The Impact of Technology Use on Education - Research Paper Example

? Teachers’ Perceptions of the use of Technology in Teaching Language to enhance Motivation and Submitted Date of submission: Abstract The modern era has introduced the implementation of technology in many areas of life especially the education sector. Language learning has been facilitated significantly with the use of technology. This paper seeks to identify what teachers think about their enhancing student motivation through integrating technology in teaching languages; what barriers they perceive while accomplishing this; what kind of expectation they have with their students in learning languages from technological perspective; and, what kind of technological tools do the teachers perceive as easy to implement and use while teaching languages. First an introduction has been given as to what contribution has technology made in education and especially the teaching of language. Then, teachers’ competencies and barriers to the integration of technology have been discussed. After that, various technological strategies are discussed which the teachers can make use of in classrooms to motivate students and facilitate their language teaching process. Introduction Since the advent of sophisticated technological means, educators have been trying to modify the instructional process with the help of technology. Early 1960’s brought with it new curricula and instructional models of instruction, but the drawback with these instructional schemes was their poor management. Last decades have seen much advancement in this regard. An ideal classroom environment is so dynamic in which each student is motivated to present his own understanding, and where he is comfortable with his own set of instructional materials. Thus, the teacher needs to organize instructional and motivational schemes in such a way that all students with their unique calibers are equally attended to. Today, the educational institutes are aware of the necessity of incorporating information and communication technology in teaching language to enhance student motivation and learning. Literature Review Ismail, Ghaleb and Almekhlafi (2010, p.37) studied teacher perception regarding teaching Arabic and English languages in schools in UAE. They found that teachers’ support and willingness to incorporate technology in their teaching languages is very important to motivate students to learn effectively. The researchers discussed the benefits of the usage of IT both for the teachers and the students, and found from their qualitative and quantitative research that teacher perception should be considered seriously for better implementation of technological tools in classrooms. Woodrow (as cited. in Ismail, Ghaleb & Almakhlefi, 2010, p.37) asserts, “teachers are seen to be active agents in the process of changes and implementation of new ideas as their beliefs and attitudes may support or impede the success of any educational reform such as the utilization of an innovative technology program.” So, it can be stated that technological advances have greatly facilitated student motivation to learn through enhanced teaching processes. The teachers today can use many technological tools to equip themselves while teaching languages to their students. Mansor (2007) asserts that the technological advances have greatly benefitted the learning of English language for students. However, it still has to go a long way as, according to what Ismail, Ghaleb and Almakhlefi (2010) found in their research, teachers were still reluctant to use technological facilities in teaching languages like Arabic. Yaratan and Kural (2010, p.161) studied the implementation of instructional technology in teaching English language in North Cyprus schools. They conducted the survey among 80 teachers, and concluded that although teachers were willing to use technology in teaching language, still the rate was low because there were not enough technological means to employ nor there was enough time. However, they found that the teachers who were using technology perceived that technological tools helped them in motivating the students to get control over the language and strengthen their vocabulary by providing them with interactive softwares. Yaratan and Kural state that foreign-language teaching has seen many rapid changes since the advent of technology, because the students can now share a more communicative and collaborative environment in learning instruction. Especially, in foreign-language teaching, the communicative settings were facilitated with translation softwares. But with this change, teachers were also needed to equip themselves with related knowledge and expertise so that they were able to integrate instructional technology in teaching both the native and the foreign languages. Hence, it is a big challenge for teachers to come at par with the modern technological world by putting in time and effort to learn the use of technological tools and be able to face the barriers that come with the technological advancement, like the need for equipment, trainers, and hardware and software experts. There has been a considerable research on teachers’ competencies in using technology in teaching language, and the findings imply that the more the teachers’ enthusiasm, skill and competency, the more is the level of integration of technology in classrooms and the more is student motivation. Bingimlas (2009) asserts that teacher’s requirements, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and experiences also make him decide whether he wants to use technology or not. Then, there are other cultural and economic factors that affect teachers’ perception of technology usage. For example, in the culture where collaborative work is encouraged, it is not possible to employ individualized usage of computers thus restricting the teachers to incorporate technology in classrooms. Hence, positive and liberal attitude is required on teachers’ part. Senior teachers are also not trained in computer usage, and they are also not willing enough to undergo computer training sessions. Thus, a negative attitude has been adopted by many teachers, thus, putting great barriers in language teaching in the modern era. Also, researchers have found that teachers do not have enough time to prepare for materials that they can put up on the computers for the students. They either have not enough competencies or enough time to prepare for slide shows, power point presentations and websites through which they can support the language teaching. Putting too much burden on the teachers can also de-motivate them from preparing effective lessons on computers, because teachers generally do not prefer using such technological tools that take much time in preparing lessons. Although many schools have labs and computers to assist language learning, yet the computers may not be updated or labs may not be regarded as suitable enough for the teaching of a language. These were some of the main barriers that teachers face when they want to integrate technology in their classrooms to motivate students toward improved teaching process. Recommended Strategies for Language Teaching Networked multimedia computing and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the classrooms have greatly facilitated the teaching of languages. Here, it is important to define the term ‘instructional technology’ and CALL. Instructional Technology Instructional technology refers to the usage of all sorts of communication media and devices to facilitate student motivation and the teaching process. It is the set of communication devices that can be used for instructional reasons, and may include television, computers, projectors, multimedia, audio and video conferencing, and the internet. Teachers’ role is significantly important in bringing the idea of electronic instructional technology to life, and they have to be excited enough about the technological innovations that can be integrated into the teaching of language. The use of instructional technology in teaching language, according to Yataran and Kural (2010, p.164), is not a new process as “It dates back to the times at which blackboard was used as the one and only technological tool supplementing language instruction.” They further state in their research that blackboard was replaced with overhead projectors and overhead transparencies with the passage of time. Besides these, language teachers also started making use of visual aids like flashcards, wall charts, magnet boards and newspapers to facilitate their teaching grammar and translations. These methods were, then, interfered by the advent of newer and more sophisticated technologies, like the audio-tape which was a basic constituent of the audio-lingual method where emphasis was more on repetitive drills in the language to be taught. The tape recorder became one of the most important language teaching aids for the teacher. Besides these, phonographs and radio broadcasts were also used in audio-based instructions. In 1960s and 1970s, teachers started using television and other visual aids to motivate students to learn. Still the teachers felt that more communicative approaches should be introduced in teaching language, and the students should be motivated to face real-life situations. This could only be facilitated with the integration of computer technology in the classrooms, which offered the most sophisticated tools and techniques that provided a shared collaborative environment to the students where they worked together to learn the language. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Language teachers today are more and more getting inclined toward the usage of computer assisted language learning or computer technology to motivate students. In this section, we shall explain how computers are used in language teaching and what do language teachers perceive regarding the usage of computer technology. Phases of CALL. The development that has been seen in CALL can be categorized into three phases: behavioristic CALL; communicative CALL; and, integrative CALL. • Behavioristic CALL was based on the behaviorist theories of learning that were implemented in 1960s and 1970s. It focused more on drill and practice by emphasizing the importance of repetitive drills in the language. The computer was considered as the tutor or a means by which the student could get his instructions from. Thus, various CALL tutorials were programmed, and run on mainframe computers, for example the PLATO system which ran on PLATO hardware. However, the behavioristic CALL was rejected later both by the theoretical and pedagogical perspectives and due to the introduction of microcomputer. • Communicative CALL was introduced in 1970s, and was based on communicative approaches. This phase focused more on the usage of forms and grammar implicitly, and motivated the students to produce original utterances of the language. It creates such an environment in which the target language is made to sound natural. Several communicative programs were designed which were based on non-drill practice and focused on text reconstruction. • Integrative CALL was introduced with the advent of the most modern technological tools like multimedia and the internet. With the help of multimedia, language teachers can now access various graphics, audio and visual aids, on a single machine. Hypermedia links together various multimedia devices, and creates an interactive environment for the learner. It helps in linking audio and visual aids, thus, enabling the student to perceive both the sound and the image at the same time. Teachers can motivate the student to read, write, speak and listen, all together in one activity. With the help of internet, language learners are now able to connect with distant speakers of the target language using video conferencing, thus, enhancing their experience with the language while sitting in their classrooms. Language learners can also communicate with each other through the internet, which is both convenient and cost-effective. Teachers can share short messages or long files and documents with their students at any time, thus, giving an integrative touch to using technology in teaching language. Nor and Vasu (2010) conducted their research on teacher perception on CALL lessons. They studied the problems teachers were facing while they conducted CALL lessons and also identified their perceptions on the effectiveness of those lessons. They conducted their survey on 16 teachers in Johor Bahru schools. The main problems the findings implied were that the teachers’ attitudes did not welcome the use of technology in language teaching. Also, there were not enough facilities that the teachers could use in implementation of technology. They, however, concluded that the teachers’ perception about CALL lessons was positive as the teachers suggested that the CALL lessons helped them attracting their students’ attention toward the lessons and enhancing language acquisition. Discussion/Summary To sum up, teachers are getting more and more aware of that technology should be an important part of the language teaching because it provides great resources for learning and student motivation. Children can be made well equipped with up-to-date information while being able to conduct their own research, do analysis, make decisions, share ideas and views, and learn to be creative and initiative using technological tools in their language learning. Teachers can use technological resources to teach more efficiently with effective outcomes. Technology is becoming inevitable in the educational and personal lives of students thanks to great advantages it offers. CALL suggests that computers can very effectively be used in teaching language. Computers can serve as tutors that provide an interactive method of language learning. However, how teachers perceive their contribution in the integration of technology in teaching language is very important as teachers as considered as keys to the language learning. Teachers need to get proper training and equipment so as to facilitate their teaching. They will have to spend their time and effort in learning how to use the technological tools, and then motivating the students get benefit from these tools. The modern technology is providing a lot of sophisticated tools and communicative approaches which language teachers can use to enable the students interact with the speakers of the language around the globe, thus widening the teaching perspective and improving teaching prospects. References Bingimlas, K. (2009). Barriers to the successful integration of ICT in teaching and learning environments: a review of the literature. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 5(3), 235-245. Mansor, N. (2007). Collaborative learning via email discussion: Strategies for ESL writing classroom. The Internet ESL Journal, 13(3). Ismail, S. A. A, Ghalib, A., & Al-Mekhlafi, M.H. (2010). Teachers’ perceptions of the use of technology in teaching languages in United Arab Emirates’ schools. International Journal for Research in Education, 27, pp. 37-56. Nor, F.B.M., & Vasu, S.M. (2010). Teachers’ Perceptions of Lessons Using Computer Assisted Language Learning. Retrieved December 3, 2010, from http://eprints.utm.my/11182/1/Teachers.pdf Yaratan, H., & Kural, C. (2010). Middle school English language teachers’ perception of instructional technology implementation in North Cyprus. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 9(2), pp. 161-174. Read More