Language Teaching Essay

Over the past thirty years, technology is playing an important role in various areas of interest such as text, graphics, sound and animation. One of the area in which we are interested, is Language Teaching. Nowadays Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) is increasingly becoming popular among all. It has been evolved as a highly successful source of learning in the area of research and practical methodology to enhance the traditional teaching methods. The book Computer-assisted Language Learning (Levy, M. 1997) defines CALL as the series of programs designed specifically to promote language learning. He analyzed the results of a comprehensive CALL Survey, which he carried out among authors of CALL materials in order to determine what kinds of conceptual frameworks lay behind their work. From this, he found that the new approach to Language Learning is Data Driven Learning (DDL). Tim Johns, University of Birmingham, found it. In DDL the learning process is no longer based solely on the teacher’s initiative, his/her choice of topics and materials and the explicit teaching of rules, but on the learner’s own discovery of rules, principles and patterns of usage in the foreign language (Levy 1997:123) The objective of inclusion of Information Technology (IT) in language teaching is to develop an advanced understanding of practical, technical and practical aspects of IT applications in language teaching among students. In addition, students are also exposed to concordancing software, computer-based discussion forums, internet navigation, composition skills and other language learning multimedia activities. IT can be implemented in language teaching by giving the students, online homework, asking them to search the net to have an idea about the topics to be taught in class and by letting them to go for interactive studies via internet rather than spoon- feeding All these methods develop the communication as well as composition skills of the children. Infact, it is the turning point for our education system i. e from subject-oriented to learner-oriented. Proceeding further, we will come to know about potential role of IT in learning and teaching. Also, we will have a detail study of various ITLT program proposed by some key scholars and their research. Our focus will be on the possible ways of using available technology, at the same time we will have a brief overview of future possibilities of ITLT. Role Of Information Technology In Language Teaching and Learning:- Imagine, if you were asked to teach tomorrow’s technology in today’s classroom. How will you manage to give deep knowledge of the concerned topic to the students. This is possible if students are subjected to explore the topic presented from sources spanning the globe which are in the form of text, graphics, audio and video. Students can collect information by directly interacting with experts throughout the world. This is the role played by technology( internet and World Wide Web) in classroom studies. World Wide Web offers real world example of integrated knowledge, possibilities for collaborative working, up-to-date and abundant information. It is a rich source of authentic language and cultural material, appeals to learners with visual or tactile learning styles and builds critical learning skills. It also provides an opportunity for skimming or scanning practice and for online publishing. This type of learning can be achieved by introducing various softwares available in market, having a specific methodology for polishing the communication and other skills of the learners. CALL is a software that includes methodologies like giving multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks and other such types which can be easily corrected by the computer. The performance of student can be judged easily by these kind of worksheets. It plays an important role in developing logical and reasoning skills of the student. However, CALL fails to examine complex exercises i. e it becomes a time consuming task for it. This problem can be solved by Natural Language Processing ( NLP ) tools . It has an additional features such as written texts can be listened with the help of ‘speech synthesizer’, sentences can be analyzed by ‘sentence structure viewer’, verb conjugations can be verified with a ‘conjugation tool’, an error diagnosis system, spell checker, grammar checker etc. Nowadays, ‘language media centers’ have replaced ‘audiotape language labs’. Language media centers are equipped with equipment and computer software audio and video materials printed materials technical support staff and resources assistants training of teaching staff materials development Also, learners can have access to foreign language documents through World Wide Web. They can also contact their teachers, classmates and native speakers via electronic mail (E-mail). Network Based Language Teaching(NBLT) is a kind of CALL in which computers are locally or globally connected. It is widely used in tutorials, drills, simulations, instructional games, tests etc. Through these computer-mediated communication, learners can enhance their communication (hearing, reading, listening ) skills by noticing the language used in messages they compose and read. Hyperproof is a Macintosh software program. It assists in learning the principles of analytical reasoning and proof construction. It combines graphical and sentential information to present a set of logical rules using which student learns to construct proof of problems having consequence or no-cosequence. Hyperproof software checks the validity of each type of proof. CALICO is another software having an application in drill and practice, tutorial, game, simulation, assessment, instructional management etc. It enhances the reasoning and communicating skills of the learner by providing them with the activities like multiple choice questions, fill-in exercises, pronounciation, dialog repetition, listening comprehension, transcription, vocabulary learning, database building etc.