Technology-enhanced Language Learning for Digital Natives

Using technology in classrooms has many advantages especially as students become increasingly digitally literate in recent years. Young learners live their life through technology. “They are web generations and they are hungry for more” (Dale, 2014, p.1). This case has led to an increasing focus on using technology in schools and a need for developing computer skills. Pupils are so enthusiastic about using a variety of technologies in their daily life that it is essential to embed their enthusiasm into the language classroom. For that reason, language teachers have started to use different technological tools and software to enhance their instruction. They have begun to use projectors, interactive whiteboards, tablets and the Internet. They have started to use power point presentations to introduce a topic or explain a grammar point, use authentic texts from the Internet to improve reading/listening skills, apply online vocabulary quizzes or assign projects to the learners. They have changed the way they teach English by making use of these tools. These technological tools also allow teachers to extend classroom communication outside the walls of the classroom, thus, provide learning lifelong. There is a huge variety of available web sources that can be used by both teachers and learners to improve language learning experience. Yet, it is essential for language teachers to guide learners to use these web-based instructional tools to learn and practice English language skills. The purpose of this study is to introduce some of these web-based technologies, especially the ones appropriate for young learners to improve different language skills and to explain their benefits in developing language skills.