Teaching the English Language Arts With Technology

Teaching the English Language Arts With Technology: A Critical Approach and Pedagogical Framework

Young, C. A., & Bush, J. (2004). Teaching the English language arts with technology: A critical approach and pedagogical framework. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 4(1), 1-22.
http://www.citejournal.org/articles/v4i1languagearts1.pdf

This article presents a pedagogical framework for English language teachers who are searching their ‘best practice’ to integrate technology in teaching. Based upon teachers’ need, goals, students’ need, and classrooms, the technology application should be contextualized to maximize the learning and the potential of the technology.
In the literature review, there are many points from the research about writing instruction and the incorporation technology. As the computer-mediated communication (CMC) has facilitated written-style communication among technology users, it addresses the evolution of new conceptions of human interaction and literacy. Language education nowadays cannot afford to turn its back on the emerging electronic literacy as well as reconsidering the instruction pedagogy to keep up with the change of literacy concepts. This article attempts to provide practical strategies for English teachers and teacher educators to develop a critical approach toward a pedagogical framework for technology. To start, the authors mentioned the complexities of technology integration and its status in the field.

The Complexities of Technology Integration.
As technology is always regarded as complex, dynamic, and ever-changing part of our society and world today, integrating technology in language instruction is neither a straightforward nor already-set process at all. Recent research reveals the disconnection between the idealism of advocating for the use of technology and the reality of integrating technology effectively. Researchers (Postman 1996; Pope and Golub 1999) made points about the inequity of technology access among children and the distortion that technology will equalize learning opportunities for the rich and the poor. There is also evidence showing that the majority of teachers continue to be infrequent and limited users of new technology application for teaching and learning (Cuban, 2001). It was also found that teachers use computers at home more than at school which suggested that policy makers might provide more training and support that could inspire more use of computers at school and in instruction (Cuban 1999).

In order to inspire the technology literacy in students, it is much more important to cultivate it in teachers who need an approach constructed through their own teaching sphere. This is a pedagogical framework proposed by the authors to guide the technology application in language instruction.

This framework can guide teachers in planning to use the technologies. There are issues to work on when technology is brought into the classroom. The model can be made sense in the context by observing teachers who use technology, and by engaging others in discussions about problems and challenges they faced when they or their colleagues brought technologies into their existing English language arts contexts.

The framework is important for experienced teachers who have successfully integrated technologies in their classes as it can enhance their thinking processes and help them make future decisions regarding technologies, For less experienced with technologies, this framework can guide decision-making processes and serve as a professional development tool. Using this visual guide can also help classroom teachers select only critical applications of new technologies and allow them to negotiate for the appropriate time, support, training, and resources they need.


Moreover, I found examples of language classrooms scenarios at the end of the article very interesting. It definitely inspires less experienced teacher to try technology in teaching. The use of technology in each scenario is very contextualized and constructed from the students' and teachers' need. I select a scenario showing how to use technology to manage the classroom and encourage collaborative learning in a writing class.


Critical Uses of Technology Applications in the English Classroom (P.13)


Case 1
In the fall of 1999, Allyson Young, a high school English teacher in Charlottesville,
Virginia was having difficulty teaching writing with two of her applied level ninth-grade
English classes. In addition to her students struggling with fluency and poor writing
skills, they posed behavior problems for each other. A veteran teacher of city schools,
Young rarely had problems with classroom management. Even in this situation, the issue
was not that her students acted out toward her but with one another. They simply could
not get along without verbal and sometimes physical altercations, making group work,
especially writing workshop and conferencing nearly impossible. As a result, she began to
look for a way to address this problem beyond simple classroom management techniques
and considered technology applications.

Through a partnership with the English Education program at the University of Virginia,
Young began to use an online portfolio tool with the students in this particular class to
facilitate the teaching of writing and enhance the writing process and writing workshop.
In addition to the excitement and enthusiasm the students expressed for being able to
pilot new technology and to use the school's computer lab, they also responded by
successfully engaging in drafting, conferencing, revising, editing, and publishing their
writing. In effect, students could compose, share, provide feedback, revise and edit online
spread out in the same computer lab without having to sit in groups in close proximity to
one another. In addition to completing descriptive writing assignments, they also
composed pieces in conjunction with their study of Romeo and Juliet. Young described
the effects as such:

The focus was now on the writing rather than cutting each other down. My
students began to consistently get writing down on paper and complete drafts.
Fluency was a major problem, but their fluency improved over time with the
online feedback they were receiving from their peers. Their drafts not only
became longer, but they improved in terms of content and quality too. (Personal
Communicatio n, 2000)

In addition to the gains in writing ability, Young also reported that students' behavior in
class improved as well.