Technology Integration in Teaching English as a Foreign language

SEDDIKI Halima
Université Oran 1 Ahmed Ben Bella

having been instructed in the physiological, psychological or anatomical aspects of those activities. We were taught them as skills, as behavior, but not as a body of knowledge. ”(Byrne, 1973:12)

  1. English language in the world

It is important to have a general idea about the position of the English language in the world. The issue that comes to mind is which position English takes in the world.

English is an international language, differently saying it is the global language (Crystal, 1997). It is illogical to ignore its influence in any parts of the world. English is regarded as a universal language according to the emergence of America as a greater power after the Second World War.

In this respect Kotaok stated :

English is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control, and it is used even for international air traffic where it is not a native language. American popular culture primarily movies and music carries the English language throughout the world.” (Kitaok1996:1, in Boubakeur, 2012:32)

  1. Teaching English in Algeria

After discussing the position of English in the world, it is quite important to refer to English teaching in Algeria. In Algeria, English is taught in the middle and secondary schools, as well as in universities. There are two main methods used to teach English in the Algerian secondary school, which are the communicative approach, and grammar-translation method.

The linguistic situation in Algeria seems to be complex. Two national languages are found to be used in the Algerian scene (Arabic and French). On the other hand, English takes a big importance in the Algerian curriculum, which reflects the need of English in more than one domain such as trade, journalism, and media.

To sum up, one should admit that the Algerian society is in its first step of being aware of the serious presence of English. For instance, most television programs language are translated from the English language. Besides, we notice the presence of the English language if we are to buy something from the market; this presence is visible on many product labels, which are written in English.

  1. Traditional Teaching Methods

There are different methods for foreign language teaching (FLT) that are in use today.

Each of the main methods that we present here was not superseded by a subsequent one as soon as it appeared, but, rather it went on living, the new one superimposing on the former.” (Cerezal, 2011:112)

4.1 The Traditional Or Grammar-Translation Method

During the 19th century, the grammar-translation method was wide spread for learning foreign languages. Nowadays, we still use textbooks, which show that this method has not entirely died. In Grammar translation method, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences from their native language to the target language.

The method has two main goals: to enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language, and to improve the students‘ intellectual capacities.

2. The Structuralist Method

In this method one notice two movements, the British and the American structuralism.

In this section, different methods that share a common conception of how to learn a foreign language will be studied. These methods are “the Oral or situational approach” and “ The Audio-lingual method”.

  1. The Oral approach

It originated in the British applied linguistics of the 1920s and 1930s represented by Palmer and Hornby. In this method, translation or explanation in the mother tongue is avoided, grammatical structures are learnt with oral procedures, oral language comes first then the written language, the visual materials are very important…

b- The Audio-lingual method

It corresponds to the USA structuralist tradition of FLT (Foreign Language Teaching ) which became dominant after the Second world War , represented by Bloomfield who was a behaviorist.

In this method, they gave attention to structures and forms more than meanings, translation is forbidden at early levels, reading and writing till speech is mastered, drilling is a central technique, grammar explanation is avoided…

The main feature is the importance given to the oral aspects of language than the written language.

4.3 The Communicative Approach

The process of teaching changed with the invention of the communicative approach or C.L.T (communicative language teaching). The aim of this method is to make the learners communicate in a conscious way taking into account their real experiences. This method focuses on the “communicative competence” that involves being able to use the appropriate language to a certain given context, because the learner may know the rules of the language, but he/she is not able to use them in a real situation.

CLT is important for developing and improving speaking, writing, listening, and reading skills. Also, it prevents students merely listening passively to the teacher without interaction.

The aim of this method is to make the learner communicatively competent. Communicative competence involves being able to use the language in an appropriate situation and to interpret one situation into different forms.

  • Activities And Techniques of The Communicative Approach

Communicative approach makes use of a variety of materials, which are selected and viewed as a way of improving classroom interaction, and a communicative use of the language.

The different activities and techniques used in this approach are as follow : Picture stories, the information gap principles, word jumbles, pair and group games.

5. The ICT and Its advantages of use in TFL

5.1 The definition of ICT

Information and Communication Technology(abbreviated as ICT), is often used as an extended synonym of information technology (IT). It covers the digital tools and products. ICT is a set of tools designed and used to produce, process, store, exchange, classify, retrieve and read digital materials for teaching and learning purposes. The expression was first used in 1997 in a report by Dennis Stevenson to the UK government, and promoted by the new National Curriculum documents for the UK in 2000.

5.2 The advantages of ICT in FLT

The advantages of ICT use in Foreign Language show that:

  • There is a huge capacity to control presentation using ICT. We notice the difference between computers and books. Books have a fixed presentation, however computer works on many things in parallel, for instance the visual with listening materials, text with graphics and pictures…

  • The creativity, which means that different materials can be used by the teacher for each lesson, yet teaching with textbooks is very limited.

  • A fast feedback to student’s answers is provided by computers through error correction. Not only this, but it provides sometimes the appropriate advice as well .

  • Teachers can adapt the computer programs to suit their student’s needs and level of language knowledge. This adaptability is not found when using books, which are produced in a single uniform format. So, computer programs are more learner- friendly.

In spite of the advantages of using ICT in the classroom mentioned before, it is necessary to state that they cannot replace traditional teaching methods. In this line,Padurean andMargan stated that:

Textbooks and any other printed materials are very necessary in the teaching/learning process. But ICT lessons can alternate traditional classes, or traditional activities can be improved by using the computer or the Internet.”1

Accordingly, it is confirmed that the use of traditional methods cannot be discriminated with the growing use of ICT in teaching a foreign language.

5.3 Media and the technological tools as means of teaching

As mentioned before, today’s world is characterized by an extraordinary spring in the process of using ICT in the field of teaching a foreign language. There are many technological tools that can be integrated in teaching in general.

Examples of the existing tools are numerous. They range from a simple tutorial to e-learning platforms. The use of these tools is excessively variable from one “Educator” to another.

The following ones are the main technological tools:

5.3.1Educational Software

Educational software (“education” and “software”) can refer to two things:

  • A computer program under the computer assisted instruction (CAI); More precisely, it is an interactive software intended for the learning of knowledge (and more rarely know-how) on a given subject or domain and generally including a self-control of knowledge.

We call Educational software in French language ‘Didacticiel’. The DGLF (General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France) advocates strictly the use of the term “logicieléducatif”.

  • A document (paper or digital medium) for training in the use of software; we also talk about tutorial.

5.3.2 E-learning

The definition of E-learning given by the European Union is: “e-learning is the use of new multimedia technologies of the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating on the one hand access to resources and services, and on the other, exchanges and collaboration at a distance “.

In English, the term E-learning, used by the economic world, results from a desire to unify some terms such as:

  • “Open and Distance Learning” (ODL) to describe its open dimension and that comes from the world of training.

  • Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) to translate the communication technologies (Mails, Forum, Groupware) applied to the Web-Based Training (WBT) training to translate the dominant technology on the Internet for training.

  • Distributed Learning” which is more a constructivist pedagogical approach based on Distributed Cognition.

5.4.3The Interactive Whiteboard

The interactive whiteboard (TBI) is a device combining the advantages of a touch screen and video projection.

A white touch screen is connected to a computer via a cable (usually USB). The computer is able to transmit various information to the whiteboard. A video projector will display the computer screen on the whiteboard.

In schools, the TBI offers numerous applications: in physical sciences, geometry or as a tool for differentiated pedagogy. However, its use must meet a real educational need in order to be fully effective.

5.4.4 Social Networks

Social networks became popular in the 2000s. Increasingly, they were used in various ways in the field of information technology. In the school domain, social networks are increasingly used as they are interesting for the youth of today who belong to this generation of direct information. The main existing social networks and the most known between users are Facebook and Twitter.

The question that arises is the possibility of using this tool in a foreign language class.

In a foreign language class where two universes are juxtaposed: that of the teacher and that of the students, the Facebook with its technopedagogical characteristics plays an important role.

Twitter is a network whereby people can subscribe on it and subscribe on the pages of other people in order to send or receive short messages called “tweets.”

It is used as a tool in the school environment. Many teachers open Twitter pages in order to allow their students to subscribe to their page to “tweeter” the information or allow students to ask questions. This tool can also be used to exchange comments between the parents of the students and the teacher.

5.4.5Glogster

Glogster is a Web 2.0. It is an interesting tool since it offers a simple and easy use of English language education service. Glogster does not require any software installation and the work carried out using this tool is kept online safely. It is therefore possible to finalize the work later by clicking on “edit” to make changes.

Teachers can integrate Glogster into their classrooms as this tool aims to develop students’ language skills : written and spoken. By working with Glogster, teachers enable their students to acquire many skills such as communicating, creating, producing, developing their autonomy, expressing their personality and discovering the world of informatics by processing and exploiting data.

Conclusion

The classroom management is a complex mission because choosing the right strategy is the main problem since the approaches and the methods of teaching differ and vary. The teaching methods changed throughout time. Thus, the teacher has to be a good designer to get a perfect management.

we should say that ICT transforms the way of teaching and learning. Teachers need frequent access to The ICT in order to be able to use it in teaching. The integration of ICT has a great benefit for learners and teachers. In general the arrival of ICT has impacted everything in our life.

ICT is a good way to master the language phonetics, and that is a useful reinforcement for a good understanding of the difficult aspects.

Unfortunately, the attention and the motivation of both teachers and learners related to the use of ICT in teaching English as Foreign Language have no significance under the absence of the necessary equipment.

The different Ministries of national education and higher education have to react by bringing some changes at the level of the educational program, as well as by enriching classes with materials such as computers, data shows, and internet.

References :

Boubakeur, L. (2012), ICT and Business Organisation-The case of Nedjma Telecom-. University of Oran.

Byrne,D. (1973), English Teaching Extracts,2nded,Longman group limited.

S.Cerezal,F. (2011), Foreign Language Teaching Methods –Some issues and new moves-, Universidad de alcalá,.

Padurean,A. Margan,M.(2013), Foreign Language Teaching Via ICT. <www.ris.uvt.ro/wp-content/…/01/apadurean.pdf>.

1Padurean,A. Margan,M. (2013), Foreign Language Teaching Via ICT. <www.ris.uvt.ro/wp-content/…/01/apadurean.pdf>.