It is my belief that one of the main goals of learning another language is to be able to communicate, more specifically to speak a new language. I have noticed the difficulty of assessing the oral abilities of my students in our growing classrooms. Google voice can be a great tool to use in a language class, as it provides a way for students to practice speaking and for teachers to assess students’ learning.
Google voice is a free service offered by Google with many great features, such as a single phone number connecting multiple different numbers, voicemail storage, SMS messaging, International calling and voicemail transcription just to name a few. Another benefit of Google Voice is it lets you create groups, thus allowing you to tailor your outgoing message for different groups. Also, you do not have to wait to listen to the message, you can listen at the same time someone is leaving you a message.
With my Spanish students I would have them call the Google voice number, which can be a number I share with students or a widget on my website. When students called the number they would be prompted to respond to my greeting. I would then be able to assess students’ pronunciation, fluency, grammar and other speaking abilities. I can also save the message for the student to listen to and have them do a self-evaluation. Messages can also be stored so that students’ are able to see their progression.
One of the drawbacks for using Google voice is it can be hard for economically disadvantaged students to possibly complete this type of homework assignment.
One of the drawbacks for using Google voice is it can be hard for economically disadvantaged students to possibly complete this type of homework assignment.
After learning about Google voice, I am excited to know there is a great tool out there to enable me to assess my students and hopefully, help them attain the goal of becoming better speakers.
http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
