Ch.+38+by+Carol+Chapelle

=Chapter 38= =Computer- Assisted Language Learning=

Carol A. Chapele
CALL is defined as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning" (Levy,1977) and covers a broad range of concerns, including the pedagogies implemented through technology and their evaluation.

Principles for CALL pedagogues

For designing CALL tasks some decisions concerning task goal, learner’s activity, number and roles of learners should be taken into account. And this is very important as today’s appropriate CALL activities should posses some qualities which are essential for it now and were not so essential years ago. The qualities appropriate for today’s CALL are: Language learning potential, learner fit, meaning focus, authenticity, positive impact and practicality. **Language learning potential** talks about the level in which CALL activity can be useful for language learning. It states that language learning is most likely to occur when learners are engaged in three types of processes. **Learner fit** refers to the appropriateness of CALL materials to the learners’ ability and individual characteristics. **Meaning focus** indicates direction of learners’ attention to the meaning of the language required for the accomplishment of the task. **Authenticity** refers to the correspondence between the task and the language the learner uses outside the classroom in real life. **The positive impac**t of a CALL task refers to its effects further than its language learning potential. It suggests that Classroom teaching tasks should help learners develop not only language but also metacognitive strategies.
 * Process-Oriented Research **

Process-oriented research focuses on different aspects of learner performance during CALL use. One of these aspects that require an investigation is the **interaction**. The interaction arises when the learner interrupts his reading or listening to get a help (word definition, clarification of some ideas) by clicking on a word he/she is interested in. Another aspect that is useful to observe is **learner fit**. It is very interesting to observe the behavior and the linguistic characteristics of the learner in a computer-assisted classroom. There are also some researches done to investigate meaning-focus and authenticity of CALL tasks. Concerning the research on **meaning-focused** tasks there was an observation of one or two-word target language utterances used to guess the response of a game. Research that investigated learners’ oral language (**authenticity**) as they worked on CALL programs has found that the computer program influences learners’ language, but points of comparison with out-of-class language have not been articulated (Abraham and Liou 1991; Mohan 1992; Piper 1986).
 * Product-oriented research **

Little research has been done on the effects of CALL on learners’ attention on certain linguistic forms/ structures in L2 input. Several studies have been conducted to find out which linguistic forms are emphasized when L2 learners are reading for meaning. These studies were conducted by Doughty (1991); Chun and Plass (1996); Borras and Lafayette (1994); Hsu (1994), etc. The results of the aforementioned studies suggested that there should be emphasis on interactional modifications which can be useful features of CALL and can make positive difference. Several research studies were also done on assessment and feedback. According to Chapelle (2002), additional research is needed to assess language learning prospective of different types of feedback in comprehensible output in both computer-based learning and learner-learner interaction. Thus, it is crucial to have studies that elaborate on learning outcome, i.e. product. It will develop a thorough conceptual structure on the role of interaction in L2 by making connections between SLA theory and CALL research and practice.