What do you think?
Rate this book
Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning
Brave New Digital Classroom deftly interweaves results of pedagogical research and descriptions of the most successful computer-assisted language learning (CALL) projects to explore how technology can best be employed in the foreign-language curriculum to assist the second language acquisition process.
Directed to all language teachers―whether at the school or the postsecondary level, with or without prior experience―this book focuses on how to use new technologies effectively. Blake urges teachers to move beyond a simple functional competence of knowing how to use the tools toward first a critical competence―realizing what the various tools are good for―and ultimately a rhetorical competence of knowing how the tools will help transform the learning environment. This book examines the effective use of a range of technologies, from Internet sites through computer-mediated communication such as synchronous chatting and blogs, to distance learning. At the end of each chapter questions and activities demonstrate the interactionist, learner-centered pedagogy Blake espouses.
An invaluable reference for experienced researchers and CALL developers as well as those of limited experience, Brave New Digital Classroom is also ideal for graduate-level courses on second language pedagogy. It will also be of interest to department chairs and administrators seeking to develop and evaluate their own CALL programs.
Directed to all language teachers―whether at the school or the postsecondary level, with or without prior experience―this book focuses on how to use new technologies effectively. Blake urges teachers to move beyond a simple functional competence of knowing how to use the tools toward first a critical competence―realizing what the various tools are good for―and ultimately a rhetorical competence of knowing how the tools will help transform the learning environment. This book examines the effective use of a range of technologies, from Internet sites through computer-mediated communication such as synchronous chatting and blogs, to distance learning. At the end of each chapter questions and activities demonstrate the interactionist, learner-centered pedagogy Blake espouses.
An invaluable reference for experienced researchers and CALL developers as well as those of limited experience, Brave New Digital Classroom is also ideal for graduate-level courses on second language pedagogy. It will also be of interest to department chairs and administrators seeking to develop and evaluate their own CALL programs.
- GenresNonfictionTeaching
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2008
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 7, 2009
Brave New Digital Classroom Technology and Foreign Language Learning
Book Chat
After reading my book selection from Brave New Digital Classroom titled “Technology and Foreign Language Learning” by Robert J. Blake, I found a great excerpt that discusses the responsiveness of students to computer usage in the classroom. The excerpt specifying about Distant Learning states: Blake and Delforge (2005) have provided additional data for Spanish learners based on discrete grammar exams. Their results show that DL students often perform significantly better than their classroom counterparts. This previous section which is from Chapter 5 shows how beneficial Distance Learning can be for students as far as reading and writing comprehension go. The book mostly emphasizes the benefits of CALL (computer assisted language learning) and how Distance Learning (DL) can also be beneficial when combined with the traditional face-to-face learning. I seem to get the feeling that a “hybrid” style of learning is the best option for CALL classrooms. Another aspect that stood out the most in this book was the mention of Web 2.0 tools and how they were approved for usage in the classroom, especially for a foreign language classroom. The book even mentions Wiki’s, Moodle, and social networking all as ways to get technology into the classroom to enhance the student’s language learning experience.
The passage about incorporating computer usage in the foreign language classroom, specifically Distance Learning stood out for me the most because it is something that I have seen in action and personally think would work great to motivate my students to learn a second language. It was good to see DL mentioned in a book about including technology in the classroom and also to see that it was found to have a positive impact on the students that used it. The students in my Spanish I and II classes would be interested in hearing from native speakers and be able to use what Spanish they knew to conduct a conversation in the target language.
As far as the implications that distance learning may have on my students, I feel that the students who are most quiet may remain quiet, and may not participate in the DL experience. Maybe it would bring some of the more soft-spoken students to become more interested and speak up in the class more. Also, I can see that there is a chance that some of the behavior-problem students may try to conduct inappropriate behaviors in front of the DL experience. The DL experience would not be for every student. It may take a student who is mature enough to communicate and do their best and not get frustrated if they are corrected or make a mistake. It would be challenging to access the required technologies as well when they are needed and to make sure that everything would work when it was supposed to. If something would go wrong, or a part of the DL experience did not work correctly, then there would have to be a back-up lesson plan.
After reading the book from Brave New Digital Classroom, I found it to be almost an introduction to what classroom technology is, how it was developed, and how it can best be used. There seems to be a combination of these three themes with a culmination revealing that Distance Learning is one of the best ways to use technology in the foreign language classroom. There are a total of six chapters in the book beginning with chapter 1 which discusses the reasons for using technology in the L2 curriculum. This chapter reveals that in order to reach a high level of fluency it is necessary to spend roughly 700-1,320 hours of full-time instruction or, pertaining a Romance-based language, 20 weeks of intense, full-time study at 30 hours per week. This would result in a grand total of 600 hours while other languages could exceed 44 weeks at 30 hours per week such as Russian or Chinese. This first chapter goes on to explain how computer assisted language learning (CALL) may seem counterintuitive, but is actually beneficial to our students today in the foreign language classroom. The chapter continues to explain that this is not a how-to book, but instead focuses on why technology should be used in the classroom. I think it would be a great addition for administrators to read as well as teachers determining whether or not to incorporate technology into their curriculums. Chapter 1 discusses the four myths about technology and SLA. An instance of one of the four myths is that educators often refer to the “internet” as some sort of cure-all, or monolithic concept out of Space Odyssey. It is not just the internet that improves student’s performances, but the inclusion and proper use of it along with appropriate web 2.0 tools in the second language classroom all working together. Another one of the myths is that “technology will never change”. We know this is simply not true, as it advances at an extraordinary rate being updated daily.
I expected a little more of the “how-to” format of how to incorporate technology into a foreign language classroom. I was hoping that it would have spent more time going into detail on what specific tools or programs could be used to spark interest for students and possibly some examples of technology-based lesson plans. There are short sections and some mentioning of specific web 2.0 tools here and there, but most of the book pertains to motivating and trying to justify the benefits of including technology into the classroom. Overall, I would agree with the author’s view that technology is important and one of the most effective uses is the distance learning, especially what is called a “hybrid” classroom where there are 4 or so classes followed by a designated distance learning experience. After reading Blake’s work, I think I would have liked to see a little more of the “how to” side combined with the “why” part of the book. Combining these aspects would make the book seem more useful directly to the classroom. I do however agree like the author mentions that there are already numerous manuals out there describing several technology tools for a foreign language classroom. The book focuses on synthesizing abstract theoretical issues into basic, more understandable information in a way that makes it easier on the educator to incorporate practical issues of technology implementation.
As far as making connections between this book and current educational issues, I think that this book is a great starting point for educators to read about why technology is so effective in the school systems today. This would be considered an eye-opener for teachers that have never dabbled in technology or for those that are not completely convinced that they want to use it in their classrooms. The book is a fairly easy read and a quick read, but covers the issues the book presents well. Some of the issues that are related to today’s current technology-related events are covered in this book such as why distance learning is so beneficial and how CALL is incorporated into the classroom for success. I had hoped that this book would touch on more detail of positive ways that technology can be used in the classroom, and not as much of reasons why it is a good idea. I believe it should have started off with why to use the technology but then it should focus more on ways to incorporate it. This way the book would span a little more on the topics instead of continuously harp on the importance of technology or CALL in the classroom.
In the final step of this Book Chat I would develop a rating scale. Some of the high points of the book would be the ease of reading and importance of the reading content. A personal thought on how to improve the book would be to dabble a little more in the how-to aspect combined with why technology is so important in the classroom. The book is interesting and resembles a sort of theoretical-based reading style in a short novel format. On a number-based score of 1-5, I would rate Brave New Digital Classroom an 4 out of 5. I enjoyed reading it, and though it seemed to be targeted toward the first-time technology user, I definitely learned a lot of pertinent information about CALL and foreign language classrooms. The best audience for this book would be those interested in maybe using new technologies in their foreign language classrooms or those teachers that are interested in some extra reading on the benefits of technology. Another group I would recommend to read this book would be an administration team and of course and technology specialists at the school looking to broaden their understanding of technology in the classroom as well.
Book Chat
After reading my book selection from Brave New Digital Classroom titled “Technology and Foreign Language Learning” by Robert J. Blake, I found a great excerpt that discusses the responsiveness of students to computer usage in the classroom. The excerpt specifying about Distant Learning states: Blake and Delforge (2005) have provided additional data for Spanish learners based on discrete grammar exams. Their results show that DL students often perform significantly better than their classroom counterparts. This previous section which is from Chapter 5 shows how beneficial Distance Learning can be for students as far as reading and writing comprehension go. The book mostly emphasizes the benefits of CALL (computer assisted language learning) and how Distance Learning (DL) can also be beneficial when combined with the traditional face-to-face learning. I seem to get the feeling that a “hybrid” style of learning is the best option for CALL classrooms. Another aspect that stood out the most in this book was the mention of Web 2.0 tools and how they were approved for usage in the classroom, especially for a foreign language classroom. The book even mentions Wiki’s, Moodle, and social networking all as ways to get technology into the classroom to enhance the student’s language learning experience.
The passage about incorporating computer usage in the foreign language classroom, specifically Distance Learning stood out for me the most because it is something that I have seen in action and personally think would work great to motivate my students to learn a second language. It was good to see DL mentioned in a book about including technology in the classroom and also to see that it was found to have a positive impact on the students that used it. The students in my Spanish I and II classes would be interested in hearing from native speakers and be able to use what Spanish they knew to conduct a conversation in the target language.
As far as the implications that distance learning may have on my students, I feel that the students who are most quiet may remain quiet, and may not participate in the DL experience. Maybe it would bring some of the more soft-spoken students to become more interested and speak up in the class more. Also, I can see that there is a chance that some of the behavior-problem students may try to conduct inappropriate behaviors in front of the DL experience. The DL experience would not be for every student. It may take a student who is mature enough to communicate and do their best and not get frustrated if they are corrected or make a mistake. It would be challenging to access the required technologies as well when they are needed and to make sure that everything would work when it was supposed to. If something would go wrong, or a part of the DL experience did not work correctly, then there would have to be a back-up lesson plan.
After reading the book from Brave New Digital Classroom, I found it to be almost an introduction to what classroom technology is, how it was developed, and how it can best be used. There seems to be a combination of these three themes with a culmination revealing that Distance Learning is one of the best ways to use technology in the foreign language classroom. There are a total of six chapters in the book beginning with chapter 1 which discusses the reasons for using technology in the L2 curriculum. This chapter reveals that in order to reach a high level of fluency it is necessary to spend roughly 700-1,320 hours of full-time instruction or, pertaining a Romance-based language, 20 weeks of intense, full-time study at 30 hours per week. This would result in a grand total of 600 hours while other languages could exceed 44 weeks at 30 hours per week such as Russian or Chinese. This first chapter goes on to explain how computer assisted language learning (CALL) may seem counterintuitive, but is actually beneficial to our students today in the foreign language classroom. The chapter continues to explain that this is not a how-to book, but instead focuses on why technology should be used in the classroom. I think it would be a great addition for administrators to read as well as teachers determining whether or not to incorporate technology into their curriculums. Chapter 1 discusses the four myths about technology and SLA. An instance of one of the four myths is that educators often refer to the “internet” as some sort of cure-all, or monolithic concept out of Space Odyssey. It is not just the internet that improves student’s performances, but the inclusion and proper use of it along with appropriate web 2.0 tools in the second language classroom all working together. Another one of the myths is that “technology will never change”. We know this is simply not true, as it advances at an extraordinary rate being updated daily.
I expected a little more of the “how-to” format of how to incorporate technology into a foreign language classroom. I was hoping that it would have spent more time going into detail on what specific tools or programs could be used to spark interest for students and possibly some examples of technology-based lesson plans. There are short sections and some mentioning of specific web 2.0 tools here and there, but most of the book pertains to motivating and trying to justify the benefits of including technology into the classroom. Overall, I would agree with the author’s view that technology is important and one of the most effective uses is the distance learning, especially what is called a “hybrid” classroom where there are 4 or so classes followed by a designated distance learning experience. After reading Blake’s work, I think I would have liked to see a little more of the “how to” side combined with the “why” part of the book. Combining these aspects would make the book seem more useful directly to the classroom. I do however agree like the author mentions that there are already numerous manuals out there describing several technology tools for a foreign language classroom. The book focuses on synthesizing abstract theoretical issues into basic, more understandable information in a way that makes it easier on the educator to incorporate practical issues of technology implementation.
As far as making connections between this book and current educational issues, I think that this book is a great starting point for educators to read about why technology is so effective in the school systems today. This would be considered an eye-opener for teachers that have never dabbled in technology or for those that are not completely convinced that they want to use it in their classrooms. The book is a fairly easy read and a quick read, but covers the issues the book presents well. Some of the issues that are related to today’s current technology-related events are covered in this book such as why distance learning is so beneficial and how CALL is incorporated into the classroom for success. I had hoped that this book would touch on more detail of positive ways that technology can be used in the classroom, and not as much of reasons why it is a good idea. I believe it should have started off with why to use the technology but then it should focus more on ways to incorporate it. This way the book would span a little more on the topics instead of continuously harp on the importance of technology or CALL in the classroom.
In the final step of this Book Chat I would develop a rating scale. Some of the high points of the book would be the ease of reading and importance of the reading content. A personal thought on how to improve the book would be to dabble a little more in the how-to aspect combined with why technology is so important in the classroom. The book is interesting and resembles a sort of theoretical-based reading style in a short novel format. On a number-based score of 1-5, I would rate Brave New Digital Classroom an 4 out of 5. I enjoyed reading it, and though it seemed to be targeted toward the first-time technology user, I definitely learned a lot of pertinent information about CALL and foreign language classrooms. The best audience for this book would be those interested in maybe using new technologies in their foreign language classrooms or those teachers that are interested in some extra reading on the benefits of technology. Another group I would recommend to read this book would be an administration team and of course and technology specialists at the school looking to broaden their understanding of technology in the classroom as well.
June 6, 2017
Although I might not be able to look for anything related to my actual research, but it took me by surprise when the author decided to dive deeper into the realm of games. Its totally worth reading if you're looking for a way to incorporate technology as part of your teaching approach.
September 6, 2013
So far, I appreciate the clarity with which the author explains how technology can be integrated into language teaching, without the medium eclipsing the learning. I look forward to getting my hands on the updated edition, too!
October 20, 2015
It's hard to write a book about technology that doesn't seem instantly dated. This one had some good points and studies I may want to look up. I didn't enjoy it, exactly. I have to talk about it for 10% of my class grade,so the discussion questions will help me. So for that, 4 stars.
October 4, 2020
Uno de las mejores síntesis de teorías y métodos de adquisición de lenguas y uso de tecnología como herramienta soporte de una excelente planificación didáctica. Muchos ejemplos de conceptos importantes en el marco del aprendizaje y enseñanza de lenguas.
Read
July 4, 2015i like so much
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews