Informal and deliberate learning with new technologies

Trinder, R. (2017). Informal and deliberate learning with new technologies. ELT Journal, 71(4),402-412.

This article is based on an empirical study exploring Austrian university students’ perceptions and practices related to the usefulness of online informal and incidental learning of English when they are using digital technologies in their daily lives. By and large the students indicated a preference for media (films and television), email, online dictionaries as being most useful for their language learning.

Although the study was conducted in a university setting the findings are applicable to a range of language learning settings. Given the ubiquity of digital technologies it is likely that students are accessing information and using technology for communication in daily life. As the author concludes, knowing more about how language students actually use digital technologies to support their learning outside the classroom can help instructors to incorporate the preferred technologies in instruction, where feasible, to validate informal language learning and to support students to evaluate digital tools to support their language learning outside the classroom.

Retrievable at:
https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/elt/ccw117/3038073/Informal-and-deliberate-learning-with-new?redirectedFrom=fulltext