Bài viết này trình bày tầm quan trọng và những lợi ích của việc hướng dẫn học viên khai thác Internet để tổng hợp báo cáo tin tức quốc tế, từ đó gợi ý các bước giảng dạy và đặt ra những yêu cầu đối với giảng viên đảm nhiệm giờ học này.
Trang 1ĐỖ VĂN TOÀN *
* Học viện Khoa học Quân sự, ✉ dvtcontact@gmail.com
Ngày nhận: 13 /4/2017; Ngày hoàn thiện: 06/5/2017; Ngày duyệt đăng: 10/5/2017
KHAI THÁC HIỆU QUẢ PHÒNG INTERNET
ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG TỔNG HỢP TIN TỨC
CHO HỌC VIÊN KHOA QUAN HỆ QUỐC TẾ
HỌC VIỆN KHOA HỌC QUÂN SỰ
INTRODUCTION
For cadets of International Relations at
Military Science Academy, learning to report
current affairs is necessary because reporting
news is one of their future responsibilities as
international relations officers The Internet,
with its ‘abundance of authentic material and
information’ (Motteram, 2013, p.98), can be a
useful tool to help the cadets hone their news
reporting skills How to employ this tool is a
matter of concern for lecturers of the International
Relations Department
This article discusses exploiting the Internet
room of Military Science Academy to develop
news reporting skills for cadets of International
Relations Firstly, the article presents two major
TÓM TẮT
Đối với học viên Quan hệ Quốc tế, Học viện Khoa học Quân sự, việc rèn luyện phát triển kỹ năng tổng hợp tin tức là rất quan trọng bởi tổng hợp tin tức quốc tế là một trong những nhiệm vụ học viên phải đảm nhiệm sau khi tốt nghiệp trên cương vị ban đầu là trợ lý đối ngoại Để phát triển kỹ năng trên cho học viên, giảng viên có thể hướng dẫn học viên khai thác hiệu quả phòng-thư viện Internet của Học viện Bài viết này trình bày tầm quan trọng và những lợi ích của việc hướng dẫn học viên khai thác Internet để tổng hợp báo cáo tin tức quốc tế, từ đó gợi ý các bước giảng dạy và đặt ra những yêu cầu đối với giảng viên đảm nhiệm giờ học này
Từ khóa: khai thác Internet, quan hệ quốc tế, tin tức, tổng hợp tin tức quốc tế
reasons why it is important to teach these skills
to the cadets It then discusses the benefits
of using the Internet to gather topical news, followed by some general requirements for a news report The two last sections of the article will suggest some teaching procedures and lay out requirements for teachers in charge of this skills development lesson For the sake of its length, the article focuses on news reports which are done orally only, not in writing
IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING NEWS REPORTING SKILLS
Cadets of International Relations at Military Science Academy are trained to become international relations officers after graduation
Trang 2One of their responsibilities is research and write
reports on current affairs all over the world
Teaching them how to report news compiled
from a wide range of sources is very important
since this practice helps the learners develop
occupational skills, such as searching for needed
information, to handle future tasks assigned by
their superiors
When the cadets work on the assigned news
on the Internet, they enrich their specialized
background knowledge (Motteram, 2013,
p.131) This knowledge is essential to develop
their expertise which is needed to fulfill the
asignments of many academic subjects during
their course at the Academy Such subjects as
History of International Relations, Vietnam’s
Foreign Policy and Theories of International
Relations require the cadets to have a deep
accquaintance with not merely past stories but
also updated news in politics both in Vietnam
and around the world Thus, they might risk
producing naive research were they to support
their arguments with insufficient knowledge
BENEFITS OF USING THE INTERNET
TO RESEARCH NEWS
There are various ways to research news For
example, one can read conventional newspapers
to grasp what is going on in world politics, listen
to news reports on a local radio station, or go to a
library to obtain a detailed account of a news story
Unfortunately, these ways may not satisfy those
who wish to access not just the past events of a
story but also its current developments However,
as a ‘World Bank of information’ (Loan, 2012),
the Internet can accommodate such needs of the
news researchers; in fact, it can bring substantial
benefits for cadets of International Relations in
producing news reports, and below are three
prominent advantages in the writer’s view
Most major press corporations and official
portals publish news and information on
particular topics on the Internet with many
resources avalable for public use When being asssiged to report a particular event, the cadets can access various articles, each written in its own stand, covering the story This is very beneficial to the learners as their thinking is not framed by any one-sided opinion while they analyze world news stories which are often complex and contingent in their developments When reading news online, the learners can also improve their command of English in general and their language skills in particular (Motteram, 2013, p.101) Researching various sources of news and interpreting their authors’ views enhance the learners’ reading comprehension ability and enrich their vocabulary Also, discussing what they have collected with their peers in the class helps them develop their speaking skills and, at the same time, consolidates the acquired language items Besides, the learners’ listening ability can be upgraded when they work on online video news reports Thus, the learners’ language intake is much facilitated through this intergrated skills practice (Hirvela, 2012)
Finally, in terms of language acquisition psychology, the learners’ enthusiasm for learning is stimulated when there is a switch from conventional learning environment with much familiar arrangements to a new one with different settings (Hannah, 2013) Also, the online material with up-to-date information and topics is ‘more motivating’ for the learners than traditional textbooks (Motteram, 2013, p.101) These postitive effects, thus, can make up for the cadets’ possible tiredness caused by working on news reports within the stipulated time
REQUIREMENTS OF A NEWS REPORT
News reports come in different forms depending on the assigner’s requirements For example, a news report to be shared within a small group can be dissimilar from the one to be presented to a larger audience or the one to be
Trang 3submitted to a superior The teacher may wish to
remind the cadets to be aware of this flexibility
But whatever a particular requirement might be,
the writer suggests that a news report should do
at least the following
Present accurate and credible information.
Numerous reports covering a single event
mean a varitey of views reflecting and explaining
it The cadets should be taught to retell these
reports accurately, without exaggerating or
understating any views Moreover, the news
reports should be credible with identified
sources The cadets’ linguistic ability also plays
an important role in interpreting the published
news because simplistic intepretation of an
utterance could lead to improper reflection of it
All these are critical, especially in the military
context where leaders’ direction is often based
on their inferiors’ reports
Summarize different views on the issue.
An occurance in politics is better understood
when it is studied from different viewpoints It is
the reporter’s responsibility to select and include
most valuable positions When news reporting
skills are practiced in the class, it lies with the
teacher to provide a ‘rich’ requried reading list
for the cadets The reading should reflect
multi-ple perspectives to make sure that coverage of a
news story is not one-sided
Provide conclusions or recommendations
from what has been reported.
In the military, news reports are made to be
submited to superiors Providing conclusions
or recommendations at the end of the report is
needed, for the superiors often base on these
lines to give directive instructions The cadets,
therefore, should have the opportunity to practice
formulating their recommendations from what
they have collected This part is not necessarily
too long in a news report, but it should be clear
and concise to meet the superiors’ needs
TARGETED LEARNERS FOR NEWS REPORTING LESSONS
Most English news is written with native-level linguistic sophistication For this reason,
it seems that reporting news is only suitable for third and fourth year cadets when their language skills are more proficient, and it could be an obstable to learners with a poorer command of English Fortunately, a number of news websites,
such as voanews.com with its Special English site and bbc.co.uk with its Learning English site,
provide simpler English news reports for lower-level language learners Therefore, freshmen and sophomores can work on these special sites
to research news In fact, however difficult the language of an article is, experienced teachers would know how to design the reporting tasks
to suit their cadets’ linguistic ability This means easier research questions can be assigned to learners with lower linguistic competence while more difficult ones to learners with better command of English (Harmer, 2001, p.127)
PROCEDURES FOR TEACHING NEWS REPORTING SKILLS
Below are two workable plans that the teacher can follow: one with all activities done within a two-period lesson’s time (90 minutes) and the other with some researching activities done prior to the lesson
For all-in-one lessons
First of all, the teacher assigns the cadets research questions accompanied by a list of required links and articles The cadets then access the Internet, reading those articles to answer the questions After this, the cadets work
in groups, discussing what they have collected Each group then presents their collaborative work in front of the class, followed by other groups asking questions or voicing their views
on their presented material At the end of the lesson, the teacher can draw some conclusions
on the researched topics, give comments on the
Trang 4research methods used by the cadets, provide
some language correction if necessary, etc
This plan is more suitable for those
cadets with greater linguistic proficiency
since it requires the learners to work very
hard and possibly causes some stress due to
the workload In fact, international relations
officers may sometimes have to work under
pressure to meet the deadline of their assigned
reports For this reason, the 90-minute lesson
is a good opportunity for the learners to
prepare themselves for their future tasks
For lessons with the cadets’ prior preparation
The teaching procedures are similar to those
of the all-in-one lessons above except that the step
of researching news online has already been done
prior to the lesson The cadets then have more
time for discussing their gathered news Further
investigation into the assigned issue could be
done right in the Internet room when necessary
under the teacher’s instruction and observation
This plan is more suitable for those cadets
with lower linguistic competence since they have
more time for preparation The teacher may have
to work harder, however, giving more careful
instruction and more detailed feedback This
plan can also work for the learners with better
command of English when the teacher wishes
to make a change in the teaching procedures
or when the researched issues are more
complicated, asking for discussion at great length
REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHERS
A lesson conducted in the Internet room is
different from that in a conventional classroom
For example, the news stories can be up to the
minute, or the learners may be distracted from
their assignments due to other things on the
Internet Therefore, the teacher needs to comply
with a number of requirements in order for the
lesson to be fruitful
To begin with, the teacher should make sure that the cadets have been familiar with working
in groups Such groupwork skills as sharing information, discussing, and assigning roles should have been practiced in previous lessons When the cadets have already mastered those skills, they will spend more time on their research work This way, the outcome of groupwork can
be maximized (Ellis et al., 2005)
Second, the teacher needs to instruct the cadets how to research news from different sources, read effectively, take notes, present what has been collected, and, when required, provide recommendations on the researched news These study skills should be introduced and practiced in the first lessons According
to Gettinger and Seibert (2002, p.350), the
‘knowledge and application of study skills’ would help the learners to ‘acquire, organize, retain and use’ information efficiently; and this can enhance their performance and competence Third, the teacher should be well-prepared, understanding deeply the topics assigned to the cadets A list of articles and their links should be given to the learners so that the teacher can have control over what they read For developing news stories, the teacher may wish to update them right in the class in addition to managing and observing the learners As Harmer (2001, p.121) points out, the teacher needs to have planned
in advance, ‘have a destination they want their students to reach’, and remain ‘flexible’ in the class All these will contribute to the teacher’s effective prompts for the learners, especially in the news reporting skills development lesson Fourth, the teacher should master the English language knowledge to a certain degree, especially vocabulary associated with the assigned topics In fact, there are chances that some political terms, phrases, and expressions are out of the teacher’s awareness zone A thorough study into the related language would help the teacher manage linguistic situations well
Trang 5in the lesson However, according to Harmer
(2007, p.110), the teacher should not be be an
all-time resource for the learners who sometimes
need to look for the answers themselves under
the teacher’s guidance
Fifth, the teacher should have good class
management skills to deal with study problems
in the class (Harmer, 2007, p.153-155) This
is because rows of computers in the Internet
room are arranged differently from desks and
chairs are in a conventional classroom, and the
teacher cannot see all the learners’ screens at the
same time Some cadets may be distracted from
their main job by the lure of other things on the
Internet An experienced teacher would know
how to encourage the cadets to focus on their
work and bring those distracted back to their
tasks It is important that a set of regulations for
working in the Internet room be introduced, and
the teacher may wish to remind the cadets of
those rules before each lesson if need be
Sixth, the teacher should master some
techniques for researching online news
(Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, p.29-34) There are
a number of ways to find exactly what you are
looking for in most cases on the Internet Also,
it should come to the teacher’s knowledge that
there are those websites with reliable contents
and those without When the cadets are aware of
all these, possible harm or drawbacks could be
avoided The teacher can introduce and let the
cadets practice all the techniques for working
online in the first lessons of the class
Finally, the teacher may want to anticipate
what might happen technically when the class
is in progress, and adopt appropriate solutions
(Maher, n.d.) For example, there should be an
alternative, which has been prepared in advance,
when there is a sudden power cut Similarly, when
the Internet service breaks down or its download
speed is too slow, the teacher should switch to
some substitutes Another unwanted possibility
is that when an individual link to an important
required article does not work, the teacher may provide the learners with another working analogue Thus, teaching in the Internet room does need the teacher to make contigency plans
CONCLUSION
Using the Internet room to teach news reporting skills to cadets of International Relations is needed since this practice helps them improve their English language skills, build their International Relations background knowledge, and train their professional skills needed for future work There are numerous things the teacher needs to do for the lesson in the Internet room to be successul, from preparing the material to adopting a workable procedure, anticipating unexpected technical situations, and meeting a series of requirements
Future studies on exploiting the Internet room can focus on development of other English language skills or those skills in other foreign languages being taught at Military Science Academy
References:
1 Dudeney, G and Hockly, N (2007), How
to Teach English with Technology, Longman,
Harlow
2 Ellis, A P J., Bell, B S., Ployhard, R E., Hollenbeck, J R., and Ilgen, D R (2005), “An Evaluation of Generic Teamwork Skills Training with Action Teams: Effects on Cognitive and SkillBased Outcomes”, Personnel Psychology,
58 (3), 641-672
3 Gettinger, M and Seibert, J K (2002),
“Contributions of Study Skills to Academic
Competence”, School Psychology Review, 31
(3), 350-365
4 Harmer, J (2001), How to Teach English,
Longman, Harlow
Trang 6EXPLOITING THE INTERNET ROOM TO TEACH NEWS REPORTING SKILLS TO CADETS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - MILITARY SCIENCE ACADEMY
DO VAN TOAN
Abstract: Reporting world news is one of the important skills that cadets of International Relations
at Military Science Academy need to practice because it is part of their future job as international relations officers The Internet room of the Academy is a useful facility that can be made use of
to help the cadets develop their news reporting skills The lecturers of the International Relations Department should understand deeply the importance of teaching those skills to the cadets, adopt workable teaching procedures, and comply with a range of requirements in order for the lessons
in the Internet room to be successful
Keywords: using the Internet, International Relations, news, news reporting skills.
5 Harmer, J (2007), The Practice of English
Language Teaching, Longman, Harlow.
6 Hirvela, A (2012), “Teaching Integrated
Skills”, The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
Iowa State University, Iowa
7 Loan, F A (2012), “Impact of the Internet
Surfing on Reading Practices and Choices”,
Webology, 9 (1), retrieved on February 17,
2017 from <http://www.webology.org/2012/
v9n1/a94.html>
8 Maher, H D Jr (n.d.), Potential Challenges
Common to a Laboratory Teaching Assistantship Assignment and Some Possible Solutions,
retrieved on February 2, 2017 from <http://maps unomaha.edu/maher/labTAworkshop.html>
9 Motteram, G (2013), Innovations in
Learning Technologies for English Language Teaching, British Council, London.
10 Ryan, H (2013), The Effect of Classroom
Environment on Student Learning, Western
Michigan University, Michigan