The Importance of Technology in Language Teaching

By Maricel Orozco Pérez

 Picture taken from:  ▷tecnología educativa, ¿Qué es? Importancia, características y ejemplos (bit4learn.com)

Technology around the world is an indispensable and necessary tool for all people, students and teachers are no exception, although it should be noted that there are advantages and disadvantages regarding the use of this tool when teaching English.

When the digital era arrives, technology arrives as an immediate response in which students can take their classes virtually anywhere and share experiences and clarify doubts with their teacher and classmates regarding the topics taught through of video calls. Although this tool can also be a distraction when you receive your classes, because the student can be attentive to a video game on your computer and not to the classes.

However, it is a tool that guarantees that teachers have innovative audiovisual material, which makes English classes more interactive and where there is greater participation from each student, since they are motivated by everything that is presented to them in each lesson. In the same way, they are waiting for these new knowledge and new applications that the teacher shows them, where they will not only be passive students, but where they will be active students and creators of their new learning, likewise the classes, as each student is more interactive. can retain the contents studied more easily.

There are applications that help students develop different skills both in the use of technology and in the English language, through online games such as kajoo, where each student puts their knowledge into play and where the teacher can assess which students are paying attention to the class, on the other hand we have the word search games and crossword puzzles that also show the skill that students have when looking for and completing words. Each of these applications allows the development of visual coordination, the ability of the participants and the learning of new words with their meaning.

There are also online chats where students will be able to interact with other young people in the English language and will be able to develop their ear by listening to the different accents of the natives in different countries. They will also be able to practice writing and thus feel motivated, to always write better so that the other person understands what he or she is saying, or they can communicate through a microphone and in this way further develop their pronunciation and use new vocabulary and through this improve their language skills in the language.

In conclusion, technology has the power to develop skills and abilities adequately in the teaching of English and it is the responsibility of teachers to look for tools that help young people and children to achieve a good command of the language and that in the future the student get a job where they can apply all the knowledge learned during their student years.