Generally speaking, technology is much more widely used in ESL or EFL in the states than in China. We may find a variety of web-based tools, such as blogger, wiki, postcards, talking heads, you-tube here while in a typical Chinese class, the most frequently used tool is ppt to give presentations, which in some universities has been so overused that students even call their universities CPU (crazy presentation university). So maybe it’s necessary to acquaint Chinese EFL teachers with more varied up-to-date CMC tools to adapt to different courses.
But meanwhile we are expected to watch out for the negative impacts of CMC tools, such as the inadequate computer literacy of both students and teachers, the lack of supervision of or feedback to students engaging in CMC, and privacy or security issues. All in all, in this electronic age there is no way to escape the main trend of CMC in EFL teaching. How to minimize its disadvantages and adapt it to different branches of language teaching is what we should focus on.
I agree with your focus on trying to avoid/reduce the (possible) negative aspects of CMC. As we saw in class on Friday, technology use does not always equal a smooth and exciting classroom. Hopefully as we try to implement technology little by little, we will become more skilled and preventing the negative aspects. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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