It is undeniable that technology plays a major role in the current world. Some claim including it in teaching is undesirable in that it reduces face-to-face interaction, which is, after all, what learning is all about. Others, more tech-oriented, cannot imagine a lesson without top-notch devices, saying that these make lessons more interesting, stimulating, and easy. Evidently, it is high time we discuss the issue of becoming media-friendly in the ELT classroom.
The inclusion of technology in the ELT classroom is convenient because since it is such a big part of everyday life, it would be backwards to leave it out. Indeed, without technology a lesson would be incomplete. It is a fact that as teachers we should prepare our students as best we can to cope with the real world. Therefore, if we don’t deal with technology while teaching, our students will go unprepared and unprotected from the dangers connected with the cyber world. Moreover, teachers and students of the 21st century have opportunities never dreamed-of before. Particularly of interest for the ELT teacher, thanks to technology students can now have a first-hand experience in getting to know foreign cultures and in interacting with native speakers of English, by doing something as simple as a videocall - something unthought-of not many years ago. Besides, language exercises done by computer turn out to be, generally, more entertaining, enjoyable and stimulating; plus, for the information can be generally saved in cyber databases, work is very rarely lost.
It is well-known that education and learning are only possible through personal interaction with another human being - this is the number one argument posed by the people against incorporating technology in the ELT classroom. We need the presence of another person to ensure that we learn, not to mention that teachers transmit not only academic content but also and most importantly emotional tools and values for students to become better members of society. How, technology-unfriendly people ask, is a computer going to educate someone on the most crucial things in life? Furthermore, while students now can have easy access to an abysmal amount of information they can use, the danger exists that they should fall down this abyss - namely, that they be exposed to content deemed inappropriate for their age. As well as this, when asked to include devices in their classes, such as the famous interactive whiteboards, teachers complain on how long it takes to set them up, explaining that half the lesson is generally lost on hazardous adventures like getting the USB flashdrive to work or making a file’s format compatible to that of the computer.
To conclude, the pros of using technology in the classroom clearly outnumber the cons. It is worth mentioning that most of the cons can be avoided by careful planning, proper teacher training on the matter, and an attentive surveillance of what students are exposed to. Finally, when deciding whether or not to include the new technology in the ELT classroom, we should bear in mind that students are going to use it one way or another, so we’d better take advantage of it.
