Challenges and opportunities for technology in foreign language classrooms

Authors:
Katie Kuksenok;Michael Brooks;Qian Wang;Charlotte P. Lee
Affiliations:
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA;University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA;University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA;University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2013

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Abstract

We present the results of a two-month ethnographic study of three introductory Russian classrooms. Through observation and interviews, we identify several distinct roles played by physical artifacts in the classrooms, such as providing a reference to necessary foreign-language material and serving as props in creative role-play. The range of roles taken on by artifacts and the attitudes students have toward them provide a basis for our discussion about how technology might be more effectively introduced into the socially negotiated environment of the introductory foreign-language classroom. We identify the need to balance between collaborative and personal technology in a stressful, but social, context. Our findings inform a range of roles that technology can undertake in replacing or augmenting existing classroom artifacts.