Technologies for Language Learning and Teaching

Catalog description

In the last decade, the landscape of second language learning and teaching has moved online. Numerous edtech ventures have funneled hundreds of million dollars into online tutoring in English for young students by companies like VIPKid, mobile apps like DuoLingo have used gamification to keep millions of learners of second languages motivated, and social robots are bring developed to support young children's language development. In this course we address critical questions: How can technology applications be supportive of second language learning and teaching for young and adult learners? What works and what doesn't work? What evidence do we have? To answer these questions, we bring together research and design two academic fields: (1) Theories and instructional approaches for teaching and learning a second language; and (2) Theories and designs using technologies for learning and teaching. Our goal is to examine how the integration of these two efforts can result in more supportive and effective learning and teaching in a time, in which technologies provide new opportunities and challenges for second language learning and teaching.