The theory and practice of using technology in English teaching

The theory and practice of using technology in English teaching
Kristina Stevcheva

Our daily routine cannot be imagined without the use of computers and smart devices in our private and professional lives. The use of the information technology in teaching English is no novelty because technology has been around us for a long time. With the development of the ICT, a vast number of educational platforms and software that can be used in education have been created. Technology in the classroom is present today within the educational centres and using technology in language learning has become the perfect complement in reaching proficiency and fluency, and English courses accompanied by technological support are the most effective and attractive for students who want to be successful in their learning. Even for students who are spending time on their computers playing video games, using computers during the lesson will attract their attention and they will try to be successful and compete with the others.

The ICT is one of the most important tools for the improvement of the teaching and studying at the same time. For teachers, it is a professional resource, a way to share their knowledge and as a source of useful texts that can be used during a lesson. On the other hand, for the student who is studying English as a foreign language, the use of ICT guarantees a lot of possibilities for effective communication and it is a type of virtual community that allows him or her to exchange information, ideas, and experience with other students. As well, it helps them make projects and exchange materials. The use of technology in English teaching, helps students develop and use their skills, knowledge, and understandings by making and presenting the curriculum. All of this is possible because of the interactive and dynamic nature of the ICT. As, Jeremy Harmer wrote “a word innovation means something new, which means new ideas to change things for better”, the ICT is new and closer to the generations of students nowadays and all the teaching methods should be made according to their interest in order to be successful in teaching the language. But, we should be aware of the fact that all methods are not 100% successful, as Harmer claims in his book “if we look at all the language teaching methods which are used all over the world by different teachers at different levels, we cannot say that all of them are 100% successful. Therefore, it is very important to keep looking and searching to find ways to make teaching and learning better.”
In the past decade, many analyses have been made based on the use of ICT in teaching and according to most of them, we can conclude that there are more advantages than disadvantages. The use of technology in English teaching, as some analysis show, can contribute in: improving reading and writing abilities, develop listening and speaking abilities, supporting student collaboration, their creativity, individual learning, as well as the repetition of already acquired knowledge. As Dudney and Hockly (2007) have stated, the ICT is, in fact, an interactive and collaborative medium that allows the creation of text and activities that can easily be shared in public which helps students discover the language they are learning and its use. Many English teachers might disagree with these advantages and they usually have doubts that the ICT might not be useful in the process of teaching English since they think computers may only distract student’s attention during the lesson. But, there are educational platforms and software which are created in order to avoid this happening and teachers should be informed that there a software such as Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com) which limits and controls students' access to other content during the lesson. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, pg. 42)
ICT tools or technological tools that are used in education are part of the educational technology. Educational technology has helped teachers today to motivate their students more than ever when presenting any material in the classroom.
Today, we live in a world where technology is everywhere, it is basically on your fingertips and with technology becoming more and more prominent in our society, it needs to take part in the school. Because of the enormous use of technology in teaching English, a lot of teachers are scared that the computer might replace them and their way of teaching, mostly when the complete online courses are mentioned. However, the internet platforms are no threat to the language professionals but in addition to better methods of teaching English which needs to be used reasonably. As Clifford wrote in his journal article” The Status of Computer-Assisted Language Instruction.”, as the most appropriate answer to the previously asked question, technology will not replace teachers but teachers that use technology in the language teaching will replace the ones that do not. (quoted in Blake, 2008, pg 14)
As a matter of fact, there are a lot of things that a teacher can do, and a computer cannot, which is another proof that it is not possible for a computer to take the place of an English teacher in the classroom. For example, the computer cannot find another way of explaining the material for some students that find it difficult, or will students sit in one place with the computers without a teacher present? Probably they will interrupt each other and again the task will not be finished. There are many different opinions about the use of ICT in the classroom, but again a huge percentage of teachers and students think that a teacher cannot be replaced by a computer. This percentage is shown on a lot of online debates (that can be found on debate.org) and many journal articles and books can be found with the same headline. But, due to this, the famous quote of the famous science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, “Any teacher who can be replaced by a machine should be”, gives us another perspective and it is somehow similar to Clifford’s article (mentioned above). Any teacher that can’t add a human element to their teaching, many as well not be there at all. There are teachers who blindly follow a syllabus, providing wrote information for no reason other than to draw a pay check and in my opinion, those are just people that are not happy with their job. A machine providing all the information needed for students will do a better job than a disinterested teacher because it will not get bored or impatient with the students. In the “Omni Magazine” published in June 1980, Arthur Clarke wrote the famous article “Electronic tutors” that covers well this subject. Even then, he states that the change has begun, and that technology will be part of the educational process and it is nothing new. He also wrote that: “The first technological aid of education was the book. You do not have to clone teachers or multiply them. The printing press did just that and the mightiest of all educational machines is the library”. So, at that time, the book did not replace the teacher, only teachers who read books and use them, replaced others who did not. It is the same now, in the innovative technology era.
English teachers of today should be ready to provide their students with the opportunity to learn using technology and to show them that computers and smartphones are not created only for playing games and spending times on social media. Due to the implementation of the ICT in education, UNESCO, Microsoft and Intel have created the” UNESCO ICT COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHERS” in 2015, which gives directions to teachers on how to become more effective in the ICT-based lessons. It is very well organized, and everything is explained part by part, which means that it gives teachers a clear perspective of what to expect from a certain task. For example, it is shown how to use ICT to communicate and collaborate which should be a daily task and students should learn “to use ICT to communicate with other students, for example for them to submit their project reports online, with parents and with the school administration”, (UNESCO ICT COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHERS, 2015, pg.78) and many others. In every task, there are common mistakes and obstacles mentioned and it will be of significant help for the teachers since after having read this framework they will know when and where to use the technology in the process of teaching, the tasks should be made for the students and the teachers should use the ICT to create blogs and online platforms where the class can share their projects and as well, exchange information and notes with their classmates.
Some of the easiest ways to start with the use of ICT in your English language classroom is by using web-pages. The internet today consists of a lot of different web-pages that are fun for students and helpful for teachers to find the right activities. Dudeney and Hockly (2007) have described the WEB as a source of different content that can be used as a “window to the outside world” where students can find out something outside their classroom and it is, of course, an available collection of authentic material. As such, the WEB is available for you and your students. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, pg. 27).
According to Blake (2008), using the ICT in your English classroom and especially websites and blogs, it’s an easy part of the job because the students today are familiar with the use of the internet and the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Search or MSN search and using them they are able to find a lot of useful information about the language they are studying. The same happens with the online sentences that students use more often. (Blake, 2008, pg. 36)
But what happens when you plan your lesson and there is no internet in the classroom that day? This has been a case during the last school year and many teachers are confused on what to do now and how they will share the information today and not wait for the next class. There is a way, but first, you need to be sure about the quality of the website. Teachers can use websites or the information from it by just printing the material and it is the cheapest way. Also, when you have only one PC with an Internet connection you can connect it to the projector or an interactive white-board and still have the same effect on the students who will be able to see it. The third way is to go to the information technology classroom and ask your colleague to held that lesson there. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, pg.28). When the e-learning and teaching took its place, English teachers started with using the CD – ROM and DVD – ROM which were part of the books and the material in the school. Nowadays, they are very rarely used since there are the Internet and a lot of new platforms and activities teachers can find or even create by using the software of the IWB (Interactive White Board). Dudney (Dudeney,2007, pg 123) for the IWB in his book wrote: “If you are lucky enough to have access to an IWB, you will know that the “WOW” effect is extremely high. In other words, IWBs look and sound impressive”. And he is right. If you have had the opportunity to work with an IWB, you will see how well it can be managed and how students are interested in the material you are showing them and they want to use the IWB over and over again. Every IWB comes with a software which allows us to create our own activities. A software, as you know, is a collection of programs that are called software applications or an operating system such as web browsers, programs for making a website, word processing, email application etc. There are several types of software which are created for IWB’s and some of them are even free to download. The most used software for IWB today are Groupboard, Open-sank More, Web, Doceri, ezTalks.
One of these software, called Doceri combines screen casting, computer manipulation and an interactive whiteboard in one app. It allows the user to create a presentation, insert portraits and edit as well as file a screencast video that can be shared with ease. The others are similar to this one except it might or might not have some options to create or share something. On the other side, we have the Web. This is a unique type of smart interactive whiteboard software which allows you to use a smartphone or a tablet to draw sketches. It also allows collaboration with other online users, engaging in the sharing of ideas on the arena and allows students and the teachers to interact with people from the other part of the world and share their opinions or projects. Having the ability to work with this software and IWB, it is precious. When you mention that you have a lesson today that includes working on the IWB, you just see a huge smile on your student’s face and you know that it is going to be a great lesson. Their focus will be put on the material you have created for them and you will feel satisfied.
But you might say now that IWB’s are expensive and every school in your country has not got the opportunity to have one, right? Technology is here to stay and to make a way for everything that seems difficult to us. That is how the system called Mimio XI Interactive Whiteboard was created. The mimio is a portable device, small enough to fit in a briefcase or laptop bag. You can fix the mimio to any hard surface, such as a normal whiteboard or even a wall, either by small suction pads or more permanently with screws. It is positioned next to an image of a computer screen from the data projector, and it is this image which then becomes interactive. In other words, your ordinary whiteboard can be transformed to be touch-sensitive, like an IWB. And it comes with an e-pen that can be used for most of the activities.
Another great way to teach English with the use of technologies is the use of the emails and chats. Emails and chat are the ICT tools that are daily used by our students and it gives them the opportunity to be in a direct communication and according to Dudeney and Hockly, this might be very useful in an English classroom and outside, where learners from the same class chat together or with their teacher to improve their English as part of their homework or self-study activities (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, pg.71)
Not only computers, the use of smartphones and other smart devices (tablets) can as well be useful for the process of English teaching. In my country, many teachers forbid the use of the smartphone in school but in the last few years in Europe, there are language professionals that advocate the use of smartphones in the classroom and as an example, we have the book “Going Mobile” by Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney. The book is based on a number of practical activities on how we can implement the use of smartphones in the English language teaching and although this is a novelty in the education nowadays, already there are a lot of apps created to facilitate the process of teaching and studying English in primary and secondary education. Practical activities on how to use this “hand-held devices” (as the authors call them) are described in this book which is separated in three parts (A, B, C): theory, practice and development. Personally, this book has shown me some really great ways on how to use the smartphone for a good purpose and keep your students interested in doing something useful and fun which on the other hand will help them improve their English grammar or build – up their vocabulary. But, there are a lot of different opinions about the subject because many teachers think that using the smartphones or engaging your students in a mobile learning will be hard and maybe useless. As Nicky Hockly says in her essay about mobile learning: “Pointing your students to mobile resources encourages them to use their own devices for out of class language study. Although studying English on their mobile devices may not be every student’s idea of a good time, it’s about offering them choices. Mobile devices are here to stay”. ( Nicky Hockly: Mobile learning, essay, 20/12/2010 : http://www.macmillanglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/N.-Hockly-Mobile-Learning.pdf )
As a teacher, its our job to find the best way for a student to be able to learn the language and because they are the children of this new technological era, we should think about their daily routine which includes spending hours on their smartphone. Having in mind of the fact that technology is growing fast and there are a lot of devices made every single day, we must take in consideration that as teachers we are supposed to be aware of the latest changes. A few years ago, we started with the e-learning platforms for teaching English in schools and at universities. Today, we have the m – learning in ELT. In order to take full advantage of the potential of mobile learning, English teachers are required to think about where mobile learning takes place and also to realize “that mobile or handheld devices have many more affordances than simply the consumption of language in pre-packaged apps.” (Mobile Learning, Nicky Hockly, Technology for the language teacher, ELT Journal Advance Access published November 22, 2012). The point of it, is not just having a platform or an app created for ELT, but it is important to know where to put it in the process of teaching the language. We need to distinguish between mobile learning activities that focus on consumption of content and on the other side, activities that encourage the production of language.
However, the use of ICT or the m-learning, it should not be considered as an innovative approach to teaching but as a tool that teachers should use more often or an instrument that seems to be complementary to the communicative approach in language teaching. The discussion between teachers and students and the peer discussion might or might not improve using technology in the classroom. As Hennessy mentioned the introduction of ICTs could act as a catalyst in stimulating teachers and pupils to work in new ways. Teacher-pupil and peer discussion, exploration, analysis and reflection, probing, assistance, and feedback characterize these. Hennessy also noted that as students become more autonomous, teachers feel that they should encourage and support pupils in acting and thinking independently. (Hennessy, S. (2005). Emerging teacher strategies for supporting. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge, pg. 12)
Basically, most of the English lessons today are planned with the use of the language in the classroom. When students use the computers or work individually on the project or task there is no conversation between them in English which might be a huge disadvantage to the English teaching and learning process. But, teachers should divide their lessons and have a clear perspective, when should they use ICT and when should they leave the students use the language by simply communicating between each other or working in pairs and groups.
This has been discussed in many books, articles and a good number of analysis are made but still there are a lot of different opinions. What we know for sure is that technology has a positive impact on our way of thinking. Many studies have discussed how it affects our brains and how much its use affects the way we think and perform. That is why there are many different perspectives on when, how often, how much to use the ICT during an English lesson or during the entire process of English teaching. We are aware that technology plays a significant role in facilitating learning. It has facilitated many effective educational methodologies such as self-directed, independent, and collaborative learning. It can connect people whom, separated by schedule and location, might otherwise not be able to learn from each other. Also, it provides us with the opportunity. Using technology in your courses effectively as an educator, you need to face challenge and it is to enhance the use of technology in education to achieve greater understanding by the students in the English language. Well, at this point you think about how we can integrate the technology in the English classroom and know that is going to be effective for the students. Mark Warschauer in his handbook “Technology and second language learning”, described two distinct perspectives about how to integrate technology into the classroom. First, in the cognitive approach learners get the opportunity to maximize their exposure to language in a meaningful context and construct their own individual knowledge. Examples of these types of technologies include text-reconstruction software and multimedia simulation software. Multimedia simulation software allows learners to enter computerized micro worlds with exposure to language and culture in a meaningful audio-visual context. The best of these programs allows learners a good deal of control and interactivity, so they can better manipulate their linguistic input. Second, the social approach emphasizes the social aspect of language acquisition where learning a language is viewed as a process of socialization. From this perspective, students need to be given opportunities for authentic social interactions to practice real life skills. This can be achieved through student collaboration on authentic tasks and projects. Warschauer also mentioned that the style of language teaching changed over the years and every type of language teaching has had its own supporting technologies (which is somehow similar with the opinion of Arthur Clarke about the books and the printing press). For example, if we see the work of teachers who followed the grammar translation method (i.e., where the teacher explained the grammatical rules and the students performed the translations) used the technology of the blackboard. This was a one-way transmission of information and later the blackboard was replaced with the overhead projector which allowed for a teacher dominated learning approach. Another interesting fact is the existence of the so-called audio labs where university language classes had mandatory sessions. This happened in the 1970’s and 1980’s and students needed to enter the lab at a designated time and perform repetition drills on computers (Warschauer, 2000). The main purpose of the language lab was for students to gain auditory exposure to the language they were studying. The audio lab proved to be quite innovative in the mid-twentieth century since it provided students with exposure to the voice of a native speaker. Because at this period students had fewer opportunities to travel and go abroad where they can use the language, the repetitive drills whether in the audio labs or in the classroom brought poor results. Later, in 1980’s and 1990’s, as Warschauer noted, “the field saw a shift towards CLT to emphasize student engagement in authentic and meaningful interactions.”
In other literature, we can find these audio labs as “language laboratories”. A language laboratory is a room which is equipped with technological materials for the practice of listening comprehension and speaking to help the students to master the target language (Singhal, M. (1997). The Internet and Foreign Language Education: Benefits and Challenges. The Internet TESL Journal, 3(6)). These laboratories play a significant role in language learning because students have the opportunity to be in a room that provides them with different technological aids that can help the teachers to teach listening as they can make the learners listen to native speakers ‘conversation or songs. Because these technological aids used even in the 1960’s changed and are constantly changing, teachers and students will face challenges because they will not be able to use them if they do not have any training or previous knowledge.
To find out more about the effects that the use of ICT has in an English classroom, BECTA or originally known as British Educational Communications Technology Agency, made an analysis in 2003 on how primary and secondary teachers are using ICT in the English curriculum. The report of this analysis focuses on the enhancement of teaching and learning in the English curriculum using ICT and its benefits to teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools.
It is interesting that in this report they start with the benefits for the teachers such as:

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  Give instant feedback to pupils as they are working;
  
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  Show their ideas dynamically by using presentation software;
  
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  The teacher’s direction is reduced;
  
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  Pupil’s control and self-regulation is increased;
  
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  ICT brings a change in teacher’s thinking and practice.
  

When they present the benefits for the pupils, they have selected, in a way, they show what are the benefits for improving reading and writing, listening and speaking. For example, for improving the speaking and listening, they have mentioned the “talking books” which are as well a good tech-tool, used to help the pupils with emergent language or literacy skills interact with the story and enhance both their vocabulary and text comprehension. Another benefit that goes to improve writing is giving the pupils the opportunity to edit digital video films. This improve pupils’ literacy skills, especially their understanding of narrative when developing their writing skills.
It is easy to mention the benefits or to give the advantages and disadvantages of using ÍCT in our English classroom, but how do we achieve these benefits? BECTA have made us a list of factors for effective use and most of them depend of the teacher and his or her commitment. As English teachers who are willing to improve and use ed-tech tools in our classroom, we must understand what visual literacy is and rethink what learning to read and write means in the 21st century. Another factor that will help us be effective in the use of ICT, is our professional development together with our skills and attitude towards the use of ICT. A teacher who doubts his skills or is not willing to try something new, will not be effective by using ICT in his classroom. New methods in English teaching are essential and we are aware that we cannot stay with the old ones because they are no longer giving results. Teachers need to encourage students to collaborate, have discussions and interact together with the computer because the successful use of ICT depends on other factors such as pupils’ work in the classroom away from the computer, discussions between pupils and between pupils and their teacher, and the ways in which pupils interact with each other at the computer. (Becta, 2003, What the research says about using ICT in English, http://www.becta.org.uk/ )
Another research regarding the use of ICT in education was made in 2017 by Campus Technology. First, Campus technology is, in fact, a collection of resources focusing on educational technology in higher education. In July 2017, they have presented the results of their second annual survey of college and university faculty on the use of educational technology for teaching and student learning. The full article of their magazine regarding this survey is available online and some of the results that they collected are worth exploring and sharing with our colleagues.
Some of the results from the survey are:

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  85% stated that technology has positively affected their ability to teach;
  

81% stated that technology has positively impacted student learning

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  21% think institutions should absolutely provide computing devices to students (37% said yes, institutions should, but had reservations);
  

74% of institutions do not provide devices to students

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  6% of institutions provide internet access at home for students and families in need
  
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  54% of faculty said that laptops are essential computing devices for teaching and learning
  
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  The top hardware on the faculty wish list for the classroom? 3D scanners
  
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  Top software on faculty wish list? Animation software
  
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  18% of faculty use electronic-only versions of textbooks
  
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  The top 10 technologies that will be “dead and gone” in the next decade include clickers and learning management systems as well as desktop computers and laptops, CD and DVD players, printers, scanners and copiers etc. The learning management systems are also on the top of the list of technologies faculty wish they didn’t have to deal with.
  
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  The top 10 technologies that will become important in education over the next decade according the participants in the survey are: virtual/augmented reality, wearables and the internet of things, and free, fast, safe internet; cloud-based tools, next gen-learning management systems, etc
  
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  98% of faculty feel that technology will play a positive role in education in the future
  
  

Most of the results we see from this survey are expected but somehow, it is hard to believe that technologies such as desktop computers and laptops will be completely forgotten in future. Also, printers and scanners? It is impossible to believe that we will not be printing or coping materials for our lessons in future. (Online source from the survey: https://digital.1105media.com/CampusTech/2017/CAM_1707/SY_1707Q1_701925010.html#p=25 )
Technology is utilized for the upliftment of modern styles; it satisfies both visual and auditory senses of the students. With the spread and development of English around the world, English has been learned and used by more and more speakers. According to David Graddol “it is the language at the leading edge of scientific and technological development, new thinking in economies and management, new literatures and entertainment genre...” (David Graddol, The future of English, pg. 2) Also, as in our country, a lot of European countries have English in school as a subject and it is the first foreign language that students learn in schools. This is also shown by the statistics that in 2000 there were about a billion English learners and today, a decade later, the numbers doubled. What is even easier for teachers to implement the use of technology in their English lesson is the fact that most of the information on the Internet is in English. David Graddol in his book “The future of English?” where he writes about who will speak it and for what purposes, says that over 80% of information stored on the internet is in English and it is certain that the growth of computer uses and of the Internet has been spectacular in the last few years. (D. Graddol, The future of English, pg. 50)
During the research made, we have come across many different methods or terms for teaching and learning using the technology in the ESL classroom. As it is mentioned before, the teachers who use or are willing to use ICT in their classroom need to effectively incorporate the technology and take out all the benefits from it. The new trend in teaching English today is using the so-called Ed-tech tools, but first let’s see the new methods or formal education programs that are used in today’s modern classrooms.
The first one is called blended learning which is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace. On an infographic found on the following link http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/ , we can see that there is a shift from “lecture today to activity today” and it is for sure that learning through activity is the main goal for creating effective learning environment.
One of the forms from this education program, blended learning, is called flip teaching or flipped classroom. This is a form where students learn new content online by watching video lectures, usually at home, and what used to be homework or assigned problems for them to solve are now done in class with the teacher offering more personalized guidance and interaction with students, instead of lecturing. This form of blended learning or this new model teaching has been introduced by two teachers from Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park , Colorado, Mr. Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams who started by recording PowerPoint presentations and posting them online for students who missed class. Later, they started spreading their method with other teachers all around the USA and today teachers are using online videos and video podcasts to teach students outside the class. With this, teachers are having more time for collaborative work and helping their students to learn the material with examples and exercises. The flipped classroom method in English courses, along with technology in order to complement it, is turning our classrooms into environments where sharing, debating, creating and forming opinions is nurtured and teachers together with their students have a space which is much more creative and participatory. English classes are no longer boring and bland with a teacher merely explaining something at a blackboard. Today, with this method, students are more active in all senses. They learn better with the use of the virtual whiteboards and they are more involved in the classroom activities as well as in doing online exercises with the interactive multimedia content that helps in increasing their motivation.
The second form of teaching with the use of technology that requires more work from the students is the learning analytics. Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data by the students in terms to help them in understanding the material and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.
Another new initiative in the field of interactive and game-based learning is the embodied learning. As the name itself says, this includes our bodies or in other words, it is an initiative in which learning content is combined with physical movement. It is closely related to constructivist models and to modern educational theories regarding the role of the teacher, of the student and of learning itself in the educational practice. As an approach, the embodied learning originates from the TPR method and it is fuelled by devices such as a VR helmet Oculus Rift or various Haptics bringing physical sensation to modern touch screens. During my research, I found two interesting applications of the embodied learning and the first one is SMALLab, a learning environment using motion-capture technology and large scale projections to track movements in space, and the other is Science Choreography, a project through Wesleyan University and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange that combines art, science, and kinaesthetic learning to teach science topics. On the link here (www.smallablearning.com) the official webpage of SMALLab there are videos of how it is used and what it is extremely interesting is the way students learn the colours and although it might be used more for science, chemistry, I think with a good collaboration between teachers we can find activities that will help with our ICT-based lessons.
Also, with there are lots of activities including embodied learning that help English language students to improve their reading or to acquire their vocabulary. Embodied reading, mentioned by Arthur Glenberg :
“The procedure has two main components, physical manipulation (PM) and imagined manipulation (IM).With PM, children read a text about activities in a particular situation (e.g., on a farm), and toys representing the important characters and objects (e.g., a toy barn, animals, tractor, farmer) are simultaneously available ( Figure 18.1). After reading a critical sentence, the child is cued (by the image of a green traffic light) to manipulate the toys to correspond to the sentence. This manipulation ensures that the words are indexed to objects, affordances derived (the child must manipulate the toys), and the concepts meshed to simulate the sentence. Thus, PM ensures grounding of the symbols. For young readers in the fi rst and second grades, PM produces gains in recall and comprehension of 1.5–2.0 standard deviations compared to children who read and reread the texts without PM”
(Embodiment for education, Arthur M. Glenberg, Psychology Science of Teaching and Learning, Institute for the (ISTL) pg. 361 )
When it comes to acquiring English vocabulary using the embodied learning approach, Glenberg has described as an activity where we can easily see how with PM and IM students can learn new vocabulary faster and easier rather than with rereading the new words over and over again. He gave us the following example:
“The children were shown the novel objects and actions and asked if they had seen the objects before and whether they remembered the names. Next, the children were asked to read a sentence out loud. Each sentence included one of the pseudo-words (in bold). After reading the sentence and pronouncing the word, the child was asked if the bold word made sense in the sentence (half of the sentences made sense based on the meanings learned) and why. At the end of the second session, they were tested on memory of word definitions, where the experimenter read a word, and the child stated whether it was heard before or not. When the child said “yes,” the child was asked what the word meant.”
(Embodiment for education, Arthur M. Glenberg, Psychology Science of Teaching and Learning, Institute for the (ISTL) pg. 365)
In practice, we can try to use some of the Edtech tools that include interaction and movement between students during the lesson and check will it be as effective as we see it. But, based on many videos online, uploaded by teachers all around the world, we can see that with movement and interaction students acquire the material faster and easier.