• Symposium on Utilizing Emerging Technologies and Social Media to Enhance EFL Learning

    Author(s):
    Stephen Lambacher, Steve McCarty (see profile) , Kazunori Nozawa, Hiroyuki Obari, Takeshi Sato
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    Digital Pedagogy
    Subject(s):
    Japan, College teaching, Learning strategies, English language--Study and teaching, Social networks
    Item Type:
    Abstract
    Tag(s):
    education in Japan, mobile technologies, e-learning, MALL, Teaching and learning in higher education, Teaching English language, Emerging media, Constructivism
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/b71r-9k36
    Abstract:
    This symposium examines the impact and potential of communication technologies in learning EFL. Case studies focusing on higher education in Japan show how mobile technologies and social media could improve language acquisition in Asian EFL contexts and beyond. Teaching with sound pedagogies and communication technologies, accessed by computers and hand-held devices, can bring about better outcomes through ubiquitous language learning. Impacts can span from better language comprehension to active involvement in learning communities generated in cyberspace. This symposium will thus detail how these emerging technologies are utilized to reform EFL classroom practices. The international presenters, based at five different universities, will theoretically and practically examine factors for successful EFL learning with emerging technologies. M-learning can generate contexts for active learning with learners as agents and creators rather than spectators or recipients of knowledge. We will particularly examine a) how to implement m-learning in institutional settings, b) what makes learners willingly use mobile devices and become involved in social contexts they themselves generate, and c) how teachers can help learners with scaffolding to develop agency as individuals who voluntarily engage with the social context. Among the emerging technologies demonstrated are Social Media, such as Facebook and Twitter, media players like iPods, tablet computers like iPads, iBooks Author for interactive, illustrated, multimedia artifacts that students can also create, and blended e-learning using a content management system and smart phones for m-learning. These studies will shed light on motivational attitudes towards these technologies for language learning, and measure how these tools have impacted L2 acquisition.
    Notes:
    Based on this symposium, McCarty, Obari & Sato co-authored Implementing Mobile Language Learning Technologies in Japan (Singapore: Springer, 2017). Symposium presenters were professors at universities in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, which figured in the book's case studies. McCarty also edited the book, and wrote the conference proposal (Abstract above) accepted by AILA. The PDF file to download here includes symposium information and PPT slides with the title and abstract of each presentation.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial

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