“In times where small instructor-led classrooms tend to be the exception, electronic learning solutions can offer more collaboration and interaction with experts and peers, as well as a higher success rate than the live alternative.”
- Keith Bachman,
Corporate eLearning Executive, W.R. Hambrecht and Assoc.
Learning is a life-long process. The urge of learning should come from within and whenever it comes, there aren't teachers physically present in front of learners to answer their doubts, some things are to be learnt by self, through technology. Learning is a product of educational self-organization. Sugata Mitra says that it is not making learning happen but it is about letting it happen. In letting learning happen, technology is needed. Technology is no longer a fringe course enhancement, of interest to only enthusiastic 'technophile' teachers, learners and managers, but rather, it has an importance for everyone concerned in language teaching.
"Technology is not a panacea or a magic bullet that suddenly transforms all learning. The effectiveness of educational technology depends on how it is employed to meet educational goals for particular kinds of students in specific language learning environments…." (Oxford and others, 1998: 13)
Technology-enhanced language learning refers to the use of the computer as technological innovation to display multimedia as a means of complementing a teaching method language teacher.
“You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it.” - Seymour Papert
CALL and MALL are new realms towards learning a language in general and learning L2 vocabulary in particular. This blogpost attempts to provide the introductory understanding of both these realms.
CALL
Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is defined as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in
language teaching and learning." (Levy, 1997: 1)
Purpose-made materials for language learning are included in CALL. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) studies the role and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in second/foreign language learning and teaching. It includes a wide range of activities spanning materials and courseware development, pedagogical practice and research. Mark Warschauer in his article titled 'Computer Assisted Language Learning: an Introduction' talks about Three Phases of CALL.
Behavioristic CALL was defined by the dominant behaviourist theories of learning of Skinner as well as the technological limitations of computers from the 1960s to the early 1980s.
- In this theory, the learners observe the information, practice the information and then receive reinforcement through praise.
- Behaviorists believed that all kind of learning, including the learning of a foreign language, operates through conditioning.
Language Labs: the dominant technical device for language learning, it provided increased opportunities for students to hear and repeat language, important facets of the audio-lingual method of language instruction. The design of this program is 'drill and practice'. the computer serves as a vehicle for delivering instructional materials to the student.
Communicative CALL is based on the communicative approach to teaching which became prominent in the 1970s and 80s. It is a reaction to the audio-lingual approach. It focuses on language as a medium of communication. It believes that people speak language in order to communicate and perceive things in order to respond to it effectively.
The third model of computers in communicative CALL involves the computer as tool called computer as workhorse or integrative CALL. Although the early 1980s saw a boom in CALL, largely due to the introduction and widespread availability of inexpensive microcomputers, language teacher programmers, and word processing on microcomputers (Levy). By the later 1980s and early 1990s, critics pointed out that the computer was still being used in an ad hoc and disconnected fashion (Warschauer & Healey, 1998)
Integrative approaches to CALL are based on two important technological developments of the last decade:
• Multimedia CALL.
• Web-based CALL.
MALL
Nowadays, as it is said that everything is available on our fingertip and Mobile plays a a vital role in supporting many kinds of learning, including language learning. As observed by David Crystal, through social media and the texting language is good for English language learners as it helps in practicing English or any other language skills on a regular basis.
MALL is a subset of both Mobile Learning (m-learning) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL). MALL has evolved to support students’ language learning with the increased use of mobile technologies such as mobile phones (cellphones), MP3 and MP4 players, PDAs and devices such as the iPhone or iPad. With MALL, students are able to access language learning materials and to communicate with their teachers and peers at any time, anywhere.
References-
"CALL - Computer Assisted Language Learning". MOHAMED EL OUARDI, 2021, https://mohamedelouardi.weebly.com/call---computer-assissted-language-learning. Accessed 13 Jan 2021.
Levy, Michael. CALL: context and conceptualisation. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Patel, Dipika S. "Significance of technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) in language classes." Journal of Technology for ELT 4.2 (2014): 1.
Polat, Mustafa. "CALL In Context: A Brief Historical And Theoretical Perspective". Issues And Trends In Learning Technologies, vol 5, no. 1, 2017, p. ., https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/itet/article/view/20312/19939#:~:text=Warschauer%20and%20Healey%20(1998)%20divided,certain%20pedagogical%20approach%E2%80%9D%20(p. Accessed 13 Jan 2021.
Warschauer, Mark, and Deborah Healey. "Computers and language learning: An overview." Language teaching 31.2 (1998): 57-71.
Warschauer, Mark. "Computer-assisted language learning: An introduction." Multimedia language teaching 320 (1996).
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