The Use of Educational Technology in Improving Learning for ESL Students
Since learning English is very popular in non-English speaking countries, developing modern assisted-learning tools that support effective English learning is a major issue for non-native learners. Because learning English involves memorization and practicing a bevy of vocabulary words and numerous grammatical structures, ESL students often look to the use of technology for education, enrichment, and reinforcement. As Chen and Li (2009) acknowledge, “Vocabulary learning is a principal issue for English learning because vocabulary comprises the basic building blocks of English sentences. Therefore, many studies have attempted to improve the efficiency and performance when learning English vocabulary. With the accelerated growth in wireless and mobile technologies, mobile learning using mobile devices such mobile devices has gradually become considered effective because it inherits all the advantages of e-learning and overcomes demographic and physical limitations (Chen & Li)
There are several issues when it comes to learning vocabulary as an ESL Student. Vocabulary learning becomes a process of related sub-tasks, it just doesn’t come naturally. When ESL learners first learn a new word, they may guess at its meaning and attempt to apply its usage. Some learners might proceed to look it up in the dictionary. Others might take down notes along the margins, between the lines, or on separate vocabulary notebooks. Gu (2003) indicated that “Some learners will repeat the new word a number of times until they are comfortable with it. Others will go beyond simple rote repetition to commit the word to memory. Some would even try to use the word actively. Each of these task stages demands metacognitive judgment, choice, and deployment of cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning.” (p. 2) Yet, the process to learn is iterative in nature as the learner must practice and use the word in a context, which often takes a while for the learner to do especially when they are not used to the native learning setting.
The uses of educational technologies do have some advantages and disadvantages though. preference. Felix (2004) showed that “students were on the whole positively inclined to working with the Web and found it useful, with the majority preferring to use the Web as an addon to face-to-face teaching. Reported advantages fell into the broad categories of time flexibility, reinforced learning, privacy and wealth of information; disadvantages into distraction, absence of teacher and personal interaction and lack of speaking practice.”(p. 1). By incorporating Web technologies, including tools such as vocabulary software and voice recognition software may help with speaking practice, and there is no reason why students cannot speak to each other as part of the learning process especially in collaborative, native setting settings
Chen, C.M. & Li, Y.I. (2009). Personalised context-aware ubiquitous learning system for supporting effective English vocabulary learning. Interactive Learning Environments, 9(1), 1-24. Retrieved May 7, 2009, from http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/10494820802602329
Gu, P.Y. (2003). Vocabulary learning in a second language: Person, talk, context, and strategy. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 7(2), 1-5.
Felix, U. (2004) A multivariate analysis of secondary students’ experience of web-based language acquisition. ReCALL, 16(1), 237-249.
