Information technology and new entrants to modern language teaching

Abstract

Summary Modern linguists taking up their first teaching post are likely to meet widely varying situations in schools in terms of hard-ware and software provision and of the level and pattern of usage in modern languages departments. BBC computers and their variants still dominate in many modern languages departments and despite their limitations cannot be discounted in terms of preparing new entrants to the teaching profession. Some departments do not have their own computer and in many cases gaining access to the main school computer room/s is not easy. Others are far more fortunate in terms of state-of-the-art equipment in the department and/or in having problem-free access to computer rooms to use with whole classes. Over a third of the schools in the sample can receive satellite television. There is a great number of differing software packages in schools. IT co-ordinators, reporting from 89 teaching practice schools, mentioned 28 different word-processing packages and 33 different desktop publishing ...