Educational Technology as a Foreign Language

Educational Technology as a Foreign Language: Who Will Teach the Teachers?

Marie-Thérèse C. Le Roux General Foundation Programme Coordinator Rustaq College of Applied Sciences, Oman

Educational Technology as a Foreign Language

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Abstract This article explores a disturbing irony of contemporary education: students are often more equipped than their teachers for the technological demands of life and the classroom. The need for effective in-service teacher training in educational technologies is both urgent and problematic, since educators are often not equipped to grasp the full significance of these tools. Guided by the analogy of educational technology as a foreign language, it is suggested that language educators apply certain principles of learning and Second Language Acquisition theory to developing their skills in using educational technologies. By reflective, experiential learning of – and through – technology, teachers stand to develop not only professionally, but also personally.

Keywords: educational technology, e-learning, teacher training, professional development, experiential learning, learner autonomy, digital natives.


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Introduction “If the Internet is an information superhighway, then teachers just might be the roadkill on the asphalt…” (Kirschner & Selinger 2003, p.5)

The mandate of the educator has always been to guide the learner. Today, as technological developments become increasingly pervasive in all aspects of life, students are often far ahead of their teachers in navigating the rapid-fire, multitasking, hyperlinked demands of life – and the classroom. It is the students who know the ropes, while many teachers remain all at sea. While this dilemma poses a significant challenge to the training of in-service language teaching professionals (Borger, 2009), this article argues that it is an unparalleled opportunity for teachers to put their personal pedagogies to the test, thus enabling professional as well as personal development.

Experienced language teachers are familiar – both in theory and practice – with the findings of learning theory, particularly regarding second language acquisition (SLA). This article draws an analogy between foreign language learning and the learning of technological skills (Le Roux, 2009), with a focus on educators. It is argued, firstly, that language educators can engage their knowledge of language acquisition and learning in their own reflective, experiential technology learning process, and secondly that this process can strengthen teacher’s personal pedagogy.

The article first considers the concept of the “digital native” (Prensky, 2001), and continues to explore the analogy between educational technology and foreign


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language learning. Next, teachers’ application of learning and SLA theory to their own technological skills development is discussed. In conclusion, the implications for education in general, language learning and teaching, and teacher development in particular are considered.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants and the Brave New Wired Homeland When Marc Prensky coined the term “Digital Natives” (2001), it rapidly achieved the dubious status of cliché. He had obviously struck a chord by naming an all-toofamiliar phenomenon. Just as the native children of immigrants are fully immersed in their new culture, today’s youth have been fully immersed in technology all their lives, and are hence naturally “fluent” – unlike most parents and teachers, who still stumble along in the digital equivalent of broken English.

The image of streetwise, bicultural natives as guides of their awkward, monocultural, immigrant parents is an eloquent parallel to the teen technorati who have the monopoly on electronic know-how in many a household. A brave new wired world is not always embraced by the previous generation; yet there are times when digital immigrants have no option but to take part in its culture. The 21st century classroom is one place where change is as inevitable as it is, to many highly skilled teachers, terrifying.

In the classroom, it is not at all uncommon to find a digital immigrant teacher surrounded by digital natives who are, as numerous authors have quipped, restless. And justly so.

However superior the teacher’s subject knowledge, a lack of

technological fluency can inhibit the class. More significantly, limited awareness of


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the options offered by educational technologies necessarily reduces a teacher’s pedagogical artillery. While brilliant teaching by no means depends on technology, it can always be facilitated by a sound understanding of how a variety of educational tools – real or virtual – can be used.

Yet this article does not intend to lament the fate of the digital immigrant teacher. Rather, it aims to identify the sterling opportunity for pedagogical, professional and personal development contained in the apparent dilemma of in-service teacher training in educational technology. The opportunity is threefold. Firstly, teachers can reconsider the implications of learning and SLA theory from their oft-forgotten vantage point as learners. Secondly, they can put to the test and iteratively reformulate their personal pedagogies through a reflective, experiential learning process. Thirdly, they can benefit from technological skills – and the learning process itself – within their pedagogical, professional and personal development.

We now continue to investigate the analogy of educational technology as a foreign language, drawing on SLA theory to illuminate possible areas of enquiry.

The Nature of Language and Learning: Lessons from Language Acquisition Theory It stands to reason that language instructors have considerable experience with and knowledge of the learning and second language acquisition process. Teachers’ own learning about educational technologies can be an ideal testing ground for this knowledge. In keeping with the foreign language analogy, certain key SLA principles


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are discussed below. (Quoted terminology is common in the SLA literature broadly defined here: more detailed information can be found in the listed references.) Aptitude Language acquisition theory has long considered the question of natural aptitude and giftedness. The knack of some learners for acquiring new languages makes this a tempting hypothesis. However, the incontestable fact is that most normal humans achieve relative mastery of their mother tongue well before adulthood, making a certain level of aptitude universal. Furthermore, dedicated teacher-researchers will contest that enhancement of teaching methods can yield considerably improved results among learners. The debate regarding language learning aptitude has largely been eclipsed by the study of language learning skills and strategies (Oxford, 1991), at the core of which lies metacognition.

Metacognition can be defined as thinking about one’s thinking, and is a central concept underpinning reflective learning and teaching. Metacognitive awareness is particularly relevant to the teacher’s mastery of educational technology as a foreign language, since it drives the reflective inquiry into one’s own pedagogy through the learning process.

A growing body of educators, while not denying the possibility of natural aptitude, advocate the fostering of an acquired aptitude through metacognition. The metacognitive process, in turn, is the very axis around which several educational technologies revolve. Educational technology-enabled practices such as blogging, podcasting, social networking and wikis involve as much analysis of the learning process itself as of the knowledge involved. The implications of developing such


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metacognitive awareness are stupendous, and their meaning for education profound. At heart, these practices nurture the learner autonomy educators have long quested for.

In a nutshell, while talent may not be entirely overrated (see Colvin, 2008), in language learning it has become less relevant. Current theory suggests that the true aptitude learners require is the aptitude to learn, and reflectively learn about their learning. Teachers, it seems, would do well to follow suit.

The Critical Period Hypothesis According to the critical period hypothesis, language learning is most effective during the critical period of the early childhood years. Digital natives most certainly seem to acquire their technological fluency from an early age. Although digital immigrants did not have the advantage of an early start, the considerable number of proficient technology users across generations suggests that you can teach an older dog new tricks – provided the dog is interested. This brings us to the matter of usage-based language acquisition.

Usage-based Language Acquisition As the name implies, usage-based language acquisition simply states that learners tend to master the language they most need and use. For instance, language learners are often highly proficient in starting a general conversation, but ill-equipped to proceed with area-specific discussions. Similarly, even digital immigrants may achieve complete mastery in the aspects of technology use that are relevant, useful or inspiring to them, without developing a general sense of digital confidence.


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This is a vital clue to the learning process, and is reflected in the practice of needs analysis advocated by many language teachers. Whatever the curriculum advocates, learners are most likely to absorb that which they need and are motivated about. The same applies to educational technologies: from the smorgasbord of gadgets and gizmos and applications, teachers should select those which whet their personal palate. Personally meaningful tools are most likely to have a positive impact on the class atmosphere and culture of learning.

Interlanguage and Fossilisation These related terms refer, respectively, to the gradually developing language of a learner and the point at which development ceases. Applied to technology learning, this could be seen as the emerging development of technological skills, in relation to the point at which learning stagnates. In terms of educational technologies, especially computer-assisted tools, the spectrum of possibilities makes fossilisation at some point inevitable. The essential strategy for technology-enabled teaching is to be wellequipped to learn independently using Help and Search functions embedded in most software and the Web, guided by a sound digital intuition. Proficient technology use is an ongoing learning curve driven by self-access – a point proven by the constant technological evolution of the digital native.

Transfer In SLA, transfer refers to the application of principles from the first language to the target language. This can, of course, be helpful (such as the native English speaker’s ease in understanding the French word intelligence) or harmful (such as the native English speaker’s frequent faux pas when pronouncing the French expression déjà vu


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as “day-zhuh-voo”). Similarly, there are paper, pen and typewriter skills that are a tremendous asset to a computer user. Other habits, conversely, are not only obsolete, but an obstacle to effective computer use. Peering over the shoulder of a teenager adroitly surfing multiple websites shows a very different set of instinctive, efficient habits from the cautious clicks of the novice computer user.

Just as successful transfer can help the language learner (for example, a French speaker can easily capitalize on the Romance languages’ shared roots to learn Spanish, Portuguese and Italian), core technology use skills can successfully be transferred to various tools. One example is the frequent claim that anyone who can use word processing software can send an email. In the same way that language knowledge can be transferred to a new target language, skills in one technology can often be transferred to another as use becomes more fluent or “native-like”. Successful transfer is related to the SLA concept of universals.

Universals While the Chomskyan notion of universal grammar remains hotly debated among linguists, there is some agreement that certain universal elements exist in all languages. By analogy, despite the radical developments of modern technology, universal principles remain. For example, the tree structure found in nature, language and the table of contents of any traditional book is reflected in the menu system found on everything from television remote controls to computers to touch phones. In the same way that language learners can draw on the foundation (albeit disputed) of a universal grammar, digital immigrants will recognise certain familiar landmarks in the landscape of post-modernity.


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Input, Intake and Uptake The triangle of input, intake and uptake represents perhaps one of the biggest challenges, not only of teaching but of communication in general. While input describes the information provided, intake describes the information received. The two, sadly, are not necessarily equal, since information can be lost or distorted. As if this is not bad enough, even intake does not guarantee uptake, which is the absorption and application of information. Ensuring that input leads to sufficient intake and effective uptake is the unceasing challenge of education. This is especially true in language education, where learners necessarily need to apply their (hopefully) burgeoning knowledge.

When it comes to in-service training of teachers in educational technologies, the input-intake-uptake delta could quite justly be considered the Bermuda Triangle of learning. The essence of educational technologies has a habit of mysteriously disappearing when exposed to highly qualified, experienced, in-service teachers. In the pointed discourse of the digital native, “they just don’t get it”.

The reason for this is that educational technologies, harnessed to their full potential, enable a paradigm shift impossible to fathom from the traditional, teacher-centered model of education. Technologically enhanced teaching is simply not compatible with sages on stages. Paradoxically, teachers have long advocated learner autonomy, learning-centredness and ownership. Yet when learners step up as captains of their fate and masters of their souls, we fear mutiny.


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Once again, this is not a problem as much as the seed of an opportunity. If learners are to captain their own vessels into the turbulent oceans of learning, teachers as their mentors need to have navigated those seas themselves. By committing to the process of developing their own skills in educational technologies, teachers can be pioneers, role models and qualified mentors for their students. By metacognitively investigating our own learning process, and plunging into the bracing waters of technologically enhanced learning, we ourselves learn from the master tutor: experience. This deepens our understanding of the potential of our new tools, and places the possibilities of traditional teaching in a new light as well.

At the very core of the virtue of learning educational technology as a foreign language lies a challenge to every teacher: to test our beliefs about teaching and learning in the arena, and in this process, to learn about the learning process itself.

Tentative Conclusions When it comes to our students, language teachers know that learning is fostered by doing. As we are challenged by the foreign language of educational technology, it is time to put this well-honed philosophy of teaching to the ultimate test: our own learning. Applying – and evolving – our personal pedagogies through the process of learning new technologies, we stand to develop both professionally and personally.

This article has pointed out the parallels between language learning and the development of technological skills, and how teachers can capitalise on this common ground. Most importantly, such a learning process truly qualifies teachers to guide


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learners through the often uncharted waters of learner autonomy through educational technologies.


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References Borger, H. (2009, August 22). What we have in “Commoncraft”. Blog entry posted to www.henrickborger.net/e-merge-eng-ed. Colvin, G. (2008). Talent is overrated. London: Nicholas Brealy. Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (2001). Second language acquisition: an introductory course. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kirschner, P. & Selinger, M. (2003). The state of affairs of teacher education with respect to information communications technology. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 12/1, 5-17. Le Roux, M. (2009, August 4). Technology as a foreign language. Blog entry posted to http://learningcoach.blogspot.com. Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-2. Retrieved September 1, 2009, from www.marcprensky.com/writing.