The History of Educational Technology in Language Education

Printing Press

1440

The printing press is a device that supports the industrial expansion of uniform printed matter, primarily books that include text. It was a useful invention for learners and teachers in reading (Haran, 2015).

The chalkboards

1840

Chalkboards played a significant role in language classes, particularly in earlier eras when teachers had limited tools for visual representations of the language.

Phonograph

1877

The phonograph was developed by Thomas Edison in 1877. The device is a record player. Thanks to this device, students could listen to literature, prose, poetry, and sounds, and then repeat them (Haran, 2015).

Radio

1920

Radio is a beneficial device for language learning. Teachers have the ability to use the radio to support students to listen to lectures by outstanding speakers. Moreover, students are exposed to a language that is current and grounded in the lives of native speakers thanks to radio broadcasts (Alkamel, & Chouthaiwale, 2018).

Film Projector

1925

The information effects we learn from movies are permanent, so this tool aids in the improvement of the students' words and grammar knowledge (Ammani, & Aparanjani, 2016).

Overhead Projector

1930

In order to convey the context to the students, a crucial visual aid is needed. Overhead projectors let teachers use pictures and diagrams. In addition, they can do less work by sketching it on the board (Alkamel, & Chouthaiwale, 2018).

The Army Method

1942

With the outbreak of World War II, soldiers had to become fluent speakers of both their allies' and adversaries' languages. This was the first teaching strategy built on behavioral psychology and linguistic theory. It was supposed that a human trained through utilizing a reinforcement-based method. These patterns are elicited, practiced, and tested until the student's replies are automatic in the target language (Taylor, 2003).

Language Lab

1946

The lab was equipped with computers, projectors, and other technology that allowed the learners to practice speaking and listening (Alkamel, & Chouthaiwale, 2018).

Headphones

1950

Headphones were first introduced to the classroom and placed in listening stations at the beginning of the 1950s. Students might readily review lectures and reinforce concepts by listening to audio cassettes using headphones.

Compact Disc (CD)

1982

CDs helped in transforming learners' passive system of learning into an interactive one with the help of high-quality graphics and videos along with text, that helped students retain things in their memory for a long time (Ammani, & Aparanjani, 2016).

Commercial Record Sets

1983

A few million varied recordings in commercial record sets have been made available for learners of English. This is useful for teaching pronunciation, stress, and intonation (Ammani, & Aparanjani, 2016).

Interactive White Board

1990

Smart Board are used in many schools today. With the smart board, practicing new words, word structure, and sounds has been simple. It gives educators access to video clips, movies with interviews, electronic microscopes, other websites, etc. It enhances the learners' participation and collaboration in social interactions (Ammani, & Aparanjani, 2016).

The World Wide Web

1990

The World Wide Web provides a huge variety of resources from around the globe. This device is especially important for students of foreign languages who would otherwise only be exposed to the target culture through their instructor and chosen curricula. When conducting a study on language, students can use websites as sources of information. Students can also publish their own work on the World Wide Web (Warschauer, & Meskill, 2000).

Web 2.0

2004

Instead of playing the role of passive recipients of information, learners can assume a new role as active participants with Web 2.0 tools. Blogs, YouTube, online sales pages, social networks, and web applications (teams, etc.) are some examples of Web 2.0 tools (Laakkonen, 2011).

Digital Interactive Textbooks

2005

An interactive textbook is a textbook that has interactive features and is available as an ebook. Instead of setting up computer rooms consisting of fixed desktop computers, schools are investing in netbooks or tablet computers for learners (Arslan, 2008).

Google Translate

2006

Google Translate is a free machine translation tool that supports multiple languages and can translate text, speech, images, websites, and real-time video.

Mobile Phones

2015

Thanks to mobile phones, learners can check the usage, spelling, and pronunciation of the precise word they are looking for.

Learning management system (LMS)

2017

Learning management systems (LMS), also known as instructional management systems, are online resources that enable teachers and students to communicate with one another through the internet. (Haran, 2015).

References

2022

Alkamel,M.A.A. & Chouthaiwale,S.S. (2018). The Use of ICT Tools in English Language Teaching and Learning: A Literature Review. Veda’s Journal of English Language and Literature-JOELL, 5(2), 29-33.
Ammanni, S., & Aparanjani, U. (2016). The role of ICT in English language teaching and learning. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 7(7), 2229–5518.
Haran, M. (2015, May 29). A History of Education Technology | The Institute of Progressive Education and Learning.

References 2

2023

Laakkonen, I. (2011). Personal learning environments in higher education language courses: an informal and learner-centered approach.
Taylor, A. (2003). The audio-lingual teaching method. Tj Taylor Blog.
Warschauer, M., & Meskill, C. (2000). Technology and second language learning. In J. Rosenthal (Ed.), Handbook of undergraduate second language education (pp. 303­318). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlbaum.