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The place of technology in the French language classroom

The world is becoming more and more technologically advanced every minute. We are miles ahead of where we were 20 years ago in our use of technology in every aspect of our life. Certainly it can be hugely useful, even essential for certain tasks. However there are some things that technology cannot replace.

Language is a communication tool and that can’t be replaced by technology. Humans communicate by speaking and listening in the real world, face to face, one to one, in a group, but in person! Of course, message apps use language to communicate, but for the majority of us, this remains a small amount of the communication we use on an everyday basis. We learn to speak French by speaking and to understand the spoken language by listening to people talking.

This isn’t to say that technology can’t be used for certain areas of learning….for example apps can be good for learning vocab or grammar, e-learning apps or platforms are good for consolidating what students learn in a classroom. However none of these can replace communication and using the French classroom to improve oral communication skills.

Students can now do listening exercices on a computer but nothing can replace speaking to an actual person. After all, that is why we are all learning a language in the first place; to be able to communicate with real people. Computers can’t replicate the 2 way interaction of a real conversation, the only way to improve your real-life speaking skills is to practise speaking to real people.

Technology in its many forms can help students improve their passive knowledge and there are many ways in which it can help with this: earning vocabulary and grammar, consolidating work done in lessons or things learnt while out and about. But nothing replaces the active knowledge and putting into practice what you have been learning better than speaking to people!

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