For this task, I used the Notes App on my iPhone to record my after-class feedback on a student I tutored. Then, I screen shot the voice-to text message and saved it as images.
Here are the images of the text:
The most obvious deviation of the text is the absence of punctuation. I have used voice texting on communication Apps and Notes and noticed that unless the user said “comma” or “period” within the sentence, it will not be included in the content of the text. I find it awkward to intentionally say “comma” in a sentence for the converting message to make sense. Hence, you will notice that the whole text is missing punctuation since I did not intentionally say “dash”, “period” and “comma” to make the text readable in a form that is considered proper in written English. As Gnanadesikan mentioned (2011), writing is a technology applied in language but not the language itself.
I would say the conversion of the oral speech to the written text is quite accurate, as I spoke at a steady pace and tried to articulate myself as clearly as possible. However, there are still a few mistakes. For example, when I was explaining to the parent how the student decodes unfamiliar words, I used the word “dissolved” as an example. I couldn’t use the dash symbol to separate the syllables as I was trying to emphasize the pronunciation of the word, therefore it turned into “day so full” when I intended to say “dis-so-lved”. Other errors I noticed is the inconsistency of tenses due to the way I speak. When having a conversation with others, I don’t pay much attention to the grammatical rules. The most important aspect of communication through speech for me is to convey the message I want to share. Yet in written language, grammar structures and sentence patterns play a more essential role, as written language is considered “lasting evidence” (Gnanadesikan, 2011) where people can later analyze and examine. There are some typos due to my mispronunciation of words (e.g. rating --> writing and asses --> es). Aside from spelling errors, I noticed there are random occurrences of capitalized letters.
The difference between oral story telling to written story telling is that oral story telling contains more spontaneous elements (the use of tones, decision on adding or eliminating details, use of vocabulary etc). Written story is “documented” (Gnanadesikan, 2011) which has fixed contents and is organized. If I had written down the script of what I intended to say, I imagined the content of my speech would be more organized and precise since I would have time to think about word choice and structure my speech to make it coherent. As Ong (2014) mentioned in his video about oratory language, “writing is a new medium that changes the way people talk.” Back in Homer’s time, people told stories using spoken words and no form of documentation. With written language being invented, speeches are getting longer and more structured. From my experience of teaching, in the past, we addressed students whose second language is English as ESL student (English as second language). Now, the name has changed to EAL (English as Academic language). The change of title suggests in second language acquisition, students need to use precise vocabulary to express themselves in academic settings (e.g subjects in science, social studies and math). Hence, students need to learn specific vocabulary from reading and writing then later use the terms in oral discussion to practice using precise wordings to convey their thoughts. I think this technique needs to be taught intentionally. I have noticed when teaching Mandarin (especially student who are a second language learner), students need support building their vocabulary. As a teacher, I intentionally pick out vocabulary from read aloud books and have students practice making sentences orally to enhance their literacy skills. In this way, students are able to apply learned vocabulary in daily context.
References
Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011).“The First IT Revolution.” In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internetLinks to an external site. (Vol. 25). John Wiley & Sons (pp. 1-10).
Ong, W. [Abe Aboud]. (2014, Sept 9). Walter Ong- Oral Cultures and Early Writing [Vido]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvF30zFImuo
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