ARTICLE REVIEW

OPPORTUNITIES IN TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LANGUAGE LEARNING (TELL) CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS

Teaching English with Technology

A Journal for Teachers of English

ISSN 1642-1027

Vol. 4, Issue 4 (October 2004)

Author’s name :

Hee-Jung Jung (Washington State University Pullman, WA, USA and

Sang Hyun Kim (University of Mississippi University, MS, USA)

Source – http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j_article19.htm

           The study was aimed to explore opportunities that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers have created to help students meet English language literacy goals in technology enhanced language learning (TELL) classroom environments. This qualitative study examined opportunities in two TELL classroom environments based on interviews, observation and document collection for two months. In evaluating the environments, a framework of eight conditions for optimal language learning proposed by Egbert (1993) was used :

The subject/sample in this research was one English classroom from each of two different schools located in the same local city in South Korea.

i. The 5th Grade EFL classroom : Composed of 22 boys and 20 girls, the students speak Korean as their first language. The students’ level of proficiency varied due to private tutoring system. The classroom which focused on speaking and listening was equipped with a networked computer, a scanner, printer, camcorder, overhead projector, 45-inch television, and a video. Each student had a computer on his/her desk. The teacher used software and the Internet as technological applications to teach English.

ii. The 8th Grade EFL classroom : Composed of 22 boys and 20 girls, this class focused on speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This classroom was equipped with one networked computer, a 45-inch television, a video player, and an overhead projector. However, the classroom did not provide students with a computer each. The English teacher of this class used software and the Internet in teaching English.

            The methodology in conducting this research were semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, observations of learning environments with technology and document analysis. The students were interviewed to get their opinion about their language learning environment while teachers were interviewed to look at their experiences in the TELL classrooms. Observations were made to help in understanding the language-learning contexts and discovering how learning environments carried out goals of language learning in the classrooms. During the observations and interviews, materials that could be helpful in understanding the classroom environments such as lesson plans, handouts, assignments and such were collected.

           The findings based on the eight conditions by Egbert (1993), showed that TELL classroom gave learners the opportunities to interact and negotiate meaning as some of the activities supported the students’ learning process with native speaker pronunciation. Students practiced speaking and listening with their classmates using resources from the internet. However, the use of software as a primary tool reduced chances to interact with classmates as sometimes the teacher focusing on the software too much and the students lost the chances to do group work. The technology on the other hand supported the teachers and students to be authentic audiences whenever they listened to native speakers through the use of software and internet. In TELL classrooms, the teachers included the tasks that the learners were likely to encounter in their real life. The TELL classroom environments made the learning enriched by overcoming the limitations of time, money, and resources that as the students sensed the culture and situations with the aid of technology and the given tasks were closer the students’ lives. Moreover, the students were exposed and encouraged to produce varied and creative language through various activities through the activities from the software and the internet. In both classes, it was observed that the teachers’ feedback was only provided during the lesson. The teacher did not check on her students’ homework and assignments. They kept on assigning homework as they believed students will be reminded of what they learned for the moment. TELL classrooms guided the learners to attend mindfully to the learning process. The teacher of 5th Grade classroom used simple words and instructions. Moreover, both teachers used various supplements for their students for further explanations. Students in TELL classrooms worked in an atmosphere with an ideal stress/anxiety level. The teacher of 5th Grade classroom focused on motivation and confidence rather than accuracy and fluency. The students claimed that they did not get stress as one of the reasons was because they did not have exams or grading. The relationship between teachers and students was informal and intimate as technology provided more chances to interact and share ideas. However, unlike the 5th graders, the 8th graders received numbered grade reports after each exam. These somehow seemed to affect their level of anxiety. Apart from that, though the teachers and students considered their classrooms as teachers-centered, selecting activities and materials were toward learner centeredness. Therefore, TELL classroom somehow supported the students’ autonomy which is the last condition for optimal language learning as proposed by Egbert (1993).

Reaction

         I think this research was not really well organized and it did not exactly focusing on the opportunities in TELL classroom environments. The focus was somehow confusing me as it indirectly brought up the negative parts of conducting a lesson using technology such as the decrease of interaction between the students and their classmates and also the teachers as sometimes the instructions and feedbacks came from the software or the internet used during the lesson. Maybe they should change the title of the research to ‘The Advantages and Disadvantages in Learning English in TELL Classroom Environments’. In addition to that, I personally feel that the researchers might be too ambitious in collecting the data as their study groups consist of the students of different grades (5th and 8th) which definitely pointed out views and issues which contradicting between each others. They also interviewed the teachers of both classrooms and this caused another conflicting issue on the findings. For instance, the teachers believed that they had provided enough time and feedback for their students. However, none of the student interviewed agreed with this. Furthermore, to discuss the TELL classroom environments, it was really hard to categorize the examples into the eight conditions because all these eight conditions were in force simultaneously. I think, to make the findings become clearer, the researchers need to compose all the components in TELL classroom environments as a whole.

          As what the researchers felt about the findings, I was also amazed to know that technology was naturally accepted in language learning classrooms and teachers as well as students explored various opportunities in such environment. I think no one could deny the effectiveness of using technology in language learning/teaching. This research has proven that TELL classroom environments promotes lots of opportunities in enhancing language learning through many interactive and creative ways. Technology does not just save time, money and energy but it also provided learners with extra-ordinary learning experiences as they could interact with native speakers through conference by using the internet and could learn more authentically. However, the effectiveness may decrease due to the lack of focus on the content of a particular lesson as the teachers sometimes focusing more on the completion of tasks without considering proper learning goals. Thus, the teachers might neglect the core elements that they should are supposed to teach such as the structure of the sentence or the grammar part. Apart from that, though the students enjoyed learning with technology yet they did feel that it somehow withdrawn them from interacting actively with the classmates and teachers as they did the given task on their own as each one of them had their own computers. This is again depending on how the teachers conduct the lesson. Yes, technology is really powerful in enhancing the students’ language learning. However, I personally think that the teacher should always be really critical in selecting an activity that utilizing technology because if not, the technology itself may demolish the existing opportunities that the lesson promotes without the use of technology. Thus, what I am trying to say is that the traditional way of teaching has its own advantages and the teachers should never neglect the traditional way of teaching but to integrate it wisely with technology so that the knowledge can be imparted more effectively and optimally. When the classroom environments meet more conditions for optimal language learning, students were more actively engaged in the language learning.