ENG517 Midterm Solved Papers

Q1. Write a brief note on ‘Focus on Form’ during CALL activities?

Given the theorized importance of salient input for acquisition (Sharwood-Smith, 1993), surprisingly little research has been conducted on the effects of CALL activities which focus learners' attention on particular linguistic forms in the L2 input, but one carefully conducted study yielded results that clearly favored high-lighting linguistic form. Doughty (1991) compared the effects of two different types of explicitly salient L2 input with that which was not explicitly abled to catch learners' attention. The input consisted of sentences containing relative clauses within reading passages which learners were instructed to read for comprehension. In other words, the primary attention during the task was to be meaning.

Q2. Explain how ‘Schema Theory’ provides an idea of how knowledge is organized?

Schema theory is important to CALL because it provides an idea of how knowledge is organized. Psychologist F.C. Bartlett (1886 –1969) first proposed the idea of schema theory in 1932. Nunan (1993) defines schema theory as ‘A theory of language processing which suggests that discourse is interpreted with reference to the background knowledge of the reader or listener’ (p. 124). Nunan also notes ‘schema theory suggests that the knowledge we carry around in our heads is organized into interrelated patterns. These are constructed from all our previous experiences and they enable us to make predictions about future experience’ (p. 71).

Q3. What are the some of the problems involved in the creation of CALL models?

Q4. Write a note on the collaboration in CALL?

Collaboration is defined as a process in which two or more learners need to work together to achieve a common goal, usually the completion of a task or the answering of a question. Collaboration is manifested in the actions a learner takes when working with others and can be evidenced, for example, as a willingness to listen to others’ ideas, suggestions, and opinions so that they can be discussed and integrated into further actions, such as decisions about how to complete a task.

Q5. Timex-Sinclair?

The Timex-Sinclair, for example, had a processing capacity of 16K; for purposes of comparison. For perspective, this is equivalent to 417 million single spaced pages of text, or about 75 per cent of the capacity of a human brain. High-end mainframe computers continued to be available and used for CALL research throughout the 1970s and 1980s at university laboratories and commercial institutions.

Q6. Table of principles?

Principles

Evaluation of CALL is a situationSpecific argument. CALL should be evaluated through two perspectives: judgmental analysis of software and planned tasks, and empirical analysis of learners' performance. Criteria for CALL task quality should come from theory and research on instructed SLA Criteria should be applied in view of the purpose of the task. Language learning potential should be the central criterion in evaluation of CALL.

Q7. Non.verbals aspects of collaboration?

Non-verbal paralinguistic aspects of collaboration are visible and can be easily documented empirically. For example, learners at the computer may silently gesture to offer each other views of the screen or surrender control of the mouse pointer device or silently offer a collaborator the keyboard.

Q8. Three Qualities of Judgemental Evaluation?

Language learning:

Do task conditions present sufficient opportunity for beneficial focus on form? potential

Is the difficulty level of the targeted linguistic forms appropriate for the learners to increase their language ability?

Is the task appropriate for learners with the characteristics of the intended learners?

Is learners' attention directed primarily toward the meaning of the language?

Meaning focus: Is there a strong correspondence between the CALL task and second language tasks of interest to learners outside the classroom?

Q9. Macario?

Gale (1989) describes Macario as an early videodisc program for learning Spanish. It was developed at Brigham Young University and was an attempt to create learning materials by adapting existing materials, in this case a feature-length commercial video. The video was made into an interactive format by adding a pedagogical layer and using it to teach listening skills. Such materials can be considered authentic as they were originally intended for use in noneducational purposes by native speakers of the target language.

Q10. Call definition ?

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.

Q11. Call model problems?

Q12. Viruses ?

viruses in circulation with new ones being added each day. Some viruses end up costing computer users a fortune simply by slowing performance of computers. Others destroy data. It is difficult and sometimes expensive to maintain anti-virus software to handle the latest versions of viruses which, almost by definition, are designed to thwart existing anti-virus programs. A virus is a program and, in most cases, must be activated by the user to make it work. Traditionally viruses carried an .exe file name, that is, executable files, but they now have various other suffixes or are contained in files with innocuous .doc or .jpg file formats. A common way to receive such files is through unsolicited email or through the purchase of illegal software. Once a virus enters your computer, it will often spread itself by taking advantage of the address list in an email program, sending a copy of itself with an email to each name on a user’s address list.

Q13. Learner fit?

Whereas language learning potential captures the findings concerning general processes, learner fit takes into account the individual differences in linguistic ability level and non-linguistic characteristics. Skehan suggests that the teacher choose tasks that will provide learners an opportunity to work with a range of target structures appropriate to their level. If the language of a CALL task is already known to the learner, the task presents no opportunity for development; language that is beyond the learners' grasp relative to their ability, is not useful either. Learner characteristics such as willingness to communicate, age, and learning style also come into play in task choice.

Q14. Hypertext in litrature reading writing?

Deegan and Sutherland (1990) note advantages of hypertext for both the study and writing of literature, arguing that texts and non-textual material are essentially fluid and easily manipulated, making it an ideal tool for showing the interconnection of ideas. Whether or not learners use hypertext to make their own connections in literature and whether it helps in their general acquisition of language is an area of research worth investigating.

Q15. Bulletin Board?

Bulletin boards on which learners (both teachers and users) can post messages to be read later by others are built into some CALL environments and more general learning platforms such as Blackboard Vista. In such platforms, users can post messages and comment on the original posting and subsequent comments ad infinitum

The advantage of bulletin boards over email is that the messages are shared with a broader community (a few select people, a class or the whole world) and comment can be more considered as readers have more time. However, in some cases, when two or more people are actively responding to the same posting, communication can resemble a chat line.

Q16. Problems in creating CALL model?

CALL materials initially suffered from peripheral problems, including a lack of funds, a lack of expertise and a lack of suitable tools in the form of authoring programs that in turn create problems with defining a suitable model. However, user-friendly online applications are increasingly used to create materials which, although incapable of