Conference
Report: What's Hot in Technology for English Language
Learning?
John Brezinsky, Higher
Education Marketing Manager
With
the fall ESOL conference season at an end, it's time to summarize some
trends. This year, there were far fewer presentations on CD-ROM based
tools like PowerPoint and far more sessions on online learning for
language learning. What's hot right now? What should you watch out
for?
What's
Hot?
Grammar:
Several conference papers described the advantages of online software
for mastering grammar. Software that allows students to develop
grammatical accuracy in all four skills also allows teachers to focus
more on communicative, fluency-based activities in the face-to-face
classroom.
Listening/Speaking:
Another favorite this fall was expanding online opportunities to
develop listening and speaking skills. Students don’t often
speak English outside of class. Software that gives them automatically
graded opportunities to listen and speak also makes students more
active and successful in the face-to-face classroom.
Writing:
There were fewer sessions on the potential of online software as a part
of writing courses, but they generated a lot of buzz. The main focus
was developing students' revision skills. Unlike early grammar checking
software, the best online learning tools direct students toward
trouble spots and give them the support to self-edit.
A Word of
Warning: Demand New Exercises
The presentations this fall stressed that
teachers should check out each piece of software before they make any
decisions. Specifically, software should not have the same exercises
that students have in their textbooks—or worse, scanned
student book pages. New exercises are considered the gold standard.
Publishers Are Listening
At Pearson Longman, we're following these trends
in modern pedagogy very closely. In fact, we now offer something for
each of the hot trends in ESL software. We have the premier 4-skills
grammar course, Focus on Grammar Interactive. We also offer a pioneering course for developing listening and speaking skills, Longman English Interactive. Finally, we have partnered with ETS® to bring you the Longman Academic Writing Series with Criterion — watch a short online tour.
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