ICT education and motivating elderly people

Abstract

To make language learning more effective and help teachers attain their objectives, different teaching tools and aids have been suggested.Indeed, the research literature has witnessed an increasing interest in finding out what can make from the language classroom to make it a stimulating learning atmosphere, where a variety of teaching supports are provided.This is because the teachers' role is no longer limited to their talk, the use of textbooks and the board, but rather, it requires more flexibility in teaching to match learners' learning needs and styles.Therefore, e-learning has been widely implemented to help teachers attain this objective.Nevertheless, introducing technological tools in the classroom may be conceived as a threat by some teachers, instead of a supporting language means.This may occur mostly in case where teaching concerns elderly people in a given educational context.Indeed, integrating such tools and achieving the intended objectives behind their use may be hindered by these learners' lack of technical skills, unfamiliarity or fear to deal with them.Thus, teachers are more likely to be confronted with a set of challenges in teaching elderly people using ict.As a result, motivation may not be attained and learners may get deprived from the benefits which this learning mode can provide.Thus, the question which remains addressed in this respect is how to integrate ict more effectively in teaching languages to elderly people, while overcoming the different risks associated with its use?In an attempt to answer this question, this paper introduces a set of practical teaching suggestions which aim at helping teachers motivate elderly people into the use of ict within lifelong learning contexts.These suggestions concern English language teaching , but they are not exclusively limited to it, as they can be implemented in different teaching contexts.They arrange from raising learners' awareness and making them more familiar with using ict to promoting their motivation in and reflection over language learning.Keywords: motivation,