CALL:Computer Assisted Language Learning
From WikEd
Edited by Donna Lansberry and Linda Smith Tabb user:Ltabb
Introduction
Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL is an important innovation for both educators and student learners. "The number of computer applications, communications technologies, and sheer volume of offerings on the Internet has grown at an amazing rate over the past 15 years, and many foreign language educators, heeding instinct, common sense, and anecdotal information, have embraced new technologies as useful instructional tools" (LeCoup & Ponterio, 2003). Many foreign language teachers have found ways to integrate technology into their lesson planning and instruction, and student learners have access to a range of information and language learning resources, both online and in other formats, such as CD-Roms.
Both CD-Rom programs and the World Wide Web resources have the capacity to be interactive media. Both can offer language tutorials, listening and pronounciation practice, writing exercises, multiple choice grammar and vocabulary exercises, games, and exams. In addition, while in the past, foreign language educators may have found ways to fill their luggage with realia from countries where the target language is spoken, today, just a click of a mouse brings native speakers with audio, and online blogs, journals, magazines, and newspapers offer authentic material that is easy to access. Many publishers of foreign language textbooks are also including interactive CD-Roms and online links to supplemental resources and activities that correlate with these textbooks.
While the foreign language offerings on the Internet are staggering, educators can also create their own web-based language learning activities, as well as individualized websites, for their own courses, or for the school-wide, or district-wide foreign language programs. There are three advantages to creating original web-based learning activities: accessibility, renewability, and adaptability. Web-based activities are accessible independently, 24 hours a day. Once created by the educator, they can be updated easily and often, and they can be adapted to support students at different proficiency levels or special needs. (Morrison, 2002)
Creating an efficient, safe and productive learning venue using CALL
Many schools, colleges, and universities have established language labs and communication centers to facilitate the use of computers for the teaching of foreign languages, and other subjects as well. These labs and centers often have employees or volunteers who schedule time in the lab, ensure that the equipment, both hardware and software, is maintenanced and secure, and ensure during student use, that an environment of respect for the room and its contents is achieved. Often other employees in the school will have the role of the maintenance, as well as trouble shooting of technological equipment, when necessary. Since these are shared spaces, cooperation and team work among faculty members and the staff are essential.
Developing and teaching rules and procedures for use of computer assisted language learning
Most language labs and communications centers have established rules which should be plainly posted and available to students. At the beginning of each semester, or year, these should be reviewed by both educators and student learners. Each educator should also establish rules and procedures with the students of each class. These should fit within the framework of the pre-established rules, but should take into account the particular needs, level of expertise, maturity and subject matter for the class. Depending on the educator's philosophy, establishing class rules for suitable computer usage could follow one of the following practices. Students could be empowered with the Rogerian method of encouraging students to come up with their own suitable computer usage rules as a class with the educator as the facilitator. Students could be asked to use contracts that clarify the rules, and might deny students rights if the contract is not upheld, or rules could be determined by the educator and given to students in the class. Once rules and procedures are established, a clever educator could create a computer game or lesson using the teaching of these same rules and procedures.
Often software can be loaded into the server allowing computer access by any student. However, when using CD-Roms in the lab, procedures must be set up in such a way that distribution and retrieval of the product is efficient and effective, but also that a strict inventory procedure ensures all CD-Roms are returned at the end of the session to the desired location in the lab. Also there needs to be procedures involving printing documents and internet usage while in the lab. Some school districts use programs that censor material districtwide. These programs can be frustrating to both students and educators, because content is somewhat randomly screened, students often find ways around the screening, both acceptable content becomes inaccessible, and unacceptable content continues to be accessible. The other obvious issue is that acceptable content is an extremely subjective matter.
In addition, since online dictionaries and translator sites exist on the Internet, it is essential to establish policies for their use. Most foreign language educators do not allow translation websites to be used for student writing, and also inform their students that the translations produced by these sites are both unreliable and easy to spot. Teaching students how to use language dictionaries properly to look up primarily only an individual word and it's various meanings is an important component of teaching correct usage.
Communicating with students and their families
At the college and university level, communication is greatly facilitated with students by the use of computer technology. Student e-mail is the most frequent means of contacting students at this level. It is also important that they be able to access the website for the college and know how to use it. Online classroom penpals, such as Epals, have become a popular means of international communication among secondary students. These programs allow students and classrooms to register and choose other students and classrooms by country and language. They provide a safe environment for students to communicate with native speakers from around the world that are their own age.
Creating positive interpersonal relationships within a caring classroom environment through the use of computer assisted language learning
Since one of the hallmarks of the caring classroom is the facilitation of student-centered learning, computer assisted language learning has the potential to create life-long learners. Students can take their learning out of the classroom and into other settings both physically and psychologically.
In addition, in the college and university setting, interpersonal interaction is greatly facilitated with the use of the Internet both in online classrooms and traditional classrooms.
Because Internet access varies in households in most schools, it is important to keep this in mind when assigning homework that uses computer technology. Accessibility must be taken into account and it is wise to consider this when assigning work in and out of school. Providing times when student can access computers at school allows the opportunity for all students to participate in CALL.
Implementing strategies to deal with students’ nonproductive, problem behaviors involving the use of technology
Nonproductive, problem behaviors involving the use of technology are a big temptation at all levels. The ease of surfing the web, or checking one's email, make staying on task quite a chore for even the most conscientious, dedicated student. An understanding of this reality is important for the educator. Those of us in this course are spending time on the other side of the podium, and awareness of the inevitability of these types of behaviors can encourage an understanding, less harsh approach to encouraging more productive use of time in the language lab or communications center.
The best strategy is to prevent this sort of behavior with activities that are self-paced, but that require concrete tasks to be executed, often in writing. The student CD-Rom that accompanies the textbook, "Rendez-vous: An Introduction to French", by Muyskens and Omaggio Hadley, has a laboratory manual with exercises to be completed using the CD-Rom. Much of what the student CD-Rom offers is not written, but questions need to be answered in writing in the lab manual to show understanding of an audio conversation in each chapter. The rest of the activities on the CD-Rom in each chapter involve interactive games, pronounciation exercises, and other grammar and vocabulary work. For those who finish early, a choice of web-based activities can be offered. Usually these can go along with the lesson, but be amusing and a change of pace.
Many schools servers now have programs that allow teachers to monitor the access and usage of the students from the teacher terminal. When students are aware that the teacher can print out detailed reports of every site they have visited and the amount of time spent at each site, it becomes a deterrent that helps students to keep on task. Many teachers deduct points for time and activities spent off task.
Implementing pedagogies that are psychologically consistent with the content being taught and the academic potentials of the student learners
Products available on the Internet, and as student CD-Roms lend themselves well to psychologically consistent pedagogy. They can be of the core content or supplement the core content in foreign language, and because all student learners are different, they can encourage work that is self-paced. Many of these products also have an element of encouragement built right in for the learner. The student CD-Rom accompanying Rendez-vous and many of the games on quia have chimes that let the student know that they have answered correctly. This type of positive reinforcement is found to be motivating for students of all ages, even adult learners. Also, most new textbook series today offer a companion website to the text with exercises and activities geared to the content of the text.
In addition to applications on the Internet for students, there is a wealth of information on the Internet tailored for educators. Besides lesson plans themselves, there are also sites specifically geared to educators as resources. By far the best resource for the teaching of French available on the Internet is weboscope, created at the University of Leuven in Belgium. This site uses linking to provide resources to the educator. It is subdivided topically and has information for reading with links to all online newspapers and magazines in French on the web. It has links for writing, grammar, vocabulary and cultural information. It even has links to radio and television, where students can watch the news from France on the Internet.
Global and diversity implications of CALL
Computer technologies and the Internet bring the global into the local classroom. Native speakers can be seen and heard, international publications become accessible from school or home, and the use of pen pals in countries that speak the target language, can promote international peace and understanding. Another connection students can make is through Sister School programs. "Sister Schools teach compassion, service, and social responsibility by partnering students in donor schools with children in need." These programs allow students to not only learn and interact in another language, it allows them to make a difference.
Because schools serve a diverse student body, access to Internet at home is an important consideration for educators. In the course, Technology, Globalizaiton and Educational Reform, my research involved the digital divide and how it impacts students and schools. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce published, "A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding their Use of the Internet". Some interesting statistics come out of this study and help us to understand our access and how the use of the Internet vary among populations. Of interest to educator is that age is a factor in usage. According to NTIA, rates of Internet usage rises rapidly from age 3 to a peak around age 15, when nearly 80% of Americans are online. In addition, in families with teenagers, the teenagers themselves account for the highest level of usage. It is important for educators to stimulate learning with interesting activities and to learn to maximize the use of computer time in schools.
Testimonies of other educators on use of technology in the foreign language classroom and products created for its use
Here peer educators are asked to respond about their own experiences using these technologies.
Use of technology is a great tool in the foreign language classroom. I have been teaching languages over ten years in Public Schools and have seen many new and innovative resources developed. Three years ago, I was able to serve on our District World Language Curriculum Adoption Committee for the selection of new text and materials. An important consideration was that the materials be multimedia. After reviewing many materials from several publishers we were able to choose materials that had textbooks that taught language in context using the natural method, yet, included standards based guidelines, included interactive software that correlated with the text, contained audio and video supplementary resources, had online activties and materials, and had workbooks, test booklets and CD-Rom test generators. For French, we use Bon Voyage by Glencoe. For Spanish, we use En Espanol by McDougal Littel. For our World Language Exploratory course, we use Invitation to Language by Glencoe which explores six different languages with students as an introduction that helps students to choose which languages they would like to pursue. I have taught all these courses and used these materials and have found them to be excellent resources. We have used the online and interactive multimedia materials throughout the course. I spent time in the computer lab with the students just teaching them how to access and use these materials on their own. I created a website with these materials that is linked to the school website so that students can access it anytime and continue to work on developing their language skills through the summer. Most of the students were very interested in this. In addition, when students have been sick or out for more than a few days, they have emailed me and I have given them online assignments they can do to make up for the activities they missed in class. The most popular activity I have done with my students though has been epals. This online program allows teachers to register entire classes and monitor their communications. Students can pick either individual students or entire classrooms can team with other classrooms from around the world. Students can pick by language and/or country and age. Most of the writing becomes bilingual because students in other countries are often as eager to practice their English as my students are to practice their foreign language. I have also set up a partnership for next year with a class in Italy so that my students can follow the events of the 2006 Olympics through the eyes of the students that live there. I am also working on a Sister School partnership for my Spanish class. I have been working with students in a very privledged school and will be again in the fall. I found a school in Eastern Washington that is primarily Spanish speakers and have made arrangements to partner with them. There are terrible inequities and I wanted my students to have the opportunity to communicate, learn, and make a difference through service oriented activities. Technology should do more than just inform or entertain, it is an instrument that can help accomplish much good. - Donna Lansberry
Conclusion
This year, 2005, has been declared The Year of Languages in our nation. The poem-plea, Peace Through Languages by Francisco Gomes de Matos, applied linguist from Recife, Brazil expresses well the psychological importance of human discourse and understanding.
In order to help promote languages, teachers need to explore new avenues of learning. CALL is an effective, efficient, safe and productive learning venue. It is important to develop rules and procedures for usage of CALL to optimize it's effectiveness. In addition, communicating with students and their families broadens the scope of involvement and effectiveness. Creating positive interpersonal relationships within a caring classroom environment through the use of computer assisted language learning enhances the development of language skills. Implementing strategies to deal with students’ nonproductive, problem behaviors involving the use of technology will increase student successes. By implementing pedagogies that are psychologically consistent with the content being taught and the academic potentials of the student learners, teachers will be able to help students focus on the primary goals of communicating and learning in another language. CALL has global and diversity implications that open up opportunities for teachers and students to experience the world beyond the classroom and open doors to communication and understanding. The future for students of foreign language learning will be greatly benefited by computer assisted language learning which allows students to explore any language from any where.
Helpful links
Computer Aided Learning and Use of the Internet
Design of Online Interactive Language Courseware
Glencoe Publishing, Foreign Language Textbooks
Interactive Language Learning on the Web
Bringing Standards into FL Classrooms
National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center
Technology and Teaching Culture: A Texas Survey of FL Educators
valodas - free cross-platform language learning software
Resources
LeLoup & Ponterio. 2003. Second Language Acquisition and Technology: A Review of Research. Retrieved July 26, 2005 <http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0311leloup.html
Morrison, S. 2002. Interactive Language Learning on the Web. Retrieved July 26, 2005. <http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0212morrison.html
