Change in the making : pedagogical and strategic challenges of technology integration in the emerging language teaching cultures

Abstract

This study explores the way in which technology is integrated in language teaching in the vocational and higher education sectors. There are two parts in the study. Part I looks at change in a seven-year follow up study where English teachers' teaching practices and the technology use are surveyed to see where and what kind of change is taking place. Along with an extensive theoretical framework of educational change and learning technologies, change is examined in the light of three external interventions: immense technological advancement and the information strategies, the changing notion of literacy, and the restructuring of education in Europe. There are three sets of data (from 1994, 1997, and 2001) covering all Finnish and Swedish vocational schools in Finland. Part II of the study is an empirical examination of the 'rules' and 'realities' of change in real life context of language teaching. The aims of the part is to better understand the mechanisms of change as a systemic process. The study has both strategic and pedagogic aims. The strategic aims are to view the impact of current information strategies in the area of language teaching, and to examine the suitability of the available research methods for the multilayered and dynamic contexts of organisational development. The pedagogical aims are to examine the concept of innovative technology use, to present a design model for technology integrated language teaching, and to provide useful information about the current technology-integrated language teaching practices. The results in Part I quite clearly show that the kind of change described in the Finnish information strategies has not taken place, and that the support structures for technology-integration need to be revised. The teachers' technology use has increased in the seven-year time span, but the use is mostly administrative or quite traditional. Part II raises concerns about the lack of adequate research and evaluation approaches that would support sustainable re-culturing processes in teaching organisations.