INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING
Definition of CALL
CALL is the acronym for computer-assisted language learning. CALL began in the 1960s with mainframe-based drill and practice materials, especially those based on the University of Illinois' PLATO system.
There are a number of ways to conceptualize field of CALL are tutor and tool, concepts popularized for CALL by Levy (1997). A vocabulary flashcard program or set of online grammar exercises would represent tutor uses, where the computer in some way has a teaching function. A language learning activity involving a word processor, email program, or web search engine like Google would represent tool uses, where the computer has no overt teaching function.
ACRONYMS AND ATTITUDES
1. CALL - Computer-assisted language learning, sometimes expanded as computer-aided language learning.
2. CELL - Computer-enhanced language learning: suggests the computer's role is to make learning better.
3. TELL - Technology-enhanced language learning
4. TALL - Technology-assisted language learning
5. CBLT - Computer-based language training
6. IT and ICT - Information Technology/Information and Communication Technologies
7. NBLT - Network-Based Language Teaching
8. DLL - Digital Language Learning
9. MALL - Mobile Assisted Language Learning
THE SCOPE OF CALL
1. As researchers: into second language acquisition, human-computer interaction, what works for CALL.
2. As consumers of CALL software for class use or building web activities into course work.
3. As directors, helping students find and use supplementary CALL materials or web resources.
4. As managers of computer-mediated communication among learners in and out of class.
5. As software or web developers, either "from scratch" or adding new materials to existing templates.
6. As coaches to help students develop software, websites, and general computer literacy.
7. As CALL experts for your program, helping other teachers and administrators with CALL implementations.
8. As CALL professionals, consulting on external projects, doing software reviews for journals, making conference presentations, writing papers, interpreting and applying CALL research, and/or providing input to the field at large.
Three Phases of CALL
The first phase of CALL, conceived in the 1950s and implemented in the 1960s and '70s, was based on the then-dominant behaviorist theories of learning. Programs of this phase entailed repetitive language drills and can be referred to as "drill and practice" (or, more pejoratively, as "drill and kill").
According to Underwood, communicative CALL:
· focuses more on using forms rather than on the forms themselves;
· teaches grammar implicitly rather than explicitly;
· allows and encourages students to generate original utterances rather than just manipulate prefabricated language;
· does not judge and evaluate everything the students nor reward them with congratulatory messages, lights, or bells;
· avoids telling students they are wrong and is flexible to a variety of student responses;
· uses the target language exclusively and creates an environment in which using the target language feels natural, both on and off the screen; and
· will never try to do anything that a book can do just as well.
3. Integrative CALL
a. Step toward integrative CALL: Multimedia
COURSEWARE EVALUATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Courseware, which refers to software that is used to support formal language learning. In practice, courseware has been used to refer to everything from complete software packages that can be used without a teacher to software that is just a part of a language learning course, sometimes a minor or optional supplementary part.
Development, evaluation, and implementation are part of a logical progression in any situation that has an end product. And these modules (development, evaluation, implementation) share core components inspired by Richards & Rodgers (1982).
COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION
computer-mediated communication, or CMC, computers are a means through which teachers communicate with learners, learners communicate with one another and learners may even communicate with native speakers. That communication takes place through variations in the following elements: timing (synchronous or asynchronous), number and patterning of participants (one to one, one to many, or many to many), and medium (text, voice, or video).
a. Asynchronous text.
The first use of CMC in language teaching almost certainly came through email exchanges from teachers to students and among students within classes. Email is an example of asynchronous communication, in that the interaction is not in real time.
b. Synchronous Text
With synchronous text, or chat, the messages are exchanged in text form, but in real time. Some of the early research on CMC was built around a type of chat program, InterChange, that was part of the Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment system (www.daedalus.com).
· AUDIO/VIDEO CMC
Asynchronous audio. Like text, audio or video interaction can be either asynchronous or synchronous. One example of asynchronous voice interaction would be the voicemail services offered by a number of sites for free. Using this, students with voice-enabled computers can leave messages for one another or for the teacher. For example “Wimba” (http://www.wimba.com/).
Asynchronous video. This area has not been as well-developed, due partly to the bandwidth requirements for using video. While there are many sites for sharing video (most notably www.youtube.com), they are not really designed for exchanging video messages.
Synchronous audio/video. Synchronous audio is possible using internet telephony (or just the telephone, for that matter) for one to one conversation. Skype (http://www.skype.com), a relatively reliable service that is free when calling computer to computer and inexpensive when calling computer to telephone, has made this increasingly popular in education circles.
CALL ON THE WEB
Disadvantages Of The Web
Because of the hype surrounding it for language learning, it is useful to begin with some of the disadvantages of the Web over alternatives.
1. Text-based material on the Web is sometimes not as easy to read as material in paper format because of font color and background choices.
2. Sound and video sometimes take a noticeable time to transfer, even on fast connections.
3. Sound and video are typically compressed to speed up transfer.
4. Because of the way that HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) works, on most pages every click is a request that has to go back to the original server.
5. Because of this delay, interactivity is limited compared to what is possible with disks or CD-ROMs.
6. Down servers or broken links may lead to frustration.
7. The sheer amount of material can make it hard to find what you want, though developing skill with a search engine like Google (www.google.com).
8. The Web is dynamic and often as unpredictable as the humans behind it.
9. Sites and applications that used to be free and only supported by text ads that could be easily ignored are increasingly charging fees requiring subscriptions (so that you don't get their ads), or requiring users to watch commercials before the desired material loads.
10. As is widely known, the accuracy of Web sources is often questionable (the present one excepted of course).
Advantages Of The Web
1. There is anytime, anywhere access (for some people at least).
2. There are enormous amounts of free material.
3. Material can be found that is current.
4. Language reference and other learning support materials can be found.
5. Student and teacher publication opportunities exist.
6. A cultural window is opened through the authentic material readily available.
7. Meaning technologies, such as transcripts, dictionaries, and translators, exist to aid comprehension of material.
8. Increasing amounts of audio and video allow building of comprehension skills beyond reading.
9. Previous disk-based activities (like tutorial exercises) and Internet-based activities (like email) can often be handled through the Web.
CALL RESEARCH
So far, we have been going through this course with the implicit assumption that CALL works, that teaching language using computers in some way makes learning "better." But what exactly is "better?" Here are some possible interpretations:
· learners pick up language knowledge or skills faster or with less effort (learning efficiency).
· learners pick up what is targeted, retain language knowledge or skills longer, and/or learn more of what they need (effectiveness).
· learners can get materials or experience interactions that would otherwise be difficult or impossible (access).
· learners can learn with more or less equal effectiveness across a wider range of times/places (convenience).
· learners enjoy the language learning process more or are willing to engage in it more (motivation).
· learners require less space, less teacher time, or less expensive materials (institutional efficiency).
Research has continued in all areas of CALL but recently has focused on several identifiable areas, such as:
· Computer mediated communication; especially, interaction in synchronous chat settings and email in tandem settings.
· Visual, text and sound annotation to promote comprehension and vocabulary acquisition.
· Effectiveness of online collaborative and constructivist activities, including development of communities.
CALL LEARNER TRAINING
Three alternatives to CALL learner training :
One solution is to try to build software in such a way that it adapts to the learner on a number of different levels: language proficiency, computer proficiency, learning style, topical interest, motivational type and intensity, and so on. This was an early promise of CALL software; however, arguably we have not even come close to realizing such a program, and the degree of software-directed adaptation remains low or non-existent in currently available materials.
A second alternative is to take the philosophical position that learners have a right to self-discovery and that left alone they will naturally move to the strategies that work for them and that are consonant with their learning style.
A third alternative is to acknowledge that learners would profit from training but that it's just too much trouble to train them since it obviously takes a lot of time away from other aspects of language learning and there's no guarantee it will be successful. This may indeed be the case in some instances, but this should be determined on a case by case basis, using at least a rough cost vs. benefit analysis.
Technical Training
Training can be divided at least into two areas: technical and pedagogical. Technical training naturally includes general computer literacy (which can be a major issue or not depending on your setting and students), but of greater interest here is learning technical skills and knowledge of particular value to language learning.
Here is one example: most audio/video players, for instance (Real, QuickTime, Windows Media), often have a default setting that is small:
PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING
In a 2004 paper (Hubbard, 2004), I make a case for giving training not just on technical aspects but also on pedagogical ones, that is, how to use the tutorial software or tool effectively to meet specific learning objectives. To this end, I offer a set of five principles for learner training, summarized below.
1. Experience CALL yourself.
2. Give learners teacher training.
3. Use a cyclical approach
4. Use collaborative debriefings.
5. Teach general exploitation strategies.
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