Technology and Language Learning

 How Does Technology Enhance Language Learning? 

 
When we take a look at the past, it can be seen that education was really hard for many people to reach. Many things were needed such as teachers, books and pens for students, an appropriate, safe learning place with desks and a black board, but most people did not have enough resources to have access to a qualified environment.  

 
Technology Provides Easy Access to Find More Resources:  

 

• In todays world, students, housewives, little children or old men, every learner has access to various technologic tools like smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops, television etc. The only 2 need for such tools are electricity and internet connection. With these, every learner from 7 to 77 can have access to such a vast amount of resource that even several lifetime would not be enough to process it all. From these resources, learner can find many useful things for language learning such as videos, personal blogs, audiorecords, podcasts, e-books, websites, online classes, mobile applications. Some of these resources require a fee or subscription and some of these are for free but it is certain that all of these provide learners various experiences and opportunities for language learning.  
   
  With providing learners such a vast amount of resource and opportunity, technology changed the language learning drastically. Years ago when people did not have such technology, language learning was very hard due to high material costs like very expensive books and low rate of literacy. People who had opportunity to obtain books could only read and translate, they could not speak the language well if they could not also find a suitable tutor to help. But in todays world, technology is almost in everybody's pockets and they can reach to many resources without paying ridiculous amount of money with the help of internet. People can use translator apps to translate things with audios, writing or even drawing themselves in many languages all around the world.  
   
  People can learn how to write and read in a different language with the help of a translator app. Also with the help of applications like Duolingo, people can also learn to speak and understand the spoken words in many languages with easy and free access. These might not sound like an important feature to people who did not think thoroughly about language learning but compared to old ways, having access to such resources, makes learning different languages a lot easier because people easily find a way to learn basics and they find a chance to perform what they learn. 
   

Chance to Interact With People:  

 

• Some people like to learn on their own, but feeling the need of getting help from others is always an option for people. Back in old times, creating a learning environment was hard and could not always be an option for learners, but today, technology steps in and gives learners a chance to simultaneously interact with one or more people. There are various opportunities to get help like wikis, blogs, websites or for simultaneous interaction Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Discord and many others that people can use to interact and communicate with each other. With help of these applications, people can take online courses with teachers from various platforms, study with their friends and on some websites people can even pair with complete strangers who are learning the same language to interact and practice with them online. When somebody wants to orally practice in the language they are learning, there is no need to look for a teacher or a classmate, everybody can find a chat application and talk about how their day went, about their problems, about their future, twith people that they probably will not ever run into in their lives. Also when people have hardships they can easily consult to tutors, post on websites and ask people about their problem.  
   
  Technology is a great opportunity for people who are trying to learn different languages. Beside theimany other existing opportunities it gives to people, it helps people to easily share their thought with others through videos, live broadcasts, it easily provides an opportunity for people to write their thoughts, researches, articles and informations that they have and would like to share with people through channels like personal blogs, wiki pages, social media, various websites and various video channels. 

 

Artificial Intelligence: 

 

• People used to think that electronic devices like various gadgets and robots are scary and that they might bring the existence of mankind and destroy the world one day. But then with the help of developping technology, engineers improved the quality of devices a lot. First they became smaller smaller so much that people could hold these devices with their hands and with the passing time, electronic devices can fit in our pockets and even in our body to help us. But people never said that it was enough and they kept going and they made something incredible, maybe even too good to be true. Artificial intelligence; a human-made,  self-learning machine which can create unique images and texts that do not already exist. It might not sound like a lot to some people who thinks that "I can do that too." but it is the point that makes artificial intelligence unique, incredible and exciting. It is like a human-made brain.  
   
  When they see artificial intelligence, since it can do various things with a lot of combinations like writing a code, creating a website, writing a poem, making an article, creating different unique texts, creating original paintings, people think that it will replace many people who have related professions since the artificial intelligence can already do that and many people agree with this idea because even a little child can make artificial intelligence write an article. But artificial intelligence can be used by people in many ways to support their job with getting help from it. Artificial intelligence is also a good way for learners of different languages to use. People can ask artificial intelligence for single or multiple random words from different grades to memorize, they can ask for various grammatical structures of the target language, various texts, stories or poems to read. If a person does not know where to start for a research, AI can help with suggesting various resources in the necessary subject in target language. Learners can chat with AI like a real person since it has a large memory and get used to the language that they are trying to learn more.  
   
  Although some people think of it as a threat that might bring the hell upon earth and destroy the human-kind, artificial intelligence can be used in very productive and good ways. People who adapt new technologies can always improve their lives by using them for what they need. Artificial intelligence can be used in many different and mundane ways, but it can also be used in studying and learning as a helping hand or as a muse when people do not know what to do next in their studies. 

 

Language Learning Games & Applications: 

 

• There are countless applications about various topic from really low budgets to very high numbers. Among these applications, there are wallpapers apps, camera filters, games and also dictionaries and translators.  
   
  There are also some applications that combine several things into one to serve a purpose. One of these applications is "Kahoot!". Kahoot lets people enjoy while teaching them or testing their knowledge. Kahoot is an application that asks students questions and gives them a score for each correct answer based on how fast they answered correctly. In the application, people can make quizzes from their own questions or they can choose already existing quizzes, create classes with an id and share that id with students so that they can join the quiz. It is  basically a colourful application with various shapes, colours and sounds and it also gives students a competitive environment to keep their spirits up in the process of learning. 
   
  Duolingo is another application that is used for language teaching. It has multiple languages, alphabets of those languages and many levels starting from beginner. people can choose to learn any language they want. The application has limited access and starts a countdown if you fail one after another multiple times and asks for subscription if you want to get rid of the countdown. Duolingo tests people's knowledge quizzes and it has many levels for each grade. For each level, people need to complete certain tasks that application requires you to do. The application tests people with different ways, on some levels, it asks you to translate single words, in next levels it asks you to translate sentences, it asks you to listen single words and/or sentences and write them, it asks you to read the sentences that app chooses for you and also studying multiple languages simultaneously from the app is an option. 
   
  Duolingo is a great application or game for language learning. With or without paying a fee, it helps people to improve their talking, listening, writing and reading in different languages with great helps and some good tips.  

 

Speech Recognizing Softwares: 

 

• In last years, artificial intelligence is a very popular topic that many people work on with great effort, spending a lot of time and resource. People kept working on artificial intelligence and developped it into an unimaginable level. These developments became known to countless people all around the world.  
   
  Some people saw nothing, some saw amusement and some others saw an opportunity in this technology. Those who saw a great opportunity started to work with artificial intelligence to achieve what they had in mind. Speech recognition software was a promising field that could accelerate its improvement a lot with the help of artificial intelligence and people worked with AI to reach great achievements on this field. With the help of AI, speech recognition softwares became more and more accurate and faster. In these days, most of the speech recognition softwares can recognize what people say and which language they use accurately and simultaneously. 
   
  Formerly such programs could only recognite words one by one and translate them individually which in the end would cause a big misunderstanding because programs could not understand sentences and would just translate each word in a line. But in these days, many of these programs have developped a lot and now they can understand not only the single words and translate them, but they can also understand the context of sentences and translate them. In the end, people would have a meaningful sentence that they can understand easily instead of many words one after another that has no meaning to understand. This can help a lot to learners when they are trying to learn idioms that they heard. These programs can also help people when they want to know if they pronounce words or sentences correctly. When they talk to the programs, the program can instantly recognite the speech and give feedback if people made any mistake. 
   
  Speech recognition programs usually require learners to speak to the program with the help of a microphone and analyze what people say. Based on the analysis, program gives the learner a feedback about their pronounciation and inform people about their mistakes in pronounciation and help them learn the correct way to pronounce mistaken words, sometimes help with intonation and stress patterns in speech. Having an instant feedback about such topic with the help of speech recognition programs is an important opportunity to have for learners. 
  It is a great help for learners from beginner levels to advanced levels as language is a vast topic and everybody can make a mistake sometimes.  

 

References 

Corby, K., (2007). Technology and Quality. 

X. Wei and M. Zhang, "Experimental Research and Analysis of Immersive Virtual Reality Technology on Children's Language Teaching," 2022 International Symposium on Educational Technology (ISET), Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2022. 

Peterson, M. (2018). Computer-aided pronunciation training: How effective is it in improving English pronunciation skills? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 33, 25-36. 

Liu, M., & Deters, P. (2014). Automated prosody scoring and feedback for English pronunciation practice. CALICO Journal, 31(2), 229-251.