INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 495.

READING

Write an analytical overview of the text 1A4 sheet. What do you think about the information provided in the article?

Read the text again and create a block scheme of the text.

PROJECT WORK

Exercise 3. Work in pairs and make up a dialogue: criticise the lesson, you have just observed. Use connectors to correct all mistakes made by a teacher.

1. Read the article “Understanding and Teaching Generation Y” prepared by Peter Reilly Mexico 2012 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m and be ready to discuss its main idea and aspects.

1. What do you know about information technologies in the teaching of foreign language? Read the text and define which part of the text the following subheadings refer to:

a) The challenges for foreign language learning and teaching

TEXT 1. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS1) emphasized that we are in the midst of an information revolution, where the accelerating convergence between telecommunications, broadcasting multimedia and information and communication technologies is creating new products and services, as well as redefining ways of conducting business and commerce. The impact upon education and training is only just beginning to be felt, and there is an increasing awareness that changes of paradigm are needed, if the new media are to be used effectively and to the advantage of all. The proposed action plan of the WSIS states that, to benefit the world community, the successful and continued growth of the new dynamic brought about by ICTs requires global discussion. It is the aim of the present publication to contribute to this discussion by indicating how language learning and teaching in the 21st century might surf the wave created by the different technical resources now available. Effective implementation will require partnerships with publicand private entities, common formats and standardization, development of information resources, databases, knowledge, and information infrastructures that are equally available for all countries and regions. However, for this to happen, the prerequisites for effective use of the new resources for foreign language learning and teaching should be clearly established.

TEXT 2. In a world divided by clashes of cultures and beliefs, the potential of the new media for fostering intercultural understanding and exchange is enormous. In the history of mankind, access to information and knowledge has never been so straightforward at a local, regional, national, or global level. Judicious deployment of ICTs can encourage and sustain cultural and linguistic diversity in individuals and in society in general. Facilitating access to other cultures and languages is the chief goal of the language teaching profession, and using ICT resources effectively in their teaching represents one of the chief challenges facing language teachers today. In their contribution to this study

TEXT 3. Observers have noted that the Internet is moving away from its original model of cooperative communication based on exchange, and tending towards the logic of a mass broadcasting medium, resulting in a concentration of producers and the progressive disappearance of interactivity. This tendency towards passivity in the use of the new media can, we believe, be counterbalanced effectively in an approach to FLT which encourages cooperative, collaborative procedures, where teachers abandon traditional roles and act more as guides and mentors, exploring the new media themselves as learners and thus acting as role models for their learners.