Computer Assisted Language Learning

What is CALL?• Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is

succinctly defined in a seminal work by Levy (1997: p. 1) as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning".

• An alternative term, Technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), also emerged around the early 1990s.

Philosophy behind CALL

• The current philosophy of CALL puts a strong emphasis on student-centred materials that allow learners to work on their own. Such materials may be structured or unstructured, but they normally embody two important features: interactive learning and individualised learning. CALL is essentially a tool that helps teachers to facilitate the language learning process. It can be used to reinforce what has been already been learned in the classroom or as a remedial tool to help learners who require additional support.

History of CALL

• CALL dates back to the 1960s, when it was first introduced on university mainframe computers. The PLATO project, initiated at the University of Illinois in 1960, is an important landmark in the early development of CALL. The advent of the microcomputer in the late 1970s brought computing within the range of a wider audience, resulting in a boom in the development of CALL programs and a flurry of publications of books on CALL in the early 1980s.

Typology and phases (1)

• During the 1980s and 1990s several attempts were made to establish a CALL typology.

• A wide range of different types of CALL programs was identified.

• These included: gap-filling and Cloze programs, multiple-choice programs, free-format (text-entry) programs, adventures and simulations, action mazes, sentence-reordering programs, exploratory programs - and "total Cloze", a type of program in which the learner has to reconstruct a whole text. Most of these early programs still exist in modernised versions.

Typology and phases (2)

• Since the 1990s it has become increasingly difficult to categorise CALL as it now extends to the use of blogs, wikis, social networking, podcasting, Web 2.0 applications, language learning in virtual worlds and interactive whiteboards.

• Warschauer (1996) and Warschauer & Healey (1998) took a different approach. Rather than focusing on the typology of CALL, they identified three historical phases of CALL, classified according to their underlying pedagogical and methodological approaches:

• Behaviouristic CALL: conceived in the 1950s and implemented in the 1960s and 1970s.

• Communicative CALL: 1970s to 1980s.• Integrative CALL: embracing Multimedia and the Internet in

1990s.

Internet Assisted Language Learning

• The emergence of the World Wide Web (now known simply as "the Web") in the early 1990s marked a significant change in the use of communications technology for all computer users. Email and other forms of electronic communication had been in existence for many years, but the launch of the first graphical Web browser, Mosaic, in 1993 brought about a radical change in the ways in which we communicate electronically. The launch of the Web in the public arena immediately began to attract the attention of language teachers.

• In its early days the Web could not compete seriously with multimedia CALL on CD-ROM and DVD. Sound and video quality was often poor, and interaction was slow. But now the Web has caught up. Sound and video are of high quality and interaction has improved tremendously, although this does depend on sufficient bandwidth being available, which is not always the case, especially in remote rural areas and developing countries. One area in which CD-ROMs and DVDs are still superior is in the presentation of listen/respond/playback activities, although such activities on the Web are continually improving.

Web 2.0 Applications• Since the early 2000s there has been a boom in the development of so-called Web 2.0

applications. Contrary to popular opinion, Web 2.0 is not a new version of the Web, rather it implies a shift in emphasis from Web browsing, which is essentially a one-way process (from the Web to the end-user), to making use of Web applications in the same way as one uses applications on a desktop computer. It also implies more interaction and sharing. Walker, Davies & Hewer (2011: Section 2.1) list the following examples of Web 2.0 applications that language teachers are using:

• Image storage and sharing• Social bookmarking• Discussion lists, blogs, wikis, social networking• Chat rooms, and MUVEs (virtual worlds)• Podcasting• Audio tools• Video sharing applications and screen capture tools• Animation tools - comic strips, movies, etc.• Mashups