Computer-Assisted Instruction en English

TOPIC 1

HOW TO INTEGRATE NEW TECHNOLOGIES INTO THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

 

1.1. Objectives

The main objective of this topic is to make the student familiarized with the concepts of digital and interactive communication from a linguistic and discursive reflection to enable the student to understand the new communicative scenario of the ICTs based on solid and theoretical principles.

1.2. The old, the new and the newest: An introduction to materials and resources for language teaching

1.2.1. INTRODUCTION: A PRELIMINARY OVERVIEW

The development of the present society relies on a semiological structure that covers a great range of communicative situations coming from the new context where the new ICTs belong to. A society which is conditioned by the high flow of information that is not easy to access and decode. This situation has coined more suitable terms such as digital galaxy (Pérez Rodríguez, M.A. 2004). The educational environment and specifically the language teaching environment must get enriched by more accurate approaches that can learn from the context and aid in the Didactics of language teaching.

Internet, computer games, CD-ROMs, massive multimedia storage devices and on-platform interactive environments are known as the new media.  Interactivity is probably the most innovative and stimulating aspect of the new media. New languages have broken with the primacy of words, and the audiovisual communication has appeared as the new and necessary communicative process that makes up new perspectives for the human being.

Not long time ago, what was referred to as the communicative competence, requires a new methodological, conceptual and practical revision. The old concepts concerning the linguistic and communicative competences must be intrinsically studied as far as the audiovisual communication is concerned.

Drawing on the previous intrinsic principles, the capability of using audiovisual media to communicate and inform is part of the new concept of linguistic competence, and implicitly integrates the understanding of the tools that enable the technological communication (e-mailing, chatting...). Likewise, the concept of communicative competence is currently wrapped up by the possibility of communicating in different technological contexts (the radio on the Internet, online videos, etc..)

We think that such interactive environments as images, videos, texts and games require a closer look. Currently, the way to communicate and interact with people is dominated mainly by text messages, photographs and videos on cellular phones, emails and instant message systems (IMSs), chats, forums, videoconferences, exchange of photographs on the computer…

Now it is possible to see and speak with our family and friends faster and more directly than ever before, thanks to the web cameras and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephony at a very low or no cost. We can access the information and disseminate it easily by using new author creation tools with basic user knowledge.

Nowadays in education, concepts such as linguistic and digital competences have originated from an audiovisual communicative perspective where competence not only means to be able to access multimedia contents, but also to express oneself in these new interactive scenarios that enable certain ICT-based tools. The fact is that in the socio-cultural coordinates where we are living, the oral aspect has been considerably enriched by the iconic and visual use, and make up a new and richer communicative panorama full of different elements: emoticons, gifts, motion images, presentations, effect videos, etc.., all of which make up a new scenario requiring that speakers decode, access and structure information in a different and new way and by means of new tools.

The XXI language is not limited to the paper, radio or television, not to mention, being just simple recipients of information. The new media let us create multimedia and audiovisual contents, and provide us with an opportunity that we cannot overlook, otherwise we would become digital illiterates capable of understanding languages but incapable of producing multimedia messages.