INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

MALAYSIA

ENGL 4740

Technology and Internet in CALL

Muhammad Hafiz Bin Suhaini

0615371

Section 2

Instructor: Mr. Mazlan Yusuf

 Internet has been a great contributor in the society. In fact, it is the greatest
inventions since the dawn of civilization. Internet can be defined as ‘a global system of
interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP)
to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions
of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope
that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies
(Wikipedia.Org).’ Internet helps people in their daily routines. For example, cooking is
easier with the internet. Recipes can be found throughout the web and people can cook
different type of food everyday. News can also be accessible in a blink of an eye. With all
these significant of the internet, it is not impossible to implement the internet in language
learning.
Computer Assisted Language Learning or CALL is the main essential in using
the internet in language learning. It has many advantages to both the learners and the
teachers. According to Barbara F. McManus (2000) in her article ‘Creative Teaching with
Internet Technology’, there are seven advantages of using internet in language teaching.
The first one is motivational power where the learners will enjoy the learning process and
this serve as a motivation to push them to learn. The second advantage is resource-based
learning which means the potential to link many different types of resources and provide
a guided path through them and the potential to provide access to many primary sources,
archival materials, databases to facilitate research. The third and fourth advantages are
collaborative learning and control over learning. The learners can choose the time, place
and pace of the learning.
Interactivity is also the advantage of using internet in teaching where the learners
will be learning in a more interactive environment and has freedom over their learning.
The sixth advantage is in the area of publication where there is a potential for easy and
inexpensive publication of student work for classmates and even for a worldwide
audience. Last but not least, the internet allows updatability to keep the learners current
with the world.
Learning with the help of internet is possible now because the gap that was
mentioned by Prensky (2001) in Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants are closing in.
Both the learner and the teacher were brought up in the digital age. The gap may seem to
be far in the year 2001 but in 2010, it is not a problem anymore. Meloni and Weasenforth
(2000) in their article ‘Use of Cohesive Features in ESL Students’ E-Mail and Word-
Processed Texts’ said that internet is an invaluable tool for the English language
classroom.
All educational institutions are equipped with the proper hardware that can be
used in teaching. From my observation, these multimedia equipments are not utilized by
the learners and teachers. It is such a waste to see people neglecting such beneficial
technology. The government has provided the sufficient technology to the schools, why
do not we use them in learning processes? This can be answered by referring to what
Barbara said in her article ‘Creative Teaching with Internet Technology’ as difficulties in
applying internet in learning. Time and learning curve is one of the difficulties where
teachers have to always assume that preparation of materials will take at least twice as
long as the normal time. Teachers must also be prepared for frequent problems with the
technology and with students' use of the equipment and bear in mind that internet sites
and computer software change so rapidly that teachers must frequently refresh their
materials and skills.
Another difficulty is differential access which means even if the institution
provides excellent facilities and support, some of the students will not have good access
to functioning equipment and to the internet. This is common in the rural areas where the
student does not have the necessary exposure to the technology. According to Barbara,
cost is also one of the difficulties but in Malaysia, I do not think it is a big problem
because the government supports by giving sufficient funds to the schools.
I have come up with a lesson plan which is for secondary school students in
enhancing their speaking skills. Speaking skills are always side by side with the listening
skills. I will focus on vocabulary but bear in mind that there is no skill that stands alone.
After gaining the vocabulary, they need work on their pronunciation and it is best to learn
it by listening. The duration of the learning is four weeks with three hours of class each
week. The tools that I am going to utilizes are videos (Youtube), VoIP (Skype), websites,
blogs and internet application (Speak It!).
I hope by the end of the lesson, the learners will have the skills that I intend to
teach them. The main problem of why students do not want to speak is the syllabus itself.
There are no speaking and listening aspect in the schools’ syllabus. Another factor is the
learners’ lack of vocabularies. They did not want to speak because they do not know what
to talk about. The words that they are trying to speak out are just not coming out of their
mouths.
In conclusion, we need to take advantage of the technology while we can because
technology is changing through the time. Maybe our descendants will have more advance
technology in stores for them. Normal class learning is a burden to the learners because it
is honestly boring. Last but not least, cooperation between teachers and learners are
important in ensuring a healthy learning environment.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

McManus, B. F. (2000). Creative Teaching with Internet Technology. Maryland: Loyola

College.

Meloni, C. & Weasenforth, D. (2000). Use of Cohesive Features in ESL Students’ E-mail
and Word-Processed Text: A Comparative Study. Computer Assisted Language
Learning, 13(3), 221-237.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.