FINAL TASK OF CALL

RESUME OF CALL UNIT 1 - UNIT 7

UNIT 1:

Introduction to Computer-Assisted Language Learning.

CALL is the acronym for computer-assisted language learning. Although, as we will see below, the field or significant parts of it sometimes go by other names, CALL seems to be the most widely accepted generic term. In this foundation course, CALL will be used in a broad sense refer to any endeavor  involving the computer in some significant way in language teaching and learning.

Acronyms and Attitudes of CALL:

·         CALL – Computer-assisted language learning, sometimes expanded as computer- aided language learning.

·         CELL – Computer- enhanced language learning: suggest the computer’s role is to make learning better.

·         TELL – Technology- enhanced language learning: this accommodates more than just computers, often bringing in video and seeing the computer as just one part of a larger system.

·         TALL – Technology- assisted language learning: variant of CALL and TELL

·         CALI – Computer- assisted language instruction : with ”instruction” in it, it’s more teaching oriented.

·         CBLT – Computer- based language training : view elements of language learning as “training” and tends to use an approach with definable, measurable objectives.

·         IT and ICT – Information Technology/ Information and Communication Technologies are common acronyms outside of language teaching, particularly in Europe : sometimes this is presented as IT or ICT for LT.

·         NBLT – Network-Based Language Teaching.

·         DLL – Digital language Learning

·         MALL – Mobile Assisted language Learning: learning with mobile devices like mobile phones and MP3 player.

Call began in the 1960s with mainframe-based drill and practice materials, especially those based on the university of Illinois’ PLATO system. It remained an significant alternative for language learning outside of a few universities until the spread of microcomputer into educational settings in the early 1980s. early programs were  written by teacher-developers on Apple II, IBM PC, and BBC computers, and were often distributed for free.

The scope of CALL :

·         As researchers: into second language acquisition, human-computer interaction, what works for CALL

·         As consumers of CALL , software for class use or building web activities into course work

·         As directors, helping students find and use supplementary CALL materials or web resources

·         As managers of computer- mediated communication among learners in and out of class

·         As software or web developers, either “from scratch” or adding new materials to existing templates

·         As coaches to help students develop software, websites, and general computer literacy

·         As CALL expert for your program, helping other teachers and administrators with CALL implementations

·         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 filed at large.

UNIT 2:

Courseware Evaluation, Development, and Implementation

Development, evaluation, and implementation are part of a logical progression in any situation that has an end product. If a company produces a computer program for balancing checkbook, for instance, they need to 1) design it with the needs of the end users in mind, 2) evaluate it in house and encourage outsiders to review it, and 3) have a mechanism to implement it, including figuring out how to make it available and training end users in its effective operation.

The three modules (development ,evaluation, implementation) share core components inspired by Richards and Rodgers (1982). In each case their original components are adapted, interpreted, and supplemented to include the reality of computer as the interface between the teacher/ developer and materials and the learner.

Evaluation involves three kinds of consideration. The first consideration is the operational description of the software, which essentially focuses on the procedure level elements. The  design elements essentially can be subsumed under the label “learner fit”. That is based on the information from the operational description, you are looking to see how well the design elements of language difficulty, program difficulty, program content, etc.  the approach elements, in this case approach- based evaluation criteria, can be subsumed under the label “teacher fit”- broadly, what does the software appear to represent in terms of assumptions with those of the teacher doing the evaluation? Evaluation consist of getting a clear understanding of what the software actually has in the way of material and interaction, and the judging how closely it fits with the learner’s need as determined by their profiles and learning objectives.

Chapelle (2001) identifies six general evaluation criteria that are relevant for both judgmental purpose and for evaluating outcomes , usable not only for software but more broadly for CALL task: language learning potential, meaning focus, learner fit, authenticity, impact, and practically.

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.

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

CMC or computer mediated communication, computer are a means through which teachers communicate with learners, learners communicate with one another and learners may even communicate with native speaker. That communication takes place through variations in participants (one to one, one to many, or many to many), and medium ( text, voice, or video). In addition, the physical properties of the device may offer a significant variable such as the difference between email on a computer and text messaging on a cell phone.

There are two forms of communication asyncronous, ie: email and discussion list.
Email is one form of communication that do not interact at the same time, meaning that when we write and send an email, the recipient received it within a few seconds then enter their email address but it could be an email that does not directly open, or not responded directly.
Discussion list or list server that email is sent to an email group, so it is no longer the email was received individually but in groups (one to many).

UNIT 4:

CALL on the Web

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.

Disadvantages of the web are:

·         Text-based material on the Web is sometimes not as easy to read as material in paper format

·         Sound and video sometimes take a noticeable time to transfer, even on fast connections.

·         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.

·         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.

·         Because of this delay, interactivity is limited compared to what is possible with disks or CD-ROMs.

·         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.

·         The Web is dynamic and often as unpredictable as the humans behind it.

·         Sites and applications that used to be free and only supported by text ads

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

Advantages of the web are:

·         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.

WBLL is learning a language involves the use of the web and exploitation of web materials, resources, applications or tools. Given that WBLL happens with web activities on the web itself, it is important to digunakankarena WBLL well designed to maximize WBLL language learning activities. Seen on the use WBLL activities in the context of ESL in terms of design, implementation and evaluation it is also present in wbll activities that can be integrated into ESL classes, when reporting the results of a project that explored wbll, selected and developed web activities for ESL students and investigate use of web activities in ESL classes.

UNIT 5: CALL and Language Skills

Skills-oriented language teaching remains a common approach for classes as well as for self-learning, and computer-assisted language learning is no exception.

·         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

·         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. Asynchronous speaking practice is possible through www.wimba.com, using Internet voice mail, or simply attaching sound files to email.

·         READING : In the early days of CALL, reading software was designed to improve skills in order to transfer them to paper materials. More recently, reading in digital form is becoming more and more common.

·         WRITING: Writing was revolutionized for everyone with word processing, and the addition of spell checkers has been quite helpful. Grammar and style checkers are much less useful to date, and using a thesaurus can be counterproductive if students aren't trained in their limitations. Writing has also been a common skill taught as a course through distance education using the Internet.

·          GRAMMAR: Grammar practice was perhaps the earliest use of CALL. Today grammar work is largely focused on the following:

1.      Workbook-style

2.      Grammar test prep materials

3.      CD-ROMs accompanying grammar textbooks

4.      Online courses and references

5.      Hypertext-linked grammar notes accompanying readings

6.      Grammar portals such as www.esltower.com/

·         PRONUNCIATION: Pronunciation work is generally of three types.

1.      Listen, repeat/record, and compare.

2.      Visualization

3.      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)

UNIT 6:

CALL Research

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

There are several avenues available to teachers in the role of researchers of their own classroom or students such as:

·         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

CALL has given us some amazing possibilities for improving language learning. However, these possibilities create a problem. Absent a teacher, students using computers are typically given more control over their own learning. Due to the newness of computer environments and the range of choices in many CALL applications, they are arguably unprepared to take on this responsibility. The result is that students may not use the computers in ways that are effective for achieving language learning objectives, and it is even less likely that they will use them in ways that are most effective.

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.

There  three alternatives to CALL learner training. They are:

·         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. 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. It seems highly unlikely that this would be the case for most students.

·         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.

“WAYLINK ENGLISH”

Waylink English is the website if you are interested in learning and teaching English. There is information for TESOL / TEFL teachers and notes and practice materials for students of English. There are also materials for university students with valuable practice activities on Academic Writing. Here we will find lots of resources, exercises, tips, games and other exercises to help us  to improve our English or that we can use with our students of English.

Waylink has a wealth of materials for English learning and teaching.

• well-designed practice materials for teachers
• lively practice activities for students
• academic writing practice for college and university students
• a grammar guide for teachers and advanced students
• a guide to English language examinations
• English Teaching Jobs

Waylink English is a nice little British site.  It’s good for people who need a refresher course on formal writing.  Browse through the links on the left-hand side of the page and see if there’s anything that might help you.

There are two exercises in for practicing formal writing: a  paragraph in which the verbs are informal, and twelve sentences in which you will find twelve “formal writing no-nos”.  It’s nothing heavy, just something to keep the brain in writing mode during the summer months