The ultimate goal of this work by Li and Lan (Reference Li and Lan2021) is to improve second language learning. The underlying assumption is that digital technologies can play a major role in achieving that goal. It is not surprising that such an assumption underlies this effort. Technologies have long played a major role in second language learning dating back to tape recorders and subsequent technologies. Li and Lan provide a detailed overview of those efforts with a focus on more recent technologies such as mobile approaches, virtual realities, and game-based learning. This review of previous and current technologies is valuable to readers, including those working in other domains. A similar review could be provided for learning physics, biology, history, and many other subjects.
Consider the remarkable progress in technology in the last 50 years and the many powerful digital technologies that are being used to support learning and instruction, as Li and Lan so competently review. What is genuinely remarkable is the lack of large-scale and sustained impact of all these technologies. What is then noteworthy in this piece is the treatment of cognition and brain science as worthy of investigation to explain the lack of large-scale and sustained impact of technology on second language learning and instruction.
Research on learning and instruction suggests that three things seem to account for much of variance in learning: (a) past performance, (b) time devoted to a learning task, and (c) the availability of timely and informative feedback (Spector, Reference Spector2016; Spector & Merrill, Reference Spector and Merrill2008). Some researchers have argued that various technologies can address each of these important areas, which is noted in Li and Lan's extensive list of references. For example, artificial intelligence can be used to personalize learning to fit appropriately with a learner's past and current performance (Moreno & Mayer, Reference Moreno and Mayer2004). Games and virtual realities can be used to engage learners and increase time on task (Dede, Reference Dede2009; Mayer, Reference Mayer2016). Many of the other references cited by Li and Lan address the issue of using digital technologies to provide timely and informative feedback and keep learners engaged in a variety of learning tasks; many of the references not related to second language learning. Those parts of the paper and the many references provide a rich and timely resource for instructional designers and educational technologists working in any domain or learning situation.
What I am left wondering is why have these powerful technologies not yet had a large-scale and sustained impact on learning and instruction. One issue that comes to mind is access. While mobile technologies can reach many outside a formal learning situation, there are still many without access to newer mobile devices that can access resources on the Internet. Still, mobile technologies can reach some and provide an important resource for many.
When considering brain science, I wonder about some deep things about languages and language learning that might impact how a brain develops and works. For example, In Norwegian there are 8 vowels, while in English there are only 5. English language learners hearing Norwegian have difficulty in hearing those 3 new vowel sounds as their brains have not yet developed the ability to distinguish those sounds. Knowing the learners first language can be used by a second language learning system to help learners hear and distinguish novel sounds.
A second example involves tonality. A native English language speaker learning Chinese encounters 4 or 5 tones that impact meaning; whereas in English, tones do not alter meaning as they do in Chinese but can be used to differentiate a statement from a question. Moreover, pitch and accent can affect understanding. A second language learning system that understood such differences in language and speakers could be used to help those struggling with a new language. However, such second language learning systems have yet to emerge or have a sustained and large-scale impact.
A final thought with which I was left after a second read of this paper involves differences in how young children manage to develop mastery of multiple languages at an early language and how adults struggle to do so. While there is a significant body of research on multiple language acquisition at an early stage, why has there been so little progress in helping adult learners master a second language. While the ways and means of helping adult language learners have exploded, progress has not kept pace. Science suggests that infants can detect a speaker of their native language very early (Akhtar & Menjivar, Reference Akhtar, Menjivar and Benson2012; Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés, Reference Bosch and Sebastián-Gallés2001). I mention such issues as a concern that brain science has much more to reveal about the role of learning in terms of age-specific issues as well as differences in tonality and enunciation and cultural considerations.
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The ultimate goal of this work by Li and Lan (Reference Li and Lan2021) is to improve second language learning. The underlying assumption is that digital technologies can play a major role in achieving that goal. It is not surprising that such an assumption underlies this effort. Technologies have long played a major role in second language learning dating back to tape recorders and subsequent technologies. Li and Lan provide a detailed overview of those efforts with a focus on more recent technologies such as mobile approaches, virtual realities, and game-based learning. This review of previous and current technologies is valuable to readers, including those working in other domains. A similar review could be provided for learning physics, biology, history, and many other subjects.
Consider the remarkable progress in technology in the last 50 years and the many powerful digital technologies that are being used to support learning and instruction, as Li and Lan so competently review. What is genuinely remarkable is the lack of large-scale and sustained impact of all these technologies. What is then noteworthy in this piece is the treatment of cognition and brain science as worthy of investigation to explain the lack of large-scale and sustained impact of technology on second language learning and instruction.
Research on learning and instruction suggests that three things seem to account for much of variance in learning: (a) past performance, (b) time devoted to a learning task, and (c) the availability of timely and informative feedback (Spector, Reference Spector2016; Spector & Merrill, Reference Spector and Merrill2008). Some researchers have argued that various technologies can address each of these important areas, which is noted in Li and Lan's extensive list of references. For example, artificial intelligence can be used to personalize learning to fit appropriately with a learner's past and current performance (Moreno & Mayer, Reference Moreno and Mayer2004). Games and virtual realities can be used to engage learners and increase time on task (Dede, Reference Dede2009; Mayer, Reference Mayer2016). Many of the other references cited by Li and Lan address the issue of using digital technologies to provide timely and informative feedback and keep learners engaged in a variety of learning tasks; many of the references not related to second language learning. Those parts of the paper and the many references provide a rich and timely resource for instructional designers and educational technologists working in any domain or learning situation.
What I am left wondering is why have these powerful technologies not yet had a large-scale and sustained impact on learning and instruction. One issue that comes to mind is access. While mobile technologies can reach many outside a formal learning situation, there are still many without access to newer mobile devices that can access resources on the Internet. Still, mobile technologies can reach some and provide an important resource for many.
When considering brain science, I wonder about some deep things about languages and language learning that might impact how a brain develops and works. For example, In Norwegian there are 8 vowels, while in English there are only 5. English language learners hearing Norwegian have difficulty in hearing those 3 new vowel sounds as their brains have not yet developed the ability to distinguish those sounds. Knowing the learners first language can be used by a second language learning system to help learners hear and distinguish novel sounds.
A second example involves tonality. A native English language speaker learning Chinese encounters 4 or 5 tones that impact meaning; whereas in English, tones do not alter meaning as they do in Chinese but can be used to differentiate a statement from a question. Moreover, pitch and accent can affect understanding. A second language learning system that understood such differences in language and speakers could be used to help those struggling with a new language. However, such second language learning systems have yet to emerge or have a sustained and large-scale impact.
A final thought with which I was left after a second read of this paper involves differences in how young children manage to develop mastery of multiple languages at an early language and how adults struggle to do so. While there is a significant body of research on multiple language acquisition at an early stage, why has there been so little progress in helping adult learners master a second language. While the ways and means of helping adult language learners have exploded, progress has not kept pace. Science suggests that infants can detect a speaker of their native language very early (Akhtar & Menjivar, Reference Akhtar, Menjivar and Benson2012; Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés, Reference Bosch and Sebastián-Gallés2001). I mention such issues as a concern that brain science has much more to reveal about the role of learning in terms of age-specific issues as well as differences in tonality and enunciation and cultural considerations.