LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
An Invitation to CALL
Foundations of Computer-Assisted Language
Learning
Unit 5: CALL and Language Skills
OVERVIEW
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 unit, we look at how both tool and tutor software can be used to support specific skills. In particular, we will look at 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.
The questions you should be trying to answer are the following:
A good set of links for all skills can be found at the Ohio Program of Intensive English site: www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/. Also, there are online language proficiency tests available, such as those by Transparent Language.
ESL PORTALS
Because of the enormous number of English teachers and learners, there are quite a few portals for ESL. Often these are commercial, aimed at getting "eyeballs" for advertisers. Some of these are divided by skills and have examples of web-based materials: see www.eslgold.com or http://esl.about.com or just type "ESL" plus the skill you're interested in into Google. Portals for other commonly taught languages can be found in a similar way.
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 my 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 Uncommon Knowledge, featuring interviews and panel discussions with public policy experts (note: only the ones before 2006 have the text).
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.
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 podcasts. 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. Auralog's TellMeMore is an example of a program 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.
It has been suggested by many practitioners that using text-based chat supports the development of speaking skills indirectly due to the synchronous and informal nature of chat:. 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.focusenglish.com/dialogues/conversation.html.
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
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.
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.
GRAMMAR
Grammar practice was perhaps the earliest use of CALL. Today grammar work is largely focused on the following:
PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation work is generally of three types.
In fact, the Rosetta Stone site (www.rosettastone.com ) provides a good opportunity to explore all three types of pronunciation support. The sample lessons allow you to see intonation tracking as well as get a machine score of the closeness of your pronunciation to a native norm. It should be noted, however, that this scoring is not the same as a native speaker would give: sometimes a native speaker will even be marked low.
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/.
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.
An outstanding portal site for vocabulary teaching and research tools is The Compleat Lexical Tutor: http://www.lextutor.ca/
CULTURE
Links specifically for culture are found on the website for intercultural communication at Ohio University, though they are not annotated. Obviously, this is a huge area for foreign language teaching, where authentic cultural material is readily accessible through the web. To review a proposed pedagogical framework for culture and technologies, see Levy (2007) at http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/pdf/levy.pdf.