RESUME OF CALL

UNIT 1: What Is CALL

CALL is the acronym for computer-assisted language learning. This field has gone by a number of different names as groups of practitioners have attempted to promote their own views and philosophies, in some cases in an attempt to distance the field from tutorial call, such as CALL, CELL, TELL, TALL, CALI, CBLT, IT and ICT, NBLT, DLL, and MALL. CALL began in the 1960s with mainframe-based drill and practice materials, especially those based on the University of illinois’ PLATO system. CALL is divided into three phases, behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL, and integrative CALL. A typology of CALL programs and applications are computer as tutor, computer as stimulus, and computer as tool

UNIT 2: Courseware Evaluation, Development, and Implementation

Courseware 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.

Three dimensions of tutorial CALL are developing courseware, evaluating courseware, and implementing courseware.

1.      EVALUATION MODULE: Evaluation involves three kinds of considerations. A crucial aspect is to understand what the courseware does first before attempting to judge it: this is, not surprisingly, difficult to do because as soon as we start interacting with a program we want to judge it.

2.      DEVELOPMENT MODULE: Courseware development refers to the process of going from the idea of creating a piece of tutorial software through the final product. It should be informed by general principles of instructional design.

3.      IMPLEMENTATION MODULE: Implementation considerations are relevant during the evaluation process, but they become crucial when deciding how best to use software that is available.

UNIT 3: CMC (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).

 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. Synchronous Text. With synchronous text, or chat, the messages are exchanged in text form, but in real time.

UNIT 4: CALL On The Web

We have been looking at CALL software and activities involving it regardless of whether it is accessible through disk, the Internet in general (like email) or the World Wide Web. This unit looks into the 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.This unit is primarily about exploring, so follow up on links that look interesting.

ADVANTAGES OF THE WEB

Despite the disadvantages, there are many good reasons for using the Web for certain language learning activities.

·         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.

DISADVANTAGE OF THE WEB

Because of the hype surrounding it for language learning it is useful to begin with some of the disadvantage of the web over the 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 choice.

·        Sound and video sometimes take a noticeable time to transfer, even on fast connections. Newer forms of streaming have improved this dramatically, but the Web is still not as responsive as a CD-ROM, DVD or the hard drive on a TiVo or other digital video recorder.

·         Sound and video are typically compressed to speed up transfer: depending on the degree of compression and other factors they can be of noticeably lower quality than the original. This can affect their suitability for supporting language learning. Also some of the free material on sites like www.youtube.com were of poor audio or video quality even in their original state (for example, if taken with a mobile phone)

·         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.

·         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) is certainly a great help. If you haven't already done so, have a look at Google's basic search help, www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=134479, and more search help, www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861.

·         The Web is dynamic and often as unpredictable as the humans behind it. You may find an old site that has not been updated for years, or you may find a great source of material only to have it be gone the next time you look for it. You may still be able to locate old pages using the "cached" feature of Google (www.google.com) or the Internet archive's Way back Machine at www.archive.org.

·         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.

·         As is widely known, the accuracy of Web sources is often questionable (the present one excepted of course).

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 like listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, pronunciation and even culture. All the material that related with these skills are immeasurable provide in web. So we have authority to choose the best material that appropriate used in language learning.

UNIT 6: 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:

ü  learners pick up language knowledge or skills faster or with less effort (learning efficiency) and/or learn more of what they need (effectiveness)

ü   learners pick up what is targeted, retain language knowledge or skills longer, learners can get materials or experience interactions that would otherwise be difficult or impossible (access)

ü  learners enjoy the language learning process more or are willing to engage in it more (motivation)

ü  learners require less space, less teacher time, or less expensive materials (institutional efficiency)

UNIT 7: CALL Learner Training

TECHNICAL TRAINING

Let us proceed under the assumption that it is worth the trouble to do at least some training. What do we need to do? 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 particularvalue to language learning.

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. Try a piece of CALL software (like Rosetta Stone) for a language you don't know, or visit a chatroom for a language you are not fluent in. This was the recommended assignment for Unit 1. The assumption here is that by knowing what it's like from the learner's side, you'll be able to give better advice.

2.      Give learners teacher training. Let them know some of what you know if they are to become more independent. Help them develop a "language learning approach" that is consistent with what you consider a valid language teaching approach. In particular, try to give them practice with linking the procedures and strategies they use with software, online tasks, and CMC activities to specific language learning objectives.

3.      Use a cyclical approach. Teach a bit at a time. Don't just have a training session at the beginning and think your job is done. If anything, let learners "play" awhile with the application so that they have some familiarity with it before formal training begins. Learning (both technical and pedagogical) should be incremental but also include plenty of recycling and reviewing key concepts and strategies.

4.      Use collaborative debriefings. Get learners to discuss their experiences, successes and failures with the CALL tasks and software in pairs or small groups. Don't just make the instruction one-way from you. Having learners talk about lab experiences at the end of a session helps consolidate it, and discussing their individual experiences (at home or a drop-in lab) at the following class provides a way of avoiding the sense of isolation that comes from working on the computer alone.

5.      Teach general exploitation strategies. Show learners ways to use software to make it easier if it's too hard and harder if it's too easy, as well as how to mine the material for uses different from those intended by the developer. For example, many CALL tutorial exercises involve multiple choice. By teaching learners to resize windows so that the list of possible answers is hidden, the question becomes both a more challenging and a more natural open-ended one. Learners similarly need training in how to use text support (transcripts and captions) effectively for audio and video so that the language learning objective is supported. For CMC activities, some training in the rationale for and techniques of effectively negotiating meaning is valuable. In general, learners need to build a repertoire of strategies that they can use to realize the language learning potential in dedicated CALL software, CMC tasks and online language material.