Tools for Content-Based Technology

Many websites and apps emphasize content learning in effective and authentic ways, from the global Cable News Network (http://www.cnn.com/) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (http://www.nasa.gov) to the Discovery Channel (http://www.discovery.com) and Sammy’s Science House (Version 1.4; free from https://classicreload.com/dosx-sammys-science-house.html), and many more can support content-based learning, such as PowerPoint, Hyperstudio, and other multimedia development packages.

However, many language educators ask whether commercial software and websites intended for native-speaking audiences can or should be used in language classrooms. The answer is that teachers should use such software and websites only when they have carefully planned how to use them so that they meet the CALL principles (chapter 1). Meeting those conditions means, in part, that teachers have provided any necessary organizers, prompts, or adaptations to make the language and content accessible to the students; that the content and language are relevant and authentic; and that the objectives for the language and content are clear. If these conditions are met, the technology’s multimedia-multimodal-nonlinear presentation of information will probably result in more gains than losses.