The role of technology in the second language classroom and its effects on learning outcomes.

Introduction

In this day and age, the impact of technology cannot be ignored. Ever developing technologies are being implemented into most jobs and services. Employees are finding themselves in a situation where they have to embrace such technological innovation or run the risk of being labelled a technological dinosaur or worse, incompetent and unable to perform their duties and responsibilities properly. The teaching profession is in no way immune to this trend. Many institutions now regularly invest great sums of money in new teaching aids such as; multi-media suites and other assorted virtual learning environments, e-boards and a variety of technology based teaching mediums like podcasts, wikis, emails and blogs. However, the use of technology in the classroom does not necessarily mean that learning will be automatically enhanced or that the students of a second language can rely on technology as a magic wand to transport them effortlessly to language competence. Rather, much like effective material selection in the past, today’s teachers must carefully choose the technologies that they think will most effectively enhance their lessons and benefit their students learning in the most advantageous way. In order to do this effectively, teachers must be able to assess the relative advantages and disadvantages of a particular piece of technology in order to find the most effective ways to blend technology into their lessons. Thus, by applying such guiding principles, the proper integration of new technologies and teaching methods, a teacher can produce an environment that will benefit student learning in the most effective way.

Current trends see most universities or colleges offering English language instruction, investing in technology of some sort as a means of supporting instruction. This could be anything from projectors and so-called smart boards to fully fitted multi-media laboratories with the latest computer hardware and soft ware. Supporters of this technology revolution promote the idea that such technology is the best way to enhance instruction and therefore the learning process. Such exponents of this theory believe that the use of technology in the classroom is the answer to almost every problem encountered by the learner and in the classroom environment. On the other side of the fence are the Luddites who hold on to the notion that all a good teacher needs is a book and a student. The majority of teachers however, are somewhere in the middle of these poles and wish to use technology in their lessons in order to enhance learning without having to be a computer programmer themselves or spending vast amounts of redundant time teaching their students computer skills. “Concerning foreign language education, the goal of using technology in the classroom should be no different from the goals of foreign language education in general. That is, to provide students resources and experiences that will provide instruction and practice in speaking, reading, writing, and listening to their target language, as well as cultural information necessary to a full understanding of the people and the language they are studying.” (Stroud, 1998. P.1)

Background: The history of technology and language learning.

Following the boom in education after World War II and as a reaction to earlier teacher dominated methods such as the grammar-translation method, the audio-lingual method, in which students were believed to learn best through constant repetition in the target language, was the preferred and most widely used method of second language instruction. During the height of its popularity in the 60’s and 70’s University language classes usually included an obligatory trip to the audio lab, where students performed repetitive drills. Due to a variety of factors, not least poor results from expensive language laboratories, the audio-lingual method fell out of favour towards the end of the 70’s. These boring drills that only focused on language form and ignored communicative meaning, didn’t achieve good results.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, a shift in Language teaching methodology was seen to take place in favour of more communicative language teaching. This method emphasized more student interaction with authentic, meaningful, contextualised discourse. As a general communicative trend it could further be divided into two distinct perspectives, both of which have their implications in terms of considering how to implicate technology into the classroom.

Cognitive Approaches

“Cognitive approaches to communicative language teaching are based on the view that learning a language is a unique psycholinguistic process. This perspective suggests that language learners make a mental model of a language system, based not on habit formation but rather on innate cognitive knowledge in interaction with comprehensible, meaningful language. Errors are seen not as bad habits to be avoided, but as natural by-products of a creative learning process that involves rule simplification, generalization, transfer and other cognitive strategies.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. P.3-4) Therefore a learner’s output is really only beneficial to the extent that it makes input more comprehensible and thus allows them to construct their own knowledge of the language. Technologies which support a cognitive approach to language learning include those which allow the learner the “greatest opportunity to interact within meaning rich contexts through which they construct and acquire competence in the language. Examples of these types of technologies include text-reconstruction software, concordancing software, telecommunications, and multimedia simulation software.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. p.4) “However, while these technologies are often used in pairs or groups, the software programs themselves do not necessitate human-to-human interaction.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. p.5) As a result, such approaches may not be beneficial in enhancing the learner’s general communicative abilities in the acquisition of a second language.

Sociocognitive Approaches

In contrast to cognitive approaches, sociocognitive approaches emphasize the social aspect of language acquisition. “From this perspective, the learner needs to be given maximum opportunity for authentic social interaction. This is to provide, not only comprehensible input but also to allow the students practice in the kinds of communication they will later use outside of the classroom. This can be achieved through student collaboration on authentic tasks and projects.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. p.6) The Internet is an example of a technology that can assist a sociocognitive approach to language learning. One of the reasons why computers have such new found favour in the classroom can largely be accounted for because of the compatibility between the sociocognitive approach and the Internet.

There are a multitude of ways to use the Internet as a technology for enhancing and assisting a sociocognitive approach to language learning. Online activities can be used to increase opportunities for all students to interact equally. Through Computer-assisted discussion, “teachers or a few outspoken students are much less likely to dominate the lesson.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. p.6) As a result, through using this medium, more equal participation can be encouraged.

 Advantages and Disadvantages

Regarding the question of the benefits and disadvantages of using technologies in the classroom, teachers often ask whether or not the technology actually works and thus enhances the learning process. During the 1970’s much research was conducted comparing the use of computers to non-use of computers. This research however, ignored the fact that the computer is a machine and not a method. The infinite resource of online information has been compared to books, print and libraries which has not had similar research directed towards them. “It seems equally inappropriate, on one hand, to conduct research based on whether the book or the library is beneficial for language learning as it is to seek similar conclusions on the effects of the computer and the internet.” (Warschauer and Meskill, 2000. p.10)

 Some potential disadvantages associated with implementing new technologies into the classroom include cost, and money invested in the technology. Implementing new technology into the classroom invariably doesn’t come cheaply and there are no guarantees that it will significantly improve prospects for the learner in terms of beneficial outcomes. A second disadvantage concerning such technology is the investment in time that a teacher may have to give in order to keep up-to-date with constantly changing software programmes. However, it is the lack of certainty in achieving better results that is perhaps technologies greatest disadvantage. Institutions and teachers are expected to invest large amounts of money and time with no guarantee of achieving particular results.

 Assessing the impact that the implementation of new technologies has on the learning process and the final outcome for the learner is one of the most problematic aspects of incorporating such technologies into the language classroom. “Traditional methods of evaluation include dividing classes into two groups, one a control group without the use of technology, and one with. However, this method has numerous structural flaws. The size of the groups is usually too small to render the sample size adequate for statistical conclusions. Also, the individual variation among students in language classes is so great that it is impossible to isolate the technology variable from all the others that influence language learning ability. Anecdotal and intuitive methods of research may provide the researcher with more useful information. These more human studies also take into account student affect and enthusiasm, teacher-student interaction, and subjective evaluation of student performance in class and on exams.” (Stroud,1998. p.5)

Finally, without any doubt, the field of second language acquisition has enthusiastically embraced technology. However, such technologies have been implemented in widely different ways dependent on particular resources, faculty interest, and availability of materials. We are still at the beginning of our understanding of how best to use these technologies but it seems they are here to stay and it is the responsibility of the teacher to embrace new technology in a way that will enhance their students learning outcomes. (Sharma & Barrett, 2007. p.7) talk about the term blended learning which refers to “a language course that combines a face-to-face classroom component with an appropriate use of technology.” They support the notion that a blended learning class is potentially greater than the sum of its parts but that in order to create enhanced learner outcomes, clear roles must be assigned to the teacher and the technology and to clearly distinguish what each can do that the other cannot. We must ensure that the teaching is driven by the pedagogy but is supported and complemented by the implementation of new technology into the classroom.

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