Star Iglesias
December, 2004
The use of computers and the Internet has
gained an important role in modern society. Their
use has become, over recent years, a relevant tool not only in business but also in the
educational field. It is unquestionable that the use of computers and the Internet has
come to play an important role in everyday classroom instruction, and at the same time it
has deeply contributed to the reinforcement of the four basic competencies for the
learning of a second language: Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. Although great amount of research has been done
about the use of computers and other technological devices in the classroom instruction;
it is my intention, through this paper, to discuss some of the benefits of technology in
second language learning, highlight the importance of using technology to increase
students’ awareness of other cultures, and discuss the ways technology can improve
students’ writing skills in the L2. Also, I intend to provide a set of examples on
how technology could be correctly designed and used, in order to make second language
learning more effective. I have decided, for this purpose, to choose the Reading competence
and to suggest a series of strategies and activities to bring together Reading and
Technology as an important tool within second language acquisition.
Nowadays, it is still possible to find many
skeptical people that doubt that technology can really help to transform the teaching of a
foreign language, and make its study easier and more attractive to the students. However, with the invention of the computer and
other technological devices; the idea of having technology integrated with the learning of
a second language has come to play a representative role in new foreign language
curriculum: “Having access to a state-of –the-art electronic classroom,
laserdisc players, satellite broadcasts, VCRs, video cameras, computers, e-mail, and
Internet connections has changed the way we approach language teaching…”
(Armstrong and Yetter-Vassot 475).
In today’s modern classroom it is the job of
the teacher to not only provide activities that increase students speaking and writing
abilities, but also increase the students awareness about the culture of the target
language. It is important to recognize that technology (through the use of the Internet)
establishes a connection that brings students closer to reality: “…to immerse
the learners in a completely authentic world, giving them the tools and tasks to help them
understand and interpret the linguistic and cultural reality around them…”
(Armstrong and Yetter-Vassot 478). According to this, we can highlight the first clear
advantage of having technology as part of a second language curriculum, since the
linguistic and cultural components provided by it, represent a fundamental step in the
acquisition of any language. It is also
important not to forget the role that we, as teachers, play within this system: “They
will know and understand why basic technology competencies are important. And they will
know how to integrate technology using a consistent will designed model of instruction. By
understanding the what, why, and how of technology integration, teachers of the 21st
century meet the challenge of preparing students to become proficient information and
technology users ” (Dockstader 4).
The use of the World-Wide Web in foreign language
classrooms allows the students to have a link between the language they are studying and
its culture. The Internet is an efficient
source of information, because there are a variety of search engines and interesting web
sites to choose from that provide colorful images, which, are attractive, and appealing,
and audio clips, which encourage the students to learn about the culture. A Korean EFL
student evolved in an EFL writing class said, “My partner and I became interested in
using the Internet because most sites we visited are nicely designed, look good, and offer
information in audio-visually convenient ways” (Suh 673).
Also another advantage of using the Internet is
that the students are able to choose web sites that are interesting and enjoyable rather
than having to rely solely on their textbooks in order to learn about the culture. One
student, from the University of Arizona, had a very positive experience in his Spanish 427
class, because the teacher did not just use the textbook as the primary source in regards
to learning the culture, but also allowed the students to use the Internet. The student said, “I liked the added
information and it was a good break from the text” (Lafford 238). In order to expand
the minds of the learners, it is necessary for the teachers to be aware of the
opportunities that are available through the Internet rather than limiting the students
learning experience by using only traditional means such as the textbooks.
Besides using technology to expose students to the
culture through computers and the Internet, there are several instructors and professors
that believe that implementing the use of technology in their classrooms will increase the
performance of the four basic skills in the study of language: Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing. Due to the technology of computers and the Internet teachers are
able to implement a web-based approach in their classrooms, in combination with
traditional methods in order to improve students’ writing skills in developing longer
essays, creating longer sentences, and facilitating the use of compound and complex
structures with high degree of correctness. According
to Sullivan and Pratt, writing skills of EFL students who used word processing, a computer
mediated networked environment, and Web-based materials improved significantly. Students
that are exposed to a web-based instruction are able to use several technologies such as
e-mail and WWW and therefore they are exposed to topics they can choose from, and write
about topics that are more interesting and appealing, which makes writing in the foreign
language more meaningful (Al-Jarf 49). Reima S. Al-Jarf conducted a study using a
web-based approach with her freshman writing EFL writing class, and found that the
students’ response to a post questionnaire indicated that the use of technology had a
positive effect on their attitude towards the writing process. It enhanced their
self-esteem, motivation, and sense of achievement and improvement. Technology made writing
an enjoyable task instead of a chore.
Although there are several instructors like
Al-Jarf who strongly believes
This feeling of frustration that the students
experience when attempting to write in the L2 is also present when performing reading
tasks due to the large amount of information that the students encounter while using the
Internet. In addition to being over loaded with information from several web sites, the
literature may not be very appropriate for students learning a foreign language. Texts on the web sites are written for the native
speakers of a target culture group and often times these texts are not edited or adapted
for non-native speakers. According Jae-Suk-Suh since texts are not edited or adapted for
non-native speakers it is not surprising that learners at the low level of proficiency
cannot fully understand the texts and become frustrated (677).
In order to have a better understanding of the
feeling of frustration experienced by the students when interacting directly with the
computer while reading in the L2, I find it important to have a look at the historical
facts that have accompanied the reading skill through the years and observe how little by
little Reading has achieved an outstanding place in the learning of a foreign
language, and based on these facts I would like to recommend a series of activities that
could be carried out with the help of technology to relieve the students from their
feelings of frustration when performing a reading task. If we have a look back on the last
decades, it is easy to observe that the understanding of Reading in a foreign
language has changed considerably: “In the mid-to-late 1960’s reading was
considered a skill for learners to acquire, mainly to reinforce the grammar and vocabulary
being taught. In the 1970’s researchers argued that greater importance should be
placed on reading and advocated a psycholinguistic model or theory of reading” (Chun
and Plass 2) As we can see, from the 60’s to the 70’s, it is very clear that
language researchers gave great importance to the psychological aspect of the individual
when interacting with the text, rather than the structural mechanism of the text itself. That is why, nowadays, both the language component
and the cognitive aspect involved in the decoding process of reading, play a meaningful
role. In other words, “This approach goes well beyond viewing reading as a simple
collection of skills or knowledge in that it also focuses on the cognitive process
involved in reading in general” (Chun and Plass 2)
Taking into account that reading comprehension
depends on, or involves different cognitive processes due to the clear complexity of
individuals, I consider it relevant to be aware of the differences in our students’
learning styles. That is why, when creating reading activities, teachers must be aware
that the reading process should be aimed to focus on and to please the different types of
learners that are present in the classroom: “A final consideration for designing the
lab tasks centered upon balancing varied types of activities in order to address different
learning styles. All students have a dominant sensory mode, which might be primarily
visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile, or which might be a combination of those modes”
(Lavine 1362). Among the most common types of learners can be found: visualizers,
verbalizers, and audio learners. Chun and Plass have expressed that when facilitating L2
reading comprehension, the use of sound, pictures, and animated pictures or video in
addition to text have played an important role in vocabulary acquisition and in overall
text comprehension, and that these are precisely the elements that help teachers recognize
the kind of learners that might be part of a classroom, when having them interact with the
different class activities. Technology offers teachers a great variety of equipment that
might be used to cope with these needs. However, after recognizing the types of learners
that we, as teachers, might encounter in the classroom; it is also significant to
understand the factors that hinder reading comprehension. I am referring to the so-called
terms: Skilled Reader vs. Unskilled Reader. “A skilled reader interacts with the
text, establishing significant connections between textual and extratextual elements. This
kind of interaction allows him or her to integrate the different “textual subsystems
into a larger metasystem of meaning”. However, the unskilled reader perceives the
text as a chain of isolated words, each of which has to be deciphered individually in
order to move on with the reading” (Martinez-Lage 122). Keeping this in mind, let’s
see what kind of activities could be used to facilitate the different kinds of learners a
better way to face reading tasks.
When working with visual learners, students can be
given a text with pictures in it to reinforce and facilitate a better comprehension of it.
Often times, teachers use the overhead projector to present the students with a reading
passage without using any images, which produces stress and frustration with these types
of learners. One way to reduce the stress of this particular task is to place the text on
the overhead combined with an image related to the content of the passage. Images can play
a very important role in reading comprehension, since visual learners will mostly depend
on them to reach the understanding of a text: Peek (1993) suggests that poor readers may
be less capable of building mental representations based on the text itself, but may with
the help of visual aids be able to build the appropriate representations” (Chun and
Plass 12).
When working with audio learners, the teacher
might present a reading text followed by the recorded audio section of it. The recording
will be played twice to make sure that the students have extracted from it the necessary
information to carry out the next activity. Some questions about the reading will be
prepared and given to the students. It is expected that the audio learners will adequately
perform this activity, since audio reinforcement has taken place.
It seems that when working with verbalizers,
the vocabulary aspect is the crucial key. Vocabulary has been considered by many
researchers to be of great importance when interacting with a text: “Some current L2
reading theories suggest that processing at the word level is central to successful
reading, that is, there may be a casual connection between vocabulary knowledge and
reading comprehension” (Chun and Plass 14). For verbalizers, I propose that before
presenting the reading activity to the students, the teacher should:
a.)
Discuss
the vocabulary involved in the text with the students
b.)
Present
a video to reinforce the vocabulary previously studied.
c.)
Create
a fill-in-the blank activity to practice this vocabulary.
After doing the suggested activities, the success of reading comprehension activity can be taken for granted, since enough emphasis has been put on the vocabulary, the key for a better understanding of a text by a verbal learners. Also, I believe that when associating the vocabulary with another tool like images, for example, a more accurate interpretation of the text could be achieved: “Underwood (1989) suggested that we remember images better than words, hence we remember words better if they are strongly associated with images” (Jones 2).
After having analyzed some of the different types
of learners that teachers may find in the classroom, I also consider it relevant to share
other types of activities that might help students to improve their reading skills through
the use of the computer. The following are some activities that could be used:
First Activity: Students
will be given a text with blanks in it, for them to choose the correct form from the
options given in the upper part of the screen Students will have to drag the word to the
correct blank space to adequately complete the text.
Second Activity: Students will be
given a text with blanks on it. Two words will be presented in parenthesis for the
students to decide which one best completes the given text. Students will click on the
words to get a check (v) over the word, if it is correct, or a square (?) it is incorrect.
As soon as one of these words has been chosen, there is no change to go back. That is to
say, your first option will be counted right or wrong according to your choice.
Third Activity: I would like to share
another possible activity that also involves Reading and Technology. This
activity will be presented just as I found it on one of the articles that I used for this
research:
“Horiba
(1993, 1996), presented L1 and L2 readers of both Japanese and English with stories for a
story recall task. Readers were shown the texts on the computer screen one sentence at a
time. Participants read at their own pace, advancing through the text by pressing the
arrow key. Reading times for each sentence and text were recorded by a timer in the
computer. In this type of research, sentence and/or text reading times have been analyzed
in comparison with a number of proficiency, and text variables. Furthermore, reading times
in L2 have been other variables, such as quantity and quality of the verbal recall, level
of L2 compared with reading times in L1; also, the L2 reading task has been repeated two
or three times in order to measure any decreases in reading times when the text was reread
two or three times, in relation to the quality of the recalls, which had to be given after
each reading” (Hulstijn 4)
As I have tried to demonstrate in this paper, the use of
computers in second language instruction plays an important role in the learning of
foreign language; however, it is also fair to acknowledge that when using computers to
perform any type of activity, the previous and correct use of the computer system is a
crucial factor.
As a teacher, I
believe that if my goal is to prepare students for the 21st century, then my
objective must be to accomplish the use of instructional techniques and technology, but at
the same time to integrate this knowledge of technology into the curriculum. What I mean by “integrate”, is not just
putting the computer in the classroom without any specific training on how to use it
correctly, but to learn how to use it effectively and efficiently in specific subjects, to
allow the students to perform computer skills in meaningful ways.
Works Cited
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EFL College
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Teaching through
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Chun,Dorothy M. “Research On Text Comprehension In Mutlimedia
Environments."
Language Learning & Technology July (1997). Retrieved
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http://llt.msu.edu/vol1num1/chun_plass/default.html
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