In our first session of the course “New Media in Foreign Language Education” we made already use of new media by watching an interview on the internet (YouTube). It was an interview with Mark Bauerlein who talked about young Americans and the internet. Our task was to get together in groups and watch a special section of the interview. After that we were asked to formulate our own statements and opinions about Bauerlein’s theses.

 

Group 1 dealt with the first third of the interview. In this part Bauerlein talks about the digital culture as a new opportunity to learn, but he also accuses teenagers of not appreciating the great variety of offers on the internet. He states that teenagers prefer social platforms like Facebook or MySpace only. Furthermore, he criticises that other kinds of “old” media like books are nearly not present in teenage rooms. To underline this he cites a statistic which says that 55 per cent of teenagers spend less than one hour per week for reading.

The group’s opinion on this was as follows:

Bauerlein is only right in parts and one always has to differ using the internet just for fun or serious stuff. Additionally, Mr. Bauerlein generalises too much. He only talks about American teenagers and one can’t be sure if the numbers he gives are reliable.

I agree, in parts, on both. On the one hand I think that the internet offers a great opportunity to learn and research on various things, but I don’t agree with Bauerlein saying that teenagers do not appreciate those offers. In my opinion it is not always easy (even for the younger generation who almost grew up with the great variety of new media) to find their way about. As soon as it comes to for example academic research or finding useful sources on a special topic many teenagers and students might feel lost, because this type of research is not as self-evident as to sign up on Facebook. We should offer them some help instead of blaming them for this circumstance. Consequently, new media in (foreign language) education plays an important role: It should sensitise teenagers for the great opportunities the internet has to offer.

 

Group 2, to which I belonged, concentrated on the second third of the interview. Here, Bauerlein states that students are stuck in the adolescent world and that it is the teachers’/ professors’ responsibility to pull them out and help them to access the adult world. This should be reached by giving adolescents the conviction that reading certain books is important to develop their mind. Bauerlein underlines the importance of the medium book and claims that adolescents have to be motivated by their teachers.

I totally agree on that. Nevertheless, I also think that teachers can’t take full responsibility for everything. Parents should support their children to use different types of media, too.

Further, Bauerlein argues about teenagers spending too much time on social platforms on the internet again. Our group only agrees in parts again, because we think that social contacts especially in puberty are important. Anyways, those social contacts should be also personal and not only on the internet.

 

The findings of Group 3 were similar. They agreed on Bauerlein’s statement that there are more important things than Facebook, but they also took the process of globalisation into account. This is that we have to be aware of the fact that we are not living in little, limited villages any longer, but our friends are spread all over the world and the internet with its social platforms is a great possibility to stay in touch.

 

We also discussed the risks of being manipulated by certain media. This is pretty easy if you don’t have a critical mind to think things over.

 

Movies can also open someone’s mind. Bauerlein tells the story of him going to a foreign film festival. The images he got to know there opened his mind.

 

All in all you can say that Bauerlein argues a lot about the internet, but the term “New Media” implies much more than the internet or movies only.

 

It is our job as future teachers to show and teach adolescents the possibilities of new media, how to work with it, and to make them curious and capable for it. This is in my opinion how this course relates to it.

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