“USING
INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES
IN
TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING”
BY
MARAT SANATULLOV, PH.D.
Wichita State University, Kansas, U.S.A.
marat.sanatullov@wichita.edu
&
ELVIRA SANATULLOVA-ALLISON, PH.D.
State University Of New York College at Potsdam, New York, U.S.A.
sanatue@potsdam.edu
COGNITIVE APPROACH
Promotion and use of learning and teaching strategies that reflect the
way knowledge is organized in the human brain should be a language
teacher’s major aim. Understanding specific processes of human
cognition helps the teacher understand the fundamentals of human
learning and, thereby, how to build and improve instruction. The interrelatedness of the processes of acquisition, transfer, and retention of
information in the mechanism of human learning emphasizes the
importance of the relationship between teaching and assessment,
language acquisition and language production, previous knowledge and
new information in the instructional practices.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Of
Cognitive Development
creativity
evaluation
synthesis
analysis
application
understanding
knowledge
Information Processing
SLA is seen as the building up of knowledge systems that can eventually
be called on automatically for speaking and understanding. At first,
learners have to pay attention to any aspect of the language which they
are trying to understand or produce. Gradually, through experience and
practice, learners become able to use certain parts of their knowledge so
quickly and automatically that the are not even aware that they are
doing it. This frees them to focus on other aspects of the language
which, in turn, gradually become automatic (McLaughlin, 1987).
‘Practice,’ in this context, is not seen as something mechanical, but
rather as something involving effort on the part of the learner.
Constructivism
It promotes the view of learning as a constructive and reconstructive
process. It emphasizes the learners’ active role in constructing their own
knowledge through both individual and social activity and interactions.
The aim of constructivist teaching is “not so much to transmit
information as to encourage knowledge formation and metacognitive
processes for judging, organizing, and acquiring new information”
(Bruning, Schraw, & Ronning, 1999). Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal
Development as an example of his dialectical constructivism is one of the
most powerful concepts of mutual influence between the cognitive and
social aspects of human cognition.
Connectionism
It attributes great importance to the role of the environment in language
learning arguing that learners gradually build up their knowledge of
language through exposure to thousands of instances of the linguistic
features they eventually learn. Language is viewed as a complex system
of units which become inter-connected in the mind as they are
encountered together. The more units are heard or seen together, the
more likely it is that the presence of one will lead to the activation of the
other.
INTER-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Movement in the profession from the emphasis on particular methods of
language teaching toward a proficiency- and performance-oriented
instruction, curriculum, and assessment that define learners’ language
ability in terms of functions, contexts/contents, and accuracy (Buck,
Byrnes, & Thompson, 1989) helps language teachers to skillfully
organize their instruction based on what language learners should know
and can do with the target language on different levels of proficiency, in
the integration of skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and
in different goal areas such as Communication, Cultures, Connections,
Comparisons, and Communities (Standards for Foreign Language
Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century, American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages).
Supérieur
L'appr enant pe ut discuter de s s ujets concr ets e t abstr aits dans une
s ituation inconnue
Créativité
Avancé
Mai n Ideasdfdsfg
NIVEAU
L'appr enant pe ut fair e de s nar rations dans une situation
ave c une com plication
Evaluation
Moyen
L'appr enant pe ut produire de s imple s
propos itions dans des s ituations connue s
Débutant
L'appr enant pe ut com m uniquer
ave c de s imple s phras e s e t
lis te s de mots
Echelle des niveaux de compétence dans une langue
étrangère
(le Conseil Américain de l'enseignement des langues
étrangères)
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES
Furthermore, research and practice have shown that teacher’s
knowledgeable use of educational technologies in the language
classroom can contribute to enhance input processing by bringing
context into language teaching (Shrum & Glisan, 2000). Moreover,
according to Garrett (1991), technology enhanced language learning and
teaching allows for further integration of language, literature, and
culture. In our second/foreign language methodology courses we use
PowerPoint and HyperStudio multimedia programs as well as a web
design program Dreamweaver 4 and Inspiration software in order to
create activities and materials that relate language learning to other
disciplines, academic content, and to the world at large. These programs
have become common tools in language learning and language teacher
preparation programs (Pusack & Otto, 1997).
PowerPoint
PowerPoint can enable a language teacher to integrate authentic text,
such as a song, into second/foreign language instruction. Through
coordination of text, image, and sound, PowerPoint can enhance
information processing and make the language input comprehensible.
For example, in our presentation of a French song, we made the lyrics
appear right before or after students could hear them. Words and lines
appear one after another instead of the whole text immediately, which
leads to the use of both reading and listening skills. Color-coded endings
and key words can increase the attention to specific grammar points
studied. Images illustrating the content of the song are to enhance
learners’ comprehension of the lyrics of the song in a context.
Contextualized and meaningful input, opportunities to actively process
natural and authentic language are more effective for language learning
than a mere exposure to exercises that focus on structure alone.
HyperStudio
HyperStudio technology allows a language teacher to integrate a story-based
approach into teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, vocabulary,
and grammar in the classroom or independently. In our HyperStudio adaptation of
Alexandre Dumas’ story “Les Trois Mousquetaires,” students can click on the
pictures to listen to the descriptions and presentations of the characters prerecorded by the teacher. Students can also record or write multiple times their
answers to the questions asked by the narrator and the characters and receive
immediate oral and written evaluation/feedback of their answers with
“True/False” statements or written and oral correct answers prepared in advance
by the teacher. Manipulation of pictures to reconstruct the plot of the story,
guessing, summarization, and problem-solving situations of the activity are to
develop students’ higher-thinking skills. The program “pushes” language learners
to use the language as much as possible, which develops their inter-language and
fosters language acquisition (Swain, 1985). Pre-modified input allows the teacher
to develop specific features in learners’ inter-language (Ellis & He, 1999) and
examine the relationship between language items contained in multi-media
delivered input and those recalled and reused by students during the completion
of the task (Brett, 1998).
Inspiration
Inspiration software provides language teachers with the tools to create
and develop their instructional ideas: “Inspiration’s combination of visual
and linear thinking deepens understanding of concepts, increases
memory retention, develops organizational skills and taps creativity”
(Inspiration Version 6. Getting Started). Diagrams and outlines, concept
and idea maps, webs and storyboards are some of the Inspiration tools
that can activate student thinking in different ways. For example, in our
interdisciplinary thematic unit “French Family” we used Inspiration to
teach family relationships and new related vocabulary to middle school
language learners. Integrated text, visuals, and colors can increase the
comprehensibility of the structure and the quantity and quality of
learning.