Teaching with Technology

This article analyzes two cases of computer-mediated language leaning.  In the first case, the researchers examined learning outcomes in a Spanish language course.  The American undergraduate students taking this course were given the project of constructing a multimedia CD-ROM on Latin American culture.  This was a semester-long project. The students were told that their CD-ROMs would be preserved for use by future students in this Spanish course.  While they were working on their projects, the students kept journals in Spanish “to describe or to vent their frustrations when the technology failed them.” In the beginning part of the project, the students’ journals showed that they were all thrilled by the fact that they were making a durable and public product which could be used by future undergraduates and their instructors.  The students’ journals also revealed that the students viewed the computer in a very positive light, which liberated them from “the “burden” of writing “normal,” “traditional,” or “conventional” end-of-term papers.”  In their journals, many of the students noted that the “clickability” of their computer texts and images made them added to their “credibility.”  The students did not simply copy the texts, images, and video that they found on the web.  They actively recontextualized and recreated texts, images, and video to create new and quite personalized effects.  In the process, the students learned not only how to communicate in Spanish, but also “how to create and manipulate hypertexts and various representations of Spanish speaking cultures.”

The second case discussed in this article was an analysis of the use of the World Wide Web by a Chinese ESL student.  The student was a young Hong Kong immigrant attending a California high school.  At the time of the study, the student had been in the United States for six years.  An interview conducted in Cantonese showed that the student was frustrated over the fact that his English was not fluent enough to catch up in school, and he felt discriminated against in school because of his Chinese accent.  He was also deeply pessimistic about his future life, thinking that his inability to speak English like a native would prevent him from getting a decent job.  In his senior year, this student became actively engaged in various internet activities, including the creation of a personal page on a Japanese pop singer, and met chatmates in several countries around the world.  He also wrote regularly to a few e-mail pen pals.  The analysis of his chatting and e-mails showed that his writing ability in English was improving dramatically, leading him to discover his ability to express himself in writing via the electronic media.  It needs to be mentioned that the kind of English that he acquired through his internet-mediated communication was “the “global English” of adolescent pop culture,” which differs from the standard English taught in ESL classrooms.  His Internet involvement also brought about a change in his view of himself and the world.  In an interview, he said, “I have kind of changed my determination.  I’m not as fearful, or afraid of the future, that I won’t have a future. . . But now I feel there’s nothing much to be afraid of.  It’s not like the word has power over you. . . . If I hadn’t known them (his chatmates and e-mail pen pals), perhaps I wouldn’t have changed so much.  Maybe the  Internet has changed me.”  It is interesting that the English he acquired on the Internet enabled him to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness with the World Wide Web community of which he had sought to become a part.

This article, which attempted to reframe the notions of authenticity and authorship in communicative language learning, allowed me to realize the potential of the electronic medium in L2 education.  At the same time, it gave me a challenge; how to adapt the electronic medium into my teaching in the future.  I know that the first step in meeting this formidable challenge will be to open my eyes to the opportunities that have been brought about by new technology in the teaching of second languages.