Case studies in Technology and Second Language Teaching

Technology and Second Language Teaching by Mark Warschauer and Carla Meskill

Warschauer, M. and Meskill, C. (2000) Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning. in J. Rosenthal (ed) Handbook of Undergraduate Second Language Education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

I had posted Meskill et al. 2002 article about novice and expert view on using technology in language classrooms in the previous entry in October. I never forget that article because I brought it to our reading session where we discussed about the way Meskill and co intrepret the data and compare the novices' perspectives of technology againts the experts.

This article is a good reference for the study of technology and language teaching. It provides a brief history about technology and language learning that technology use normally complies with language learning approaches: structural, cognitive, and socio-cognitive. The authors also state the advantages of CMC and the World Wide Web in language a classroom. There are three case studies as examples of technologies being used in three different contexts: one foreign language, one English as a second language, and one dual language program. These three uses of technology are very different in terms of learner populations, goals, and processes.

I select case number two as it was done in tertiary level in ESL classroom setting where students are from multiple backgrounds but share the same academic goal in tertiary level. In this setting, the instruction, well-designed with technology enhancement, was delivered by skilled teachers who had been trained to implement technology under the pedagogical principles. However, it was interesting to find that some students didn’t think that technology had promoted their language learning. This can be explained by the different education experiences of students from multiple cultures and diverse learning orientations. This article provides another perspectives about technology-enhanced language teaching regarding to students’ different expectation. If learners come from instructional cultures focus on grammar-based, teacher-centered method of language instruction, then they will be resistant to task-based, learner-centered approaches as contributing to their language acquisition processes. This conclusion links to the Dewey's concept about experience of language learning and its effect on learning approach.

Students are inclined to use their cultural norms and expectations to evaluate classroom instruction and see communicative practice as a non-fit.