Saturday, September 28, 2013

Innovative Technologies in Language Teaching: But Don’t Forget Good Old-Fashioned STUDY

Orlando R. KelmBlogs, and Chat, and Tweet, Oh My!Using Social Media in FL InstructionSponsored by Texas Language Center

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When it comes to using technology in language learning...

✤ ... admit it, we often search, subscribe, download, log in, ddd passwords, click, ping, post, change fonts, modify colors, multitask, like, edit, find, request, adjust settings, update, flag, forward, delete, save as, hide, show, tag, tweet, change avatars, update status, and attach!

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When it comes to using technology in language learning...

✤ admit it, often what we don’t do is STUDY!

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Our Bottom Line Questions

✤ Has our use of innovative technologies and social media actually improved language learning? And if so, in what ways?

✤ Do students learn foreign languages better today than what they used to? And if so, how does the implementation of innovative technologies and social media play a role in this progress?

✤ When we say that learners are using innovative technologies and social media in language learning, what are they really doing?

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Old Method

✤ “Memorize these 100 words for tomorrow’s quiz.”

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New Method

✤ Open the account, define the settings, select the options, and let them run with it.”

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Starting Premise 1: Importance of Language Learning

✤ Proficiency in a foreign language aids in gaining a global perspective of the world’s people, cultures, arts, and values. As such, the ability to communicate in multiple languages is one of society’s most important skills. If innovative technologies can assist in this progress, we are taking an important step forward.

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Starting Premise 2: Advances in Technology

✤ Advances in technology and social media have radically changed the way that we gather information, exchange knowledge, communicate with others, and socialize with the world. If these changes are part of society’s everyday activities, it only makes sense that our teaching and learning of foreign languages reflect these changes as well.

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Starting Premise 3: Development in Foreign Language Acquisition

✤ In the past 40 years we have witnessed an accelerated development in theories related to language acquisition. Almost all of these theories include components that look at real communication, social interactions, affective factors, and negotiation of meaning.

✤ Among the language acquisition theories that correlate well with the use of technology, cognitive and social constructivism stand out.

✤ E.g., Dewey, 1933; Piaget, 1972; Vygotsky, 1978; Jonassen, Peck & Wilson, 1990; Bruner, 1990; Fosnot, 2005; Koohang, Riley, Smith & Schreurs, 2009; Overbaya, Patterson, Vasua & Grablec, 2010.

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Cognitive and Social Constructivism in General

✤ Knowledge is something that is constructed within a social context

✤ People in a community help each other out by lending support, interacting with one another, serving as shadow guides, and building on each other’s progress.

✤ Progress is always collaborative

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Cognitive and Social Constructivism in Language Learning

✤ Language learning is not simply a matter of memorization of vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and syntax.

✤ Language learning is a matter of putting learners in an active situation where people construct meaning within a social context.

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