ICT and MFL
Principles and practice
Papers & Further reading | Editorial reviews | Task for traineesInformation technology and
modern languages in the national curriculum (pdf document)
Higham, J. (1992) Language Learning Journal, 5, pp 47-50
This paper argues that MFL has the potential to give ICT an authentic context for teaching and learning; it can be put to work to convey the foreign language more accurately, rapidly and flexibly, to a real audience for real purposes.
The National Curriculum has undergone several revisions and the computer even more extensive evolution since this article was written; yet questions central in 1992 – means and purposes of language learning; how ICT is integrated into, rather than bolted onto, the curriculum; interpretation of the curriculum; the importance of cross-curricular links; optimum location of computer-based facilities; funding, resourcing, inclusion and parity issues - remain so to this day. The article thus constitutes a very interesting and historical perspective on the topic.
How can ICT contribute to the learning of foreign languages by
pupils with SEN?
Meiring, L., Norman, N. (2005) Support for Learning, 20 (3), pp
129-134
In this article the authors review the notion of entitlement and ‘languages for all’, include a brief and useful summary of pertinent legislation and its implementation, and of the demands this has made on schools and teachers to cater for a wider range of needs in the MFL classroom.
There follows a broad analysis of the contribution that information and communications technology (ICT) can make towards removing some of the barriers to learning MFLs experienced by some pupils. The authors make a particularly useful distinction between ICT’s role in providing ACCESS to tasks, and in enhancing the learners’ experience by ENABLEMENT. While the authors claim to provide only a generic overview of ICT capability in relation to Special Educational Needs, and not to go into detail with regard to particular tools for highly specific needs, the article does include a starting point for more detailed exploration in the form of a very helpful summary tabular representation of broad categories of SEN matched against potentially effective types of ICT tool.
The article articulates clearly ICT’s potential for practical and meaningful contribution to the aims of inclusion.
2004
Report: ICT in schools – the impact of government initiatives Secondary
modern foreign languages (pdf document)
Ofsted, (2004)
Ofsted’s inspection of the impact of government initiatives in information
and communication technology began in 1999. This 2004 report, based on a
small sample of schools, captures a slowly improving picture since the previous
2002 report. Training has had some success in developing teachers’ personal
ICT skills and often engendered interest and an increased demand for access
to ICT for MFL teaching and learning. These skills are significantly being
put to use for lesson planning, the more rapid preparation of lesson materials
which include the use of sound, are better differentiated, and electronic
monitoring and recording of pupils’ attainment. Access to ICT for MFL departments
has gradually improved; National Grid for Learning (NGfL) funding has generally
helped MFL departments to gain more access because there are more facilities
available. Broadband connection to the internet has given MFL teachers more
confidence to use it in language lessons because it is faster and less likely
to fail; this has enabled good practice via identification of authentic
resources and language learning websites. Areas of language pupil learning
seen to benefit have been:
· knowledge and understanding of grammatical functions
· accuracy, range and length of written work
· communication in writing, and occasionally in speaking
· cultural awareness of the target languages, countries and
· communities.
In spite of these observed enhancements, the report picks up on a number
of significant challenges still facing the integration of ICT into MFL teaching
and learning:
1. Pupils’ entitlement to use ICT was rarely systematically addressed by
departmental planning, not integrated into schemes of work, and not all
pupils benefited equally;
2. New Opportunities Fund (NOF) ICT training rarely met its objective of
supporting teachers to focus on the use of ICT to enhance language learning;
3. ICT was being used purely as a motivational tool, often at the expense
of teachers’ and pupils’ use of the target language;
4. ICT facilities suffered from weaknesses of design and layout which militated
against the creation of good teaching and learning conditions;
5. Little use has been made of online authentic texts to develop reading
skills, nor of email to communicate with target language-speaking pupils;
6. Pupils’ independent use, in and beyond the classroom, has been developing
only slowly.
