iTESOL: Analogous practices in the SLA classroom

iTESOL: Analogous practices in the SLA classroom

Recent studies of emerging technologies have shown that mobile phone production now exceeds one billion devices globally per year (Johnson, Levine & Smith, 2008). With a level of production that signifies a shift in the ownership of 'networked machines' from institutions to individuals, the broad appeal of portable technologies now offers individuals access and control over a growing range of electronic resources. This paper explores resource sharing and collaborative communications practices in the spaces of the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) classroom. From informal conversations with students and the writer’s observations, the paper discusses the processes of language acquisition that can emerge through portable technologies such as handheld translators, smartphones, portable computers, and so on. It considers how these kinds of technologies orchestrate and influence student classroom interactions and experiences. In particular, the writing examines social learning in the SLA classroom, and how, what is often subtle dialogue between digital/electronic technologies and classroom learners, can provide enduring and creative frameworks for language acquisition in the contemporary world.