History of Educational Technology in ELT

  • Period: to

    Before CALL

    Era before integration of CALL
  • Slates and Chalk

    Slates and Chalk
    In the 1800s, paper was still too expensive for many families and school districts. So, people needed a less costly way to write. Personal slates and chalk solved that problem and allowed for students to erase any mistakes.
  • Chalkboard

    Chalkboard
    A chalkboard is a dark-coloured board that you can write on with chalk. Chalkboards are often used by teachers in the classroom. Especially during earlier eras where teacher had fewer resources for visual representations of the language, chalkboards held an important part in the language classrooms as well. Today it is replaced by usual whiteboards in most classes.
  • Period: to

    Era of CALL

    Computer Assisted Language Learning
  • Skinner Teaching Machine

    Skinner Teaching Machine
    Behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner invented this too. The teaching machine allowed students to learn at their own pace. His model varied slightly from others that had been around since the 1920s. It puts questions and answers on paper discs. First used in structural CALL to provide students with drills.
  • Photocopier

    Photocopier
    Today’s scanner owes a nod to the photocopier. At the time, it gave teachers and admin the chance to make copies of class material. Almost at once, this new tech took over for the mimeograph and others like it. Using photocopiers and scanners, language teachers gained access to multiplied printed copies of digital materials such as flashcards, worksheets, handouts used for language teaching.
  • Period: to

    Structural CALL

    This model of CALL involved repetitive language drills such as “dialogues and pattern drills designed to condition learners to produce automatic, correct responses to language stimuli” (Kern and Warschauer, 2000, p.3)
  • Personal Computer

    Personal Computer
    At first, the personal computer was a step past the type writer. Along with the Plato computer they made a splash in the education market too. Being used in communicative CALL era personal computers are enormous parts of teaching and learning languages.
  • Mobile Assisted Language Learning

    Mobile Assisted Language Learning
    Known as MALL. Firstly phones were used to provide assistance and feedback for distant language learners. Later educators from Brigham Young University conducted a distance language learning program, nowadays mobile devices are a big part of language learning and teaching in classrooms.
  • Period: to

    Communicative CALL

    Proponents of Communicative CALL downplayed the drill and practice method of Structural CALL as it did not promote authentic communication. Rather, they accentuated an intense focus on the use of language forms than on the forms themselves, the implicit teaching of grammar, encouraging learners to produce original utterances instead of manipulating prefabricated language forms.(John, 1984, p.52; Warschauer and Healey, 1998, p.57; Lee, 2000; Warschauer, 1996, p.5).
  • CD-ROM Drive

    CD-ROM Drive
    With a CD ROM Drive, one was able to save a whole encyclopedia on one disk. Inevitably, CD-ROMs contributed to language teaching by storing listening activities and many interactive book materials such as applications, dictionaries and many more.
  • World Wide Web

    World Wide Web
    The access to info and people from around the world helped its popularity explode and change the world. Thanks to search engines, one can ask a question and get an answer fast. Even faster with high speed internet. Internet provides instant access to limitless authentic materials for language teaching and learning.
  • Social Media

    Social Media
    First on the social media scene was the site SixDegrees.com. Not educational technology at all. But let’s credit these platforms for some positives. Like YouTube for instructional videos. And LinkedIn for professional development, livechat application for real speaking opportunities. Social media brings a huge contribution and support onto the table in terms of learning/teaching a language.
  • Interactive Whiteboard

    Interactive Whiteboard
    The interactive whiteboard is handy digital tool. So much so that many school systems are rolling them out. They use a touch sensitive screen, projector, and computer. Much like the chalkboard and overhead projector that came before. Today’s models make team work easier. Concerning the language classroom, teachers are now able to use a lot of interactive and visual materials with ease such as videos, digital games, flashcards...
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    Integrative CALL

    Approaches sought to assemble learners in authentic environments and to integrate their various skills of language learning and use. This led to a new perspective on technology and language learning, which was named Integrative CALL (Warschauer, 1996, p.6;
    Warschauer and Healey, 1998, p.58), a perspective which seeks to integrate language skills as well as technology more fully into the language learning process.
  • Web 2.0

    Web 2.0
    The term Web 2.0 has a clear origin: was first used by O'Reilly Media (known for being a techbookpublishing) at a conference in October 2004. Everyone and developers gained open access to data on web which brought out so many programs, useful websites, social platforms and almost limitless accessible and editable codes. We see them as kahoot games, interactive web pages, quizlets etc. in language teaching classrooms.
  • Tablets

    Tablets
    Came after smartphones. These small sized electronic devices could be considered as smaller and practical versions of personal computers. Can be easily carried around and brought into the classroom for student access; running applications, videos, listening files, language games etc.