The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Technology

Nicole Ziegler, Marta González-Lloret, Nicole Ziegler, Marta González-Lloret, Nicole Ziegler, Marta González-Lloret

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781351117562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Technology- mediated language learning has matured over the past few decades, with various tools and contexts now widely used in language education for all ages and levels. Many of today's language learners have experienced technology as an ever- present feature both within and beyond the classroom, highlighting how the role of technology has expanded into many daily activities, and underscoring how research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) can inform and support the use of established and emerging technologies. The role of technology in language learning has continued to grow, with the recent COVID- 19 global pandemic further demonstrating the potential contributions of technology for supporting and facilitating second language development. Answering this increasing interest, this Handbook provides students, teachers, and scholars with a comprehensive collection of chapters on foundational topics and key issues related to technology, SLA, and where relevant, pedagogical applications.

Chapter 25 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com

Part ITheoretical and Methodological Perspectives

doi: 10.4324/9781351117586-2

1Historical Foundations of Technology in SLA

Glenn Stockwell

DOI: 10.4324/9781351117586-3

Introduction

Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field that has been heavily influenced by trends in theory and practice since it began to gain traction as an academic discipline in the 1960s, and there have been a number of attempts to follow the complex path that it has followed over this time. Ellis (2020), for example, describes SLA as having gone through several overlapping phases, initially exploring the order and sequence of acquisition, expanding into universal grammar, second language pragmatics, and input and interaction. This was followed by cognitive and social perspectives moving into the mainstream, and the more recent trends of complexity and multilingualism. These shifts have been attributed largely to developments in psychology and linguistics (see Larsen-Freeman, 2018), but it could also be argued that the field has been impacted by developments in technology as well. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how technology has evolved over the past half-century, and how this has impacted the shifts that we have seen in the teaching and learning of second languages. There are numerous ways in which the relationship between technology and second language acquisition could be addressed, and others have discussed this more from the point of view of specific theories or teaching approaches such as task-based language teaching (González-Lloret & Ortega, 2014), feedback and interaction (Ziegler & Mackey, 2017), sociocultural approaches (Lomicka & Lord, 2016; Vandergriff, 2016), motivation and identity (Ushioda, 2011), and ecological perspectives (Blin, 2016), to name a few. In this chapter, however, the main focus is on the way in which technology itself has had a direct influence on the approaches to teaching and learning a second language. It does this through following the evolution of technology over the past 50 years and exploring how this impacts not only current but also future practices.

It should be noted, however, that pinpointing an exact start of when technology began to be used in language teaching and learning is surprisingly difficult, and the precise origins have been “lost to history” (Dunkel, 1987, p. 250). An investigation of the emergence of related academic publications does, however, reveal that technology has been a part of language education for several decades, with research appearing in journals on language teaching and learning, as well as increased production of books and journals specializing in technology in SLA. Even from these early days, the originality and sophistication of the ideas with which teachers and researchers applied technology to their teaching and learning environments were clearly evident. The approaches used in the studies that were carried out at the time were broad and varied, as were the technologies that formed the foundations of this research.

What, precisely does “technology” mean in the context that it is used here with regards to second language acquisition? In many respects, nearly anything could be termed a “technology” if the scope is not limited in some way. While the definition of technology has changed greatly over the past century, the image that most people would have is likely a computer, although the size and shape of so-called modern computers have also undergone a phenomenal change since Alan Turing described a “universal computing machine” (p. 241) in 1936, using paper tape as a means of inputting information which was then processed and the required output produced. Computing machines—or computers—have become smaller, faster, more versatile, and capable of storing immense amounts of information, yet their ultimate functions remain largely the same: processing information from input and making this information available to users as output. Input has evolved from paper tape into myriad methods such as disks (floppy, hard, USB flash memory, or cloud-based), keyboards and mice, trackpads, styluses, touch screens, or even audio or video input. When referring to technology in SLA, the focus is on “computers,” although even this has become a somewhat amorphous term that has come to include other devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and wearable technologies. Computers have evolved at a rate that has surpassed virtually any other technology in the history of humankind, and as a result have moved from specialized military uses of room-sized machines from the 1940s, through to corporate use of mainframes in the 1960s, then to individual uses of “personal computers” (i.e., PCs) which were small enough to fit on a single desk (see Tardieu et al., 2020, for a discussion). As technology advanced even further, computers became even more compact, until they reached a size small enough to be carried around, in the form of laptop computers or mobile phones. PCs, laptop computers, and portable phones have all increased significantly in sophistication, and devices small enough to fit in a pocket boast processing power thousands of times greater than that of machines of five decades earlier.

Needless to say, non-computer technologies have long featured in SLA research, with more analogue tools, such as audio tapes, commonly found as a part of language laboratories (e.g., Keating, 1963). However, it could be argued that computer-based technologies have had and continue to have unparalleled effects on formal and informal language learning, impacting the very way in which teaching and learning is conceptualized. It is against this background that language teaching and learning should be framed, with pedagogies inevitably being shaped by the technologies that are used. As technologies became more accessible, they moved slowly away from being specialized and isolated tools to tools that could become “normalized” as a part of everyday practice both inside and outside of the classroom (see Bax, 2003, for a discussion). Where once specialist knowledge was a prerequisite to using technology in educational settings, technologies are very much becoming a part of the regular classroom, used for teaching a wide range of language skills and areas. This is where a second primary definition needs to be made clear: what SLA through technology actually means. It has been common for discussions of technology in language teaching and learning to be somehow homogenous, as though the term “technology” could be understood as a constant that has a uniform impact on language acquisition (see Stockwell, forthcoming, for a discussion). Much as with any type of teaching resource—digital or otherwise—the effect on particular language skills and areas will depend on a great number of factors, including the learning goals, the proficiency of the learners, and the teaching approaches adopted by teachers using these resources. Teaching with technology can mean an almost unlimited number of possibilities of tools, targets, and teaching practices, each of which fit together in unique ways depending on the language learning context. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the historical foundations of the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and how the field has been shaped by the process of development.

Historical Perspectives

It is easy to hold the misconception that research into technology in the early days since its introduction into language education was crude and unimaginative. While it is true that teachers were limited by the available technologies, a look at the literature of the time reveals that many of the studies were immensely creative, and teachers took full advantage of the affordances of the available technologies. For example, a study that would seem appropriate today, even some 50 years since its publication in The Modern Language Journal in 1968, was by Adams et al., entitled “Conversation with a computer as a technique of language instruction.” This article provided a detailed overview of how technology could be used to support teaching German using a range of the latest tools, including computers, tape recorders, printers, and projectors. While there were other sporadic publications about technology in language teaching from around that time, one of the earliest academic journals to feature technology centrally in language teaching and learning is System, which published studies exploring the use of desktop computers for testing and feedback (Davies, 1973) and audio and video tapes for supporting learners of French (Charro & Blanco, 1973) in its first issue in May 1973. The CALICO Journal appeared some 10 years later with it first issue in 1983, and like the majority of the publications from that era, it consisted mainly of descriptions that went on for little more than a few pages. The brevity of the reports at the time likely attests to the difficulties in determining exactly what the focus of the research needed to be, with the studies attempting to describe learning in ways that had not been widely experienced before. There were also several books that were published in the early to mid-1980s, largely as a result of the spread of the microcomputer, which allowed for access to computers in classrooms or self-access centers. ReCALL released a pre-issue in 1989, with the first articles appearing in 1990 in a single issue; the same year in which Computer Assisted Language Learning published its inaugural issue. Language Learning & Technology joined the ranks of academic journals in this field in 1997, and since then there have been hundreds of books and at least 20 journals dedicated to the topic.

The field has moved ahead dramatically since its early beginnings for three main reasons. First, technologies have developed in their functionalities at a phenomenal rate. Powerful processors in small, portable machines with constant Internet access, built-in high-quality cameras, microphones, GPS systems, and the ability to play multimedia have now been the norm for the better part of a decade. These functionalities have enabled teachers to design a range of resources, tasks, and activities that give learners access to and the ability to interact with the target language in ways simply not possible without such technologies. Second, the technologies themselves have become far less expensive, making them affordable for teachers and learners who can have their own devices rather than relying on institutions to purchase devices that are typically limited to classroom use. This has offered learners the freedom to use devices at times that suit their individual needs, allowing language learning to occur as a part of their own daily routines rather than fitting in to the times and places stipulated by class schedules or opening hours of self-access centers. Finally, the focus of research itself has shifted over time as well, with the initial focus on “proving” that technology is worth the time, money, and effort required to implement it slowly giving way to research that explores how the technology can be used as a viable teaching and learning tool itself.

Critical Issues and Topics

Describing the critical issues associated with technology in language teaching and learning from a historical perspective is not an easy undertaking, given the massive shifts in the research and prac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives
• Part II Developing Competences
• Part III Spaces for Learning
• Part IV Focus on the Learner
• Index