Perspectives on Technology in Learning and Teaching Languages

Richard KernKern, R. (2006). Perspectives on technology in learning and

teaching languages. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 1, 183-210.

The search for and study of applications of computers in language teaching and learning. (Levy, 1997)

Learners learning language in any context with, through, and around computer technologies. (Egbert, 2005)

STATUS OF CALL?

Warschauer (1999)

Computers as an outside instrument rather than part of ecology of language use

Computers as an integral part of language learning and use

• Bax (2006)

• Integration of computer technology and education is still incomplete

• “normalisation” as an end goal rather than current reality

Egbert (2005)

CALL equation: learners + language + context + tools + tasks +/– peers and teachers

Genaralize computers to “tool” status.

Chapelle (1997) Interactionist approach to SLA to generate hypothesis

Discourse Analysis as the research method.

THEORETICAL GROUNDINGS

1. What kind of language does learner engage in during a CALL activity?

2. How good is the language experience in CALL for L2 learning?

Egbert (2005) Multiple theoretical perspectives.

a. Socio-cultural contexts of technology use expand.

b. Technologies diversify.c. Goal, content and structure of CALL

pedagogy evolve.

O’Rourke (2005) Computer-mediated environmets are not fixed ‘givens’.

They are negotiated, and subverted by their users.

Socio-cultural approach

Mohan & Luo SFL approach Analysis of field, tenor

and mode Register and genres in

CMC environments

Defining what counts as technology

Separating a technology from its particular uses.

The effects of other mediating factors: learners, settings, tasks, type of assessment.

Zhao (2003)

EFFECTIVENESS of CALL

Culturally neutral tools Universally adaptable media Global communication and global

communities

CULTURAL EMBEDDEDNESS

Negroponte (1995) and Rheingold (1993)

An invisible culture of efficiency in WebCT and other Internet-based communication platforms (Moodle)

Notion of Western style efficiency not appropriate tools for international groups of learners

It values speed, reach, openness, quick response, question/debate and informality in communication

Reeder et al (2004)

Hawisher & Selfe (2000)

Logic and navigational procedures of hypertext are not universally intuitive

Way of thinking that reflects cognitive constructs and connections that are particularly English.

CMC as ‘computer-mediated colonialization’

CMC tecnologies impose Western values and practices on peoples

Ess (2005)

CURRENT RESEARCHRole of Technology in CALL

TUTOR

InstructionFeedbackTesting

TOOL

access to written,

audio, and visual

materials

MEDIUMinterpersonal

communication, distance learning,

community participation,

identity formation

•A constellation of genres•Medium: instant messaging, email,

chat groups, blogs, MOO’s•Social and cultural contexts

•Issues of register and genre•Non-standard features of language•Multicultural hybrid forms•New forms of literacies

CMC

•Sociocultural contexts shaped language teaching and learning

•technology had an amplifying effect

•Learners learning new semiotic skills in online media.

Electronic Literacies

Warschauer (1999)

•An emphasis on culture: intercultural competence, cultural learning, and cultural literacy

Tele

collaboration

TEACHING

• New ways of structuring tasks, establishing exchanges, guiding and monitoring interaction, and evaluating performance

• Mastering computers applications

• Aware of connections among technology, culture, and ideology.

RESEARCH

• complex relationships among learners, teachers, content, and technology within particular social and cultural contexts.

• SLA overlaps with literacy studies, discourse analysis, sociocultural theory, sociolinguistics, and anthropology.

IMPLICATIONS

Not technology per se, but the ways in which it is used.

Still need to know how to use it to attain specific goals.

Need to ask what it means to use computers for learning and using a language.

Need to reflect on the social, cognitive, cultural, and educational implications.

Conclusions