Overview 2: Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

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Let us enlighten you on the overview of CALL, shall we?

There is a quote that says;

"….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)

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Definition of 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) More specifically, CALL is the use of computer technologies that promote educational learning, including word processing, presentation packages, guided drill and practice, tutor, simulation, problem solving, games, multimedia CD-ROM, and internet applications such as e-mail, chat and the World Wide Web (WWW) for language learning purposes.

There are several terms associated with CALL. CALL is variously known as Computer-Aided Language Learning (CALL), Computer-Assisted Language Instruction (CALI) and Computer-Enhanced Language Learning (CELL). The first two terms generally refer to computer applications in language learning and teaching, while CELL implies using CALL in a self-access environment (Hoven, 1999).

Why CALL?

The reasons why ELT teachers use CALL:

• Computers can do some of the work of the teacher and provide great assistance to the learner even without the presence of the teacher (Pennington and Steven, 1992).

• New technologies have seen computers become smaller, faster, and easier for the teacher to use (Evy, 1997). 

• Technologies allow computers to do multimedia applications, incorporating video, sound, and text, and this capacity allows the learner to interact with both the program and other learners. (Felix, 1998).

• The computer offers great flexibility for class scheduling and pacing of individual learning, choosing activities and content to suit individual learning styles. (Oxford and others, 1998)

• The computer can provide a meaning-focused, communicative learning environment, which serves the purposes of communicative language teaching.

The source of this post is taken from the article by Barrung Torat on the Overview of CALL.

For full article, click here.

To know more on the stages of CALL, visit Warshauer’s article on this link:

http://www.ict4lt.org/en/warschauer.htm

Overview 3: Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

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Hello everyone,

Let’s learn something new about Computer Mediated Communication.

This is just the basic information that you should know about Computer Mediated Communication or better known as CMC.

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Computer mediated communications (CMC) can be defined as a communicative transaction which takes place through the use of networked, or linked computers. There are two modes of CMC, synchronous and asynchronous. In synchronous mode, all the participants are online simultaneously, which is in real time. Asynchronous mode on the other hand is a mode of CMC where interactants communicate in different time. Synchronous CMC tools include chat rooms, webinars and video conferences. Blogs, email, and discussion boards are examples of how to communicate using asynchronous CMC tools.

As technology develops, the concept of CMC continuously expands. Text-based interaction has evolved to using streaming video as a method of interpersonal communication. Despite the changes, interactivity remains a key reason why Internet communication supports interpersonal communication. Behind all Internet communication, people communicate with each other, either directly or through software design. Internet interactivity occurs as interpersonal interactivity, informational interactivity, and human-computer interaction (HCI).

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Nowadays, information interactivity transpires through the Web, which adds graphical interface to the Internet. The Web combines elements of informational interactivity with interpersonal interactivity because increasingly older CMC genres, such as chat and discussion groups, are being integrated into Web sites. 

Increased availability of the internet has driven CMC growth over the years, especially in the commerce and academic industries. There are many advantages to using these tools; one of the most obvious is that they allow participants time and place independence. This shows that in order to collaborate with others using CMC tools, people are not required to be physically together. Instead, they can reside at their individual locations.

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In addition, by using asynchronous tools, participants do not have to be communicating at the same time. Users have more freedom and save cost as the medium provides time and place independence. Traditional communication may require people to  travel long distances or spend large sums of money attempting to bridge location and time differences (Good Practice 2008). 

Specific to academic use, CMC is increasingly being used for distance learning, or online classes. It provides students with the opportunity to attend classes and events online. It is also, a less expensive of an approach and does not restrict attendance based on location. Most of distance learning programs, which utilize CMC tools find that students are able to receive the same level of education and learning via a computer as they can by attending a class. The true meaning and benefits of collaboration can also be learned through CMC. 

Without being near each other, participants are able to set goals, monitor those goals, share ideas and documents, make decisions and take accountability for their work (La Bonte 1999). Through CMC, students are able to collaborate at a distance, forcing them to embrace the technology and work together. 

The source of this post is from Susan C. Herring article entitled, Computer Mediated Communication : Introduction & Overview. 

Retrieve the article here.

Enjoy! 

Let's Learn Sociolinguistics!

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There are various videos posted on YouTube about Sociolinguistics subjects.

These are just some of them.

Simply click on the video to gain clarification on some aspects you may learn in Sociolinguistics.

Hope you find these videos helpful.

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Overview: What is Sociolinguistics?

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Now, lets talk about interesting information about Sociolinguistics subject, shall we?

Below is the overview of what Sociolinguistics is all about.

Hope you find this, informative and useful.

Sociolinguistics: An academic field of study in Linguistics which has only developed within the last fifty years, in the latter part of the last century.

Scope: Social aspects of language, in the intersection of language and society.

First coined: The word sociolinguistics was apparently coined in 1939 in the title of an article by Thomas C. Hodson, “Sociolinguistics in India” in Man in India.

First used: In linguistics by Eugene Nida in the second edition of his Morphology (1949: 152), but the term always been attributed to Haver Currie (1952), who himself claimed to have invented it.

William Labov has called Sociolinguistics secular linguistics, "in reaction to the contention among many linguists working in a broadly Chomskyan framework that language can be dissociated from its social functions" (Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language, 2005).

In the late 1960s, Sociolinguistics became popularized as a field of study and there were two labels – sociolinguistics and sociology of language – for the same phenomenon. The terms; the study of the intersection and interaction of language and society were also used interchangeably.

Eventually, wider description of language is made in relation to social factors, including differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, gender differences, and bilingualism.

Sociolinguists attempt to isolate the linguistic features used in particular situations that mark the various social relationships among the participants and the significant elements of the situation. Factors influencing the choice of sounds, grammatical elements, and vocabulary may include age, gender, education, ethnic identity, occupation, and peer-group identification.

The sources of this post can be retrieved here:

http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lg/lg232/DefinitionsSlx.html

http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lg/lg232/Standards.html

http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/

http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lg/lg232/SpeechComDefs.html

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/summary.html

Download free E-books from these links:

Meyerhoff-Introducin Sociolinguistics

Wardhaugh-Introduction to Sociolinguistics 

Enjoy!

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