Integrating apps for English teaching and learning

Abstract

Learners of today are more technologically advanced than ever before. They live their lives with technology at their fingertips. Not only do today’s young people own multiple technology devices, they use them constantly in their day- to-day lives. The task for teachers today is a stronger focus on successfully integrating technology into the curriculum, but this has posed a number of challenges, not only because some teachers are not technologically competent, but also because the focus has remained on technology and not on pedagogy. One of the aims of the South African curriculum for English is for learners to achieve communicative competence and produce grammatically correct and contextually appropriate sentences in different situations. Moreover, learners should also become technologically proficient in line with the changing needs of society. This article reports on research conducted with the aim of sourcing and evaluating Android Apps for use in the English classroom. It offers a narrative of the process undertaken and explores the benefits of using Apps in the English classroom to promote communicative competence. The qualitative research was framed within the social constructivist theory and based on the principles of Participatory Research and Action (PRA) and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. Fourteen (14) pre- service teachers studying English Methodology were purposively selected to source and evaluate Apps for teaching and learning in the English classroom. The participants collaborated online to sift through applicable Apps and develop interactive lessons using these Apps. Data from pre- and post-intervention workshops and focus group interviews were thematically and inductively analysed and mapped against the four components of communicative competence, namely grammatical, strategic, socio-linguistic and discourse competence. This was done to determine participants’ perceptions and experiences when integrating technology in lessons and the extent to which communicative competence was achieved through these Apps. The outcomes will help pre-service teachers develop and improve their own teaching practices by experiencing integrating technology into the teaching of English, but more importantly to improve their own communicative competence and that of their learners.