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Welcome, everyone again to the XarxaMOOC. Today we have with us Professor Daniel Cassany.
Daniel Cassany has a PhD in Didactics of language.
He works as a teacher at the Pompeu Fabra University and is specialized in written communication,
and teaching language. For any student that beings studying didactics of language,
Professor Daniel Cassany’s publications are essential.
Some examples would be Descriure escruire (Describe and Write) published in 1987,
La cuina de l'escriptura (The Kitchen of Writing) from 1993 or Ensenyar llengua (Teaching Language) from 1993, which he wrote as co-author.
They are top manuals. 9 00:00:43,047 --> 00:00:48,193 In the field of dissemination, he has collaborated with the Ministry of Education of Catalonia, Galicia 10 00:00:48,397 --> 00:00:54,636 Spain, Argentina, Chile and Mexico in programmes to promote reading and writing.
The professor, always sparked with curiosity, has been recently studying more into the world of ICT, the world of subjects
in the process of teaching-learning: the world of the student.
The last publication, En línea_Llegir i Escriure a la Xarxa (Online_Read and Read on the Network), from 2011, analyses how ICT should be rethought
in teaching-learning in basic skills: reading and writing. 15 00:01:18,677 --> 00:01:23,933 Professor Daniel Cassany is with us today at the XarxaMOOC to answer the following question: 16 00:01:24,166 --> 00:01:29,563 What has represented the application of ICT in the field of learning, in general, 17 00:01:29,563 --> 00:01:32,561 and, specifically, in learning languages? 18 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:41,035 Good, well…We are sure the most important and first answer is that with ICT 19 00:01:41,035 --> 00:01:48,304 we can learn a lot more outside the classroom. In other words, the possibilities that we have to informally learn
in contexts linked to private life, with leisure and with other activities that are not strictly
educative. Therefore, the possibilities to learn are higher.
Nowadays we can learn many more languages without the need to enrol
in a formal learning course. This is the first important idea.
Secondly, we have lived through the birth of a number of possibilities to learn
online, also formal, with courses such as Parla.cat, 26 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:30,614 and with other languages, as well, that allow people to learn that live in an isolated place 27 00:02:30,614 --> 00:02:37,321 or in places where there is no real or authentic appearance of a language wanted to be studied.
Therefore, there are more possibilities to be able to learn than 50 years ago,
when this was not possible. Of course, before students could also register
in a distance learning course, but, obviously, the only possibilities of learning
was with books that students bought or printed material that was sent or also with telephone conversations.
However, now, the possibilities are infinite. More than infinite, they are much bigger. There is a lot more
material available and this material is becoming even more sophisticated, more organized
to facilitate learning these subjects. Of course, until now, it is easier to learn
receptive skills more than productive ones, as well as written skills more than speaking, in other words,
it is a lot easier to understand or read Catalan,
by using the resources we can find in the network and, on the other hand, it is a lot more difficult to write in Catalan. 38 00:03:47,731 --> 00:03:52,933 And, moreover, speaking in Catalan because interlocutors and oral technology is not yet as 39 00:03:52,933 --> 00:04:01,228 developed as written technology, but it is advancing bit by bit. In this sense, another very important chapter
is relevant which is linguistic technologies, the language industry 41 00:04:08,944 --> 00:04:15,802 or linguistic engineering, IT, have developed products that really help people
solve the difficulties they have when using language daily, and, also, in learning:
the spell checker can be one, online dictionaries, which are more accessible now
because from a mobile phone connected to the Internet allows us to consult a dictionary,
dictionaries of every type. An immediate answer can be obtained according to your linguistic needs
that you can have in a specific moment when developing a task.
This is developed in the written field, and in the oral field is it starting to be developed.
For example, Google translator now says out loud translations done into Catalan.
This allows, for example, a foreign student that comes to Catalonia and does not speak
the language well, in a specific moment, in a bar, to ask in Catalan by using 51 00:05:19,577 --> 00:05:25,711 Google translator. This is done by translating from their own language into Catalan and activating the voice
when the waiter arrives to the table, for example. These are some very interesting resources.
Going back to the first answer that I’ve given, which was about informal learning, there is also
a relevant number of possibilities that cannot be forgotten. Through the network
we and find other people that have the same interests as us. So that it is
easier to find people who can take part language exchanges,
in conversation groups on specific topics, even being able to find people who
share the interest of learning Catalan, for example, but with the same interests in
in literature, theatre, sport and to be able to develop an exchange of knowledge,
organize language exchanges to speak Catalan online by using Skype with people
who live in different parts of the planet. Many resources can be developed to facilitate
learning a language.