8 - CALL in Low-Tech Environments

Summary

The use of technology in language learning classrooms depends largely on its availability and accessibility. Language practitioners in the twenty-first century continue to face the issue of digital divide, as some developing countries struggle to provide basic hardware such as computers, projectors, and speakers in every language classroom and rely heavily on the technology they and their students bring to class. This is complicated further when language learning must be done online and remotely, as reliable internet connectivity is required but not always available. Numerous language teachers in these low-tech environments have adopted the low-tech approach by maximizing the affordability of “simple” hardware such as feature phones and “common” tools such as email and mobile applications such as chat apps. They engage in technology literacy, which reaches the level of inventive use of “common” technology that has long been used to bring sound pedagogy to various modes of language learning. The chapter attempts to describe how language is taught in low-tech environments and how an inclusive approach must use technology that assures that no one is excluded. It also describes how the incorporation of simple technology into various modes of language teaching and learning has supported sound language pedagogy through creativity and flexibility.