计算机辅助语言教学定义,计算机辅助语言教学的发展

Parsing CALL's future

To consider developments in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), it’s useful to parse each word of the phrase.  The first word, “computer,” refers to the device used. Imagine how much change there has been in digital hardware since the days of the huge mainframe computers when CALL was first conceived in the 1950s.  Today, our students have access to a wide range of digital devices, from desktops to laptops to tablets to smartphones. Software has evolved as well to incorporate cloud-based tools, mobile apps, and online resources such as blogs, wikis, and social media sites.  CALL has thus evolved from focusing principally on a computer to incorporating a wide range of digital media inside and outside the classroom.

Now let’s consider the word “assisted”. What exactly are the ways that digital media can assist language learning?  In early days, we thought of the computer as a tutor, providing drill-and-practice activities to learners.  That can still be accomplished today, and in much broader ways.  Students can practice vocabulary on their smartphones anyplace and anytime.  Automated writing evaluation software can give students feedback on their essays. Intelligent tutoring systems can provide learners the types of exercises and questions suited to their exact level. Later, we began to think of the computer as a stimulus, encouraging communicative engagement among learners.  Certainly the vast amount of video, imagery, audio, and text of every conceivable genre available online can stimulate communication more than ever before. Finally, we thought about the computer as tool, and what a powerful tool it has become—for reading, writing, conducting research, and communicating with people all over the world. Probably the best conception of digital media today is as an environment oreco-system, encompassing a broad range of resources, tools, and contexts that enable people to live and learn in a language.  Indeed, for many non-native speakers of English around the world, digital media provides the principal environment in which they use English, more so than face-to-face or paper-based communication.

This leads to the next point, that of “language.” The information revolution of the last few decades has radically transformed what kinds of language that learners around the world need.  On the one hand, the ability to write well has come to the fore, as people all over the world have increased opportunities to participate in business, academic, and civic exchanges involving written communication. At the same time, the importance of interaction among non-native speakers of English is rising in importance.  People in China who learn English might use it as frequently with other non-native speakers from Korea, Japan, Germany, or France, as they use it with Americans or people from Britain. Thus native-like pronunciation fades in importance, whereas practical oral and written skills rise in value.

Finally, what does “learning,” mean? In the early days of computer-assisted language learning, we focused on accuracy.  Then, we started to focus more on fluency.  These are both extremely important.  But I also think that we need to promoteagency, which can be defined as “the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices” (Murray, cited in Warschauer, 2000b). This can occur through authentic research and writing, project-based learning, and collaborative engagement with other learners or speakers of English across the globe.

This then, is the progression of computer-assisted language learning—from the earlier days of scheduled tutoring, to a future in which active, self-directed engagement in a digital environment allows our learners to master technology and language so as to make their words and voices heard. If we teach our students to not only read and write the word, but to also read and write the world, we--and they--will achieve the power of CALL.

For Further Reading

Kern, R., & Warschauer, M. (2000). Theory and practice of network-based language teaching. In M. Warschauer & R. Kern (Eds.), Network-based language teaching: Concepts and practice (pp. 1-19). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Warschauer, M. (1996). Computer-assisted language learning: An introduction. In S. Fotos (Ed.), Multimedia Language Teaching (pp. 3-20). Tokyo: Logos.

Warschauer, M. (2000b). The death of cyberspace and the rebirth of CALL.English Teachers' Journal, 53, 61-67.

Warschauer, M. (2004). Of digital divides and social multipliers: Combining language and technology for human development.  Information and communication technologies in the teaching and learning of foreign languages: State of the art, needs and perspectives (pp. 46-52).Moscow: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.

Warschauer, M., & Grimes, D. (2007).  Audience, authorship, and artifact: The emergent semiotics of Web 2.0.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 27, 1-23.