How computer - assisted language learning helps/useful in English language Teaching

             

Introduction:

                 In the 1990s the personal camp utter emerged as a significant tool for language teaching and learning , the widespread use of software, local area networks and the internet has created enormous opportunities for learners to enhance their communicative abilities, both by individualizing practice and by tapping into a global community of other learners .

What is computer –assisted language learning?

                “The search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning.

                Call embraces a wide range of information and communications technology applications and approaches to teaching and learning languages.

                The current philosophy of call puts a strong emphasis on student-centred materials that allow learners to work on their own. There are three historical phases of call, classified according to their underlying pedagogical and methodological approaches: 

1 Behaviorictic CALL:-conceived in the 1950s and implemented in the 1960s and 1970s .

2 Communicative CALL;-1970s and 1980s.

3 Integrative CALL; - embracing multimedia and the internet; - 1990s.

Background;-

               Much of the early history of computers in language learning, from the early 1980s to 1990s, was spent in trying to keep up with technological change. Mainframe computers were at first seen us taskmaster: the PLATO system at many universities supplied a number of content courses, particularly in English grammar. Student went to a lab, sat in rows, one to a computer, and “mastered” each piece of a topic bit by bit, through presentation and “practice” in the form of tests.

               In the mid – 80s, the field suddenly changed when silicon chips and the desktop personal computer burst on the scene. However, the miniaturization of electronics meant that each year, small personal computers increased in speed power, until “multimedia” has become virtually synonymous with “computer “. As a result of the constant changes in “computer”, and their evolution from mainframe to laptop, much written about call in its early years was devoted to how to use the new technology, rather than to its empirical effects on leaning one recurrent theme throughout these early days, nonetheless, was the crucial pedagogical debate, largely framed by john Higgins and Tim johns, over whether the computer was ‘master ‘of or ‘slave’ to the learning process. Was the computer to be a replacement for the teacher, or merely an obedient servant to the student?              

              Stephen krashen’s significant body of work in the 1970s and 80s gave a clear focus to the experimental approaches and led TESOL into an era of “communicative language learning”. The predicament for CALL was whether students were to communicate with the computer or with each other, with the computer merely a stimulus to the conversation. One hope was that something like a version of Eliza, the shareware therapist who reflected back student/patient input, might be useful to language learning. i.e. , when the computer didn’t understand an expression, whether because of typo or a faulty construction, it would simply ask, “what is…” the standard for artificial intelligence today is still “when the computer answers, can you tell if it is human?”

Moving into the current (time):-

               The emphasis on natural or “authentic” language expressed itself in TESOL practice in two related but somewhat divergent communicative movement: content-based learning and task-based learning. Fortunately, by the early 1990s, as these approaches came to have considerable influence in the school, computer technology was catching up to its potential.

               Content-based learning is greatly enhanced by the computer, since so much information can be brought into the classroom on content CDs and via internet. I.e. one may store and search a fully multimedia-enhanced version of the Encyclopedia Britannia, or download from the internet the complete work of author etc.

               Task-based learning is also much enhanced by the use of computer. CALL has taken two avenues to this aspect of pedagogy: one is the use of simulation and adventure games, in which the learner plays a role in order to uncover information. Another aspect of task-based learning enhanced by CALL is the use of multimedia tools for student to create their own presentation. i.e. student record their voice, photos, and videos they have made themselves or downloaded from the internet . Creating webpage is itself a major task-based learning.

               Content-based and task-based approaches seemed to solve many of the problems of earlier grammar-based and oral language approaches because of the rich input provided. Yet such input was far too often totally uncontrolled, particularly in the wild and wooly internet environment. Natural language, even with all the supporting apparatus of sound words, words…hardly “it1”. Thus technology using teachers often spend considerable time developing appropriate lesson to support student who use simulation and games created, for the most part for native speaker.

               During the mid to late 1990s, as the internet grew like a giant amoeba, language teachers found a remarkable tool for student-to-student communication: e-mail.  Communication over distance or even within a networked classroom provided fascinating “content” in the ordinary discourse of people learning more about each other and each other’s culture. They can also shared information about topic. At the same time networked writing offering a writing offering a written record of interaction that could be studied and interpreted and used for language “scaffolding”….much as community language learning had attempted to do some 30 years before, but without the tedium of hand typing transcripts.

              The interaction of multimedia technology with communicative method occurred just as teacher and researchers renewed their interest in the cognitive side of learning. There has been much interest in the late 1990s and the early 00s in pedagogical theory called “constructivism”. Originally put forward by Sydney papert, creator of the computer language logo, constructivism describes learning by doing and creating meanings, particularly by using the tools of the computer to explore simulated - but also very real-worlds. This theory of learning, reaching back to John Dewey at its roots, dovetails nicely with the recent recognition in language pedagogy of the need to encompass higher cognitive process in the learning task. Annauhl chamot and Michael   O’Malley, creator of the cognitive academic language learning approach or CALL, are probably the chief proponents of this view at present. The cognitive approach speaks to the need for student to be aware of their own learning process, and to organize and structure their learning themselves. The plethora of information now available electronically makes just such cognitive demands on the language student, while technology can provide the means to easily structure and organize new information and incorporate it into the learning process.

Comparative studies:

                The comparison of computer-enhanced classes with ‘traditional’ or conventional classes. However, comparable research variables are difficult to establish since the kinds of activity student carry out in the computer environment may be very different from those in conventional classes. Also comparing computer use with other technologies i.e. computer-based listening activities and audio-taped language materials in a ‘traditional’ language lab.

Future trends of CALL:

                Here, we find that how students participate in and direct their own learning. Concordance programs allow us to compare any set of texts to each other, i.e. the differences between written and spoken collocations, giving us new insight into the nature of language. The technology-based tools for research are as yet only barely being applied, but they should enhance considerably our understanding of linguistic and SLA.

                Another factor is “convergence”, the tendency of technologies to meld and reinvent each other. We are very close to an affordable cell phone-PDA-computer-Internet combination, probably in a “wearable” format that will give maximum mobility and convenience to the learner. It is also a proposition that offers inclusion to student with physical disabilities that may current prevent them from access to learning at their own pace and their own mode.

                As culturally sensitive teachers keep in mind the significance of “glocalization”, that is, being both local and global at the same time. How will CALL prepare the citizens of world culture for multilingualism on a grand scale while preserving the uniqueness and worth of the many sometimes tiny cultures that drink from and contribute to that fast-flowing stream of information? As distance learning, especially internet-based education, becomes the dominant mode, technology-using teachers have a responsibility to look ahead and plan for that eventuality. One important aspect of such planning would be the creation of standards for technology-based distance learning.

                Technology has become an environment for learning language. The implications of a technology-enhanced environment are quickly realized by teachers and student: once they have technology, there is no going back to unadulterated chalkboards and lined theme paper. Teachers cannot afford to be the “sage on the stage”, when any student can seek information, communicate with peers and experts, and control learning individuality. The old debate over tutor vs. tool or master vs. slave takes on different shades of meaning when the role of the teacher itself has changed from instructor/task master to guide/mentor. The computer is no longer master, but it is simply a tool, for it changes what learning is, as the printing press changed learning and culture in the late middle ages of Europe.

Speaking skill:-

           Speech-recognition technology, allow student to control computer action with speech input. Speech-recognition activities allow the shy student to speak up. Many programs, including Dynamic English and ELLIS, use this technology.

Listening skill:-

                On the internet student can self-access much authentic listening content. Many content              CD-ROM and DVDs also provide audio files for the written texts, so that students may listen as they read, often a rare opportunity to hear the rhythms and accents of the language as written and spoken by native speakers.

Reading skill:-

                Although reading long passages on the computer screen is not recommended, reading skills programs can enhance reading speed by paced reading activities, where lines of text are scrolled with pre-determined timing; by automating the creation of cloze passages; by timing students reading; and by creating jigsaw paragraphs or jumbled texts.

Writing skill and composition:-

                One of the earliest computer technologies readily adapted by language teachers is the word processor. Computers can enhance all aspects of the writing process, allowing easy revision and multiple drafts, spell checking: also, increasingly sophisticated translation suggestions and grammatical advice are available, which may be used with caution by advanced writers.

Authenticity:

                Student learners an authentic work skill while exploring topics relevant to them. Most authoring software allows projects to be converted into web pages. i.e., web projects. Rather than studying the language in isolation, an important trend in TESOL is the use of content to build language skills. As content resource, both software and the internet provide much data which student may explore in various modes. An extremely wide range of content is available on the internet for adaptation to language lessons. Website, ready-made teaching materials and on-line lessons which may be adapted for language learners.

Advantage of CALL:

      1)      Learners can have opportunities to interact and negotiate meaning, teaching learners with computer networks for a communication with others inside and outside the classroom.

      2)      Learners can involve in authentic tasks with authentic audience. i.e. using e-mail and participating in on-line projects on the world wide web.

      3)      Learners can be exposed to and encouraged to produce creative language. i.e. using multimedia-video, high lightened text.

Grammar and vocabulary also plays a vital role in CALL. Beyond naked drills and exercise, teachers find that grammar and vocabulary games can be very motivating for learners in two or three around one computer screen; i.e. puzzle maker allows users to construct puzzles on line based on their own word lists.

Conclusion:

There is one quote.

                “The unique property of the computer as a medium for education is its ability to integrate with the student. Books and tape recording can tell a student what the rules are and what the right solution are, but they cannot analyze the specific mistake the student has made and react in a manner which leads him not only to correct his mistake, but also to understand the principle behind the correct solution”.