The Convergence of Technology, Pedagogy, and Language Learning

Abstract

Introduction. With digital education on the rise educational technologies are transforming the way we live, work, and learn. They are gradually becoming a useful tool for English language teaching and learning. Modern students, who are considered to be ‘digital natives’, are inquisitive in nature. They become tech-savvy experts in operating various functions of contemporary gadgets that are more advanced and sophisticated with every coming year. In this light, it has been proven by an array of EFL practitioners to be a very useful and convenient tool for teaching and learning anywhere anytime (Kukulska-Hulme et al, 2015; Macianskiene 2016; Venkatesh et al, 2016). To contribute to a rapidly growing body of theoretical research on educational technologies and language education, we developed a curriculum for a new interactive blended learning course ‘Innovative Educational Technologies in English as a Foreign Language Learning/Teaching’ for the undergraduate students within the Department of Germanic Philology, Faculty of Foreign Philology and Social Communications, Sumy State University, Ukraine. The course comprises a number of successful practices / approaches to digital literacy learning, current innovative instructional technologies for fostering intercultural communicative competency in EFL learning. The course is elaborated to provide pedagogical theories (primarily, cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism) and practical strategies for implementing technology in the university language learning and humanities curriculum to enhance student success. Thus far, the proposed course is innovative because it develops and optimizes well-known teaching / learning techniques; enables the implementation of better pedagogical solutions, learning strategies and educational technologies.