Technology is an effective tool to enhance the learning that happens in educational content areas such as foreign languages. Widespread adoption, however, is blunted by several obstacles that prevent technology from being as potent as it could otherwise be. These obstacles include lack of technical mastery, the inadequacy of teacher professional development, the shortcomings of infrastructure support, and teachers’ own perceptions of technology strengths and weaknesses.
By far the largest obstacle in the path of a foreign language teacher is teachers’ lack of experience and knowledge in utilizing technology and their incapability to understand its abilities” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 983). Teachers have studied teaching techniques, curriculum design, effective discipline, and possess the linguistic knowledge to impart a new language to students. However, unless personally inclined, most teachers have not studied technological tools in depth. They have learned how to use technology through professional development workshops and conferences, through watching peers adopt some of these technologies, and through using technologies in their own personal lives. They have not developed the theoretical and practical underpinnings that would support the deployment of various technologies in the classroom. For most teachers, “the focus is on the practical utilization of certain software rather than considering the pedagogical aspects of utilizing the software for teaching” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 986). Teachers can adopt an app or a website to use with their students, but if they do not feel confident in using that tool due to lack of experience or understanding, the relative advantage is nullified by poor implementation. A solution to this problem is to provide constant opportunities for professional development. Events like teacher days should include a technological component. Staff meetings could contribute 10 minutes to a short tech segment by a practitioner in the building showcasing what they do. The tech department can create multiple tech shorts that teach a specific concept or idea in two minutes or less. After school workshops can be offered, and so can attendance to conferences like the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. Encourage teachers who successfully integrate technology to present what they do. It may not directly translate to another class, but the spark might ignite a different way of using the tool.
The second obstacle relates closely to the first, and that is the inadequacy of teacher professional development when it comes time to use technology. Districts are very good at providing technology tools to improve student achievement. They are not as good at providing the time and the knowledge necessary to master the tools themselves: “In order to support teachers to use technology, professional development programs must be offered to teachers to help them understand the relation between the academic information about the use of computers and the use of computers in various contexts” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 986). For example, a French teacher initiated the purchase of an electronic textbook for their French III class. In conversation in mid September, that teacher admitted they had not yet used the textbook because they didn’t know what to do with it. The tech department had rostered the textbook, ensured that all students had access to it and could indeed access it, but we had not done the extra step of ensuring that the teacher felt comfortable with their new tool. After all, our thinking was that if they selected the tool they knew how to use it. We now build in required training time for teachers who wish to adopt a new app or an electronic textbook, so that they (and us) understand the capabilities they have to transform their content and improve student achievement. Any new technology tool being used should come with support from the tech department and with extensive training for teachers on best practices for using this tool.
A third obstacle is the shortcoming of the infrastructure provided. The effective use of technology requires a robust network that carries reliable connections accessible throughout the district (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 985). It also needs devices that can support the learning and handle the desired tools. A foreign language teacher may wish to do a project using Google Earth, but if the school computers cannot support that software, the teacher will find themselves stymied. Similarly, many schools experienced underwhelming capacity on their Internet connection during Covid. It is essential for teachers seeking to integrate technology in their content area to check and see if the district infrastructure can support a new tool.
Finally, a fourth obstacle to effective integration of technology within content areas is teachers’ own perceptions of their technology strengths and weaknesses, including “their style of teaching, their utilization of computers for purposes other than teaching, … [and] the school culture” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 985). Many teachers are not comfortable using technology, and this reflects in the choices they make in their classrooms. Others perceive their lack of experience with a specific technology as a challenge to learn more and figure out how best to use it in the classroom. Institutions can discourage the use of technology in content areas by blocking specific sites or applying blanket policies that limit the use of innovative and emergent tools. Teachers working in such a culture may decide that the difficulties of effecting a positive change outweigh any relative advantage they would derive in implementing new technologies in their curriculum.
Of course, technology is not all obstacles. There are several relative advantages to using technology to enhance content area learning, and these are reviewed in this blog post. While these four issues persist, however, it may prove difficult for teachers to adopt new technologies in their content areas.
By far the largest obstacle in the path of a foreign language teacher is teachers’ lack of experience and knowledge in utilizing technology and their incapability to understand its abilities” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 983). Teachers have studied teaching techniques, curriculum design, effective discipline, and possess the linguistic knowledge to impart a new language to students. However, unless personally inclined, most teachers have not studied technological tools in depth. They have learned how to use technology through professional development workshops and conferences, through watching peers adopt some of these technologies, and through using technologies in their own personal lives. They have not developed the theoretical and practical underpinnings that would support the deployment of various technologies in the classroom. For most teachers, “the focus is on the practical utilization of certain software rather than considering the pedagogical aspects of utilizing the software for teaching” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 986). Teachers can adopt an app or a website to use with their students, but if they do not feel confident in using that tool due to lack of experience or understanding, the relative advantage is nullified by poor implementation. A solution to this problem is to provide constant opportunities for professional development. Events like teacher days should include a technological component. Staff meetings could contribute 10 minutes to a short tech segment by a practitioner in the building showcasing what they do. The tech department can create multiple tech shorts that teach a specific concept or idea in two minutes or less. After school workshops can be offered, and so can attendance to conferences like the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. Encourage teachers who successfully integrate technology to present what they do. It may not directly translate to another class, but the spark might ignite a different way of using the tool.
The second obstacle relates closely to the first, and that is the inadequacy of teacher professional development when it comes time to use technology. Districts are very good at providing technology tools to improve student achievement. They are not as good at providing the time and the knowledge necessary to master the tools themselves: “In order to support teachers to use technology, professional development programs must be offered to teachers to help them understand the relation between the academic information about the use of computers and the use of computers in various contexts” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 986). For example, a French teacher initiated the purchase of an electronic textbook for their French III class. In conversation in mid September, that teacher admitted they had not yet used the textbook because they didn’t know what to do with it. The tech department had rostered the textbook, ensured that all students had access to it and could indeed access it, but we had not done the extra step of ensuring that the teacher felt comfortable with their new tool. After all, our thinking was that if they selected the tool they knew how to use it. We now build in required training time for teachers who wish to adopt a new app or an electronic textbook, so that they (and us) understand the capabilities they have to transform their content and improve student achievement. Any new technology tool being used should come with support from the tech department and with extensive training for teachers on best practices for using this tool.
A third obstacle is the shortcoming of the infrastructure provided. The effective use of technology requires a robust network that carries reliable connections accessible throughout the district (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 985). It also needs devices that can support the learning and handle the desired tools. A foreign language teacher may wish to do a project using Google Earth, but if the school computers cannot support that software, the teacher will find themselves stymied. Similarly, many schools experienced underwhelming capacity on their Internet connection during Covid. It is essential for teachers seeking to integrate technology in their content area to check and see if the district infrastructure can support a new tool.
Finally, a fourth obstacle to effective integration of technology within content areas is teachers’ own perceptions of their technology strengths and weaknesses, including “their style of teaching, their utilization of computers for purposes other than teaching, … [and] the school culture” (Taghizadeh & Hasani Yourdshahi, 2020, p. 985). Many teachers are not comfortable using technology, and this reflects in the choices they make in their classrooms. Others perceive their lack of experience with a specific technology as a challenge to learn more and figure out how best to use it in the classroom. Institutions can discourage the use of technology in content areas by blocking specific sites or applying blanket policies that limit the use of innovative and emergent tools. Teachers working in such a culture may decide that the difficulties of effecting a positive change outweigh any relative advantage they would derive in implementing new technologies in their curriculum.
Of course, technology is not all obstacles. There are several relative advantages to using technology to enhance content area learning, and these are reviewed in this blog post. While these four issues persist, however, it may prove difficult for teachers to adopt new technologies in their content areas.
References
Taghizadeh, M., & Hasani Yourdshahi, Z. (2020). Integrating technology into young learners’ classes: language teachers’ perceptions. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 33(8), 982–1006. https://doi-org.libproxy.boisestate.edu/10.1080/09588221.2019.1618876
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