Technology in Language Teaching and Learning

Technology in Second-Language Acquisition Research

Second-language acquisition researchers are not generally known to rely heavily on technology to serve their research. Nonetheless, there are a few instances of computer technologies used to elicit data for research on cognitive and linguistic dimensions of bilingualism. Technology has not generally played a large role in other linguistic research dimensions, though some sociolinguistically oriented studies show that CALL provides for more language production than is normally the case in many face-to-face second-language learning environments. In addition to typical statistical research software applications, researchers rely on a number of specialized software applications to analyze interlanguage, the name given to a linguistic system devised by a language learner who is not yet proficient and is attempting to approximate the target language. Interlanguage preserves some of the features of the first language and incorporates these features into the target language. It also reflects the status of the learner's heritage language as a resource to learning the second language and reveals possible causes of errors experienced in the second-language acquisition process.

The sources of many technologies used in second-language acquisition research are psychology, acoustic linguistics, andpsycholinguistics. Psycholinguists have employed various technologies to manage and measure a variety of tasks and techniques to elicit language-related behaviors, for example, eye movements, or other behaviors associated with human language production or processing. These tools have been adapted to serve other purposes, including, for instance, data collection regarding the ability of language learners to judge grammatical correctness, recognize similar meaning between sentences, respond orally to various language prompts, and recognize words.

Technology has also been used to support experimental research in second-language learning. In tightly controlled laboratory studies, computers have been used to present input and to elicit and register responses, with or without noting subject reaction times. In applied second-language-acquisition research, the computer has replaced traditional audio and video collection systems in the language laboratory because of the ease with which digital audio and video data can be managed and analyzed with computer-based software applications. This emerging use of technology is itself an opportunity for more extensive investigation of multimedia technology's efficacy in applied linguistic research.

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