COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING ( CALL )

Prepared by : ELİF SİNE EDİZ (11-285-019 ) - CEREN TÜRE ( 11-285-017 )

Week 1:

Description of the course

  This course introduces pre-service teachers of English to Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) tools.

Literature of Call :

Computers have been used for language teaching ever since the 1960's. According to Warschauer & Healey (1998), this 40-year period can be divided into three main stages:

1)Behaviorist CALL

2)Communicative CALL

3)Integrative CALL.

• Each stage corresponds to a certain level of technology and certain pedagogical theories.

1)Behaviorist CALL ( 1960- 1970’s )

• Mechanical tutor

• The  first form of computer-assisted Language Learning.
• It is called drill-and-practice method
• It was mainly used for extensive drills, explicit grammar instruction, and translation tests

2)Communicative CALL (1970- 1980’s)

• The mainframe was replaced by personal computers that allowed greater possibilities for individual work.

•      Grammar should be taught implicitly and students should be encouraged to generate original utterances instead of manipulating prefabricated forms

Integrative CALL (1990’s )

• Computers have important roles  for the humans .

• Integrative CALL seeks both to integrate the various skills of language learning (listening, speaking, writing, and reading) and to integrate technology more fully into language teaching.

                             HOW DOES CALL SUPPORT LEARNING ?

                  

                                                Why do we use Call ?

Research and practice suggest that network-based technology can contribute significantly to:

Experiential Learning

The World Wide Web makes it possible for students to tackle a huge amount of human experience. They can learn by doing things themselves. They become the creators not just the receivers of knowledge.Users develop thinking skills and choose what to explore.

Motivation

Computers are most popular among students either because they are associated with fun and games or because they are considered to be fashionable. Student motivation is therefore increased, which make them feel more independent.

Authentic Materials for Study

All students can use various resources of authentic reading materials either at school or from their home. Those materials can be accessed 24 hours a day at a relatively low cost.

Greater Interaction

 EFL students can communicate with people they have never met. They can also interact with their own classmates. Furthermore, some Internet activities give students positive and negative feedback by automatically correcting their online exercises.

Individualization

Shy or inhibited students can be greatly benefited by individualized, student-centered collaborative learning.

Independence  Information

Although students can still use their books, they are given the chance to escape from canned knowledge and discover thousands of information sources.

Global Understanding

A foreign language is studied in a cultural context. In a world where the use of the Internet becomes more and more widespread.

Roles of the Computer in language learning and teaching:

- computer as tutor for language drills or skill practice

- computer as a tool for writing, presenting, and researching

- computer as a medium of global communication

How Computers can be used in the Language Class

1) Teaching with one computer in the class

            - delivery of content (PowerPoint, word-processor, Webpages, etc.)

            - classroom activities/discussions mediated by the computer

            - Interactive whiteboard

2) Teaching in the computer network room (network-based language teaching)

            - task-based group work /activities

            - computer-mediated communication (CMC): asynchronous/synchronous

            - tandem learning

                         

3) Self-access learning (independent learning)

            - drills and exercises

            - word processing

            - resource searching

4) Distance learning (i.e. individual learners working by themselves, at a place and time of their choice and, to some extent, at a pace and in an order also chosen by themselves.)

            - delivering online course content

            - CMC activities: email, discussion forum, chat rooms

            - tandem learning

            - community building

     Developing English Language skill is the prime agenda of any tertiary level students. Computers and language teaching have walked hand to hand for a long time and contributed as teaching tools in the language and second language classroom. Computers and technology are still a source of fears and insecurity for many teachers everywhere in the world despite the latest advances applicable to language teaching such as specialized websites, blogs, wikis, language teaching methodology, journals, and so.