Final Essay

Introduction

This reflective essay explores the integration of technology during a student-teaching experience in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. It highlights how digital tools like ChatGPT, Canvas, Kahoot!, and LibreOffice were used to design and adapt lessons, improve student engagement, and enhance teaching effectiveness despite limited technological resources. The essay also considers theoretical support, particularly Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, and reflects on the practical benefits and challenges of using technology in education.

Reflective Essay:  A Student-Teacher’s Reflection on Technology in Foreign Language Teaching

During my classes at the institution where I did my student-teaching I used technology in both the process of designing the lessons and implementing them, although in the implementation phase I had to adapt to both the conditions or technological budget of the school and mine as well. I used technology to record and play audio material specifically for pre-task purposes. For that same purpose in another lesson I used an AI tool called ChatGPT to write a passage or text that students had to read. I used tools like canvas to design flashcards and other sorts of graphical representations to support explanations. I also used a platform called Kahoot! to design high participation games, mainly quizzes about the things they learned in that specific class or lesson. Another tool used under the designing context was LibreOffice, which used to create a worksheet as extra material for students to develop to gain even more knowledge and practice of what they learned. Now, a successful experience with the technology happened during a lesson I had about ‘wh-’ questions, specifically during the practice/game sections where I had the Kahoot! I designed. Since the school nor I had any digital devices at the time such as a digital whiteboard or a TV, I had to adapt that Kahoot! to that case and the available resources, and so I used different colored cartoolina cards I made with my bare hands and with the help of scissors to make the options as they are normally represented by colors in the options on a Kahoot! quiz. Now, to present the questions and possible answers to the students, I had to do it by writing the question on the whiteboard and reading the possible options which I had on a sheet I printed, these options or possible answers were not set or organized as a, b, or c, but in a colored way, and so I had to say out loud and in front of the class the color and the option that color meant.

Implementing technology in the various phases of my lessons affected the students and my teaching positively, mainly because my students became more engaged and interested in the classes as a whole. It seemed as if using technology or at least strategies that implemented them one way or another changed the ‘chip’ or mentality they had towards the English subject at school. I have to say that it surprised me to see how many students were excited when I implemented or adapted the Kahoot strategy into classroom and the specific topic we were going through, as it was shown in a video recording I took. I think that although it surprised me, the effectiveness and benefits of using technology or multimedia when teaching has been talked about before and discussed, and it is supported by theories such as Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning by Mayer, who with the support of other cognitive researchers, argues that multimedia supports the way that the human brain learns. They assert that people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone, which is referred to as the multimedia principle (Mayer 2005a). Multimedia researchers generally define multimedia as the combination of text and pictures; and suggest that multimedia learning occurs when we build mental representations from these words and pictures (Mayer, 2005b). The words can be spoken or written, and the pictures can be any form of graphical imagery including illustrations, photos, animation, or video. Now, on the other perspective or side of the coin, that is to say on my side as teacher, using technology in the process or phases of designing and implementation of both teaching and learning materials made everything way easier and effective in terms of quality, inclusivity of student’s learning styles and obviously in terms of time spending in comparison with how lessons and materials and resources were thought and made in the past. Now, as in all things, nothing is perfect and there were challenges that my students and I faced. As you may already know because I already expressed it, the institution lacks of digital or technological devices that can be used as a support for the classes to present different learning and teaching material in a digital format, I guess this specific issue or challenge falls under the technical issues area.

From all this experiences and views I acquired during my student-teaching, I would say that the practical knowledge I acquired was substantially big and really useful. I truly value that I had to get involved into designing, creating, and applying materials and lessons that involved the use of digital tools, and by doing so I learned to design and make better lessons and supporting material through the use of the digital tools available on the internet for presenting, assessing, and playing in an EFL setting or classroom. To be honest my perspective in terms of using technology in foreign language teaching hasn’t changed much, mainly because I have always been a tech savvy person and a true believer that technology can improve many aspects of life, including one as essential as education, so from my point of view there are more positive things to see from using technology in the classroom than negative or bad things. Despite the things I expressed before, I think the use of technology in the classroom has to be well measured and controlled for it to achieve its full potential, as a helping tool for both teachers and students, and not just something entertaining that without the proper usage can generate the opposite results that we want or look for. I’d like to say that if I had the opportunity to go back in time I would most definitely try to assign less homework tasks and more practical activities in class, I would also try to focus on the flipped classroom methodology to help the students acquire or develop a sense autonomy when it comes to learning or getting prior knowledge before the actual lesson.

References

Mayer, R. E. (2005). Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge University Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267991109_The_Cognitive_Theory_of_Multimedia_Learning