Summary
UNIT 1
Introduction to Computer-Assisted Language Learning.
CALL will be used in a broad sense to refer to any effort that involves a computer in some significant ways in language teaching and learning. An activity that involves learning language word processors, email programs, web or search engines like Google will represent the use of tools, where the computer does not have a teaching function is open it is becoming increasingly important to prepare teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms, in a way that smooth and technically sound pedagogical, and to train specialists of various kinds to support them either directly (on site) and indirectly (through CALL research and development). Given the nature of the complex, dynamic CALL, there is a need for a framework to assist teacher educators in the task of determining the content and setting curricular objectives. Following review of existing trends in CALL education, this chapter discusses the framework, based on centered on the role individuals can take and hope accompanying the skills and knowledge in connection with the use of computers in language teaching. The role identified two broad categories: institutional (pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, CALL specialists and CALL professionals) and functional (practitioners, developers, researchers, and trainers). This framework provides a means to address both technical knowledge and pedagogical skills and regions around the combination of these roles.
But there is no denying that in teaching and learning the most important is the method used and understand the needs of students how far they can understand the contents of a given principal learning, CALL will serve as its function when the students already know the basics of the computer itself .
UNIT 2
Courseware Evaluation, Development, and Implementation.
This unit discusses and introduces the courseware, which refers to software that is used to support the learning of formal languages. In practice, the courseware has been used to refer to everything from complete software package that can be used without a teacher for the software that is only part of language learning courses. The purpose of this unit is to provide a peek at the three-dimensional Call tutorials - develop courseware, courseware evaluate, and implement courseware in the classroom.
Within the basic framework there are three modules, namely development, evaluation, and implementation thus simultaneously part of the logical development of a courseware project and interact manifestation of its reality. This is true whether the project is to CALL or for some other educational purposes. However, domain specific language teaching and learning imposes on three sets of considerations that are not exactly the same as we would find in the courseware, say history or chemistry.
Inside the module development, courseware development refers to the process that occurs from the idea of creating a software tutorial through the final product, it is important to recognize the development of courseware for learning the language of traditional instructional design approaches can ignore the pedagogical aspects.
UNIT 3
Computer Mediated Communication
In the study of computer-mediated communication or CMC, where the computer is a means through which teachers communicate with learners, learners communicate with each other and students can even communicate with native speakers. That communication occurs through a variation of the following elements: time (synchronous or asynchronous), the amount and pattern of participants (1-1, one to many, or many to many), and medium (text, voice or video).
Increasing distance education in general education and language learning is no exception. While the tutorial CALL materials can be presented online for self-learning without a teacher, there are also classes that are offered to groups of online students with the guidance of a teacher who is active. These classes can be either synchronous or asynchronous, and the CMC usually plays an important role.
It is very important to realize that synchronous CMC is by definition real time communication. Learners will be put in place to produce language rapidly and one should expect an accuracy of less (including typos if in text mode), but they arguably be practicing something that overlap with face to face communication. Asynchronous CMC allows for more thought and planning, and thus may be more reasonable to expect closer attention to the forms of organization and language. One big advantage of CMC over the tutorial CALL is that both teachers and students are usually familiar with the media (at least email, discussion forums and many are quite intuitive).
One big advantage of CMC over CONTACT tutorial is that both teachers and students are usually more familiar with the media (at least email, discussion forums and many are quite intuitive).
UNIT 4
CALL on the Web
Web in more depth. The reason is that the Web represents the largest collection (by far!) of material that is accessible almost anytime and anywhere by almost anyone having a browser equipped computer and an Internet connection. The Web is also where you find the most common tool applications for CALL, in particular the browsers and online video players that give access to a seemingly endless collection of both dedicated and authentic English language material
Because of this, it is increasingly becoming the case that an expected competency for language teachers is an understanding of what the Web has to offer for language learning and how to use it is . The Web has been featured in many of the CALL articles and conference presentations since the mid 1990s, in particular practice-oriented ones. This is because it is constantly evolving, and, unlike disk-based tutorial software, often free and highly accessible to both students and teachers.
DISADVANTAGES OF THE WEB
some of the disadvantages of the Web over alternatives:
- 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.
- 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. The equivalent of turning a page may result in a noticeable delay if the server is busy.
- Because of this delay, interactivity is limited compared to what is possible with disks or CD-ROMs. However, increasingly Web applications (like Macromedia Flash) have interactivity without delays.
- Down servers or broken links may lead to frustration.
ADVANTAGES OF THE WEB
- There is anytime, anywhere access (for some people at least).
- There are enormous amounts of free material.
- Material can be found that is current.
- Language reference and other learning support materials can be found.
- Student and teacher publication opportunities exist.
- A cultural window is opened through the authentic material readily available.
- Meaning technologies, such as transcripts, dictionaries, and translators, exist to aid comprehension of material.
- Increasing amounts of audio and video allow building of comprehension skills beyond reading.
- Previous disk-based activities (like tutorial exercises) and Internet-based activities (like email) can often be handled through the Web.
The key to using the Web is to be prepared. Know what the objective of your lesson is and try to make sure students are trained in what they need to know to accomplish that objective. Try to build some flexibility into the assignment or activity so that if something isn't working as expected it can still go on.
UNIT 5
CALL and Language Skills
In this unit, we look at how both tool and tutor software can be used to support specific skills. In particular, we will look at some websites that focus on these skill areas.
A good set of links for all skills can be found at the Ohio Program of Intensive English site:
www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/.
Also, there are online language proficiency tests available, such as those by World English:
http://www.world-english.org/english_test.htm.
ESL PORTALS
Because of the enormous number of English teachers and learners, there are quite a few multi-skill collections for ESL.,A few, such as www.manythings.org by the Kelly brothers (http://aitech.ac.jp/~lkelly/ and http://aitech.ac.jp/~ckelly/) are mostly labors of love for students and colleagues around the world; often, however, these are commercial, aimed at getting "eyeballs" for advertisers. Some of these are divided by skills and have examples of web-based
materials: see for example www.eslgold.com or http://esl.about.com or just type "ESL" plus the skill you're interested in into Google. Collections for other commonly taught languages can be found in a similar way. One type of collection is a portal, which is a website that has a large number of links to other websites, such as
www.rong-chang.com.
LISTENING
Listening is potentially one of the most promising areas for CALL development. This is because multimedia computing has everything standard audio and video have with the addition of a variety of meaning technologies such as text support, hyperlinked glossaries, and even translations.
SPEAKING
In terms of direct practice of speaking, recent developments on the web have allowed for voice chat sites which make it possible for learners and teachers to interact through the Internet in distance education courses.
READING
Most CALL reading instruction, first on disk and later on the web, has involved the use of meaning technologies. These include dedicated applications, such as hypertext glossaries, translations, and notes (on grammar, usage, culture), put together by developers for particular texts and generic applications such as electronic dictionaries, encyclopedias, translation systems like Google's
http://translate.google.com/#.
WRITING
Writing was revolutionized for everyone with word processing, and the addition of spell checkers has been quite helpful.
GRAMMAR
Today grammar work is largely focused on the following:
- Workbook-style exercises (on disk and online): online examples can
be seen at www.grammar-quizzes.com/.
- Grammar test prep materials (especially TOEFL www.toefl.com and
TOEIC http://www.toeic.com)
- CD-ROMs accompanying grammar textbooks, like Focus on Grammar at
www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/multimedia/programs/fog.htm and Azar's grammar
series www.azargrammar.com/materials/index.html.
- Online courses and references (e.g., Anthony Hughes' Online English
Grammar, http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/index.cfm or www.scribd.com/doc/2586846/Anthony-Hughes-the-online-english-grammar)
- Hypertext-linked grammar notes accompanying readings
- Grammar portals such as www.esltower.com/
PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation
work is generally of three types.
·
Listen, repeat/record, and compare.
·
Visualization: wave form, pitch contour, spectrogram.
- ASR (automatic speech recognition) scoring.
VOCABULARY
Vocabulary
activities have been around since the early days of CALL in the form of
electronic flashcards (linking L2 word to L1 translation or L2 word to L2
definition).
CULTURE
where authentic
cultural material is readily accessible through the web. There are many ways to
use the authentic material found on websites to support cultural learning.
YouTube, http://www.youtube.com,
PRACTICE ACTIVITY
After reviewing
some of the sources mentioned above, find several other web sources on
your own and review them for their potential to integrate into or supplement
your class activities.
UNIT 6
CALL Research
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)
As with other areas of second language learning, there
are two ways for teachers to approach CALL research. One is as a research
consumer; the other is as a classroom or action researcher. Each of these is
briefly discussed below. As with other units, the objective here is to just
give a taste of what is an enormous and constantly growing area. Those with
more serious research interests are encouraged to consult the reference list.
It should be mentioned before continuing that not all CALL research is
aimed primarily at improving language teaching and learning with technology.
researchers may simply want to observe how the
technology environment influences or changes the way humans interact with one
another, without necessarily judging whether or not it's "better".
Although such basic research is important to social scientists and may lead to
more applied hypotheses, it does not directly impact teaching and learning and
so will not be explicitly addressed here.
CALL RESEARCH TRENDS
There are now many areas being researched using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods (although interest in comparative research remains, particularly in comparing face-to-face interaction with CMC). The results vary widely, and according to several research reviews (Felix 2005; Hubbard 2005; Huh and Hu 2005) the field is hampered by widespread problems with research designs and reporting.
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
DOING RESEARCH
There are several avenues available to teachers in the role of researchers of their own classroom or students.
- Observation. When your students are using software or doing a
computer-based task in a lab or other venue where you can--watch them. You
can look over their shoulder, check their interactions, and make brief
notes of what you notice. Interact with the students as they interact with
the software. This can give you feedback on the effectiveness of a given
piece of software, CALL exercise, or CALL task, and it can also help you
determine student training needs.
- Tracking. Some software has built-in tracking features. If you are
using a discussion board, all student posts can be reviewed. Some chat
programs also allow the sessions to be logged for later review.
- Student surveys. Ask specific questions about usage--note that it's
best to do this as soon as possible after a CALL session sense memories
fade rapidly.
- Pre- and post-testing to evaluate outcomes of the use of
technology.
- Student journals. Getting students to keep a
reflective journal of their experiences with software or other CALL
activities is useful both for them and to the teacher.
UNIT 7
CALL Learner Training
One way out of this dilemma is to spend time training learners in dealing appropriately with this new environment. In the process, we may be able not only to help them with their CALL use, but also help them in general to become more effective autonomous learners. Surprisingly, this is not a well-developed area of CALL. However, it is important enough in my experience to warrant significant attention. As Jones (1999) remarked with respect to using CALL materials in self-access centers, "it seems very likely that for most students CALL will need more learner training and more of the teacher’s presence than any other operations..."
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. 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. This would mean that given a tutorial program with a set of help options, they would make use of the ones that are most efficacious for them and ignore the others.
TECHNICAL TRAINING
Training can be divided at least into two areas: technical and pedagogical (you may recall that this was the same division as for teachers in Unit 1). 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.
Of course, in order to be effective at training students, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze the software, task, or activity you are assigning. You need to be sure that you can make the connections between given actions and learning objectives before you can expect your students to do so on their own.
An updated version of this framework is currently under development. It acknowledges three domains for training instead of two--technical, strategic, and pedagogical--by moving some of what was previously considered pedagogical training to the more commonly recognized area of strategy training. See www.j-let.org/~wcf/proceedings/d-060.pdf for a brief description of that model.
