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Technology  as a tool for English language teaching

by

 [Cáren Baltazar] 

 April 12, 2016

 Aprendizagem de Inglês como !ng"a #strangeira 

 Ad$isor% &ro'essor (allace Barboza, )A in *#+

 Abstract

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Keywords: [websites. technology. Teaching, foreign language.]

Introduction

Computers, tablets, smartphones and even television

are connected to the internet nowadays, so, it’s

necessary to adequate education methods and

techniques to this new reality. Younger people have

 been in contact with all this technology since their birth by watching some funny cartoon or being

 watched by the parents while they are sleeping,

internet is always there. Taing into consideration this

connected generation, this study aims to evaluate the

using of technology in the classroom as a tool for

teachers and learners of !nglish as a second language.

Review of Literature

Technology in the classroom

 The teaching of foreign languages, especially

in the last two decades, has received agrowing and rising assistance from new

technologies in teaching and learningenvironments. beginning in the "##$s,

technology began to be used more intensively both by teachers and by students of foreignlanguages.

The rapid technological advancement and the

continuous production of educationalsoftware have contributed greatly to the

strengthening of ties between education andcomputing. %t is necessary, however, that

there is much common sense, reflection and

 &udgment with regard to the use of these newtechnologies, particularly when it comes toteaching'learning process.

The advent of the %nternet has also brought aradical change in people(s behavior. Throughthe computer, people can do almost

everything that they need, such as the onlineshopping, paying bills, visiting virtual

libraries, chats, blogs, apps on cellphone,among others benefits of electronic universe.

This new virtual reality, which has been becoming gradually more accessible to peoplehas also been a constant relationship between

man and machine. %t is also difficult ignore therelationship between technology and education.)owever, this does not mean that your computer will have the power to promote, by itself, all theprogress in the teaching'learning process. %t must wor as a tool to complement and improve thee*perience of !+ -!nglish as a +econd anguagestudents. ie other areas of education, languageteaching has also greatly benefited from the new education technologies.

The phenomenon of globali/ation has broen

physical barriers, especially %nternet, hasassumed the vital function of disseminate andpropagate new ideas, thoughts and different values.

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Techniques to use technology

1 !ebsites

 0ebsites are considered one of the easiest techniques

to use technologies in the classroom and can be used

from the first level of learning until the very last one,also, this tool can be used with children, teenagers and

adults, because there are websites that fits the needs of 

each age. The large and constant rising of serious

resources online are also a point to consider, and,

indeed, plenty of good and free material can be easily

found all over the internet.

There are two main types of websites to use, the

authentic, written by regular users from the internet1

and the !T specifics sites, that are made by teachers

for teachers. These websites can also be monolingual

or multilingual, contain multimedia platforms or

simple te*t, to attend those ones with slowerconnections. The choice between !T or authentic

 websites will depend on aspects as what the teacher

 want to bring into the class or the tass he want the

students to do. 2oth types of sites can provide good

content to use. !T websites use to be helpful to find

activities that the learners can do to be prepared to

regular e*ams, however, the authentic ones can fill

some gaps and to fit the learners’ interests, such as

activities and multimedia including their original

culture and mae them more confident and

comfortable.

Teach !nglish using websites can become very

interesting with all of these ama/ing tools available on

the internet, and there are a few criteria regarding to

how to find a useful website, and this warning is valid

mainly for teachers that are still resistant and don’t

now how to deal with technology, so have good sills

at finding trustable sources, means finding good

material more quicly. The most famous engine of

search is 3oogle, that shows thousands of results %n

less than a second.

 4ccording to 3avin 5udeney and 6icy )ocly -7$$8

there are some points that the teacher must be careful

about web teaching. 4dopt the correct approach, plan

the class carefully and consider the interest of the

students about some specific topic can be the

difference between an intuitive and productive class

and a tedious class with disinterested students.

" #hat

%magine a !+ student in 2ra/il. )e does not have any

friend who is a native speaer of !nglish, only his

colleagues at class. +o, this student wants to practice

more, with native speaers, how can he do such a thing without leaving the country or having a close friend9

+ince the late :: century, this is possible thans to a

tool called chat. Chats can be defined as synchronous

communication -5udeney and 6icy )ocly between

two or more people using te*t chat, voice chat, and

more recently, video chat. 4ll that learners and

teachers need to use a chat is a computer with internet

connection a microphone and speaers or headset, and

maybe a webcam, if video is available.

There are several programs that have the te*t functionchat, voice chat and video chat, one of the leading and

most well nown is +ype, which allows group chats,

 which would facilitate, for e*ample, a virtual meeting

 with between teacher and !+ students in days that

traditional class could not be possible, for virtual

sub&ects or even as an e*tra practice of language,

focusing on listening and speaing with a supervision

of a teacher.

%f the student wants to practice alone, he probably will

not have trouble finding websites that bring together

the facility of not need a program lie +ype installed

on your computer and the possibility to chat with

native speaers of !nglish language. %n a quic search

on 3oogle it is possible to find do/ens of websites that

offers these functionalities for free, and it is ama/ing.

 4lthough chats are a great tool in regards to improve

nowledge, there are some concerns about how

effective chats can be to the development of the four

 basic sills ; listening, speaing, reading and writing.

%n regards to the last ones, the using of te*t chat must

 be careful, because the language currently used,

specially by teenagers tends to be modified by

abbreviations, internet e*pressions, as using

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#onclusion

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References

 Aprendizagem de Inglês como !ng"a #strangeira [The website as a tool forEnglish language teaching ] &age / o' .