Using Technology in Foreign Language Teaching
Language learning is a complex and challenging endeavor. For students to achieve the desired proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) their institutions need to invest time, effort and huge resources in order to cater for different learning styles. To be cost effective, many language-teaching institutions strive to provide intensive foreign language (FL) instruction to reduce the time period needed to learn the target language. This explains the current interest in combining different methodologies with instructional technologies that promise to motivate learners and to respond effectively to their needs. In fact, generally, technology use in learning environments has presented itself as a necessity for continued lifelong learning with research suggesting that institutions that lag behind in integrating technology might not be well-equipped to meet the needs of knowledge-based societies. This book explores the conditions under which technology can best be utilized, so that its potential benefits are harnessed and the obstacles tackled. It debates the issue of IT integration in language teaching with the intention of discussing its advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of actual users and professionals from different contexts. There are thirteen chapters in the book. Each is unique in its own way, but all examine IT use in general and in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, and Malaysia. The book will provide a useful resource for foreign language professionals, researchers and postgraduate students.
Rahma Al-Mahrooqi, PhD, is the Director of Sultan Qaboos University’s Humanities Research Center. She is also an Associate Professor of English at the same institution, where she has worked for 21 years. She has taught a variety of courses in language, communication, research, and sociolinguistics, always seeking to inspire and transform her students by example. She has coordinated tertiary English courses and an ESP program for SQU’s College of Science and, for almost four years (2006–January 2010), she was SQU’s Language Center Director. Dr Al-Mahrooqi has published widely on English language teaching and learning in Oman with major focus areas in teaching reading, literature, and English communication skills. Currently, she is engaged in funded nationwide research in various areas of language instruction. In addition, under the Humanities Research Center, she is carrying out research on identity, cognition and emotion and their relationship with language learning.
Salah Troudi is an academic at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter. His research interests and publications are in critical applied linguistics, curriculum studies, English as a medium of instruction, teaching approaches in TESOL, and the use of technology in language classrooms. He is the Director of the EdD TESOL in Dubai and the editor of a number of journals in TESOL and language education.
"Overall, the book provides a comprehensive discussion in the area of CALL, specifically the practices of blended learning and online learning."
Herri Mulyono, University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka, and Nurhasanah Halim, STKIP Kusuma Negara Jakarta International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 11: 3 (2015)
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