Twenty Years of Technology Integration and Foreign Language Teaching: A Phenomenological Reflective Interview Study

The evolution of the use of technology in the foreign language classroom has proven to be a challenge. In this paper, we highlight a study whose purpose is to understand how one retired foreign language educator reflected on the ways in which she integrated different modes of technology in her classroom. In this interview study, the participant discussed how technology has evolved in the span of her twenty-year career as a foreign language educator and how she integrated various technologies as they evolved in her classroom. The researchers employed a modified van Kaam method as defined by Moustakas (1994) to analyze the data collected through phenomenological interviews. The results revealed a complex negotiation process, a thoughtful reflection of advantages and disadvantages of technology integration in foreign language classrooms, and the value of understanding the cyclical nature of technology integration in education. Keywords: Foreign Language, Technology, Technology Integration, Phenomenology Often when one looks back at one's career, the perspectives and insights that emerge are different from when one must work in the trenches, within the daily drudgery of the details of lived realities. In this study, we work with a retired foreign language educator, Sama, who has been a foreign language educator in the K-12 education system in South Texas for the last twenty years of her career. During these years Sama experienced administrative mandates to integrate technology in the classrooms and the pressure to do so exponentially increased and did not stop at the point of Sama's retirement. In this paper, we (1) explore the ways Sama negotiated the mandates of new technology integration and how such negotiations influenced her emotions and the way she managed her daily teaching routine using documents, informal conversations, open-ended interviews, and photo-elicitations. This paper is grounded in Vygotsky's (1978) social constructivist theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) not only for the purpose of looking at learning processes, but also for understanding how educators can trace these learning processes to inform their own teaching approaches. In discussing ZPD, Vygotsky described one's learning process being reflected by what one can accomplish individually versus what one can do with the assistance of others who are more skilled than the learner. By working with others who are more skilled than one individual learner, the individual learner can make a choice to model his/her own approaches to a task based on the expert performer. This form of modeling can lead to a new stage of cognitive development. Specifically, Vygotsky stated, "The actual developmental level characterizes mental development retrospectively, while the zone of proximal development characterizes mental development prospectively" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 87). These concepts of ZPD support that learning is a social process through interactions with peers and adults who are better skilled and that such learning experiences can be created by those educators who are aligned with the ways cognitive development occurs as described by Vygotsky. Through such cognitive development one can expect students to become better problem solvers and critical thinkers. In the context of this study, Sama taught students a second language, which was driven heavily through various mandates to integrate technology, especially in the form of software and programs used to learn a language. Someone such as Sama, who has been teaching for more than two decades, then, were compelled to modify her teaching approaches with the call for integrating these new technologies in her classes. These teaching approaches, when guided by the assumptions of social learning, create a learning environment where the teacher has to be seen both as the expert in navigating the technology and the subject matter. Depending on the availability of technology and pedagogy used in teaching, technology-integrated instruction could be used to provide opportunities for students to learn about information retrieval and dissemination, create collaborative products, all in alignment with the tenets of ZPD. …