E/Valuating new media in language development

This paper addresses the need for a new approach to the educational evaluation of software that falls under the rubric "new media" or "multimedia" as distinct from previous generations of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software. The authors argue that present approaches to CALL software evaluation are not appropriate for a new genre of CALL software distinguished by its shared assumptions about language learning and teaching as well as by its technical design. The paper sketches a research-based program called "E/Valuation" that aims to assist language educators to answer questions about the educational effectiveness of recent multimedia language learning software. The authors suggest that such program needs to take into account not only the nature of the new media and its potential to promote language learning in novel ways, but also current professional knowledge about language learning and teaching

Investigating the discursive interplay of discourses of (new) multiliteracies : a Bakhtinian perspective

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have given rise to many distinct discourses in the field of literacy studies. The present study examined the discursive interplay between two of these discourses, namely the practical discourses of those who see themselves as empowered by ICTs and the theoretical discourses of theory and research literature on the notions of multiliteracies. Drawing on the emergent discourses from the interview data, this study explored the practitioners' underlying beliefs and their assumptions about technology-mediated new multiliteracies as opposed to traditional print-based literacy. As such the study also argued for a sustainable dialogue between the discourses of practice and discourses of theory and research, suggesting that the discursive interplay between these two discourse communities would contribute to the application of the complex theoretical notions to multiliteracy pedagogy. Employing a qualitative approach, the study drew on Bakhtin's (1986) notion of primary/secondary genres to depict the relevance of the notions of discourse in arriving at the underlying assumptions about the nature of multiliteracies and its implications. This study was broadly framed within a critical social research perspective (Fairclough, 2003). The notion of multiliteracies was explored from the standpoint of the New London Group (1996). Grounded Theory procedures (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) were also employed to identify major themes in the data, while general content analysis method was used to interpret the interview data. The main question that guided this investigation was as follows: How do expert practitioners' perceptions of new multiliteracies and their implications map onto their practices with new multiliteracies? The findings of this study pointed to the practitioners' willingness to implement new approaches in their literacy practices. Moreover, these findings highlighted the importance of a sustainable dialogue between the discourses of theory and practice to enhance literacy educators' pedagogical choices. The researcher hopes that the findings of this study contribute to the future teacher education policy and curriculum development in such a way that current pedagogical practices are expanded to include multiple literacies.Education, Faculty ofLanguage and Literacy Education (LLED), Department ofGraduat

E/Valuating new media in language development

Language instructors are bombarded in professional conversations, conferences and publications with glowing reports and demonstrations of "leading edge", "new generation", "must-have" second or foreign language software packages. Indeed, with the advent of such interesting and attractive software as A la rencontre de Philippe or Dans un quartier de Paris for French, Berliner Sehen or Pilot for German, or Ucuchi for Quechua, and their ilk, it comes as little surprise that a great deal of discussion, often of a highly technical sort, surrounds these new tools for teaching and learning. A question that many of us in the profession are sometimes reluctant to ask about newer software packages is whether in fact the software has convincingly been shown to fulfill its educational purposes. What do we know about the educational effectiveness of the current generation of multimedia language learning software? And, underlying that question, how best do we go about finding out? The present paper makes a modest claim. The authors - all working as language instructors/researchers in school and university settings and sometime designer-developers of language software - argue that a new approach is needed to the educational evaluation of language learning software that falls under the rubric "new media" or "multimedia" as distinct from previous generations of CALL software. The paper discusses the case for such a new approach by arguing that present approaches to the evaluation of CALL software, while reasonably adequate (although not wholly, we note) for earlier generations of CALL programs, are not appropriate for what we show to be a new genre of CALL software distinguished by its shared assumptions about language learning and teaching as well as by its technical design. We conclude by sketching a research-based program of what we term "E/Valuation" that aims to assist language educators to answer questions about the educational effectiveness of recent multimedia language learning software. We suggest that this needs to take into account not only the nature of the new media and its potential to promote language learning in novel ways, but also current professional knowledge about language learning and teaching