Meeting Pedagogic and Technical Knowledge and Skills for Teaching with Technology in Second Language Teacher Education

Kevin Watson
University of the Ryukus
Okinawa, Japan

Grant Agawa
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, USA

The ever-growing integrated nature of classroom technology has created a continuing need for improved second language teacher education (SLTE) in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). There is a distinct disconnect between the technology-based skill set of graduating students from SLTE programmes and their corresponding pedagogical skill set. On this point, Watson and Agawa (2013) stress the importance of a structured learning framework or interrelated frameworks in CALL. This is important, but it is the training and the integration of technological knowledge and skills concomitantly combined with pedagogical knowledge and skills that remains paramount. In his discussion of digital natives, Prensky (2010) calls this integration “partnering”. With continuous upgrades in technology, there is a need to ensure that: (1) all teachers stay up-to-date through training, and (2) teachers continue to find ways to integrate their own pedagogical skill sets into their technology-based classrooms and also classrooms that intermittently use technology. In this case study, we show how current SLTE is performing in relation to the standards for teaching with technology. Second, we illustrate how instructors, focusing on technology, are meeting the ISTE 2000 standard. Last, we provide interview data that stress the need to ensure that CALL teachers and teacher using technology in the classroom continually update their skill sets and are able to integrate technical knowledge and skills with pedagogical knowledge and skills.