Computer Assisted Language Learning

Peter Beech

peter@peterbeech.com

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Nonlinearity

Students can access information as and how they want to, rather than in a predetermined sequence

This is an advantage only if: Students know how to find the information they need Students have strategies to learn with hypermedia The quality of the linked resources is of a sufficiently high

standard

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Multimedia

Different modalities appeal to different learning styles and multimedia results in an enriched learning environment

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Empowerment

CALL offers: Easier access to materials Greater control for learners Opportunities for the development of metacognitive skills

and learner autonomy

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Monitoring of learning behaviour

CALL programs can record and monitor learners’ behaviour and progress and dynamically alter input or make suggestions to the learner

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Authenticity

CALL materials aid in the development of more authentic materials by allowing selection of content based on actual language use, e.g. through use of corpora

CALL resources resemble the types of resources especially younger learners use in everyday life. The use of educational games is an example of ways in which materials developers have attempted to mimic learners’ out-of-class activities

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Feedback

Immediate feedback is possible with CALL materials

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

New types of activities

CALL materials can include activities that are difficult or impossible to achieve using other learning materials, such as moving objects across the screen (matching), recording one’s voice etc.

Pedagogical advantages of CALL materials

Interaction

CALL materials facilitate interaction and language use

Spoken English

Spoken language practice has also become much easier to organise with individuals or groups of learners being encouraged to communicate with other individuals or groups of learners around the world.

Speaking and pronunciation

This website from Cambridge University Press presents entertaining animations to reinforce individual phonemes and sound patterns.

Speaking and pronunciation

How useful do you think this site is? What assumptions does it make?

Listening

Podcasts can be:

Audio-based content (a sound file)Enhanced content (inclusive of audio,

visuals and text)Video

Listening

Podcasts can be:

Audio-based content (a sound file)Enhanced content (inclusive of audio,

visuals and text)Video

Listening

Podcasts can be:

Audio-based content (a sound file)Enhanced content (inclusive of audio,

visuals and text)Video

Listening

The accessibility of video clips has increased enormously with the advent of web 2.0 applications used on such sites as YouTube

Listening

There are listening materials that are structured specifically for language learners, using audiovisual content that is either

Authentic Semi-authentic (i.e., modified or

simplified) Custom-made

Listening

Support can be provided through captions, vocabulary activities, annotations and transcripts

Listening

The Virtex project uses digital video clips depicting real-life scenarios to prepare foreign language students for work placements in hotels and catering

After watching the video, the students can access background information, transcripts, learning tips, isolated audio playback, cultural notes or lists of idiomatic expressions

Listening

The BBC series six minute English takes a current news item and reworks it for learners of English, including comprehension activities and audio podcasts

Reading

One of the most obvious benefits of the Internet for language teachers is the unprecedented access to a copious supply of authentic reading material such as Newspaper reports Stories Recipes Craft activities Geographic information Journal articles

Reading

Technology can be used to teach students strategies for comprehension …

Roll-over prompts can be inserted into the text at key points, encouraging the reader to predict, or to guess from context, or to use skimming and scanning skills, or to attend to topic sentences, or to refer to a relevant image

Contributions to language learning

Enhancing reading through electronic media

Even a simple word processing program can be used to advantage by focusing students’ attention on significant recurring patterns by highlighting, animating, deleting, changing font and type size, and so on

More powerful programs (e.g., Flash, Director) can be used to help the reader notice syntactic units by highlighting these (appropriately ‘chunked’) as the student listens to the text being read aloud

Contributions to language learning

Making reading easier

Hypermedia makes it possible to build into a single page a number of clickable options to support the L2 reader. These devices, such as pop-ups, rollovers, links to other pages, menus and so on, are unobtrusive and only activated when a reader decides to access the information

Words can be explained by linking to dictionaries providing a definition of the word in context Providing a photo or animation

Contributions to language learning

Enhancing writing through electronic media

A well-designed writing program will lead the writer through all the phases of the writing process, providing as much support as needed along the way

Contributions to language learning

Enhancing writing through electronic media

Once the student starts to draft a text, the computer becomes a powerful resource. The advent of word processing has revolutionized the writing of text. And yet it is still surprisingly underexploited in the L2 classroom.

Writing and composing

For language learners, blogging provides an opportunity to participate in the composing process without the pressure to produce a whole text independently

Writing and composing

Likewise, wikis allow multiple writers to contribute towards the development of a text

Grammar and vocabulary

The BBC news website has a number of vocabulary activities based on current news stories

Grammar and vocabulary

One area in which digital technology has been used to achieve previously impossible outcomes in relation to vocabulary and syntax is the development of language corpora

By using a concordancing tool, it is possible to retrieve innumerable examples of any particular word together with its immediate context

Coursebook support websites

For each of the following websites, consider:

What type of material is provided How engaging and motivating it is How fully it exploits the possibilities of

multimedia