TELT

Shona Whyte:

Hugh Dellar gives ELT Heinle co-author Andrew Walkley space to expand on his IATEFL 2012 presentation on technology in language teaching.  The overal thrust is to question blind assumptions about teaching and technology: 

Impoverished acquisitional/pedagogical models

- "the vast bulk of new technologies for ELT are based on OLD – and I would argue discredited – theories of language. Many of the sites recommended by gatekeepers such as Russell Stannard and Nik Peachey focus very much on grammar rules and lists of single words and their meanings."  Walkley rejects this restricted view of language learning/teaching as "grammar rules + words + skills."

Overestimation of technology's power to motivate

- "We’re frequently told we’re teaching screenagers, but our students are only screenagers when using facebook to sort out a meet-up with friends or to post comments on recently uploaded photos."  Our younger learners are not so tech-savvy or pro-tech as older teachers may fear.

Unhealthy obsession with technology among some teachers

- "Don’t let workaholics be our role models."  Technology is time-consuming for teachers, but pro-tech teachers don't mind giving up a great deal of spare time for it.

Technological versus pedagogical interactivity

- "Far too often, in classes I observe, IWBs are simply used as giant held-up coursebooks, as another form of crowd control."

[Author photo from ELT Heinle http://elt.thomson.com/emea/en_uk/innovations/pages/0759396205/teacher_andrew.html]