Technology has burst into language classrooms. In recent years, tablets have become yet another element in classrooms, and utilizing them as a learning resource is becoming more essential each day to help keep students engaged.
A change in the educational paradigm has brought digital devices into the classroom and has completely transformed the methodology used in class. The traditional method is inadequate when faced against the variety of interactive content that students can access from their tablets, both inside and outside of class.
Many teachers face a daily dilemma: how to use new technology without losing their students’ attention. However, the problem herein lies in a bad approach: it is precisely the proper use of technology that can hold the attention of these fully digitized generations.
In terms of language courses, Dexway, CAE’s language division, has been committed to blended learning and e-learning for years. From our experience, we know that being supported by technology has many benefits, the main one being: keeping students’ engaged. More participation and more interactive contents are what can solve this problem. Students can find exactty that in Dexway’s online courses thanks to Voluxion, the only learning platform in the sector that specializes in languages.
Why Is Technology Essential in Language Classrooms?
# 1 Interactivity
E-learning and blended learning exercises offer a progressive and natural ‘learning by doing’ approach. Far from rote learning classes, online courses offer a practical approach to learning skills in language classrooms, which makes studying more interesting and fun.
This interactivity allows teachers to monitor each student’s development and progress see how they perform in each of the language skills.
#2 Closeness
New generations are digital natives, which means they have grown up surrounded by technology and feel a lot more comfortable around it than any other generation.
It also means that they are used to doing almost everything on devices or on the internet. Providing your students with audio or video content, interactive exercises and other multimedia material is a perfect way to connect with them and keep them interested in their studies.
# 3 Participation
Students participate more actively in their education inside and outside the classroom when it is related to technology. Not only do students act as recipients of information, but they also play an active role in their own learning, which is far more flexible and favors a more personalized and individualized education.
# 4 Evaluation and monitoring
Voluxion learning platforms allow teachers to create exercises, partial tests and assessment tests that are corrected instantly and give students immediate feedback.
For students, to be able to correct errors right when they are made is a valuable source of information.
For teachers, real-time access to their students’ course progress is a tool that allows them to adjust the curriculum to the pace of the class so that no one is left behind. It also avoids losing students’ attention in class due to moving too fast (or too slow).
#5 Accesibility
In language classrooms with students who require special attention, mobile devices such as tablets can make it easier to include them due to the different ways one can interact with tablets (voice, touch, etc.) and all the resources they offer to adapt to the students’ pace of work.
Integrating new technology into the classroom is an essential step to keep language students motivated, especially those who aren’t interested in studying using the traditional learning method. However, it is a double-edged sword and if it is not used properly, technology can just become another distraction.
Dexway courses (such as digital extensions, face-to-face classes or 100% online classes) use a proven methodology that really works. They are based on a ‘learning by doing’ approach, which guarantees a natural progression without any gaps.
Dexway’s contents are structured according to the requirements of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (or CEFR). Courses with a certain objective cover each student’s real needs and thanks to Dexway Authoring Tool, all the contents can be customized in order to reorganize, add or delete contents from the syllabus, the exercises or all kinds of content from Dexway’s materials or teachers’.