The document discusses emerging trends in foreign language teaching with information and communication technologies, including changing learner expectations towards more personalized and interactive learning, and the potential of mobile apps, blended learning, and crowdsourcing to transform language instruction over the near and long term. New technologies like visual-syntactic text formatting also aim to improve reading comprehension and learning outcomes.

1. Emerging Trends in Foreign Language Teaching with
Information & Communication Technologies
Dr. Steve Sorden
Chair – MCC Distance Education
Presentation to CESL
University of Arizona
March 2, 2012
1

2. About Me
• German Translator for the U.S. Army – Berlin, Germany
Studied Basic & Advanced German at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA
• K-12 Teacher and Administrator
(Including 3 years at TAES in Hermosillo)
• Taught ESL/EFL to K-12 and adults
• College Teacher and Administrator
• Career focus has been on history, languages & technology
• CV and background at http://sorden.com
2

3. Disclaimer
I am not a professional language instructor.
I am a professional educational technologist.
3

4. Today’s Topics
Changing Learner Expectations
Blended Learning
Applications for ICT in FLT
Open Discussion
4

5. First Topic
Changing Learner Expectations
5

6. The “Future” of Education
MP4 | WMV | FLV
6

7. The World is Open
“What few people realize is that as the Web becomes our
preferred learning platform, non-traditional learning is
suddenly the norm.”
“Anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime.”
Curtis Bonk
The World is Open:
How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education
7

8. Changing Learner Expectations
21st Century Learners will increasingly
demand that their experience is:
• Learning-Centered
• Personalized
• Interactive, Social & in “The Cloud”
• Mobile: Anytime, Anywhere
• What They Want (Buyers Market)
8

9. Personalized Learning
The Snowflake Effect
(Eric Duval and Wayne Hodgins)
“Massive Hyper-Personalization”
Personalized Learning as a
“Disruptive Innovation”
Christensen, Johnson & Horn (2008)
9

10. 21st Century Learners Will Expect (Very Soon)
Interactivity Social Media The Cloud
Digital media Learning Learning
should do outside of this materials and
something world will not status must be
when it is be relevant. available
touched or anywhere
clicked on. (24/7) on any
device.
10

11. Education is Now a Buyer’s Market
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with what
students want from their educational experience.
If you don’t provide it, they will go somewhere else.
ICT in education will make this very easy.
11

12. Leader in Mobile Language Learning
Praxis Language Learning ChinesePod Mission?
Coming to you from Shanghai, China!
• ChinesePod.com
To help busy people
• FrenchPod.com learn Chinese.
• ItalianPod.com
• SpanishPod.com ChinesePod breaks down
• EnglishPod.com what happens in a classroom
and then smartly applies
1400+ Audio Lessons technology where
A New Podcast Each Day appropriate.
Uses Skype for Live Lessons
Think of it as language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChinesePod learning for the Internet Age.
12

13. Mobile Learning (mLearning)
• Handheld Computers &
Smartphones
• Increasing Presence in Higher Ed
• Still Very Early
• Can Place Language Learning in
Context
• Ambient Technology
13

14. Mobile Trend Towards
Ambient Technology
Surrounding us with
technology rather than
interacting through small
screens and tiny keyboards.
14

15. Google Glasses
15

16. Speech Recognition and Synthesis
From this…
To this!
16

17. SPEECH RECOGNITION AND SYNTHESIS
Vocre
• A new translation app that
MP4 allows communication without
language barriers
HD • Operates by hand gestures.
Speak into the phone while it is
vertical, and then flip the phone
horizontally to translate the
FLV WMV phrase.
17

18. Disruptive Technologies vs.
Sustaining Technologies
An innovation that helps create a new market and value
network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing
market and value network, displacing an earlier technology.
In contrast a sustaining innovation does not create new
markets or value networks but rather only evolves existing
ones with better value, allowing the firms within to compete
against each other's sustaining improvements.
Sustaining innovations are typically innovations in
technology, whereas disruptive innovations are typically
innovations in marketing.
18

19. Disruptive Technologies
• Coined by Clayton Christensen in 1995
• Two types of disruptions:
– New-market disruptions which targets customers who have needs that were
previously unserved by existing organizations.
– Low-end disruptions which targets customers who do not need the full
performance valued by customers at the high end of the market.
In low-end disruption, the disruptor is focused initially on serving
the least profitable customer, who is happy with a lesser product
and not willing to pay premiums for product enhancement
19

20. Disruptive Innovation in Higher Ed
MP4 | WMV | FLV
20

21. Disruptive Technologies
Do Potential Disruptive
Technologies exist in FLT in
K-12 and Higher Education?
21

22. Self-Directed Language Learning
22

23. Online Language Learning
Communities
• Livemocha – World’s Largest Language Learning Community
• italki – Language Learning Community & Marketplace
• busuu.com – Your Language Learning Community
• My Language Exchange – Find a native speaking partner!
• Dave’s ESL Café – The Internet’s Meeting place for ESL & EFL
• LingQ – Study online 24/7 and meet people from around the world!
• hello-hello – Interactive online language course with a community
23

24. Second Topic
ICT Instructional
Methods and Theories
24

25. Connectivism/Networked Learning
Theory by George Siemens
We can no longer personally experience everything. There is too
much. We create networks to learn more than we can as
individuals.
25

26. Self-Regulated Learning
• Zimmerman (2000, 2001)
Socially-Shared
• Winne & Hadwin (1998) Regulation of Learning
• Pintrich (2000)
Coregulated Learning
• Cognitive Constructs
– Motivation
– Goal Setting Self-Regulated
Learning
– Reflection
– Self-Explaining Behaivors
26

27. Blended Learning
It’s a new approach.
It’s not just a combination of online and f2f
27

28. Blended Learning
Blended learning is a combination of training methodologies, which uses
the best delivery method for the successful achievement of the learning
objective.
- Jennifer Hofmann and Nanette Miner
Tailored Learning: Designing the Blend That Fits.
Methodologies can include:
• Classroom
• eLearning: Computer Based Training
• eLearning Web-based training
• eLearning: Asynchronous (independent, at convenient times)
• eLearning: Synchronous (simultaneously)
• Self-Study
• Informal
28

29. The Inverted Classroom
• The Inverted Classroom (Flipped Classroom in K-12)
(Lage, Platt & Treglia, 2000)
• Video lectures, reading and podcasts outside of class using technology.
Save class time for active learning, collaboration and even working
through homework.
“Students learn and teachers learn what students don’t know”
• Good article in February 24, 2012 issue of The Chronicle
“How ‘Flipping” the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture”
• The Community of Inquiry Framework
(Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000;
Garrison & Vaughan, 2008)

30. Blended Learning Components
Blended learning instructional design has two main
components:
– Collaboration with peers
– Learner self-reflection
30

31. Technology is Not the Magic Ingredient!
February 17 article in The Chronicle about Michael Wesch who is well known for
touting new models of active teaching with technology.
“A Tech-Happy Professor Reboots After Hearing His Teaching Advice Isn’t Working”
“They (professors) would just be inspired to use blogs and Twitter and
technology, but the No. 1 thing that was missing from it was a sense
of purpose.”
“It doesn’t matter what method you use if you do not first focus on
one intangible factor: the bond between professor and student.”
“Technology rarely plays more than a passing roll in the work of
teacher-of-the-year winners.”
– Mary Huber, consulting scholar at the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
31

32. So What Does the Future Look Like?
32

33. Third Topic
Applications for ICT in FLT
33

34. Looking Forward
34

35. Horizon Report 2012
Horizon Report 2012 –
http://sorden.com/ua/horizon2012.pdf
Horizon Report 2012 Shortlist –
http://sorden.com/ua/horizon2012_shortlist.pdf
“The Horizon Report is not a predictive tool. It is meant, rather, to
highlight emerging technologies with considerable potential for
our focus areas of education and interpretation.”
- Horizon Report 2012
35

36. Horizon Report 2012 “Short List”
Time-to-Adoption: One Year or Less
Cloud Computing
Mobile Apps
Social Reading
Tablet Computing
36

37. Horizon Report 2012 “Short List”
Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years
Adaptive Learning Environments
Augmented Reality
Game-Based Learning
Learning Analytics
37

38. Horizon Report 2012 “Short List”
Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years
Digital Identity
Gesture-Based Computing
Haptic Interfaces
Internet of Things
38

39. Horizon Report 2012 Final List
• Time-to-Adoption: One Year or Less
– Mobile Apps
– Tablet Computing
• Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years
– Game-Based Learning
– Learning Analytics
• Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years
– Gesture-Based Computing
– Internet of Things
39

40. Technology Trends
for Language Learning
NEAR FUTURE 3-5 YEARS?
• Informal/Personalized Learning • Intelligent Tutoring Systems
• Blended Learning • Learning Analytics
• Voice Interaction With • Personal Learning Environments
Computers • Game Based Learning &
Alternative Reality
• Free/Inexpensive Open Content
• Innovations in Digital Reading • Augmented Reality Language
• Open Courses for Mobile Phones Learning
• Thin Clients & Apps in the Cloud
• Crowdsourcing
40

41. Digital Textbooks
eBook Demo
A Wealth of Free Material in Books and Textbooks
• Kindle Free Books with the Kindle Cloud Reader -
https://read.amazon.com
• Gutenberg Project - http://www.gutenberg.org
• Free Open Content Initiatives
– Flat World Knowledge
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com
– College Open Textbooks -
http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org
– Secondary-Level CK-12 STEM Flexbooks
http://www.ck12.org
More important than free digital content, however, is
disruptive innovations in how we interact with the content.
41

42. Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting
A Few Companies are starting to pilot the use of Visual-Syntactic
Text Formatting (VSTF) in Digital Textbooks and online materials.
“McGraw-Hill will be testing this research
out on 3 of our books in 2012.”
Jaclyn Mautone in personal email
Marketing Specialist
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
42

43. Expect Disruptive and Cognitive
Innovations in Digital Text
43

44. The Reading Eye-Span
In Block Text – Minimal character-specific
information can be processed outside of the oval.
Everything else only competes for visual attention,
while adding no informational value.
Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesay, and the rest of these
gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole
particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning
to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of
the island, and that only because there is still treasure
not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace
17__ and go back to the time when my father kept
the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown seaman with
the sabre cut first took up his lodging under one roof.
44

45. Example of VSTF
45

46. Visual Syntactic Text Formatting
46

47. VSLT Process
When in the Course
of human events,
it
becomes necessary
for one people
to dissolve
the political bands which When in the Course of human events it
have connected them with another, becomes necessary for one people to
and dissolve the political bands which have
to assume connected them with another and to
among the powers assume among the powers of the earth,
of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the separate and equal station the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
to which the Laws of Nature entitle them, a decent respect to the
and opinions of mankind requires that they
of Nature's God should declare the causes which impel
entitle them, them to the separation.
a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind
requires that Millions of
they
should declare computer
the causes which calculations per
impel them to the separation.
sentence
47

48. Pre-Test and Post-Test Research
230
Control
EL1
220
Live Ink
EL1
210
Control
ESOL
200
Live Ink
ESOL
190
Fall Spring
Randall C. Walker, M.D.
48

49. In the Classroom
49

50. VSTF Web-based Parsing Site
http://www.liveink.com
Randall C. Walker, M.D.
Walker Reading Tech, Inc.
ClipRead converts any digital text of your choosing
into Live Ink format.
50

51. Open Courses for Mobile Devices
In 2009, the Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU) announced plans to create
mLearning so students could access course
materials through downloads on their phones.
There is a huge, untapped potential for
delivering English and other subjects to learners
in developing countries using nothing more
than their own simple cell phones.
Nabeel Ahmad
Nabeel’s Syllabus
(local)
Delicious Links
51

52. Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL)
• MALL is a subset of both Mobile Learning (m-learning)
and Computer-assisted language learning (CALL).
• MALL has evolved to support language learning with the
increased use of mobile technologies such as mobile
phones (cellphones), MP3 and MP4 players and devices
such as tablets.
52

53. Getting Started
Resources for Learning How to
Teach with MALL
53

54. Remword - Free from China
Remword
provides text,
image and
audio to assist
with vocabulary
building.
54

55. Mobile Apps for Language Learning
• Byki Mobile - http://www.transparent.com/mobile
• Mango Mobile -
http://www.mangolanguages.com/libraries/products-
overview/mango-mobile
• MobLang - http://www.moblang.eu
55

56. IAmLearn
• International Association for Mobil Learning (launch)
• mLearn 2012 in Helsinki (launch)
• mLearn 2012 Blog (launch)
• mLearn in Facebook (launch)
56

57. Mobile Learning 2012
http://www.mlearning-conf.org
57

58. SLAIT at the U. of South Florida
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/slait
58

59. Thin Clients & Apps in the Cloud
Expect to see a new emphasis on
delivering courses directly
from the cloud.
59

60. Mobile as Desktops
As mobile phones become more powerful, and cloud
computing more ubiquitous, our phone will become our
computers in many cases.
http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
60

61. Crowdsourcing
A distributed problem-solving and production process that
involves outsourcing tasks to a network of people, also
known as the crowd.
-Wikipedia
61

62. DuoLingo
After re-purposing CAPTCHA to help digitize
books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to
use small contributions by many on the
Internet for greater good.
The result was Duolingo, which
will help millions learn a new
language while translating the
Web quickly and accurately --
all for free. MP4 | WMV | FLV
Excellent TED Video
http://youtu.be/-Ht4qiDRZE8
62

63. DuoLingo
Blog post with first impression of DuoLingo and screenshots:
http://classical-bookworm.blogspot.com/2012/01/duolingo-first-impressions.html
63

64. DuoLingo
64

65. DuoLingo
65

66. DuoLingo
66

67. DuoLingo
67

68. DuoLingo
68

69. DuoLingo
69

70. So, those were innovations that are
already here, but what about…
Disruptive Innovations in 3-5 Years?
70

71. Technology Trends
for Language Learning
NEAR FUTURE 3-5 YEARS?
• Informal/Personalized Learning • Learning Analytics
• Blended Learning • Intelligent Tutoring Systems
• Voice Interaction With • Game Based Learning
Computers • Personal Learning Environments
• Free/Inexpensive Open Content • Augmented Reality Language
• Innovations in Digital Reading Learning
• Open Courses for Mobile Phones
• Thin Clients & Apps in the Cloud
• Crowdsourcing
71

72. Learning Analytics
• Learning analytics involves data mining, interpretation, and modeling to
improve understanding of teaching and learning, and to tailor education to
individual students more effectively.
• Learning analytics in higher education has centered primarily on identifying
at-risk students who can then receive attention to avoid failure in a particular
course.
• The larger promise of learning analytics, however, is that when correctly
applied and interpreted, it will enable faculty to more precisely identify
student learning needs and tailor instruction appropriately.
It is how we will finally, truly personalize education
72

73. Intelligent Tutoring Systems
• Will be many, many years until they are perfected.
• Based in Artificial Intelligence.
• Most research from Carnegie Mellon University.
• Expect to see the first uses in foreign language
learning as interactive dialogs and vocabulary
building exercises.
73

74. Game Based Learning/
Alternative Reality
“Developers and researchers are working in every area of game-
based learning, including games that are goal-oriented; social
game environments; non-digital games that are easy to construct
and play; games developed expressly for education; and
commercial games that lend themselves to refining team and
group skills.” - 2011 Horizon Report
• James Paul Gee
• Collins & Halverson
• Curtis Bonk
• Marc Prensky
74

75. Personal Learning Environment (PLE)
A system for an individual to access, aggregate, configure and
manipulate digital artifacts of their learning experiences
VLE
(Moodel,
Blackboard)
ePortfolio+ Web 2.0
PLE Services

76. 3 Learning Objectives in a PLE
• Michele Martin divided learning in PLEs into three areas:
– Gathering Information – reading and learning
– Processing Information – reflecting and practicing
– Acting on the Learning – what do you do with it? How does
it affect your practice?
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/04/my_personal_lea.html

77. ICT & PLEs for Personalized
& Informal Learning
• It is still not clear whether a Personal Learning Environment
(PLE) is software, or simply an idea.
• The main idea for a PLE is a collection of tools and methods that
use technology to promote learning.
77

78. Augmented Reality
78

79. Augmented Reality Language Learning
AR is the combination of real-world and
computer-generated data so that computer
generated objects are blended into real time
projection of real life activities.
– ARLL focuses on contextual (immersive learning)
– Learning can move beyond physical classroom into the street/field
– Contexts have the opportunity to be relevant and to engage
learners.
http://www.avatarlanguages.com/blog/arll
79

80. Augmented Reality – Google Goggles
80

81. Examples of Augmented Reality
THE FUTURE IS UPON US! CINEMA
Layar is an augmented Soon we will be able to
reality software stand in a location and
developed by a company HD HD see images and video of
in Holland. Listen to their MP4 MP4 events that happened in
vision of the future. WMV WMV that spot.
FLV FLV
LANGUAGE HD ART
MP4
Just a simple example of MP4 Augmented Reality
WMV
what will be possible to WMV allows us to enhance art
FLV
place foreign language in FLV galleries and museums
context with Augmented with additional
Reality Language information or artistic
Learning (ARLL) expression.
81

82. Suggestions for Starting
• Start small: as with anything else, it probably pays to start
small. Trying smaller activities allows some dipping one’s toe in.
• Students and their technology: finding out what the students
actually have and how they use it. This can be presented as a
class activity, where students discuss or present their mobile
devices (phones, cameras and MP3 players). It’s especially good
to know when they carry them, how they use them, what
functions they use and don’t use.
• Out-of-class learning: students are already learning out-of-class
and a discussion of what they already do will open up an
ongoing discussion on how to do this better.
Learning with technology - teaching without
by Howard Vickers http://www.avatarlanguages.com/cotesol
82

83. Recommendations
• Try to buy or gain access to a smart phone and a tablet if
you don’t already own both.
• Become comfortable with digital textbooks.
• Contribute to an open textbook project.
• Experiment with providing resources to mobile devices.
• Become visible in social sites for foreign language
teachers, as well as for learners of foreign languages.
• Study blended methods and experiment with blending
your courses as quickly as possible.
83

84. Journals for FLT and Technology
• CALICO Journal - https://calico.org/page.php?id=515
• Journal for Language Learning Technologies -
http://www.iallt.org/iallt_journal
• ReCALL Journal - http://www.eurocall-languages.org/recall/index.html
• Journal of Technology for ELT -
http://sites.google.com/site/journaloftechnologyforelt/archive
• Language Learning & Technology - http://llt.msu.edu
• System - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/system
• Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning -
http://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-mobile-blended-learning/1115
84

85. Resources
• Learning in the Cloud – Warshauer
• Web 2.0 How-to for Educators – Solomon and Schrum
• Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting: A New Method to
Enhance Online Reading
• Mobile Learning
• Information and Communication Technology in Education
• The Horizon Report
• Emerging Technologies in Distance Education (Couros)
85

86. Emerging Trends in Foreign Language Teaching with
Information & Communication Technologies
Dr. Steve Sorden
Chair – MCC Distance Education
Presentation to CESL
University of Arizona
March 2, 2012
86