Emerging Technologies in Adult Literacy and Language Education

HTTP://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/technology_paper_2010.pdf

“Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”

Bill Gates  The advent of today's technology will define who we are tomorrow.  No one (save Isaac Asimov, Aurthur C. Clark, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelly plus a few others) could have imagine the technology that has become part of the "fabric of our lives." (G.E.?)  In the sixties when I watched Star Trek I was amazed at the use of communicators and universal translators.  It spurred my imagination.  Then, when I was attending Community College, I was informed that I had to take a foreign language course to graduate.  I decided to take a condensed French course which gave me French 1 and French 2 in the course of 12 months.  The only way I was able to pass that course was the access to the computer lab after hours, the availability of instructional video, and the Chat Room on Yahoo.fr. Yes,that is correct I was able to learn how to read, write and speak French by visiting the Chat Room on Yahoo.  In the beginning I was able to observe the language in action.  Voice Chat was available at the time and I was able to hear what people were saying and tried to match with what was on the screen in the Chat Room.  When I felt comfortable enough I progressed to typing short bursts in French and was knocked on my proverbial ":colon:" when someone responded to one of my blurbs.  That spurred me on.  Shortly there after I was caring on written correspondence with others.  When it came time to try speaking without a prepared speech I decided to "meet" someone online and met a French Canadian who was very instrumental in teaching me her native tongue.  Of course as with everything else, if you don't use it you lose it. But, I am happy to report that I passed my French course and also passed English 2 by answering a challenge by my professor who said that Iambic Pentameters only can be written in English. (He was an Anglophile) Of course that was enough to work a deal where I was able to pass the course if I could manage to write an Iambic Pentameter in French.  Can you guess who I wrote the poem about?  He took the poem to my French professor (another French Canadian) who said that the syntax was crude but conformed to the tenets of the French Language. (Lucky it was a poem and not an Essay). Anyway, I wrote this little tale to exemplify how the use of contemporary technology can help facilitate learning in ways that were not their original intent.  The article on Emerging Technologies In Adult Literacy and Language Education is dead on when it talks about the impact of technology on the English Language Learner (ELL).  But, in reality it goes well beyond the mere act of instruction.  Technology in its various forms have a habit of threading its way into your life and quickly become a valuable commodity that you can't do without.  Thirty years ago, do you remember ever being without a cellphone?  Can you see yourself leaving the home without one?  Today's "Smart phones" have become a source for social, financial, and interpersonal transactions.  We meet, plan, pay for, and "search" for most things on our phones.  It reminds me of the joke by George Carlin "STUFF."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac    My phone has become a place for my "stuff".  ELL's can , with the use of contemporary technologies, navigate unfamiliar places, ask for assistance, and conduct financial transaction at a level of proficiency that is on par with natural English speakers.  By the same token, we  "English Speakers" can go abroad and benefit from the same amenities technology has offered them.  Now the question I have is in regards to the popularity of texting. (not to mention sexting) Along with this technological marvel, we are finding "text speak" making it's way into our reference materials such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. This is happening at a fast clip.  Even Webster can define the WWW.  How long before our daily language changes to a point where we start using this new form of shorthand as common everyday usage?  We all can relate when we see in errant print phrases like LMAO, TTYL8R, LOL, BFFs, etc.  or better yet the use of emoticons to say 1000 words with a picture. Will current languages go the way of Latin, Assyrian, Sumerian and a host of dead languages? Who knows?  C U L8R. P.S.whatwouldeecummingshavethoughtoftechnologyhaditbeenavailablewhenhewrotehismusings?Icanonlyimagine :)-