COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

What is CALL?

CALL is not a method. It is a tool that helps teachers to facilitate language learning process.

CALL can be used to reinforce what has been learned in the classrooms. It can also be used as remedial to help learners with limited language proficiency.

CALL can be made independent of the Internet. It can stand alone for example in a CDROM format.

Depending on its design and objectives, it may include a substantial interactive element especially when CALL is integrated in web-based format

Behavioristic CALL: 1960s language laboratories with cassette players and headphones. Drill labs.

Communicative CALL : It usually taught skills such as reading and listening in a restricted way, even if not in a drill fashion.

Integrative CALL (Multimedia and the Internet): starting from the 1990s, tries to address these criticisms by integrating the teaching of language skills into tasks or projects multimedia technology (providing text, graphics, sound and animation)

LEARNER AUTONOMY

Self access language learning centres

In self-access learning, the focus is on developing learner autonomy through varying degrees of self-directed learning by using CALL.

ADVANTAGES OF CALL

Motivation. Adapting learning to the student: on their

time at their own pace and level. Authenticity: The opportunity to interact in

one or more of the four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) by using or producing texts meant for an audience in the target language, not the classroom. With real communication acts, rather than teacher-contrived ones.

Critical thinking skills: more active processing resulting in higher-order thinking skills and better recall.

LIMITATIONS OF CALL

The first is the limitations of the technology itself: ability to use it and availability in the institution.

Cost.Availability of technological resources such as the Internet

Teacher training: lack of trained teachers, and the need for adopting new teacher roles to guide students.

LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE

ROSETTA STONE

What is language learning software? Software sold in stores and on line. To learn a language interactively.

An example is the Rosetta stone series.

ex2 Ex1

ON-LINE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROGRAMS

ONLINE FREE TUTORIALS

BBC LANGUAGE SERIES

ON LINE LANGUAGE SUPPORT WEBSITES

In addition, there are many online websites supporting language learning. A teacher may guide the students to the best websites to practice and improve their language:

http://www.1-language.com http://a4esl.org/ http://www.agendaweb.org/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.sht

http://www.eslcafe.com http://eleaston.com http://www.smic.be/ http://www.englishbanana.com/ http://www.englishclub.com/support/sitemap.htm

ONLINE FREEWARE: HOT POTATOES

The Hot Potatoes is a program available on line for teachers to use in their teaching:

It includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web.

Hot Potatoes is freeware, meaning it is free for download and you may use it for any purpose or project you like.

Web 2.0

INTERACTIVE WEB TOOLS

Blogs, wikis and RSS are often held up as exemplary manifestations of Web 2.0.

A reader of a blog or a wiki is provided with tools to add a comment or even, in the case of the wiki, to edit the content.

This is what we call the Read/Write web.

What is web 2.0?

The term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information-sharing, on the World Wide Web.

A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content

SITES

You tube , teacher tube teachertube.com

Voice threads: voicethread.com

Wikkis: wikkispaces.com Blogs: blogger.com

BLACKBOARD

WHAT IS BLACKBOARD? It is an interactive web system that links the

teacher, the institution, and the students online.

The institution (university, school …) is responsible for providing teachers and students with this system and managing it.

The courses are laid out on line with unlimited possibilities of quizzes, schedules, exercises, announcements, discussion boards,…..

Teachers and students communicate more effectively.

Enhances learner independence.