The computer is in the learners' hands: are we preparing our teacher-trainees enough for the digital age?

Abstract

Today we live in the age of the computer and there are growing demands on almost everyone, regardless of his/her profession, to become technologically literate; language teachers are no exception. There has been an explosion of interest in using the computer in the language teaching and learning classrooms in recent years especially with the multitude of resources available and the promise of the technology as a communication tool that can bring together language teachers and learners from across the globe. Just one or two decades ago, it was not a common sight to see a computer in use in a language learning classroom as it was the concern and interest of only a small number of specialists. Today however, with the advent of multimedia computing and the Internet, the role that a computer plays in language instruction has now become an important issue confronting large number of language teachers throughout the world. The question is whether or not these teachers have been equipped and trained enough to adopt the technology in their language teaching and learning classrooms. For an experienced teacher, the main problem faced by them may only be learning about the technology and how best to integrate the technology in his/ her classroom. But for teachers new in the profession, adopting a computer in their classroom teaching could pose a big challenge to them as not only are they lacking in teaching experience, now they are confronted with yet another challenge, that is integrating the technology in their language teaching and learning classroom.