People with accents, the artificially intelligent speakers can seem very different: inattentive, unresponsive, and even isolating. For many across the country, the wave of the future has a bias problem, and it’s leaving them behind. (Washington Post, 2018)
“These systems are going to work best for white, highly educated, upper-middle-class Americans, probably from the West Coast, because that’s the group that’s had access to the technology from the very beginning,” said Rachael Tatman, a data scientist who has studied speech recognition and was not involved in the research.
At first, all accents are new and strange to voice-activated AI, including the accent some Americans think is no accent at all - the predominantly white, nonimmigrant, nonregional dialect of TV newscasters, which linguists call “broadcast English.”
The AI is taught to comprehend different accents, though, by processing data from lots and lots of voices, learning their patterns and forming clear bonds between phrases, words and sounds.
To learn different ways of speaking, the AI needs a diverse range of voices - and experts say it’s not getting them because too many of the people training, testing and working with the systems all sound the same. That means accents that are less common or prestigious end up more likely to be misunderstood, met with silence or the dreaded, “Sorry, I didn’t get that.” (Washington Post, 2018)
Moncada, the Colombian-born college student, says they feel like they’re self-consciously stuck in a strange middle ground: understood by people but seemingly alien to the machine…. “The device can do a lot of things. . . . It just can’t understand me.” (Washington Post, 2018)
Apart from term-end assessments on the device, I have always tested my learners on the paper and I call it mid-term assessments. The reason why I do this is to find out what my learners can solely do on paper. I do print and file all the digital and paper copies of their tests. I also allow the learners to go through their assessments and compare their work per term, both what they can do digitally and on paper. Some are surprised to see the difference. So, I carried on doing it this year as well.
While writing, some learners do have ideas in their heads, but then they can not spell. So they tend to spend a little or more time sounding out letters and words. This makes them feel that they are stuck. Also, while spending time thinking, they tend to lose the main idea or the flow of their writing.
Tweaking:
I have taught them that they need to apply what they know, have learned and are learning when I teach them i.e. from ‘The Code’ (explicit and systematic teaching of phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, spelling and morphology) and ‘Heggerty’ (explicit and Systematic Phonological and Phonemic Awareness). I always encourage my learners to sound out words, write and carry on rather than being stuck.
What I found out:
I have noticed that some learners have figured out the correlation/connection between ‘The Code’ and ‘Heggerty’ and how it helps in our writing. Some still ask others to spell the words and they make use of the spellingboard in class. This encourages and motivates them to write rather than be stuck. But before they get someone else to spell/write on the spelling board for them, I at times ask them, “Have you tried sounding the words yourself and add on by saying - that's what we are learning when I teach The Code and Heggerty. So for some, it's still sinking in.
Dictation provides students with the opportunity to apply their new and developing knowledge of the alphabetic code at sentence level and is a bridge to independent writing. (Kane, n.d.)
Heggerty, n.d. Indicates that reading and writing present a cognitive hurdle that speaking and listening do not…there is nothing in the child’s normal experience with spoken language that necessarily acquaints him with the fact that words have an internal structure…Yet it is precisely this fact that must be understood if the alphabet is to make sense, and if its advantages are to be properly exploited. (Alvin Liberman, 1988).
- I did only halfway and I need more time.
- I only wrote a few lines.
- I left my book at home and I’ll bring it tomorrow.
- Some books have disappeared slowly. Out of 24, there are only 18 books left.
Tweaking:
To overcome this problem, the best solution I have thought and applied is to give the whole class 10-15 minutes of quiet writing time in the mornings. I created and named the document Power Writing, where learners make a copy and write on the decided given topic or, at times, a personal choice of topic (i.e. if I allow).
What I found out:
- She is in Year 3; however, other 3, Year 3 learners have made progress. She may progress as time passes or things will suddenly start making sense to her.
- In saying so, I constantly have to remind her to stay focused in class and she gets easily distracted.
- She lives with her grandparents, who are quite old so there is not much support at home.
- Her attendance is not that good either.
- Her behaviour can be an issue now and then.
- She acts childish, especially in front of trainee teachers and visitors in the classroom.
Tweaking:
To assist her:
- I have swapped her seat and she is sitting very close to my desk. She started doing well but still with a constant reminder. A few times I have made her sit very close to me, facing the other way so I can see what she is doing on her device. These days I have noticed that she swaps her seat and goes and sits with her friends without even taking permission from me. Her behaviour has improved to some extent but still she needs lots of guidance.
To assist her further, I would remind her about the expectations, such as that in 5 minutes at least she should produce 2 lines of writing. She is a capable learner but would ignore me; however, I continued reminding her and working hard with her. Seamer, 2023 indicates talking with your reluctant writers before the lesson and making clear what you expect. If you are going to sit with them and support them to get started, tell them. This lets the student/s know that they aren’t going to be on their own and may prevent some of those off-track behaviours.
Good news…
When I tested the whole class towards the end of Term 3, I found out that all my learners had made progress. As for the girl whom I was concerned about, she has moved from Curriculum Level 1P to 2P. She has outshoned a lot! I have acknowledged and congratulated her in class and the school assembly by giving her a certificate and a book prize.
What I found out:
Most of my learners are taking their writing seriously and some still need some support and guidance to develop interest in their writing. For those who are making progress, I have noticed that they continuously go back and look at the electronic but mainly the hard-copy samples to guide them. Most of my learners know narrative writing and recount writing structure by heart. Most of the learners tend to sound out words lots more than what they were doing in terms 1 and 2. Another good thing about my class is that some learners confidently ask for help when they can not spell certain words. That’s when the spelling whiteboard is used by those who know how to spell and they quickly go and write the word(s) on it.
I even use lots of motivational words and praise my learners a lot. It works wonders. With that, I also use Class Dojo, where I go and give learners Dojo points. I also give my learners a Caught Being Good card, which they take home. However, at times I do get busy and not that consistent with giving the Class Dojo points and writing my learners' Caught Being Card to take home. I need to be more consistent and efficient with that.
