Virtual Learning Solutions for English as Second Language Students

How Technology Enhances ESL Students’ Learning Experience
Introduction
In the COVID-19 era, education has taken a dramatic turn towards distance learning, meaning that virtual classrooms are now more popular than ever. But what is the effect of the use of technology in an ESL classroom? Evidence shows that technology actually does enhance ESL students’ learning experience (Kasapoglu-Akyol, 2010). The fact is that ESL students use technology tools in their daily lives and thus not to use technology for learning purposes is akin to taking a fish out of water and then asking it to learn to swim. In the digital era, digital natives have been using technology since birth and it is older teachers and educational systems that are slow to recognize this fact. This paper will show how technology enhances ESL students' learning experience related to ESL instructional practices and analyze how that topic or trend impacts the district, state, and national levels.
Virtual Technology’s Advantages
One of the most common technology usages in classrooms today is the ability to create virtual learning environments for learns that can facilitate in-class learning. Volery and Lord (2000) argue that it is important for schools to leverage online learning technology so that they can be technologically relevant and help learners to overcome time and space barriers. Some of the benefits of using online learning technology include: the expansion of education opportunities to those who cannot physically be in the classroom; the utilization of software designed to enhance and facilitate the learning experience; the use of online learning tools such as direct messaging, email and platforms where learners can engage with others. For ESLs it is no different than for other learners: technology opens up the world for them, gives them more opportunities to learn in different ways and formats, and allows them to communicate with people in a variety of methods.
Virtual technology also facilitates team collaboration for learners. Kahai, Carroll and Jestice (2007) found that virtual worlds assists learners in communication, sharing knowledge, and developing team work skills. Kahai et al. (2007) show that the virtual team is a reality in today’s digitalized world and therefore not something ESL teachers and ESL learners should shy away from: the virtual team is “a temporary arrangement of individuals belonging to different organizations and cultures, possessing different functional backgrounds, and working across different time zones on a common task” (Kahai et al., 2007, p. 61). The primary means of communication for virtual teams in most cases is email, instant messaging, shared document folders, and discussion forums. What the literature on virtual team work shows is that it is a way to “enrich electronic interaction by offering the visual, aural, and spatial dimensions lacking in the lean channels that are commonly used today” (Kahai et al., 2007, p. 61). Virtual systems can help learners by giving them more opportunities to collaborate with others, learn from people who are peers as opposed to just learning from a teacher who cannot meet everyone’s needs due to time constraints, and more.
Park (2011) shows that “the benefits of online learning are its flexibility, accessibility and interactivity that enable students to access learning materials and services from anywhere and at anytime” (p. 185). For students, having access to learning materials at their fingertips is a great boon. Being able to bring up digital texts, videos, tutorials or message from an online platform can give them the support they need to stay connected, engaged and active in the learning process. For ESLs this is especially important as immersion into the education experience is vital to their success. Digital tools facilitate the immersive learning experience.
Technology and ESLs
Virtual worlds are not the only way for students to gain from technology. Simply being able to use computers in the classroom can help ESLs (Ybarra & Green, 2013). Computer assisted instruction has been found to enhance the learning experience by giving students the opportunity to practice in a more engaging way. Given the fact that most learners today are used to having computers in their lives, they enjoy being given the autonomy, responsibility and freedom to have computers as part of their basic education in the classroom. Beetham and Sharpe (2013) show that it improves their scores across the board, too: when these students are able to use computer assisted instruction their writing and reading performance has improved considerably and their overall morale and attitude toward learning increases favorably.
Computer assisted instruction for ESLs gives these learners more time to engage with a lesson at their own pace, increases their motivation to engage as an active learner since most students enjoy using computers, and it broadens their access to learning materials (Keengwe & Hussein, 2014). They are able to engage in team work with other students, review their work instantly as the computer program gives them an automatic response, and they can gain from the instant feedback whereas in a traditional classroom they may be waiting on a test for a week before it is graded and handed back to them. Computers improve the feedback time and enhance the learning environment in a favorable way since it makes the learning process more fun for ESL students (Keengwe & Hussein, 2014). Computer assisted instruction has been linked with an increase in the vocabulary knowledge of ESLs (Cassady, Smith & Thomas, 2017). It has also been found to improve overall language acquisition in a faster time frame than among ESLs who are not given computer assisted instruction (Alvarez-Marinelli et al., 2016).
Simply using technology as a way for ESLs to communicate more freely with teachers is another benefit. For example, the study by Jiang, Tang, Peng and Liu (2018) looks at using social networks as a tool to facilitate collaboration among students and interaction between teachers and students. Jiang et al. (2018) were able to produce a theoretical framework for web-based design learning and teaching system in the style of social networking. They tested their framework and found that the most important features of the framework are its ability to facilitate innovation, collaboration, and interaction.
ESLs learn most fully by way of immersions, so the more immersive the experience can be the better it is for them. If they are cut off from using technology as a tool in the educative process they are essentially handcuffed from one of the most prevalent resources in existence today. Technology opens doors to the learning process in ways that was not imaginable fifty years ago, and yet some schools still today teach as though nothing has changed in the past five decades. Part of the problem is that there is not enough funding for every student to have access to a computer. Another part is that there is fear among teachers that by turning the environment over to a virtual learning platform they will undermine their own positions. The reality is that teachers are still needed and are just as important as ever. Technology is there to help, and even something as simple as setting up a social networking platform where students and teachers can communicate can go a great ways towards helping ESLs to improve their cognition, vocabulary, and test-preparedness.
Challenges for Schools
Challenges exist at the local, state and national levels with respect to using technology to assist in educating ESLs. One of the biggest challenges is funding. Technology investments require a massive input of cash that is not always available at these levels. States often rely upon federal dollars for operations, and if the local school district is only receiving so much money from the state, it is going to have fewer options in terms of investing in technology, especially if it has to pay for teachers, buildings, maintenance, security and so on.
Using technology, however, can usher in changes to the way schools think about education and about the overhang that is required to provide education. One of the issues now being discussed in the wake of the COVID-19 scare is how easy it is to teach learners virtually and whether this can be a permanent solution to funding crises that schools everywhere are facing. If schools can shift to teaching virtually it may solve a lot of funding problems and technology can go from being seen as a secondary option to a primary option as it alleviates schools from other costs such as building maintenance, security, lunching, and more.
For now, blended learning environments are likely to be the most advantageous for schools and for ESLs, as it combines in-class hands-on learning with virtual learning and all the online options that go with it. Still, at the local level, this means building out an infrastructure for online learning that can work with in-class instruction. That infrastructure requires investment that is not always forthcoming from the state. For poorer districts that rely on taxes for funding this is an especially acute problem.
One possible solution is for poorer districts to turn to alternative route teaching programs. The lack of effective teaching staff in both rural and urban K through 12 schools has been addressed in recent years through alternative route teacher preparation like Teach for America (TFA). Started in 1990, its aim has been to produce classroom-ready teachers particularly for high-poverty rural and urban schools in the K through 12 school system (Turner, Ncube, Turner, Boruch & Ibekwe, 2018). TFA “has recruited, selected, trained, placed, and supported approximately 40,000 new public school teachers (or corps members) in the highest-poverty school districts in rural and urban areas” (Turner et al., 2018, p. 7). However, teaching staff is only one part of the problem. These teachers still have to have access to the technology tools that ESLs can benefit from. They do increase the pool of teachers that schools have to choose from when they go about filling staffing positions, but the issue of technology remains. This means that money often has to come from states or from the federal government. To receive federal money, standards have to be met via testing results.
Another challenge is that at the national level, using technology for ESLs is not universally accepted. This may be changing now that states are faced with no other choice as a result of the COVID-19 scare. Many teachers are afraid to return to the classroom as are some students. They want to use computers for distance learning. Since computers can help more than they can harm this is an option that schools and families should consider. It would mean, however, that students and teachers would be supplying the technology tools primarily on their own. If families of ESLs do not have the necessary technology in their homes, they may be disadvantaged on this front. For ESLs who want to engage in distance learning style education, it may be incumbent upon the federal government to offer grant money so that computers and software can be purchased by families that agree to opt into this type of education.
Once the COVID-19 scare fades, it is likely that schools will return to a more normative or traditional environment and then the question becomes whether or not they will continue with a blended learning type of environment. Kim and Bonk (2006) conducted a study on blended learning using a survey of teachers, administrators and students. Among those surveyed, wireless technology and reusable content objects were seen as the technologies that would play the biggest part in advancing online education in the future. Participants believed that as the Internet technology advances there will be more use of multimedia and interactive simulations and games in online education. The majority of participants also expected that there would be a massive increase in online learning at their schools in the next five to ten years. However, most of those surveyed believed the rise would be slow because many schools and families still want to be campus-based primarily.
The trend is thus obviously on the upward. Schools are seeing the signs that computer assisted instruction, virtual learning, blended classrooms, and distance learning are options that need to be considered and that can impact positively the learning experience of students. For ESLs, blended learning environments are going to be the most favorable since it gives them the option of in-person training with the support of the virtual environment. Not all schools are prepared to offer this type of learning solution, however, so more time, investment and infrastructural support is needed.
Nonetheless, the trend is moving towards blended classrooms: as Meskill and Mossop (2003) note, “For two decades now, the education sector has appropriated computer technology to serve teaching and learning across the disciplines. And, as advances in technology have developed, so has the rationale for incorporating this medium into daily instructional streams matured.” This trend has shown no signs of reversing. The challenge that remains to this trend becoming more dominant is mainly that of funding and resistance from educators who are more inclined to implement traditional modes of pedagogy. The funding issue can be solved through more collaborative processes among the local, state and federal levels. Necessary allocation of funding can be entered into the budget as budget priorities shift, and the COVID-19 era is sure to usher in these changes to priorities. What was once seen as a novelty or as the usage of high technology will now be seen as a commonplace solution. However, working out funding difficulties would require an overhaul to the system in place. As Saltman (2015) observes, the federal government has often failed to meet the social and economic needs of many learners, and No Child Left Behind does not authorize adequate “funding to meet its new requirements” (p. 36). Thus, incorporating legislature that focuses exclusively on funding for technological solutions in the classroom would be a big step in making sure schools have the necessary money to create more computer-friendly classrooms.
That leaves changing teacher perceptions to the utility of technology for ESL students, and the data is mainly in favor of using technology to support ESL education. Teachers who are reluctant to embrace technology may do so for a number of reasons: lack of familiarity with the technology, unwillingness to experiment or change their own pedagogy to incorporate technology into their instruction, prejudice against virtual learning, or fear for their own jobs—i.e., worry that they may be replaced as instructors if it becomes evident that learners can learn effectively without them.
Some of these issues can be eradicated through the proper training of instructors. Those educators of ESLs who are certified should be trained in using technology. Developing new ESL educators is something that would have to be addressed at the university level where teachers are prepared. These teachers should be made to understand that technology is a solution not a barrier to education for ESLs. This training should be supported by real world access to technology, however. Teachers who learn that technology supports education of ESLs but find that they cannot use the tools when they enter into a school because they are just not available may be disheartened by the lack of correlation between what they learned in their training and what they find to be the real world situation in their schools.
Educators and school districts, as well as administrators at the state and national levels must all be working together on this issue. The Department of Education sets the tone in many ways for tomorrow’s learning opportunities, but it still requires a great deal of feedback and input from real world teachers, school leaders, and experts. If the input is not forthcoming, the necessary changes will not take effect. Collaboration at the three levels, local, state and national, is thus essential.
Teachers should be able to use the tools that are available to create their own approaches to teaching ESL classrooms. The more freedom they have to explore, the more likely they are to find solutions that work for them. Through the right training, the right assistance, the right funding, and access to the right technology tools, opportunities for enhancing the ESL educative experience can be found that were not present before. Schools should be supportive of this endeavor and federal money should be available as districts re-think how to approach education in the coming years.
Conclusion
ESL learners are in a position to benefit mightily from technology, especially as they tend to be digital natives who are used to technology and enjoy using computers. Having access to this technology is going to be a problem for some families who may not be able to afford all these tools, so schools may need to be the ones to provide them. Schools should receive funding from the federal budget, and the COVID-19 era has literally reshaped the way teachers and students think about learning. The trend towards using digital technology to enhance the classroom experience has been growing but till now it has been viewed mainly as a luxury. Today’s world is now adjusting to the reality that distance learning is not just a luxury: it is a necessity. ESLs should not be viewed as learners who might be negatively impacted by using computers and other digital forms of technology. On the contrary, the evidence overwhelmingly supports the use of technology in the teaching of ESLs. Their vocabulary, testing, reading and writing can all improve when technology is part of their learning environment. Blended classrooms where in-class instruction is modified with virtual learning would be a great benefit, but if virtual learning becomes the only option in the foreseeable future it should be welcomed. Virtual learning opens up the process of education by giving ESLs more materials to access, more opportunities to engage with peers, more immediate feedback, and support.
References
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