Call use in English teaching

USES OF CALL IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

This section gives a brief overview of how CALL has been used or can be used for the purpose of language learning and teaching. The use of CALL can be divided as follows: (1) Computer as Drill and Practice, (2) Computer as Tutor (3) Computer as Simulation / Problem Solving, (4) Computer as Game, (5) Computer as Tool for ELT teachers and learners, and (6) Applications of Internet for ELT.

Computer as drill and practice

In this use of CALL, computers are viewed as a tool for saving time with the immediate feedback. The learning principles behind Drill and Practice is the Behaviorism Learning Theory and the Audiolingual approach language to teaching. The main aim of Drill and Practice is to review the content / background knowledge, and to assist the learners to master separate language skills (such as reading, listening, etc.)

Drill and practice consists of three steps: Providing stimulus; Receiving active response from the learner; and Giving immediate feedback.

There are several types of drill and practice activities (exercises) such as Paired Associate (Matching); Sentence Completion; Multiple Choice; Part Identification; True-False; and Short-Answer questions.

Well-designed Drill and Practice programs can record the learner’s progress and scores and the time a student spends on each exercise. Some programs add timing features to help the learner to control their speed while practicing. Drill and practice CALL programs in the early years focused on practicing language skills and components separately (such as vocabulary, grammar (such as irregular verbs, past tense, articles), reading, and translation. A lot of drill and practice exercises were produced by classroom teachers. There are several limitations of Drill and Practice exercises such as the lack of interaction and content materials which are not authentic, meaningful, and contextualized (Felix, 1998). As a result, the receptive language drill and practice programs of the 1960s –1970s did not produce enough authentic communication for the learners.

Another type of Drill and Practice is so called "contextualized activities" such as gap filling, reconstructing texts, etc. Examples of these programs are those developed in early 1980s such as Cloze exercises, Text reconstruction, and Eclipse (by Higgins), etc. A key authoring program used to generate text reconstruction is Storyboard, written by John Higgins (Levy, 1997).
 
 
 
 

Computer as tutor

The role of the computer as tutor is to present to the learners the content of the lesson as text graphics, video, animation, or slides, including learning activities, drills and practice. The computer serves as a means for delivering instructional materials.

The program consists of the following stages: Introduction stage (stating aims, background knowledge), Presentation of the content, exercises and/or testing; and Giving the feedback.

Examples of CALL tutorial programs are:

• Grammar : Longman Grammar Software; Grammar Expert Plus; Tense Buster (Clarity Software); Grammar Mastery (ALA); Grammar Rom (Addison Wesley Longman); Grammar 3D: Contextualized Practice for Learners of English (Heinle & Heinle).

• Reading : Read It! Study Skills (Clarity Language Consultants) (EAP reading); RocketReader (1998) (a speed reading program); ReadFlex (Speed Reading); Reading for English (Athelstan) (Reading Comprehension); SEEN: Tutorials for Critical Reading (KenCD Software) (tutorials designed to develop analytical thinking and critical reading skills); Accelerated Reader (Advantage Learning Systems).

• Writing : Paragraph Punch (a writing tutor for effective paragraph); WriteExpress Easy Letters (effective business letters); Power Editing (an interactive tutorial on how to edit and revise sentences); Report Writer for Science and Engineering Reports (Clarity Language Consultants) (EFL/ESL report science and engineer writing).

• Speaking, Pronunciation & Listening: Learn to Speak (The Learning Company); English Pronunciation (1997-98) (Okanagan University College); Dragon, Naturally Speaking (A voice recognition program); See It, Hear It, Say It! (Courseware Publishing International); Accent Improvement (SpeakWare); Real English (Wiser Software).
• Integrated Skills / Courseware: Ellis (CALI), Dynamic English (DynEd); English Discoveries (Berlitz); English Language Development (Jostens); Rosetta Stone (Fairfield Language Technologies); Planet English (Unisearch Ltd and the University of New South Wales); Issues in English (Protea Software);Active English (Courseware Publishing International).

Computer used for simulation / problem solving

Simulations and problem solving is used to foster analysis, critical thinking, discussion and writing activities. The computer is not used much for tutorial purposes. The program is designed to create language interaction through problematic situations, conditions or problems challenging for the learner to solve. Many simulation programs are problem solving games, which are entertaining and educational ("edutainment").

Oregon Trail (1995-1998) (CD-ROM)<http://www.cd-romlink.com> is one of the earliest educational simulation problem solving games. The learners are challenged to make a series of decisions to guide their party from Missouri to Oregon by covered wagon. These decisions begin with choosing a departure date, through the daily decisions relating to pace, restocking and direction. The learners face a series of obstacles: fires, floods, injuries, no water, bad water, no grass, food spoilage, etc. The learners have to make life-or-death decisions. Though Oregon Trail is not directly designed for ELT classes, the teacher can create learning activities in both receptive and productive skills.

Other educational simulation problem solving games are Carmen Sandiego, A Day in the Life (1995), and Carmen Sandiego Word Detective (1999), which helps learners to master essential language skills, Amazon Trail II (The Learning Company) which is a simulation of a trip up the Amazon River.

Computer as game

The main principle behind computer gaming is that "Learning is Fun." The main aim is to create a pleasurable learning environment , and to motivate the language learner. However, good educational games should have clear educational objectives.

CALL games and simulation games are similar in that both are designed to motivate students to learn through entertainment. However, they are different in certain ways. Simulation games always use simulations (real life situations) in the presentation of a game, while CALL games focus on providing fun, but challenging environment to the learner. Though CALL games have clear learning objectives, they are different from Tutorials and Drill and Practice. The main function of CALL games is not so much to present the language content as tutorials do but to provide entertainment to the learner.

Examples of CALL vocabulary games are Spelling Games, Spelling Bee and Magic Hat, Scrambled Word, Word Worm, Hangman, Word Order, Find a Word, Word Puzzles,Spelling Buddy, Cross Words, I Love Spelling (DK multimedia), Scrabble Deluxe (Virgin Games) (Computerized version of the board game), etc.