TELL-ING IT LIKE IT IS: Practical implications from a critical stance on technology-enhanced language learning

Abstract

This paper presents a critical stance in the face of the technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) hype in higher education (HE). This hype, largely driven by institutional – instrumental and financial – imperatives has come under increasing scrutiny in recent times. Indeed, emerging discourses surrounding the broader context of technology-enhanced learning question the focus on technology-led innovation rather than pedagogy-led innovation as well as a number of scholarly aspects that remain largely undertheorised (cf. Bayne, 2014; Kirkwood & Price, 2013, 2014). In this paper we thus set out to articulate the challenges we face as language educators in the HE context and, in so doing, bring to light the glaring methodological gap that emerges from these. This discussion is complemented by practical examples from ongoing curricular innovation in intermediate Spanish language courses. These practical examples illustrate the pedagogical strategies we have implemented to respond to these challenges critically, but also, creatively. These strategies integrate theoretical principles from cognitive grammar (cf. Llopis-García, 2011) and an affective engagement approach to address specific pedagogical concerns that have emerged in these courses.