ICT in the EFL classroom

Facts about ICT	Implications in the language classroom
Ubiquitous presence of internet	This makes it easier to incorporate its use in the teaching/learning process.
More miniaturized and portable communication devices	More personalized communication devices that can be used in the classroom because they are at hand.
Interaction among communities has produced new genres	Teachers must develop awareness of these new linguistic challenges and encompass their incorporation for their own needs and their students’.
ICT requires new pedagogic models to prepare future citizens for collaborative and life-long learning	Learners must be trained to become more independent and autonomous to convert gained information into knowledge and skills.
The new media will lead to a major change in the culture of learning	A change in the conception of the teaching/learning processes and the adoption of ICT as an enhancer to this culture of learning.
The new media offers among other things: a wider range of teaching contents, a self-directed learning, teacher-student planning of lessons, freer spaces from the constraints of traditional classrooms, facilitation of communication, etc.	Consequentially, new roles and skills are demanded from teachers: facilitator and guide, orchestrator, integrator, designer, researcher, evaluator, learners, collaborator. Skills: organizational, technical and conceptual. Learners become more active participants.
Multimedia programmes offer sound and vision, native speakers interactions, encyclopedias and dictionaries for instant reference, actual reports and news, etc.	Teachers must improve their didactic competencies linked to media and provide less instruction and information. Learners will be encouraged and monitored by the teacher to work in groups.
ICT will bring the pluralisation of learning environments beyond the school context	Teachers are to take into consideration the complexity and individuality of learning and make full use of the possibilities to extend learning beyond the classroom.
There have aroused a range of new skills, competencies and attitudes which help function in the new world	Teachers need to be given the opportunity to update in the knowledge, use and adoption of these new skills so they can pass on their learners.
Multimedia material changes constantly to meet their main purpose of informing, communicating, transforming, etc.	Teachers can be sure that the implementation of multimedia use in the classroom will provide the learners with authentic and updated material

Based on information taken from: “The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Role of Teachers of Foreign Languages”