Volume 05 Issue 12-2024
40
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
12
Pages:
40-44
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
ABSTRACT
Integrating informational technologies in teaching English as a second language (ESL) in schools has become
increasingly significant in enhancing language acquisition and improving educational outcomes. This article explores
the various technological tools and methodologies utilized in ESL classrooms, highlighting their advantages and
challenges. Through a comprehensive review of current literature and case studies, the article identifies key benefits
such as increased student engagement, personalized learning experiences, and access to diverse resources that
facilitate language learning. Additionally, it addresses obstacles educators face, including technological literacy,
resource availability, and resistance to change. The findings suggest that while technology offers transformative
potential for ESL education, effective implementation requires targeted strategies and ongoing professional
development for teachers. Ultimately, this article provides insights into best practices for leveraging technology in
ESL instruction to foster an engaging and effective learning environment.
KEYWORDS
ESL teaching, informational technologies, gadgets, language, communication, skills, artificial intelligence, cyber
technologies, devices, methods.
INTRODUCTION
Research Article
USAGE OF INFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH
AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) IN B1 LEVEL CLASSES
Submission Date:
December 01, 2024,
Accepted Date:
December 06, 2024,
Published Date:
December 11, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/pedagogics-crjp-05-12-08
Saveleva A.
Fourth year student, English language translation theory department, USWLU, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Salikhova N.I.
Scientific advisor, English language translation theory department, USWLU, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://masterjournals.
com/index.php/crjp
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 05 Issue 12-2024
41
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
12
Pages:
40-44
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
“Technology integration refers to “a condition in
which technologies play an active, ordinary, and
original role in language pedagogy” (Torsani, 2016, p.
45). This supposed pedagogical role interwoven with
technological affordances refers to the idea that if
technology fails to draw on pedagogy-driven
approaches in language education and is used just for
the sake of today’s fashion, then this kind of
instructional environment offers no educational
benefits, nor does it foster potential learning practices
of students.” Tutku Özkan
1. Modern methods of integrating informational
technologies into ESL teaching
Over the last two decades teaching a foreign language
has become a significantly wider spectre of necessary
skills than before. Instead of direct teaching or
translation methods, today teachers have access to
many gadgets and electronic devices to implement.
For this reason, a lot of new teaching methods and
techniques appeared to be essential. Moreover, the
quarantine period had an undeniable impact, so that
online teaching is now on the same level as face-to-face
classes. For example, now teachers have an
opportunity to create and generate tests and quizzes
for school and university students accessible online
and with a smart board in order to apply creative
teaching methods and make the lesson less formal.
Another extremely useful perk given by IT is creating
interactive games of different kinds using online
sources. Created activities might be accessed via
various tools, such as computers, smartphones, smart
boards, tablets, browser applications, etc., which
makes this method one of the most implemented,
especially in middle and high school, where students
are tightly connected to their devices.
As we know, in terms of online teaching, there are
numerous cyber technologies utilized as well. For
instance, such collaboration tools, as Google Meet,
Zoom, and Discord allow not only conducting remote
individual and group lessons but also enable many
creative teaching methods, which are impossible to
imply without relevant equipment. Such activities as
interactive
jeopardies,
augmented
reality
conversations or visually supported academic contests
demand either specific devices in the classroom or a
lesson conducted online in one of the mentioned
applications. Mostly, these pedagogical techniques
were used during quarantine time, however, more
than four years later they remain popular and are being
enhanced continuously.
Apart from small devices developed for conducting
specific activities, in modern ESL teaching, there are
whole platforms used for designing and conducting
courses and separate lessons. The most popular
example is Miro, which is currently widely used in
schools and learning centres. This website enables
creative visual and content design of lessons and
syllabi, allows uniting all the necessary information in
the same place, and creates unique plans and activities
for each academic demand and students’ needs. What
is more, online learning platforms save a lot of time for
a teacher by automatically and instantly submitting
and checking answers to the given tasks.
2.
Advantages
of
using
information
and
communications technologies in ESL teaching
When teaching a foreign language, one of the most
problematic aspects is providing students with an
opportunity for verbal communication without using
their native language. On this occasion, the usage of
informational technologies appears the most
convenient decision, as they are mostly free of charge,
accessible, and convey a lot of communicative
functions. First of all, there is an opportunity to
conduct a real-time conversation with a native speaker,
Volume 05 Issue 12-2024
42
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
12
Pages:
40-44
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
which eases the situation for countries that do not
have the English language as a publicly spoken one.
However, it is still quite problematic and may lead to
other difficulties. An advantage of using IT in ESL
teaching with fewer obstacles is an opportunity to
provide students with authentic materials and include
them in the students’ daily use, e.g., TV shows,
interviews, podcasts, etc. This helps students to
develop speaking proficiency, improve listening
comprehension, and avoid strong foreign accents in
pronunciation. In addition, various social media widely
used by students help enlarge their active and passive
vocabulary,
improve
reading
and
listening
comprehension of English speaking from all over the
world, and, especially, develop writing proficiency by
communicating with other speakers through the text.
Using social media also appears to be unopposed by
learners as it does not seem a real learning process, so
the students soak the information subconsciously,
without even trying to learn. However, in the future
language
practice
modern
slang,
spoken
constructions, and grammar norms appear in speech
naturally and correctly.
Moreover, another important tool to mention is the
online learner’s dictionary and online applications with
similar functions. Teaching to use such electronic
sources as Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Cambridge
Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford Learner’s Dictionary,
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, etc., or
applications like DeepL, Reverso Context, etc., opens a
technique of independent research for students and
brings freedom in many terms. Moreover, being able to
use such tools, students are more likely to continue
self-education in terms of learning English after
graduation from school. To encourage using such
sources teachers might provide their classes with
presentations and research projects, which demand
not only searching for relevant vocabulary but also
using applications to create visual aids, that is one
more IT tool to enhance learning progress.
Last, but not least thing to mention is artificial
intelligence (AI), which is gaining popularity in all
spheres of life nowadays. Many students of schools
and universities use AI to delegate intellectual work,
however, if used wisely it can become a beautiful
source of communicative practice. Apart from just
generating information, AI dialog applications are able
to become real conversation partners, which poses
one more opportunity to have verbal practice in the
classroom and during independent studying.
3.
Difficulties
and
obstacles
in
integrating
informational technologies in ESL teaching
Although the internet is commonly used, some other
technical issues might be obstacles to the process of
integrating IT into the teaching process. First of all, not
every school is able to afford enough gadgets to equip
all the classrooms. Unfortunately, sometimes even
providing teachers with personal computers or laptops
is problematic. In small towns or distant localities, this
is a real and poorly solved issue. Moreover, teachers
must be in a continuous process of self-development in
order to be capable of using cyber technologies and
track constant upgrades in modern methodology.
However, class size and time limitations might also
pose a barrier between traditional teaching methods
and implementing informational technologies. If in
small or middle-sized groups it is quite possible, then in
larger groups it is difficult to involve every present
student in an ongoing activity. A possible decision
might be working in small groups, but in this case, the
outcome would be much less efficient and there is
always a risk of misunderstanding the task by one
particular group in a large class, which might force
others to lose time. Moreover, the large amount of
students and the type of class (online or face-to-face)
Volume 05 Issue 12-2024
43
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
12
Pages:
40-44
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
limit the number of possible activities to implement
during the lesson. Not to forget that mixing teaching
workload and integration of ICT requires brilliant time-
management skills and a lot of preparation. For this
reason, teachers prefer to sacrifice cyber technologies
usage during the lessons in order to emphasise
traditional methods of conveying information.
Apart from obvious problems and scarcities, some
teachers are simply reluctant to upgrade their
methodology and try new techniques and services in
their practice. Making teaching a language their
routine they might be afraid to step out of their
comfort zone and fail in trials.
4. Using artificial intelligence (AI) in ESL teaching
As it was mentioned above, artificial intelligence offers
plenty of services and might be used for various
purposes, and when used wisely and thoughtfully, can
be the golden key to easy and creative teaching. First
and the most obvious use of AI for ESL teachers is
generating tasks. Worksheets, presentations, text
exercises, cue cards, pictures, etc., are in daily demand
and must be done in enormous amounts, especially for
primary and middle school teachers, so at one moment
human creativity burns out and lessons become boring
or inefficient. For this case, there are several AI
platforms that help teachers generate and edit tasks,
gather and summarise information, and bring their
ideas to life easily and quickly.
Additionally, AI tools are not only able to generate
answers to given requests. Nowadays they have
become a new generation of searching systems, as AI
search filters information and sources better.
However, every AI user must stay attentive and check
the search results carefully. As artificial intelligence is a
brand-new invention, it is not yet flawless. Some
articles, sites, and even whole applications might
appear to be fake or AI-generated so every finding
must be double-checked and thoroughly edited.
CONCLUSION
Concluding the article, we would like to emphasize,
that integration of information and communication
technology in teaching English as a foreign language is
not yet common in schools and even language
universities. The scarcity of equipment and poor
technical education of the older generation poses a
huge obstacle in using ICT more often during the
lessons. Even more, teachers and students are
sometimes reluctant to switch fully or at least partially
to electronic devices and modern technologies in ESL
teaching and learning. However, shortly, if not yet,
gadgets will become a vital part of every human
activity, especially, the process of receiving
information, which is precisely a learning process, so
being now at the very beginning of the era of
informational technologies, is the moment of the
greatest opportunities to master and implement them.
In my opinion, teachers are the first category of society
to develop and track new technologies and have to
implement them as much as possible. The obvious
reason is that school boosts the outlook of a student,
which strongly affects their future decisions and
mindset, so the more progressive is teaching, the more
effective it is.
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A. Aşık, T. Özkan,. Investigating Technology
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G. T. Makhkamova, J.J. Jalolov, Sh. S. Ashurov.
English Language Teaching Methodology // The
Volume 05 Issue 12-2024
44
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
12
Pages:
40-44
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
Ministry of Higher Education and Secondary
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S. Manzoor. Technology Integration in ESL
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2024
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N1
