线下沙龙1: 科技与语言学习

剑桥中国教育论坛第一期线下沙龙于2018年11月20日，在剑桥大学教育系GS5教室成功举办。本次沙龙以科技与语言学习为主题，对科技发展和语言习得的关系进行了全面探讨。活动邀请到了三位相关领域的学者，从不同视角出发，向大家分享他们的见解，并与现场来宾一同畅想未来教育的发展方向。

Cambridge China Education Forum successfully hostedthe first pre-forum workshop on the topic of technology and language learning on 20 November, 2018. We invited three scholars to discuss the role of technology in language learning.

JINSHI SHAO:

剑桥大学教育系博士生Jinshi Shao提出，我们当前面临的一大问题是如何更好地发挥科技在教育中的作用。在语言教育领域，科技运用正面临着许多挑战。例如，科技产品如何成功识别学习者所面临的困难和所需要的帮助？科技又将如何提升学习者的学习体验？

Jinshi还提到了语言学习和社会互动的关系。他提出，并不是所有的社会互动都能促进语言发展。例如，在教师和学生的互动中，有些学生只需要很少的反馈就能够取得进步，而其他学生则需要较多的帮助。作为教师，只有成功满足学生不断变化的学习需求，才能获得最好的教学效果。而对科技产品而言，能否成功识别并满足学生不断变化的学习需求将是一大挑战。

Mr Shao mentioned that there is no doubt that new technology is changing our lives dramatically and it is a trend for future education. The question is how we optimize the experience of using technology.In other words, how can we use technology in the most effective way? Speakingof how second-language learning correlates with technology use, thedifficulties may arise from the second-language acquisition process. How do weidentify the difficulties and promote learners’ language acquisition? What role does technology play in improving children’s language learning experience?

Mr Shao also mentioned the relationship between language acquisition and social interaction. There is no doubt that language acquisition takes place in social interaction. But not every social interaction equally improves children’s language learning. For example, one learner needs alittle help in order to correct his grammar error, but another learner may needmore help. Thus, teaching is most effective when it meets children’s emerging developmental needs. In other words, a right amount of teaching should be givenbased on children’s emerging needs. Technology should be designed to suitchildren’s specific developmental needs.

DANYANG ZHANG:

剑桥大学教育系博士生Danyang Zhang指出，科技产品所提供的知识，并不等于学生所能接收的知识。因此，在运用教育科技产品的过程中，培养学生自发性学习的能力同样非常重要。学生应该具备自主选择学习产品、自主安排学习进程的能力。

Danyang还提到了教育科技中两个重要的概念：

1.    学习者的主观能动性（Learner Agency），即学习者如何利用各种资源自主学习的能力。在设计线上教育产品的过程中，设计者必须考虑学习者在现实生活中是否会真正使用该产品。很多时候，学生由于缺乏自发性学习的能力，而无法坚持使用某些教育产品，从而无法达到理想的学习效果。换句话说，虽然科技产品能够提供更多的学习机会，但是并不能替代学习过程本身。

2.    数字素养（Digital Literacy），即在数字化时代运用电脑和网络资源的能力。有报告指出，仅5.5%的学生能够坚持使用学习软件。因此，教育软件的设计者还应该考虑如何吸引学生长期使用该产品。教学工作者不仅应该为学生提供更多的线上学习资源，还应该更多的帮助学生提高他们的数字素养。

Ms Zhang focused on learners’ learning process. She highlighted that children cannot take in 100% information or knowledge providedby technology products. In other words, learners should take charge of theirown learning. They should know how to select the best suitable language learning products for them.

Ms Zhang further introduced two important concepts.The first concept is “learner agency”—how learners are able to control their learning process from various resources. When designing technology, we shouldconsider when and where students actually use technology in their daily life.Sometimes students show different learning styles due to different learning environments. Technology products cannot replace the learning process itself.

The second concept is “digital literacy”—learner shouldbe able to select their learning process in an effective way. Only 5.5% of students can keep taking their online courses. Technology designers should considerhow to engage students in the long term. Educators should not only consider howto develop course materials but also give students more support in how toimprove their digital literacy (how to select the most suitable technology products).

DR XIAOBIN CHEN:

剑桥大学语言学系（语言技术中心）博士后Xiaobin Chen指出，“人工智能”在教育中的应用，主要应该侧重于其“智能”的方面。这种“智能”包括（1）对学习者的模拟（例如，学习者的个人倾向，学习动机），（2）对学习目标的模拟，（3）对学习过程的模拟，以及（4）对学习成果测试的模拟。目前的科技虽然能够模拟上述的某一个方面，但是还无法形成一个完整的教学体系。教师与学生的互动体系尚且无法被科技产品取代。

Dr. Chen mentioned that, nowadays, people are morefocused on the intelligence part of the technology design. This includes modelling the learners (what do students prefer, and how they learn, how to motivate them, what kind of material is suitable for them), modelling theexpert knowledge (what do we expect them to achieve), modelling the learning process (learn from the educational research in order to build tools), and modelling the assessment process.

He asked an essential question: What kind of thingscannot be replaced by technology? We need to think of how teachers teachstudents (in order to find out what can or cannot be replaced by technology).Teacher-learner interaction is one thing that is lacking in technology products.Even though technology can integrate the assessment and learning materials intolearning process, it still cannot form a comprehensive tutorial system.

嘉宾发言之后，现场进入了Q&A和小组讨论环节，观众和来宾们根据自己的专业背景和个人经历参与讨论，发表各自对科技与语言教育的看法。

After the panel disscussion, audiences and speakers had a Q&A session. Drawing on different disciplinary knowledge and personal experiences, the audience expressed their own views on this topic.

以上就是第一期线下沙龙的内容回顾了。希望你对人工智能时代语言教育的发展趋势又有了新的认识和思考。如果你对教育相关领域感兴趣，请持续关注我们，剑桥中国教育论坛将在新学期推出更多线下沙龙活动，敬请期待！

We hope you gained some new insights into this topic as well. We will keep hosting similar workshops on different educational topics in the future. Please stay tuned and you are welcome to join us!