Abstract：The rapid expansion of information and communication technology（ICT） is affecting foreign language education. This paper asserts that ICT has led foreign language education to a new era. However, there are wide disparities in access to ICT, both among and within countries. A notion known as the “digital divide” emerges to interpret these disparities. Developing countries, for the most part, have lagged behind using ICT. Consequently, getting ICT to reach wider beneficiaries and promoting the use of ICT in foreign language education seems to be imperative. This paper aims at finding ways out of the dilemma faced by developing countries. Based on some successful examples, it presents the current context in developing countries, analyses the barriers that restrain ICTs from widely spreading benefits and suggests relevant strategies at the local, national and global level,
Key words: ICT； foreign language education； developing countries； bridge,；digital divide
1. Introduction
As we embrace the new millennium, great changes can be seen everywhere. At the heart of these changes are the innovations made possible by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Especially, ICT has become integral to foreign language education that is now the lifeblood of our 21st century knowledge societies. Both developed and developing countries are beginning to use their investment in ICT to reform foreign language education. However, the use of information technologies leads to increasing disparities within and among developing countries. People living in the developed areas have the fastest computers, rich web content and well-trained skills to assist them to learn or teach foreign languages. Whereas, people living in the developing world still have limited access to the ICT-based education due to some constraints.This disparity is called the “digital divide”, which refers to a gap in access to information and communication technologies. More than 80% of people in the world have never ever heard a dial tone, surfed the Web, let alone received computer training.The main focus of this paper is to find ways to change the current dilemma faced by developing countries.
2. The role of ICT in promoting foreign language education reform
In general, ICT can be used to fit with the method and goals of education. Not surprisingly, ICT plays a crucial role in enhancing development of foreign language education.
Firstly, ICT enhances quality of language learning and teaching. The positive effects on students of ICT in education include enhanced motivation and creativity, a greater disposition to research and problem-solving, new skills and abilities fostered through technological literacy. As for teachers are concerned, they turn to change from the teaching model of “chalk and talk” to a complete new pedagogical teaching method characterized with using internet in language classrooms. [1] The ICT teaching stimulates young minds, facilitate students’ learning and improve their understanding. To a great extent, ICT makes language teaching more effective.
Secondly, ICT contributes to build network of learning and teaching communities. The new technology delivers vast educational resources to extensive areas and creates distance language learning opportunities. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) stimulates students to interact with their teachers, and for the students to interact with each other. Therefore, the communities for learning and teaching are created. Moreover, ICT leads foreign language education into a learning community in which life-long learning will be realized. [2]Gell and Cochrane demonstrate that ICT removes the constraints of distance, time and location, which will promote life-long learning.
Thirdly, ICT improves management and administration in foreign language learning. It helps build a knowledge-shared and information-shared community through connecting educational administrations and policy makers. It also improves efficiency and effectiveness for management. More importantly, using ICT to assist management assures transparency, which gives a change to a distributed relationship. In a word, ICT brings a positive revolution to developing countries in the context of foreign language education.
There is a general agreement that ICT is one of the key drivers to education reform, which will have great portion of contribution to sustainable development of economy. It is also believed that ICT can be used as a powerful tool to alleviate the digital divide by delivering knowledge to those who stand on the other side of the divide. However, despite the ICT application programs currently underway, the digital divide is widening, not closing. The Bush administration claims internet use is growing at a faster rate among the poor and minorities and in rural areas; but the U.S. government"s statistics show that the gap between technology haves and have-nots is actually widening. Developing countries face more serious problems due to various reasons. It is pointed out that the digital divide is widening and deepening within developing countries, even televisions and PC computers have entered a majority of households. The truth we have to admit is that ICT risks a new digital divide. It seems that the digital divide is not only a gap between those who have the technology and those who do not. More important is the ability to access, adapt and create knowledge via use of ICTs. Based on the reality, this paper shines spotlight on ways of expanding ICT to wider beneficiaries in the context of foreign language education in developing countries. The constraints will be exposed first.
3. The constraints
In the first place, developing countries confront financial problems, which result in poor infrastructure. In other words, the digital divide is a purchasing power divide. Building ICT labs or remaining connected to the internet is seen as an essential starting point to achieve ICT-based language education. It is also necessary to have a sound computer network infrastructure that can support educational model. However, a large amount of money is needed to purchase equipment, to build ICT centers and train technical staff. Developing countries are caught in a tough situation due to a lack of finance.
Another constraint is inadequacy of technological literacy. Narrowing the divide by putting a computer in every classroom, and placing a radio or TV in every language classroom does not automatically solve the problem. The most serious divide is in the extent and quality of human knowledge and learning. It is not digital, it is educational. In China, for instance, lots of teachers still prefer to “teach” foreign languages by using the “chalk and talk” model rather than computers, even in an ICT equipped classroom. Evidence shows that the teachers are more reluctant to use the new technology because their insufficient knowledge and training for the use of ICT makes them feel unconfident.
In addition, one of the bottlenecks with which developing countries encounter is the limited government support. Government plays a pivotal role in implementing significant ICT initiatives in educational organisations; it also offers a great help to promote smooth development of the new technology. However, in many developing countries, there is still a lack of a clear policy in ministries of education with regards to use of computers in foreign language education. Using ICT to assist language teaching is regarded as a competence only with basic computer skills. For instance, general policy statements on ICT concerning education could not be found at the Chinese Ministry of Education website.
Last but not at least, developing countries provide insufficient access for the disabled to ICTs. Studies show that most learners with disabilities in developing countries have limited access to accept normal education. Specifically, ICT has the potential to help the disabled improve access to education. However, the concerned sectors care little about special individual needs for technology access. As ICT users, those people with functional limitations and less literacy are forced to [2]learn strange commands or computer languages to handle non-ergonomic input and output devices or to buy specific adaptive devices just to operate equipment designed for a standard users. Moreover, the education organisations seldom provide specialised settings, additional funding, on-line support and special programs. Those factors deprive the disabled of learning assisted by ICT.
4. Bridging the digital divide
To bridge the divide and promote development of ICT in foreign language education in developing countries gives rise to many challenges. Local and national governments, policy makers, business entrepreneurs, software designers, even international organisations around the world, all should be encouraged to make a valuable contribution. Everybody has responsibility to study what can be done to make ICT be more effectively used in foreign language education, hence pushing language education reform in a broader direction. In the sequent parts, the paper will explore available approaches respectively at the local, national and global levels.
4.1 At the local level
Local government needs to work out a project aiming to bridge the divide by making full use of local resources. One of the economical ways is to share facilities and resources with communities, and strengthen collaboration with computer companies. The state government of Karnataka has offered a successful example. Seven hundred schools with ICT labs were equipped in only forty-five days. This feat was accomplished through a partnership with NIIT, a private computer training institute. The Karnataka government contracted with NIIT to equip and maintain the school computer labs and provide an instructor for technical training for students. [3]In exchange, NIIT is compensated with being allowed to use the facilities after school hours for delivery of its private training courses to the community. This kind of project can help poorer education sectors to minimize their costs and gain access to ICTs.
Moreover, schools and local administrations should regard ICT-based language education for the disabled as a challengeable project and take immediate measures. First, schools must establish collaborative relationships with disability-related organizations (e.g. the Disabled Union), which are responsible for supportive funds and resources. The disabled will be encouraged to study foreign languages with ICT by being provided with computers or internet use for free. Secondly, particular attention should be given to special equipment (e.g. auto-doors, computer labs) for the disabled in schools. On Australian campuses, the specialized equipment can be seen everywhere. The disabled there have much freedom to enjoy fantastic ICT-based education. In the light of the successful experiences, we need to pay more care to the disabled and endow them with equality of access to the new technology.
4.2 At the national level
It is essential for developing governments to provide training programmes for in-service and pre-service teachers. The national board of Education of Finland, for instance, has supported in-service development of teachers’ abilities to use ICT in foreign language teaching, through training sessions lasting five weeks. Language teachers are expected to process the basic information technology together with some pedagogical understanding of the new learning environment. The National Board of Education has spent around EUR 1.5 million annually on this training. For the developing countries, the high cost of ICT training is a major barrier. Considering that, the government can decrease costs by purchasing the training VCDs and selling them to teachers in a reasonable price, or providing interactive programmes through satellite TV networks for teaching staff. In this way, most of the teachers are able to be trained in a flexible way without costing too much. More importantly, both pre-service and in-service teachers must be required to get certifications to assure the quality and quantity of training. Moreover, there should be a set of follow-up assessment and reward mechanism to perfect professional development system.
Also, the government should support the proactive policies. First, it is necessary to set flexible policies for using ICT. They include: taking steps to lower down the equipments price, increasing internet use by decreasing charge; offering low-interest loans for education organizations in less-developed areas; offering free web training for the disabled. Secondly, the government should have national policies on foreign language education that includes in ICT as one of its targets. Singapore has become a pioneer who set a model. In Singapore, the Master Plan for IT in education has regarded the integration of ICT in education as a strategy to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Polytechnics in Singapore require students to spend a semester completing an academic module through distance training. Thirdly, the government also plays a key role in designing a curriculum aiming to develop ICT skills and abilities. Students leaving school must be confident and creative users of ICTs and the internet.
Furthermore, attracting foreign investment is an important means to solve ‘the financial divide’. In China, for instance, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation maintains a website that has all the relevant information regarding locations, policies, privileges, labor costs, etc. The information is to help investors have a clear idea about the current situation and pave the way for their further investment. In addition to direct investment, it is necessary to utilize another ‘investment’, that is establishing a sound relationship with overseas educational organisations. As a result, we can communicate experiences of using ICTs and share rich on-line resources as well.
4.3 At the global level
International organizations such as the World Bank, the World Computer Exchange and UNESCO spare no efforts to establish a global framework to reduce the digital divide. For example, [4] the World Computer Exchange engages in recycling working computers from firms in USA and supplies them to educational institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Global Education Partnership implements FCF (Family Care Foundation) projects in developing countries. The contributions they have made include computer donations and installations in needy institutions in Indonesia; teaching computer skills to the hearing impaired in Pakistan; providing high-school-aged orphans with new hope in Romania, etc. It is hoped that the international powers will persist in partnering with developing countries to overcome the digital divide by training teachers on-line, sending technicians to schools, providing low-interest loans to remote education organizations and working out adaptive software and hardware for foreign language learning and teaching.
Hardware and software have been dependent parts of ICT-based education. In order to help the language learners with disabilities, we hope that experts around the world will dedicate themselves to newer and friendlier products, mainly characterized by their low-cost, flexibility and easy-manipulation. Other new characteristics, such as tolerance of error(the design minimizes adverse consequences of unintended actions),low physical effort (the design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with minimal fatigue),size and space for approach and use(appropriate size and space are provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s size, posture, or mobility). It is believed the new products will greatly benefit the learners with disabilities.
5. Conclusion
Without any doubts, ICT brings an unprecedented innovation to foreign language education in developing countries and meanwhile gives birth to the digital divide, which has been the prominent issue of the information society. We have to admit that there are many constraints preventing a large number of people in developing countries from benefiting from ICT. The divide is actually a financial divide, a knowledge and skills divide and an access divide.
To expend ICT to much wider beneficiaries, we need collaborative efforts from governments, the private sector, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and citizens by uniting our resources in a global framework. It is hoped that every student could have chances to sit in a fully equipped multi-media language lab and enjoy the educational benefits of ICT resources. That is a dream, but it can be realized.
References
[1] Selwyn N & Gorard S, ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’: Overcoming the Barrier of Space in Adult Education Through the Use of Information & Communications Technology? (1). https://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/000001018.htm ,1999 (Accessed: August 2004)
[2] Sandhu JS, Saarnio I & Wiman R, Information and Communication Technologies and Disabilities in Developing Countries, https://siteresources.省略/DISABILITY/Resources/Technology/Information_and_Communication_Technologies_and_Disability_in_Developing_Countries.pdf , 2001 (Accessed: August 2004)
[3] Gell M & Cochrane P , ‘Learning and Education in an Information Society’ in Dutton, W. (Ed.), ‘Information and Communication Technologies: Visions and Realities’, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996
[4] Hawkins RJ, Ten Lessons for ICT and Education in the Developing World,
https://www.cid.harvard.edu/cr/pdf/gitrr2002_ch04.pdf , 2002 (Accessed: August 2004)
[5] James J, Bridging the Global Digital Divide, Edward Elgar Publishing Inc., Massachusetts: 2003; 62-68, 108-115
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基金项目：本文为华南农业大学校长基金课题“情感英语教学的实证研究”的部分研究成果。
作者简介：吴斯斯，女，华南农业大学外国语学院英语系讲师，硕士研究生，研究专长：应用语言学，二语习得。
收稿日期：2011-11-26