From the Director of International Studies
Last month, while perusing my e-mail, I received a link to a YouTube clip with the comment that this promised to change the way we teach other languages.
The clip was for ‘Word Lens’, an application (app) for the iPhone now available from the iTunes store. The accompanying description read:
Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with your built-in video camera, in real time! (Word Lens, 2011)
This app allows a traveller to use an iPhone to focus on a street sign or notice and have the app automatically translate any Spanish text into English. It creates this on the actual picture taken. The app may also be used to translate English text into Spanish. At this stage English and Spanish are the only two languages available but it will not be long before we see more language options for iPhone users.
After my initial excitement at the possibilities that such an app and similar technologies could bring to the teaching and learning of language I wondered how in fact they would change language learning and, in turn, language teaching.
Language learning and teaching has always had a relationship with technology from the introduction of language laboratories forty years ago (Bangs & Cantos, 2004, p. 222). With the arrival of portable audio-video and computing devices, there was great interest expressed by language teachers in exploring their use in language learning. As portable cassette players yielded to iPods and other MP3 players, the new capabilities of the hardware led to enhanced use of audio-based learning such as language podcasts with integrated transcripts (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p.2).
Language learners can now be exposed to authentic language on current issues in the form of conversations, radio commentary and reports. Additionally, transcripts allow for the specific teaching of grammatical structures and functions necessary to comprehend both specific detail and nuance. As PDAs (personal digital assistants) became more widespread with the advent of the Palm Pilot and its successors, language dictionaries, e-book grammars and flashcard programs began to emerge (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p.2). These allowed learners to have greater autonomy over their language learning.
Earlier in the year while attending a professional development workshop about learning management systems, the presenter demonstrated a series of apps across a range of subjects available for smart phones, iPhones and touch screen tablet devices such as iPads. At one point the presenter announced that he didn’t need to be able to speak any other language for there was an app that allowed him to speak into his phone and have it automatically translated into Japanese. He then proceeded to demonstrate how it worked. He was able to speak into the phone and, yes, it was automatically translated into Japanese. However, it was a very literal translation which relied on a dictionary definition of words. I wondered what the app would have made of any idiomatic phrases like ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ or ‘He has a swollen head’. Even more interesting would have been the translation of teenage expressions like ‘cool’ or ‘my bad’. It also begs the question at how effective the app would be when coping with literary or lyrical language which forms much of the cultural repertoire.
In order to illustrate this point I ask students to run a paragraph of English through Google Translator to translate it into Japanese. They then run the translated Japanese paragraph back through the translator into English. This causes much amusement as the new text is incomprehensible. The ensuing class discussion we have highlights the limitation of translating things literally.
The prevalence of devices such as iPhones and the like was highlighted recently in a Year 8 assembly when more than half the students indicated, when asked, that they possessed an iPhone. It is not uncommon for students in my class to ask if they can access their Smartphone or iPhone to look for a kanji character or check the meaning of a word with Denshi Jisho, the online dictionary. In many ways these features available on their devices complement their learning, not unlike the use of calculators in mathematics.
While I do not discount the convenience that such devices and apps provide, particularly to the busy traveller, I wonder if perhaps some of the appeal is actually in the use of the device itself. This is particularly the case with devices such as iPhones and iPads, and their corresponding Android equivalents as they become more responsive, intuitive and part of the user’s personal identity (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p.7). In other words, apart from their convenience, do these devices deepen understanding and appreciation of the language or do they merely serve a utilitarian, temporary need? I also wonder if the availability of these devices and apps foster a sense that it is not necessary to learn another language; that learning another language will become irrelevant as we will be able to ‘communicate’ and hence ‘understand’ the world around us through these ‘word lenses’!
In fact, the rise of various technologies and social networking has resulted in interesting discussions in the senior language classroom as to how one translates/ incorporates simple phrases such as ‘going on facebook’ into another language. Discussions about the correct/ appropriate verb usage in Japanese, using ‘見る’ (miru – to see) rather than ‘行く’ (iku – to go) have been valuable for considering the relationship between culture and language.
Today, students have access to information technologies which provide access to a wide range of contemporary material in the target language and about the target communities. Websites, emails, video conferences, podcasts, music and video streaming are a few of the ways in which students today are able to interact with speakers of the language that they study. Technologies have provided enhanced opportunities for such interaction (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009, p.69). Personal devices, smart phones and their like, together with the ever increasing number of apps are ideal for individualised, informal learning. The user can determine which apps to acquire and how to they can best use them. As language educators we should encourage and assist the learner autonomy this enables and provide means for learners to combine formal and informal learning (Godwin-Jones, 2011, p.8).
As a speaker of another language I know that there is so much more to learning a language than just translating random words and pieces of text. There is the beauty that is inherent in poetry and stories from other cultures. That beauty is often lost in the translation. That beauty is only available to those who take the time and effort to learn the language and, in turn, learn about others.
Nelson Mandela (1995) grasped the essential point in his autobiography Long walk to freedom:
Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.
We know that these (information) technologies have a transformative role in languages education and our stance as language educators must encompass them. The role of teachers is to ensure that the use of the technologies adds value to the intended learning (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009, p.69).
When these technologies are used appropriately and in the right context, they have the power to complement, enhance and add value to the learning of language, but will never replace the teaching or learning of a language.
Ms N Smith
References
Scarino, A., & Liddicoat, A. J. (2009). Teaching and learning languages: a guide. Carlton South: Australian Government, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Bangs, P., & Cantos, P. (2004). What can computer assisted language learning contribute to foreign language pedagogy? International Journal of English Studies, Vol. 4 (1), 221-239.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2011). Emerging technologies mobile apps for language learning. Language Learning & Technology, June; Vol. 15 No.2, 2-11. Retrieved 17 July 2011 from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2011/emerging.pdf
Mandela, N. (1995). Long walk to freedom: the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Retrieved 17 July 2011 from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/344277
Word Lens. (2011). Quest Visual. Retrieved 13 July 2011from http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-lens/id383463868