I was really happy when my group mate, Huang, picked C-map as our tool for this project. As a visual learner, I think mapping tools are really helpful to map and describe abstract concepts. Since the multimodal tutorial assignment also expects us to come up with a creative way of using the technology for language learning, I immediately thought about using cmap for semantic mapping for vocabulary learning. I think C-map is a perfect tool for this activity.
Semantic mapping is basically creating maps or webs of words to provide visual display of the meaning – based connections among words or phrases or concepts.
This is the example of semantic mapping teaching procedures:
- Teacher can ask her students to pick a word they do not know form a reading text and put the word in a blank c-map.
- Pronunce the word.
- The teacher asks the students to read the text again and see if there are related words that can be added to the map.
- The teacher asks the students to consult dictionary, find pictures or other sources for the definition of the words in the map.
- The students can print the map if they wish to.
Here is our multimodal tutorial
Eka, I watched your tutorial and I loved the idea! so creative and I think it really help L2 learners. I think I might use it for my students in the future