Using & Teaching Educational Technology
Educational technology in Russia
By Nikolaenko Elena
Fri, 9 May 2008, 07:41

Computers in the Classroom. With or without them, Russians do not seem to be enthusiastic about learning foreign languages…

… according to Nikolaenko Elena.

You just mention “information technologies” and you’ll hear caustic remarks and see ironical glances of a number of ESL teachers here in Russia.

Putting aside the problem of poor equipment, why so? Why haven’t those National Projects on the part of the Russian government lavishing expenditure on installing computers at schools and making them have net access made the teaching lot enthusiastic about introducing the new methods in class?

Problem number one – teachers should be taught and should want to be taught how to use computers

It can not come all the time to schoolchildren teaching their teachers how to use the computers. Like they showed it on TV praising the results of the National Project – computers were installed at a school. And what?

And using technologies on the part of a teacher should not be a “must-be” but an “I-want-it”.

Problem number two – Computer-Assisted Language Learning is still a vague thing for many teachers

Will the computer eliminate the teacher and make us neglect classical principles of language teaching? You will find many teachers saying that it is the personality of a teacher that matters and if there is a one traditional methods will work OK without any machines. Our-forefathers-learnt-like-that principle, an English textbook, a notebook, a dictionary and a cassette being the common “weapons”.

To what extent is it to be used in class?

The number of net resources one can use in the classroom is great. Yet many teachers want to see real lessons with their own eyes with definite recommendations developed how to use this particular resource for this particular subject. No one will trust just your saying “It’s perfect! It’s good to do it!” – teachers need an ABC in this field.

Take any language topic and show how Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking skills are to be developed with technologies, gradually, at every lesson.

Another vital problem for higher education. How to use these technologies for theoretical language courses? You can create a slideshow or a presentation for a lecture on say Lexicology or Grammar Theory. Is it restricted to this only?

Actually, the two widely known and proverbial problems of Russia – “Fools and roads” (“Duraki I dorogi”) seem to be accompanied by the third one – lack of enthusiasm. Teachers are tired of having been Don Quixotes. Even an up-to-date computer doesn’t arouse any due enthusiasm in them any more.

Editor’s note:

I asked Elena what she meant by the “two widely-known and proverbial problems of Russia”. Here is what she replied:

The great Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol wrote nearly two centuries ago that Russia’s two biggest problems are fools and bad roads.

In short, there have never been good roads in Russia, there is even a saying here “We don't have roads, we have only directions”.

About the fools. The paradox is that a Russian can know how to do the thing correctly but never does it, instead he behaves in quite a different way which can be sometimes dangerous.

Elena is an English teacher, Russia, Bryansk state university, foreign languages faculty. She is a PhD in Linguistics from Oryol state university, Russia. Her fields of interest are in linguistics -- functional grammar (Aspect), translation studies; and in language teaching -- project work. German, Spanish and Spanish-speaking countries are subjects of special affection.

This article first appeared in the April 2008 issue of Computers in Classrooms. Please see here for details.

© Nikolaenko Elena Fri, 9 May 2008