From the Editors. Teaching with technology: integrating new technologies in the language skills

Abstract

Over the last decades, we have witnessed a rapid development of technology in the arena of education in general, and more particularly in the area of second/foreign language (SL/FL) teaching, which is the major concern of the present volume. Although it might be logical to state that technology has influenced education and SL/FL teaching practices, perhaps we are just at the very beginning of the integration of new technologies in the context of language education. The interest in technology and its implementation in the SL/FL classroom is not new. Indeed, several researchers, and especially in recent years, have drawn their attention to the potential of technology in the language teaching and learning context (e.g. Beltrán-Palanques 2013, 2014, Chapelle 2013, Taguchi and Sykes 2013, González-Lloret and Ortega 2014, Carrió-Pastor 2016, Martín-Monje et al. 2016). A range of technologies are available for SL/FL teaching, the use of which will be somehow determined by language teachers’ readiness, interest and knowledge. However, it is also true that, on some occasions, access to technology is somehow constrained by external factors that impede teachers’ use of technology in the FL/SL classroom.