A Pedagogical Proposal Based on the Incorporation of Tablets in the Contemporary EFL Approaches

Abstract

The importance of promoting new language teaching methodologies in the EFL classroom is being more present in language teaching contexts than ever. Hence, the current language pedagogical syllabus is significantly based on developing communicative competences and skills, so it requires a curricular reform (Savignon, 2007). At the same time, the use of digital technology is becoming a major component in educational settings for pedagogical implications. However, the use of tablets is not widely extended at EFL settings, so there is a need for further research in terms of their purposes, expectations, utility and advantages for learners (Xiang, et. al., 2009). Otherwise, new designs of language content and activities which include the most effective use of different ICTs will be of great importance to extend their pedagogical application. Therefore, the present paper is aimed at analysing those multimodal changes in ELT instructional setting and exploring the advantages that ICTs may have on education. An extended theoretical review is used to finally conclude that the use of ICTs contributes to motivating learners to learn in a more independent and autonomous way. Thus, at the end of this paper there is a pedagogical proposal designed to combine the use of tablets within communicative-based methodologies (i.e. CBI and TBI).