© 2020 by Iowa State University.

Module 1 Introduction to Technology for English Language Learning

Lecture Transcript for the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding
provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Using Educational Technology in the English Language Classroom

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlE2-ekUHe806Tx3RBAvRiSiVdDT1vRbk

Introduction to Technology for English Language Learning

Carol Chapelle

Iowa State University

Part 1
Slide 1. Welcome to the MOOC on Using Educational Technology in the English
Language Classroom. I’m Carol Chapelle and I’ll be doing the lecture today. The
title of this lecture is Technology and English Language Learning. We’re going to
start with an overview of the many different ways that teachers are using
educational technology for English language teaching today. We’ll also meet the
experts that will be participating in the course by sharing their expertise on various
topics. Let’s get started.

Slide 2. In this Lecture. In this lecture we’ll start by looking at the connection Prof. Carol Chapelle
between computer technology and language. Then we’ll talk more specifically
"Prof. Carol Chapelle "
about technology and the English language. Next, we’ll move to the topic of by Iowa State University is
technologies for learning in general. Technologies are used across a wide variety licensed under CC BY 4.0

of educational subjects. And then more specifically we’ll turn to our topic of
technology for English language learning. And we’ll look at the things that we’re going to talk about in
this course and meet some of the experts that will be joining us over the duration of the course.

Slide 3. Computer Technology and Language. Computer technology today

has a very strong connection with language because so many people use
technology for communication. When we communicate, we choose what we
want to express. But in addition today, we choose what technology to use. If
we look at the examples in the pictures we see students with their smart
phones that are used for communication using text messages and email and
we see the Internet, where students look at a wide variety of sources. They
"Students using cellphones"
also participate by communicating through the Internet. Students use their by Iowa State University is
mobile devices to communicate everywhere by using oral language, written licensed under CC BY 4.0

language, and visuals as well. Overall, these technologies have really

expanded the ways we communicate with each other. Long ago we used to
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communicate using face to face oral communication. That changed with the addition of written language
and paper and now once again our technologies for communication have developed to give us many and
varied opportunities for communication.

Slide 4. Technology and the English Language. With the increase in the modes of
communication that technology provides, people throughout the world are able to
connect using the internet and a lot of the communication that goes on is done in
English. English has become the global language; the language that many people use for
communication because so many people know English. So, English has a special
relationship with technology because the spread of technology has also been
accompanied in many cases by the spread of English, the spread of opportunities to "Student using a mobile device"
by Iowa State University is
learn English, and the spread of opportunities to communicate with a variety of licensed under CC BY 4.0
different people throughout the world.

Slide 5. Technologies for Learning. Technologies today are widely used not only for
communication but also for learning. In many schools and universities course materials
are delivered by computer. And in some courses books are not being used anymore
but instead computer technology is used. Students use interactive technology to do
their course assignments. Students also use course management systems to submit
their assignments to their teachers and to communicate with each other and with the
"Student using a computer"
teacher. by Iowa State University is
licensed under CC BY 4.0
Slide 6. These three connections to technology contribute to the topic of our course.
In other words, our topic is affected by these larger trends in society: the connection between technology
and language, the connection between technology and learning, and the connection between technology
and the English language. All of those connections operate outside of our classrooms, but they all impact
what happens with how we use technology for English language learning. All of these larger societal
trends provide new opportunities for us to use technology for English language teaching and learning.

Chart showing relationships

"Chart showing relationships" by Iowa State University is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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Slide 7. Technology for English Language Learning. As a result of these trends
and the development of technologies for English language learning, teachers
need to learn where they fit in this dynamic world of technology. Teachers need
to learn about the resources and how to use them to develop pedagogy. A lot
of teachers who use technology see their pedagogy changing because they are
able to use the resources that technology provides in a variety of ways that "Students collaborating" by Iowa
changes what they do in the classroom. State University is licensed
under CC BY 4.0

Part 2
Slide 8. In our course, we intend to look at the issues surrounding the use of technology for English
language learning. In particular, we want to tackle the central question, “How can teachers use
communication and learning technologies for English language learning?” To do this we will look at six
areas of English language learning: Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary and Grammar. Each
of these areas is something that we tackle in the English language classroom, even though students use
all of these skills and abilities and knowledge together when they create new meanings.

Slide 9. For each of these areas we’ll look at how students learn and how technology can help. Questions
about how students learn are very complex. That’s why we have called upon an expert in each of the six
areas to identify the key ideas. We start with their key ideas about English language learning and then we
look at how technology can help.

Slide 10. Today we’re going to start by meeting each of our experts. We begin with Professor Jim Ranalli.
He’s our vocabulary expert. He has worked extensively in the use of technology for teaching and learning
vocabulary. In doing that he learned that he really needed to understand how people learn vocabulary
and what the difficulties are in vocabulary learning.

Slide 11. Jim Ranalli, Vocabulary Expert. Hello, my name is Jim Ranalli and
I’m an assistant professor in the Applied Linguistics and Technology
program at Iowa State University. I teach undergraduate courses in
linguistics and second language writing, as well as graduate courses in
computer-assisted language learning and teaching methods. My research
interests include second language writing, technology, self-regulated
learning, and second language vocabulary. My doctoral dissertation was
focused on vocabulary learning strategies. It was an evaluation of an
online course in vocabulary learning strategies that I developed over a
number of years to help students of English leverage the power of Prof. Jim Ranalli
pedagogical dictionaries to help them use words more accurately and
"Prof. Jim Ranalli" by Iowa State
appropriately. University is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Slide 12. Technologies for Vocabulary Learning. Professor Ranalli will introduce us to two types of
vocabulary learning: incidental and intentional. Incidental learning happens while students are doing

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something else, such as reading. Intentional learning happens when students are studying vocabulary.
We will see how technology can help with both of these.

Slide 13. We will take a look at websites like this one that are available to you and your students. On
websites like, Voice of America’s “Learning English,” you can find a lot of examples of vocabulary as well
as some pedagogical materials for teaching vocabulary. There’s a rich source of material that you will find
has been developed on these kinds of websites.

Voice of America: Learning English Website

“Learning English” by VoA Learning English. This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or distributed after the end of this
course. It is not Public Domain or Creative Commons-licensed, and therefore not for public use. Please do not save a copy for your personal
use, and do not use it after the course ends.

Part 3
Slide 14. Technology for English Language Learning. As part of this course, we will also look at how
technology has changed the study and teaching of English grammar. There is no one better suited to
introduce the modern world of grammar studies than our expert, Bethany Gray.

Slide 15. Bethany Gray, Grammar Expert. Hi, my name is Bethany Gray. I’m
an assistant professor at Iowa State University. I teach courses in grammar
and grammatical analysis. And I teach these courses to a range of different
audiences. I’ve taught grammar to ESL students in the university context, I
teach grammar to undergraduate students who are being trained in
linguistics, and I also teach grammar to graduate students who are studying
to become English language teachers around the world. My work largely
focuses on using technology to study grammar using methods from a field Prof. Bethany Gray
called “corpus linguistics.” This means that I use technology and computers
"Prof. Bethany Gray" by Iowa State
to study large collections of authentic language. And I study variation in the University is licensed under CC BY 4.0
grammatical structure of this language.

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Slide 16. Technology and Grammar. Professor Gray explains that corpus linguistics provides lots of new
knowledge about grammar. Corpus linguistics also provides new ways for linguists, teachers, and students
to study grammar. But one question remains: What exactly is corpus linguistics?

Slide 17. Technology and Corpus Linguistics. A corpus is a large collection of texts. Once we have a large
collection of texts stored on a computer, we can then search the texts to see how particular words and
grammatical structures are used in real English. The example on the screen shows the word “grammar”
and all the different ways that “grammar” is used in sentences in English. In fact, it shows how “grammar”
has been used in real sentences written by real writers and speakers of English. Our expert Joe Geluso is
going to explain how to use a corpus to study both grammar and vocabulary.

Output from a corpus search of the word "grammar"

This work is a derivative of "Search results for grammar" by Corpus of Contemporary American English. This derivative is licensed under
CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Slide 18. Joe Geluso, Corpus Researcher and Teacher. Hi, my name’s Joe Geluso. I’m
studying towards my PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology at Iowa State
University. Before coming to Iowa State, I was teaching English in Mexico and Japan,
where I studied Spanish and Japanese while teaching. In terms of my research here at
Iowa State, I’m very interested in the patterning of language, and how that patterning
might help us as researchers to better understand grammar rules, how language is
represented in the mind, and how language is learned. Corpus linguistics, the topic I’ll
be talking about in this course, is a great methodology to uncover patterns in language
and help us gain insights into how language is used, and learned from those insights. I
look forward to working with you. Joe Geluso

"Joe Geluso" by Iowa

State University is
licensed under CC BY 4.0

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Part 4
Slide 19. Technology for English Language Learning. In this course, we will see how technology has
helped in the teaching of reading. Reading is a complex process that has to be taught in class and practiced
every day. Our expert, Professor Tammy Slater, will help us to understand how reading develops. With
this knowledge, teachers can help their students learn to read.

Slide 20. Tammy Slater, Reading Expert. My name is Tammy Slater and I am
an associate professor in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a second
or foreign language. I’m originally from Western Canada and I spent several
years teaching English in Japan, but I moved to the American Midwest about
seven years ago to teach at and do research for this university. I teach a variety
of courses here, including introduction to linguistics, but my main interest is in
literacy methods and theories. I regularly teach a graduate course on this topic
for ESL teachers, and I developed and taught a course for undergraduate
Prof. Tammy Slater
students who are learning to be ESL teachers.
"Prof. Tammy Slater" by Iowa
Slide 21. Technology and Reading. Professor Slater explains that students State University is licensed
under CC BY 4.0
need to have interesting things to read and that motivation is the key. The
Internet provides reading on every topic in the world and lots of topics are in
English.

Slide 22. American English. The Internet is full of reading opportunities for students. We’ll take a look at
the American English website that has a section called “Resources” where students can find lots of texts
that should be interesting for them to read.

Slide 23. Fan Fiction. We will also call on one of our experts, Professor Shannon Sauro, to tell us about fan
fiction. Shannon is an Associate professor at Malmö University in Sweden. She researches fandom, fan
practices, and computer-assisted language learning. And she is actually a fan so she is the best person to
help us understand how powerful fandoms are for motivating readers. Students read a text and then they
discuss the text online with other students, who are interested in the same text.

Slide 24. Hi, I’m Shannon Sauro, and I’m an associate professor in the
department of Culture, Languages, and Media at Malmö University here in
Sweden, and I train future teachers who are specializing in teaching English
to elementary, middle, and high school students in Sweden. And my
research is therefore connected to classroom language teaching. In
particular, I look at the digital and creative linguistic practices of language
learners in online communities in fan spaces and on social media, for
example, like fanfiction. And I look at how these can be used or
transformed into teaching activities to help our students develop their
digital literacy and English language skills. So far, I’ve used an investigative Prof. Shannon Sauro
collaborative online fanfiction based on The Hobbit and the Sherlock Holmes
"Prof. Shannon Sauro" by
mysteries to help with advanced language learning and literary learning. And Shannon Sauro is licensed
under CC BY 4.0

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I also do work in tele-collaboration or online inter-cultural exchange, to link classes in different countries
for the purpose of language and inter-cultural learning.

Slide 25. Technology for English Language Learning. Writing is another key area for English language
teachers. We will see how technology has transformed the process of writing and created new
opportunities for language learners. Writing is an important skill in the world today in part because people
communicate using written language for email and text messages. Our expert, Professor Elena Cotos, will
help us to understand how technology can also help novice writers.

Slide 26. Elena Cotos, Writing Expert. My name is Elena Cotos. I am an

assistant professor in the Applied Linguistics and Technology program in the
English Department at Iowa State University. I’m also the director of the
Center for Communication Excellence of the Graduate College at Iowa State.
Much of my teaching experience has been related to academic writing. For
the past few years, for example, I have been teaching a graduate studies
course that prepares graduate students from different disciplines to write
publishable thesis chapters. I have also taught an advanced workshop in
academic writing as well as ESL courses in oral and written communication, Prof. Elena Cotos
and first year composition for undergraduate students. From the courses
"Prof. Elena Cotos" by Iowa State
offered to students who major in linguistics, I’ve taught linguistic analysis University is licensed under CC BY 4.0
both to graduates and undergraduate students, and special topics, for
example “Genre Analysis and Learning Technologies”. Before coming to Iowa State, I taught in an EFL
setting, and of course I taught language classes focused on particular language skills like grammar,
speaking, listening comprehension, and I also taught courses in lexicology, stylistics, oral and written
translation.

Slide 27. Technology and Writing. We will

also take a look at some of the many tools
that are available for students as they
write. This one is one example called
Grammarly, which is a tool that makes
corrections for students on their writing.
You can see in the example how
Grammarly has identified spelling errors
as well as grammar errors in students’
writing.

Error correction in Grammarly software

This work is a derivative of "Grammarly" by Grammarly. This derivative is licensed under CC BY

4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

7
Part 5
Slide 28. Technology for English Language Learning. Later in the course, we will see how technology has
opened up the world of spoken English for language learners everywhere. The Internet provides precious
opportunities for listening in on English in use for many different purposes. Our expert, Professor Gary
Ockey, will help us to understand what listening really means so teachers can make the best use of
technology for developing their students’ listening skills.

Slide 29. Gary Ockey, Listening Expert. Let me begin by briefly

introducing myself. My name is Gary Ockey, and I’m a professor
at Iowa State University. I first began teaching English when I was
in my early twenties, I was teaching English in Taiwan. And I
taught there for a few years and I became very interested in
especially listening and speaking, but I’ll talk about listening today.
And then I worked at the Educational Testing Service for a number
of years, and there I worked on the TOEFL (Test of English as a
Foreign Language) listening test. And I’ll talk just a little bit about
that as I move on. And the other thing that I’m doing right now
that’s related to listening is co-authoring a book on the
assessment of listening. And in this book we discuss questions
Prof. Gary Ockey
such as the following: “What is listening ability?” “Should it
include visual information, for example?” “Should it include the "Prof. Gary Ockey" by Iowa State University is
licensed under CC BY 4.0
ability to accommodate to a variety of accents?” and “Should
listening be taught with only authentic material?” I’m going to talk a little bit about each of these aspects
as I answer some of the other questions that I’ll be asked. So that gives you a little bit of an idea of my
background.

Slide 30. Technology & Listening. We will take a

look at examples of the kinds of listening that
students can find on the Internet. Students can
find interesting talks with excellent content like
this example of Ted Talks, which are very popular
in the United States and around the world.

TED Talks

“TED Ideas worth spreading” by TED. This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or
distributed after the end of this course. It is not Public Domain or Creative Commons-licensed, and therefore
not for public use. Please do not save a copy for your personal use, and do not use it after the course ends.

8
Slide 31. Technology and Listening. Students can also listen and watch news from America on the Voice
of America website.

Voice of America website

“Voice of America” by VoA News. This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or distributed after the
end of this course. It is not Public Domain or Creative Commons-licensed, and therefore not for public use. Please do not
save a copy for your personal use, and do not use it after the course ends.

Slide 32. Technology for English Language Learning. As part of the course, we also explore how
technology can connect learners around the world for oral communication in English. Our expert,
Professor John Levis, will help us to understand the kind of help that students need to develop their
speaking skills. We will take a look at how we can use technology for helping students to improve their
pronunciation and fluency.

Slide 33. John Levis, Speaking Expert. I’m John Levis, I am a professor in the
Applied Linguistics program here at Iowa State, and I teach classes in oral
communication and oral language, a class in technology and oral language,
and another graduate class in the teaching of pronunciation in speaking and
listening. I also teach undergraduate classes in phonetics and phonology and
this semester I’m teaching a class in dialects in American literature, and I’m
co-teaching that with another faculty member.
Prof. John Levis

"Prof. John Levis" by Iowa State

University is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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Slide 34. YouGlish for Pronunciation. Here’s one example of a website that’s intended to help students
with their pronunciation. Students can type in a word or a phrase into this website and the website will
do a search throughout the Internet to find video that shows an example of a speaker of English saying
the word or phrase that the student wanted to hear.

Slide 35. YouGlish for Pronunciation. For example, when I typed in “How’s it going?” the website made a
search and found an example of this video, where we see a person speaking and it shows the segment
where he actually pronounces the expression, “How’s it going?” There are many such segments that the
computer found. In fact, for this particular, “How’s it going,” the computer found 258 examples. That’s
a lot of examples to look at if you want to refine your pronunciation of “How’s it going?”

YouGlish results

This work is a derivative of "How to pronounce “How’s it going” in English (1 out of 258)" by YouGlish. This derivative is
licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Part 6
Slide 36. Using technologies in language teaching. I expect that you’ll see during the course why people
say that technology empowers English language teachers. Technology empowers teachers with large
selections of English language materials for you and your students. Technological resources allow you to
find new ways to teach and learn English. Technology also provides access to what’s happening in the
English-speaking world and sources for spoken English language. It has also prompted collection of data
and development of methods for finding how English grammar and vocabulary are used. It offers
opportunities to participate in English language communication. I’m sure that during the course you’re
going to find lots of other ways that technology can empower you in the English language classroom.

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Slide 37. I hope that you will also see during this course, how
technology empowers students. Technology empowers students with
English language materials for them to choose from. It gives up-to-
date information about what’s happening in the English-speaking
world including popular culture, science, sports, and international
politics. It gives opportunities to hear spoken English language and
lots of examples showing how English grammar and vocabulary are
used. It provides opportunities to participate in English language "Students using laptop" by Iowa State
University is licensed under CC BY 4.0
communication and lots of new ways to get help and learn English.

Slide 38. The Biggest Change! Most teachers find that the biggest
change that comes with the use of technology for English language
learning is that the students become empowered to take on their
own learning. They become interested. They learn how to find
things for themselves. They take an active part in learning and this
of course we know as teachers is the most important aspect of our
teaching--to get students interested, motivated and ready to learn
on their own.

Slide 39. The Need. We want students to be able to learn on their

own but they often don’t know how to do it. Teachers need to "Group work using laptop" by Iowa State
know the technologies and how to help students develop their University is licensed under CC BY 4.0
agency as learners, so that they can become lifelong language learners.

Slide 40. Looking Forward… Later in the course we will focus on creating
activities for your students, teaching others about technology for English
language learning, and the next generation technologies. To take up these
topics we will call on the perfect expert to help us. Professor Greg Kessler is a
Professor at Ohio University where he has been working on CALL, teacher
education, and new technologies for many years.

Slide 41. Hello, my name’s Greg Kessler, and I’m a professor of Computer
Assisted Language Learning in the department of Linguistics at Ohio University.
I look forward to meeting all of you, and working with you.
Prof. Greg Kessler
Slide 42. We will ask Greg… We will ask Greg how he and the teachers he works
"Prof. Greg Kessler" by Greg
with create activities for English language learners. We’ll also ask what tips he Kessler is licensed under CC BY 4.0
can share about teaching others about using technology for English language
learning. And then we will ask him what he predicts will be the next generation
technologies for English language learning.

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Slide 43. Once again, we welcome to this exciting course and we are delighted that you have decided to
learn more about the use of educational technology in the English Language classroom. We are all looking
forward to working with you.

Profs. Carol Chapelle and Volker Hegelheimer

"Profs. Carol Chapelle and Volker Hegelheimer"

by Iowa State University is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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