TECHNOLOGY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

By: Iwan Syahril September 2010

Status Updates

Think-Pair-Share

How has technology helped you in the language learning?

“Technology is just a tool, but the key is the people who use the technology.”

A  new  breed  of  students  

 Our  students  have  changed  radically.  Today’s  students  are  no  longer  the  people  our  educa7onal  

system  was  designed  to  teach.  

What  is  going  on

• Today’s  students  think  and  process  informa1on  fundamentally  differently  from  their  predecessors.  • “Different  kinds  of  experiences  lead  to  different  brain  structures,“  says  Dr.  Bruce  D.  Perry  of  Baylor  College  of  Medicine.  • Whether  or  not  this  is  literally  true,  we  can  say  with  certainty  that  students’  thinking  pa7erns  have  changed.

Digital  Na4ves  &  Digital  Immigrants

• Digital  Na4ves;  our  students  today  are  all  “na4ve  speakers”  of  the  digital  language  of  computers,  video  games  and  the  Internet.  

• Those  of  us  who  were  not  born  into  the  digital  world  but  have  become  fascinated  by  and  adopted  many  or  most  aspects  of  the  new  technology  are  Digital  Immigrants.  

Digital  NaHves  …

• are  used  to  receiving  informaHon  really  fast.  

• like  to  parallel  process  and  mulH-­‐task.  

• prefer  their  graphics  before  their  text  rather  than  the  opposite.  

• prefer  random  access  (like  hypertext).  

• funcHon  best  when  networked.  • thrive  on  instant  graHficaHon  and  frequent  rewards.  

• prefer  games  to  “serious”  work.

General  Characteris4cs  of  Digital  Media

1. Text  

2. Images,  audio  and  video  

3.  Mixing  media  

4.  Distribu4ng  media

The  use  of  cellphones

• Can  cellphones  serve  as  effecHve  instrucHonal  tools  in  the  classroom?  • In  what  way  can  the  mobile  technology  support  and  strengthen  the  curriculum?  What  are  the  drawbacks?

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So, how are cellphones used?

• Communication and social networking.

• Information seeking and sharing.

• Entertainment and leisure.

• Personal business and banking.

• Entrepreneurship, business development and marketing.

• Creativity and the arts.

• Education and learning.

• (other categories?) ...

Some of the categories are:

In the past couple of years, what are the most innovative ideas for cellphones you have come across?

“Idea(s)  of  using  mobile  phone  for  language  learning”