1.Online Learning in Sociocultural Context

1. Online Learning in Sociocultural Context
Warschauer M. Anthropology & Education Quarterly. March 1998, Vol. 29, No. 1,
pp. 68-88

Summary:
Holding the sociocultural perspectives, Warschauer conducted the in-depth case study in technology integrated ESL classrooms in three colleges. Class observations, teacher and student interviews were used for data collection. The findings give a broader view for using technology in the language classroom as it is constrained by broad sociocultural variables such as:
- roles of schools
- general culture of teaching
- individual and shared beliefs of teachers
- students’ acceptance of technologies

Sociocultural constraints are found in the following aspects:
- Technologies are almost always implemented in a top-down fashion which leaves in place traditional teacher-centered instruction.
- There are variations among teachers to choose an approach in teaching or implementing educational technologies in their classroom
- The cultural beliefs about nature of knowledge and how teaching should occur
- How children should learn influence classroom practice
The social context of learning involves with the teacher’s philosophy stemmed from her own preferred learning style, emphasizing structure correctness.

Relevance:
This study reveals the underlying context of how ESL teachers use technology in the classroom. There are many influential reasons within the context of language learning and the integration of technology. The three classrooms represent three different dimensions of and pedagogical beliefs and instructions, namely, structural, cognitivism, and sociocultural. The online activities and reactions from teachers and students are consequences of both internal and external factors of the classrooms. From the classroom observation, the researcher can gain more insights of the shortcomings and positive characteristics of a particular technology-based classroom. The findings of this study have inspired me to develop my questionnaire about teacher cognition in using the technology in the classroom. Besides, it is a good literature review about how to relate the sociocultural perspectives into a technology oriented ESL classroom.