Autonomous Language Learning With Technology

This book looks beyond the classroom, and focuses on out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning, discussing the theoretical frameworks, key findings and critical issues. The proliferation of digital language learning resources and tools is forcing language education into an era of unprecedented change. The book will stimulate discussions on how to support language learners to construct quality autonomous technology-mediated out-of-class learning experience outside the classroom and raise greater awareness of and research interest in this field. Out-of-class learning constitutes an important context for human development, and active engagement in out-of-class activities is associated with successful language development. With convenient access to expanded resources, venues and learning spaces, today's learners are not as dependent on in-class learning as they used to be. Thus, a deeper understanding of the terrain of out-of-class learning is of increasing significance in the current educational era. Technology is part and parcel of out-of-class language learning, and has been a primary source that learners actively use to construct language learning experience beyond the classroom. Language learners of all ages around the world have been found to actively utilize technological resources to support their language learning beyond formal language learning contexts. Insights into learners' out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning are essential to our understanding of out-of-class learning and inform educators on how language learners could be better supported to maximize the educational potentials of technology to construct quality out-of-class learning experience.

This book looks beyond the classroom, and focuses on out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning, discussing the theoretical frameworks, key findings and critical issues. The proliferation of digital language learning resources and tools is forcing language education into an era of unprecedented change. The book will stimulate discussions on how to support language learners to construct quality autonomous technology-mediated out-of-class learning experience outside the classroom and raise greater awareness of and research interest in this field. Out-of-class learning constitutes an important context for human development, and active engagement in out-of-class activities is associated with successful language development. With convenient access to expanded resources, venues and learning spaces, today's learners are not as dependent on in-class learning as they used to be. Thus, a deeper understanding of the terrain of out-of-class learning is of increasing significance in the current educational era. Technology is part and parcel of out-of-class language learning, and has been a primary source that learners actively use to construct language learning experience beyond the classroom. Language learners of all ages around the world have been found to actively utilize technological resources to support their language learning beyond formal language learning contexts. Insights into learners' out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning are essential to our understanding of out-of-class learning and inform educators on how language learners could be better supported to maximize the educational potentials of technology to construct quality out-of-class learning experience.

TAKING CONTROL: Autonomy in Language Learning focuses on an area of language learning and teaching that is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention. The book, featuring 18 chapters from key figures around the world in the field of autonomous and self-access language learning, provides insightful coverage of the theoretical issues involved, and represents a significant contribution to research in this area. At the same time, it provides a variety of examples of current practice, in classrooms and self-access centres, at secondary and tertiary levels, and in a number of different cultural contexts. This volume is a timely publication which will be of interest to all those concerned with learner autonomy and self-directed language learning.

This book brings together contributions on learner autonomy from a myriad of contexts to advance our understanding of what autonomous language learning looks like with digital tools, and how this understanding is shaped by and can shape different socio-institutional, curricular, and instructional support. To this end, the individual contributions in the book highlight practice-oriented, empirically-based research on technology-mediated learner autonomy and its pedagogical implications. They address how technology can support learner autonomy as process by leveraging the affordances available in social media, virtual exchange, self-access, or learning in the wild (Hutchins, 1995). The rapid evolution and adoption of technology in all aspects of our lives has pushed issues related to learner and teacher autonomy centre stage in the language education landscape. This book tackles emergent challenges from different perspectives and diverse learning ecologies with a focus on social and educational (in)equality. Specifically, to this effect, the chapters consider digital affordances of virtual exchange, gaming, and apps in technology-mediated language learning and teaching ranging from instructed and semi-instructed to self-instructed contexts. The volume foregrounds the concepts of critical digital literacy and social justice in relation to language learner and teacher autonomy and illustrates how this approach may contribute to institutional objectives for equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education around the world and will be useful for researchers and teachers alike.

Language learning is a complex and challenging endeavor. For students to achieve the desired proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) their institutions need to invest time, effort and huge resources in order to cater for different learning styles. To be cost effective, many language-teaching institutions strive to provide intensive foreign language (FL) instruction to reduce the time period needed to learn the target language. This explains the current interest in combining differe...

" ... Contains over 130 practical classroom activities suitable for beginners to more advanced learners, incorporating a wide range of up-to-date tools, such as mobile technologies and social networking"--Page 4 of cover.

This book is the result of five years of intensive dedication to teaching innovation and curriculum development and offers a series of studies exploring how mobile technologies in particular, and mobile learning in general, may be used for second language teaching and learning in a wide variety of environments. Although a strong emphasis is laid on issues to do with autonomy and independence in second language acquisition, the volume also examines the connections and interrelations of mobile learning and second language teaching and learning process on the whole, as well as the process of adoption of new, mobile technologies as teaching tools in various communities across the globe. The volume is targeted at a broad spectrum of readers including academics in the field of e-learning, online learning, and ICT-based learning, with an interest in exploring the possibilities of mobile-assisted learning and the new developments of ICT—in particular, portable devices—for the foreign language classroom. It is most attractive to those interested in the emerging field of mobile-assisted learning in general, and its potential for foreign language teaching and learning in particular.