Bridges, Chopsticks and Shoelaces:
Normalising Computers and Computer Technologies in Language Classrooms

Stephen Bax

How can we use computer technology better in our daily work as language educators?

In my earlier research and writing (e.g. Bax 2003; Chambers & Bax 2006) I have argued that if we are to benefit fully from the range of exciting possibilities which computers and computer technologies offer to us as language teachers, we need to move towards what I term 'normalisation', which is the situation when these technologies are used in our daily classroom work as naturally as a whiteboard or a coursebook. However, despite impressive advances in the range and possibilities of computer-related technology, with wikis, e-learning, m-learning, and podcasting, accompanied by extensive efforts at teacher training in many contexts, language teachers on the whole still treat computers as marginal, and have largely failed to achieve this 'normalisation' of computers in their daily work.

This paper looks at why this may be so, drawing on research into technological innovation in other walks of life in an attempt to understand the social and psychological factors which might either impede or assist technological normalisation in our profession. This is particularly important as we try to draw on Web 2.0 technologies in our work. I also look at the roles which human change agents (including managers and parents) can play in this process.

Drawing on this research I then consider how we might use these insights so as to move more quickly towards the 'normalisation' of computer technology in language teaching, and how this could be achieved in the many and varied learning situations in different contexts around the world. To illustrate my ideas, I draw on examples from language schools, from international CMC projects and from other areas of the profession.

References:
Bax, S. (2003). CALL - past, present and future. System, 31(1): 13-28.
Chambers, A. & S. Bax (2006). Making CALL work: Towards normalisation. System, 34: 465-479.

Dr Stephen Bax is Principal Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University in the United Kingdom. In Canterbury he teaches on the MA TESOL programme, mainly on methodology, CALL, discourse and sociolinguistics. He also supervises MPhil and PhD work in ICT, in discourse analysis and teacher education. He is particularly interested in ethnographic, qualitative and ecological perspectives on language teaching and learning, with and without ICT.