Digitalised language play is an activity that can be shared favourably in telecommunication. A forwarded SMS (short message service), containing words associated with phonetically similar characters in another language, remains amusing with each viewing. The digital script has the Malay word “mahu” (want) linked with the Mandarin character for “cat” while the phrase “tak mahu” (don’t want) is linked with the Mandarin characters for “beat” and “cat”. This approach is similar to the Linkword mnemonic system. The pronunciation of lobster in German (“hummer”), for example, is phonetically linked to the English word “humour” in a similar way. The commercial site Unforgettable Languages (www.unforgettablelanguages.com) promotes its language learning business based on such crosslanguage homonymy (Sew, 2004). Similarly, in the print medium, Susan Keeney uses corresponding phonetic links to teach Malay pronunciations with English phonemics (Sew, 2006).

Digital language creations are defying physical and theoretical conventions. Words and phrases are constantly reconfigured on the mobile screens by different users. Digital media is shaping and reshaping language content by cutting across the boundaries of structural, interactive and semiotic viewpoints on language. According to Baron (2008), digital domestication is now so commonplace in our daily life that even the quote “conscience is an email sent to our brain by God” by Reverend Billy Graham (Baron, 2005/2003) is comprehensible to most people. Thanks to these developments, we are connected both horizontally and vertically.

In view of these rapid digital developments, the NUS Centre for Language Studies’ (CLS) Teaching Development Committee organised a sharing session on teaching foreign languages in Web 2.0. The discussion began on 23 April 2009 and was followed by a hands-on session on 24 April 2009 at CDTL. Many current online symbols were highlighted as being at the foreground of digital tools in Web 2.0. During the discussions, participants had to:

1. Gauge or recall the digital symbols representing Google, Facebook, Instant Messenger, MySpace, RSS Feed, Twitter and Technocrati.

2. Write a definition for Web 2.0 in relation to the learning of foreign languages.

These activities form an intelligible awakening effort to channel attention to these developments (Lazear, 1999).

(From left:) Mrs Chen Ing Ru, Mr Thah Ngoc Minh and Mr Martin
G. Dopel give a presentation on using podcasting technologies
for foreign language learning. CDTL’s Charina Li Ong also gave a
presentation on Web 2.0 technologies.

Further in the first session, Web 2.0 was introduced as a continuum of Web 1.0 and this innovation provides businesses with commercial possibilities. Other definitions of Web 2.0 include the fact that it enables information sharing in an interlinking fashion among users that leads to learning beyond convent ional means. This in turn leads to the development of a collective intelligence among users that propels learning into dynamic interactivity online. A push factor can become a built-in feature in Web 2.0 with RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds incorporated into the system. Updated information from a site can be delivered to the users’ online repository using RSS feeds (Ong, 2009).

Digitalised language material appears daily even if one shuns handheld devices, notebooks or desktops. Mobile phones and MP3 players are powerful tools for disseminating text messages and resources respectively. The ways in which a mobile device adds value to the management of teaching and learning are remarkable. For one thing, it generates telecommunication technology in seconds. By simply sending an SMS, the learner can be contacted when a technical issue related to information sharing arises . Immediate counter checking can take
place to address situations such as when replies to successive electronic queries are not properly disseminated through the server.

Sometimes, other important information such as groupings in a centralised test may not be distributed, and using a mobile device can mitigate any potential difficulties in assessment management. SMS is also effective in reminding learners whose mailboxes are full. The advantage of sending an SMS becomes obvious when overloaded mailboxes become a chronic symptom of ineffective learning. User doubts, which are usually prompted by the postmaster sending them alerts for a variety of reasons (e.g. a possible failed delivery), could also be eradicated via the mobile. An SMS in such instances can ease the stress caused by the anxiety of preventing further miscommunications in learning.

On a lighter note, the mobile phone can also be an incubator for memes. In the context of digital media, a meme is a contagious idea which is spread through electronic networks, creating a new form of digital bonding (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). Memes sent and distributed via SMS may be funny as well as risky. For example, the homonymic word pun between Malay and Mandarin terms mentioned earlier can provide some mental respite from the monotony of learning. Yet one must remember that the effects of mobile devices on language use suggests that (new) literacy is currently being reshaped by the digital behavior of a new generation of techno-savvy young adults.

The complex digital soundscape of the early 21st century includes multiple audio files, with the
mobile ringtone being one of them. Ringtones are dished out as part of popular culture on websites which cater to trendy young netizens who are also mobile phone users. Starlets from MediaCorp TV and the Channel U programme Campus SuperStar represent the pretty and cool faces endorsing certain tunes packaged and marketed as ringtones, giving rise to a genre of digital tones differentiated by age group or season. In this respect, mobile phones and MP3 players are devices which enable a target language to travel digitally. Language learners subscribing to such digital culture can enhance their command of expressions and vocabulary when the process of language acquisition is infused with fun through engaged listening of such ringtones.

A common advantage of telecommunicating foreign language learning is that it dovetails with the daily digital activities of young adult learners. Incorporating a digital element within the pedagogy design to develop linguistic intelligence among learners is thus a practical and positive step forward. As a word of caution, language gurus should be judicious and not incor porate such technology lock, stock and barrel into their teaching. Instead, they should align the technology with practical language learning.

References

Baron, N.S. (2008). Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Baron, N.S. (2005). The future of written culture: Envisioning language in the New Millennium. Ibérica: Journal of the European Association of Languages for Specific Purposes, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 7–31. Originally presented in 2003 at a plenary session of the First International Conference of Internet and Language, Castellón, Spain.

Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006). New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Classroom Learning. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Lazear, D. (1999). Eight Ways of Knowing: Teaching for Multiple Intelligences. Arlington Heights, Illinois: SkyLight Publishing.

Ong, C.L. (2009). Web 2.0: Ideas for Educators. Presented at an IT-based seminar at the Centre for the Development of Teaching & Learning, NUS.

Sew, J.W. (2006). Review Article on Susan Keeney, Asmah Haji Omar, Kit Leee, Hasan Muhammad Ali et al. California Linguistic Notes, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp.1–26. Retrieved 5 May 2009, from http://hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/CLN/pdf/Sew- Malay.pdf.

Sew, J.W. (2004). Dari Kertas ke Skrin [From Paper to Screen]. Dewan Bahasa Vol.4, No.5: pp. 12-19. Retrieved 5 May 2009, from http://dbp.gov.my/lamandbp/main.php?Content=article s&ArticleID=33.