Gary Motteram
 
 
Computer Assisted Language Learning:  an overview
 
Gary Motteram
Gary.Motteram@man.ac.uk
 
Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Manchester, UK
 
 

Language teachers and their learners are involved in a process that means that high technology equipment is slowly but surely becoming a regular feature of the language classroom at the same time that it is becoming an indispensable part of everyday life.  This notion of process is an all important one.  We tend to concentrate too much on the product and not enough on the way we get to that product.  This has been recognised for some time in regular ELT and is aptly summarised with a quotation from the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (1988:  371-2):

It is the process [that] is more important than the end result.  It is what you learn while you*re ... working toward a goal that is essential and valuable, not the achievement of the goal itself.

We can learn a lot then by looking at the process that has brought us to where we are and to consider the issues that might take the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) forward in the future.

There are some things that may seem to have been forgotten when we have been concentrating on the technologies themselves.  It is important to try to forget the boxes and what goes into them and to remember the following:
 

Levy in a recent book on CALL (1997) reminds us about the myriad of influences there are on our field.  The diagram in Figure 1 helps to sum this up.

Concerns in the language classroom

There are four important concerns in the language classroom:
 

There are a number of questions that the average teacher needs to find out about before they can begin to use high-tech with their language learners.  Here are a set of questions that need to be asked, so that we can be sure what kind of technology we have:

Figure 1:  Impact of other fields on CALL
 

 

Once you have discovered what technology you have available, what can you realistically expect from it at this juncture?

Modern Pentium-based multimedia computers enable the integration of a range of resources:  text, sound, pictures, animation and video.  These materials can be combined using various authoring or programming tools t make a variety of classroom materials.  With an attachment to the internet teachers can also be in contact with their learners beyond the traditional classroom.  The possibilities range from basic email, which has been with us since the very early stages of computer use, to desktop video conferencing.  Computers now also have some voice recognition capability.  This is something that is developing fast, but is still a long way from the interaction that is part of many science fiction films.

One important thing to bear in mind is that computers in themselves are only a tool as Bates (1995) says:  *Technology will never save bad teaching, it usually makes it worse*.

So, what about our other three players in the classroom, what has happened to the learners while we have been busy playing with our boxes?  Learners for various reasons are now seen as central in any classroom context.  We are more concerned with their needs as individuals rather than treating them as a class and we like to put these needs first.  Learners are independent and autonomous beings and their wishes are taken into consideration by teachers.

Teachers roles have also changed.  They have become more involved in the process of the creation of classroom materials, rather than the consumers of syllabuses and textbooks.  Teachers are naturally creative and want to be able to modify the materials to better suit their learners needs.  They have also become managers and facilitators of classroom activities.

What about methodology?  The main word on most people*s lips is *communicative*, there is also the idea of interactivity.  Learning by doing, is also considered an important aim.  The use of authentic language and task and the role of the learner as researcher of language material.  Discovering what they need to know rather than being taught.

Software currently in use

We now need to consider what software has contributed to helping meet the needs of our learners and whether it has been capable of doing this in a methodologically appropriate way.  One of the problems with early software was that it took a very behaviourist line on methodology, has software managed to develop sufficiently to become at list an aid to communicative language learning?

Typical technologies / software / materials / currently in use in language classrooms

word processors / spreadsheets / databases
these enable us to bring the real world into the classroom.  We can do things with this kind of software that our learners are used to doing elsewhere.  Tasks are seen as being authentic.  Learners write letters, create questionnaires and analyse the findings using a database, they can produce a company budget using a spreadsheet.
text manipulation software

There are at least three different pieces of software that allow a teacher (and also students) to quickly and easily create there own classroom materials.  This helps the teacher to bring authenticity into the classroom via real language texts from traditional media like newspapers, or magazines, or more recently from CDs and the Web.  Materials are then up-to-date and relevant.  If teachers do not have authentic material available at least they can use these packages to adapt and augment their syllabus.

Concordancers

 A concordance allows teachers and learners to conduct research into the language.  Here is an example:

   1. ...I may be -- haven't  there been -- they [[have been]] complaining the last five days of at  l...
   2. ...e  House without taking the pool, there [[have been]] a number of instances  where, for one r...
   3. ...ieves at this point that  some progress [[have been]] made.  This has been a productive year....
   4. ...This has been a productive year.  There [[have been]] a number of trips.       Q    The Vietn...
   5. ...en some progress made this year.  There [[have been]] a number of  missions to Vietnam by Win...
   6. ... out with the IAEA.  Those  discussions [[have been]] ongoing in Vienna, and at this point th...
   7. ... According to officials in Vienna, they [[have been]]  badly used by the North Koreans --    ...
   8. ...omments.  I  think our comments on this [[have been]] consistent throughout.  We've  continue...
   9. ...goes on through separate programs that  [[have been]] earmarked for veterans.  And with a var...
  10. ...pencil.  The net effect  of that, there [[have been]] runs by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ...

 
WWW / CMC

The World Wide Web (WWW / Web) has many possibilities.  It is an enormous source of different authentic materials, although some of very dubious quality.  There is a lot of information there.  There is also a lot of connectivity, a lot of interactive possibilities using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC).  All of these aspects are available now in Web browsers like Netscape.  You can send email, join discussion lists, or look at newsgroups, take part in group virtual classes at places like SchMOOze, or Diversity University, there is also audio and video conferencing.

CDs

Compact Disks (CDs, CDROMs) come in two main forms:  non-ELT (the majority) and ELT.  Non-ELT materials are much cheaper and can be used in a number of different ways in the classroom and in the preparation of materials.  ELT materials themselves range across the board from young learner to business materials, from grammar practice to skills work.  They are variable in quality.

Authoring / programming languages

Authoring and programming languages have now become much easier to use and it is relatively quick and easy to produce simple yet effective classroom materials.  With some hard graft, it is possible to produce highly competent and professional language learning materials.  Examples are Authorware, Director and Toolbook.
authentic electronic materials
The range of material available in electronic formats is now considerable and can be used in all sorts of ways.

Research issues

Lots of different software has been used in language classrooms, but has there been any significant research.  One writer (non-ELT) has said no:

There is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning, yet school districts are cutting programs -- music, art, physical education -- that enrich children*s lives to make room for this dubious nostrum, and the Clinton Administration has embraced the goal of *computers in every classroom* with credulous and costly enthusiasm.  Oppenheim (1997)

Research experiences in CALL have not been as negative, however, and there has been a reasonable body of research that has suggested generally positive things about the use of software.  It is time, however, for the research paradigms that have been traditionally used in CALL research to move towards the more recent paradigms that have been adopted in mainstream ELT research and so a move away from quantitative research methodology towards qualitative methodology will enable us to learn more about how the materials are used by teachers and their learners and how we can best improve materials design and development and also make methodology count in the CALL classroom.

Recommendations

To summarise.  As has been said we should:

Be looking more closely into what happens in classrooms, making use of new research paradigms to look at how CALL / multimedia is being implemented.

Put more emphasis on language teachers being involved in materials development.

Make learners aware of the wealth of authentic possibilities that are available on CD and on the Internet.  Emphasising learner training as a core activity for all learners who are to make use of the new technologies.

Use the technology for what it*s good at, people for what they are good at (taking a cue here from Byte magazine).

Make significant use of the wealth of authentic task and materials possibilities that the new technologies offer us.
 

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