- INTRODUCTION
ICT originally is applied to serve as a means of improving efficiency in the educational process (Jones and Knezek, 1993). Furthermore, it has been shown that the use of ICT in education can help improve memory retention, increase motivation and generally deepens understanding (Dede, 1998). ICT can also be used to promote collaborative learning, including role playing, group problem solving activities and articulated projects (Forcheri and Molfino, 2000). Generally, ICT is promoting new approaches to working and learning, and new ways of interacting (Balacheff, 1993). Majority of faculty members are major catalyst to promote the necessary changes (Whetston, 2001) and to equip students with the skills they are expected to have upon graduation (Brandi, Gunter, 2004).
- BACKGROUND OF THE TOPIC
The use of ICT in classrooms can offer the opportunity for understaning materials more effectively and can be a great tool for making teaching and learning of English as a foreign language easy, interactive and enjoyable experience. However, this does not seem to be the reality for some schools in Semarang. Unfortunately, most of schools in Semarang have not have a full ICT tools yet. For example, they have not provided students with such facility like wi-fi. This makes quite difficult for the learners to face the development of technology.
- REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
Based on the background of the topic, the writer proposes “Advantages and Disadvantages of Using ICT in Teaching Reading and Writing, because the writer wants to provide information about the pros and cons of integrating ICT tools in teaching and learning.
- OBJECTIVES
This paper aims to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of integrating ICT tools in teaching reading and writing.
- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The use of ICT in teaching and learning is one of the most widely discussed issues in the field of education (Yunus & Salehi, 2012). A group of ICT researchers claim that using ICT improves education and provides more teaching and learning supports for the teachers and learners (Westera & Sloep, 2001). There is no doubt that using ICT in education improves teachers’ instructional process and facilitates students’ learning process. A great number of studies have shown the advantages of using ICT in teaching and learning; however, there is a need for more studies on the disadvantages of using ICT in language education.
- ANALYSIS
- Advantages of Using ICT
One of the popular tools which is commonly adapted in the teaching of reading and writing is the use of blogs. Blogging offers a real-world digital medium for communication. It is multi-dimensional in that it does not just offer a ‘container’ for writing but has the possibility of multiple audiences and access points. In a research conducted on the effectiveness of using the ‘online writing’ approach in teaching writing, Kelly & Safford (2009) drew upon data from a research project undertaken in 2 years from 6 classrooms during the 2006 World Cup, to analyze how children used complex sentence structures in their writing on a football web-log. They explore how the confluence of a temporary, popular, global event and an online forum for communication created a moment of linguistic empowerment where pupils began to use high-level forms of language. This research shows positive findings in terms of the students’ interested in presenting ideas and responding to their classmates’ ideas by commenting on the blog. Online blogs allow students to get feedback from more than one person, and this type of peer feedback may be more effective than traditional self-editing (Holder, 2006). It gives the implication towards the positive interactivity for the teaching and learning of sentence grammar, by using blogs in the teaching of writing.
Besides the use of blogs in the teaching of reading and writing, in ‘Authoring With Video’, Strassman & O’ Connell (2007) explored the advantages of using technology to motivate students to apply knowledge in any content area to a writing task. Authoring With Video (AWV) enables students to get started writing in a medium they know and love – video. It is similar to writing text for a wordless picture book. The videos, like the pictures in a wordless book, serve as the trigger for an organized text. Finding their voices as writers is less of a challenge for students because they are comfortable with messages and visual images working together to communicate meaning. AWV encourages students to formally recognize this ability as a skill that has its roots in writing.
Another advantage is seen from the use of e-learning or online education. Online education is defined as an approach to teaching and learning that utilizes new technology to communicate and collaborate in an educational context (Piezon & Donaldson, 2005). The process of online communication enables the learners to actively construct their own perspectives which they can communicate to a small group. Learners engage in active, constructive, intentional, authentic and collaborative learning. Enabling the groups to socially construct knowledge through communicating and collaborating with others is an important element of constructivist-based online learning and teaching (Meyer, 2002 as cited in Aksal, 2009). In this context, ICT is seen to provide a platform for active and meaningful learning to occur.
- Disadvantages of Using ICT
Besides having the advantages, there are some disadvantages regarding the use of ICT in the teaching of reading and writing. Two concerns that teachers have about using technology such as Instant Messaging (IM) or blogs with their students is that students will not take the work seriously and will not use what they have learned in school in their postings (Sweeny, 2010). Moreover, as Ward (2004) pointed out, although students could be exposed to a variety of reading materials and genres of writing, there is a danger that the reading skills that are developed from scrolling the computer screen lead to an accelerated but superficial, and often inaccurate, understanding of the content.
The writer also proposes some own opinion about disadvantages of using ICT. Firstly, plagiarism. Apart from web sites that claim to help students write term papers, there are numerous cases of students downloading information from the internet and turning them in for grades. Secondly, student privacy. Criminals, marketers, and other persons can easily get information from students when they are online. These could post danger to students’ lives or may even lead to litigation against the school. Finally, preparation time. It takes a lot of preparation time to effectively use the ICT for education, especially internet access.
- SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
- SUMMARY
To sum up, the advantages of using ICT in the teaching of reading and writing found in the literature include gaining students’ interest in presenting their ideas and responding to their classmates’ ideas, allowing effective peer feedback, giving positive interactivity within the teaching and learning, motivating students to apply knowledge in any content area to a writing task, engaging students in different projects, increasing student engagement with the language, allowing the utilization of new technology to communicate and collaborate in an educational context, providing a platform for active and meaningful learning to occur, developing independent work habits, improving learners’ vocabulary knowledge, allowing user collaboration and the publishing of work such as writing. As for the disadvantages, the literature suggests that the use of computer technology could cause the lackadaisical attitude among students whereby they will not take their work seriously and that the students’ reading skills developed from scrolling the computer screen could lead to an accelerated but superficial, inaccurate understanding of the content.
- RECOMMENDATION
As a piece of suggestion, teachers’ workload in schools should be reduced so as to give them more time to prepare for their lessons. Teaching itself is still the core business of teachers. A lot of time is needed to plan and construct lessons using ICT, especially for teachers who are not competent in using ICT. Hence, other administrative workloads should be reduced to further increase the teachers’ use of ICT in their teaching.
The writer also provides recommendation especially some strategies to avoid disadvantages of using ICT. Firstly, we can minimize plagiarism by requiring students to cite research sources. There is an online service which can assist usin minimizing cases of plagiarism in the class. This service claims to prevent plagiarism by determiningif a term paper has been copied from the Internet ornot. Secondly, students should be educated on the dangers of giving information to people online. Parents and teachers need to supervise students’ online activities. Finally, to reduce the effect that social or economic status may have, we should give internet assignments that students can easily complete while in school. If necessary, schools may need to keep computer labs open for longer and/or odd hours. The use of computers at public libraries should also be encouraged.
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holder, C. R. (2006). New media and new literacies: Perspectives on change. EDUCAUSE Review, 41(6), 76-77.
Kelly, A., & Safford, K. (2009). Does teaching complex sentences have to be complicated? Lessons from children’s online writing. Journal of Literacy, 43(3), 118-122.
Salehi, H., & Salehi, Z. (2011). Washback effect of high-stakes tests on ICT usage: Teachers’ perceptions. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(12), 1976-1984.
Salehi, H., & Salehi, Z. (2012). Integration of ICT in language teaching: Challenges and barriers. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning (IC4E, 2012). IPEDR, 27, 215-219.
Sweeny, S. M. (2010). Writing for the instant messaging and text messaging generation: Using new literacies to support writing instruction. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(2), 121-130.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.54.2.4.
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