ENG517 Official Handouts

Module -01 · INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (CALL) · Topic No: 01-02

Definition; Introduction and Importance of CALL; A Broad discipline

Recent developments in technology and communication offer new opportunities for facilitating and improving the efficiency of language learning. Bearing in mind the importance of the latter in the context of expanding EU, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has become, with ever increasing rapidness, both an exciting and highly applicable in language learning practice area of research .

Constant growing in the field of IT terminology requires employing flexible learning approaches in order to facilitate students in improving the specific vocabulary . Multimedia programmes provide audio, graphics and video, vocabulary sources such as concordances, dictionaries and glossaries; the Internet offers an affordable, instant access to a vast variety of authentic texts, as well as an unprecedented opportunity for using the target language in realtime intercultural communication. However, the availability of technology does not constitute by itself language learning: there comes the problem of implementing technology in the language classroom.

1.1 Definition of CALL

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL), British, or Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI)/Computer-Aided Language Instruction (CALI), American, is briefly defined in a seminal work by Levy (1997: p. 1) as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning"

CALL is the acronym for computer-assisted language learning. We will see that this field or significant parts of it sometimes go by other names, CALL seems to be the most widely accepted generic term. In this course, CALL will be used in a broader sense to refer to any endeavor involving the computers and associated technologies of all types’ desktops, laptops, tablets, smart phones, mp3 players, interactive whiteboards, etc.in some significant way in language teaching and learning.

1.2 Aim of CALL

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is defined as “the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning.” (Levy, 1997: 1) The main aim of CALL is to find ways for using computers for the purpose of teaching and learning the language. More specifically, CALL is represented by the use of computer technologies that promote educational learning, including word processing, presentation packages, guided drill and practice, tutor, simulation, problem solving, games, multimedia CD-ROM, and internet applications such as e-mail, chat and the World Wide Web (WWW) for language learning purposes. There are several terms associated with CALL. CALL is variously known as Computer-Aided Language Learning (CALL), Computer-Assisted Language Instruction (CALI) and Computer-Enhanced Language Learning (CELL). The first two terms generally refer to computer applications in language learning and teaching, while CELL implies using CALL in a self-access environment (Hoven, 1999).

1.3 Introduction of CALL

The reasons why ELT teachers use CALL: · Computers can do some of the work of the teacher and provide great assistance to the learner even without the presence of the teacher (Pennington and Steven, 1992). · New technologies have seen computers become smaller, faster, and easier for the teacher to use (Evy, 1997). At present, well-designed CALL software is readily available to the teacher. · Technologies allow computers to do multimedia applications, incorporating video, sound, and text, and this capacity allows the learner to interact with both the program and other learners. (Felix, 1998). · The computer offers great flexibility for class scheduling and pacing of individual learning, choosing activities and content to suit individual learning styles. (Oxford and others, 1998) · The computer can provide a meaning-focused, communicative learning environment, which serves the purposes of communicative language teaching.

1.4 Importance of CALL

There are a number of ways to conceptualize field of CALL, but one useful way, especially for those just entering the field, is to divide computer use according to the functional roles of 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. This distinction is sometimes reflected in an unfortunate division in CALL between those who see the computer primarily as a machine for delivering interactive language learning and practice material--the computer as tutor--and those who see it mainly as a means for learners to experience the authentic language and communication opportunities and enhancements afforded by computers--the computer as tool. Because most early CALL applications were tutorial and tool uses arguably dominate now, it is easy to think of CALL as evolving, leaving tutorial CALL as something of a dinosaur.

In reality, all aspects of CALL have continued to develop, and in this course, we do not attempt to rate one as being more important or useful than the other. In fact, it is possible, even preferable, to recognize these not as opposing philosophies but as end points along the same sort of language teaching continuum, analogous to the one that balances teacher-fronted and group work in a classroom. In other words, effective language learning can include elements of both. Consequently, in this introductory course, I will try to strike a balance between them so that you are better prepared to recognize the potential advantages of using neither, one, or both for a given teaching situation.

1.5 Perceptions about CALL

CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) is often considered a language teaching method, but this is not really the case. In traditional CALL, the methodology was often claimed to be based on a behaviouristic approach as in “programmable teaching”, where the computer checked the student input and gave feedback (reward?) / moved on to an appropriate activity exercise. In modern CALL, the emphasis is on communication and tasks.

The role of the computer in CALL has moved from the “input – control – feedback” sequence to management of communication, text, audio, and video. Few people may realise that a DVD player is really a computer. Future domestic appliances will integrate and merge video, television, audio, telephone, graphics, text, and Internet into one unit as, in 2010, can be seen in newer generations of “mobile telephones / communicators”.

How do we use CALL for teaching the less widely used and taught languages, for example? The starting point should not be that students sit at computers to learn a language. The starting point should instead be that students are learning a language and as part of that process sometimes sit at computers1.

When planning to use CALL, it is important to understand how a language is learned; language learning is a cognitive process, i.e. it is the result of the student’s own processing of language inputs. What is learned is mainly the result of this process and not just explanations, rules, and questions presented by a teacher or a computer. Based on her/his existing knowledge of the topic being worked on, the language and the language acquisition, the student processes the input and fits it into the language system s/he possesses. Language knowledge is not just recorded, but rather constructed by the student2.