Reading Prompt #5

On technology, creativity and language production

Egbert chapter 5., Richardson chapter 4.

Most L1 and L2 theories agree on the importance of the environment in language acquisition, however, they differ in the role of environment. Some theorists like Chomsky and Krashen see the environment as the necessary source for input that will generate the learner’s innate language capabilities. From this point of view, the environment’s only contributions for language acquisition is input. Other theorists emphasize the role of the environment on a broader spectrum – they see the role of the environment as a much more comprehensive and vital for language learning. Ideally, the learner’s environment provides input and the learner will react to this input with output. Language production then will facilitate language learning. This exhange between input and output is mediated through interaction. This is where I believe the position of Long and Swain intervene on the issues of interaction and output in SLA.

Interaction is delivered through some sort of communication (verbal or written). This interaction between language learners, or language learner and native speaker can be characterized with all kinds of language acquisition processes such scaffolding, feedback, and testing hypotheses. I like to think that these processes are the building blocks of SLA.

Egbert points out that output in itself does not promote language learning. This is an important realization for me. I must admit before I read chapter 5 in the Egbert book, I liked to imagine that the role and importance of output in SLA is a given. It’s the key or at least one of the keys in SLA. And it is true, but as Egbert points out, output or language production needs to be meaningful and promote creativity. Drills and reciting does not promote language learning. To make language production meaningful SLA teachers need to encourage interaction among language learners. Cooperation is the next step or ingredient in this process toward successful language learning.

Now, what does technology has to do with this all? It makes language learning more interesting and facilitates learners’ creativity. But above all, “it makes it stick”. It will make language learning more successful.
I must admit I kind of felt a little bit overwhelmed reading about Mr. Lin’s class (right at the beginning of the chapter). It just seems to be a little bit too much – I thought. Isn’t it a language class? Is Mr. Lin training future film makers? Then I read the “Activities that Encourage Creativity and Production” section and I felt better. The amount of technology used in the classroom is really up to the teacher, the students, and the goals of the language program. There are many options out there how two utilize technology in the classroom.
Wikis play an important part in combining interaction with technology to support SLA. Through Wikis, students can constantly provide feedback, modify input, negotiate meaning, and test hypotheses – those very processes that I have referred to earlier as important components of SLA. Wikis can create learning environments through interaction and collaboration among learners. They promote language production and creativity using technology.