to upload their courses materials
(videos, readings, links to other websites, etc.). This
practice encourages student-teacher and studentstudent communication and production.
The
purpose of this paper is to give an insight about
what blogs are and how they can be used in the
classroom as teaching and learning platforms in
various language teaching settings. We will share
three different blogs, how they were implemented,
their features and the opinions of some of the
participants in the experience.
Blogging has become very popular.
There has been an increase in the use of
blogs by many individuals as a means
to communicate with other people.
Teachers in particular have identified
the advantages of using blogs in their
classrooms.
Theoretical framework
In this section of this paper, we will explore the
definition of blogs, their features, their benefits, the
different types of blogs and their characteristics.
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Blog stands for weblog that displays serial entries
with date and time stamps. Blogs have several
characteristics such as a comment section which can
engage readers in discussion with the blog’s writer
or other readers. Blogs also allow bloggers (people
who either have a blog or read blogs regularly) to
express themselves and blogs give the sensation
of communicating with a real audience. (Williams
2004, Montero-Fleta and Perez-Sabater 2010, Kim
2008, Halic, Lee, Paulus and Spance 2010)
Sim and Hew (2010) found out that most of the
studies they reviewed last only one semester which
can be translated into a possible novelty effect in
which the participation of students is affected since
most of the students are using the technology for
the first time and the development of reflective
learning as a result of blogging may take more
time.
Wrede (2003) states that if professors want students
to become autonomous, creative, helpful and
cooperative individuals, educational institutions
must actually allow them to practice exactly these
skills. She also argues that by designing curriculum
and courses that really value these qualities the
inherent creativity of blogging and the distinctly
open environment for topic advancement allow
students to direct their own learning in a manner
that transcends the existing curriculum. In addition
to that she affirms that “the common
obstacle remains in faculty members
or students who do not see immediate
benefits to being connected beyond
e-mail and browsing the web from
time to time. If universities create their
own concepts about how they could
utilize Weblogs, then that grassroots
development could be accelerated.”
Deng and Yuen (2011) state that blogs allow
people with little technical knowledge to publish
their thoughts, opinions and emotions on the
web with their friends, family and eventually with
the entire web population. They mention two
important characteristics of blogs: they can be
reflective devices and interactive devices. Blogs can
be considered reflective devices since they afford
for self expression and self reflection.
Bescia and Miller (2006) in Deng and
Yuen (2011)
Blogs can be interactive devices
since they can foster interaction and
collaborative learning. Blogs can also
be highly emotional since they may
help relieve certain feelings.
Hewett (2000) and Palletieri (2000), cited
by Montero-Fleta and Perez-Sabater (2010),
emphasize that the positive effects of using blogs
are the improvement of grammar and fluency. Blogs
constitute a dynamic forum that fosters motivation
for learning, extensive practice and students who
carefully produce content that is immediately
accessible to other readers and that may trigger
comments from those readers.
Mendez (2010) identifies five types of blogs:
institutional blogs, teacher blogs, learner blogs,
class blogs and project blogs. She states different
features for each type of blog. Institutional blogs
can be used to post information for parents,
information about the institution’s ongoing
projects, and information about events, field
trips, etc. She states that these types of blogs are
essentially a means of communication with the
community. Learner blogs can become a class
diary in which students can write research done
in the classroom, have a presentation in class and
upload it later in their blogs, etc. Teachers can
post practical assignments, offer links for extra
practice, post key points about topics discussed in
class, embed videos, images, and presentations to
broaden students’ understanding of topics. Class
Montero-Fleta and Perez-Sabater (2010) report
on their findings that one of the benefits of using
blogs in the language classroom is the students’
choice of appropriate language. The use of blogs
also increases students’ motivation since they
realize that their voices are heard in distant parts
of the globe.
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always available to be downloaded. Finally there
were links to specialized reading journals for the
students to find more information about the course
topics and discussions. This was a static section of
the blog where the permanent information could
always be accessed.
blogs can be used to assess a class, to broaden the
topics discussed in class, to post complementary
readings, videos, images, presentations, etc. as well
as to answer students’ questions and to comment
on class events.
Description of the blogs
The second blog was available at http://
competencialectoraingles.blogspot.com/. The main
purpose of this blog was to provide students with
a place where they could find all the information
about the course as well as the previous blog. It
conserves the two column structure. The column
on the left was devoted to posting all the class
presentations, so if a student missed a class, he
could go to the blog and know what the class was
about. The section on the right was devoted to
the static content of the course; for
example, links to other websites that
were used during the course. The
blog also worked as a repository for
the course readings and documents;
they were uploaded on an external
site and embedded into the blog.
This section describes some of the blogs
implemented in various courses. You will find their
features, their objectives and the positive and
negative effects of their implementation.
The first blog is available at http://
didacticadelacompetencialectora.blogspot.com/.
The blog’s main objective was to provide students
with a space where all the papers used during
the course could be accessed from
anywhere at any time. It contained
a welcome message to the students
and a visitor’s counter at the top of
the page. The blog was divided into
two main columns. On the left hand
side of the blog, the presentations
used during the class sessions were
embedded as well as some videos
produced by the students and some
video tutorials necessary for the development of
the course. The entries for this section were posted
on a regular basis and appeared in chronological
order. The most recent was always at the top. This
section is dynamic, always changing and always
updated.
The third blog was available at
http://martin-level4topicsandtasks.
blogspot.com/ . The aim of this blog was to provide
students with an assisted teaching tool and to keep
the teacher’s and students’ communication flowing.
The class was held every eight days and there
were many holidays in the Colombian calendar.
In addition to that, the university had to close its
doors for some days which made it impossible for
us to meet in the classroom. For this reason, the
blog became an opportunity for covering all the
topics and keeping the students updated about all
the tasks they had to accomplish .The blog had 25
followers: some of them wrote comments about
the texts they read and videos they watched. They
also carried out the activities designed for them to
practice.
On the right hand side of the blog, there was
information such as links to websites for extra
practice activities. There were also links to websites
to download the software necessary for the course
as well as links to some websites to download
sound effects. Among the information posted on
this section was the schedule of the classes to be
observed. One of the most important features
of this blog was the links to the class reading. All
the readings for the course were uploaded to a
Google document and uploaded to the class blog.
Furthermore, the readings for the course were
The blog’s structure consisted of an introduction
indicated to students what they could find and
the information about the semester’s assessment.
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Then, they could find two columns. In the one on
the left, they found news, that is, all the information
the teacher had to share with the students about
the development of the course or information
about activities they had to complete. This column
invited students to write, to participate. Some
students showed an eager desire to participate
but it seemed they had only the teacher in mind
as a reader. That might be the reason why they did
not use it to answer or comment on classmates’
questions or comments. In the column on the
right, there were different kinds of videos. Some
videos were music videos with their lyrics so that
students could practice listening. There were other
videos about topics that were related to articles
found in the textbook which were discussed later in
class. There was also a video created
on xtranormal.com recycling some
specific vocabulary they had to learn
in a specific unit of the textbook.
After watching this video clip, they
had to write a composition using
some other vocabulary given below
the video link. In addition to that,
there was a video produced by a
student about Thanksgiving Day.
Finally, some videos were uploaded to explain some
grammar topics. In this column there were some
links students could visit to read and study about
the grammar topics on their own. There were also
links that gave students the possibility to practice
what they had just read.
language is required. It may be difficult to get all
the students to visit the blog regularly and it is very
difficult to expect all the students to have a reliable
Internet connection and access to a computer.
The third blog, which is a class blog, is a complement
to what has been worked in class. It provides further
information about what should be done and
encourages students to work on different activities
that aim at understanding and communication.
The students made use of this blog to study and
showed interest in the activities they found. They
were in favor of blog use in order to study on their
own because they found it useful to have it at hand
when they wanted to take a look at it and practice.
It encouraged the class to study the
topics we had already worked in class
on their own and to advance in the
course when the conditions were not
favorable for attending classes.
This observation motivated the
teacher to create a blog for the other
levels but in this case the information
uploaded invited students of those
levels to study, rather, and delve into the topic seen
in class instead of participating actively.
Opinions of the participants
In this section of this paper we will refer to some
of the opinion given by some of the participants of
the course where we implemented the blogs. We
will provide some of the participants’ opinions and
reactions.
At the bottom of this column the student could
find a world clock, a calendar, some links to practice
reading with, and games to practice and learn
vocabulary with. Quizzes and evaluations that were
offered at the beginning to be performed online
were not completed in part because the teacher did
not know how to work it out very well.
Among the benefits shared by the participants we
find a facility to access information, the possibility
to go through previous classes, the fact that the
blog provided a space to share ideas different from
those of the traditional classroom, the blog helping
them to save money and paper (they read from the
computer), and the availability of different sources
of information (e.g. videos, presentations, links to
other sites).
After the implementation of the blogs mentioned
above, it became obvious that the technical
knowledge necessary for these blogs is reduced to
a minimum since the site to publish the blogs works
as a template: no knowledge of programming
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For example, Pedro, a participant in the teaching
reading blog stated in a survey “from the blog I
like the videos, presentations, documents, etc. I
also like the fact that the information was always
updated and on time”
adding live chat, more music games, more videos
about grammar, and vocabulary exercises. When
asked if they were interested in participating in the
blog they answered affirmatively and the reason
they claimed is that the blog becomes a place to
share with others everything they had learned.
However, some negative comments appeared
about the implementation of the blogs. Comments
such as the difficulty to access Internet for some
students and the lack of technical skills were
also a problem to access the blog. Some of the
participants had either slow Internet connections
or outdated computers because they experience
problems downloading the blogs due to the images
they contained.
Pedagogical implications
In this section of this paper we will elicit the
benefits of the implementation of blogs in the
teaching practice and suggest some tips to be more
successful in its implementation.
Teaching is not restricted only to the classroom.
Institutions and teachers should or amplify their
boundaries in order to make learning a daily
experience. The use of blogs allows
students to explore deeply the topics
studied in class whenever they
needed it.
The participants report some positive features of
the blogs such as they were wellorganized, updated, and contained
good extra links to other activities.
For example, María said the following
about the blog: “a really good tool
for students who don’t take notes in
class; like me”
By implementing blogs, students
can have access to authentic reading
and listening exercises that cannot
be exploited sufficiently in the
classroom. Implementing blogs also
allows students to write to real audiences and with
a clear communicative purpose.
The participants recognized the
importance of the blog in their
learning process. They saw it as a source to
complement the information received in class, to
advance in their language learning, to increase their
vocabulary, and keep in touch with the teacher.
Two ideas written by Steve and Paul respectively
exemplify this: “this tool is important for my English
advance because I could find more information
about the topics that I found in a book. Besides, I
found different topics, for example lyrics and news,
I didn’t practice only English, I increased my general
knowledge as well” and Paul’s “ it’s very important
because it helps us to improve our level of English
and it’s a good way to practice all the skills, all the
time”
Although the initial objective of the blogs was to
provide a source of extra information and extra
practice for students, we evidenced the need for
interaction in the middle of the implementation
process and realized that we lacked the addition of
chat rooms and video rooms to foster students’ oral
production with the teacher and other students,
although the technological tools exist.
We highlight that there was interaction mainly
through written comments, answers to activities,
and reactions to videos and questions students
asked about the news posted in the news section.
The participants also recommended the use of
blogs. This opinion illustrates why “the use of blogs
is practical, available in any time and it allows teach
about more things than classes” and they suggested
One of the benefits regarding teacher development
is that the implementation of blogs broadens
the teaching scope because teachers realize that
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teaching can take place outside the classroom walls
and they can experiment with different pedagogical
strategies that somehow can give students more
control of their learning process.
Mendez (2010) types of blogs. Retrieved from http://www.
slideshare.net/monicamendez/tipos-de-blogs-3367377
in
January 27 2011.
Montero-Fleta, B. & Pérez-Sabater, C. (2010). A research on
blogging as a platform to enhance language skills. Procedia
Social and Behavioral Sciences. Vol 2. Pages 773-777
Using blogs for teaching should make teachers’ and
students’ roles more dynamic, that is, both should
become more participative and creative.
Sim, J. & Hew, K. (2010). The use of weblogs in higher
education settings: A review of empirical research. Educational
Research Review. Vol 5. Pages 151-163.
It also demands that teachers keep up-to-date in
technology management in order to exploit its
characteristics in favor of pedagogy.
Wrede, O. (2003). Weblogs and Discourse: Weblogs as
a transformational technology for higher education and
academic research. Retrieved Nov 17 2010 from http://wrede.
interfacedesign.org/articles/weblogs-and-discourse
The institutions should invest in updating their
pedagogical strategies to Information and
Communication Technologies or, on the contrary,
they will fall behind teaching in the XXI century as
if we were still in the XIX century.
Williams, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning
spaces in the higher education sector. Australian Journal of
Educational Technology. Vol 20(2). Pages 232-247.
The participants who are really willing to learn will
use blogs as a source of information or exploration
to make their knowledge grow.
ASOCOPINewsletter
There are several skills that teachers need to
promote before attempting to implement blogs
in the language classroom; for example, writing
to public audiences because students’ comments
can be read by anybody around the globe.
Therefore students need to be trained in how to
cite and link information appropriately, how to
read web material, how to use the comment tool
pedagogically and how to be efficient navigators.
In conclusion, blogging goes beyond just a transfer
of the classroom into digital spaces.
Álvaro H. Quintero
President
Adriana González
Vice-President
Carmen Helena Guerrero
Treasurer & Editor in Chief
Claudia Nieto
Secretary
References
Melba Libia Cárdenas
Spokesperson
Deng, L., & Yuen, A. (2011). Towards a framework for
educational affordances of blogs. Computers and Education.
Vol 56. Pages 441-451.
Randall Barfield
Reviewer
Halic, O., Lee, D., Paulus, T., & Spence, M. (2010) To blog or not
to blog: Students’ perceptions of blog effectiveness for learning
in a college-level course. Internet and Higher Education. Vol
13, pages 206-213.
César Vivas Valderrama
Layout and Design
Edwin Martínez
Office Assistant
Kim, N. (2008). The phenomenon of blogs and theoretical
model of blog use in educational contexts. Computers and
Education. Vol 51. Pages 1342-1352.
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ASOCOPI
HOW A Colombian Journal
for Teachers of English
HOW is registered with Infotrac GALE Cengage Learning - Informe Académico and indexed in Publindex Colciencias, classified in category C.
ASOCOPI is pleased to inform the academic community that the number 17 of HOW A Colombian Journal
for Teachers of English is available. The articles in this issue are the following:
Enhancing Listening Comprehension through a
Group Work Guessing Game
Sasan Baleghizadeh & Fatemeh Arabtabar
Infrastructure and Resources of Private Schools
in Cali and the Implementation of the Bilingual
Colombia Program
Norbella Miranda & Ángela Patricia Echeverry
An Approach from Formative to Constructive
Evaluation through an Autonomous Learning
Process
Marcela del Campo, Martha Isabel Bonilla & Luz
Stella Ahumada
How Public High School Students Assume
Cooperative Roles to Develop their EFL Speaking
Skills
Diana Carolina Fonseca & Julie Natalie Parra
Elite Vs. Folk Bilingualism: The Mismatch Between
Theories and Educational and Social Practices
Carmen Helena Guerrero
Exploring EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension
Process through their Life Experiences and the Sight
Word Strategy
Jennifer Camargo & Jenny Orbegozo
Considering New Perspectives in ELT in Colombia:
From EFL to ELF
Diego Fernando Macías
Strategies to Help ESL Students Improve
their Communicative Competence and Class
Participation: A Study in a Middle School
Claudia Gómez Palacio
The Construction of Social Reality through the Use
of the English Language: A Study with Argentinean
Pre-Service Teachers
Pedro Luis Luchini
The Language Portfolio as a Self-Assessment
Mechanism in an English Course Aimed at Fostering
Senior Students’ Autonomy
Carlos Cárdenas
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ASOCOPI
ELT DIRECTORY
Electroequipos Colombia
Ricardo Aguirre
Richmond – Grupo Santillana
Maria Vidalia Márquez – ELT Manager
English Language Services
Diana Salazar – ELT Consultant
The Anglo Publishing House
Juan Carlos Gómez, Fitzroy Kennedy
Calle 79 #. 14-36, Bogotá
Calle 109 # 14 A - 26 Bogotá
PBX: (57 1) 485 81 81 - Fax: (57 1) 489 13 88
www.electroequipos.com
Cra. 17 # 142 – 23, Bogotá
Phone: (57 1) 481 49 01 – 274 04 30
Greenwich ELT - Grupo Editorial Norma
Andrea Escobar Vilá
Av. El Dorado No. 90 – 10, Bogotá
Phone: (57 1) 410 63 55 Ext. 12860
Fax: (57 1) 410 63 55 Ext. 12844
www.greenwich-elt.com
Phone: (57 1) 743 75 56 to 58
elt@grupomacmillan.com
www.macmillan.com.co
Cra. 85 K # 46 A – 66, Oficina 502, Bogotá
Phone: (57 1) 595 33 44 Ext. 180
Oscar.laiton@grupo-sm.com
VIF Program
Kevin Smith
Pearson Longman Colombia
Javier Pinto, Gerente División ELT/School
Phone: (57 1) 621 67 21, 616 06 75
Fax: (57 1) 621 66 64
info@anglopublishing.com,
interbookshop@coldecon.net.co
www.anglopublishing.com,
www.mmpi.co.uk,
www.expresspublishing.co.uk
University of Dayton Publishing
Oscar Laiton –
Sales and Marketing Manager
Macmillan Publishers
Jimena Lizalde - Manager
Calle 119 #13-45 Oficina 403, Bogotá
Calle 96 # 11 A – 61, Bogotá
Phone: (57 1) 639 60 00
www.richmond.com.co
Cra 65 B # 13 – 62, Bogotá
Phone: (57 1) 260 73 81
Call Free: 018000-971111
supportline@pearsoned.com
www.greatcolombianteachers.com,
www.pearsonlongman.com
13
PO Box 896 – Centro Colón.
San José, Costa Rica
Phone: 506-257-6732
Fax: 506-257-7597
ksmith@vifprogram.com
www.vifprogram.com
ASOCOPI
Convocatoria
En cumplimiento del Artículo 9 de los Estatutos de la Asociación Colombiana de Profesores de Inglés
(ASOCOPI), la Junta Directiva Nacional se permite convocar a todos los miembros activos, fundadores,
correspondientes, honorarios y vitalicios a la Asamblea General Ordinaria para el año 2011, que se llevará
a cabo en el marco del 46 Congreso Anual de la Asociación el día Sábado 15 de octubre de 2011 a las
8:00 a.m. en el Auditorio San Agustín del Colegio Agustiniano Salitre, ubicado en la Calle 23 C # 69 B –
01 en la ciudad de Bogotá. La agenda será la siguiente:
1. Verificación del Quórum
2. Lectura del Acta de la Asamblea anterior
3. Informes de la Junta Directiva
a. Informe del Presidente en representación de la Junta
b. Informe de estados financieros y presentación de presupuesto 2011 para aprobación por
parte de la Tesorería
4. Actualización Estatutos
5. Asuntos varios
Atentamente solicitamos tener en cuenta los siguientes puntos:
Artículo 8 “Un Asociado que no pudiere concurrir a la Asamblea se podrá hacer representar mediante
poder escrito conferido a otro socio activo. Dicho poder deberá entregarse antes de la iniciación de la
Asamblea a la secretaría de la Junta Directiva Nacional. Un Asociado no podrá representar a más de dos
ausentes.”
Toda propuesta que se desee tratar en asuntos varios deberá ser entregada por escrito a la secretaría en
forma de moción, antes de iniciada la Asamblea y deberá ser apoyado por lo menos por dos asambleístas
para ser considerado en el orden del día.
Bogotá, 29 de Septiembre de 2011
Junta Directiva Nacional
Firmado:
Álvaro Hernán Quintero Polo, Presidente
Adriana González Moncada, Vicepresidente
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