This paper argues for the innovative application of information technology (IT) to the English language teaching  for non-English majors in colleges and universities in China. IT innovative application is considered one of the major goals in the College English Teaching Reform (CETR) started by State Education Ministry since 2004. The arguments in the paper are presented in terms of CETR development, majorly covering these issues: (a) the evolution of the roles and functions of computer in language education in Chinese context; (b) the changes and mismatches in the curriculum enactment with the integration of computer into the teaching; (c) the innovative application of  computer or IT to the college English teaching system. Based on the investigation of CETR process, the paper discusses the above issues majorly from the education ecological perspectives, triggering reflection to the inadequacies of  the present IT application to teaching  and raising a framework of innovative application  of IT to college English teaching.

This presentation first explains the background of Korean government's digital textbook development project and the concept of digital textbooks. Korea's digital textbooks provide the content of paper-book textbooks in digital content, and provide various reference materials, work book and learning dictionaries in an integrated way. They also include multimedia content such as video clips and animation and virtual reality content, and provide Internet search functions as well. Thus, digital textbooks make it possible to provide a more lively and learner-oriented learning environment. Second, it will exemplify the digital contents developed for teaching English to elementary school students. Finally, it will discuss pros and cons of the digital textbooks and ethical issues impacting them.

Presenter: Dr. Inseok Kim graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies with a BA in English Language and Literature in 1980. He holds an MA degree in the field of TEFL at Southern Illinois University and in Bilingual Education and Applied Linguistics, respectively, a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. He taught at Brown University for a number of years and was thereafter a visiting scholar to MIT and Harvard for a year each. He is currently Professor of ESL and Applied Linguistics at Dongduk Women's University in Seoul, Korea. His major research interests have been in second language acquisition, multimedia-assisted language learning/teaching, and design and developments of multimedia English contents. He published a dozen books on English language teaching/learning and multimedia contents developments. He also published a large number of articles on Multimedia and English Education in the Korean as well as international journals. He is currently President of Asia-Pacific Association of Multimedia Assisted Language Learning and Chairman of Program Development Committee of National Jechu English Education Center.     

This paper argues 3D Virtual Worlds and Multimedia are ways of reshaping Foreign Language Curricula, specifically in SecondLife. It discusses an investigation of teachers’ perceptions of the use of the 3D simulated virtual world Second Life, and factors that affect their willingness to integrate. 3D Virtual worlds are widely used in gaming and offer richly detailed immersive sensory experiences and, in multi-user scenarios, a means of communication with other users. Used for distance education, these spaces offer a unique context for engaging with content, instructors, and fellow learners through text, audio, and visual representations of people and spaces. The arguments in this paper categorized into current practices, perceptions, and viability. The Current Practices category includes purpose, current ownership of islands or space in SL, and implementation in instructional context. The Perceptions category surveys perceptions of SL as a 3D MUVE and a teaching and learning tool. Finally, the Viability category sheds insights strengths, weaknesses, and challenges on using SL in educational contexts.

Presenter: Dr. Muhammet Demirbilek is a graduate faculty and visiting research scholar in Digital Worlds Institute at University of Florida and assistant professor of educational technology program at Suleyman Demirel University/Turkey. He earned his doctoral and master’s degree in Educational Technology from the University of Florida has worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Games, Learning, and Society (GLS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronics engineering from Istanbul University. His current research interests include the deeper impact of social networks, virtual worlds and the role of digital games and simulations in teaching and learning and the relationship between second language learning and game play.

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is hardly a new phenomenon generally accepted in foreign language classrooms as an effective way to foster academic growth and simultaneously develop language proficiency. However, CBI has hardly been considered a Language Education Policy in China nor has it been widely related to multimedia language education. The study intends to answer the question: How can multimedia-based CBI as a LEP contribute to language learners’ proficiency in China? Based on a previous one-year research on the efficacy of CBI in the Chinese college English classrooms, the study aims to show the significance of multimedia-based CBI as a LEP in affecting learners’ affective factors, constructing a contextualized learning environment, and improving learners’ overall language proficiency, and therefore, should be considered an effective method of foreign language education. The study will also point out the shift of teachers’ role under the multimedia-based CBI: not only as language instructor, but also as class designer, emotional motivator, learning facilitator, and technology supporter all in one. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are stated in the end.

Presenter:   Yan LIU graduated with honors from Shanghai International Studies University and got an M.A. in English in 2008. She then joined the College of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jianqiao University, and have been working as an ESL Instructor since. In six years, she completed two municipal projects on Applied Linguistics, published five papers concerning TESOL, and won nine foreign language teaching awards (including one 3rd prize in National Foreign Language Teaching Contest, 2012). Since last September, Yan Liu researched on Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Education Policy at Shanghai International Studies University as a visiting scholar. Her major research interest lies in SLA, Foreign Language Education Policies, Curriculum and Instruction.

Foreign language education in China can be traced back to more than 700 years ago. But education technology was not applied to China’s foreign language education until 1920s. This paper makes a historical review of the major foreign language education policies and their interaction with education technology in China since 1920s. Education technology brings multimedia into foreign language education. The review of the development of education technology shows the advancement of both technology itself and foreign language education theories and practices. Both major national and local language policies would be cited to analyze their emergence in multimedia context and their influence on foreign language education. It can be found that foreign language education has experienced several ups and downs throughout these years. The development of education technology in foreign language education has also gong through several stages. Language policies and language education maintain a dynamic balance between each other. With the rapid development of education technology, foreign language education would be better facilitated in future on condition that language education policies and theories are able to make effective use of more advanced technology. More consideration are required for making appropriate foreign language education policies in dynamic multimedia context in China.

Presenter:  Chen LI is a lecturer in School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University in Nanjing. He is now pursuing his PhD studies in Shanghai International Studies University. His research area includes foreign language education theories and practices, language policy, and education technology. Major Publications: Mapping Analysis of Human Bodily Words — a Micro-comparative Perspective of Metaphor. Foreign Language Teaching Reform and Practice. (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Press, 2006); New Century English, CD-ROM Book Three and Four. Shanghai Foreign Language and Education Press. 2008 (Coauthor); Principles and Methods of the Evaluation of College English Research Studies. Journal of Southeast University (Philosophy and Social Science Special Edition) 2008. Major Research Projects: (a) Mother Tongue Influence on English Idiom Acquisition 2012; (b) New Objective of College English Listening 2008.

Teaching and learning of a language either as a first or second language in monolingual, a multilingual, multiethnic, and culturally pluralistic country have  always been a topic of debates, discussions and bone of contention among linguists, litterateurs and language pedagogues  since decades. The complexities in language teaching and learning sparked enormous heated arguments in the past and at  present too and created a situation that demands the need to re-examine and re-evaluate the total language educational programme and also our approaches to language teaching- learning in particular and language testing and evaluation in general. There has been an increasing concern and consensus that the language learners (specifically their competency in their mother tongue) should be looked upon as its most valuable resource in the national growth. Needless to say, in the field of education, understanding of all the subjects is fully depend upon one’s competency in the language in which the courses are designed. Language is supposed to be the backbone of the educational edifice. Therefore, the pupils have to come up with the minimum essential requirements (or minimum competency level) in the concerned language.

The present study discusses in detail the issues and factors that are responsible for the present pitiable condition of the teaching-learning in general with the objective to highlight them in order to draw the attention of policy makers, curriculum planners, syllabus framers, linguist, educationists, experts of language pedagogy text book writers, language teachers and whosoever associated with language education. It is hoped that the author’s viewpoints, arguments, concluding remarks and suggestions in the said paper would be in the wider interest of the country. This in turn will hopefully help them better evaluate the existing and on-going language education programmes in a broader perspective. Since ‘teaching’, ‘learning’ and ‘evaluation’ are inter-linked and go side by side in any language instructional programme. The paper is therefore concerned with the teaching-learning of Indian languages with reference to testing and evaluation. 

Presenter:  Dr. Nehal Ahmad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language at King Khalid University, in the College of Science and Arts,  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

As CALL(Computer Assisted Language Learning) became a new trend among China’s college English learners nowadays ,it is time that teachers reflected on their teaching methodology innovation with the new technological advancement. Anyway, only by integration can CALL be truly emerged into the routing classroom activities. Though this is the ultimate goal of our awareness, we would like to construct the ideal ecological model of education, so as to move towards a successful approach to normalization. Some basic principles and rationales of designing this model are also presented in this paper. In practice, it is of great importance to have an accurate understanding for the application of this model to avoid “transplanting” it blindly. So some detailed analysis and possible solutions are also proposed in this paper.

Presenter: Tingna ZHANG received her bachelor’s degree in  English Education from Jiangxi Normal University in 2005 and her Master’s degree in English language and literature from Central China Normal University in 2008. Since 2005 she has been teaching at Jiujiang University in Jiangxi, and now as a Visiting Scholar at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). Her research areas include corpus linguistics, language acquisition, and foreign language pedagogy.