CALICO 2004
Conference Presentations
Day Two: June 11, 2004
8:00 – 8:45
Helping Language Students Become Better Language Learners: Embedding Explicit Strategy Instruction into Online Learning Materials
Dianna Murphy
Proponents of strategies-based instruction (SBI), a learner-centered approach that aims to help language students become better language learners, argue that strategy instruction should be made explicit if learners are to transfer a new strategy to other tasks. This presentation will show how two multilingual authoring tools developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Listening Assistant and Activity Creator, can be used to create web-based listening comprehension lessons that provide students with explicit instruction in listening and other language use and language learning strategies.
Get the JIST: An Auditory Comprehension Strategy for the Foreign Language Learner
Mary Toulouse
Previous research indicates that learning strategies empower second-language learners by making them self-sufficient. We shall demonstrate and discuss the theory behind a computerized multimedia tutorial that teaches a learning strategy for better auditory comprehension of a foreign language. The listening strategy, a mnemonic called “Get the JIST,” trains students to: J-just listen, I-isolate vocabulary, S-seek out sentences, T-target facts. The JIST is a multipass strategy, based on a number of classic studies for teaching the learning disabled. The tutorial uses animated gifs, multiple choice, and drop/drag activities with lyrics from music to present the strategy.
Development and Delivery of Online Arabic and Russian Proficiency Tests
Paula Winke
The Center for Applied Linguistics developed Arabic and Russian listening and reading proficiency tests based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. These tests, delivered via a secure Internet browser, are semi-adaptive, and are available for placement or proficiency testing. The project, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, also produced a replicable model (a Framework) for developing online proficiency tests for less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). This presentation will demonstrate the two tests, explain the adaptability of the tests, and provide information on developing LCTL online test items according to this project’s framework.
Internationalizing the Elementary Curriculum: The SEEDS Project
Tony Erben
Jeannie Ducher
Phase 3 of the SEEDS project (Support for Elementary Educators through Distance Education in Spanish) aims at internationalizing the elementary curriculum by allowing teacher and students to view, experience, and reinforce the existing curriculum through facts, events, activities, and methodologies derived from the rich Hispanic heritage of the United States and its cultures. This presentation will uncover the process preceding the realization of the third phase of the project based on distance-education principles and proven immersion strategies and involving monolingual and Spanish bilingual generalist elementary teachers in the conceptualization and generation of this unique online tool for professional development.
NativeAccent–Pinpointing Errors in the Pronunciation of English
Maxine Eskenazi
Gary Pelton
Carnegie Speech’s NativeAccent listens to a nonnative English speaker and points to any pronunciation mistakes. It then provides correction information. From the individual student’s performance, the system structures its curriculum to address the discovered pronunciation problems. NativeAccent’s uniqueness resides in its ability to pinpoint exactly which sounds made by the speaker are correct and which are not correct. The pinpointing forms the basis for both the prescriptive advice given to the student and the intelligent tutoring system used to select the appropriate lessons for the student.
Entre dicho y hecho …: An Assessment of the Application of Second Language Acquisition
Barbara Lafford
Peter A. Lafford
Julie Sykes
Many findings from Spanish second language acquisition (SLA), computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and related research are applicable to the creation of Spanish CALL materials, but there is often a lack of integration of these findings in the creation of software products. The purpose of this paper is to bring together findings from research in various research fields related to Spanish SLA in order to propose some design features of CALL software that would apply these insights to the creation of computer-based activities. We will also discuss logistical barriers impacting the creation of CALL materials and possible solutions to those problems.
Negotiating for Meaning across Borders: Tandem Language Learning through CMC
Peggy Patterson
Susana Trabaldo
CMC provides language students with an excellent opportunity to interact in Tandem Language Learning (TLL). TLL involves the interaction of two individuals with different native languages that are learning each other’s native language. This investigation looks at the discourse produced by two groups of university students participating in TLL. Fifty students of Spanish in the USA exchanged email, contributed to Bulletin Board forums, and participated in conversations using Instant Messaging with 50 students of English in Buenos Aires. An analysis of the language produced by these three methods of CMC showed a variety of discourse functions, including negotiating for meaning.
9:00 – 9:45
Online Proficiency Assessment: A Model for Development Across Languages
Robert L. Davis
Madeline Spring
The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS, the Northwest NFLRC) has developed an online suite of tools that provide an integrated system for instruction and proficiency-based assessments (Spanish and Japanese available; French, German, Chinese, Turkish, and Hebrew in development). This session describes both the online tools and the innovative development process, with suggestions for how the process can be applied to other technology-intensive projects.
The Interactive Syllabus: Using Course Management Systems to Create a Web-based Interactive Syllabus
Jane Sokolosky
This paper will give guidelines and suggestions on how to create a web-based interactive syllabus using a course management system from companies like Blackboard or WebCT. The interactive syllabus incorporates the skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking and includes a large cultural component. Activities include a project called the “Digitales Lesevergnügen” ‘the pleasure of reading digitally’ and the writing of a serial novel. Although this syllabus was initially designed for an intermediate German course that used the textbook Kaleidoskop, the ideas inherent in the interactive syllabus can be adapted for a wide range of skill levels and languages.
Myths and Pitfalls with User Prototyping in Tutorial CALL: Towards Design Alternatives in a Research-based Research-oriented Approach
Jozef Colpaert
Wilfried Decoo
In this presentation, we will give an overview of lifecycle models in engineering of tutorial CALL and focus on user prototyping. We will discuss the advantages of iterative user-prototyping approaches, but also the constraints: why they are less amenable to include empirical and epistemological findings and why they do not necessarily lead to reusable and exchangeable concepts and components which can be used by other CALL researchers and developers worldwide. We will explain the advantages of real-world implementation as a source of user feedback which leads to a new engineering loop based on working hypotheses.
Pittsburgh’s Online Oral Proficiency Testing Program
Thekla Fall
Susan Cefola
Devin Browne
Chris Dalessandri
This session will present Pittsburgh Public Schools’ exciting standards-based online speaking proficiency test. Last spring, Pittsburgh was the first district in the nation to collect and rate over 1,300 student speech samples online. Program components will be demonstrated from the point of view of the student, teacher, administrator, and software developer. Also included will be a discussion of the challenges and solutions to implement this program in 36 schools with computers of varying ages and configurations; for students in grades 5, 8, and high school; and teachers and students with varying degrees of tech proficiency.
Working Memory, Synchronous CMC, and L2 Oral Proficiency Development
J. Scott Payne
Brenda Ross
Recently, a number of SLA researchers have experimentally investigated a connection between real-time, L2 conversation via text and second language oral proficiency development (Healy-Beauvois, 1998; Payne & Whitney, 2002; Kost, 2003; Abrams, 2003). Findings from Payne and Whitney (2002) suggest that L2 chat develops the same cognitive mechanisms underlying spontaneous L2 speech and gives students with lower working memory capacity a leg up in developing speaking ability in the target language. This presentation reports findings from a combined psycholinguistic and corpus linguistic analysis of 21 chat sessions from that study in an effort to gain additional insight into how working memory capacity limitations may modulate L2 learner performance.
How Effective are Authoring Tools: To What Extent do They Allow for Half-open Exercises and Corrective Feedback?
Hans Paulussen
Piet Desmet
In this talk, we will present a number of criteria which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of authoring tools, especially when used to provide CALL exercises which are different from the stimulus-response type and which therefore are typically used for intermediate and advanced learners. The criteria presented focus on global tree structure, corrective feedback, half-open exercises, and the functional integration of multimedia. Half-open exercises facilitate the use of alternative variable answers, typically used in translation exercises, dictation, reformulation, and correction exercises. Corrective feedback can help the learner to gradually find the correct answer.
The Electronic Network for Language and Culture Exchange (ENLACE): Development and Implementation
Gary A. Cziko
Raymond D. Meredith
The Electronic Network for Language and Culture Exchange (ENLACE) provides a web-based synchronous communication environment for language and culture learning using the principles of tandem learning. Pairs of students learn each other’s language and culture through synchronous interaction using text, audio and/or video. This presentation will include (a) a demonstration of the current capabilities of ENLACE, (b) plans for its global implementation, (c) a discussion of its potential as a tool for research into second language and culture learning, and (d) an account of its use in an eTandem project involving students at the University of Illinois and Heidelberg University.
10:00– 10:20
Teaching ESL Internet Resources
Darcy Christianson
A review of the web site teaching ESL Internet resources that provides a quick and comprehensive reference directly from various and free resources on the Internet such as movie scripts, tongue twisters, and analogies to accompany activities and games for teaching and learning ESL skills.
Using Commercials in the Foreign Language Classroom
Eric Jewell
Audiovisual materials have long been considered an important part of the foreign language classroom. Current research supports this trend claiming improved aural skills and retention among learners. However, video media are often difficult to incorporate into computerized testing due, in part, to enormous memory requirements, as well as the length of segments required to create a sufficient context. This presentation intends to demonstrate some possible uses of commercial advertising in the classroom as an aid to listening comprehension, modeling of grammatical forms, cultural information, and stimulus items. Discussion and commentary from interested participants will be welcomed.
Listening Competence: Better Isolated or Integrated?
Rama Sohonee
The question pertaining to developing listening competence is largely solved through technology since repetition, aural clarity and pronunciation checks can be achieved digitally. However, the pedagogical implications of developing listening competence in isolation need to be addressed. This presentation uses two multimedia modules to address this issue and poses multiple research questions. The presentation concludes that a healthy mix of all skills is one of the better approaches towards supporting and enhancing listening comprehension. Visual and textual clues add to comprehension instead of detracting. Tips and tricks for designing activities that build a sufficient context to support isolated listening activities will also be discussed.
A Concordance Examination of the German Verb werden
Joseph Magedanz
“What to teach when” in a foreign language can be based on authentic samples of the target language. A concordance investigation of a target language sampling can show specific usages and patterns that differ from what we teach. By comparing the typical presentation of the German verb werden in first-year textbooks with the uses of werden in authentic German, it becomes clear that how we present werden does not correspond to its use by German speakers. Based on these results, we can rethink the presentation of werden and realign it with authentic use.
Learners’ Lexical Development in Asynchronous Discussion Forums: What’s Inside Their Minds?
Su-Lin Tai
This study is conducted from the perspective of sociocultural theory and looks into learners’ lexical development in the threaded discussions forums. The study sheds light on how language learners advance from interpersonal interaction (reading messages posted by other participants) to intrapersonal interaction (composing messages to reply to prior messages) and investigates learners’ lexical development during the process of reading and posting messages. The data were collected from message transcripts, learners’ self-reports, and posttask interviews. An investigation of lexicon development also tracks the social consciousness that the learners possess when engaging in asynchronous threaded discussion forums.
Does Hearing Examples Facilitate Grammar Learning?
Gearóid Ó Neill
A phrase heard on a couple of occasions from teachers trying to encourage reluctant essayists was “if it sounds right, write it.” Being reassured by “heard phrases” is undoubtedly very useful. However, there is more than one side to a story, and so it is with many grammatical points. Here is described a preliminary investigation into whether the use of samples of recorded speech as part of a CALL system facilitates learning grammar.
Teaching It All: Computer-based Projects for Multiple Literacies
Sharon Scinicariello
International television, foreign language films, and the global reach of the World Wide Web provide teachers and learners with important new resources for the acquisition of language and culture, but the effective use of these resources and tools requires multiple literacies. Part one of this presentation considers how the learning objectives for media, technology, and information literacies intersect with the goals of language teachers and learners. Part two uses examples from class assignments to show how computer-based projects can be designed to address multiple literacies and to discuss how to meet the challenges of implementing these projects.
10:30– 10:50
Learning to Use Technology in Second Language Teaching: Empowering Teacher Learners
Yu-Feng (Diana) Yang
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss a research study regarding the process of teacher learning in the use of technology for their instruction. With a focus on teacher learners, this qualitative research discusses teacher learners’ power of deciding what to focus on and how to approach their learning. Study findings suggest that the participant teachers had different learning plans while taking the same CALL course online. The research applications include a discussion of future research directions and strategies that the CALL teacher educator and course designer can use in order to empower teacher learners.
Using Student Documentary Film Projects to Promote Advanced Proficiency
J. Scott Payne
Jon Badalamenti
Dan Saniski
Hilary Stepancik
The focus of this presentation is a documentary film project carried out by fifth-semester German students and researched by undergraduate and graduate students taking a course on project-based foreign language learning. The German language students spent 8 weeks first researching and then documenting with audio and film the lives and perspectives of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers with the goal of producing a DVD. Students from the fifth-semester German course will present their project from an emic perspective followed by reports of empirical studies investigating the linguistic and pedagogical processes and outcomes of the project.
Thinking Outside the Box: Applying Lessons from a Public Forum in Promoting Critical Literacy and Critical Thinking in EFL/ESL Contexts
Snea Thinsan
Malinee Prapinwong
Having found that the well known “Cognitive Presence” of the “Community Inquiry Model” by Garrison and colleagues did not fit the data we had, we developed our model based on four systematically selected sets of data taken from over 200 threads on a hot social issue discussed at the most popular Thai public forum. Our goals were to identify the unique characteristics of the interactions in the public forum, modify the cognitive presence model, and suggest strategies for using web forums in promoting critical literacy and critical thinking in EFL/ESL contexts. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. We will share the main findings, hoping to push the edge of knowledge based on the lessons from outside the box.
Implementing Theoretical Issues in the Development of an Interactive English Online Program
Emerita Bañados
This presentation will describe an interactive English online program for EFL students using information and communication technology to develop integrated linguistic skills, with an emphasis on oral language. The author will describe the foundations of the network-based model underlying the software and will show how theoretical issues taken into account were actually implemented in the online materials.
Factors that Influence the Quality ofPolite Expressions: An Investigation of Email Messages Produced by Japanese English Learners
Tadayoshi Kaya
The present study attempted to examine the causes of difficulties of Japanese university students in using appropriate English polite expressions in email. Fifty Japanese university students in the US were asked to compose polite email messages on the computer in response to four given situations presented in an online format. Through statistical analyses, the findings of the present study indicate that the proficiency level of Japanese English learners might play an important role in the quality of their politeness expressions in email, which has not been investigated mainly in the previous literature.
The Effect of Interactive Movies and Learning Styles on Foreign Language Learning
Fuqiang Zhuo
Many people have used digitized videos and may even call them interactive movies, but very few of them are interactive. Just using digitized videos is not enough for instruction and learning. It is necessary to find out how students learn with interactive movies. This study report is a follow-up of the presentation at CALICO 2003. While the previous presentation covered what interactive digital movies are and why to make them for foreign language instruction, learning, and research, this presents a study on what effects interactive digital movies and learning styles have on learning a foreign language.
In the Intersection of Language Learning and Culture: Two Playspaces in Hellas Alive
Andreas Karatsolis
This demonstration session will showcase two examples of cultural playspaces, game-like activities aimed at providing Greek immigrants in the United States with a rich understanding of Greek culture. These playspaces, in combination with the language learning instruction provided in Hellas Alive, foster an appreciation of and eventually acculturation in the community of practice of speakers of Greek. Moreover, the XML structure of these playspaces areas allows users from the community to easily provide content for new learners to interact with, thus making the experience authentic and historically situated.
1:30– 2:15
Student Expectations and Evaluating CMC Performance
Zsuzsanna Abrams
While research has examined various CMC tasks’ ability to improve oral skills, empower students, and improve culture learning, it has not yet addressed classroom evaluation of CMC performance. A lack of clear guidelines can undermine the (face) validity of CMC assignments, potentially resulting in student performance that is vastly divergent from teacher expectations. Grounded in CMC research and drawing on traditional and alternative methods of assessment, this presentation provides some appropriate and economic ways of evaluating CMC performance. It examines holistic, analytic, primary trait and portfolio assessments, and their washback effects vis-à-vis various task types in both synchronous and asynchronous CMC.
Negotiation of Meaning in Jigsaw and Free Discussion in Synchronous Computer-mediated Communication (S-CMC)
Ana Oskoz
Negotiation of meaning has been studied in S-CMC (Blake, 2000; Fernández-García & Martinez-Arbeláiz, 2002; Pellettieri, 2000; Smith, 2003). Characteristics of different tasks, however, affect the amount and quality of the negotiation. This study focuses on students’ negotiation of meaning in S-CMC in the jigsaw and free discussion. Thirty dyads of Intermediate Spanish II students participated in two tasks. Results showed a significant difference regarding the amount of negotiation produced. Surprisingly, the data revealed fewer instances of negotiation than expected (Smith, 2003). Two factors account for this result: the use of circumlocution and the insufficiency of the Varonis and Gass’ model.
Evaluating Spanish Language Teaching at a Distance
Robert J. Blake
Students who work full time enroll in a virtual first-year Spanish course and use a combination of multimedia CD-ROM materials, content-based web readings, activities, and a collaboration chat tool with telephonic sound. Performance was compared to that of traditional courses using results from S-CAPE, grammar exams, and responses to a follow-up survey. The overall evaluation demonstrates that students in the virtual course performed similarly to those from traditional classrooms. The advantages of each format will be discussed. The implications for the foreign-language curriculum will also be discussed, along with ideas about extending this teaching format to LCTLs.
Making Authentic Interaction Possible: Connecting Foreign Language Learners with Native Speakers through Chat
Rebecca Bearden Jobe
Recent research by Koike and Ramey (2001) and Regier (2002) has shown that frequently learners engaged in dyadic interaction with other learners are not actively involved in the conversation. This study seeks to examine the effect of three variables on the degree of involvement of FL learners in dyadic interaction: (a) the discussion format–oral, face-to-face discussion versus synchronous, computer-assisted discussion; (b) the interlocutor–native speakers versus nonnative speakers; and (c) the task–open-ended discussion versus information exchange tasks. The results show that learners are most involved, regardless of task, when engaged in CAD with a native speaker.
CALL Strategies Training for Teachers
Phil Hubbard
Marinna Kolaitis
Howard Pomann
Commercial software is more valuable if students understand how to use it effectively. However, getting instructors to incorporate this idea into their classes represents a formidable challenge. A group of instructors in our ESL program has developed a set of CALL strategy materials linking software activities to learner goals. This presentation reports on a series of workshops used to train other faculty in using these materials and designing their own. We showed them how to analyze their software beyond its mechanical features, encourage students to recognize a variety of paths through exercises, and relate these paths to specific learning objectives.
Factors that Affect Information Technology Adoption of Teachers
Hyesung Park
This study examines factors that influence teachers’ adoption and use of information technology in the classroom. An online survey was administered to K-12 second/foreign language teachers to determine what factors contributed to the adoption of information technology in the classroom. An adapted version of the technology acceptance model was employed to determine factors such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use that influence a teacher’s decision to use information technology. In this study, information technology is defined as computer-based multimedia. This study developed and tested a model of relationships among a variety of variables and the teacher’s use of information technology. The current study tested constructs that may provide critical insights into successful technology use by second/foreign language educators.
2:30– 3:15
Facilitating Multilingual CMC: Unicode Wikis, Blogs, and Forums
Arlo Bensinger
Unicode-based CMC environments allow language learners to interact across Roman and non-Roman character sets, as well as providing a uniform encoding format for capturing and storing learner text and subsequent text analysis. This presentation examines three asynchronous, text-based CMC environments that were adapted to support Unicode: a Wiki, a Blog, and a discussion forum. The particular engines behind these environments were selected for (a) freeware/open source code, (b) PHP coding and MySQL databasing of text, and (c) ease of scalability/replicability.
Digital Language Labs: Where We Are, Where We Are Going
Ron Remschel
This session focuses on a discussion of space-time pedagogical methodologies used for language learning and the past, present, and future technologies that are utilized in each one. The presenter will provide a brief review of the technological history of language labs including the current state-of-the-art “virtual” labs (with a live demonstration). He will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of analog, analog/digital hybrid, and all digital systems. Participants will acquire information about available language “lab” technology to assist them in making choices for integrating multimedia technology in lesson plans.
Words on the Web: An Introduction to Text Annotator, a New Hypertext Editing Tool
Judith Frommer
D. Bradford Marshall
Text Annotator, a web-based tool and database, allows for multimedia annotation of online literary and nonliterary texts. A description of the successful implementation of annotated hypertexts in university foreign language courses will be followed by a demonstration of the instructor’s interface which those familiar with word processing can use to create their own texts with audio, video, still images, and text definitions. Limited only by database capacity, Text Annotator can handle texts for any number of instructors and courses. We will conclude with examples of courses in which Text Annotator has stimulated students’ interest and enhanced their reading comprehension.
Language, Technology, and the Social Environment: Towards an E-CALL-ogy of Language
Francis M. Hult
Shannon Sauro
This paper calls for an e-CALL-ogy of language–applying the ecology of language (Haugen, 1972; Fill & Mühlhäusler, 2001) in order to study CALL holistically. The importance of relating CALL activities to the social environments in which they are situated, both real and virtual, is illustrated by examining specific language courses: (a) an American university foreign language class, (b) an online Swedish course, and (c) a selection of online courses on minority languages in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. In all cases, the ecology of language provides a framework for evaluating how CALL can be contextually integrated in socially responsible ways.
How are Teacher Training Programs Meeting the Needs of Language Teachers?
Greg Kessler
As language teachers are expected to be increasingly competent with computer-assisted language learning (CALL), it should be expected that relevant training would correlate. Are teacher training programs preparing teachers for such expectations? The presenter will share research investigating the extent of technology-related coursework across teacher training programs. Additional questions include: What technology skills do teachers require? What knowledge of technology for teaching do teachers in training typically obtain? What percent of a program consists of CALL related training? What CALL options exist for teachers in training? Where else might CALL professionals receive such training?
Reflection of the Self and Others: Virtual Practices in Effective Reflective Teaching
Gillian Lord
Lara Lomicka
Educators are aware of the benefits of self-reflection in teaching, and reflective practices are gaining popularity nationwide. This session focuses on reflective teaching as both an individual and social process. Graduate Assistant Teachers at the Universities of Florida and South Carolina took part in a collaborative project that involved one of three reflective journaling techniques: private journaling, peer journal exchange, or virtual journaling via discussion boards and digital movies. We will discuss reflective teaching and present preliminary findings from the study, with a focus on the benefits and challenges of using discussion boards and digital movies in the reflection process.
The Integration of Literature and Technology in the German Classroom: Focus on the Learner
Aleidine J. Moeller
By integrating technology as a central part of a professional development seminar, teacher practitioners learned to use technology while learning content (language, literature, culture) and pedagogy. By using the context of an adolescent novel, Damals war es Friedrich, teacher participants created a website that contained pedagogically prepared teaching activities directly tied to the text. This project builds on the websites of several foreign language professionals and illustrates how the web can be used as a venue for developing curricula across universities through collaborative virtual projects that promote student learning inside and outside the classroom walls.
3:30– 4:15
Learning Styles and Web-based Task Design: a Matter of Teachers’ Technical Expertise
Mónica Cárdenas-Claros
Noelia Ruiz-Madrid
Moises Perales-Escudero
Multimedia technology allows teachers and CALL designers to create web-based activities that cater to different learning styles (Healey, 1999). Moreover, beneficial results have been reported when learners are provided with tailor-made learning opportunities that enhance and extend their learning style preferences (Ngeow, 1999; Dunn, Griggs, Olson, & Beasley, 1995). This paper presents a teacher-oriented matrix for analyzing the options (i.e., off-the-shelf courseware, template-based authoring software, and web-based applications) currently available to develop web-based activities according to different levels of technical expertise. It also gives suggestions for designing web-based activities focused on learning styles using authoring software.
Effects of Graded Texts on EFL College Students’ Incidental Vocabulary Learning: Issues of Exposure Amount and Acquisition of Productive and Receptive Vocabulary
Hsien-Chin Liou
Hung-tzu Huang
Incidental vocabulary learning while reading is often encouraged to intermediate L2 learners to promote their language proficiency. The paper reports the design of an extensive reading program for a period of 8 weeks with 16 articles and its assessment with 35 college freshmen. The articles were graded based on filtering texts with four word lists out of the original 5,008 articles of a parallel corpus, Sinorama, to reach 95% familiar word coverage. Another control of times of target word exposure was incorporated into text sequencing. Pretest-posttest measures are used to address what is the adequate amount of exposure for words to be acquired incidentally for receptive or productive use.
Preferences of Learners Towards the Use of Technology in Language Learning
Nandini Sarma
Alysse Weinberg
Katherine Lagrandeur
Martine Peters
We present research conducted in various multimedia settings in three Canadian universities. Our purpose was to find out which activities students prefer and, of these, which ones the students feel facilitate their language learning. We will discuss the relationship between positive attitudes toward technology and the belief that such technologies can enhance language learning. We will also present students’ preferences in activities and in interface when using technology to support language learning. Implications for the language classroom will be discussed.
Didactic Ergonomics and Web-based Materials Design
Jean-Claude Bertin
Patrick Grave
Can web-based material design and e-learning follow any ergonomic model? Experience suggests that a first wave of web-based materials were heavily constrained by the limits of essentially descriptive HTML languages. The advent of real programming languages for the web (e.g., Java, PHP, etc.) now makes it possible to include features that were until recently reserved to local applications. Such features should reflect a model of didactic ergonomics which the speaker will outline in the first part of the presentation before giving an account, based on a study of two digital campuses, of how the model can apply to distance-learning.
Electronic Scaffolds for Challenging Internet Resources
Leila May-Landy
Daniel Beeby
Hyung Kyune Shim
Authentic materials on the web can be both an extraordinary opportunity and challenge for ESL students. This presentation will demonstrate how an electronic “wrapper” can make complicated authentic materials more accessible through annotations, comprehension exercises, and supplementary materials. The presenters will describe a collaborative effort between the instructor and an educational technology service organization, which blends pedagogical objectives with simple web technologies to create a customized web-based study environment from authentic materials. Participants will be given general technical guidelines about how to develop these materials, but the technical simplicity of this project underscores the pedagogical richness of the technique.
Are We Doing What We Are Supposed To? Students and Teachers Perspectives
Sabine Siekmann
This presentation will present and discuss data of first semester German as a foreign language students working on collaborative WebQuests. WebQuests will be shown as an inquiry based methodology that is well suited for beginning language learners. Examples of how students work together to understand the task and solve the linguistic and task problem will be shown. The discussion of these data is framed in sociocultural theory and focuses on the use of language as a mediational tool in the collaborative dialogue of students engaged in figuring out what they are supposed to do. This, in turn, reflects on the appropriateness of the task itself.
Methodological Issues in Online Courses
Bonnie L. Youngs
This presentation reviews results of a questionnaire and a follow-up interview regarding four online instructors’ opinions on the major differences between traditional and online instructional contexts; how they have adapted their teaching style (or not) to an online format; advice they would give to new teachers teaching in this format; and how SLA research issues regarding feedback, interaction, and community development are reflected in an online environment. Additionally, the presenter’s first online teaching experiences are reviewed from her perspective of having learned from the questionnaires and interviews what constitutes successful online methodology.