We Should Use Technology Wisely in the L2 Curriculum!

BRAVE NEW DIGITAL CLASSROOM, TECHNOLOGY AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING     

                                                                                                                ---- ROBERT J. BLAKE

CHAPTER 1 

SLA, LANGUAGE TEACHING, AND TECHNOLOGY

AN OVERVIEW

WHY TECHNOLOGY IN THE L2 CURRICULUM?

After I read the chapter one, I found this book is really written in a very user-friendly style as Dorothy M. Chun said. The writer first analyzes the current situation of SLA, and pointed out that just a few people can go abroad for language study. Then the author came to the conclusion that ---

“Technology, then, if used wisely, could play a major role in enhancing L2 learners’ contact with the target language, especially in the absence of study abroad.”

I’m pretty agreed with this standpoint, because I have my own experiences of using technology wisely for improving my English level. And also have some sad experience. When I was in middle school, I have been to England for 3 month as an exchange student. At that time, my oral English is very poor and it was hard for me to communication with foreigners and to express my feelings to others. Although I was immersed in a very good language environment, I still had the feeling that I was out of the situation. Luckily, my English teacher taught a method to me and it really help me a lot, she called it ---shadow practice. She required me to search some short English plots with titles and imitated the dialogues until I can speak out fluently.  After one-month practice, I made a great progress in the sense of language and acquired vocabulary unconsciously. In contrast, there’re many failure examples during I learn English such as paly words games on-line. So to use technology in a wise way is really important.

What’s more, the author also gave a few words of caution:

1.     Technology only provides a set of tools that are, for the most part, methodologically neutral.

2.     This is not a how-to manual. This book focuses on why certain technology tools should be integrated into L2 curriculum and what potential contribution these tools stand to make to any given language program.

And I believe after I finish to read this book, I’ll be more wise to choose technology in my future study and future teaching.