by Juan Miguel Regueifero, October 20, 2016
Learning a foreign language is a process that can and should be supported by a variety of resources; methods that have been used have evolved and incorporated the technology of its time in order to turn learning into an efficient, pleasant and more natural process. Nowadays technology advances so fast that it´s hard to keep updated not only for economic reasons but also due to the practical usage of it. Many specialists, principals and school owners have failed when trying to replace the role of teachers with technology; on the other hand some students have cumulated lots of devices, software and information from which they use only 10%, at most.
When starting the language teaching-learning process it’s a basic and main need that students exercise, practice, use role play techniques or even get in touch with native people. Technology takes part on all those activities. It’s much more effective to practice listening activities and watch video sequences by using devices which fit in your pocket than having to wait till you get home to connect a DVD or CD player. It’s also more convenient that a lesson related to buying at a mall be delivered by using video sequences where students could see how communicative functions are used as well as the vocabulary associated. If on top of that the student can use his personal computer to study and check his own homework realizing about mistakes and correcting them, that will definitely save a lot of time and will prevent him from making the same mistakes once and again.
Then ¿Which are some of the incorrect usages of technology when teaching-learning a language? Below you can find some negative examples taken from everyday life:
Some examples may seem unreal but these things happen more often than we can imagine and they show us that technology does not mean solution, we must realize what tools we need for which moment and use it for a definite purpose.
La tecnología es una herramienta que nos puede ayudar a la hora de aprender un idioma, pero no debemos olvidar que es necesario interactuar con un profesor que sepa guiarnos y corregir nuestros errores.
Roberto Zapata
Valorando el argumento “Idioma y Tecnología” se puede ver que un mal uso de tecnologías de avanzada en la práctica del idioma podría provocar un mal aprendizaje de los mismos debido a que muchos pensamos que de esta manera hacemos bien nuestro trabajo e incluso mejoramos, pero esto no ayuda en nada sin alguien que este tutoreando el crecimiento del conocimiento.