Key-Note/Conférence invitée K3

ICT Contribution To Language Learning Environments Or The Mystery Of The Secret Agent

Speaker : Name: Edith Esch
Institution: University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Email: eme10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Co-speaker: Christoph.Zähner
Date: Friday 17 September
Language : English

 

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Contents

The main theme of this conference concerns what is described as 'varied' language learning environments and the role of ICTs in the creation of these environments.

The main argument of this paper is that the concept of 'language learning environment' is void if due consideration is not given to the characteristics of the users of the environment. Rather than variation in the environment, it is variation amongst the users - whether teachers or learners - which is significant because they make use of ICTs in a manner which reflects their expectations, motivations, learning styles, cognitive orientations, choice of media, of preferred topics and their evaluation criteria. It follows that the contribution of ICTs can be expected to vary with learners' ability to integrate their use in their activities. It is increased familiarity with ICTs which gives individuals the confidence to explore their use further and, in becoming creative, to contribute to the building of their own learning environment.

The argument will be illustrated with examples taken from experiments reported in the literature and/or carried out in the Language Centre at the University of Cambridge and more particularly from experiments done in the course of the three-year project LEVERAGE funded by the European Commission. In this project students from Cambridge,Paris and Madrid collaborted on various language tasks over a broadband computer network.

About the speakers

  Formerly member of the CRAPEL, Nancy, Edith Esch taught applied linguistics in the University of Cambridge until 1990, where her research concentrated mainly on bilingual acquisition and native/non-native interaction. She has been Director of the Language Centre of the University since 1990 and has developed the concept of advising for language learning as a new form of teaching. She has been involved in Research and Development since 1992 with the specific aim of making full use of the broadband network to meet the growing language needs of the University community and of 'non-specialists' in particular. Edith Esch was partner leader for Cambridge in the EU-funded RACE project HIPERNET from 94 to 96. URL : https://www.langcen.cam.ac.uk

Christoph Zähner, from Switzerland, lectured at the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in the Centre for Computational Linguistics until 1995. He is a specialist in the use of computers in language learning, especially the development of lexical resources and other language tools. His recent research is in cognitive linguistics, its relevance to second language acquisition and human-computer interaction in language learning. Since 1995, he has been Senior Adviser in the Language Centre of the University of Cambridge and from 1996, partner leader for Cambridge for the EU-funded ACTS project LEVERAGE.