Thorne article

Thorne, S. L. (2006). New technologies and additional language learning. CALPER working
CALPER working paper no. 7. The Pennsylvania State University

This article discussed the implications of technology use in classrooms of language learners, specifically the internet communication technologies. In the writing, he quoted research after research to let the reader know that the facts were real and true. He started the paper with history of the use of technology in classrooms, then to review and discuss the research on the uses of technology in the language classrooms. The argument that was often mentioned was the argument of non-student contact (social aspect) and interaction. His and other researchers mentioned that there is plenty of interaction going on between students even though it wasn’t “face to face”. There was plenty of research backing to say that the language use and comprehension was higher in those students who were using the new technologies in many modalities. Blog, wiki, podcasting, chatting, and virtual and gaming environment.
My reaction to this article is that this was a very hard text for me to read because of the vocabulary that the author used. I had to stop and think about and reread the text many times to understand what I just read.