The role of new technologies in the study of languages
The technical-scientific revolution has changed our way of thinking and doing what was previously considered impossible or immovable, and it has also placed in our hands a lot of opportunities to develop them personally, allowing what a few years ago was unthinkable. The process of a new era is already underway in which technology is the protagonist, because after a short time the robotization put at the service of the human being will allow us to achieve without great efforts what is not possible now and is done with great wasting energy, among many other things learning foreign languages.
Impact of technology on the study of languages
The use of new technologies is twofold:
- The first is that it allows the teacher-student relationship to be more fluid.
- The second option is the possibility of studying online , at a distance, which does not require an age limit and allows the student to study several languages at the same time and without teachers.
Impact of ICT on teacher-student relationships
New technologies, called ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), enable the exchange of information and communication between people, in the following parameters:
- With the new technique, the student has an important participation, builds knowledge by completing new ideas with old knowledge. In this case, the learning control is carried out by the student himself, so his results may vary according to the individual.
- Starting from this new reality, teachers do not transfer knowledge, but rather have to dedicate themselves to consolidating and promoting the student's abilities so that it is he himself who composes knowledge for himself. Hence, learning will enhance the autonomy of the student.
The appearance of the Internet was a very important change at an educational level that has affected the teaching models that are currently used in the foreign language classroom:
- It is a very important contribution that tries to relate the use of technology in the classroom with a learning plan called constructivism , that is, the implementation of new technologies in the classroom favors constructive learning as opposed to the traditional one that is based on scheduled instruction.
Online teaching
The possibilities of online study are many and all of them positive because it adapts to the needs of the student, without losing a gram of quality:
- The schedule is adaptable. The student chooses it on purpose with his needs or tastes.
- You can study from wherever you want.
The student is the active subject in this modality, everything is controlled by him and everything is adjusted for him .
Methodology
The online study gives you great advantages , such as cost, flexibility and autonomy. However, like all disciplines, online work requires discipline to do it well and not in any way, specify the steps to follow with methodology.
For this we offer you the following tips :
- Always start with the basics: vocabulary, simple grammatical structures.
- If the alphabet presents great differences with yours, you must learn it to the letter, as well as the pronunciation of each character.
- A good tip is also to memorize basic sentence structures, all this will help you a lot from the beginning.
- Start by setting your electronic devices in the chosen language, it may be wise to open a Facebook account or other social networks, which can be contacted at any time.
- You must maintain as long as possible connection with the language that you study well through music, with the singers that you like and that serve as stimuli.
- Finally, a good idea is to rewatch movies that you have seen in Spanish, translated into the language you are learning. In principle it could be good if they are subtitled, then you can remove the subtitles. Naturally, you will have to watch the movie as many times as necessary.
Immersing yourself in the language is always important not only at the beginning of your learning.
The use of video
In current times, the use of video is extremely easy thanks to the internet, also sites like YouTube have a large number and variety of videos that will help us in our studies. Video games, podcasts, cooking, humor. They exist for all tastes and nothing is negligible, on the contrary it helps us to update ourselves.
Once a good level is reached, it is advisable to watch videos in the language we learn. The videos have a large number of variants and you can choose those that suit your tastes and that teach you the daily life of the country of origin of the language you are learning.
However, at first the logical thing is not to understand everything. For this reason, do not be discouraged, enter into the learning process. The videos are very beneficial because they last between 5 and 20 minutes with a pleasant format that does not require a great effort.
In conclusion
The proper use of new technologies will bring us many benefits in our studies of the desired language, and even if there are several at the same time. It is more likely that instead of laziness we suffer a kind of hitch, which in a learning process can even be beneficial.
Nobody has the excuse of time, of difficulties to understand, of speed. New technologies do not overwhelm us, now it is the man who sets the pace, and all the precise guidelines to satisfy his needs. In a word, success is guaranteed.