Basic Agenda

CALL Theoretical Basis/Research Agenda 

CALL is not yet a mature field and lacks a theoretical framework. The problems suffered by SLA researchers and practitioners ring true in the field of CALL. In fact, they are even more acute due to the relative youth of CALL. 37 A lack of theoretical framework makes it hard for researchers to compare and evaluate findings from CALL studies. It means that practitioners have no universally accepted theoretical basis to provide direction for development and implementation of CALL materials (McCarthy, 1999). It means that mistakes are repeated and wheels reinvented. Scarce resources are diverted (if not wasted) in the process. According to Myles (1998), CALL items (such as feedback) are overlooked or procedures such as testing are unreliable because of this. Garrett (1998) states that currently CALL suffers problems in the research area.



She reports that some language teachers say that the use of technology in inevitable and therefore research is not required as CALL is going to happen anyway. Another issue is that CALL research tends to try to show that CALL is effective, which is often hard to do (and should not be the only type of research). A more institutional problem is the fact that CALL research is often not valued by the institutional powers in terms of promotion in the academic world. CALL workers are often a minority within university academic environments and there is sometimes little recognition for their work. Garrett (op. cit.) argues that CALL needs a research agenda, not only to gain more respect for CALL workers but also to justify current practice and open up new approaches. Technology is going to play a bigger role in language teaching and up to now there is little solid evidence of the good and bad reasons for its use. A lot of CALL work is informal and anecdotal – no universally accepted and empirically valid framework exists. Sussex (1999) points out that there is a need for a framework to help structure and evaluate Internet sites, software and pedagogy.


 A theory for CALL must encompass reality, address aspects of the target domain and be appropriate. For the world’s major languages (especially English), there are a wide variety of resources already developed, with plenty of authentic material available. Rather than reduplicate efforts and engage in reinvention of wheels, Felix (1999) suggests that global co-operation should take place. She acknowledges that it is hard to identify centres of excellence (given the size of the Internet), but that the effort spent doing so would be worthwhile. Up to now, most of the research has focused on the teaching side of CALL (Maingard, 1999) and more research is needed on the learner’s perspective of CALL. Learners find CALL enjoyable (Levy, 1997: p. 144) and report satisfaction with the CALL process, but there are still many unknowns.