Valuing Technology in the L2 Classroom: Student and Teacher Perceptions, Preferences, and Digital Identity

Introduction

Student and teacher roles and the ways in which knowledge is obtained have been transformed with the onset of the digital age (Adams Becker et al., 2017). The identity of students and teachers have been described in terms of digital fluency. Digital natives, second language (L2) learners or teachers who have grown up with technology and are fluent in the digital language, fill today’s L2 classrooms. However, because many L2 teachers have not grown up with technology and are still adopting technology as they learn about its uses, they are considered digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001). To capitalize on the technology that today’s students are comfortable using, L2 teachers have been integrating technology into their classrooms to facilitate the L2 learning and teaching processes (Wang, 2005). Although much technology exists, research on student and teacher perceptions of what type of technology is most valuable to the L2 learning and teaching processes is still developing (Wiebe & Kabata, 2010). Therefore, this project fills a gap by uncovering student and teacher perceptions and preferences with technology implementation in language courses for an approximate 3-month implementation period.