Integrating Technology into Secondary Language Teaching

Integrating Technology into Secondary Language Teaching

(Graham Stanley)

Secondary Education

It takes places during the school day, at school either funded by state or privately financed, and after school in language academies, where learners are sent by their parents for additional English classes, usually to reinforce the English being learned at school, or to help the learners prepare for specific examination. It refers to age 11-18.

Growth of Technology Use

There is a tremendous growth ICT across the board in the recent years. Like European, many teachers interest using ICT. US also has developed National Educational Technology Plan for transforming education through technology. Educational and Technology have a tightly intertwined future. This development also gives many benefits like successful in teaching.  

Teacher Training and Continuing Professional Development and ICT

Research indicates that Training in ICT skills is crucial in implementing ICT integration in the teaching and learning of English, and the extent to which teachers are given time and access to pertinent training to use computers to support learning plays a major role in determining whether or not technology has a major impact on achievement. Generally, teachers are using readily available, free online tools and are finding out how to use them through social networks and online communities of practice.

Personal learning networks (PLNs) developed out of the idea of building a personal learning environment (PLE), which is built out of collection of web tools set up and owned by the learner.

Case Study 2.1: Telecollaboration at a Secondary School in Egypt

The study is done by Ayat. She teaches pre-intermediate to intermediate level. She uses technology in teaching process since join TESOL Electronic Village Online. She believes and thinks that the best way of developing professionally is by sharing with colleague around the world through online. She thinks that learning language must be communicative, through technology. It is not enough just teach in classroom and past the test, but in real life situation. She interests in using skype (www.skype.com) as her media. It provide user to communicate with the authentic audience and authentic atmosphere in communicating. She thinks that she have to manage the telcollaoration, important factor if online exchanges are to be effective. It must be planned as authentic as possible and well preparation from the teacher. Ayat’s class started to prepare question, she encouraged learners to ask any questions they wanted. But there is no interest of them. Then she uses computer as media, and it makes them interested and more motivated. The activity was successful, and she decided to continue telecollaboration. She also believes that making a group like on face book is very important to set a rule that all communicating in English. Ayat also uses skype to improve listening skill, vocabulary in natural way. She also make collaborative online book as a media to share information.

Web 2.0

It is a social web that allow for some degree of content creation and communication, and it is ideal for language learning. It is a blog, that teacher can share journal in publish information about a course. Blogger (www.blogger.com) has encouraged many teachers to embrace online publishing who otherwise would not have done so. It is good to share information, culture, project, in written way to understand the knowledge.

The popular online publishing used by secondary school teacher and learners is wiki. It is collaborative web space allowing for pages that can be created and edited by multiple users easily without any knowledge of web design. It is similar to the blog, but it has more flexible structure and good for project work. The development of web 2.0 is combination between iPod and broadcast or podcasts (audio and video via internet online). It provides many tools to make creation and sharing easily.

Case Study 2.2: Sharing the Experience of Web Tools in Brazil

Ana as users of web 2.0 feels that the technology is very helpful for her in teaching. She starts with class upper intermediate aged 15-16 with the objectives extra writing, reading, listening, and speaking practice at home. Every week one volunteer creates a short text based on the dictation of listening. Then the teachers correct it. It also be done by other in different way. She decide to record the process or correcting to provide a good correctness for the children as a feedback. Post online can motivate the learners to learn more. She also uses twitter, facebook, and blog. She also choose voki (www.voki.com) to share video and audio. Ana also uses edmodo (www.emodo.com) as educational private network with her learner. It is useful to share link, discussion, and chats with classmates.

Research and Practice

At the heart of the issue that the using of technology in classroom improve acquisition or development of language skill. CALL also helps secondary learners with listening and writing with some suggestion that speaking can also be improved. The researches on whether CALL improves reading, and on the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary were inconclusive. Leraner perceives an increase in confidence in engaging in real learning experiences not found in books and speaking activities. It is frighten that using technology is more emphasized than pedagogy. It is not sure that web tool is effective or not. Certainly, technology is effective, but why is it effective? Others believe that “ until technology becomes normalized, there is typically too much focus on the technology itself and not enough on how its used pedagogically, socially, politically, or ecologically.

Normalization of ICT

Normalization can be defined as the stage in which CALL finally becomes invisible, serving the needs of learners and integrated into every teachers everyday practice. There are definite signs of a more fully integrated approaches to CALL emerging because of web 2.0

Integration of ICT in Secondary Language Teaching

Aside from web 2.0 more traditional uses of ICT continue too. Jewell points out that may stand alone applications such as processing and presentation software (For example: power point) can be used effectively by secondary school learners to improve their language skill through research and by sharing their finding in oral presentations which also provides real world context and technological skill and enable students to develop confidence in their language abilities.

Case Study 2.3: Digital Story Telling in Argentina

It is done by Vicky Saumell from kindergarten to secondary level. She has been worked 20 years and using technology for six years, first becoming interested through the webheads in Action Community of practice (http:webheadsinaction.org). Since then, she develops ICT in her classroom using technology in teaching practice. She focuses would be on project-based learning more direct at their students’ interest and knowledge, in order to better engage them in learning process. A wiki (http://isfa.wikispaces.com) was set up to be used as a project repository and to keep record of which project were done with which class. 

Digital Literacy and Mobile Learning

Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers. In one thing is certain to be literate in the 21 century requires a more multimodal approaches because multimodality is more pervasive, diverse, and important today than ever before.

Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is one of the most interesting emerging types of technology enhanced learning, especially now that mobile devices are carried by more and more people every day and it has envolved from a simple voice device to a multimedia communications tool capable to download, upload, data, ect. It has spreaded out over the world as the high technology. It is important to be used in secondary education. It can be implicated to the students of learning language.

Case Study 2.4: Mobile Learning Inside and Outside of the Classroom in Turkey

Karin Tirasin is a secondary school teacher from Norway, who works at the private high school Saglik ve Egitim, in Izmir Turkey where she has been a teacher for ten years. She started a mobile project which shows a very innovative bring your own device approaches to using technology owned by learners in the classroom, with the learners making use of different of (mainly) smartphones. The students are divided into 3 groups of three with one phone per group. They used phone as a data collection tool, taking pictures, recording videos, documenting, taking special notice of any mistakes that had been made with translation. Then they create a webpage using Doodle Kit (http://doodlekit.com), a free website builder. Use of mobile on the learning was successful, but there are some problems like old version of mobile that make difficulties in transferring data such as video and audio, the battery life (short life), time consuming in registering to the web 2.0 tool. But it will be going on well if the teacher can anticipate it. Fortunately, students are happy using smartphone in class activity. But, it also must have an approval of the principal or head master from school to get permission. It will give many benefits if we use technology for specific kind reasors.

Innovations in 

learning technologies for 

English language teaching

edited by Gary Motteram