2. The E-text... by Shihabudheen

Introduction

In this digital age, the definition of ‘text’ needs to be broadened, as the text today can occur even in an electronic medium. The electronic-text, generally known by the abbreviation, e-text, is an umbrella term for texts in digital form. Recent interest in digital technology as a means of support in language development and acquisition has opened up fresh ways, methods, and techniques for English language teaching. Computers, multimedia, and telecommunications are some of the most significant of them. Both teachers and learners of English currently utilize these technologies in the form of e-texts. The e-text by virtue of its unique characteristics plays a powerful role in ESL (English as a Second Language ) contexts and can be seen as providing a desirable and effective venue for literary activities in the classroom.

The e-text consists of on-screen information which is visual, textual, and aural. Games, databases, talking books, hypertexts and telecommunications seem to have become organic to the teaching and learning of English. The features and capabilities central to the e-text are qualitatively different from those of the print medium that has traditionally been our primary tool for literary activity. Some of the major dichotomies between the two may be noted here.

• • Print is permanently static; the e-text is dynamic, malleable and manipulable

  • Print is typically hierarchical; the e-text is anarchic, with forms that are instantaneously changeable. This is in direct contrast to our experiences with traditional forms of the print medium which is most often written within a strict, closed linear form.

  • Print is physically self-contained and restrictive; the e-text is hyper textual, decentralized, and democratizing. The e-text is typically linked to a variety of information in a variety of forms. Meaning is not restricted to a single, closed set of words on a self-contained page. And, interestingly enough, democracy gets played out in the context of interactions around the medium.

  • The visual nature of the e-text is quite unlike that of the print medium. E-reading, thus, invariably involves reasoning with aural, written, and visual information. This activity precipitates expanded and unique opportunities for working with the second language.

E-text and English language teaching

Teachers, who use the e-text as a new technology in their English language classrooms, are not only improving their mode of instruction; they are also changing the very nature of that instruction. There are, however, certain principles to be followed while infusing technology into English language teaching programmes. Some of them are:

• • Introduce and infuse the e-text into the right context: Teachers must take care to create suitable contexts where the e-text can be integrated. Contexts such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing can be effectively taught with the help of the e-text.

  • Focus on the importance of the e-text as a literary tool: The e-text as a new technology has brought about an interesting vocabulary shift in English. Words such as windows, files, menu, and mouse used in day-to-day life have now acquired new meanings and mental images. As such, teachers using the e-text must be fully aware of these changes and must help students understand this new jargon. Besides, the e-text, as has already been mentioned at the outset has also brought about an expanded view of what has for ages been considered a ‘text’. The internet, hypertext documents, websites, emails, and personal websites are all different kinds of texts and can be used as different literary tools. In the process of English language teaching and learning, both the teacher and the learner need to address these shifts, and varying text forms.

  • Evaluate critically when and how to use the e-text: Teachers and learners need to be critical users of the e-texts. Indiscriminate use of e-texts must be carefully avoided. The principle of discretion must always be kept on mind. So teachers and learners must critically examine when it is appropriate to use and integrate the e-text as an aid and method in teaching

• • Provide a wide range of opportunities for using the e-text within the content: To provide diverse experiences and perspectives, teachers can infuse opportunities for students to learn, and work on the e-text and to develop technological skills through the study of English language content. For example, students can create web sites and participate in online grammar and vocabulary building programmes. The content and pedagogy merge in such experiences.

  • Ensure equity and diversity in technology accessibility: Teachers should be sensitive to student needs; they should see to it that all students, regardless of differences, receive equal encouragement, support, and opportunities to learn. The approach must be egalitarian and impartial. These principles, if scrupulously adhered to while exploiting the possibilities of the e-text in the teaching of English, can go a long way in transforming the English classroom in to a vibrant and delightful venue of effective and profitable interaction between the teacher and the learner. There are, indeed numerous ways in which English language teachers and learners can integrate the e-text into the teaching and learning process. Some of them are:

    • Use of visual aids for teaching

    • Improving access to e-resources, such as online libraries. The e-text now provides access to legion of books, audios and videos.

    • Integrating video clips into presentation

    • Assigning digital presentations

In an e-text-assisted environment, students participate actively and directly in the learning process. They will not rely totally on the teacher; they will be inspired to use electronic tools like the internet on their own, in order to gather more of information and more of insights. Some of the pedagogical benefits of the e-text may also be touched on in this context.

The e-text

• • Extends language learning time and place: The e-text extends what one can do in the classroom, since it provides a venue for communicating in the second language outside of class. Second language learners can use the e-mail as an e-text, log in and write e-mail from the comfort of their own room, of a public library, or of a cyber café. These spatial possibilities increase the amount of time they can spend both composing and reading in the second language in a communicative context.

  • Promotes learner-centered language learning: The e-text allows for communication between learners in a context where the teacher’s role is no longer at the centre. This shift to learner-centered learning does not mean that the teacher is obsolete. Instead, it shows that the teachers’ role has changed from that of an information-giver to that of a designer or instructor. Teachers need to design projects and activities for students to work on. As students work on those activities, the teachers direct the students, offering suggestions and serving as a respondent for their emerging insights.

  • Connects speakers quickly and cheaply: The e-text allows second language learners to communicate with native speakers of the target language without the high cost of travelling abroad. This is achieved primarily through the e-mail. Before the advent of the Internet and the e-mail as e-texts, it was not possible to communicate so easily and promptly and so frequently with native speakers or other learners.

To conclude, it may be said that the e-text can bring considerable benefits to the process of learning a second language. Its potential to offer the learner ample opportunities for fruitful and effective communicative interaction in the target language is indisputable. The e-text can also be more engaging, in the sense that the learner can be kept more enthusiastically engaged in activities connected with the learning process. The e-text, thus, facilitates learning and helps reduce the frustration and failure of both the teacher and the learner in the English classroom.