Episode 9: A conversation with Dr. Phil Hubbard, Stanford University

Dr. Phil Hubbard is the third computer assisted language learning expert we met with at TESOL Philadelphia in March 2012. He is a senior lecturer in Linguistics at Stanford University and a widely published and admired expert in the role technology plays in language teaching. As well, Phil was one of the principal authors of the TESOL Technology Standards. This is the first of a three part interview with Dr. Hubbard. In this part, he describes how students have evolved from consumers of content to producers. CALL has become part of TESL because technology pervades our lives in general. The TESOL Technology Standards were developed partly for this reason. The standards have parts for both teachers and learners and performance indicators to show where both should be. Teachers need to understand what their learners need to know about technology. And they need to reflect on what technology applications are appropriate for their learners.