FACILITATING THE TEACHING OF FOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (CALL)

 

Rosmania Rima

0708066053

 

 

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background

In the last few years, the number of teachers using Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) has increased markedly and numerous articles have been written about the role of technology in education in the 21st century. Although the potential of the Internet for educational use has not been fully explored yet and the average school still makes limited use of computers, it is obvious that we have entered a new information age in which the links between technology and EFL have already been established.

In the early 90’s education started being affected by the introduction of word processors in schools, colleges and universities. This mainly had to do with written assignments. The development of the Internet brought about a revolution in the teachers’ perspective, as the teaching tools offered through the Internet were gradually becoming more reliable. Nowadays, the Internet is gaining immense popularity in foreign language teaching and more and more educators and learners are embracing it.

Motteram (1971:17) stated that there has always been a perceived relationship between educational technology and learner autonomy. This is taking educational technology in its broadest sense and taking learner autonomy as a super ordinate term. This has become increasingly true for computers and self-access.

Successful learning is depending on the student’s desire to participate. However, there is always lack of participation that is often caused by the artificial nature of the classroom. When they were asked to communicate about various situations, the students should also be involved in the actual situation. Decision-making, asking for advice, agreeing and disagreeing, and compromising with fellow students are all tasks that cry out for “authentic” settings. It is in these settings that CALL can be used to great advantage.

By using the computer as a tool to create students projects, research information and provide context, teacher can employ the computer to help students to become more involved in the task, thereby facilitating the necessity of effective learning within a group setting. Due to the importance of CALL in English Foreign Language Class, the writer would like to discuss “Facilitating the Teaching of four Language skills with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)”.

 

1.2             Identification of the  Problem

Based on the background above, the writer identifies the problems as follow     :

a.     What is Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)?

b.     Why do we use Computer Assisted Language Learning?

c.      How can Computer assisted Language Learning be implemented in learning language skills?

 

1.3             Limitation of the Problem

In regard to the identification of the problems, the writer limits the problem in the use of Computer Assisted Language Learning in English Foreign Language Class.

 

FRAME OF THEORIES

 

2.1             Frame of Theories

2.1.1       Computer

Hackbarth (1996:189) stated that computer is a machine which can receive, manipulate and store information. It is operated by sets of instructions. The core of computer is central processing unit which interprets instruction, operates on data and coordinate activities of the entire system. The use of computer in education involves color, music, animated graphic raises students motivation, moreover it provide high speed personalized responses to learners action yield a high rate of reinforcement.

 

2.1.2       Language Learning

According to Krashen (1998 ) language learning is ‘knowing about’ language, or ‘formal knowledge’ of language. It refers to explicit knowledge of rules, being aware of them and being able to talk about them.

It shows the consciousness of the participant in their efforts to gain the language being learned. It usually involves many elements, such as the teacher, classroom and environment. However, in this case, the language that will be further discussed is English Language.

 

2.1.3       Computer Assisted Language Learning

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a substantial interactive element.

 

2.2             Frame of  Thinking

Until quite recently, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is a topic of relevance mostly to those with a special interest in that area. Recently, though, computers have become so widespread in schools and homes and their uses have expanded so dramatically that the majority of language teachers must now begin to think about the implications of computers for language learning.

This paper provides brief overview of how computers have been used and are being used for language teaching. It focuses not on a technical description of hardware and software, but rather on the use of computers in the classroom especially in teaching language skills.

DISCUSSION

 

3.1             Computer Assisted Language Learning

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a substantial interactive element.

We can divide the development of CALL into three distinct phases (Warschauer, 1996): behaviourist, communicative and integrative.

Behaviourist CALL was implemented in the 1960’s and 70’s, when the Audio-lingual method was mostly used, and provided students with drills and practice. This model used the computer as a tutor, presenting drills and non-judgmental feedback.

Based on the communicative approach, communicative CALL focuses more on using forms rather than on the forms themselves. The communicative CALL programmes provide skill practice in a non-drill format, through language games, reading and text reconstruction. This approach still uses the computer as a tutor, although it gives students choices, control and interaction. Another CALL model used for communicative activities involves the computer as stimulus, as in programmes that stimulate writing or discussions, and which may not be specifically designed for language learners. Finally, communicative CALL also

uses the computer as a tool, in programmes that do not provide language material, but enable the learner to understand and use the language, such as word processors, desk–top publishing, spelling and grammar checks programmes, as used for instance in process writing.

The current approach is integrative CALL, which is based on multimedia computers and the Internet. These technological developments have brought text, graphics, sound, animation and video to be accessed on a single inexpensive computer. These resources are all linked and called ‘hypermedia’, enabling learners to navigate through CD-ROMS and the Internet at their own pace and path, using a variety of media.

3.2             Why do we use Computer Assisted Language Learning?

Lee (2000) in his research and practice suggest that, appropriately implemented, network-based technology can contribute significantly to:

1. Experiential Learning

The World Wide Web makes it possible for students to tackle a huge amount of human experience. In such a way, they can learn by doing things themselves. They become the creators not just the receivers of knowledge. As the way information is presented is not linear, users develop thinking skills and choose what to explore.

       b.  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, especially whenever a variety of activities are offered, which make them feel more independent.

       c. Enhanced Student Achievement

Network-based instruction can help pupils strengthen their linguistic skills by positively affecting their learning attitude and by helping them build self-instruction strategies and promote their self-confidence.

      d.   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.

     e.   Greater Interaction

Random access to Web pages breaks the linear flow of instruction. By sending E-mail and joining newsgroups, 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 on-line exercises.

      f.   Individualization

Shy or inhibited students can be greatly benefited by individualized, student-centered collaborative learning. High fliers can also realize their full potential without preventing their peers from working at their own pace.

      g.   Independence from a Single Source of Information

Although students can still use their books, they are given the chance to escape from canned knowledge and discover thousands of information sources. As a result, their education fulfils the need for interdisciplinary learning in a multicultural world.

       h.  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, an English Language teacher’s duty is to facilitate students’ access to the web and make them feel citizens of a global classroom, practicing communication on a global level.

 

3.3      Advantages and Disadvantages

            CALL offers many advantages for individual instruction; it has infinite patience and often an attractive ‘personality’. It means that the students learn actively, responds the questions, complete interactive tasks, and enter a personal dialogue with their electronic tutor.

The advantage is that CALL, like other new technologies, brings about changes in the teaching methodologies of English. There are cases, though, in which computers are just used to give old materials a new aspect. This is the case of teachers who put students in front of the computer just to make fill-in-the-gap exercises. In the following table we may see the advantages and disadvantages of CALL as stated by  Scrimshaw (1993 ) :

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Lack of face – to – face cues	a.  Anonymity b.  Reduction in status   c.  Task – focused (less interpersonal distraction) d. Reduced pressure on individuals to contribute e.  Increased importance of logical argument    f.   Contributions not restricted by turn – taking g.  Less domination by an individual	a. Reduced feedback b. Impersonal cues and Jokes and feelings difficult to convey c.  More attenuated interaction d.  Reduced pressure on individuals to contribute e.   Need for skilled moderator to control, orchestrate (or censor?) f.    Increased emotion or aggression in messages (`flaming`)
Time – tag between responses (a synchronicity)	a.  Opportunity to reflect before responding b.  Opportunity to reformulate and correct messages before sanding c.  Convenience d.  Access to discussion with others	a.  Loss of impetus to reply    b.  Slowness in decision – making   c.  Reduction of  language exchanges for social purposes only d.  Difficulty of reaching consensus

 

3.4      CALL in Learning Language Skill

Skills-oriented language teaching remains a common approach for classes as well as for self-learning, and computer-assisted language learning is no exception. In this discussion we look at how both tool and tutor software can be used to support specific skills. In particular, we will discuss some websites that focus on these skill areas. Like everything else that’s free on the web, the sites need to be looked at carefully for their pedagogical value. Once you understand what they do, try to judge their fit to your potential students and your own teaching approach. You can also use them to get ideas for your own future CALL materials development.

a.     Listening

Listening is potentially one of the most promising areas for CALL development. This is because multimedia computing has everything standard audio and video have with the addition of a variety of meaning technologies such as text support, hyperlinked glossaries, and even translations.  Listening activities typically involve presentations followed by comprehension questions–some also include full or partial dictations.  One type of presentation specific to CALL is the punctuated presentation, in which the flow is interrupted at intervals to ask questions along the way. This in theory encourages more focused attention and allows a learner to get a check on understanding early in the activity. This technique was popularized in products by DynEd beginning around 1990. Surprisingly few multimedia programs have followed their example.

Examples of course website for two of recent listening classes are at www.stanford.edu/~efs/693a/ and www.stanford.edu/~efs/efs693b/ The notes have both links and examples of listening assignments.  An overview of listening on the web from a 2003 TESOL colloquium is available at www.stanford.edu/~efs/tesol03listening. Note that the list there includes a number of sites where you can find authentic audio or video materials supported by text. A good one for English for academic purposes is www.uncommonknowledge.org, featuring interviews and panel discussions with public policy experts.

There are a number of useful dedicated ESL listening sites: three of my favorites are www.esl-lab.com, www.elllo.org, and www.lingual.net.

b.     speaking

In terms of direct practice of speaking, recent developments on the web have allowed for voice chat sites which make it possible for learners and teachers to interact through the Internet in distance education courses.  Asynchronous speaking practice is possible through www.wimba.com, using Internet voice mail, or simply attaching sound files to email. There has also been interest recently in having students produce and publish pod casts. Many believe that putting students in front of a computer in groups of two or more will get them talking about the computer task and improve speaking fluency, although research has not always borne this out: like many other CALL activities, it depends on the students’ readiness and motivation. For tutorial CALL, practicing speaking has always been tricky.  TRACITalk and TellMeMore are examples of programs which allow some limited conversation simulation that gives something of the experience through the use of speech recognition software. Most programs simply rely on voice recording, with the learner simply recording a line from a dialogue and then comparing it with the native sample.

The most widely used indirect method for practicing speaking is simply to listen to conversational dialogues on disk or the web. See, for example,  www.rong-chang.com/book/.  

c.     Reading

Most reading instruction on disk and the web has involved the use of meaning technologies, such as hypertext glossaries, translations, and notes (on grammar, usage, culture).

Here are some other ways CALL can be used to support reading

• Just using the web: teachers give students tasks that require finding, comprehending and sometimes consolidating information on the web.
• Educational sites with ESL or adult literacy support: CNN’s Adult Education Reading Site
• Text reconstruction activities, such as Storyboard, cloze exercises, and jigsaw readings
• Timed or paced readings to develop speed
• Multimedia reading, such as voice enhanced texts and dynamically illustrated material

d.     Writing

Writing was revolutionized for everyone with word processing, and the addition of spell checkers has been quite helpful. Grammar and style checkers are much less useful to date, and using a thesaurus can be counterproductive if students aren’t trained in their limitations. Writing has also been a common skill taught as a course through distance education using the Internet. 

Some other ways computers enhance writing instruction include the following:

• Use of email for fluency development
• Online writing resources and tutorials (e.g., using programmed prompts)
• Blank screen (where the monitor is turned off and students type in their ideas without being distracted) and other production techniques
• Collaborative writing tasks. These are made easier today with tools such as Writely, an online word processor now available for free from Google: http://docs.google.com/
• Writing support practice (e.g., CALL activities with fill-ins for structured writing)
• Publication opportunities (both paper and web) as motivators

With respect to the last point, writing publication opportunities are readily available through Wikis and Blogs. Wikis are webpages that can be easily modified by multiple users (see, for example, Wikipedia: www.wikpedia.org) and are particularly good for collaborative projects, while blogs (weblogs) are online journals that individual students or groups can publish and allow others to leave comments on: see www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/resources/blogging.shtml.

e.     Grammar

Grammar practice was perhaps the earliest use of CALL. Today grammar work is largely focused on the following:

• Workbook-style exercises (on disk and online): online examples can be seen at www.eslgold.com
• Grammar test prep materials (especially TOEFL and TOEIC)
• Online courses and references (e.g., Anthony Hughes’  Online English Grammar)
• Hypertext-linked grammar notes accompanying readings

f.        Pronunciation

Pronunciation work is generally of three types:

• Listen, repeat/record, and compare. This option shows up in many multimedia programs and is analogous to the tape-based language lab technique in the audio-lingual method. However, the instantaneous response of digitized speech (no rewinding needed) makes the computer a more effective instrument. See http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/dialog01.htm 
• Visualization: wave form, pitch contour, spectrogram. The first and last are of questionable value. Wave forms are easy for a computer to produce, but they only clearly show the bands of intensity across time. This is most helpful in teaching rhythm. Spectrograms are most useful if they have high detail, which they generally don’t on CALL software, and they require training in phonetics to interpret them. However, visualization of pitch contour has been found to be quite helpful for some students in recognizing and producing both the patterns and ranges of intonation. You can see examples of these in the demos of Rosetta Stone software for English and other languages at http://www.rosettastone.com.
• ASR (automatic speech recognition) scoring. Here, the computer uses speech recognition software to grade accuracy. This can be useful, but there are a lot of technical problems–microphone quality, sound card quality, and background noise are all variables that can negatively affect the score, leading even native speakers to score as non-natives. For an example of a standardized test that uses ASR, see Ordinate’s PhonePass: www.ordinate.com. ASR and other is also used in Rosetta Stone

There are a number of commercial CD-ROMs for teaching pronunciation. These are generally superior to the text and tape alternatives. An example is Pronunciation in American English. There are also some useful sites with pronunciation support: one example is http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/.

g.     Vocabulary

Vocabulary activities have been around since the early days of CALL in the form of electronic flashcards (linking L2 word to L1 translation or L2 word to L2 definition). Other common CALL implementations for vocabulary include the following :

• Hypertext dictionaries/glossaries

      (www.babylon.com; www.voycabulary.com)    

• Talking dictionaries: Longman, Oxford, and Newbury House have learner’s dictionaries with CD-ROMs
• Concordance programs: these programs look for words in collections of texts, or corpora, and return examples of the word in the immediate context it occurs in: an online one is available at www.edict.com.hk/concordance/.
• Picture dictionaries: especially the largest one in the world http://images.google.com.
• Word lists and vocabulary tests for English: General service list; Academic word list, Level tests.

An outstanding portal site for vocabulary teaching and research tools is The Complete Lexical Tutor:  http://www.lextutor.ca/

CONCLUSION

            Based on the discussion mentioned before, the writer may conclude the following point:

1. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is an approach to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a substantial interactive element
2. We use CALL in language learning because it contributes significantly to increase student’s motivation, enhance student’s achievement, authentic material for study, individualization and global understanding.
3. Skills-oriented language teaching remains a common approach for classes as well as for self-learning, and computer-assisted language learning is no exception. In this discussion, we have looked at how both tool and tutor software can be used to support specific skills.

§         Listening is potentially one of the most promising areas for CALL development. This is because multimedia computing has everything standard audio and video have with the addition of a variety of meaning technologies such as text support, hyperlinked glossaries, and even translations.  Listening activities typically involve presentations followed by comprehension questions–some also include full or partial dictations.

§         In terms of direct practice of speaking, recent developments on the web have allowed for voice chat sites which make it possible for learners and teachers to interact through the Internet in distance education courses. 

§         Most reading instruction on disk and the web has involved the use of meaning technologies, such as hypertext glossaries, translations, and notes (on grammar, usage, culture).

§         Writing was revolutionized for everyone with word processing, and the addition of spell checkers has been quite helpful. Grammar and style checkers are much less useful to date, and using a thesaurus can be counterproductive if students are not trained in their limitations.

As we approach the 21st century, we realize that technology as such is not the answer to all our problems. What really matters is how we use technology. Computers can/will never substitute teachers but they offer new opportunities for better language practice.

REFERENCES

 

Hackbarth, Steven. 1996. Educational Technology Handbook a Comprehensive Guide Process and Products for Learning. New Jersey: Educational technology Publications.

Heinich. 1982. Instructional Media and the New Technologies of Instruction.  Canada: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Lee, Kuang-wu. 2000. English Teachers’ Barriers to the Use of Computer-assisted Language Learning. In the Internet TESL journal 2000. http://iteslj.org/Articles/Lee-CALLbarriers.html. Date/Time : May 24, 2007/ 17:10:00.

Motteram, G. 1997. Learner Autonomy and the Web. In V Darleguy et al. (eds) Educational Technology in Language Learning : Theoretical Consideration and Practical applications. Lyons : INSA

Scrimshaw, P. 1993. Language, classrooms, and computers. New York: British Library

Warschauer, M. (1996). Computer-assisted language learning: an introduction. In S. Fotos (Ed.), Tokyo: Logos International