P ocedia - Social and Beha io al Sciences 186 ( 2015 ) 87 – 90
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1877-0428 © 2015 The Au ho s. Published by Else ie L d. This is an open access a icle unde he CC BY-NC-ND license
(h p://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Pee - e iew unde esponsibili y o Academic Wo ld Educa ion and Resea ch Cen e
doi: 10.1016/j.sbsp o.2015.04.210
5 h Wo ld Con e ence on Lea ning, Teaching and Educa ional Leade ship, WCLTA 2014
An O e iew o The Needs o Technology in Language Tes ing in
Spain
Jesús Ga cía Labo daa
*
, Te esa Magal Royob, Elena Bá cena Made ac
aUni e sidad de Alcalá, Calle T inidad,3, Alcalá de Hena es-Mad id 28801, Spain
bUni e si a Poli ecnica Valencia, Camí de Ve a, S/N, Valencia 46022, Spain
cUni e sidad Nacional a Dis ancia - UNED, Pº Senda del Rey, 7, Mad id 28040, Spain
Abs ac
O e he ew yea s, compu e based language es ing has become p e ailing wo ldwide. The numbe o ins i u ions he use
compu e s as he main means o deli e y has inc eased d ama ically. Many s uden s ace each day es s o well-known high-
s akes decisions which imply he knowledge and abili y o use echnology o p o ide e idence o language mas e y. Howe e ,
his si ua ion is no he same e e ywhe e. While coun ies like he Uni ed S a es o he Uni ed Kingdom a e spea heads o his
endency, o he s like Spain, lag way behind. This pape add esses he needs o use o compu e based language es ing in he new
Spanish educa ional sys em. To do so, his pape in oduces he cu en si ua ion in Spain, hen p oceeds o do a SWOT analysis
emphasizing he lacks and oppo uni ies o language based assessmen s and concludes by s a ing he posi i e issues in ol ing
hem.
© 2015 The Au ho s. Published by Else ie L d.
Pee - e iew unde esponsibili y o Academic Wo ld Resea ch and Educa ion Cen e .
Keywo ds: es ing; compu e s; educa ional sys em; SWOT analysis.
1. Main ex
Compu e based language es s ha e a p e ailing posi ion in he wo ld oday. Thei inco po a ion in educa ional
p ac ice due o hei e sa ili y as well as hei low cos has made hem a co ne s one o assessmen especially o
high-s akes ex e nal exams. Thei deli e y p ocess has also led o he need o e ise hei mode along wi h some
o he adi ional ways o deli e y. Fa behind emain hose imes in which some s uden s did e idence p oblems in
* Jesus Ga cia Labo da. Tel.: +34- 918855041; ax: 34- 918854441.
E-mail add ess: jesus.ga cialabo [email protected]
© 2015 The Au ho s. Published by Else ie L d. This is an open access a icle unde he CC BY-NC-ND license
(h p://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Pee - e iew unde esponsibili y o Academic Wo ld Educa ion and Resea ch Cen e
88 Jesús Ga cía Labo da e al. / P ocedia - Social and Beha io al Sciences 186 ( 2015 ) 87 – 90
adap a ion o he use o keyboa ds. Today he ma e is no so much whe he s uden s will be able o adap o new
de ices such as IPads, ne books o lap ops bu whe he ha implies di e ences in es alidi y o e en i he use o
each indi idual de ice will sa is y di e en use s ( ha means es - ake s). A numbe o issues in he las ew yea s
ha e been in oduced by di e en esea che s which can be g ouped in o wo main ca ego ies: echnology
de elopmen and candida e- es ela ionship. Cu en esea ch in language es ing in Spain is a he limi ed o jus a
ew esea che s bu esea ch in echnology based es ing is almos non-exis ing. Since 2004 he e has been a
signi ican and inc easing in e es om he pe spec i e o esea ch bu how his has been e lec ed in eal li e seems
qui e a di e en issue. Acco ding o he obse a ions, echnology based language es ing in Spain has obse ed he
ollowing issues:
a. Deli e y: O e hese yea s, esea ch has ocused in he bene i s o in eg a ing echnology o deli e y. Fo
ins ance, in 2006 Ga cía Labo da men ioned he possibili y o design a sys em o eplace Dialang h ough an
ex ensi e se o new asks ha we e no pe o med un il hen (such as speaking). The o iginal idea was based
in he use o desk ops which a ha poin was only done in a e y con olled manne by he Educa ional
Tes ing Se ice (ETS). Acco ding o he same au ho and Magal Royo (2005), in es ing in compu e
echnology o language assessmen s inc eased he es ace alidi y and also made he exam mo e comple e
and eliable o in e he capaci y o es ake s (also de Siquei a Rocha, Ma inez-Saez, Se illa-Pa on,
Gimeno-Sanz, 2011). Al onseca, Ca o, F ei e, O igosa, Pe ez, Diana, e al. (2005) also did an ex ended
esea ch on au o ing applica ions o adap i e ee ex s in es s.
b. Compu e use: In 2005, Ga cía Labo da, Magal-Royo, De Siquei a Rocha and Al a ez Fe nández s essed
he impo ance o e ising isual e gonomics (p e iously sugges ed by Fulche (2001) o language es s in
he Spanish Uni e si y En ance Examina ion p oposal ha had been sugges ed by Ga cía Labo da (2010).
Thei pe spec i e owa ds con ex ual isual clues was also suppo ed by Ga cía Labo da (2010; also Díez
Bedma , 2011).
c. Tes cons uc ion: López-Mequi a Molina (2009) sugges ed he es cons uc and wo king p ocess o a
compu e adap i e ocabula y es .
d. Ac i i y o ganiza ion: In 2005, González Tuñón emphasized he need o e ise which i ems o asks a e mo e
adequa e o e ision and imp o emen . This a gumen was also used by Labo da, Jesus Ga cia; Bakie a,
Ma ga i a; Gonzalez-Such, & Pa on Se illa (2010) o obse e how adi ional exams could be speci ically
modie ied o achie e be e assessmen s in English. La e , Ga cía Labo da & Magal Royo (2009, 2010) and
Ga cía Labo da & Li zle (2011) also sugges ed ha in o de o achie e compe en assessmen s i was also
necessa y o ain he eache s no only in echnology bu also in es ing echniques. Acco ding o Gimeno
Sanz & De Siquei a Rocha (2009) compu e ools p o ide a be e and as e eedback han adi ional
p ocedu es and Ga cía Labo da, Magal Royo and Bakie a (2010) obse ed ha s uden s using compu e
based language es ing we e mo e mo i a ed owa ds he es .
2. Towa ds a de ini ion o he needs
Much o he needs in Spain a e gi en by changes in lea ning s yles, he p og essi e use o echnology in he
class oom, he need o s anda dize language es ing and he inc easing need o ob ain objec i e da a o ake
educa ional decisions. Cu en in e na ional e alua ions such as PISA, TIMMS and so e idence ha OECD
coun ies equi e coope a ion o hese issues. Ano he example o his p og essi e implemen a ion o ex e nal
s anda dized es s in educa ion is ha PISA 2015 will be done o ally online o e en ha he compu e e sions o
he Camb idge sui e o schools a e also becoming mo e and mo e common. In his sense, some educa ion minis ies
in he wo ld, like Spain, a e lagging behind he p i a e educa ional companies. Howe e , esea ch has no p o ed so
a adequa e compe ence o wo k on online w i ing in o eign languages.
89
Jesús Ga cía Labo da e al. / P ocedia - Social and Beha io al Sciences 186 ( 2015 ) 87 – 90
He eby below an SWOT analysis ( igu e 1) o he implemen a ion o compu e s in language es ing is p esen ed.
The analysis emphasizes echnical, unds, acili ies and human esou ces. I also s esses ha he e is a clea
oppo uni y o implemen i and ha eache s’ and adminis a o s would be accep ing he changes gi en he cu en
p e ailing si ua ion and con ex in mos schools (bo h p ima y and seconda y) in Spain.
Fig. 1.SWOT analysis o he use o compu e s in language assessmen s in Spain.
4. Conclusion
The cu en si ua ion in language es ing leads o a signi ican oppo uni y o implemen compu e o mobile
de ices based language es s. The oppo uni ies gi en he needs o he coun y make accessible he unds bu
especially a poli ical in e es owa ds he implemen a ion. The bene i s in educa ion, s anda diza ion and cos a e as
p omising as he expec ed esul s in he class oom. A his poin , i seems e iden ha p e ious esea ch should be
looking a new ypes o i ems as well as deli e y means. Ou analysis, howe e , can be jus oo op imis ic and
maybe using esou ces p o ided by p i a e companies could be p io i ized, bu in such a case, he Minis y would be
igno ing comple ely he expe ience and wo k o ew bu e y commi ed Spanish esea che s.
90 Jesús Ga cía Labo da e al. / P ocedia - Social and Beha io al Sciences 186 ( 2015 ) 87 – 90
Acknowledgemen s
The au ho s would like o hank he Minis y o Economy and Compe i i eness o unding he esea ch p ojec
(wi h co- inance by ERDF) wi hin he amewo k o he Na ional R + D + I (2011-2014) "Guidance, p oposals and
eaching o English sec ion in he en ance examina ion o he Uni e si y" (Re e ence FFI2011-22442). The
esea che s would also hank he Spanish Minis y o Educa ion, Cul u e and Spo s because wi hou he g an o
he Senio Resea che s Mobili y his pape would p obably ha e no been possible.
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