Plug into the "Tech" Era of Language Learning and Language Teaching

The general realm of education is reaching a new level of cool. Learning to read, write, and improve spoken fluency has never been more fun than using smart technology and interactive games, instead of being limited to "rote memorization" techniques. Reports of elementary schools giving iPads to the students as a learning tool makes me ponder how my primary school years with somewhat lacking technological variety may have affected my outlook on learning styles. With the lightning-fast pace of digital advancements in our daily lives, I have noticed an upswing in the use of technology to supplement language learning and language teaching. As part of a Multilingual Writing group, I have come across many excellent resources that you can use to implement into your own learning or teaching process/curriculum. I will explore, analyze, and share some thoughts of useful websites, products, etc. in the coming weeks.

Keeping up with the (digital) Joneses: The Nuances of Online Lingo

Tweets. Followers. Friend Requests. Become a fan.

Do these expressions sound vaguely or incredibly familiar? Why, in this day and age with a growing surge of popularity in online social networking, I sure hope so! People of all ages seem to be captivated by this technological trend that has undeniably gripped most of our free time, or what we also call down time. The phenomenon of people flocking to post their thoughts of the day and relish in celeb tweets on Twitter (I admit that I am a recovering Twitter-er), or updating their Facebook statuses has intrigued me for one reason in particular - the evolving nature of the meaning, significance, and association of language.

As a friendly but somewhat introverted person, I naturally find myself to prefer jumping on the bandwagon with these online social networking sites to communicate with friends and family. And to keep up with the rapid revamping of online interaction, I find myself noticing little nuances in the evolving use of language. One thing that I find to be “trending” is to “verbify” nouns, or in other words, using nouns to function as verbs. I have overheard phrases over and over again from random bystanders, such as: Just facebook me later, Feel free to friend me , I enjoy tweeting , and even Google it. Somehow, through subconscious processing I suppose, it is the norm to correctly infer what each of these phrases mean. Facebook you later? Sure, I'll post something on your wall or send you a message on Facebook later to confirm our plans. Yes, I'll add you as a friend. To "tweet" refers to posting a short message in Twitter-land. As for “Google it”? It is inferred to mean: search for something on the popular search engine Google. Or, at least resort to some type of search engine out there.

How we perceive and understand these terms reflects the necessity of understanding the newest changes in technology culture, of connecting the most appropriate meaning to the always evolving entity of language. Case in point – when I hear the word “friend”, I immediately (not always willingly) think of “Facebook friend”, most of whom I only see in-person once a month! So in my personal experience, the term “friends” has become associated with the people who I have "confirmed" with a simple click of a blue button, stating to everyone that I have a new pal in the land of Facebook... although I do have friends outside of cyberspace, and ironically spend more time with them :) Certainly no problem with that, but wouldn't you agree that it sure would be nice if “friending” someone in real life was as simple as a click of a button and finding out about their likes/dislikes in an instant!

The “webscape” of online social mingling is full of new terminology just waiting to emerge, and as someone who is still learning to grasp the complexities of technology, I am willing to try my hand at tweeting, friending, and googling my way to new ways of understanding language.