May 2005 — Features
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The Advantages of Using Technology in Second Language Education
However, Chikamatsu (2003) conducted a study to examine the effects of computers on writing efficiency and quality among intermediate learners of Japanese who found computer use neither sped up nor slowed down their writing. Its use also did not facilitate writing efficiency in composition. Yet computer use did improve accuracy at the word level, indicating that learners benefited from computer writing. The study also showed that a possible explanation for the apparent ineffectiveness of computer use was that students might not have been skillful typists. For logographic languages such as Japanese and Chinese, which have input processes different from those of English and other Indo-European languages, computer use by second language learners is relatively uncommon and its impact on writing is uncertain.
Results from many other studies (Pérez-Prado and Thirunarayanan 2002; Cooper 2001; Smith, Ferguson and Caris 2001) also point out how students benefited from the technology-enhanced collaborative learning methods and interactive learning process, while concurrently finding some drawbacks with use of the medium, such as technology and group-work frustrations.
Analyzing Advantages and Disadvantages
Most of the above studies showed technology’s positive effects on language learning, which answered the first question: Do we really need technology in language classrooms? The answer, of course, is yes we do.
First, the advantages of using new technology in language classrooms can be interpreted in light of the changing goals of language education and the shifting conditions in our postindustrial society (Warschauer and Meskill 2000). New technology was part of the social fabric at the turn of the century. So while we taught foreign language students to write essays and read magazines a generation ago, we must now teach them to write e-mail and conduct online research. Thus, integrating technology into language classrooms is inevitable.
Second, technology integration in foreign language teaching demonstrates the shift in educational paradigms from a behavioral to a constructivist learning approach. Language is a living thing, so the best way to learn a language is in interactive, authentic environments. Computer technologies and the Internet are powerful tools for assisting these approaches to language teaching. Even though constructivism is not a theory associated with using technology, constructivist assumptions are guideposts for developing a vision for integrating technology into the language curriculum (Brown 1997; Wolffe 1997). The following are summaries of these assumptions:
Learning is an active process. Learning is a natural, integral and ubiquitous part of living; not something handed as a package to somebody else (Bintz 1991; Anderson and Speck 2001). In today’s language classes, the teacher’s role should shift from “sage on the stage” to “guider on the side,” while students should actively search for and explore answers instead of receiving standard interpretations. Technology integration helps this shifting process for teachers and students.
Problem solving is the focus. The Internet, as well as some simulation software, provides a stage for the real world where students observe, think, question, organize and test their ideas. Unlike libraries, the Internet is a living medium that offers updated information — enriched by graphics and animations — to help students solve real-life problems.
