ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE ‘The Digital Age has transformed our learning, particularly for adolescents and young adults. This book puts forward innovative methods and observations from which both teachers and students could greatly benefit in the Digital Age. As such, this is a much needed and timely book. I strongly recommend it to all who are interested in language learning.’ —Jieun Kiaer, University of Oxford ‘The authors have created a thoroughly documented, research-based, practical toolkit for 21st-century English language educators worldwide, using compelling storytelling and interactive suggestion. I would use it for teacher training in a flash.’ —Denyze Toffoli, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, IUT-A English Language Learning in the Digital Age is a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical background and real-world application of IDLE (Informal Digital Learning of English). Designed for teachers and future teachers preparing to teach English as a second or other language, this highly practical guide focuses on incorporating digital technology into curricula to draw upon the extracurricular exposures to English that many students experience outside of the classroom. With some creativity and care, teachers can find ways to bring these experiences with English into the classroom, ultimately improving student learning outcomes. Offering a specific focus on examples and case studies drawn from language education in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, this text employs a three-part structure beginning with the theories behind autonomous learning and the importance of informal language learning for young adults. Part two demonstrates various methods for integrating games, social media, e-books, language software, mobile apps, and other digital resources into the classroom. The third section addresses the use of IDLE methods to bridge the gap between informal and formal uses of English, the advantages and disadvantages of IDLE in flipped classrooms and online teaching, and how IDLE strategies can enhance mandated curricula and better prepare students for national exams. The book concludes with a brief discussion of the future of language learning and the need to include digital technologies and learner-driven strategies in education policy. English Language Learning in the Digital Age is an ideal textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of language education and language acquisition, as well as teachers and teachers-in-training who are preparing to teach English in countries where English is not the primary language.

In the digital age, technology has become essential for online learning and teaching for learners at all levels of education. YouTube is highly popular amongst young people in Hong Kong and across the globe. In foreign language acquisition, how do learners perceive the use of YouTube for English learning in out-of-class settings? This book reports the findings of a case study of learners at a university in Hong Kong from students’ perspectives. The detailed, qualitative study adopts a narrative inquiry approach in order to examine students’ perceptions, factors shaping them, and the extent to which perceptions affect language learning practices on YouTube. The implications highlighted here include developing five qualities for learners that facilitate autonomous and experiential learning out-of-class, training that supplements in-class learning, and whole-person development. The findings shed light on understanding students’ needs and interests for an improved quality of language teaching that meets the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age is for all those interested in considering the impact of emerging digital technologies on teaching and learning. It explores the concept of a digital age and perspectives of knowledge, pedagogy and practice within a digital context. By examining teaching with digital technologies through new learning theories cognisant of the digital age, it aims to both advance thinking and offer strategies for teaching technology-savvy students that will enable meaningful learning experiences. Illustrated throughout with case studies from across the subjects and the age range, key issues considered include: how young people create and share knowledge both in and beyond the classroom and how current and new pedagogies can support this level of achievement the use of complexity theory as a framework to explore teaching in the digital age the way learning occurs – one way exchanges, online and face-to-face interactions, learning within a framework of constructivism, and in communities what we mean by critical thinking, why it is important in a digital age, and how this can occur in the context of learning how students can create knowledge through a variety of teaching and learning activities, and how the knowledge being created can be shared, critiqued and evaluated. With an emphasis throughout on what it means for practice, this book aims to improve understanding of how learning theories currently work and can evolve in the future to promote truly effective learning in the digital age. It is essential reading for all teachers, student teachers, school leaders, those engaged in Masters’ Level work, as well as students on Education Studies courses.

Moving beyond the ‘Web 2.0’ and ‘digital native’ rhetoric, this book addresses the complex experiences of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in a world embedded with interactive and participatory technologies. Adopting a sociocultural perspective, it investigates EFL learners’ behaviours concerning digital technology, and guides exploration into their contextually mediated choices and learning practices in the ‘2.0’ era. The argument is developed on the basis of the findings of a mixed sequential study that focused on 1485 Chinese undergraduates’ use and non-use of online tools and applications outside the English classroom. Particular attention is paid to the role of context and agency when understanding their learning choices and behaviours in the context of digital technology. In particular, the book acknowledges the explanatory power of agency in the minority instances of ‘good practices’ among these EFL learners. At the same time it demonstrates that for most learners, use of the current web is limited and mostly non-interactive. The barriers to ‘2.0’ transfer are largely contextual and the so-called ‘communicative opportunities’ and ‘participatory culture’ in particular did not fit into the learners’ sociocultural context of (language) learning. Overall, the compelling argument proposes that the technology-facilitated changes in EFL practices are a ‘bottom up’ process that is taking place in day-to-day situations and constrained by the learning context within which the learner is situated. Based on these arguments, the book provides a framework that challenges the existing beliefs about (language) learning with online technology, and that contributes to our understanding of how context mediates EFL learners’ behaviours surrounding digital technologies. It is a valuable resource for teachers, researchers and policy makers, providing them with insights into using digital technology to stimulate ‘good learning practices’ outside the classroom.

Foreign Language Learning in the Digital Age addresses the growing significance of diversifying media in contemporary society and expands on current discourses that have formulated media and a multitude of literacies as integral objectives in 21st-century education. The book engages with epistemological and critical foundations of multiliteracies and related pedagogies for foreign language-learning contexts. It includes a discussion of how multimodal and digital media impact meaning-making practices in learning, the inherent potentials and challenges that are foregrounded in the use of multimodal and digital media and the contribution that (foreign) language education can provide in developing multiliteracies. The volume additionally addresses foreign language education across the formal educational spectrum: from primary education to adult and teacher education. This multifaceted volume presents the scope of media and literacies for foreign language education in the digital age and examples of best practice for working with media in formal language learning contexts. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of language teaching and learning, digital education, media education, applied linguistics and TESOL.

How do we intentionally design physical environments for language learning and teaching? How can we build spaces that are inclusive, accessible, safe and equitable? While the Covid-19 pandemic has advanced notions of online education, it has also revealed the benefits and affordances of human-to-human interaction in physical learning spaces. This book explores the design of physical spaces intended for language learning specifically. From residential learning spaces to active classrooms, from social and experiential spaces to zoom rooms and language centers, from mobile community-based learning to hybrid makerspaces, language learners and educators have more choices than ever regarding their possible learning environments. Changing pedagogies and new technologies provide ever more alternatives to the normalized technology of the classroom. With a focus on creating new awareness of the affordances and benefits of physical spaces as active agents in the language learning and teaching processes, this book takes a practical approach to introduce readers without any prior knowledge of design or architecture to the topic. As language learning spaces need to consider stakeholders from diverse cultures, Felix Kronenberg provides examples from language centers around the world, including Asia, Europe and the United States. Readers will learn how to conceptualize and create supportive, resilient, flexible, inclusive, accessible, affordable, sustainable, and safe physical learning spaces. The book is an interdisciplinary introduction to this emerging field, drawing from research in disciplines such as architecture, learning spaces design, second language acquisition, pedagogy, history, and sociology.

In the twenty-first century, learning—and the definition of education—is changing. New digital, online, and social tools have the ability to transform the classroom and engage learners like never before. In the midst of this technological revolution, it is crucial for educators and administrators to be able to gauge the impact of digital tools on learners in a variety of settings. Measuring and Analyzing Informal Learning in the Digital Age addresses the need for educators, administrators, and professionals across industries to be more attentive to the learning process outside of a traditional classroom setting. As online learning, and MOOCs in particular, become more mainstream, tracking informal learning becomes difficult despite the necessity of feedback and measurement in non-formal learning environments. Investigating some of the primary technologies being used in educational settings and how a less structured and more open learning environment can effectively motivate students and non-traditional learners, this premier reference is a crucial source of information for educators, administrators, theorists, and other professionals in the field of education.

This book gathers the Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2017), held in Budapest, Hungary on 27–29 September 2017. The authors are currently witnessing a significant transformation in the development of education. The impact of globalisation on all areas of human life, the exponential acceleration of technological developments and global markets, and the need for flexibility and agility are essential and challenging elements of this process that have to be tackled in general, but especially in engineering education. To face these current real-world challenges, higher education has to find innovative ways to quickly respond to them. Since its inception in 1998, this conference has been devoted to new approaches in learning with a focus on collaborative learning. Today the ICL conferences offer a forum for exchange concerning relevant trends and research results, and for sharing practical experience gained while developing and testing elements of new technologies and pedagogies in the learning context.

This volume focuses on the implications of digital technologies for educators and educational decision makers that are not widely represented in the literature. The chapters contained in the volume are based on the presentations at the 2020 edition of the CELDA conference and cover multiple developments in the field such as deploying learning technologies, proposing pedagogical approaches and practices to address digital transformation, and presenting case studies of specific technologies and contexts. The chapters form a lively debate and provide a comprehensive analysis of the contribution of learning technologies designed to improve the learning process and the experience of the students as well as to develop key competences.