As a member of the 1980s’generation in China, I began to learn English in the fifth grade of elementary school in 1995. Besides tape-recorders and cassettes, there is not much modern technology that could assist the students’ English learning. I remembered that I used to listening to the tape-recorders after school, which was required by my teacher. At that time, I think the motivation behind English learning is mainly about good marks and the encouragement from our caring teacher.
Soon I entered middle school in 1996. I attended a typewriting club and encountered the English keyboard before the computers emerge in our lives. When we practiced typewrite and held some typewriting contests, all the texts we used were in English, although I did not know why there was no Chinese keyboard and did not quite understand the texts we typed on the paper. Then, some computers appeared in one of our school’s lab room. There was a new club founded, the computer learning club, and also computer lessons for beginners in the syllabus. I still remembered the DOS language we studied, memorized, and used on the sometimes black and sometimes blue screen computers. At that time, I realized that English is very important, and at least the new machine speaks English. My English language skills grow fast, but not as fast as the growth of modern technology in the late 1990s, computers changed from 486, 586, and 686 to windows system. My English learning still concentrates on vocabulary building, exams-taking, and textbooks reciting. There is still relatively small amount of English resources that students can access.
When I was in high school, things began to change. In the second year of high school, my father bought me my first computer. The original reason to buy the expensive desktop is to help me in preparing the college entrance exam. My parents took me to one of the best schools in Tianjin to register their online courses. However, the online courses did not really work that well, I was much occupied by the homework from school, and the extra online lectures and assignments actually added more pressure. To me, this computer opened a lot of windows besides the learning of the school materials. I started to browse the websites online, and I found lots of interesting things, such as group chat rooms, e-mails, MSN, etc. I had some online friends who influenced me a lot. One of them told me that he was studying in Canada that year, he was in his twenties, and was willing to help me with my English learning and invited me to visit his own website. As an eighteen years old girl, I was curious and eager to learn English and English cultures by means beyond the traditional school teaching and learning style. I shared my daily life and English questions with this net-friend through emails. He wrote me back with the corrected grammar and vocabulary, and told me something about the computer laboratory assignment he was doing. I have to mention the rising and increasing use of electronic dictionary at that time, and I used it to look up the new words when reading some emails, textbooks, etc. Another thing need to be mentioned is the resources like English newspaper, magazines, software that bloomed in the beginning of the 21st century. One of them I was interested in was vocabulary building software. I installed the program which contains modules such as spelling games, listening exercises, etc. which helped me a lot in keeping English vocabulary learning a fun process.
After I entered the university as an English major student, technology is playing an indispensable role in my English learning process. We have our English multimedia classrooms with equipments such as, computers, projector, earphones and microphones, etc. English materials expand to radio programs (for instance, VOA news report), movies, songs, video clips, soap-operas, online database, etc. some of our classmates use text messages to contact friends such as foreign teachers and international students from other countries. With the requirement of English major syllabus, we spent much time on English listening, writing, interpreting, and speaking activities. At that time, in order to find a better job in the future, we were enthusiastic over gaining English skill related certificates, such as Certificate of Business English, Interpreting Certificate issued by Shanghai, TOEFL, etc. The use of Computer sure helped in the process of registering in the exams, searching for training courses, exchanging useful information with other participants, booked hotels in the exam host cities, etc.
Today, I study in Canada, and my English learning is still going on. I use English and technology anywhere and anytime, cell phones, the Internet which contains online resources such as English articles, dictionaries, books, etc. Technology indeed helps students in English learning and it save a lot of time and energy. However, traditional ways of learning a language cannot be neglected or abandoned.
Compares to adults, technologies can be easily acquired by youth, which assist the development of students’ multiple literacy. In school, the use of technology should be built on the needs of students. The benefits and challenges of using the new technologies need to be further investigated and understood by the educators. On one hand, technologies include aspects of a language linguistically, socially, and culturally, and there still exist issues such as the accessibilities of the Internet and computers for English learners of different regions, computer crime, and computer addiction. On the other hand, I believe with teacher’s guide, autonomous learners would gain benefits from technology when they are using technology in their English learning.
