We’re getting ready for our upcoming 3rd annual OLLReN Conference on Research into Using Technology for Language Learning. If you’re interested in EdTech and Digital Pedagogy and are thinking about logging on this year, it seems a good time to reflect our previous conference, consider what it was about, and what insights we have gleaned from it in terms of Digital Pedagogy and Online Language Learning.
On October 5th & 6th 2017, the Laureate-Cambridge Online Language Learning Research Network (OLLReN) held their annual event, with the aim of giving both experienced and early-career researchers from around the world a place to share their work on the impact of technology on supporting language learning. The conference was varied, spanned two days, included 10 presentations and had over 200 in attendance from across the globe. To go into details on each presentation would make for a long (though I am sure you will agree, interesting) read. So here, I’m just going to discuss some insights I took from the conference speakers (for more information on each of the talks see the recorded videos here and the conference summary).
Many of the talks gave us deeper insights into the relationship between language learning and technology. We saw in Martino’s talk on teaching foreign sounds, that when ‘comparing pre and post-tests, a significant improvement in both the perception and production of the different features of connected speech is evident [owing to] the integration of a number of technology-aided activities’ – a valuable insight for ELT and pronunciation teaching.
Similarly, we can yield valuable insights from Mallón, whose work on digital badges found that ‘badges [in YL contexts] are widely used […] and that the increased participation in the platform and in class confirmed that the use of badges has contributed to hone […] motivation to engage […] learning’. This again is something which is valuable for anyone working in EdTech, who’s deciding on whether or not this functionality is relevant, or important. Another pedagogical perspective can be yielded from Maas’s work on learner driven feedback which ‘highlights mechanisms which potentially underpin how learner driven feedback provides sustainable feedback’, this includes ‘learner driven feedback being interactive, personal and affording scope for explanations and feedforward’. An important insight, we might argue, given that one of the added values of technology for teaching often centres around managing, distributing and, in many ways, reimagining feedback.
However, technology for language learning is not without its challenges, as Bajorek notes a ‘significant finding is the misleading “scientific” nature of [some language learning] technology.’ Recognising the potential faults in technology, Pengelly argued that the ‘primary conclusion from [their] own research identifies the need for teachers to adopt a more critical, but not resistant stance towards ICT pedagogies’. Researchers like Oliver supported this, identifying that there is real value in using technology for language learning, highlighting that ‘there is significant evidence (Lai and Zhao, 2006; Smith, 2004; Smith and Sauro, 2009) that communication via text chat can increase learner noticing of both language and interactional feedback.’
So, from that we can say online language learning is about an eclectic use of technology, as opposed to using technology because we can. Coming to the end of the conference, Stanley, from ‘over four years of observations of teachers, surveys, data collection and constant improvement based on the findings’, looked towards the future, noting that as technology becomes more and more used for remote language learning, we can move towards the normalisation of technology for language learning – quite an important step. From this short run through, we can see that the talks, though disparate, were all connected around one theme.
A shared view of the relationship between language learning and technology, as reflected in Simón’s final presentation on engagement in online courses whose ‘thesis conclusions were positive in reference to the use of technology fostering interaction in the online courses’.
There was quite a lot to take in, with researchers unfolding arguments about an emerging area of pedagogy about which, not too much is known. However, not only were the talks of interest, drawing conclusions as above, they were also very useful, with different implications and practices being shared. Practices we can try out in virtual language classrooms to help improve our practices. And I am sure our upcoming conference will do the same. If any of this has piqued your interest, check out our upcoming conference on October 4th and join our 270+ research network to keep up to-date with innovation and research in online language learning. Details for logging and joining are available here.