What effects has the digital revolution had on teaching and learning languages? The virtually widespread use of cellphones, the internet, and connection has created a wealth of new options for teaching and learning languages. The same potential, though, also comes with a lot of difficulties.
Language learning and education are being revolutionized in a number of ways thanks to new media:
- The Internet makes legitimate content and examples of foreign languages available.
- Students may communicate with anyone anywhere in the globe directly thanks to smartphones, Skype, and email.
- Social media encourages rapid interaction and provides commentary on global events.
To make language learning and teaching more efficient and engaging while preserving the features and values of more traditional teaching, language teachers must come up with creative methods to leverage the new opportunities. This presents problems and difficulties:
- Choosing the appropriate hardware and software, even without considering the financial ramifications, is a continual concern as technology develops at such a rapid pace
- Learning how to use new technology in the classroom - new abilities that kids frequently pick up more rapidly
- Does the process of learning using new media differ from traditional methods in structure and linearity for both children and adults?
- developing techniques that use new media as effective and essential components of courses and syllabi, rather than merely as gimmicks
- combining the use of new media with readings from books and other more conventional input sources
To address these issues, traditional educational institutions must change to satisfy the learning requirements of both this new generation of digital natives and learners who do not belong to the digital generation but seek to use technology to make learning more flexible. This covers both language acquisition in academic settings and at employment.
The use of new media in various learning and teaching contexts has been the subject of several previous and present initiatives, including the following:
Learning online teaching strategies (DOTS)
Project DOTS and its continuation For people who instruct online in both official and informal learning environments, MORE DOTS has established a community of practice. A training resource for language instructors is included in the book, along with bite-sized tasks for online language teacher training, ideas for reflective activities, and group communication tools for exchanging "self-training" experiences. It acknowledges that utilizing new media requires not just technological expertise but also pedagogical advancement.
Language challenges and blogs
BLOGS and Language Quests are two programs that adapt new media-focused activities for classroom usage. Through inter-school exchanges, BLOGS employs the concept of web journals to help students learn interactive writing techniques and create these real-world communication activities. With the option to join a network of colleagues, Language Quests has created a website that offers immediate access to a collection of Language Quests, organized internet searches for instructional purposes, for a variety of target languages.
Exploring innovative uses of network technology for career-oriented language learning is called EVOLLUTION.
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