Language teachers’ perceptions on the use of OER language processing technologies in MALL

ABSTRACT

Combined with the ubiquity and constant connectivity of mobile devices, and with innovative approaches such as Data-Driven Learning (DDL), Natural Language Processing Technologies (NLPTs) as Open Educational Resources (OERs) could become a powerful tool for language learning as they promote individual and personalized learning. Using a questionnaire that was answered by language teachers (n = 230) in Spain and the UK, this research explores the extent to which OER NLPTs are currently known and used in adult foreign language learning. Our results suggest that teachers’ familiarity and use of OER NLPTs are very low. Although online dictionaries, collocation dictionaries and spell checkers are widely known, NLPTs appear to be generally underused in foreign language teaching. It was found that teachers prefer computer-based environments over mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and that teachers’ qualification determines their familiarity with a wider range of OER NLPTs. This research offers insight into future applications of Language Processing Technologies as OERs in language learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Language learning
• teachers’ perceptions
• OER
• MALL
• natural language processing technologies
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EU - ERASMUS+ [grant number 2014-1-ES01-KA203-004782].

Notes on contributors

Pascual Pérez-Paredes

Pascual Pérez-Paredes is a Lecturer in Research in Second Language Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. His main research interests are learner language variation, the use of corpora in language education and corpus-assisted discourse analysis. He has published research in journals such as CALL, Language, Learning & Technology, System, ReCALL, Discourse & Society and the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. For more info: http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/perez-paredes/

Carlos Ordoñana Guillamón

Carlos Ordoñana Guillamón is a PhD student and part-time associate professor at the University of Murcia. His main research interests are the use of corpora in language education, computer-assisted language learning and mobile-assisted language learning.

Pilar Aguado Jiménez

Pilar Aguado is a tenured lecturer in the English Department at the University of Murcia. Her works have been published in RESLA, META, CALL, System, The ESPecialist, Accross Languages and Cultures, Journal of English Studies, and John Benjamins, among others. Her main current areas of research are teaching English as a foreign language, translation, materials design, corpora and ESP.