Technoconstructivism for the Undergraduate Foreign Language Classroom

Although we have entered into the 21st century, most institutions of higher learning have not yet realized a routine integration of technology into regular classroom pedagogical practices. This article highlights two of the main concerns of university‐level foreign language faculty with respect to incorporating technology into everyday classroom teaching and provides suggestions for facilitating the integration of technology into the undergraduate foreign language classroom as an integral part of the curriculum where the main focus is creating an educational environment that is conducive to student learning. A technoconstructivist approach, a blending of the pedagogical practices advocated by social constructivism with the benefits of educational technology, is recommended and demonstrated. By providing examples of effective classroom uses of technology that respect the five attributes of meaningful learning that are the hallmarks of technoconstructivist pedagogy, this article furnishes a blueprint for faculty to follow that will ensure a successful integration of technology, from the use of the scanner to incorporating material from Web sites designed by top education professionals into daily lessons in the foreign language classroom

Blueprint · Constructivism (international relations · Curriculum · Educational technology · Foreign language · Language acquisition · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Social constructivism · Sociology · Teaching method · Technology integration · Computer Science · Engineering · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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