For our homework this week,
I chose the StoryCorps website to evaluate using a selection of the listening
criteria that Marianna, Guanya, Hongbo, and I came up with. StoryCorps’ mission
is, as the website states, “to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs
with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.”
The website features hundreds of stories from all over America and also includes
an education section with a few lesson plans and activities. It is not focused
in any way on second language learning. The criteria I’ve chosen to use for
evaluating the website as an ESL listening resource include: 1. Listening content
– length, topic, and difficulty; 2. Ability to pause, rewind, slow down, replay,
download and edit the audio; 3. Teacher work required to create materials; and
4. Availability of transcripts or other visuals.
1.
Listening content – stories told by the
people who experienced them.
a. Length
– most stories are short, from 1 – 5 minutes, which is a good length for
beginning and intermediate students because it requires less cognitive demand
to stay focused for shorter periods of time
b. Topic
– the topics are usually very personal to the person telling the story and are
often related to interactions with other people, most painful memories, or
happiest moments. There is a way to categorize the topics on the website, which
is helpful for teachers looking for a certain subject. Some examples of topics
include Military Voices, Friendship, Discovery, and Alzheimer’s. There is also
a story search function.
c. Difficulty
– the recordings are professionally recorded and are of high quality. Because
they are authentic and from all over America, the speakers have a vast range of
accents, speeds, nativeness, language use, and speaking mannerisms. This degree
of authenticity may make the StoryCorps too difficult for beginning and
intermediate students, and perhaps even some advanced listeners.
2.
Ability to pause, rewind, slow down, replay,
download and edit the audio – When you click on the Listen button by each
story, you can see the length of the story and also have the option to pause or
stop the audio. However, there are no options for slowing down, rewinding, or
downloading and editing the content. You can play the story as many times as
you like, though. Without the ability to slow the authentic speech down,
rewind, or manipulate the audio, beginning and intermediate listeners may
understand very little of what they are hearing and may need to listen several
times.
3.
Teacher work required to create materials.
Depending on the level of the students, teachers would need to create
supplemental materials to guide and facilitate comprehension. Even for advanced
students, teachers would likely need to create vocabulary glosses for slang or
region-specific words. The work required to make the recordings understandable
for beginners would likely deem the site unsuitable. Additionally, the topics
are not terribly broad and may not match the content of the rest of the class.
As mentioned before, the site provides an educational section, but the
materials are not aimed at second language learners and are not story specific.
4.
Availability of transcripts or other visuals.
No transcripts could be found on the site. However, there is a section called
Animated Shorts, which contains popular stories that have been animated.
Visuals may help learners to understand what is being spoken about.
Overall, the StoryCorps
website is a great website, but for very proficient speakers. Based on the
above evaluation, I would recommend StoryCorps to ESL teachers who have very
advanced students in a class that is focusing on American culture or the
American experience. Listening to and reflecting on a story could add a nice
weekly side activity that could compliment larger units on aspects of American
life. I would not recommend the site to teachers of beginning or intermediate
learners, or to teachers who have a specific subject matter outside of American
culture.
Thanks for reading. I hope
you’ll check out StoryCorps and listen to a few voices from around the country.
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