2
Integrating technology
into secondary English
language teaching
Graham Stanley
Secondary education
English language teaching at secondary level generally takes place during the school
day, at schools either funded by the state or privately financed, and after school in
language academies, where learners are sent by their parents for additional English
classes, usually to reinforce the English being learned at school, or to help the
learners prepare for a specific examination.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term secondary education is used to refer to
learners aged 11–18. According to UNESCO’s International Standard Classification
of Education (ISCED), secondary education can be divided into two parts: lower
secondary (ISCED 2), and upper secondary (ISCED 3). Lower secondary education
usually begins when children are aged 11–12 and lasts four years. The entrance age
to upper secondary education to ‘is typically 15 or 16 years’ and lasts from ‘two to
five years of schooling’ depending on the country. Teaching at lower secondary is
typically subject-focused and aimed at preparing students for entry directly into
working life or for upper secondary education, whereas the focus of upper secondary
education is on preparing students for entry directly into working life or for tertiary
education (UNESCO, 1997).