Information and Communication Technology Tools in Language Learning Classroom: Developing Metacognitive Skills and Its Social Ramifications

Abstract

This chapter focuses on some of the crucial pragmatic concerns associated with a group of passive, non-interactive, and non-performing ESL (English as Second Language) learners (our target learners) in multi-lingual classrooms. It broadly investigates the ways in which metacognitive skills (Flavell JH, Am Psychol 34:906–911, 1979) of the identified group of language learners are developed through certain task-based activities and by the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The chapter describes those language-learning strategies that modern smart technology supports and helps the learners to develop individual autonomy. The learners’ autonomy facilitates the process of self-regulated learning. The subject learners are B. Tech students from two institutions in India, one is Adamas University (Kolkata) and the other is Indian Institute of Information Technology (Guwahati). The chapter follows a combination of experimental, descriptive, and analytical methods to formulate its observations and arguments. From the learners’ responses to different task-based activities aimed to enhance their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, that were conducted twice—without and with ICT tools—the chapter deduces that ICT-based language teaching empowers the target learners, offers them alternative strategies to claim their space within the educational fold, and articulates their self and aspirations. This model, for further results, may be specifically tested across Indian classrooms on learners belonging to marginalized sections of India. The chapter is divided in the following sections—first, it situates the problem that challenged the authors intellectually; the second section highlights the research gap in the existing ICT-based language learning literature and poses the research questions; the operative relationship between ICT tools and critical thinking is discussed in the third section; in the fourth section, we propose metacognition as an effective language learning strategy; finally, the fifth section states the implication of the current research.