ENGLI 1102 English Composition 2 | Technology for Learning English

udents in their exams. Padron and Waxman (1996) conducted their study to understand the impact of Instruction technology on the learning of English language and found that the use of that particular technology has helped the teachers to deliver better education to the students. According to Shih (2011), peer assessment of the English learners through the use of Facebook provided a very effective study and the use of technology has proven to increase the performance of the students in the class as well as the examination. According to Carroll and Ryan (2007), the use of the modern technologies have been a very effective tool to teach the various international students to gain a better understanding of the language and suggested that it may be used for the proper development of English language in other parts of the world. Liu et al., (2007) found in their studies that implementing the latest technologies like augmented reality and 2D barcode systems had increased the overall knowledge gaining capability. It proved to be an effective system which increased the overall participation of the students through various games and other interactive measures.

Technology and learning a new language

 Technology is an important tool for learning the language at different levels.  The digital Technologies help the teachers to work in collaboration with the learners and learners working in an independent manner to do a necessary ‘languaging ’which helps in developing a language(August and Shanahan2017).  Technology is used in the form of a word processor to work on the skills of language.  Technology allows creating a text until and unless it is accurate.  There are various tools which help in checking the grammar and improving the text.  Technology has made this easier and has engaged the learners with the editing process to create a high-quality text which can be displayed for others. It is a challenging task for a teacher to find out ways for people to practice the meaningful spoken language. Technology has also solved this problem with the tools like video conferencing by which a class can be linked to the other classes around the world where the learner can ask his queries and try to understand the response. The process is mediated by the technology providing feedback which shows whether the learner has understood or not. Technology has also helped in project work where the learners can go online and read various materials about different topics and can write and speak on it(Chapelle 2003).

Effect of technology on second language learning

The importance of English as a second language has grown leaps and bounds and is used as the preferred medium of instruction in all the prestigious institutions. Technology has transformed the traditional teaching methods. The impact of Technology has been far and wide in second language teaching.  The modern Information and Communication Technology has a significant position for improving the second language learning(Chang et al., 2014).  This potential, however, does not automatically leads to learning because most of the second language educators have the belief that they have the capacity to improve the second language learning and therefore there are no straight-forward directions about how the technology should be used.  The use of Technology depends on the translation process which is affected by the understanding of the potentialities of technology by the translator and the views of educational goals and processes in which the process of learning takes place (López 2010).  Therefore the technology can have various uses and it can be discussed in relevance to the problem that is addressed.   Therefore the second language learning can be enhanced only by proper conceptualization about the use of technology which should aim to create a proper language learning environment.  The conceptualization should be based on the proper acquisition of the second language and supporting the learning process of the whole language with all the available Technologies.

Technology and ESL

 Various modes of Technologies have been chosen to educate the ESL students.  With the invention of Technologies of multimedia in the computer, various opportunities are provided for learning experiences of English as a second language.  The common Technologies like videotapes and television are a valuable learning tool which is used for imparting this kind of education (Etesseet al., 2015).  Various kinds of activities can be done with the help of video and television that provides audio-visual language experiences.  Word processing, computer software, internet, World Wide Web and email are the various sources used for different learning activities.  Multimedia is used for text, graphics, video and audio.  The individualization, instant response and components of assessment of various software packages are the positive factors and the students get motivated by using the newly emerging Technologies (Shyamlee and Phil, 2012).

Technology and ESP

 The role of Technology in language learning and ESP, in particular, has changed significantly over time.  Not only has the perspective of learning changed which time, Technology has become more worldwide in the professional sector.  Yau et al., 2003 technology have integrated into the classroom both physically and pedagogically.  Technology has played a vital role in ESP but the internet has a more strong impact.  One of the effective tools for DSP is it which is the second wave of online language learning which focuses both on cultural and social discourses which are beyond language learning and this allows the learners to engage with one another in authentic communication in the professional sectors and generate their own ideas which give them a sense of empowerment (Shi et al., 2015).  The professional world is totally incomplete and Impossible without the information technology and this becomes a challenge for the students who need to deal with the communicative practices globally.  Most of the language teachers have incorporated some kind of Technology in the courses which the learners can use in their profession whether it is the internet, email or the word processor.  Incorporating these Technologies would allow the learner in virtual conferencing platforms and effective communication (Mahmoud and Tanni, 2014).

 Students usually prefer technological aids because of the flexibility of the place and the location of studying and it is quite time-saving. Technology provides the scope of both audio-visual facilities which makes the understanding of a particular language easier and effective. It helps in meaningful interactions and collaboration. Technology transforms the experiences of learning and the students are often exposed to various the opportunities (Yang and Chen, 2007).

Hypothesis

The present study will mainly establish the fact that utilization and implementation of the new technologies in the learning process will help the regular English learning students as well as ESP learners to gain the better understanding of the English studies and help them to understand the subject quicker (Chang et al.,2012). In addition to that, the study will also try to find the difference between the ESP learners and general English learner on the point of view of the reaction to such new technologies. Apart from these, the study will also try to find whether the implementation of technology helps the ESP learners or ESP learners to improve their English abilities. The study will also try to find if the experience of the technological applications like Anatomage, Mobile app and the Game app provides the same experience or different. If the experience is different, then how it differs. The study will also provide the comparison between the ESP learner and the general English learners in the terms of the reaction to the newly implemented technology. This particular area will help in the better development of the technological means to deliver proper teaching processes (Hainey et al.,2016). The most important factor in this study tries to search is that whether new technology will be able to fully replace the traditional teaching methods.

Assessment requirements

A lot of students are required for this present study and various other requirement are also mandatory. This particular portion provides detailed information about them.

• Setting- For the present study Al Qura University in Saudi Arabia was chosen. The study will mainly be conducted in the department of English Literature but students of other subjects will also be chosen. The study will also include students studying major in English and who belong to the advanced undergraduate section.
  
  
• Participants- For this particular study, a total of 300 students were chosen. Each group will contain 100 students. The skill level of the student must be equal and the age of the students will be between the ranges of 19-22 years. They all should be at the university level elementary and pre-intermediate students.

Methodology

For establishing the hypothesis an extensive test was done and the results gained from the test was mainly utilized for assessment. For this study, the activities and reactions of the Saudi learners were assessed regarding the use of specific technologies to help them to learn English. The main plan of the study is to examine three groups of learners. Each group will consist of 100 students. Among the groups, there will be two subgroups of 50 students and the groups will be named A and B. The group A will get all the technological support for their learning. Group B will receive their teachings via traditional means and books. The study will not only assess the English learners but it will also assess the learning method of medical, engineering and general English students. The three groups which were told earlier will consist of Medical students, Engineering students and general English students.

The first group of medical students was provided with a lecture on Anatomy on a specific topic. After this initial lecture, the Group A will be provided with Antomage. It is a special learning tool which specializes in providing the knowledge on Anatomy. The machine helps the students to experience human dissection without a corpse. The machine provides all the information in the English language. The students of group B will be provided with Atlas. This Atlas is based on Human Anatomy and contains all the information about the particular subject.

The second group of engineering students was provided with a normal lecture on a particular subject like petroleum. Among the students, the group A will get a special mobile application which is developed by Oxford University. The app provides knowledge about engineering in English. Group B will receive books according to their lesson from where they will be studying their topics.

The third group contains the group of general English learners. They will also receive a lecture on a topic from English literature. After this initial lesson, the group A will get a mobile game which is centered around that particular chapter. On the other hand, group B will get a lot of books to continue their studies.

Fig-Data collection and testing method.

Following the above method, the data will be collected which will mainly contain the reaction of the students. The acquired data will be analyzed quantitatively so that it can be described properly. The data collection will be solely done by the method of questionnaires. The quantitative analysis will help to establish the hypothesis stated earlier and it will also provide a strong knowledge about the reaction to the knowledge they have gained through their experience in this test (Ante et al., 2016). The acquired data will also help to understand the differences between the students in the areas of approachable or productive ability.

The Advantage of conducting the study

The study is conducted to understand the effect of modern technologies on the learning habit of students. The emphasis is especially on the students of English literature. However, students in other groups are also included in the study. If the proposed hypothesis is established from the results then there would be a major improvement in the existing education process. It will result in smarter classrooms and will help to develop special course materials for the students. It will increase the acceptability of education towards the students and they will be able to gain a better understanding of the subject. Moreover, the emphasis on the English language will also help us to understand if the technologies actually help to gain better understand the subject (Custer and Michael, 2015). If it is found that the hypothesis is true then it will be helpful to develop special strategies in the English literature studies all over the world and will increase the overall knowledge of English among the other non-English speaking countries (Xie et al., 2001).

Limitations

Despite all these advantages and possibilities, there are certain areas which are untouched in the conducted study. The present study only focuses on the learning ability of the students but it does not tell anything about the teaching method. It is to be noted that in many cases if the teaching is not able to fulfill the gaps in the knowledge of the students then the added accessories are rendered useless. The present study also does not provide any information regarding the use of a smart class of other smart application during teaching which has been proven to improve the overall process of teaching. The study mainly emphasizes the use of software and additional technologies but it does not provide any information about the audiovisual modes of teaching. There have been numerous cases when scientists have found that the audio-visual accessories have proven to be a great help to deliver proper knowledge (Carroll and Ryan, 2007). The study mainly focuses on the use of advanced technology but it does not provide one important information that the human interaction is also important in providing knowledge and how it is essential to deliver the knowledge by lectures before using the additional tools and techniques. The study mainly assessed the quantitative measures but it did not assess the qualitative areas of the students which would have provided extra information if was implemented in the studies. The study also did not assess the use of the internet to study. It is to be noted it is one of the highly used technology in terms of education. Any additional information about this particular area would have enriched this study.

References

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