The Importance Of Technology in ELT (Essay)

 THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ELT

Introduction

As we know, technology nowadays is present in almost all fields of our lives and the educational sector is no exception to this. Immersing even deeper with each new generation in the digitization process. Even when the digital transformation has already reached many levels throughout education there is still a long way to go in all of them. Teachers are improving their digital literacy and showing a more favorable attitude towards the use of new technologies in the classroom, which has an impact on the increase in student motivation, while they become more familiar with electronic devices and with everything that the digital world offers. In terms of tools, technology has generated a wide variety of platforms, equipment, systems, networks, and applications, which in some cases are already present in classrooms and it seems that they will be more and more so. Globally, and as in all sectors, digital transformation should not be confined to technology alone but should be accompanied by a change of mindsets and pedagogical objectives.

Technology

Technology is the appliance of science to reach some specific goals or/and to facilitate many human life activities. In the educational field, we can consider technology as a mediation tool between teachers and their students. It can help us achieve our educational goals. It is a bridge between theory and practice that helps us facilitate teaching. It promotes collaborative work and makes the evaluation processes to be more standardized and focused.

"Technology has been defined by different researchers. It is the practical use of knowledge particularly in a specific area and is a way of doing a task, especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge." (İŞMAN, 2012 in Ahmadi, 2018)

Foreign Language Teaching 

Foreign language learning has to do with the act of teaching or learning a different language other than the native tongue. The are two terms that are related: foreign and second language. The main distinction would be that the term "foreign" would be when the language is being taught or learned within the environment of the native language whereas the term "second language" is used when the learner lives in an environment where the new language is spoken. Researchers also use the term second language acquisition (SLA) because it includes the human capacity to learn languages other than the first language. Research and teaching innovations as well as the use of new technologies have provided new insights regarding teaching strategies and environments designed to increase foreign language learning.

Technology and Teaching

With the rapid development of science and technology, the emerging development of multimedia technology and its application to teaching, featuring audio, visual, and animation effects come into full play in teaching and sets a favorable platform for reform and exploration of the English teaching model in the new era. It's proved that multimedia technology plays a positive role in promoting activities and initiatives of students and teaching effect in English classes. Technological innovations have gone hand – in hand with the growth of English and are changing how we communicate. It is fair to assert that the growth of the internet has facilitated the growth of the English language. This has occurred at a time when computers are no longer the exclusive domains of the dedicated few, but rather available to many.

Technology is an effective tool for learners. Learners must use technology as a significant part of their learning process. Teachers should model the use of technology to support the curriculum so that learners can increase the true use of technology in learning their language skills (Costley, 2014; Murphy, DePasquale, & McNamara, 2003 in Ahmadi, 2018).

In the educational field, technology has a lot of possibilities that provide a great variety of specific resources for each type of student. With a previous review of each resource, we can more easily reach some educational goals using videos, apps, platforms, forums, virtual libraries, etc.

According to Fundación Orange (2016), some of the nowadays applications of technology in the educational field are:

1. Mlearning & uLearning:

• Increasing demand for mobile and ubiquitous training.

2. Hybrid Classes:

• The integration and combination of different technologies and new methodologies have a multiplier effect.

3. Virtual Environments:

• Social networks encourage collaboration and participation in the educational community.

4. Customer Experience:

• The student becomes the center of the educational experience.

5. BYOD in the classroom:

• Students bring their own devices as a tool for their education.

6. MOOC:

• The offer of massive online courses will increase, offering a greater variety of topics and formats.

7. IoT and Wearables:

• Intelligent objects generate data and the ability to interact with all educational agents.

8. Maker Culture:

• It reaches schools that become with the incorporation of 3d printing and robotics in personal factories.

9. Personalization:

• Thanks to big data and learning analytics, learning difficulty levels will be better adapted to the learner's profile.

10. Virtual Reality & Immersive Formation:

• The rise of immersive training is destined to revolutionize e-learning.

Advantages 

According to Aşıksoy (2018), recent research suggests and agrees that whenever we use technology applied to education, the students have a bigger learning disposition. we can notice this in the fact that the students show much more confidence when it comes to virtual educational environments compared to traditional face-to-face interactions. (Alberth, 2009; Sweeney, O'Donoghue, & Whitehead, 2004)

In a traditional environment, participation seems affected by social and cultural norms that can be translated into a noticeable motivation decrease.

The growing popularity of technology-based learning is mostly due to the flexibility this tool offers.  At the same time, one of the benefits that we can get from it is without a doubt, the vast amount of information that the web has at the disposal of society.

Barriers

One of the disadvantages that the use of virtual environments of information brings along, is precisely the wide range of titles that it offers. There’s no apparent limit as to the type of information we can find, due mainly to this and to the lack of discernment of many students present, the use of technology in the learning process turns out to be a double-edged sword.

Another disadvantage found in some students is that they might not be as familiar as one would expect and therefore the use of technology could generate loathing and a less positive attitude towards this type of learning in contradistinction with the so-called technology natives.

Research evidence indicates that familiarity with technology affects students’ attitudes to technology-enhanced learning (Holscherl & Strubel, 2000, in Özer, 2018). 

Conclusions

We need to re-think the way we teach and the way our students learn English as a foreign language. technology can be an invaluable learning tool in the ELT sector. Not only does it provide excellent, authentic, and abundant learning resources, but it also serves to connect ELT learners and promote collaborative work. We know that there are limitations as discussed in this essay but if we consider them not only as obstacles but as opportunities that can be overcome in time, there is no doubt that we can make the most out of the current tools we have at hand for making teaching much easier. One thing’s for sure is that new technology is here to stay, and it will continue to play a priority role in the life of the knowledge society. It only depends on us and the rest of society to keep preparing ourselves for the new challenges and opportunities that technology brings along.

References

• Aşıksoy, G. (2018). ELT students’ attitudes and awareness towards the use of Web 2.0 technologies for language learning. Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies, 14(2), 240–251.  

• Özer, Z. (2018). An investigation of prospective ELT teachers’ attitudes towards using computer technologies in foreign language teaching. Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies, 14(1), 328–341.

• Rodríguez, J. C. (2018). Redesigning technology integration into world language education. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12328 

• Crompton, H., Burke, D., Jordan, K., & Wilson, S. W. G. (2021). Learning with technology during emergencies: A systematic review of K‐12 education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(4), 1554–1575. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13114 

• Ahmadi, M. (2018). The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review. International Journal of Research in English Education (UREE), 117.

• Fundación Orange. (2016). La transformación digital del sector educación. https://fundacionorange.es/eespana-transformacion-digital-educacion/ctor_educacion-1.pdf

• Cerdas Ramírez, G., & Ramírez Acosta, J. (2015). La enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras: historia, teoría y práctica. Revista De Lenguas Modernas, (22). https://doi.org/10.15517/rlm.v0i22.19687