Response #4: Technology in early stages

1. Innovación Educativa
Profesor: Dagoberto Sandoval
Student: Silvia Buján Gómez
III CO 2014
Response #4
Emerging technologies, emerging minds: Digital innovations within the primary
sector
Summary and Reaction
This chapter is basically about how you can teach a second language by applying
technological tools to primary school students. In a globalized world it becomes necessary
to find a way to appeal and connect our students, and technology can be our best friend in
order to reach that. Nowadays, kids are digital learners, so this represents an opportunity to
change the way we teach them.
According to the reading, digital games-based learning is a good idea to engage students
into the language, and in a typical scenario, the activity could culminate in an oral
presentation of what it has been done. Children might engage in Q&A sessions, watch
videos, research using digital tools like computers, phones and ipads. Children could also
like to create their own digital materials to work with. For example, their own, story books,
audios, videos, cartoons, among others.
On the other hand, when is the best time to teach English? It is still a debatable question.
Experts refer to the critical period hypothesis which says that second language should be
acquire during an early stage of childhood; however, recent studies have proved that apart
from better pronunciation there seems to be no significant difference between younger
learners and older learners.
I would like to go deeper into what is this critical period since I found it a very interesting
and debatable topic which I have been studying recently.
The theory of the critical period states that there is a critical or sensitive period of time for
language acquisition in which if children are not expose to language they might never

2. achieve it. There are some factors that might have influence on language acquisition such
as the universal grammar or LAD (language acquisition device), and the brain
lateralization. The first one basically explains that we are biologically prepared for
language acquisition because children use LAD as a mechanism for working out the rules
of a language; while the second one explains that human brain is divided in areas and each
area has its own function, which implies that some areas of the brain are in charge of
language. Language functions are located mostly in the left hemisphere of the brain, but
during childhood these functions can be share with the right hemisphere due to the
plasticity of the brain. After the critical period, the brain reduces its plasticity, and starts the
lateralization process which makes difficult to have access to the LAD, therefore, the
capacity to learn a language decreases. One example that supports this theory is the case of
an isolated girl named Genie, who was exposed to language until puberty and then showed
problems with phonology, morphology and syntax as a result of not being exposed to
language during the critical period. Other people prefer to use the term sensitive period or
privileged period because “critical” sounds too drastic, but all of them agree with the fact
that the best stage of life to learn a language is during childhood.
On the other hand, there might be other factors that affect or interfere with language
acquisition. For example, Krashen said that the process of lateralization ends at the age of 5
not at puberty, so this process can not have an effect on language acquisition; while Ellis
said that each language skill has a critical period, and only pronunciation can be affected by
age because it is the only linguistic skill that requires neuromotor functions.
Regarding the acquisition of a second language it is said that when start the process of
acquisition of L2 we already acquired L1; therefore, there might be positive or negative
consequences when learning the second language because if L1 is already consolidated its
going to interfere with the learning process of L2 regardless of the age. This theory says
that adults take advantage of the phonological knowledge of L1 to safe the effort of
learning a new phonological system of L2, so they adapt new sounds to the familiar ones,
and that is what causes mispronunciation or foreign accent. Some theorists explain that
adults can achieve almost a native level, but they will never achieve the same amount of
proficiency. Learning a L2 on an adult stage can also cause some other trouble like
motivation, availability, exposure, social conditioning, and shyness among others. If

3. children and adults are compared, it can be notice that children’s brain is more flexible,
they are less analytical, have none inhibitions, and are more willing to assimilate new
phonological systems. Later on, brain areas dedicated to language lose potential; therefore,
for adults it becomes necessary to use other areas of the brain and readapt them, which
makes harder to achieve an equal level of proficiency. For example, Carrol said that as
sooner the age in which the child receives the input of L2, the better the results it will get
when learning the L2 later on, even if the input is limited and inactive. Also, Krashen
based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development affirms that the normal development of
abstract thinking when growing up can interfere with the natural process of learning a
second language because adults try to rationalize all input. Native language is innate, but
L2 is learned through regular cognitive mechanisms. Although, other researchers said that
early ages are not the most appropriate to learn a second language because adults have
already learned the basic principles of phonology, their semantic system is more developed,
their previous knowledge enhances memory, and they have a better reasoning to deduce
grammatical rules.
As a conclusion, there are a lot of points of view regarding if there is a critical period for
language acquisition whether if it is for L1 or L2. All theorists haven’ agree yet, and keep
searching about it. Among the ones who think that this period does exits, there is no
common ground either because some differ from when exactly this period occurs and what
is it about. It seems to be that most theorists agree on that children learn a language easily
than adults, but the difficult part is to know for sure which factors are the ones that produce
this result, whether if it is because of a critical period or not. I personally believe that each
person learns at its own pace and at its own way, and that there a lot of aspects that can
interfere with the learning process of L1 and also of L2. Learning a language can happen at
any age, and all stages have advantages and disadvantages, but it is always possible to
achieve an optimum result.
Whether or not the critical period exists, we all know that children are like sponges that
absorb everything; so it is logical that digital tools make their lives easier since they learn
not only faster, but also better. Therefore, teachers should take advantage of these tools to
facilitate the teaching- learning process.

4. Back on time, English as a foreign language was taught only in secondary education, but
these days EFL is been taught since primary school. In Costa Rica’s scenario English is a
foreign language, so as teachers we need to look for all resources available to be able to
expose our students to the language and its culture. According to the reading, authentic
sources taken from internet such as digital text books, or audios of real life conversations
can help a lot to reach the target language. You could also get in touch with people from
other countries who speak the language. In the past, technology has been used to get
information, but nowadays it is being use to create original material and to collaborate with
others, for example: web 2.0 tools such as phone apps, blogs, forums, wikis, social
networks, and so on. The change from reading web to reading/creating/writing web has
encouraged teachers to change their own approach. We cannot determine which the best
approach for teaching is since there are many variables that can interfere with the process
such as age and context, but we know that e-tools are going to help us. Exposure is going to
be easier if we apply these tools, and students are going to produce more innovate and
creative material.
In this charter is also evident that the author supports to make emphasis on oral skills rather
than written skills because children learn the speaking part first. Songs, e-books, podcasts,
poems, and video clips can reinforce the acquisition of pronunciation and vocabulary, and
these can also help teachers who don´t feel comfortable enough with their own speaking
skills.
Finally, it is clear that students need to be exposed to the second language regardless of the
age, and technology has the power to overcome this limitation when you are in a foreign
country.