This abbreviation stands for Computer Assisted Language Learning. In the books, articles I have read about CALL and its applications CALL was also referred to as "simply another medium", "new technology", "the latest in the series of modern aids to language learning" (Maley, 1990:6), "a mass phenomenon and the techniques traditionally associated with it" (Williams, 1991. Introduction) or simply art (Wolf, 1992:17).
CALL is most commonly used to describe the use of computers as part of a language course. It was first initiated in the early 8Os and by the 9Os computers are omnipresent in language schools throughout the world.
Christopher Jones has many times tried to deglorify the omniscient features of computers. He stressed the importance of teachers' attitude and ability, clarified that teachers and computers are not rivals but should be regarded as allies. The computer is not some "kind of inferior teacher substitute".
According to C. Jones the traditional description of CALL ("presenting, reinforcing and testing particular language items") is misleading:
---"It implies the substitution of computer for teacher.
---It suggests that CALL lessons are determined solely by the interaction between learner and computer, and thus neglects the vital methodological considerations in which the teacher plays a key role;
---By limiting the computer's role to that of "quizmaster", it ignores other equally valid roles of the machine.
---It suggests that there is a single "computer method", and one that is inextricably linked in many teachers' minds to the days of audiolingualism and pattern practice. The emphasis of formal correctness has caused many to reject the computer's role as quizmaster altogether.
---It implies a one-to-one ratio between learner and machine, which is usually neither practical nor particularly desirable.
---It implies that computers can be made omniscient, which they cannot."
/Jones,C. 1991. p:5/
C. Jones also emphasizes by contrast, that computers are flexible classroom aids, which can be used by teachers and students not only for in-class but out-of-class activities too. Call should be linked with ordinary classroom work. Lessons need to be planned carefully--computers are not teacher substitutes--and CALL materials should be embedded in classroom methodology.
II. What equipment do you need?
D. Hardisty and S. Windeatt provide some very practical advice on how to introduce CALL in a teaching facility.
2.1. You should buy and install computers for which a wide range of software is available.
2.2. Three or four students can share a computer. There are teaching situations when there are not enough machines.
In these cases you can organize the activities: pre-computer work, work at the computer and post-computer work.
2.3. You also have to decide whether to apply a network system or stand-alones. Computers that are linked together form a local area network. The advantage is that the teachers and students can communicate with one another.
III.CALL Methodology--An Introduction to D. Hardisty and S. Windeatt's Assumption
Computers are not teachers by themselves. The effectiveness of CALL depends on how the teacher and students use them. The two main aspects computers are different from any other media:
--- "They carry out task which are impossible in other media
(such as automatically providing feedback on certain kind of exercises);
--- (they) carry out tasks much more conveniently than any other
media (such as editing a piece of writing by deleting, moving and inserting text, etc...)."
(A. Maley, 1990. p:8)
The effects of the above features on methodology are:
---students can exercise on their own and they are marked automatically by the computer
---they can carry out exploratory work which allows them to see the result of
their decisions (word-processing, spreadsheet, simulation program)
The main characteristics of CALL methodology as D. Hardisty and S. Winbdeatt
concluded in their book are:
1. The use of a variety of interaction patterns in class which are possible with
computers: students can work individually, in groups or can interact with one an other, with the computer, with other groups or with the teacher.
What activities can be done by the students, by the teachers and by the computer?
"Students
writing/ editing/ commenting/ reading others' work/ asking for help/ learning terminology/ talking to each other/ operating computers/ listening to and implementing instructions/ laughing a lot/
Teacher
guiding/ explaining/ editing/ keeping control/ reassuring and encouraging/ doing other class work/ giving instructions/ observing/ correcting/
Computer
memorizing/ storing/ providing a stimulus/ moving and transfering information/ saving time/ anonymus editing/ printing/"
(Hardisty and Windeatt, 1990. p:9)
2. Information transfer and information- and opinion-gap task
Information transfer involves:--transfering information from one medium to another,
--from student to student,
--from group to group.
Using networked computers optimizes the information transfer activities.
Students can listen to a recorded story, they can sequence it, match sentences with characters in the story, load a written text into a word processor.
Information -gap: students or groups need information from one another or from the
computer, so partial or total deletion are activities on this task
Opinion-gap: students will have different opinions on certain scenario; creative opinion- gap is maintained by assigning different roles to students.
Fluency and accuracy practice: computers accept answers they have been programmed to. This requires students to be as accurate as they can. Word processing can be used for accuracy and fluency.
3. "Rules" to follow when using a computer:
--the software is more important than the hardware
--you need plenty of time to work through a CALL software
--software varies in its complexity so the time needed for their comprehension is varied as well
--a software won't run your lesson. The teacher can adapt, improve and compensate for the shortcomings in the software with the techniques s/he
adopts.
--co-operate with students; you can exchange your knowledge about the language for their experience of using the computer.
lV. Optimising the learning environment for CALL
(Reference: Jeremy Fox's, University of East Anglia, perfomance)
The Kossuth University in Debrecen arranged a symposium in November 1985 to show the foreign language teachers how CALL programs can be integrated into classroom work. Jeremy Fox was one of the invited CALL experts to lecture at that three-day long meeting.
In his introduction he assumed that:
--computers in education are distinct from computers in other fields, like industry, commerce etc.
Up to 1985 few CALL programs had used computerised databases.
--unfortunately it is not self-evident that students being told what is a wright a wrong answer can progress significantly in their learning process.
4.1. Three Phase Call
Up to 1985 CAll language Programs had been described as a three-component process which based on the behaviouristic learning theory and also formed the bases of audiolingualism. Behaviouristic learning theory also underlay Programmed Instruction from which the earliest forms of CALL derived from. According to this theory Phase 1 (question/task)corresponds to the stimulus, Phase 2 (respons/ attempt) to the student's response and Phase 3 (feedback/evaluation) to positive or negative reinforcement. From the 1980s behaviourist theory has lost its reputation, so the Drill and Practice language CALL -- with the right and wrong feedback mechanism -- has lost the theoretical support of behaviourism.
4.2. Feedback
Jeremy Fox refferd to Pusack's (1983) five types of feedback:
-- no evaluation
-- "pattern markup" ; this provides information about the nature of the error (grammatical, spelling etc.)
-- error anticipation; the program writer anticipates expected mistakes
-- parsing; students input is analysed and grammatical errors are indentified by the computer.
-- evaluation is limited to the "Right" or "Wrong"
These facilities are available only when the student gives a response. If the student does not know the answer s/he may guess or give up. This can be very fustrating for him/her. Pusack's third, fourth and fifth types do enrich the learning environment.
The problems with the three Phase approach are:
-- students are not challenged intellectually (being required to give only one word answers -- without context -- means that they are not asked to be initiative, creative, responsible or intelligent)
-- the mechanical Drill and Practice CAll does not use the possible capacities of a computer.
4.3. The Wherewithal and Four Phase CALL
What is the wherewithal principle?
Text manipulation programs (Textbag, Storyboard, Clozemaster...) set a task for the student but too offer him a range of clues, like:
graphological (first/last letter)
textual ( word, see the whole text )
grammatical/lexical (wordclass, opposite).
These "information" clues provide the student with methodological advance.
This procedure leads us to the four Phase CALL:
-- Phase 1 question / task
-- Phase 2 help ( information clue )
-- Phase 3 response / attempt
-- Phase 4 evaluation / feedback
So Four Phase CALL consistent with the " wherewithal principle " which means that the student is not asked to carry out tasks unless the necessary information is not supplied by (the computer ) CALL program.
In this way CALL program is not mechanical but rather a cognitive approach. This approach is consistent with humanistic orientation language learning where the student is made responsible of deciding what information to access to.
4.4. Content of the Wherewithal
Information files enable students to be deeply involved in their learning (responsibility and control ) and use their own creativity.
The University of East Anglia in Norwich suggested four main categories of information:
--- "general reference" information from published sources, e.g. dictionary entries giving definitions and examples in context.
--- "local reference" information entered locally, but accessible from any part of the programs. This would include information on general strategies on how to handle specific problems. Thus, reference files on how to recognise nouns, or break down
complex sentences, or how to identify reference features could all constitute part of a "reader's grammar".
--- "local specific " information, inserted by the programwriter or by the teacher using an authoring system. This would offer, for example, specific prompts as to the meaning of particular keywords in the form of teacher-like question.
--- "student-inserted" information. Chris Jones' Wordstore is already in existence, enabling students to build up their own computer-based lexicon. This student- inserted data would be incorporated into the database along with the general dictionary information, and the local hints and tips put in by the teacher.
/ J. Fox, 1985. p:141-142 /
In this way, the student accesses to information about individual vocabulary items, difficult words, about grammar points, e.g. particular elements of reading techniques: discourse features (anaphoric reference, concealed relatives etc.) This richer learning environment makes fuller use of the power of the computer.
The system can also benefit from the teacher's knowledge and expertise together with his/her familiarity with the students. Authoring system will allow the teacher to be involved in the content as well as in the use of the program.
4.5. An example
The main aim of the Computer Assisted Reading Project at the University of East Anglia is to develop reading skills. The intermediate and advance level materials include text-focused exercises (skimming, scanning, identifying the main aim of a text, working out meaning of unknown words etc. ) and skill focussed exercises.
At the former the student chooses a text to which all the practice relates, and in the latter the students to concentrate in a particular skill area.
At a certain stage the student is invited to type in unknown words from the text. The program checks whether the words are in the database, and offers the student to choose among three activities:
--- to work out the meaning by using a sequence of strategies (indentifying wordclass, examine immediate context, make guess)
--- to get some extra practice in wordclass recognition by playing one of the relevant games
--- to try to get some idea of the meaning by examining the reference files about the word
(J. Fox, 1985.p: 145)
A passage called "Mysteries of the Great Pyramid" containes, for example, the potentially difficult word "massive". It occurs in context:
Although it was built approximately 4500 years ago, it is the most massive stone structure ever erected...
The following options can be displayed for the student
Definition Very large and heavy. Huge and strong. Impressive and powerful, especially in its size.
Examples As a result of his massive investment in gold, he became a millionaire overnight.
The massive crowd at the pop concert was hard to control.
Prompt What is particularly remarkable about the pyramid, apart from its age?
Substitutes huge
enormous
gigantic
vast
Comments "Massive" is stronger than "large" and "the most massive stone structure ever built", as in the text, is considerably stronger than "the largest stone structure..."
(J.Fox, 1985. p:146)
At the present -- assumed J Fox --student could choose to have any one or two blocks to be displayed on the screen together. They can see them as often as they want and in any combination. This enables students to browse around the files to get more and more precise meaning of the word.
The above files are concerned with vocabulary items. But after the student guess the wordclass of the problem word other set of files are available: Noun, Verb, Adjective
and Adverb Identification files. These grammar files help the student recognize, for example, from the ending what part of the speech an unknown word is.
The important things are: --- it should be easy for the student to roam around the databases,
--- students should be able to jump forwards and backwards in any programs at will.
4.6. J. Fox’s Conclusion
An increase in access to "Information" files in CALL programs will require an increase in processing power especially if on-line access to dictionaries is to be incorporated or if the expanded system includes Artificial Intelligence. Even without AI, the extension in CALL programs will provide a much richer learning environment.
V. My experience with CALL --- How I benefited from this course?
When I signed for this course I had many expectations towards this subject.
To be honest, I have never heard about CALL earlier so the only thing I expected to be familiar with this "mysterious device". Me too fell in the very same state of being fustrated when something went wrong in the process of handling even the simplest exercises. Not only the teacher but some of my course mates were very helpful facilitators.
Of course it became clear very soon that the registration for this course expected the students not to be at the absolute beginner's level. In my oppinion a basic word processing course could help a lot in this area.
During the semester we learned about some of the basic CALL programs that can be applied at different levels and we could get a brief insight into the literature of CALL. What is more important we were also stimulated to continue deepening our knowledge in this field.
There are many insufficiences we have to work on. Teachers should be professionals or at least more professional than the students at the secondary schools in computing. In Hungary, I think there are some hardships which make introducing CALL into language learning - teaching difficult:
--- the older generation of teachers has hardly ever got close to computers
--- our government is gradually reducing funds for schools; so unless they had installed computers they would not be able to do it in the future
--- not only the hardware but the software too is very expensive (even more) and I do not think they are easily accessible in Hungary. Of course teachers could write programs using the word-processing feature of the computers --- I am sure that one of the main problems is that schoolmasters are a little bit stubborn persons. At schools where there is a computer laboratory one or two computer science teachers are responsible for it. These labs are almost always locked except for basic computer lessons, but definitely not for L2 learning.
As to my overall experience with this course, I am going to acquire much more knowledge and practice in CALL.
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