EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

1.  Blogs

Blogs are among the recent additions to the language teacher’s and learner’s toolbox. Blogs are a type of website that allow for the publication of text, images and sound files. Blood defined a blog as ‘a website that is up-dated frequently, with new material posted at the top of the page’ (2002: 12). While today’s blogs have many different designs, their enduring distinctive characteristic is that they are designed to be easily updated, with the latest changes clearly visible to visitors. Blogs started as publicly accessible personal journals for individuals (Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/blog.html), yet today they are also used for collective writing.

2.  Wikis

            While wiki technology is becoming increasingly popular both inside and outside educational contexts, there are few reports of studies on the use of wikis in language learning. So what is a wiki and what distinguishes it from a blog? The Webopedia (http://www.webopedia.com/ TERM/b/blog.html.). defines it as a The main functionality of joint authoring is exemplified in the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) the free online encyclopedia, which in 2006 featured six million articles in many languages. The example of Wikipedia shows that a wiki may be a tool with potential for collaborative and problem-based learning, two major concepts in sociocultural theory.

            At the same time, it highlights several issues which go beyond the context in which the study was set, issues which apply equally to language learning settings:

·         The importance of the teacher’s role in supporting students and in facilitating the critical inquiry process that was at the centre of this project;

·         The need for training; and

·         The need for technical support for teachers as well as students.

C.    Mobile devices

Although language learning with mobile devices was documented eight years ago (Godwin-Jones, 1999; Brown, 2001), it is only recently that studies have began to appear in a field that Chinnery (2006) and others have called MALL (Mobile-Assisted Language Learning), in a punning adaptation of Warschauer’s (1999b) remark on acronyms.

Mobile-devices for languages: practitioner priorities:

·         Consider a repertoire of possibilities for the new technology: its potential to support teaching, learning, and the management of teaching and learning.

·         Review how wireless and mobile technologies might facilitate contextual learning in your subject, i.e. allowing the information available in a learners’ location, and relevant to their needs, to be captured or delivered in context and to contribute to teaching and learning.

·         Investigate the scope for continuity of learning, i.e. taking advantage of availability of a portable device in an institutional setting, workplace setting and at home, where this can encourage consolidation and increased familiarity with learning material.

·         Appraise the various communication channels between yourself and your students, e.g. SMS, voice messages, email, online or mobile discussion forum, from a social as well as a pedagogical point of view.

·         Be cautious about claims that the new technologies can be used ‘anywhere, anytime’: pedagogical, technical, logistical, usability, and social constraints must not be overlooked.

·         Consider the physical environments in which new technologies will be used, and how this could impact on effective learning.

·         Make time to understand new student audiences and patterns of study that emerge when learners obtain access to wireless and mobile technologies, including non-traditional entrants.

·         Exploit the support that mobile devices offer to social networks, communication with mentors and experts, and interaction in online communities.

·         Explore how mobile and wireless and mobile learning can make for a more immersive experience in your discipline, through increased richness and diversity of both content and activity.

·         Remain on the lookout for unexpected benefits or learning outcomes, as well as unanticipated disadvantages.

Reference :

Lamy, Marie-Noelle and Hampel, Regine. (2007). Online Communication in Language Learning and Teaching: Emerging Technologies. Australia: Palgrafe Macmillan