Computers in second/foreign language learning: what is usable for what?

Abstract

In education, there seems to be a large number of misconceptions about the precise role of the computer and an equal multitude of acronyms which have been developed. The term 'Computer Assisted Language Learning' (CALL with two types of pronunciations as in 'calling' or 'California') seems to be the commonest acronym, "...to describe the use of computers as part of a language course" however with a bias towards the teaching/learning aspect (Hardisty & Windeatt 1989:5). 'Computer Assisted Language' (CALa, the small 'a' to indicate the difference from Computer Assisted Learning CAL) - could be another acronym in the already existed long list which leaves the teaching/learning aspect of the process open. CALa could be divided (in relation to the British tradition of the Communicative Methodology) into four stages:(a) Computer Assisted Language Presentation (CALP), in which the target language (appropriate to the situation) is presented with CALAH (=Computer Assisted Language Awareness Heightening, Scholfield, 1991) features.(b) Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), in which the target language (appropriate to the situation) is practised by repetition of the language or drilling of a key phenomenon (with CALAH features).(c) Computer Assisted Language Use (CALU), in which the language (appropriate tothe situation) is used in role-plays or simulations. The computer here could also be used as a database to give feedback on the role-play if needed.(d) Computer Assisted Language Testing (CALTest ), in which the language (appropriate to the situation) is tested.Categorising CALa software, is not an easy task as: (a) the categories do not seem to be clear-cut, as many items could appear in more than one category, and (b) recent hardware/software developrpent brought about novel items which could have a CALa application and need to be categorised. Our attempt is to provide one such categorisation: (a) including all three (existing) types of categorising CALa, (b) relating each applicatiοn with a CALa activity which we think the item could make a contribution to, and (c) categorising the items according to the ease of use keeping the language ~ teacher in mind, and thus separate: (a) Dedicated CALa, with straight forward use for the uninitiated language teacher, and often designed with CALa activities in mind (b) Non-dedicated CALa, designed initially for other applications, with possible language teaching/learning functions and which usuually requires some previous knowledge either of computers or of computer programs