Affordances in Digital Technology

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In technology-mediated language learning, “affordance is defined as the potential that teachers perceive in a particular technology tool that will support learning and teaching activities in their educational contexts. While the attributes of the tool contribute to such affordances” (Haines, 2015, p. 166).

While a tool’s attributes contribute to its affordances, teachers’ perceptions play a crucial role in determining how a tool is used effectively. They have an agentive role to recognize, interpret, and transform available resources into purposeful learning opportunities as “[i]n a classroom, for example, multiple digital devices might be available, but they are not necessarily affordances. Only when the teachers see how to make use of them for teaching, do they become teaching affordances” (Tour et al., 2023, p.5).

While integrating digital tools in language education, teachers may consider various affordances, including:

  • Learnable: Easy for students to grasp.
  • Understandable: Clearly structured for interaction.
  • Transferable: Applicable across different contexts.
  • Explorable: Encourages independent discovery.
  • Work-with-able: Supports meaningful engagement.
  • Integratable: Fits within various pedagogical approaches.
  • Deduce-able: Allows learners to infer new knowledge.
  • Communicate-with-able: Facilitates interaction and collaboration.
  • Use-in-future-able: Prepares learners for future applications.

(Kordt, 2018)

How teachers develop an understanding of affordances 👩🏽‍🏫🧑‍🏫

Moreover, Haines (2015) identifies three key aspects of how teachers perceive affordances over time:

  • Affordances Evolve: Perceptions of learning affordance develop over time and through experimenting with using new tools in the classroom.
  • Context-Specific: Perceptions of Affordance are Specific to Individual Teachers and Their Pedagogical Experiences and Intentions.
  • Personal Development: Teachers may also perceive affordances in the use of technology for their personal learning and professional development.

Implications for plurilingual, action-oriented approaches 🗣️🔤⚙️

Now, plurilingual, action-oriented learning encourages learners to actively engage with linguistic diversity, responding to various affordances, whether linguistic, cultural, cognitive, or emotional, that support their learning process (Piccardo et al., 2021). Adopting a plurilingual approach expands learners’ ability to notice and use affordances effectively as learners engage with linguistic and cultural diversity to better interact within their environment (Piccardo, 2017); thus expanding the landscape of affordances. The landscape of affordances refers to the wide range of affordances available to a learner in their linguistic environment (Piccardo, 2017). Meanwhile, rather than focusing solely on structured curricula, an action-oriented approach prioritises learner agency, allowing individuals to take control of their learning experiences (Van Lier, 2007). Plurilingualism further enhances learners’ awareness and agency, increasing their ability to perceive affordances as invitations to act (Piccardo, 2022). Here, navigating linguistic and cultural diversity requires learners to embrace differences at all levels, using them to explore personal positioning and social engagement. Action-oriented scenarios and tasks also serve as a framework for learners to interact with language affordances, fostering engagement in the languaging (active participation in meaning-making) and plurilanguaging (strategic, dynamic use of multiple languages) process. Again, these learning environments create rich affordance landscapes, supporting the social and cognitive development of language learners (Piccardo et al., 2021).

By embracing action-oriented, plurilingual approaches, learners become active agents in their language journey, developing the ability to navigate complex linguistic and cultural interactions while leveraging affordances for an enhanced language learning experience.

References 📝

Haines, K. J. (2015). Learning to identify and actualize affordances in a new tool Language. Learning & Technology, 19(1), 165-180. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2015/haines.pdf

Kordt, B. (2018). Affordance theory and multiple language learning and teaching. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(2), 135-148.

Piccardo, E. (2017). Plurilingualism as a catalyst for creativity in superdiverse societies: A systemic analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1-13. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02169/full

Piccardo, E. (2022). The Mediated Nature of Plurilingualism. In The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 65–81). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351002783

Piccardo, E., Antony-Newman, M., Chen, L., & Karamifar, B. (2021). Innovative features of a plurilingual approach in language teaching: Implications from the LINCDIRE project. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 9(1), 128–155. ISSN 2325–2871.

Tour, E., Turner, M., Keary, A., & Tran-Dang, K.-L. (2024). Bringing plurilingual strategies into linguistically diverse classrooms: Affordances of digital multimodal composing. Language and Education, 38(3), 465–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2023.2203124

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