Topic 3: DEFINING A MODEL OF CALL

The Design of a CALL Program

A number of conceptualizations or frameworks have been proposed in an attempt to describe the elements of CALL adequately or to guide the field in what the individual authors contend is a more coherent direction (Bax, 2003; Chapelle, 2001; Colpaert, 2004; Hubbard, 1996; Levy 1997; Phillips, 1985; Underwood, 1984; Warschauer and Healey, 1998; and many others). At the time of writing, two of the more influential views are those of Chapelle (2001), who links the design and evaluation of CALL tasks to a set of principles derived primarily from the research base of the interactionist perspective of second language acquisition (SLA), and Bax (2003), who views ‘normalization’ as the defining direction for the field, a state where technology is fully integrated into language teaching and ceases to be special or unusual, much like the textbook, pen, and blackboard of the traditional classroom.

Elements in CALL Design Process

Although many CALL projects have been designed organically, or with respect to general instructional design principles, attempts have been made by a number of scholars to characterize the unique qualities of CALL. Perhaps the most elaborate design framework to date is that of Colpaert (2004), which creatively blends engineering principles and pedagogical approaches and is specifically oriented toward the creation of language courseware. Another important work in this area is by Levy, who categorized the uses of the term design in a corpus of 93 CALL articles from 1999, including not only the design of artifacts (e.g. software), online courses, and materials, but ‘design as a principled approach to CALL, including approaches to the design of CALL tasks’ (Levy, 2002: 60).

Teachers And Pulpis In CALL

Pulpis and CALL

The basic reason for doing CALL is to make language teaching or learning "better". But what does that mean? Here are some ways in which CALL can impact the learning process.

• Learners pick up language knowledge or skills faster or with less effort (learning efficiency)

• Learners pick up what is targeted, retain language knowledge or skills longer, and/or learn more of what they need (effectiveness)

• Learners can get materials or experience interactions that would otherwise be difficult or impossible (access)

• Learners can learn with more or less equal effectiveness across a wider range of times/places (convenience)

• Learners enjoy the language learning process more or are willing to engage in it more (motivation)

• Learners require less space, less teacher time, or less expensive materials (institutional efficiency)

Teachers and CALL

Teachers interested in using technology can get involved in a number of different ways, which can be seen as different teacher roles.

As researchers: into second language acquisition, human-computer interaction, what works for CALL

• As consumers of CALL for class use or for homework or other outside student activities

• As directors, helping students find and use supplementary CALL materials or web resources.

• As managers of computer-mediated communication among learners in and out of class.

• As software or web developers, either "from scratch" or adding new materials to existing template.

• As coaches to help students develop software, websites, and general computer literacy

• As CALL experts for your program, helping other teachers and administrators with CALL implementations.

• As CALL professionals, consulting on external projects, doing software reviews for journals, making conference presentations, writing papers, interpreting and applying CALL research, and/or providing input to the field at large.

Lesson Plans & Projects

Finding content for projects, both individual and group. Note the importance of balancing seeking and production time with language learning and practice time. See http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Student_Projects/

Ideas and lesson plans for Internet, Web, and class activities: Sources such as www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/, http://iteslj.org/Lessons/. Better still, do a Google search!
Making resource pages for specific classes. You can use FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or even MS_Word to produce Websites. See my Websites for EFS 693B, http://www.stanford.edu/~efs/693b (Advanced Listening) for example. You can also make your own site easily, hosted by Google, at http://sites.google.com/.
Sending your students out on WebQuests: http://www.world-english.org/webquests.htm

Other Resources

Online journals like Language Learning and Technology (http://www.lltjournal.org)and the Internet TESL Journal (http://iteslj.org) have articles about using the Internet for teaching and learning, as well as other CALL fare.

Some CALL experts have Websites with useful links: try Claire Bradin Siskin (http://edvista.com/claire/) or Deborah Healey's Attic (http://www.deborahhealey.com/)

The key to using online resources is to be prepared. Know what the objective of your lesson is and try to make sure students are trained in what they need to know to accomplish that objective. Try to build some flexibility into the assignment or activity so that if something isn't working as expected the task can still go on.

CALL And Culture

This is a huge area for foreign language teaching, where authentic cultural material is readily accessible through the web. There are many ways to use authentic material found on websites to support cultural learning. YouTube, http://www.youtube.com, is a particularly useful application for this purpose with intermediate and advanced students, see http://eduwithtechn.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/teach-culture-through-youtube-your-students-do-it/. Links specifically for teaching culture can be found at http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Culture. To review a proposed pedagogical framework for culture and technologies, see Levy (2007) at http://www.lltjournal.org/item/2576. MIT hosts a website for the Cultura Project, supporting development of cultural understanding and connecting students from different cultures to one another https://cultura.mit.edu/.