Teaching with Technology Philosophy

In my opinion, what is probably the most important factor for successful teaching is to be open-minded towards new approaches, methods and circumstances. Looking back at my experiences as a student of foreign languages, I always improved the most when teachers showed motivation and a willingness to adjust their syllabus and were open to new ideas. On the other hand I always had problems being motivated when it seemed like the teacher used a fixed syllabus and set of activities that he/she had already used over and over again over years. A good teacher should always be self-critical as well as open to criticism from students or other teachers. He/ she should also show an awareness of changing language acquisition contexts and specific dynamics among the students (different learning abilities). I agree with Thorne and Payne’s observation that our students today are a new generation that has been brought up in different social and technological environment. (The so-called “Digital Natives”). In this respect, an open-minded teacher should also be willing to adapt to these new circumstances by including new technologies and ways of communication that our students are very familiar with as they are a part of their everyday social behavior.
The teacher’s open-mindedness should also coincide with the ability to create a productive learning atmosphere in the classroom; that is to motivate students and to make them feel at ease with learning a new language. Students should not be afraid of making mistakes; they are a natural part of language acquisition. I try to tell my students that it is more important to communicate than to be correct. As long as the mistakes do not hinder communication severely, students can get their message across and that is the main purpose of using a language. Research has shown that computer-mediated communication such as chat or electronic discussion boards lowers the students’ affective filter (their level of anxiety) to the point that their language output in these environments increases as opposed to classroom face-to-face communication. I think it would be careless for teachers nowadays not to take advantage of this. I only have three students in my current class and two of them are very anxious about using German; they tend to answer in English although they know how to express it in German. It would be interesting to see how their performance changes in a chat environment for example. However, as experience with chat shows, teachers have to make sure that the students have clear goals and a certain structure that guides CMC. As with all tools that are used in foreign language education, the use of modern communication technologies, too, has to be based on well established theoretical frameworks and should be guided by specific learning goals. The benefits of CMC, such as increased language production, make communicative activities more efficient, but it is the teacher’s job to turn this efficiency into effectiveness. Before every communicative activity, for example, I try to establish a meaningful context that keeps students interested in what they say and hear. Personalized information exchange also keeps students more involved.
I try to speak as much German in class as possible because it is one of the only authentic audible inputs my students can get for developing proficiency in listening. Listening comprehension is a key skill in mastering the target language and being able to survive in the target culture. The internet has brought along a seemingly endless source for authentic material and podcasting e.g. seems to be a great way of exposing students to authentic audio files and enhancing the teacher’s possibilities. However, as with most of the newer technologies, the problem is that the school would have to provide the respective financial and logistic prerequisites that are needed. (This teaching with technology statement has to presuppose that the necessary resources are available.)
When I asked my beginning students why they study German, most of them stated that they want be able to communicate with co-workers in a German company or in the country itself. That is why I consider the development of speaking proficiency probably the most important. I try to encourage my students to speak as much German in class as possible. Most of CMC is based on writing, but there have been studies that suggest that the increased written language production also has positive effects on oral performance. This is another strong argument for me to include CMC based activities in my teaching. Maybe the future holds groundbreaking changes in the development of speech recognition software and artificial intelligence that open up even better possibilities in the area of teaching oral proficiency. Thanks to the Internet it is even possible to have students communicate orally with native speakers through telecommunication software such as skype. Although this contact to native speakers may raise the affective filter again it is a unique possibility for gaining proficiency and learning about the target culture. Cultural awareness, in my mind, is a key step to mastering a foreign language. It is probably in this realm that the Internet and the vast access to authentic material proves to be most beneficial. I like to show short videos or music-clips that can be found on websites like youtube which usually entail more cultural information and starting points for discussion than the average textbook. Even without Internet technology I would show documentaries or feature films in class. Both media, though in different ways, give insight to the target culture that a book can not provide.
In my preliminary remarks I stated that teachers should always be open-minded and aware of changing social and technological circumstances. In this respect I think it is important to be aware that this philosophy is momentary, too, as it would have to change with technological developments and be adjusted to classroom dynamics that may favour the implementation of certain technologies as opposed to others.