Language Teaching and Technology: A Comparative Review

Author(s):

Mehmet Fatih Ürün(presenting / submitting)Suat Kaya(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Paper

Session Information

16 SES 02 B, ICT and Language Teaching and Semantic Encoding

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

15:15-16:45

Room:

W4.21

Chair:

Julia Gerick

Contribution

Today, nobody can claim that a language class that does not use some forms of technology serves for effective language learning/teaching. Recently, starting from kindergarten and reaching to higher education, technology has been used both to support and to enhance language education. Therefore, current language education policies show tendency toward utilizing different forms of technology to support instructional processes, to involve language learners in the learning process, and to provide authentic patterns of the target culture and different cultures as well. Furthermore, some forms of technological tools permit teachers to differentiate instruction (Tomlinson, 2001) and adapt classroom activities and homework assignments according to different needs and expectations of the language learners to be able to foster language learning experience. In sum, technology continues to grow in importance as a tool to assist instruction of foreign languages in facilitating and mediating language learning for the students.

Technology plays a supplementary role, which is determined and shaped by the human dimension, namely, students and teachers. It is an undeniable fact that integration of old and new ways of learning within a comprehensive way is highly crucial to be able to adequately meet the students’ needs and expectations. For this purpose, technology provides various authentic sources for teaching four skills of language (reading, listening, writing, and speaking); thus, the use of technology in language instructions has become vital in contemporary language education.

Through this study, it was aimed to seek for the effect of technology use on language instruction. To be able to pursue the quest for this claim, the following part will provide a historical perspective about the evolution of technology use in language teaching together with foremost attempts for integrating technology into the classrooms in Turkey. After that, a theoretical framework will be outlined to make the discussion more clear by mentioning about some important functions that are important for the use of technology in language teaching such as providing access to materials, providing communication opportunities, and fostering motivation. Later on, research conducted both abroad and Turkey will be given in detail to support the outlined theories. At the end, future directions for research on integration of technology into language instruction will be presented following the conclusion part in which a comparison between research in other countries and in Turkey will be offered.

Focusing on the issues of effectiveness, this review presents a meta-analysis of the specific applications of technology assisted language teaching that have been studied recently. The study is handled within three highlighted functions of technology use in language teaching that are present in international literature: access to materials, communication opportunities, and motivation.

Having access to engaging, authentic, and comprehensible materials (especially for listening and reading) in the target language is indispensable for successful language learning. However, whether in class or out of class settings, such accesses are often limited for many language learners. Therefore, this restriction is supposed to be wiped out with the help of information and communication technologies.

Secondly, engagement of learners into authentic communication (interaction) in the target language is another essential precondition for successful language learning; but most learners do not coincide with such chances of access. Typically, there are two groups of rationale to use ICTs: interaction with the computer and interaction through the computer with remote audiences (Zhao, 2003).

Lastly, learner motivation is another aspect through which language teaching becomes more affective. Therefore, as information and communication technologies are essential parts of language teaching today, whether they foster learner motivation is another issue open to discussion.

Method

Firstly, to study the applications about the effectiveness of information and communication technologies on language instruction, some important research studies from international literature were compiled up. To achieve this objective, citation analysis was used to investigate documents related to CALL that are indexed by databases such as EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. “Computer-assisted language learning,” “computer-assisted language instruction,” “computer-aided language learning,” “CALL,” “technology-assisted language learning,” etc. were the keywords used in searching for documents. In order to compare the international literature with the literature in Turkey, citation analysis was employed to investigate documents related to the use of information and communication technologies on language instruction in Turkey that are indexed by the EBSCO Host, ScienceDirect, ULAKBIM (Turkish Academic Network and Information Center), YOK Thesis Database, and Google Scholar. “Computer-assisted language learning in Turkey,” “computer-assisted language instruction in Turkey,” “computer-aided language learning in Turkey,” “CALL in Turkey,” “technology-assisted language learning in Turkey,” were the keywords used in searching for documents. In international literature, there were a total of 29 research studies analyzed that were judged to be relevant to the field of computer-assisted language learning between the years of 1996-2014. The studies were mostly in experimental design, but there were a few survey design studies as well. 10 of the studies were related to the use of technology in providing access to language learning materials, 13 of them were related to creating environment for interaction, and 6 of them were related to fostering motivation through instructional technologies. All of the studies were research articles published in international journals. In Turkey, there were a total of 21 documents analyzed that were judged to be relevant to the field of computer-assisted language learning between the years of 2005-2013. Most of the studies were conducted in experimental design. Among these 21 studies, 12 of them were related to use of technology for providing access to language learning materials, 5 of them were related to the use of technology for providing interaction, and lastly 4 of them were interrelated with the use of technology for fostering learner autonomy in language learning. Among these 21 studies, 4 of them were master's thesis and 1 of them was a doctoral thesis study. On the other hand, 14 of the studies were articles published in peer-reviewed national and international journals. Moreover, 2 of them were articles presented at international conferences.

Expected Outcomes

Regarding effectiveness of technology on language learning in general sense, it might be declared technology-based language teaching can be more effective than traditional language instruction considering both Turkish context and studies outside Turkey. In spite of the fact that the number of existing experimental studies is inadequate, a reliable pattern of positive effects can be observed across the studies. However, this finding should be rendered very carefully because of some particular limitations. First of all, most of the studies had generally small sample sizes and rarely made use of random sampling. Secondly, it was obvious that all studies were conducted on college students and adult learners. This evidence raises questions about the issues of generalizability of the findings to other language learners who may vary in terms of motivation, language background, learning style, and lastly instructional context. For instance, it is expected that college students are mostly more motivated and more competent learners than K-12 students as a whole (Zhao, 2003). Lastly, in most of the studies, the researchers of these studies were also the instructors who designed, implemented, and evaluated the technology-assisted language instruction. In terms of differences between the research done outside and in Turkey, the theme that was studied in international literature was based on technology use for providing opportunities for communication while in Turkey the studies concentrated on providing access to materials. This is an indication of the fact that researchers in international area focus on the productive skills in language learning like speaking and writing while in Turkey, researchers attempt to integrate technology into language instruction to support basic two skills in language: reading (vocabulary acquisition) and listening. This may also indicate that language teaching in Turkey is not as successful as it is abroad.

References

Bhatti, T., M. (2013). Teaching reading through computer-assisted language learning. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 17(2), pp. 1-11. Bhatti, T., M. (2013). Teaching reading through computer-assisted language learning. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 17(2), pp. 1-11. Gobel, P. & Kano, M. (2013). Implementing a year-long reading while listening program for Japanese University EFL students. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27(4), pp. 279-293. Green, A. & Youngs, B. E. (2001). Using the web in elementary French and German courses: Quantitative and qualitative study results. CALICO Journal, 19 (1), pp. 89-123. Sheng-Shiang, T., Hui-Chin, Y. & Shih-hsien, Y. (2014). Promoting different reading comprehension levels through online annotations. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 28(1), pp. 41-57. Tomlinson, C., A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. Zhao, Y. (2003). A Comprehensive Review of Research on Technology Uses in Language Education. The CALICO Journal, 21(1), pp.7-27. Warschauer, M. (1996). Motivational aspects of using computers for writing and communication. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in foreign language learning: Proceedings of the Hawaii symposium (pp. 29–46). Honolulu, HI, U.S.A.: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. Weyers, J. R. (1999). The effects of authentic video on communicative competence. The Modern Language Journal, 83 (3), pp. 339-349.

Author Information

Mehmet Fatih Ürün (presenting / submitting)

Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Suat Kaya (presenting)