2Q7HFKQRORJ\6XSSRUWHG(GXFDWLRQ̽ 3DUDGLJP6KLIWLQ/DQJXDJH7HDFKLQJ̽ Abdurrahman Gülbeyaz㸦Graduate School of Language and Culture㸧

Analogously, the education in the edubas (scribal

1. Introductory Remarks on Education andschools) of ancient Mesopotamian societies was based on

Technology
In order to preclude a nowadays very fashionablea technological level defining characteristics of which

misconception, a very common automatism, in thismanifested themselves among other things particularly inconnection, I want to begin by expressly drawing yoursuch technics as manufacturing tablets from clay, cutting

attention to the fact that the state of affairs referred to as

and forming styluses from bamboo reeds, etc.

‘technology-supported education’ is not an exclusively
modern phenomenon.

The clay tablets and styluses were for the prospectivefunctionaries of Mesopotamian royal court – priests,

On the contrary the social institution ‘education’ has

scribes, chroniclers, tax collectors, warlords, etc. – andalways been based upon the distinctive technologicaltheir preceptors what ICT technology is for the students

mode of the respective socio-historical formation. Inof modern universities – that is for the future officials,

everyadministrators and executives – of present-day developed–

historiographicallyaccessibleor

anthropologically inferable (in other words, theoreticallycountries.

reconstructible) – stage or manifestation of the so-called

What’s currently happening in connection with the‘human civilisation’ the adoption and application of theinstitutional education in these highly developed

epochal,technology has beenindustrial countries is not a quantitative widening of

constitutive for education. That is, since the onset of

infrastructural possibilities. It is not that a new type ofhuman thought, institutional education has always beentechnically enriched classroom opens up as an additional

nothing other than ‘technology-supported education’.

and thus facultative teaching space, but, on the contrary,sociallyformative

Although the scientific research still does not want tomake any binding statements in this respect, I would not

it is nothing less than an ineludible fateful transition into
a qualitatively new mode of education

hesitate to maintain that the cave paintings had been thekey technology underlying the educational modus of theprehistoric hunting-and-gathering societies. Besides

2. Some Fundamental Thoughts on Language
Acquisition and Learning

ritual ceremonies they must have served for teaching

Elsewhere I divided the entire history of humanhunting techniques and other contents of social relevance.

societies with respect to language acquisition into two

The technics such as using a flint or another type of hard

immensely

stone for simple engravings or scrapings, finding ferriclanguage acquisition and related phenomena involve twooxide-containing minerals and charcoals or the like forclearly delineable domains of social space-time. The first

red and black colours respectively, sometimes preparing

one spans a practically incalculable period from the little

some sort of binder or extender wherewith the pigment

known beginnings of language up until the maturity of

was mixed, etc. constituted the educational technology ofthe latest variation of human social organization. And thethat time.

second one is the very modernity, that – ensuing from the― 42 ―asymmetricalperiods:“Reflectionsonformer – encompasses the present day stand of so-called

appropriate, and propose to designate the phenomenonhuman civilization. The first phase distinguishes itself inwhich is referred to as ‘native language’ or ‘firstthat language acquisition constitutes therein the basis, thelanguage’ in the language acquisition theories of Western

matrix, the indispensable condition, of anything human.

provenance as ‘not-learned languages’, and to designate

It is the primary matter whereof the differential human isthe phenomena referred to as ‘foreign language’ ormade. Both the emergence of a science of language and‘second language’ as ‘learned languages’” (Gülbeyaz

the institutionalization of guided language learning, on2013)

the other hand, are characteristic to the modern

For practical purposes I would, furthermore, postulate

commodity society which marks the beginning of thetwo subtypes of learned-language acquisition. I am

second phase.” (Gülbeyaz 2012)

presumably not the only one who is of the view that theBoth in the same place and in a subsequent paper,

question whether the acquisition of a learned language

where the line of reasoning was developed in furthertakes place in a social milieu which is the natural homedetail, I criticized and repudiated the prevailing theoriesof the target language, or in a social space-time segmentof language acquisition all of which rest on a two layered

where the target language is not spoken as everyday

dichotomy. On an abstract theoretical level thislanguage. Borrowing a term from structural geology, I

dichotomy consists in postulating a fundamentalwill,

distinction between ‘the language in general’ versus‘allochthonous learning’. The specific dynamics and‘individual languages’ (cf. Humboldt) or, in other words,

requirements of this type of language learning make thebetween an ‘internal grammar’ or ‘universal language’

guided language learning necessary and thus justify theand an ‘external language’ (cf. Chomsky). On a more

institution ‘teacher’ as a constitutive component of theconcrete, more practice-related layer the said dichotomy

learning process.

provisionally,

namethelatter

subtypetakes the form of differentiating between ‘nativelanguage’ – in other and more decent words, ‘first

3. ‘Teacher’ in Digitalised Classroom

language’ – and ‘foreign language’ – in other andICT equipped classrooms have already become notseemlier words, ‘second language’.

only the indispensable and irreducible infrastructure of“The act of learning […] requires […] a certain level

modern guided language learning, but also they alteredof socialisation. Consequently, the acts of learning andthe entire set of components and parameters of theteaching could be employed only in connection withprocess of guided language learning dramatically.

socialised individuals. I opine that the scientific

Needless to say, also the institution ‘teacher’ or

discourse is far from knowing the nature and the‘instructor’ did not remain untouched by this revolution.

differential features of the relation and interaction

And what’s more, it is, as it seems, precisely thebetween babies and young children and their physicalcomponent of the process on which the on-going process

and social environment.

Even more seriously, I am ofof digital restructuring and reconfiguration the current

the opinion that it is legitimate to consider it

segment of the social space-time continuum enfolds its

categorically impossible for a socialised mind – or aeffects most rigorously. The institution ‘teacher’ as wethinking mode / equipment – to cogitate adequately

have known it so far is now being dismantled. The

about a pre-social mind. After thus redefining it, I don’t

primary arena for this – or, in a way, the scene of violent

see any problem in realizing the act of ‘learning’ as themetamorphosis – is the new classroom equipped withdetermining and differentiating criterion of the above

digital technology. It is this new physical teaching

mentioned dichotomy. Consequently, I consider it to beenvironment where the moment of guidance in guided― 43 ―language learning process is being re-approached andtheredefined on the basis of qualitatively different premises.

metamorphosed interactional subspace leaves no room

The still dominating model of ‘teacher’ in thefor hierarchy. There is no room therein for sociallylanguage teaching sector of the developed capitalistic

entirefieldoflanguageteaching.

This

predetermined power structures.

economies is heavily burdened – among other things –Not unlike the dream-catchers of the Ojibwe people

with a multi-faceted biologism which expresses itself on

which filter out the nightmares from the dreams of

the practical level as a distinct set of thought and action

children, the latticework woven out of binary digits – i.e.,patterns

term

the network which holds the microcosm ‘classroom’‘native-speakerism’ (cf. Gülbeyaz 2014). Seen in this

together – is impermeable to resentments or otherlight, the institution ‘teacher’ appears ultimately as theirrelevant emotions.

whichI

subsumeundertheunsurmountable hurdle in the process of language
education.

On the practical side of the classroom event theICT-equipment enables the active participation of thereal learners – as opposed to assumed or institutionally

4. Concluding Remarks on the Impact of ICT

dictated learners – as equal partners in the teaching andlearning process, so that the possibility of a new and-Equipped Classrooms
To conclude, I will jot down a few elemental words

revolutionary mode of curriculum production is coming

about the present and future ramifications of ongoing

into existence. In this new production mode theprocess of digitalization in teaching and learning spaces.

curricular material is produced on spot and in connection

Once again, I believe it is reasonable and functional towith the real needs of the learners interactively andgroup observations, inferences and predictions in thiscollectively.

connection in two classes.
On the underlying and load-bearing theoretical level,

Real-timedemonstration

amplification,

simultaneous

andcorrection,

reduplication

signalofthethe systematic use of computer networks and further

information on different channels of perception etc. areICT-equipment in the language classrooms results in a

but a few of the many functionalities worth mentioning

thoroughgoing transformation of the entire classroomthat come with the new ICT-supported classrooms.

event. It digitizes the interactive subspace assembled andshared by both the learners and the teacher(s) where theReferences

entire signal traffic among the participants of theChomsky, Noam. 1997. The Minimalist Program.

teaching/learning process takes place. From a semiotic

Third Printing. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts /viewpoint the process of digitisation is first and foremostLondon.

a radical trans-semiosis. It converts the full range ofGülbeyaz, A. 2012. “A New Approach to Language

qualitatively differing forms of information – i.e., bluntly

Acquisition

discrete types of semiosis – into the one and the sameChomsky.” In ICT for Language Learning, Conferencemode of signification. The fact that the underlying binary

Proceedings 2012. Libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni.

code consist of only two simple digits of the same rank

andLanguagetransformed into the one and the same stuff.

Practice-Related

the process of guided language learning, the above

BeyondSkinnerandGülbeyaz, A. 2013. “A Reconceptualization ofensures that everything in the classroom event isIn terms of the elementary texture and configuration ofLearning:

AcquisitionandConsiderations.”

LearningInwithIceri2013

Proceedings CD. Editor: International Association ofTechnology, Education and Development (IATED).

described development results in the democratisation of― 44 ―

Gülbeyaz, A. 2014. “Guided Language Learning andtheMythof‘NativeSpeaker’.”InInted2014

Proceedings CD. Editor: International Association ofTechnology, Education and Development (IATED).
Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. 1963. Werke in Fünf Bänden.
Herausgegeben Von Andreas Flitner und Klaus Giel,
Wissenschaftliche Buchgemeinschaft, Darmstadt.

― 45 ―