first draft essay

ICTS ARE NEW ERA MATERIALS THAT HELP STUDENTS TO INCREASE THEIR EXPOSURE TO THE TARGET LANGUAGE. SHOULD TEACHERS START USING COMPUTERS INSTEAD OF ENGLISH BOOKS IN CLASSROOM?

The 20th century brought to society important advances in many areas, one of them is the field of technology. The technology was initially created with the purpose of facilitating and improving communication processes between people, but it is only in recent years that the important role it plays in the educational field has been recognized. Most of these technologies were not designed expressly for educational applications, so it took time, money and experimentation to establish how and where they could be most effectively applied (Rogers, 1995). Nevertheless, nowadays ICTs are still cataloged by some institutions as an obstacle to teach, without taking into account that today's teachers must receive new technologies as their allies in the learning process since these enrich students learning.

Using technology in the classroom is a good strategy to promote the different learning styles. Learning a second language is always a severe process for everybody, especially when teachers limit themselves using English textbooks because some students cannot learn in this way, as they have their own learning style, so they require different learning methods. Students feel encouraged to complete tasks in the class when they are not using traditional books, instead of that, when it is used technological devices in a classroom for learning purposes, students have the opportunity to take advantage of this to learn in a way that best fits their own needs, so in this order the learning process will be more successful.

Using computers or another technological device can become students more responsible because they take charge of their own learning. On the one hand, when using English books, the process in which students do self- work is very weak, as they are limited to just do a series of exercises that are not really meaningful. On the other hand, when a teacher decides to do activities that can be carried out through technological devices, those activities demand self-work, that wants to say that students will be able to acquire responsibilities.

There are too many problems when introducing technological devices in the educational field. Cicchelli and Baecher (1987) argue that the introduction of computers in the schools represents a dramatic change. That is why the educational system still does not feel prepared to introduce entirely a computer-based instruction in the curriculum. According to the context in which is developed the Colombian education, the most complex problem is that teachers are not trained to teach through technology, as there is a lack of professional development. Another important factor is the isolation that could be created between students and teachers. 

Today's  English teachers must receive new technologies as their allies in the learning process, since learning a second language is a collaborative process, in which students have to make contact with the world and technology can be a means to know about other culture, to get a general sense of learning a second language. The traditional method of teaching a second language through an English textbook is an obsolete method that has not shown any advance in the educative system in Colombia. If teachers learn how to manage technological devices, the computer will be as much part of all learning as the pencil and the book have been in the past as Papert Seymour states.