READING, WRITING AND TECHNOLOGY
What is first: the egg or the chicken?
Twenty three hundred years ago Aristotle had reflected about this dilemma. The question is not, of course, only related with the egg itself, but with life and evolution. Similar reflections and contributions have been made from great people: Plato and Stephen Hawking, for example, including of course, Darwin’s. Even though this predicament involves a great universe of discussion, it is somehow also related to language learning.
Let’s say it might be a kind of circular reference when speaking about reading, writing and technology, as we read to understand technology and use technology to improve our reading, or that of our students. The reading process is first developed; then, the writing one. Decoding is one of the steps. Uttering ah, ma, and relating these sounds —whatever the language— with signs will lead us to begin building phonemes and words, and consequently, reading and writing will develop hand by hand.
A writing instrument is a piece of technology… it works as my 6-inches beech stick, cut from one of the trees my father cultivated decades ago, that I use to draft and write in the sand or in the earth floor when there are no white boards and dry erase markers –not even blackboards– in some remote places I sometimes teach in. A couple of PVC one-and-a-half-inches elbows joined together with a small piece of same-diameter pipe will work as an ancient phone receiver with which we may hear and listen our own voice. This ancient pieces of technology still work. And I suggest my students try these ones before learning ICT.
What is first: apply reading and writing current technology in ESL/EFL teaching or applying reading and writing ICT in primary language? Own experience has shown that although this will behave like a circular reference, it does work. I ask my ESL students to read in L1, Spanish, a brief chapter of his/her favorite author aloud, seated in an author’s chair in front of the class with the best intonation and legibility. We, the audience, comment what he student should do to improve the reading. Once the student is confident in reading aloud in L1, we may proceed to integrate technology in our classroom.
Fernando
