Let the computer do it!

I in no way consider myself a technology person but just have realized the fact that I could hardly start writing in English with paper and pens. Being aware of this change, I asked myself if I had the same problem with Chinese writing. Fortunately, I figured out a NO. Then came the WHY. Writing on a computer, I can easily redo my sentences without leaving any traces of revising which sometimes may frustrate and interrupt the flow of thinking. Would I say technology is a helpful tool thereby? Yes and No, because it diminishes my ability to write in a second language in a traditional way. Does it matter given the reality that we write mostly on computers nowadays? I’m not sure if I have an answer, but it reminds me of a story. A Chinese language instructor told me that the Chinese-learning students in her university were only required to type instead of writing the characters for their writing assignments. The rationale for this decision was that Chinese characters were hard to write and it’s more likely for students to type rather than write characters in the future. It sounds reasonable and practical. So, the statement made in the discussion question for Arnold & Ducate’s article- “If technology is how students today use to live their everyday lives, it follows that these are the tools we should use to teach them.”- could be rephrased as “If technology is how students today use to live their everyday lives, it follows that we should teach students how to use the tool to produce language.”