Technology asPharmakon: The Promise and Perils of the Internet for Foreign Language Education

Abstract

Globalization and networking technologies have transformed the contexts, means, and uses of foreign language learning. The Internet offers a vast array of texts, films, music, news, information, pedagogical resources, sounds, and images from around the world as well as unprecedented opportunities for direct communication with native speakers in real time. However, the very technology that delivers these materials and interactions can produce subtle mediational effects that can influence how learners evaluate and interpret them. Focusing first on technological mediation broadly, and then on the specific context of desktop videoconferencing in a telecollaboration project, this article outlines the benefits and the potential pitfalls that computer mediation presents for the learning of languages and cultures. Specific attention is given to the question of what it means to mediate the foreign culture through interfaces that are familiar from one's home culture. The principal argument is that the dynamics of online language learning call for a relational pedagogy that focuses on how medium and context interact with language use. The goal of such an approach is to expose students to a broader scope of symbolic inquiry, to connect present text-making practices with those of the past, and to foster a critical perspective that will prepare young people to understand and shape future language and literacy practices.

Embracing social media for educational linguistic activities

“…The starting point of this study is an interest in investigating the opportunities and constraints of utilising the communicative space on social media to prepare students for everyday, mundane communication. This topic is in line with Kern's (2014) argument that social media could be used as spaces for practising a variation of linguistic repertoires in a second language, especially a language used by young people (cf. Lantz-Andersson, 2015).…”

“…This small-scale case study indicates some potential for using social media as part of second language learning by exposing the students to the colloquial, unauthorised language of young people, which is otherwise not easily accessed without going abroad (cf. Kern, 2014). The results thus indicate possibilities for interplay between a schooled, structured framing and a more flexible one where the students can practise the target language in a relaxed, colloquial space for learning, which is valuable for establishing future language practices.…”

Approche multimodale de deux types de tâches orales réalisées de face à face et à distance en L3 (français)

“…However, sometimes technical problems, such as the lag in the transmission, or the fact that one must look at the computer's camera rather than into the interlocutor's eyes, can make the conversational experience less natural and possibly less comfortable (Kern, 2014).…”

“…4 Cette tâche est également une adaptation de celle appelée Cleaning décrite dans Jeong (2011:51-69). 5 Dès le début, nous avons mis à l'écart les regards étant donné que l'on sait que dans la communication par visioconférence le regard du locuteur se dirige la plupart du temps sur son interlocuteur mais qu'il ne s'agit pas d'un regard direct (Cosnier et Develotte, 2011:49;Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2011:182;Kern, 2014;Chun, Kern et Smith, 2016 L'observation des tableaux 3 et 4 met en évidence qu'en sept minutes la production langagière est supérieure dans les tâches réalisées face à face que dans celles réalisées à distance. Cette différence est plus évidente dans les rankings que dans les jigsaws.…”

The Evaluation of Specific Competences in Online Training Courses for Teachers of Italian to Foreigners: A Case Study

“…The latest technologies have also been widely applied to didactic contexts leading to learning environments that build and acknowledge specific competences and create new means of expression, new study methods and effective didactic and linguistic instances (Kern, 2014).…”