During this week’s reading, I was most interested in the research of Reeves and Nass regarding the nature of interactions between humans and computers. In their research, Reeves and Nass (1996) propose the following claim: “People’s interactions with computers, television, and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life.“ (p. 5) Prior to reading this chapter, I had never viewed computers, in and of themselves, as being “social actors.”
While I agree that our interactions with computers are social to a degree, they are not social to the extent of communicating with others in-person. Although I believe that technology, when used appropriately, can be an effective learning and instructional tool, I do not think that social forms of technology will ever diminish the value face-to-face interactions in the target language.
Nonetheless, the perception of computers as being social objects bodes well for the use of technology in language teaching. The social nature of our interactions with technology will allow the language acquisition process to occur more naturally. While in-classroom interactions are ideal, technology allows students to go beyond the spatial and temporal limitations of the classroom, providing them with additional opportunities to learn.
1 comment:
It would be interesting to see the actual research study done by Reeves and Nass because we are not told how they conducted their research to arrive at their conclusions. Sometimes reading the research study itself puts the conclusions into better perspective.
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