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Citizens of a Multilingual World: Key Issues

7. Getting There: Virtually

ICT is central to the process of learning, using and teaching languages and of promoting positive attitudes and motivation. This section shows how different technologies can confer different sorts of benefit and outlines the sort of infrastructure that will be needed to support ICT for languages.

In this section we set out the reasons why we believe that the integration of ICT into languages classrooms is important, and make recommendations relating to resources and training.

ICT is already an essential part of business communications and a wide range of information gathering and disseminating activities. Technologies are developing rapidly and skills in this field will become increasingly valuable.

ICT will have a key role to play in the learning, teaching and use of modern languages. The special relationship between ICT and modern languages - in terms of improving our ability to communicate internationally - requires recognition at all levels. School students who have the opportunity to develop their language learning through the use of ICT and who thus simultaneously acquire linguistic and electronic communication skills will be in a strong position to exploit this enhanced communicative competence.

Our goal is therefore to ensure that the use of ICT becomes an integral part of teaching, learning and using modern languages, so that students will feel confident with key ICT communication and cultural practices in the languages they are studying as well as their own.

In prioritising languages for ICT development we are aware that much of what we are discussing is at present not accessible to teachers and students. However, we believe that the potential of ICT for languages is so considerable that what we are proposing now must be put in place generally as soon as possible.

Why ICT is important for languages

New forms of contact

ICT cannot replace the benefits that students experience from visits abroad or from conversations in this country with native speakers of the languages they are studying. However, it offers other opportunities for students to use their languages in realistic contexts and has the potential to extend the possibilities for contact with native speakers to much larger numbers of students than has been possible in the past. For example, schools can link electronically with partner schools in the countries whose languages they teach and set up opportunities for regular e-mail or video conferencing contact.

New forms of cross-curricular information and transferable skills

Activities in any area of the curriculum which require students to seek out information independently have the potential to become an opportunity for modern language use, whether through Internet searching or through the use of e-mail to request information from companies or public bodies in other countries. Teachers could develop cross-curricular projects which enable students to develop the skills of skimming and scan-reading in another language, and of composing messages requesting information. These skills are likely to be particularly beneficial as students progress to Further or Higher Education and into employment, given the increasing use of the Internet and e-mail for information gathering and dissemination in these contexts. Students who learn simultaneously how to communicate using the range of ICT now available and how to do this not only in English but in the other languages they are studying will be able to develop a sophisticated understanding of international communication which will be of value to them in their future educational and professional careers. Opportunities to link the teaching of ICT skills with the use of modern languages could be developed from primary school onwards in a range of different curriculum contexts.

Specific benefits of ICT for learning languages

We believe that for a number of reasons ICT is particularly important for languages. These reasons include:

• ICT is in the modern idiom, accepted as such by students. It wipes away the dust from languages and give them a modern image. It allows language-learning and -use to be adapted to the individual needs and styles of learners and offers the possibility of making languages attractive to all learners regardless of their gender, social background, ethnicity, ability, place of residence and age.

• A key factor in learning another language is 'time available for learning and use'. ICT allows for time out of class as well as in class. As computers become more readily available in schools and at home, their potential for increasing the vital 'time factor' for language-learning and - use increases.

• It provides totally up-to-date information about the world here and now, including this morning's latest news. As such it is different from modern language course-books.

• Within approved parameters, it allows learners to search for their own information that will enable them to complete particular tasks. Given that this information is in another language, it enables students to explore and interrogate other cultures.

• It enables learners to engage in real contact with real people for purposes of real language use. It projects Scottish students on to screens all over the world and projects foreign students and their languages on to screens in Scotland.

• It allows students to engage in their own web-design. As such it allows valuable generic skills of design, creativity, problem-solving and literacy (both visual and verbal literacy) to be transferred into the processes of language-learning and -use.

• From the point of view of students' second language development, ICT has the capacity to provide exposure to and interaction with substantial amounts of authentic language that complements what the teacher can achieve in the classroom. All experts on second language acquisition are agreed that competence in a second language requires regular exposure and interaction, if it is to develop.

• In addition, ICT has the potential to appeal to students who are intrinsically or instrumentally or integratively motivated (as discussed in Section 3). Integrative motivation for example receives a real boost through students being put in touch with real students in other countries.

What forms of ICT are likely to be particularly useful?

ICT has the potential to transform existing teaching methods and resources for language learning. For example:

• CD-ROM programmes can provide extensive opportunities for learners to practise skills they are in the process of acquiring, through the use of self-correction facilities (i.e. spelling and grammar checkers), educational games, conversion of speech into written text and vice versa, machine translation, automated testing, etc.

• The Internet offers unparalleled opportunities for learners to access and analyse authentic texts.

• E-mail enables learners to make contact with native speakers of the languages they are studying for a varied range of authentic purposes.

• DVD allows learners to watch recordings with subtitles either in the language studied or in English, as a way of supporting comprehension.

• Video-conferencing allows students to engage in direct face-to-face spoken interaction with their peers abroad, using both English and the other language. Students can subsequently view and analyse their performance on the video-recording and fine-tune not only their vocabulary and grammar but also their discourse competence and their strategies for learning and using the other language.

These are only the more obvious of the possibilities that are now becoming available. In five to ten years time it is highly likely that other even more powerful possibilities will have become available.

Sophisticated uses of ICT that are already happening

Moving towards autonomous language learning

ICT will increase opportunities for students, particularly those in the upper secondary school, to study languages independently. Thus students wishing to study a language not on offer in their own school may be able to do so, through distance learning co-ordinated by colleagues in other schools or using stand-alone resources available on CD-ROM or via the Internet. In such cases, the role of language teachers in students' own schools is not redundant but changed. They are likely to focus more on the skills required to learn a language independently and on ways in which students can assess their own progress against personal goals and external measures such as examinations or competence-based assessment schemes.

A virtual college

The Partners in Excellence Project, involving East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute Councils, has attracted Excellence Fund money to set up a 'virtual college' for languages.

Senior school students will access a range of additional commissioned language materials using new technologies, and opportunities are provided for them to speak face to face with counterparts in partner schools in Europe. It is expected that the project will improve motivation and interest in language learning with a consequent upturn in uptake and attainment. There will also be a range of events where teachers and learners can get together and share training and learning opportunities.

A similarly-funded project based on similar principles is located in a secondary school in Glasgow City Council. In addition to modern European languages, there is a focus on community languages.

Transnational projects

ICT is already being used by schools across the world in order to promote the learning and use of other languages. In one project, two schools in Australia are linked with two in Canada, one in France, one in New Caledonia and one in Tahiti. Both English and French are regularly used as the students help each other in their language learning while at the same time undertaking a common project on how each country is preparing for the Sydney Olympic Games. The possibilities for Scottish students engaging in this sort of intercultural activity are very exciting.

On-line conferencing

ICT is already being used for running on-line tutorials and discussions. These may happen in real time (synchronous) or with delays (asynchronous). They allow one tutor to interact with a highly dispersed learning group. In one case, for example, a learner of Italian in the USA has a tutor who lives in Milan. The possibilities are equally strong for applying this mode to interactions between tutor and language learners, tutor and students engaged on Initial Teacher Education and tutor and qualified teachers for purposes of Continuing Professional Development. It allows the process of interaction to take place with interlocutors and in languages in ways that hitherto have not been possible.

ICT will enhance communications among teachers of modern languages in schools across Scotland, enabling them to share ideas and resources, to collaborate on the development of new approaches and to access ideas and materials from other sources, including from teachers in the countries where languages taught in Scottish schools are spoken. Teachers can expect to be able to improve their own language skills and their teaching capabilities as they become more familiar with the use of ICT, and the hardware and software they need for these tasks become more accessible.

What infrastructure is needed for ICT and language learning?

In order to enable the full potential of ICT for language teaching, learning and use to be realised, the following developments will be needed:

Hardware

Students and teachers will need adequate access to computers, video conferencing equipment and other ICT. This may entail detailed planning on the part of languages teachers and departments to make the case for the kinds of equipment and the levels of access that are needed. Headteachers have a responsibility to ensure adequate provision and access.

Funding for ICT hardware is currently available through the Excellence Fund. The extent to which this source of funding has been used to provide hardware to which modern languages students and teachers will have the access they need should be established and needs for additional funding identified. If languages are recognised as a national priority, a key task during this period should be to secure adequate hardware to enable languages students and teachers to exploit their ICT potential.

Software

While there is great scope for ICT-based materials and teaching approaches in existing software, much of this remains to be realised. There is also a need for existing materials, few of which have been developed in response to the needs of Scottish education, to be reviewed and for information about useful materials to be disseminated.

There should be on-going review and development of ICT resources for language learning which are up-to-date and accessible to all learners and which stimulate and challenge learners at all levels. These should include web-sites, CD-ROM and DVD-based materials. The role of the National Grid for Learning should be addressed in this context.

Such activities should be a priority for Learning and Teaching Scotland. Review and development should involve teachers, with the aims both of ensuring that recommendations of new or existing materials and approaches are based on teachers' classroom expertise, and also of enabling teachers to think creatively about the best ways of integrating ICT into their teaching. Local authorities and their schools should identify ways of releasing or seconding teachers to support this work.

Networks

In order to develop meaningful communications, students and teachers need to be linked with their counterparts in other countries through suitable networks. Links already exist through exchange and twinning programmes and these links can be strengthened through the use of ICT. For example, students who are planning to take part in an exchange visit can make contact with their partners some time in advance and exchange relevant information about their schools, their families and their local communities. Other networks, which would have been difficult to establish without the use of ICT, can also be developed. For example, contacts with French-, Spanish-, German-, Italian-, Gaelic- or Urdu-speaking communities outwith Europe can be facilitated, and the reasons for making such links may range from a general desire to expand cultural horizons to a wish to engage in specific collaborative activities, perhaps in the context of geography, modern studies or business studies. While it is known to be difficult to sustain networks where there are no opportunities for face-to-face contact, well-designed projects where communication has a clear purpose may overcome some of the problems which have been encountered in the past. The potential to exchange photographic images and video footage electronically, in addition to video-conferencing links, may enable 'virtual exchange visits' to take place.

Developing an electronic infrastructure and purposeful opportunities for contact between Scottish students and teachers and their counterparts abroad will take time and commitment. Discussion and planning at school and local authority level which maps procedures, time commitments and resource implications would help to ensure that well-designed schemes are implemented and that adequate support is available.

Training for teachers

Training in the use of ICT for languages teachers in all sectors is vital if the full potential of ICT outlined in this section is to be realised.

Subject-specific training in the use of ICT is currently being developed through the New Opportunities Fund. Such training should reflect the full scope of ICT for language learning, teaching and use. The effectiveness of the training in enabling languages teachers to integrate ICT into their work and to form professional networks with colleagues in Scotland and in the countries where the languages they teach are spoken should be evaluated.

The role of ICT in language learning, teaching and use should be included in all Initial Teacher Education courses for intending primary teachers and intending secondary languages teachers. Scottish CILT should develop database information concerning language learning, languages and further study, languages and careers, and languages policy that can readily be accessed by senior management and guidance staff in schools.

Implications for action

In summary we believe that:

• languages should be seen as a major national priority for ICT provision, development and training; since ICT makes possible a variety and intensity of real language contact that otherwise is not possible in our predominantly English-speaking culture;

• all languages classrooms and departmental bases should be supplied with ICT equipment during session 2000/2001and this supply should be systematically enhanced in order to maximise learner access;

• Learning and Teaching Scotland working with Scottish CILT in the context of developing the National Grid for Learning should make available through their websites up-to-date information on key new developments, hardware and software. This should include learner evaluations of particular packages;

• local authorities should develop intranet systems that allow language learners and teachers to interact with each other across schools and should strongly encourage their schools to establish ICT links with schools in other countries to allow for combined work on common projects;

• the role of ICT in language-learning and _use should be integral to all Initial Teacher Education courses for primary and secondary;

• research should be undertaken on the strategies and skills that learners need in order that their language-learning and -use may benefit from ICT, and on how different types and levels of learner learn when using ICT.

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