Language Learning & Technology article

http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num1/purushotma/

You're not studying, you're just...


Ravi Purushotma was a German student that found the assignments really dull and frustrating up to the point of becoming an inactive participant and leaving the course with only two things: an amazing ability to irritate his teacher, never to be called upon in class and ending with a very low grade. He really thought that he was never going to learn a second language in his life. But as Internet became more accessible to him he started to use websites like audioscrobbler and to play games like The Sims. He realized that this kind of softwares could really helped him to learn a foreign language and in an entertaining way.

The Sims is a game designed to simulate normal real life, when you choose a character you have to manage its personal hygiene, what it eats, find it a job, organize its money and so forth. You can choose the language of the game and for example you could have a main computer in Spanish and a laptop in English and you are going to be able to understand what the game is describing. Purushotma thinks that this kind of games can be used for educational purposes, besides from the visuals that a game can provide it can be used on students' free time and it is by far more interesting than memorizing vocabulary, the author also gives a game that has been available in the Japanese market called Seaman a baby fish that players must nurture into adulthood by conversing with it. What we have to consider now is how entertainment can be used for language learning and how can games be modify to develop rich content for the learning process.

The main challenge for educators is how can they integrate bi-lingual games into a traditional learning environment, how are they going to be able to focus students attention on learning a language through out a game. Some students wont like it and others will, so we have to think about students' interests into choosing a game to teach them a foreign language and think on the possibilities that they will have when playing that specific game. Online games are very useful when teaching a foreign language because students can have real interaction with other people that is also playing the game.

The author also discusses the progress that technology has had, on writing and on listening. Teachers often prepared classes with old fashion songs or music that did not interest the students, today there is a whole range of music access such as MTV, online radios, music downloaders and softwares that students can use to listen to music in different languages and improve their listening ability.

There are a lot of choices when thinking on online activities that will aloud more interaction, autonomy and that will be much more enjoyable for the students. Teachers have to stay updated in terms of technology and training in order to keep students interested in learning. Purushotma thinks that nowadays with the technology that we have at our hands we should be able to eliminate the artificial separation between language instruction and everyday life--allowing even the world's worst language learner to enjoy learning a foreign language.