Week 03 – 2: Readings

Readings

- The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills by Julia Gong

1) CALL: Computer-Assisted Language Learning
-definition: The search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning
2) Spoken language competence covers two aspects, i.e. the mechanical aspect and the meaningful aspect. (Pennington, 1995)
-mechanical aspect: learn to discriminate and produce sounds of a language and tie these together prosaically in fluent strings of sounds comprising syllables, words, phrases and longer utterances or articulation and decoding of individual sounds (phonemes)
-meaningful aspect: learn to build as well as to decompose grammatically coherent utterances and to tie these to communicate functions according to rules for pragmatic appropriateness in a given speech community
3) Application
-mechanical Dimension: in pronunciation training (provided with synthesis-by-rule technology, visual aids, speech recognition technology, speech analysis technology, and so on)
-meaningful Dimension: in developing speaking competence (provided with authentic and simulating conversational environment)
-other fields: electronic dictionary, verbal command recognition, the use of speech recognition and analysis for assessment purposes, and the integration of speaking with other language skills
4) Advantages
-The computer environment is highly motivating and offers a private workspace.
-The computer medium offers learners information in wide forms and formats to set up models, or support and contextualize interaction.
-The controllability of CALL materials allows learners to precede learning at their own pace and teachers to arrange their teaching to meet different needs.
-Many CALL materials can offer spontaneous feedback that can be used both for assessment or self-assessment purposes.
-Networked computers enhance interaction between users and the target language content, and a multitude of other resources free from the restriction of time and distance.
5) Disadvantages
-At present computers are unable to produce or understand natural language or have real interaction with the users.
-The quality and cost of available software differs greatly.
-The potential of CALL materials may fail to be realized in specific cases due to various types of misapplication or improper use.
-The demand of computer memory restricts the design of CALL materials.
-Teachers and learners should keep in mind that most exposure to the CALL environment is indeed ‘virtual’ and not real.

Sources:
- The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/research/resources/student_res/postscriptfiles/vol3/vol3_1_gong1.pdf