ICT in Language Learning

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES – SUMMARY

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes are
considered as two branches within the larger field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The
focus of EAP is preparing non-native speaking (NNS) learners for academic study and research in
English-medium courses and institutions. There are few characteristics of ESP/EAP such as;
1. Design which is intended to meet specific learner needs;
2. Teaching content (themes/topics) related to specific disciplines;
3. A focus on discipline-specific language use;
4. Teaching English with a specific purpose, in contrast with ‘general English.’
English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) and English for Specific Academic Purposes
(ESAP) are two approaches that reflect the demands of academic study in an English language
environment requires a dual focus of helping students to develop both the language competency
and study skills which will help them to succeed.
Nowadays, EAP and technology are being used by many EAP practitioners. Students and
faculty are expected to produce word processed reports and documents, create digital slides to
enhance presentations, use email to communicate and collaborate, access and participate in
online learning platforms, and conduct research using online electronic databases and the
internet.
According to Hamp-Lyons (2011), ‘[o]ne valuable development for the EAP classroom has
been the use of corpora and concordances, through computer systems, to allow EAP students
to conduct their own mini research projects ... providing students with hands-on exercise in
figuring out how language works’. Language corpora are collections of spoken or written text,
created for the purposes of linguistic analysis or description meanwhile Concordances are
software programs which allow users to search thousands, and in some cases millions, of words
of a corpus for in-context occurrences of particular morphemes, words, or phrases.
The role of teacher education and professional development is widely recognized as a key
to effective integration of technology in language teaching. Networked computer labs with digital
projectors allow teachers to provide hands-on experience and technical support for learners as
new technologies are introduced in the EAP classroom.
ICT in Language Learning

A PRACTICE-BASED EXPLORATION OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED ASSESSMENT FOR

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING – SUMMARY
This chapter discussed about how technology is used to assess English language teaching.
Nowadays, the view about assessment has changed. This is because, firstly, the skills and content
of any modern language course have changed and because what we understand about the nature
of assessment has also changed. It has also changed because of the impact of technology and
the affordances that it offers

Throughout the years, technology have become one of the factors that give a direct impact
on language assessment. Students can be evaluated in ways that were simply not available few
years ago. Assessment is a very broad term that can cover formal exams and tests. Assessment
has a role to play in motivation, self-reflection and washback. In fact, good assessment can even
provide opportunities for learning.

Modern assessments attempt to evaluate is quite broad ranging and reflects our current
views on teaching and learning. It might for example include assessing the students’ ability
■ to participate in a pair work oral activity
■ to skim a text and quickly look for key information
■ to tell a story
■ to follow instructions
■ to plan and organize an article
■ to write for a specific group or genre.

With ICT, it can promote, facilitate and support our current understanding of assessment.
There are many advantages of the usage of ICT in language assessment such as We can now
easily record our students speaking using computers, or mobile devices like MP3 recorders or
mobile phones. More importantly, we can store, retrieve and share these recordings very cheaply
and quickly. We can video group work or pair work interactions and then evaluate and provide
feedback. We can get students to write blogs or wikis and provide regular comments and feedback
on the development of their written work. We can easily ask the student’s peers to provide
feedback too.
ICT in Language Learning

DEVELOPING AND EXTENDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND

TECHNOLOGY - SUMMARY

Teachers are central to what happens in the classroom, because they have the knowledge
and skills to find creative ways to support learners’ language development. They not only have a
good knowledge of language, but they have also developed their pedagogical content knowledge
(Shulman, 1986) through experience and practice to a level where they can develop a variety of
tasks that meet the needs of their learners.

CALL is a broad, well developed and diversifying field, but it also helps the teachers to
more easily provide the necessary engagement with language that allows learners to improve
their skills in ways that have proved very difficult in the past

Technology has been used in many areas in language teaching such as in improvement
of writing skills, reading skills, listening skills and speaking skills. It provides authentic materials
that reflect the real-world situation. For example, Technology enhanced oral communication is
indeed useful in that it allows students from remote locations, or from all over the world to
communicate orally through video and audio-conferencing tools (Skype).

Throughout this chapter, it is proven that language learning field is enhanced by the help
of technology in many aspects. As a conclusion, important developments in understanding are
seen as CALL and its relationship with other parts of the language teaching is viewed through the
lens of third generation activity theory.