HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY ENHANCE LANGUAGE LEARNING?

 

Introduction

            No one can claim that language learning is an easy process. While most of the people are not even at C1 level in their own language in Türkiye (AA, 2022), it will undoubtedly be difficult for them to reach that level in a foreign language. For example, in Türkiye, despite 10 years of English language education, there is a small number of English speakers. This means that something is missing and needs to be improved. It is obvious that there are so many problems such as assessment and evaluation mistakes, curriculum, pressure and wrong expectations. However, sometimes the only problem is lack of opportunity. Technology appears as a tool that provides opportunities for both students and teachers, and it makes the language learning process easier, faster and more efficient.

            Utilisation of Technological Resources

            It is very important to see a variety of examples when learning a foreign language. Likewise, if you are an educator, it is a must to present different and authentic examples to your students while teaching a language. Because authentic materials offer students the language that can be used in daily life. At this point, podcasts and videos come to the rescue. These can be used and analysed in the classroom and even questions can be written on them, or the language learner can benefit from these resources on his/her own. There is another way to make these channels, which sometimes provide explicit learning, even more efficient: Giving the learner a choice. The language learning process is accelerated if the learner follows a publisher of his/her choice who is age-appropriate and talks about his/her interests. Watching videos on the topics of the student's choice and listening to some broadcasters who talk about their daily life makes them forget that the goal is language learning. When there are points that the student does not understand, he/she does not hesitate and learns by easily using translation services, which another service is provided by technology. In the meantime, he/she listens to the pronunciation of the word aloud, sees other examples of the word, its meanings and its antonyms. They are excited to discover what they don't understand because they now see the broadcaster they listen to/watch as a friend.

Long's Interaction Assumption appears in language learning. According to Long, strong communication is the most important condition for language learning to be permanent and efficient. Communication both ensures that the information is kept in mind and students practice through communication. Unfortunately, there is not much interaction in videos and podcasts. But here, too, technology comes to the rescue and thanks to technology, you can talk and make friends with people you have a common interest with via social media or e-mail instead of letters that take days/months to send and arrive. What better way to learn a language than talking and chatting with your friends? Research shows that communication is one of the biggest keys to language learning. Moreover, this is the real world and the student is learning a language in the real world, not getting to know the language in an inauthentic way with pedological tasks. There are also new applications such as cambly that can be used for these purposes. Thanks to these applications, you can talk to people whose mother tongue is your target language. Moreover, the student, who also experiences turn taking during the conversation, can change the subject himself/herself. Research shows that cambly helps people to increase their language level quickly.

            Another advantage of technology is that it is interesting for everyone. Who doesn't get excited about new things? Therefore, it is a great motivator especially for young learners. We know that especially new generation children have problems in focusing. In this case, simple activities that can be prepared from applications such as wordwall, language app excite them and make them focus on the lesson and look forward to every lesson with pleasure. A simple wheel or quiz can easily entertain young learners. It even saves time for the teacher. Learning takes place because the students have fun and enjoy the lesson. In fact, they often go home and say that they did not have a lesson today but played a game. The most important application that can be shown as an example of this subject is PAINTING. When the student scans the screen after he/she finishes colouring, he/she can see the page he/she has coloured in 3D. Depending on the creativity of the educator, even the student's exams can be done using this and colouring activity.

            One of the problems we will encounter in language teaching in the classroom environment may be financial problems. Especially if you live in a country like Türkiye, book prices are too high for most students to afford. Technology offers educators and students a chance in this regard. Unlimited resources without copyright problems can be accessed and e-books that are much more affordable can be preferred. Since books are authentic resources that are very important in language learning, it is a great advantage for education that technology solves this problem. Students who can do reading activities learn the language more easily. At the same time, since these books are authentic materials, students do not see it as an in-class activity. A quality activity that they enjoy also supports their language learning.

            The assignments given to students are often mechanical and do not involve higher thinking skills. This is not a desirable situation. Therefore, technology can be utilised in the assignments to be given to the student to reinforce the subject. For example, even making a short video for the student will excite him/her and help him/her to reinforce the subject better. In addition, when other students who see these videos appreciate the student, the student's self-confidence will increase and as a result, his/her success will increase. At the same time, if there is a student who is embarrassed, when he/she sees that everyone accepts this as normal, he/she will break his/her chains and he/she will want to share his/her materials like his/her friends and get appreciation. This will increase classroom interaction and language teaching will become easier in an interactive classroom.

            People who want to learn languages alone at home use many different apps today. Various reasons can push the learner to these applications: Time, money or arbitrary reasons. Busuu and Dualingo are some of the apps that can be used at this point. Although these applications can be criticised at many points, they can never be described as useless, especially because they improve the student's vocabulary knowledge. Apart from these, there are also interactive sites that you can access at home thanks to technology. For example, you want to learn German. You can easily learn this language under the tutelage of a German teacher without ever going to Germany. Moreover, most online courses are cheaper than face-to-face courses. In this way, you will facilitate your language learning process by using your limited time efficiently.

In this period when AI programmes such as ChatGPT are frequently used, using these programmes in education will also give us an advantage. By using ChatGPT, you can feel like you have a private instructor. For example, you can ask ChatGPT about a sentence you don't understand. Of course, this will be very simple for him, if you want, you can have ChatGPT explain the function of a word in that sentence and ask him to write other examples. ChatGPT can check a text you have written and give you feedback, it can write texts on any topic and at any level and ask questions and then check the answers to these questions, it can explain a grammar topic from the beginning and go into detail on the points you do not understand and create exercises. You can track your development and language level with this application. It is all up to your imagination and creativity! You can make use of this programme, which can even detect the implicature of a sentence, in any way you wish.

            As mentioned throughout the article, technology is a great chance for students because it also gives them new opportunities. Are you aware of the existence of students who cannot get enough efficiency from the lesson in the classroom because of anxiety? These students do not participate in the lesson. They have a constant fear of humiliation and humiliation. Even if they know, they do not share their knowledge and after a while the knowledge atrophies. Since they cannot have an enjoyable time, language teaching becomes a torment for them after a while and they close their minds. A method that can be used to combat this problem: Applications like Second Life. When a second life classroom is opened for students, they feel more free and comfortable. As a result, the level of success in the course increases. In addition, in traditional classrooms, conversations between foreign language learners are restricted, which weakens communicative competence (Garcia-Carbonell, 2001) and it is important to offer new technologies for these students. Therefore, students should be introduced to virtual classrooms.

Portfolios are very important to follow the student's progress. Thanks to technology, these portfolios can be transferred to the internet and become data that cannot be lost. It is also easier for the teacher to follow and control. Thanks to online portfolios, which have many economic benefits besides language learning, the teacher determines the deficiencies of the students and organises the lesson activities accordingly. Platforms such as Padlet are very suitable for using technology for this purpose. As long as the student uploads all his/her homework and work there during the semester, it is an efficient education and an evaluation can be made at the end of the semester/course.

            We have already mentioned the difficulty of finding materials during the course. We said that materials that are unavailable due to financial reasons can be compensated with royalty-free materials on the internet. However, in this case, most of the materials are not preferred because they are repetitive, because the point to be evaluated cannot be evaluated or because they are not suitable for the class level. In order to solve this problem, the teacher can instead prepare materials that can be more productive for his/her students. They can create their own videos with Animoto, prepare reading and questions with chatgpt... The important thing is that the teacher knows the class and chooses activities suitable for their language level. Thus, they can help their class to improve their language teaching skills. She can also help other educators by sharing these materials she created on other platforms. In this way, educators using technology can make language teaching more efficient.

            VR technologies are another tool that can be used in classrooms and language teaching. First of all, the fact that it is a new tool will excite and enthuse students. Especially for young learners, excitement and enthusiasm are very important. In addition, it is necessary to attract the attention of those who do not really want to learn a language in the classroom and are there out of necessity to achieve a goal, and VR technologies will undoubtedly solve this problem. Since students with high motivation levels will be more likely to take the information given, even entering the classroom with a VR headset can make a big difference. Thanks to this technology, a realistic world is created for students and they can be given the chance to interact. With a code to be written or written, the student can get instant feedback while talking to an avatar. This technology can also be used to make simple points, such as vocabulary, more fun and productive. For example, we can send the student to an environment where the name of each object is written on it and enable them to learn by experience. All these innovations make learning permanent and the student becomes more enthusiastic about language learning.

High-priced books are not the only resources that students cannot access. It is also very difficult, even impossible for most of them, to reach the theatres played in a foreign language. So what is the theatre for? We said that various resources and motivation are very important for language learners. The dialogues and conversations in a theatre play or musical can teach students a lot about that foreign language. At the same time, watching these authentic plays with native speakers of the target language introduces that language to the student. It gives an idea about pronunciation, teaches new patterns. The student, of course, does not notice that learning is taking place while watching a theatre play and does not condition himself/herself. Therefore, their success rates are higher and they enjoy it more. Thanks to technology, recordings of these theatre plays can be brought to the classroom and made available to the students.

 

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology enhances language learning. It opens new doors for students and teachers. It makes the process enjoyable and more efficient. It facilitates evaluation and identifies and corrects deficiencies. Various applications provide an environment in which students can improve themselves in language learning even without an instructor. The solution to the problems that arise in the education process can be found thanks to technology. However, it should not be forgotten that the most important thing is always creativity. Instead of consuming technology, it is necessary to produce new products using technology.

 

References

·         https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/egitim/yuksekogretim-kurumlari-sinavi-istatistikleri-aciklandi/2639420

·         Garcia-Carbonell, Simulation/Gaming and the Acquisition of Communicative Competence in Another Language, 2001

·         Ken, Technology in Language Use, Language Teaching, and Language Learning, 2016

·         Golonka, Technologies for foreign language learning: a review of technology types and their effectiveness, 2012