CALICO 2006, University of Hawaii Manoa

Online Learning: Come Ride the Wave
May 16-20, 2006
Hosted by

National Foreign Language Resource Center
University of Hawai’i at Manoa

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Conference Presentations: Day One
May 18, 2006

10:00 – 10:45

The impact of Learning Approaches: Language Proficiency and Attitudes towards CALL
Rong Yuag
Learning approaches and attitude have been gaining increasing attention as important cognitive and affective variables to influence the ultimate learning outcome in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). This presentation will report on a quantitative study carried out at the Defense Language Institute to assess the impact of learning approaches on learners language proficiency and attitudes towards CALL. Correlation and regression analyses will be presented to address the research questions; statistical results obtained from a cluster sample of 137 foreign language learners will also be presented. Finally, implications for instructional design, curriculum development as well as teacher training will be discussed. 

Serving Three Mistresses in CALL: Students, Instructors, Researchers
M. Christine O’Neill
Claire Bradin Siskin
Dawn McCormick
A research project for which CALL software was especially created will be described. The foremost challenge was to design software tools that served three distinct user groups: language students, their instructors, and researchers. Various stages of the software in development as well as the final product will be demonstrated. The rationale for deciding which user group should get precedence at each stage of the process will be discussed.

 Focus on Form during Task-based SCMC
Chomraj Patanasorn
Angkana Tongpoon
What is the occurrence of focus on form during task-based SCMC and learners uptake and acquisition of those linguistic targets? What are the roles of task instructions on learners focus on form? In order to investigate this, a case study was conducted. The preliminary results and suggestions for the use of SCMC in research and classroom will be provided and discussed.

 Blueprint for a Comprehensive Communicative Technology-based E-learning Course
Pablo Viedma
Mark Kondrak
Frances Matos-Schultz
The University of Minnesota has offered a hybrid first-year Spanish course since 1999. Over the summer of 2005, with experience gathered over the preceding 6 years, we redesigned the entire curriculum, taking into consideration student as well as instructor needs. As a result, the course content is now delivered mostly using an online environment. WebCT Vista is the course management tool used to bring together different components aiming at developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. WebCT Vista, Flash Communication Server, Quia online books, streaming video, and blogs are some of the technologies used in the course.

 A One Step Tool for Coordinating Online Peer Review
Caroline Coit
Over the past years, peer review has become recognized as a valuable part of the writing process in language classrooms. However, when teachers attempt to make use of the Internet to carry out this process, they are usually confronted with many organizational difficulties which involve extensive effort on their part. In addition, they are left without information or confirmation as to who has sent a text and when, whether it has actually arrived, or whether it has been corrected and sent back in time. This tool simplifies online peer review exchanges for both the student and teacher.

 POOLS: Producing Open Online Learning Systems
Sean Mehan
Pools is a Leonardo II (European Commission) supported 2-year (2005-2007) project developing copyleft materials for language teaching and learning as well as teacher CALL training courses based on pools of digital materials for nine languages: Basque, Danish, Dutch, English, Gaelic (Scottish), German, Lithuanian, Romanian, and Spanish. The project target group is teachers of the LWUTL (Less Widely Used and Taught Languages) in technical colleges. Due to the limited range of ICT materials for these languages, the teachers often have to develop materials themselves if they want to exploit the many advantages of eLearning.

 Learning Vocabulary with WordChamp
Daniel Blumenthal
WordChamp.com is a website which helps students of foreign languages learn vocabulary. It does this through customized vocabulary drills, an innovative automatic glossing feature, and tools to allow teachers to set up homework assignments and follow up on their students’ progress. WordChamp does not impose a particular curriculum or methodology upon teachers; its purpose is to help students prepare for class so that the limited time they have with their teachers can be used to the best possible effect. To this end, we customize materials (including audio) to each teacher’s specifications, with different drill types available for different pedagogical styles.

11:00 – 11:20

Online Scholarly Writing Template: A Case for Doctoral Students in Taiwan
Yu-Chih Sun
The importance of writing for scholarly purposes has increased in English as a foreign language. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, a needs analysis was conducted to determine learning difficulties encountered by Taiwanese doctoral students writing scholarly papers for publication purposes. Questionnaires were used to gather information about the needs of the students. Second, in response to the results of the needs analysis, a web-based Scholarly Writing Template (SWT) was designed and developed to serve as aid to guide and assist learners scholarly writing process. A framework for a scholarly writing template was also developed to highlight important factors that contribute to the success of the scholarly writing support system. A survey was conducted to evaluate learners’ perception on the effectiveness of the website. The findings indicated that the responses from learners were very positive. Implications and recommendations for future research will be discussed.

 Designing Websites for ESL Learners: A Usability Testing Study
Min Liu
T. Traphagan
Y. I. Koh
J. Huh
G. Choi
A. McGregor
Using websites as a teaching and learning tool is a common practice in ESL classrooms today. However, are currently available ESL websites effective? Are they well designed? And do they meet the needs of ESL learners? Little empirical research exists to respond to these concerns. To understand if the currently available websites meet the ESL learners needs, research is needed on how ESL learners actually use these sites and what they think of these sites as a tool to facilitate their learning. We therefore conducted a usability testing study on five carefully selected and popular ESL websites using a user-centered approach. We will report our findings in this presentation.

 Using Technology to Support Languages Across the Curriculum
Cindy Evans
This presentation will include an overview of the languages across the curriculum (LAC) program at Skidmore College, a discussion of its pedagogical goals and challenges, and a presentation of the technological solutions we are in the process of implementing using the Moodle course management system. The Moodle site will be implemented during the Spring 2006 semester; the presenter is teaching the LAC course in French. The presentation includes a demonstration of both the French and Italian LAC sites and a discussion of the results of our first implementation of the model.

 Is There a Place for Concordance Programs in the L2 Classroom?
Marta Gonzalez-Lloret
This paper presents research conducted to investigate whether the use of a concordancer on a minicorpus is an effective L2 teaching tool. A group of language learners engaged in the study of prepositions through concordance program was compared with a second group that received explicit instruction and practice. Students interviews and questionnaires point out their positive attitude towards the use of a concordancer. In addition, the quantitative analysis shows a significant higher gain by the group involved in the use of the concordance program. The study concludes that the use of a concordancer can be an effective tool in the collaborative L2 classroom.

 Assessing Oral Proficiency of Online Spanish Students
Chantal Lafargue
This qualitative case study may appeal to other online language teachers and researchers in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) who have a particular focus in sequential third-language acquisition at the secondary level. This study will examine the following questions: (a) What level of oral proficiency can students attain on an oral proficiency interview after two semesters of online Spanish? (b) What are the characteristics of the learners in terms of language backgrounds and use, technological competence, and use of new literacy skills? (c) What are teaching strategies used for oral output (production and interaction) in synchronous sessions?

 Explicit Versus Implicit Feedback in CALL
Nina Moreno
In SLA there is a consensus regarding the corrective character of feedback. SLA and CALL research seem to underscore the benefits obtained from explicit feedback (Carroll & Swain, 1993; Nagata, 1993; Nagata & Swisher, 1995; Rosa & Leow, 2004), although there is also evidence that implicit and explicit feedback are equally effective (Sanz & Morgan-Short, 2004). Limitations in previous research designs, however, call for a more careful task design in which feedback is isolated as a variable. This study investigates the effects of type of feedback on adult L2 learners development of a Spanish syntactic structure over time.

 Advocacy for the Cause of Languages on Capitol Hill: A Report from JNCL
Betty Rose Facer
What is the government doing to address foreign language learning issues, and what is being done to improve the foreign language and cultural capabilities of the nation? What policies are being discussed, and what legislation is being introduced by the House and the Senate? What progress is being made at the Department of Defense? This presentation will focus on the issues presented at the JNCL (Joint National Committee for Languages)-NCLIS (National Council for Languages and International Studies) Delegate Assembly in Washington, DC as well as the progress made since that time.

 

11:30 – 11:50

Communication Strategies in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication: A Two-Way Information Gap Activity
Amanda V. Black
This study investigates the choice of communication strategies made by intermediate-level nonnative language students when completing a two-way information gap task in a synchronous computer-mediated environment. Findings demonstrate that this type of task can produce complex grammatical structures. Previous research about information gap activities has shown students demonstrate ability to produce single word structures unlike the findings in this study. This type of task lends itself to aiding students in reaching strategic competence and improving their ability to use communication strategies to complete linguistic tasks. Results also demonstrate the need for a more specific labeling of the communication strategy ‘Circumlocution’ to demonstrate the complexity of the use of this strategy by participants in this study. In subsequent studies with a larger testing base, the speed of completion will be tested.

 Latest Technology: Why Have It If You Can’t Use It?
Senem Yildiz
Cutting edge technologies and software can enhance language teaching and learning in numerous ways but only when used properly. Governments and schools invest millions of dollars to provide the latest technology to teachers and learners, but is there an adequate return of investment? Effective use of technology requires clear goals and competent users, whereas in many institutions the technology runs ahead of teachers, learners, and educational plans. This presentation will illustrate what barriers hinder some Turkish schools equipped with the latest technology from using technology in language classes and list suggestions for improvement.

 Haunted Technology or Taming Video Conferencing Now That It Has “Arisen from the Grave”
Robert Davis
Gabriele A. Wittig Davis
While video conferencing is hardly a new technology, in recent years it has achieved an amazing revival. With this rebirth has come a desire to expand the traditional uses of the technology (i.e., predominately providing access to lecturers from distant sites) and discover creative means to adapt it to respond to the nonlecture format pedagogy in the foreign language classroom. This presentation will document the semester-long attempts to mediate technology and pedagogy, to coerce a one to many approach to respect many to many interaction, and provide examples of those types of exercises which best suit the learner and instructor.

 The Use of Oral Computer-Mediated Communications: Student and Instructor Perspectives
Ted T. Liu
Hiromi Aoki
This study explores the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools for language instruction. Wimba is a suite of web-based voice communication tools for voice email, voice discussion boards, voice direct, and Oral Assessment Builder, which facilitates easy creation, management, assignment, and grading of oral assessments, and delivery of verbal feedback to students. See specific instances of how UCLA instructors successfully enhance the student learning experience by facilitating and encouraging interaction with instructors, native speakers, and other students using Wimba. The presenters will also report findings from interviews and surveys conducted with instructors and anonymous surveys conducted with students on the use of Wimba.

 We Can Finally Do It! The Use of Blackboard in Teaching an Advanced Hebrew Course
Hadassah Nemovicher
Rivka Halperin
This presentation will demonstrate the use of Blackboard in teaching Hebrew at an advanced level at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. The focus will be on the technological challenges as well as the methodological challenges that we faced developing the course. Some of the issues to be discussed include: handling the subject matter, building language activities, ongoing communication between instructor and students, and using multimedia. Another focus will be on the advantages and disadvantages of using the Blackboard technology in Hebrew versus the traditional face-to-face language instruction. We believe that we are pioneers in this endeavor and that other Semitic languages may benefit from our own experiences.

 A Simple Framework for Developing Language Tests on the Web
Alysse Weinberg
This demonstration will present a three-part framework of test HTML with JavaScript, WebTest7.cgi script, and output of results that easily permits the creation of web-based language tests. Parameters within the HTML pass information to the CGI script so that many different tests can all use the same script. The CGI script records the test scores to a daily log file and optionally sends them via email. The answers are stored in a file only available to the CGI script. This template has been used to successfully develop placement tests, proficiency tests for reading, listening and writing, and midterm and final exams.

 From HyperACE to FlashACE: Repurposing Listening Exercises for the Web
Kenneth Romeo
Phil Hubbard
HyperACE (HyperCard-based Aural Comprehension Exercises) was a set of listening activities developed in the 1990s for Macintosh computers involving picture identification and other activities for students in academic ESL settings. FlashACE repurposes this material in a web-based format for both Macs and PCs through Macromedia’s FlashMX, preserving the basic concept but adding new functionality, including data collection capabilities. This presentation demonstrates the basic functions of FlashACE, discusses methods for instructional implementation, and outlines the structure of the Flash application. In addition, a set of freely available web resources is provided, including several exercises and a downloadable template for the interface.

 2:00 – 2:45

Not All Errors Are Created Equal: Pedagogical Contextualization of Language Learner Speech Errors
Nicolaus Mote
W. Lewis Johnson
Abhinav Sethy
Shrikanth Narayanan
Not all errors in second language learner speech are created equal. Different errors sound more severe or harsh to native speaker ears and should therefore be treated with more emphasis in pedagogical interaction. The Tactical Language Training System (TLTS) is a speech-enabled virtual-reality-based computer learning environment designed to teach Arabic spoken communication to American English speakers. This paper addresses the ways the TLTS contextualizes nonnative speech errors and how this contextualization fits in the corrective exchanges between a nonnative learner and a pedagogical agent built to model a native listener.

 Developing and Validating a Web-based Assessment of Speaking Proficiency
Eric A. Surface
Reanna M. Poncheri
Speaking proficiency is typically measured using face-to-face or telephonic assessments. With the demand for language skills, the prevalence of web-based instruction, and the number of speaking tests administered only increasing in the future, the next logical step is the utilization of the Internet for assessing speaking proficiency. Our presentation will outline the development and validation of a web-based assessment of speaking proficiency. We will present the development process and the validation study design and results. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the importance and implications of web-based proficiency assessment as it relates to computer-assisted language learning (CALL).

 Learner Corpus Analysis: The Interplay of Theory, Method, and Design
Jonathon Reinhardt
Steve Thorne
Standing at the intersection of corpus linguistics and SLA, the young field of learner corpus analysis (LCA) promises new insights into theoretical and methodological debates in applied linguistics. Highly commensurate with usage-based approaches to second language learning, LCA offers a variety of methods for the analysis of learner interlanguage and development, from frequency-based contrastive interlanguage analysis to sociocultural microgenetic analysis. These issues are explored through presentation of data analyses and discussion of the challenges involved in the design and development of an ESL corpus of international teaching assistant computer-mediated learner language.

 Peer and Expert Communities of Practice in Teacher Education
Lara Ducate
Lara Lomicka
Nike Arnold
This presentation examines how technology assists in the development of peer and expert communities of practice, virtual community presence, and social practices between pre- and in-service language teachers. After investigating the topics of collaborative learning, target and native language use, and teaching vocabulary, students from two universities collaborated electronically and then interacted with a topical expert in SLA. Using empirical evidence (board transcripts), we examine participant posts in these six virtual discussions, noting the frequency of three key characteristics of the community of practice: mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Both social practices and cognitive presence will be discussed.

 Creating an On-line Contextualized Grammar Diagnostic Exam
Jerry W. Larson
Harold H. Hendricks
During this session, we will discuss the disadvantages of the previous diagnostic exam used at BYU; the advantages of a contextualized exam; the procedures for planning, writing, and tracking items for the new exam; and the algorithm for test administration. We will demonstrate the authoring tools and a prototype exam.

 The Role of Context on CALL Effectiveness
Joan Jamieson
Carol A. Chapelle
This presentation addresses the issue of the transferability, or generalizability, of CALL evaluation studies through the question: What is the role of context on CALL effectiveness? The presentation will begin with an overview of the study. English language learners and their teachers in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Japan, Thailand, and Chile used a CALL program, Longman English Interactive, during one term in 2005. CALL effectiveness was defined by Chapelle’s six criteria (2001, 2003). Results will be presented comparing the findings on each of the six criteria for effectiveness across teachers and learners at each of the six sites.

 New Strategies in Language Teaching
David Przybyla
Brigham Young University (BYU) continues to be the leader in language teaching. With over 45 languages taught each semester, and at times up to 63 languages, BYU works to find new strategies in language learning. One of the great needs in language learning is the capacity to speak and listen. With the help of SoftStudy, Inc., BYU is proud to present a variety of products now focused on speaking and listening. A quick demonstration of Talk-A-Film, OTS (Oral Testing Software), EFR (Electronic Film Review), and Sevgili Murat (online student and teacher training materials) will be given.

 3:00 – 3:45

Dynamic and Static Assessment: Towards a Fuller Understanding of Students’ Performance in Online Chat
Ana Oskoz
The collaborative nature of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) requires evaluation tools congruent with its process orientation. Dynamic assessment (DA) focuses on process, thereby presenting a viable means of assessing students performance in online chat. DA, however, is elaborate and time consuming and does not provide full understanding of students language. There is a need to systematize DA and to combine it with static assessment (SA), or traditional forms of assessment that focus on the product, to obtain accurate information regarding students’ interlanguage. This study describes the application of both DA and SA techniques to assess learners language in the classroom.

 Developing Students’ Cross-Cultural Understanding: The Cultura Model, Uses and Adaptations
Gilberte Furstenberg
Started in French at MIT, Cultura–a web-based cross-cultural project–is now being developed in Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, connecting language students in the US with students in many different countries in the world. Using these different experiments as a base, this session will focus on ways of adapting the Cultura design to any institution and/or language. This presentation will (a) present the basic ideas behind Cultura and highlight its main features, (b) provide step-by-step guidance on how to set up such a telecollaboration project, and (c) present the new Cultura community website which will be useful to anyone interested in adopting and adapting the Cultura model. For information about Cultura, see http://web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH

 Effects of Web-based Oral Activities Enhanced by Automatic Speech Recognition
Tsuo-Lin Chiu
Yuli Yeh
Hsien-Chin Liou
The teaching of speech acts is essential for learners to develop communicative competence. Recently the application of automatic speech recognition (ASR) in CALL has shown potential for assisting and judging learners in using language appropriately for various contexts. A web-based conversation environment, CandleTalk, supported by ASR, has been developed to help EFL learners receive explicit training on six speech acts. A study was conducted on college freshmen students to investigate the effectiveness of the learning units and learner perception towards CandleTalk. The results indicated that learners improved their use of speech acts to demonstrate communicative competence.

 When They Don’t Read: New Technologies to “Spread the Word”
Sharon Scinicariello
LRC directors and others involved in instructional technology spend hours developing newsletters and training materials, both print and electronic. They announce changes and new opportunities through posters on walls and online. But to the long-standing complaint that faculty “just don’t read their mail” is now added the frustration that the IM generation seems to lack the patience to read more than headlines. Can new technologies (e.g., podcasts, blogs, and wikis) bridge the communication gap? Can their use as information sources be a springboard for their integration into the curriculum? This presentation discusses a semester-long attempt to answer these questions.

 Oh Swami, “What are my students doing in the lab?”
Carol Wilson-Duffy
Dennie Hoopingarner
Courseware that allows students to record their voice and compare their production with a model assumes that students do, in fact, listen to themselves and make corrections to their language. But there is little, if any, empirical evidence that students take advantage of this capability. This study used specialized software that tracked users’ recording behavior, including prompting users for reasons why they chose to re-record themselves. The results of this study sheds light on users’ self-instructional behavior and offers suggestions for improvements to this feature of courseware.

 Automatic Evaluation of Fluency of Spoken Korean
Garry Molholt
Hyun Jeong Shin
Hyoung Youl Ahn
Sung Shim Choi
John Morgan
We propose to investigate the problem of using automatic speech recognition (ASR) to evaluate spoken fluency. We will extend the work presented last year at the CALICO 2005 conference from Mandarin Chinese to Korean. We are searching for those linguistic factors that are characteristic of fluent speech in native speakers and those factors in student speech that characterize nonnative speech at different levels of fluency. We will estimate statistics for the acoustic correlates of those factors from a corpora of read Korean speech and will consider the problem of how to incorporate this knowledge into an ASR system.

 Training Teachers to Use Learner Corpora
Brenda M. Ross
Diana McBurnett
The present study reports on the creation and analysis of an ESL student corpus by students in a TESL program. The corpus was created for the purpose of teacher training. Special emphasis will be placed on the attitude of the teachers in training towards the use of the corpus and on how they envision using the tool in their future teaching careers.

 A Model for a Technology Workshop Series with Lasting Results
Michael Jones
Hiroyo Saito
This presentation involves a model of a workshop series for language instructors with interest in integrating technology into classrooms. After a technology workshop, it often happens that the participants go home full of good ideas only to find that there is not sufficient support to carry them out, be it technical or otherwise. The model, a year-long workshop series for a small group, aims to lessen such frustrations by providing participants on-going support to carry through their ideas in a community atmosphere. In the presentation, we will report benefits and limitations of the attempt and offer suggestions for similar future attempts.

4:00 – 4:45

Computer-enhanced Information Gap Activities in the ESL Classroom: The Effect on Language Production and Language Learning
Theresa A. Antes
This paper examines the effect of computer enhancement on information gap activities used in the ESL classroom. It looks specifically at the extent to which ESL learners make use of sound files during information-gap activities, the effect that such use has on their tendency/ability to paraphrase, and the language learning effects of these enhancements, as measured by pre- and posttest results.

 Does it Really Work? Innovative Use of Speech Recognition Technology in ESL Instruction
Gunizi Kartal
This paper reports a study of read-aloud behaviors of ESL learners working with interactive software based on speech recognition technology, which provided reading practice with immediate feedback. All utterances recorded by learners at an ESL site in New York were retrieved and examined using various interrelated coding and analytical schemes. The analysis was done in terms of patterns of interaction and influence of reading practice afforded by the software. The findings showed metacognitive as well as word level patterns of interaction; most common user engagement was attempt at self-correction; and reading and/or pronunciation tended toward the target as practice ensued.

 Review of Conferencing Applications and Their Potential Use for Language Learning
Lily Compton
Maja Grgurovic
Anne O’Bryan
Dessie Bekrieva-Grannis
Elena Cotos
This presentation gives a review of five conferencing applications (Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Maratech, ICQ, and Paltalk) which were compared using several evaluation criteria such as interface design, feasibility, and practicality. The presenters provide a general summary of technical requirements and an overview of the basic set-up procedures necessary for using the applications. Based on previous research, recommendations for the use of these tools are given in addition to further readings on the topic. This presentation is helpful for anyone interested in learning about the potential conferencing applications have for second language acquisition.

 English Reading Online: Exploring EFL Learners’ Online Reading Strategies
Hsin-chou Huang
This study aims to construct a technology-enhanced reading program, English Reading Online, and to investigate EFL learners online reading strategies. The reading aids in the current program echo reading strategy patterns found in L2 reading literature so that the actual clicking on a certain strategy function button was an indicator of that particular strategy use. The navigation patterns of 30 participants in reading four online authentic texts with different difficulty levels were tracked and videotaped by the computer system. Results showed that students tended to use a fixed set of reading strategies that they had long been accustomed to regardless of the difficulty of the texts. Findings have important pedagogical implications for L2 reading classes.

 When Teachers Become Learners: Insights on CALL from the Other Side
Marinna Kolaitis
Phil Hubbard
Barbara Foley
This presentation reports on how a group of eight ESL teachers, some of whom had been teaching with CALL materials since the 1980s, decided to experience CALL from the learner’s perspective. Each studied a foreign language at a beginning or intermediate level, using CD-ROM or online materials over several months. They met monthly in person, kept learning journals, and posted comments on a discussion board. The results of this qualitative self-study include excerpts from meetings, the discussion board, and learning journals, commenting on the learning experience and the positive impact on the use of CALL in their ESL courses.

 Orchestrating Powerful Instructional Conversations Online
Carla Meskill
As the popularity of online instruction for language learning continues to grow, questions regarding best practices arise. Whereas a number of recent studies have examined the online discourse of language learners, few have explored the instructional conversations that language teachers orchestrate to affect learning. This study presents the online instructional strategies of three experienced language educators and discusses their grounding, impact, and relevance.

 Creating Online Diagnostic Tests and Feedback Vignettes for Dialects of Arabic, Chinese, Persian, and Modern Standard Arabic
Mary Ann Lyman-Hager
Minjuan Wang
We will present an innovative federally funded project that creates online diagnostic tests and feedback vignettes for speakers of Iraqi and Egyptian dialects of Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Persian Farsi. These online tests will function as computer-assisted screening tools to help test takers self-assess their oral language proficiencies and to better prepare for the ACTFL oral proficiency tests. These tests can assess the language skills of remotely located individuals, and they can also assist Title VI projects and government agencies, K-12 institutions, and institutions of higher education to evaluate large proficiency-based language programs. The objectives of this low-stake assessment are to: (a) elicit, online, a speech sample that establishes a baseline rating for an examinee, (b) serve as a reliable predictor of performance on an official OPI, and (c) provide positive feedback and multimedia materials for proficiency-based teaching.

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Conference Presentations: Day Two
May 19, 2006

8:00 – 8:45

Diverse Communicational Channels of the Internet-based Multiuser Audio/Video/Text CMC and Language Classroom Interaction
Younghoon Jin-Frankenberger
This study examines how the integrated communication environments of the Internet-based multiuser audio/video/text CMC affect language classroom interaction and how each of the communicational channels (audio/video/text) assists communicational interaction. The software adopted for this experiment is a multiuser CMC system which enables the participants to communicate in video/voice/text through the Internet both ways and in real time. The analysis of nonverbal visual interaction was primarily based on observational data, interviews and questionnaires; the verbal and textual interaction was based on written transcripts. The study also showed the process of students’ adjustment to this high-tech environment in terms of learning behavior and learning strategies.

 Tracking and Data Mining with Machine Learning: The Match Made in Heaven for the Study of Learner Differences
Fenfang Hwu
Researchers have suggested that collecting large volumes of data by increasing the number of subjects or lengthening the data collection period is a way to improve the quality of CALL research. Tracking technology facilitates collecting and saving such data and tracking data enables researchers to study learner differences. Nevertheless, the size of such data sample can be too large to manage, and, thus, finding meaningful patterns becomes a challenge. This study uses the data-mining process to analyze learners’ behavior-tracking data as well as machine-learning techniques to uncover patterns which will be used to create learning models.

 ELECTRA – Electronic Modules for Specialized Translation Courses
Claudia Kunschak
Celia Rico
Ingrid Cáceres
Pilar Castaño
Recent developments in the profession of translation have been inextricably linked to advances in the field of technology, causing a profound impact on the curriculum of translation studies in general and the programming of individual courses in particular. ELECTRA, made possible by a grant from the Universidad Europea de Madrid, is a project designed to develop prototypes of computer-assisted modules for three core subjects in the translation curriculum: an advanced class in translation technology and two classes in specialized legal translation (German-Spanish/Spanish-German). The modules complement in-class instruction, follow a clear progression, are cross related, and allow students to create their own learning path.

 Where Does ICALL Fit into Foreign Language Teaching?
Luiz Amaral
W. Detmar Meurers
This paper explores the pedagogical motivation and prerequisites of a successful integration of intelligent computer-aided language learning (ICALL) tools into current language teaching practice. Based on a survey in the Ohio State University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese to determine current pedagogical practice and perceived needs, we address key questions that need to be answered to integrate ICALL tools into current teaching practice, such as (a) when and where use ICALL systems, (b) their role in the teaching/learning process, (c) what skills they can help develop, and (d) what they are not suited for.

 The Tactical Language and Culture Training System
W. Lewis Johnson
The Tactical Language and Culture Training System helps learners acquire basic communicative skills in foreign languages and cultures. Learners practice their communication skills in a simulated village, where they must develop rapport with the local people who in turn will help them accomplish missions. Each learner is accompanied by a virtual aide who can provide assistance and guidance if needed. The aide can also act as a virtual tutor giving the learners feedback on their performance. Learners communicate via a multimodal interface which permits them to speak and choose gestures on behalf of their character in the game.

 A Multidimensional Model of Language Ecology
Jane L. Hanson
Accepted frameworks for language learning, assessment and principles of language ecology, together with insights gleaned from systems theory, the science of complexity, dynamic change theory, and the psychological fields of creative thinking and artificial intelligence, form a synthesized basis for the proposition of a multidimensional model of language ecology, borrowing the tools of a burgeoning field of information visualization.

 FLASH to the Rescue–Automating Student WebCT Orientations with a Video Tutorial
Jason Adams
Stacey L. Powell
The problem: the logistics of conducting 39 Elementary Spanish WebCT orientation sessions during the busy start of the semester at Auburn University. The solution: an interactive, Flash-based video tutorial. Our session will describe the process used to develop the script, highlight lessons learned throughout the authoring and implementation processes, and suggest strategies that audience members might use to accomplish a similar project. We will also discuss the positive impact on the beginning of semester activity in the Foreign Language Multimedia Center, as well as student reactions to the tutorial and similar projects for other language sequences.

 9:00 – 9:45

Spanish Heritage Language Placement Exams: An Introduction and Model for Implementation
Cynthia M. Ducar
Hale Thomas
Sara Beaudrie
This presentation provides practical information for the successful implementation of a computer placement exam in a university Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) program. Statistical results from a trial run in fall 2005 show that the exam we developed is highly reliable in placing both intermediate and advanced SHL learners at the appropriate levels. It is our contention that an exam of this nature would be highly useful for other institutions with SHL populations. Through a careful, detailed evaluation, we believe the placement of SHL students can be as efficient a process as it is for their Spanish foreign language counterparts.

 iTuning Academe: New Models of Cooperation and Publication in Language Technology
Andrew Ross
Samantha Earp
In 2005, Apple Computer approached four universities to participate in the development of a specialized iTunes Music Store interface; the goal was to re-envision a consumer market tool for academic use. We have since tested this tool in world languages and other disciplines at our institutions. Our presentation will include a demonstration of this tool, focusing on use cases in language and culture instruction, and a discussion of the development process and its implications for university/industry partnerships. Finally, we will suggest a new model for the distribution of learning materials and discuss implications for content providers and further academic/industrial collaborations.

 Assessing Oral Proficiency for L2 Spanish: Hybrid Versus Traditional Classrooms
Cristina Pardo-Ballester
Robert Blake
This presentation examines the proficiency of L2 students learning introductory Spanish through a hybrid format: namely, two days a week in class and three days working with online resources. Students used a CD textbook in conjunction with online activities delivered through a Moodle interface with a Breeze chat program. The oral proficiency of the hybrid students (experimental group) was compared to their counterparts enrolled in traditional 5-day-a-week classrooms (control group) using Ordinate’s Spoken Spanish Phone Test. Hybrid students performed at similar levels to those of the control group.

 Developing Digital Activities within Multipurpose Language-training Content
Tarek Elgendy
Hanan Khaled
Goran Markovic
This presentation demonstrates how technology is utilized in developing digital activities within the framework of developing multipurpose training materials at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). The presented language is Arabic, although the same production principles apply to all courseware developed at DLI.  The presentation emphasizes the importance of having technology as a major medium of teaching and learning. Specific ideas, examples, and sample activities–language games–for learning sounds, scripts, and basic topics are shown to exemplify principles of teaching for proficiency in the communicative task-based classroom.

 An Ethnographic Approach to Listening: Las Voces de las Mujeres de Xelajú
Tess Lane
Las Voces de las Mujeres de Xelajú is a collection of videotaped interviews with 20 women in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, presented in an interactive HTML-based program. This video archive of interviews presents the views, values, and choices of women of a variety of ages, backgrounds, and professions by asking each woman the same set of seven open-ended questions in Spanish. Responses contain many of the same vocabulary words and structures, which provides repetition in listening practice. Students select which women and questions to listen to. Three Spanish classes with a total of 28 students completed ethnographic research projects using these materials. An analysis of the students’ reports shows the degree to which the goals of the project are being met.

 Visualize the Invisible: Flash and Grammar
Lilly Lee Chen
Hajime Kumahata
Grammatical concepts are abstract and difficult especially for the learner whose source language typologically differs greatly from the target language. In a language like Chinese, the relationship between many grammatical particles and their lexical counterparts can be understood in terms of cognitive process of metaphor. The latter’s dynamicity is represented by using web technologies, especially Flash animation. Besides showing how teaching of grammatical aspects are facilitated by appealing to the visual, thus helping the students comprehend the unfamiliar and abstract in terms of the more familiar spatial domains, this project also evaluates the approach’s effectiveness.

 The iPod Project: A Mobile Minilab
Jorg Waltje
With the availability of a recording function Apple’s iPods (Portable Digital Audio Players) have become very interesting vehicles for language learning. The iPods foster autonomy by freeing our students from their usual language lab assignment routine. Students are able to download the audio materials used in their classes and then listen to these files wherever they wish. Furthermore, they can now do their recordings anywhere and at anytime and then upload them for the instructor to check and/or their peers to use online. This presentation will report in detail on a project conducted at Ohio University, its transferability to other learning environments, and the feedback we have received from students and instructors.

 10:00 – 10:20

Information Literacy: How ESL College Students Use the Internet for Academic Purposes
Sylvia Koestner
This paper examines international undergraduate students Internet usage for academic purposes. To be considered ‘information literate,’ students have to be able to not only locate and retrieve information but also to evaluate that information. The data demonstrate how nonnative speakers of English enrolled in a university-level writing course conduct research and how they use the web to access information. The presentation will address students research habits and their ability to exploit Internet sources critically and effectively.

 Formative Research on Refining A Design Theory for Teaching A Hybrid EFL Course
Gi-Zen Liu
The researcher created an instructional case to develop guidelines (including speaking, listening, reading, and writing) for teaching EFL to first-year undergraduate students in a hybrid course (including both classroom and online context) in Taiwan. This study utilized the broad framework of instructional design theory (Reigeluth, 1999) to develop guidelines and used the formative research methodology to collect and analyze data to refine the guidelines in the theory in a five-stage process. Two rounds of expert reviews were used to collect and analyze formative data on the case and then to refine the case and the guidelines.

 How to Devise a Cognitive Agent for Distance Language Learning
Jean-Claude Bertin
Patrick Grave
This paper is based on the distance-learning ergonomic model, outlined in CALICO 2004, and that revealed the different interactions between language, teacher designer, virtual environment, real-life tutor, learner and follow-up functions in a distance computer-mediated environment.

 Teaching Technology for Life-long Learning
Sharon Scinicariello
RSS and podcasts are two relatively new tools for acquiring authentic materials on a variety topics. Effective use of these resources in the language classroom not only improves students’ listening and reading but also links the classroom to the “real world.” If students are to become life-long learners, they need to learn to use these tools to develop their skills when they are no longer in class. Using examples from conversation and composition courses, this session discusses the design and implementation of assignments that build life-long learning skills while addressing course specific instructional goals.

 Webware: Rapid Creation of Internet-based Multimedia Applications Without Web Browser Hassles
Devin Asay
Claire Bradin Siskin
The rapid application development tool Revolution is often perceived (and dismissed) as standalone application. In fact, this tool can be used to develop applications that look and feel like a local standalone but run entirely from a web server. In this environment, multimedia can be easily created and integrated into online language learning interfaces. The presenters will demonstrate web-enabled and internet-enabled applications created in Revolution in which multimedia files are accessible online.

 Teaching Well Online with MERLOT
Carla Meskill
Margarita Hodge
John Thomas
The Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) is an international collection of multimedia learning materials that can help faculty enhance their online instruction. MERLOT’s functionality allows for easy identification of relevant materials that have been reviewed for quality, accuracy, and applicability by peers within the academic discipline. Members of the World Languages Editorial Board will share the MERLOT mission and language collection as well as demonstrate effective online integration techniques.

 10:30 – 10:50

Learners’ Collaborative Offline Interactions Between Online Messages in Asynchronous Computer-mediated Communication
Keiko Kitade
This study investigates learners offline face-to-face interactions between asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) messages and native speakers. The language related episodes (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) are identified in the audiorecorded offline data and the online ACMC data and are categorized as follows: (a) linguistic focus (lexical, grammatical, pragmatic, and orthographic) and (b) whether the problem is agreed upon or solved appropriately. Data analysis reveals that the offline collaborative work enhances learning opportunities in ACMC and suggests the significance of employing learners’ collaborative work in offline modes in ACMC activities.

 The Development of Reflection through the Use of Conceptual Maps in Teacher Education
Martine Peters
In our teacher education program, preservice teachers are required to develop reflective skills. One activity through which they develop these skills is the creation of a conceptual map on their teaching philosophy. Preservice teachers are asked to conceptualize their vision of teaching in a conceptual map using Inspiration. This research analyzed the depth of reflection through the choice and number of concepts used as well as the type of architecture used for the concept maps by the preservice teachers. Conclusions on the use of conceptual maps in a teacher education program to develop reflective skills will be discussed.

 Effect and Affect of CMC in Peer Review Activities Reexamined
Yi Xu
Previous research often confirms that technology applications in the L2 classroom bring positive changes in students participation. However, the current project finds that information exchanges in students peer review activities in CMC and in traditional modes were strikingly similar. Questionnaires also confirm students had no preference over a particular mode. I suggest it could be the students favorable reaction towards the change itself, rather than a favorable attitude towards the CMC, that has resulted in an initial higher level of participation when the computer application was introduced into the classroom for the first time.

 Off-Task Behavior During Computer-mediated Communication
Claudia Kost
Chat topics often consist of task-based activities that are deemed to be beneficial for language learning. However, chat transcripts also often provide evidence that learners go off task during their online conversations. By analyzing transcripts from weekly chat sessions of beginning learners of German, the present study investigates this off-task behavior and attempts to determine some underlying reasons and explanations for it. Possible solutions in terms of task design, teacher behavior, or classroom management will be suggested.

 Learner Interaction Management in a 3D Virtual World
Mark Peterson
Computer systems that facilitate collaborative interaction within the context of three dimensional (3D) virtual worlds represent a technology with potential in CALL. This paper explores the avatar and text-based interaction of learners in a 3D real-time communication system known as Active Worlds. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed to investigate the data. The results indicate that the subjects made use of both interactional and transactional communication strategies when managing their target language interaction. Moreover, there was only limited evidence that negotiation occurred. This experimental project highlights the need for further studies into the nature of learner interaction management in CALL projects that utilize 3D virtual reality.

 CUADERNO: Online Notebook and Writing Portfolio
Pablo Viedma
Mark Kondrak
Frances Matos-Schultz
Developed at the University of Minnesota’s CLA Language Center, Cuaderno is a system for creating and managing web-based writing portfolios. Cuaderno allows instructors to create and then provide timely and contextualized comments on writing assignments via a system of color-coded markups. Students draft and submit their writing assignments online and then receive feedback within the same Cuaderno environment. Students works are archived in their portfolios, which they and their instructors can review at any time. At the teachers discretion, students can also be organized into peer groups, which allows for collaborative activities such as group writing assignments and peer reviews.

 Online Language Lab (For Free!)
Tony C. Beld
The old lab manual with CDs, or worse, cassettes is definitely a thing of the past. With Hot Potatoes, embedded audio, and Ganesha LMS, language programs can create engaging web activities for their students that are tracked by the LMS. This presentation reviews the tools used to easily setup the LMS and generate hundreds of Potatoes with embedded audio–all for FREE!

 1:30 – 2:15

Computer-mediated Communication and the Development of Pragmatic Competence: A Research Perspective
Martina Mollering
Providing a brief overview of the research literature on computer-mediated communication (CMC) in second language acquisition, this paper concentrates on internet-mediated intercultural communication in foreign language learning. The paper is based on the rationale that, although CMC has been established in foreign language education for more than a decade, its contribution to intercultural learning is ambiguous, with a number of recent studies focusing on the occurrence of cross-cultural miscommunication in telecollaboration projects. Drawing on research in cross-cultural pragmatics, this contribution examines the potential of CMC for the development of pragmatic competence in the context of an Australian-German telecollaboration project.

 Autonomous Technology-assisted Language Learning: Principles, Resources, Needs, and Possibilities
Gary A. Cziko
Recent advances in technology have provided valuable new resources for autonomous language learners. Resources for input include text, audio, and video available via the Internet; satellite radio and TV; and DVD video. Interactive resources include wikis, instant messaging, voice over IP, and video conferencing. However, serious obstacles remain to the widespread and effective use of these resources for language learning. These obstacles will be discussed and possibilities for overcoming them will be proposed, the latter demonstrated via a number of software and hardware products, prototypes, and designs.

 Corpora for CALL: Transforming Text Samples into Authentic Learning Materials
Hans Paulussen
Piet Desmet
Over the last 20 years, text corpora have gradually gained importance in language technology and corpus linguistics. Since they contain real language usage, text corpora have also become an important language resource for language teaching, and CALL in particular. However, it still remains a difficult task to render corpus samples in a way which is suited for didactic purposes. The microscopic view of the classical KWIC-index (well suited for linguistic analysis) neglects the contextual coloring provided by the authentic context. Corpus samples can be very useful for language teaching when presented in an authentic context. In this talk, we will introduce three possible methods to transform text samples into authentic learning materials within a corpusCALL application.

 Electronic and Paper Workbook Use: A Comparative Study
Cathy Barrette
This presentation describes a comparative study of electronic and paper workbook use by 19 university students in second-semester Spanish. The data was used to compare students electronic versus paper workbook use and its relationship to overall course performance including students prior experience with Spanish, their workbook completion rates, quality of workbook completion, exam scores, final grades, and students survey responses regarding their workbook use and attitudes about their workbook version. Results suggest that electronic and paper workbooks were used differently, with no clear effect on course performance. Implications for the use of electronic versus paper workbooks are discussed.

 Flexible Pedagogy for Disruptive Technologies
Debra Hoven
In the field of technology-enhanced language learning, we are riding a wave of technological change that is rapidly reaching tsunami proportions. This presentation will examine the nature and characteristics of a pedagogy that is flexible enough to accommodate breakthroughs in technology while continuing to facilitate good learning. Starting from a social constructivist perspective, the concept of affordances will be discussed in relation to social computing and computer-mediated communication, and the expanded field of view these open up for us. Some examples will be demonstrated of social software in use, combining so-called disruptive technologies, mobile devices, and flexible pedagogies.

 Give your Online Language Classes a Voice with Horizon Wimba!
Matt Wasowski
How can anyone learn a language without speaking it? This troubling question has been raised all too often as most online language courses rely exclusively on text, particularly those that use Blackboard and WebCT. Fortunately, Horizon Wimba’s Voice Tools solution–which integrates into most course management systems–remedies this problem by offering online language learning solutions that allow students and teachers to learn and teach the most natural way of all–with voice. Learn how colleges throughout the world are giving their online classes a voice.

 Taking the Classroom Forward: Rediscovery of Online Language Learning
Faizah Sari
Catherine Dockery
Ashley Donaldson
Mark Johnson
Sylvia Koestner
Christiane Schoernig
Lijuan Ye
The studies done in this panel investigate issues on collaborative implementations of research methodologies in online language-learning contexts, specifically those on the subject of computer-mediated learning materials, online navigation techniques, and L2 learner behavior. The discussion consists of the current dialogue between classroom innovations and online technology which help reaffirm higher success rate in language learning. Through this panel, we are calling to assess the current phenomena of online technology relevant to language learning: an educational investment thus far remains to be perfected by relentless creative curiosity and should be effectively navigated to accommodate ideal learning process.

 2:30 – 3:15

What XML Can Do For You: Utilizing the Full Potential of Extensible Markup Language Schemas in Computer-Based Testing
Jarom McDonald
Developers of computer-based tests have been exploring the use of extensible markup language (XML) schemas as an alternative to relational data models (such as mySQL) for encoding and delivering online tests. Yet in practice, the potential of XML has been very sparingly realized. This presentation demonstrates advantages of using XML in computer-based tests by showcasing a web-based test development application currently under development and, more significantly, demonstrating how such tests can be deployed, simultaneously, on a computer via an HTML browser, on paper via a dynamically generated PDF, and on a cell phone via a WAP browser.

 Incorporating a Voice-enabled Bulletin Board into Tandem Language Learning: Speaking across Borders
Peggy Patterson
Susana Trabaldo
Hajime Kumahata
Online tandem language learning (TLL) provides language learners in different countries an excellent opportunity to communicate with each other. In our previous TLL projects all communication was written. We incorporated speaking into our current email project by using a voice-enabled bulletin board system (BBS) with embedded WIMBA. We compared various BBS-voice postings across different borders. Fifty-four Mexico-USA tandem partners discussed specified topics with voice board, and fifty-two Argentina-USA learners participated in voice board without assigned topics. Learners also discussed cultural differences encountered through word association activities. The learners discourse was evaluated to determine which voice board provided more interaction and cultural exchange.

 The IN6ENIO Online CALL Authoring Shell: A New Approach to Designing Self-access Courseware
Ana Gimeno
The recent proliferation of web-enhanced language-learning environments led the author to initiate an research and development project, known as Proyecto IN6ENIO, to establish the theoretical background on which to base the creation of a pedagogically sound online dedicated CALL authoring shell. This language independent tool, which includes templates that integrate video, graphics, audio, and text, allows language teachers from around the world to design and publish materials to suit their students’ particular needs. Besides having designed the authoring shell, a content manager has also been developed to allow language specialists to create a database from which to select materials. In addition, a language-learning environment offering courseware for learners of English for specific purposes has also been produced.

 The Effects on Student Learning and Curricular Objectives of a Redesigned Spanish Course
Michael Heller
Edwin M. Lamboy
During CALICO 2005, Portland State University presented the outcomes of a redesigned large enrollment, introductory Spanish course that included the integration of a learning management system to increase enrollment while reducing costs without negatively impacting student performance. Similarly, Montclair State University (MSU) has redesigned the first-semester Spanish course using a functional approach and has leveraged technology to extend the language learning experience beyond the classroom. Results from the pilot of MSU’s redesign will be presented along with findings from partner institutions engaged in course redesign supported by The National Center for Academic Transformation’s Roadmap to Redesign (R2R).

 Incidental Vocabulary Learning, Lookup Behavior, and Vocabulary Size
Makoto Yoshii
This study examines the incremental nature of vocabulary learning through reading for comprehension using Internet-based materials. The study took place over a month with 40 Japanese university English as a foreign language (EFL) students. The participants read two texts for comprehension purposes during class with computers, using a program created to present reading texts with an electronic dictionary component which allowed the researcher to keep track of learners lookup behavior. The study looks at how the students developed their vocabulary knowledge and examines the relationship among the vocabulary test scores, the lookup data, and learners’ vocabulary size.

 What Makes Students Click (Again): Replicating Chun and Payne (2004)
Emily F. Rine
Lisa Hundley
J. Scott Payne
Dorothy Chun
In a study exploring the relationship between working memory and multimedia look-up behavior, Chun and Payne (2004) found a robust relationship between phonological working memory and look-up behavior while reading L2 texts. We report findings from a replication of Chun and Payne (2004) that employs a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest, and quasi-experimental design to address some limitations of the previous study: the small sample size, a possible role of motivation, initial vocabulary knowledge, and longer term recall of vocabulary as they relate to look-up behavior. Implications for classroom instruction and multimedia software design are also discussed.

 Streamlining Video Streaming: Automated French TV News Delivery
John H. Stewart
Rachael Criso
One of the presenters utilizes daily French news broadcasts as out-of-class assignments for a Business French course. On her office computer, the instructor first reviews streamed news programs and selects topics or news programs. Students have responded very positively to having current, relevant, and “real” news from a European perspective. The instructor is able to review, assign, and provide news programming to students campus. The other presenter has developed an automated system for easily digitizing and deploying high-quality, low bandwidth on-demand video, as well as live multicast rebroadcasts of international satellite TV–all without videotape!

 3:30 – 4:15

The Transferability of L2 Chinese Writing Skill in the Computer Chat Medium to a Non-electronic L2 Chinese Writing Environment
Jianling Liao
This research project focuses on the use of computer chats as a tool for Chinese second language (L2) writing. It uses an interactionist framework to investigate the transferability of Chinese L2 writing skills in computer chats to a nonelectronic Chinese writing environment. Specifically, the aspects and extent of transfer were explored. Students were placed into dyads at random and asked to perform an opinion exchange activity. Pre- and postwriting tasks were also conducted to examine the impacts of computer chats on L2 writing. The findings suggest that computer chats could affect nonelectronic L2 Chinese writing in a variety of aspects.

 Different Learners-Different Strategies and Outcomes: Effects of Proficiency Level in CALL
Trude Heift
Anne Rimrott
Individualization of the learning process is frequently cited as a desirable feature and goal of CALL. While many learner variables can be considered to address the variety of language learners, proficiency level is a factor that not only can be determined fairly accurately but can also be easily used for cross comparisons. Over the past years, we have conducted a number of studies that investigated learning outcomes and learner strategies. All studies considered learner proficiency as an independent variable. In this talk we will highlight the proficiency-related differences we found and make recommendations for CALL research and program design.

 Computer Makes Three? The Role of Language and Technology in Collaborative WebQuests
Sabine Siekmann
This presentation examines interactions between two students and the computer while completing a collaborative online reading task. A short review of research methodology in CALL will highlight how full-motion screen capture with audio can be a successful data collection procedure in order to understand group work on computers. Findings from a study of six dyads completing collaborative WebQuests will then be presented. Discussion of results will include the role the computer plays within the group and the ways in which students utilize their L1 and the L2 to negotiate the task and the technology.

 Donde quiera, cuando quiera–Opportunities and Challenges–Online AP Spanish
María Victoria González Pagani
We will present a two-semester AP Spanish language long distance course with components including learning-strategies explanations, language explanations, and a battery of exercises and activities aimed at developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. One of the prominent characteristics of this course is the amount and variety of activities. Our presentation will focus on the challenges the content team faced in the development of the materials, especially in the design of the activities. We will address specific issues such as type, number, and display of feedback.

 Meta-analysis of the Current Five-year Research Studies in the CALICO Journal
Fuqiang Zhuo
This presentation focuses on using meta-analysis approach to conduct systematic reviews and syntheses of teaching foreign languages with technology from the studies published in the last 10 years of the CALICO Journal. The presenter will provide a brief history of meta-analysis, discuss its advantages and disadvantages, demonstrate its procedures, and explain effect size suggested by APA to be included in experimental research reports. The statistical results will show how effective of teaching with technology in the articles including file-safe drawer figures.

 Web-based Collocation Retrieval Tools and Advanced EFL Learners
Howard Hao-Jan Chen
The development of L2 collocational knowledge has received more and more attention. Several innovative collocation sites based on large corpora have been developed. So far, considerable attention has been paid to development of these collocation tools. However, relatively little attention has been paid to investigations of ESL learners actual use of these tools and their attitudes toward such use in the L2 writing. In this study, 45 students in writing courses were invited to use and assess these tools. The data indicated that students perceived web-based collocation retrieval tools as beneficial and that these tools also help them increase their writing confidence.

 Multimedia Materials: Content Based, Interactive, Teacher Selected
Debra Lee
Richard Stephens
Marta Chroma
Marcin Sliwka
Charles Hall
Content and technical course developers will demonstrate the interface between a classroom-based and web-driven program for a regional law and language program. Four aspects of the program will be highlighted: (a) the ability of classroom teachers to easily design a course based on provided materials and exercises to fit the needs of their particular classroom, (b) the content-based, problem-driven comparative law approach to language learning, (c) the DVD-web portal interface, and (d) an interactive role play scenario designed to practice language learning and legal reasoning skills of participants.

 4:30 – 5:15

Using a Virtual Classroom to Train Language at a Distance: The Special Operations Forces Tele-training System (SOFTS)
Eric A. Surface
Martin Bushika
Betty Feng
Francis Feng
Sherrie A. Jones
Most Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel have a requirement to learn and maintain proficiency in a foreign language. This is sometimes difficult because these personnel are geographically dispersed, and there are often not enough personnel with the same language at a location to justify a traditional language class. To ensure that SOF personnel receive language training, the SOF Language Office is field testing a virtual classroom technology–the Special Operations Forces Tele-training System (SOFTS)–with three classes. Our session will provide a project overview, a demonstration of the instructional interface, preliminary evaluation data, and lessons learned.

 Using Multimodal Advance Organizers to Support Learner Comprehension of Authentic Foreign Language Video
Anja Szustak
John Balong
This presentation reports on an original video-based multimedia website that was developed to help beginning learners of German comprehend authentic video, build vocabulary, and notice a limited number of grammatical features present in the video. The developers used the website to investigate the effects of different types of advance organizers on learner comprehension of the video material in the site. Advance organizers are presented in two conditions: text+sound and picture+sound. The results are interpreted in terms of Paivio’s (1986) dual-coding theory and Mayer’s (1997) generative theory of multimedia.

 The Bodo Bot Project: Intelligent Agents, Instant Messaging, and Vocabulary Acquisition
J. Scott Payne
Michael Lipschultz
To date, very little work has been done exploring how IM tools can be directly harnessed for SLA research. The Bodo Bot project is an SLA research tool in the form of an IM bot that is designed to collect detailed behavior-tracking and self-report data, generate user models, and track language development while serving as a language reference agent in a conversational “wrapper.” In this presentation we will: (a) outline the Bodo Bot design framework, (b) discuss the computational components that parse and learn from user input, and (c) report findings from an initial study of L2 vocabulary acquisition.

 WebCT Use, Writing Tasks and Test Scores in Blended Chinese Language Classes
De Zhang
This 9-month long quantitative study was conducted in intact intermediate-blended Chinese language classes at a midwest university. Chinese WebCT was used to support the online learning environment. Major research findings include significant correlations between the students’ WebCT use and the test scores in the first semester. Two major writing tasks (reflective journals and Chinese essays) made significant contributions to the students’ learning outcomes in both semesters. This study demonstrated the great potential the WebCT student-tracking function provides to second/foreign language instruction and research and sheds light on instructional design and assessment in online language-learning environments.

 Exploiting the Text Annotation Tool to Open the World of Agrippine
Monique Burston
Comics depicting the world of French adolescents, such as the Agrippine series, offer an excellent introduction to modern French colloquial speech. However, because sociocultural presuppositions as well as numerous nonstandard forms involving lexicon, syntax, and phonology, it is a challenge for the teacher to make this motivating resource accessible to nonnative students. In this presentation I will demonstrate how the Text Annotation Tool, a web-based program developed by Frommer et al., can be used to hyperlink comic book text and images to explanatory resources (local and Internet-based) of all types: text, graphics, audio, and video.

 Pedagogy for Online Language Teaching
Ursula Stickler
The CALICO Special Issue Spring 2006 was devoted to online pedagogy. The topic was timely and produced interesting contributions and deliberations. Not only is the online teaching of languages gaining popularity worldwide–as witnessed by descriptions of best practice from eight different countries–interest is also rising in a theoretical basis for online teaching, a pedagogic groundwork with which to justify the training of tutors. This presentation will provide a framework for online pedagogy; attempting to answer the fundamental questions: How is online teaching of languages different from face-to-face teaching? and What training and experience do online teachers need?

 On-site Student-produced Cultural Documentaries
Claire Bartlett
Jane Verm
Rice produced two cultural documentaries made by students for students. We will present these documentaries, discuss the project and learning process, and describe their use in language classes. Two teams of students went to Almeria, Spain and Corsica, France to film these documentaries. Each team included one linguist and one cameraman. The linguists, who stayed for 8 weeks, participated in an internship and conducted the interviews. The cameramen filmed and stayed for 4 weeks. They were guided by a team of faculty and technicians in the USA. You can view the documentaries on our streaming server or request a copy (http://lang.rice.edu/documentaries).

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Conference Presentations: Day Three
May 20, 2006

8:00 – 8:45

Empowering Online Language Learning: The Chinese LearnLab in the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center
Sue-mei Wu
Mark Haney
This presentation will demonstrate an online Chinese course being developed at Carnegie Mellon University as a LearnLab course for the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center (PSLC). The LearnLab course aims to leverage web technologies to provide effective learning experiences for students and to gather rich data on student learning that will enable in vivo research studies of the learning process. Results of the research enabled by the course are expected to inform improvements to the online learning experience provided by the course, resulting in a continuous cycle of improvement that will empower online language learning. In addition to the demonstration, the presenters will also discuss the technologies utilized and the challenges of integrating diverse goals and knowledge domains in the project.

 The Effect of a Learning-style-based Computer Application on Learners’ Processing Behavior
Tadayoshi Kaya
Do language learners process data differently if they are provided with a CALL application that matches their learning styles? In order to investigate this issue, an empirical study with 140 Japanese university students was conducted. After being judged on their learning styles through questionnaires, the participants were assigned either learning-style matched computerized materials or unmatched materials for English vocabulary learning. Based on the computer log files that were stored while the participants were learning vocabulary, the effect of computerized material adjustments according to learners learning styles on learners behavior will be examined.

 Minimizing Difficulties: Utilizing SCMC to Enhance Interlanguage Pragmatic Developmen
Julie M. Sykes
Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) and pragmatic instruction in the foreign language classroom have the combined potential to enhance L2 Interlanguage pragmatic (ILP) development at various competency levels. This study combines pragmatic instructional theory with current SCMC research to provide guidelines for utilizing SCMC in the classroom for ILP acquisition. The unique combination of these areas offers the possibility to overcome many of the obstacles to ILP instruction by allowing for individual preferences, varied roles, lessened pragmatic pressure, and limited requirement of instructor intervention. Five guidelines for the use of SCMC in ILP development as well as sample activities are given.

 Using Eye Movement Analysis tools to Predict Language Proficiency
Martha E. Crosby
Christoph Aschwanden
David E. Ashworth
This research describes how EventStream, computer software that employs features for creation of experiments, setup, data storage, data replay, export, and analysis, can facilitate experiments in language comprehension. An experiment was performed to show an example of how this software can help language researchers. The focus of the study was the analysis of the participants comprehension strategy, where the strategy was defined as all the eye movements and operations involved from reading the text to answering the questions. The software is also able to record other aspects of the users activity and synchronize all of the data streams.

 Tutorial Interaction Online or Face-to-face–Much of a Muchness?
Annette Duensing
Ursula Stickler
For students studying languages at a distance, synchronous audio or video conferencing via the Internet is so far the most promising way of offering genuine interaction, that is, to communicate in real time, synchronously, with other speakers of the target language (Hampel & Hauck 2004). However, can online tutorials offer interactivity equally beneficial to student learning as could the old face-to-face variety? To answer this question a sample of face-to-face and online tutorials for the same German course at the Open University (UK) was recorded and then examined using OSR N6 and Social Network Analysis.

 Intelligent CALL–New Avenues for Empirical Research
Trude Heift
Mathias Schulze
The employment of techniques from artificial intelligence in CALL–often described as Intelligent CALL (ICALL)–has opened up new avenues for empirical research. The improvement and consolidation of artificial intelligence techniques such as natural language understanding and generation as well as student profiling and modeling provide innovative approaches to the development of language-learning software. At the same time, ICALL applications provide applied linguists with information rich data about learners, learning processes, and learning outcomes. We will identify current developments and results in ICALL and discuss their impact on CALL and its empirical studies.

 Investigating the Promise of Learner Corpora
Carol A. Chapelle
Mohammad Haji-Abdolhosseini
This paper reports on our analysis of a commercially available learner corpus (The International Corpus of Learner English) which sought robust, quantitative evidence for ESL learners grammatical development as shown in past SLA research. We describe the methodology we used to (a) segment the corpus into proficiency levels using demographic information in the corpus and quantitative analysis of the text, (b) obtain external criterion measures of level, (c) identify key indicators of development that have been found on SLA research, and (d) statistically test for robust predictors of level.

 9:00 – 9:45

ESL Students’ Use of a Transcript and Subtitles in a Multimedia Listening Unit
Maja Grgurovic
This presentation reports on a study investigating the use of two help options (a lecture transcript and target language subtitles) in a multimedia listening unit containing a video of an academic lecture. While working on the unit, ESL learners in an academic listening class were offered help options in cases of comprehension breakdowns, and their interactions were tracked using a screen capturing program. This presentation will add to the understanding of help options in CALL materials by describing students navigational patterns, comparing the use of two help options, and pointing out differences between learners at two proficiency levels.

 Models for Content-Language Collaboration: Technology to the Rescue
Madeline Spring
Robert L. Davis
Content-based Instruction (CBI) has become a key component in the development of advanced language proficiency. But many language teachers lack advanced content knowledge, and content experts lack the expertise and techniques necessary to make content accessible to language learners. This session will present a variety of models for collaboration between language teachers and content experts that hinge crucially on web-based resources and tools. Target languages include Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish, and materials demonstrated will cover levels ranging from Intermediate to Superior.

 Student-produced Photo Documentaries: An Innovative and Effective
Jack Burston
This presentation demonstrates the use of student-produced photo documentaries in the foreign language curriculum and describes the pedagogical benefits that can be derived from their exploitation. Photo documentaries combine still images, titling, audio narrations, background music, and visual effects into a video clip. Using freely available Windows programs, they are very easy to produce and can be undertaken either as individual or small group projects. They lend themselves well to a wide range of innovative applications at all levels of linguistic competence: family albums, advertisements, real or imagined trips, study-abroad stays, biographies of famous people, historical/cultural presentations, creative story-telling, and so forth.

 A Study on the Effects of Networked Language Learning
Ooyoung Pyun
This study explored the effects of networked computers in L2 learning by comparing synchronous online discussions with face-to-face discussions. Given the limited database in computer-mediated communication and the contradictory results of previous research, this study investigated the linguistic and interactional characteristics of real-time electronic communication and how the written output of electronic communication resembles or differs from the spoken output of traditional face-to-face discussions. The 20 subjects of this study were randomly paired for two types of discussions (electronic and face to face), and then the data were compared in terms of linguistic amount, syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, and interactional features.

 Computer-assisted Authenticity: Slavic Taggers Project
Danko Sipka
In an attempt to provide more authentic and autonomous instruction of less commonly taught languages Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), Polish, and Russian text taggers (http://www.asusilc.net/cgi-bin/newtepajgu.pl) are being developed as a part of the project titled Learner-centered Task-based Language Instruction (http://www.asusilc.net/lctli) The taggers allow the user to paste in a text, copied from an online newspaper or acquired in another manner, and have it tagged with English glosses and equipped with the option of displaying the inflection of each word form in the text. The present paper summarizes achievements of this project, identifies its major problem areas, and outlines its envisaged development hence.

 Online Language Learning: Where is Your Content?
Jozef Colpaert
Two of the main reasons why interactive online language courseware lacks momentum compared to CMC are (a) the complexity of online software development and (b) the specificity of content authoring. Content authoring for online systems is a rather discouraging experience due to a series of alienating factors. In this presentation we will explain how we tackle these challenges by working on an Entreposage Universel (EU) level. This EU data structure will be illustrated with examples of finished and ongoing projects. A surprising and pleasant effect is that the EU data structuring leads to a considerable reduction of specification time in language courseware design.

 Phonetics: the Sounds of Spoken Language
Kaspar Stromme
Anja Szustak
“Phonetics: the Sounds of Spoken Language” is a collaborative project developed at The University of Iowa. The project uses a Flash-driven website to deliver animated libraries of the phonetic sounds of American English, German, and Spanish. Our demonstration provides an overview of the website, gives technical information and requirements, and uses the German part of the website to demonstrate how students who learn German may use the animated articulatory diagram, step-by-step descriptions, and video-audio of sounds spoken in context to develop an understanding of German phonetics.

 10:00 – 10:45

Another Peek into What Today’s English Learners as Researchers Actually do in Production with the Scaffolding of Three Web-based Referencing Tools
Hsien-Chin Liou
Chih-Hsin Lee
The pedagogical effectiveness of referencing tools in assisting language learning has attracted quite a lot of attention. The aim of this study is to investigate 22 learners preferences and look-up strategies of using three web-based referencing tools: a bilingual dictionary, a bilingual concordancer, and a collocation retrieval program while doing writing and translation tasks. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Qualitative data included two think-aloud sections of six learners; quantitative data contained records of an online tracker, an evaluation questionnaire, and pretest/posttest writing of the 22 learners. Results and implications will be presented in the conference.

 Word Appropriation Strategies among Adult ESL Learners Engaged in a Threaded Discussion Forum
Su-Lin Tai
The aim of this study was to investigate how advanced adult ESL learners dealt with unknown words when divided into groups to argue for or against controversial topics derived from assigned readings. Results of the study suggest that different participants had different degrees of word command regarding vocabulary used for arguments during task engagement. They employed various word appropriation strategies when trying to come to a better understanding of unknown words in postings as well as to compose their replies with immediate needs to express the concepts of those unknown words.

 A Pointless Exercise? Improving Pronunciation in a Learner-autonomy-based Language Programme
Klaus Schwienhorst
The paper looks at the issue of pronunciation in a learner-autonomy-based learning context, often a neglected issue. First, I will look at the importance of pronunciation within learner autonomy. Second, I will review existing concepts and tools that have been used in pronunciation teaching and evaluate them in terms of learner autonomy. Third, I will report on the concepts and tools that we developed for the pronunciation workshops and individual learners in our evening courses. Fourth, I will provide an outlook how pronunciation development could be evaluated and whether pronunciation work at this level can have any long-term effect.

 Scaffolding FL Instructors to Enhance Virtual Class with Task-based Instruction
Wendy W. Tu
The Distance Learning Division at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center is launching pilot sustainment classes over broadband for service men and women stationed in isolated or remote locations. This presentation will discuss the initial process and outcome of supporting participant instructors as they are oriented to e-tools and protocols, refresh applications of task-based instruction (TBI), experience various tasks online as ESL learners, review/critique/design sample tasks, extend reading/listening online tutorial with communicative/collaborative tasks, and then incorporate/adapt TBI into their existing curricula. Empirical evidence and challenges for developing faculty as well as implementing TBI in the virtual classroom will be presented and discussed.

 A Comparison of Students’ and Instructors’ Perception of Japanese CALL
Grace Wiebe
Kaori Kabata
At the University of Alberta we have undertaken a study to compare students and instructors attitudes towards CALL materials used in the Japanese program. We will report on the results of a survey which examines whether instructors have a good grasp of the students’ perception and usage patterns of CALL and how instructors’ attitudes towards CALL affect their students’ performances. By comparing students in first- and third-year courses, we will describe how students attitudes towards CALL change as they proceed with their studies. We will also discuss possible gaps between students and instructors perception of CALL materials.

 What’s a Wiki and How Do you Moodle It? Collaboration for Online Foreign Language Learning
Bridget E. Yaden
Patrick Blaine
The presenters will demonstrate Moodle, a free open-source software platform based on the social constructivist model of pedagogy. This course management software contains a number of different features which enable communication between individuals and groups and also allows for nearly any format commonly used in teaching (lesson, quiz, essay, each with multiple subformats). The presenters will show how users can use Moodle’s wiki function and briefly discuss free wiki software for other systems. These online spaces are great resources for collaborative projects in language courses. The presenters will show specific examples of projects using Wikis.

 Voices for the Unheard Community: Implications of Online Communicative Language Learning
John Vitaglione
The golden silence of Internet instruction is awakening to online voice communications that extend communicative teaching beyond the classroom context to enable students to learn a language by actually speaking it. This presentation will demonstrate how LARC is integrating archived digital resources that provide the learning situation with online voice communication tools and techniques to engage students in communicative activities that involve the use of language in real-life situations. Discussion includes online collaboration/language learning via real-time voice conferencing and archived voice threads using a triptych toolset of Blackboard, Horizon Wimba, and LARC’s Digital Media Archive.

 11:00 – 11:20

iPod Digital Audio Devices in a Technology-Enabled Second Language Classroom: A Case Study
Matthew Schmidt
In the Winter semester of 2006 a case study was conducted at a large midwestern university to investigate the functions, role, and impact of iPods equipped with microphones in a technology-enabled Spanish classroom. Findings indicate a number of functions that may be promising for language learning; however, the role and impact of these devices may not be as great as the interest they have been receiving of late. Findings based on interview, observational, and artifact data will be presented along with implications for practice and research.

 Fostering L2 Oral Communication through Constructivist Interaction in Desktop Videoconferencing
Lina Lee
This presentation reports on a pilot project utilizing desktop videoconferencing (DVC) to foster face-to-face oral interaction delivered to 18 college Spanish students. The aim of the project was to examine the effectiveness of one-to-one DVC from a constructivist approach. Eighteen students worked collaboratively with native speakers to complete two task-based activities. Data from video recordings, course surveys, participant reflections, and final oral interviews were employed to justify the findings. Findings relate to the issues of task design, linguistic variation and skills, verbal and nonverbal communication features, and scaffolding feedback. This presentation concludes with suggestions for future research and pedagogical implications.

 The Effectiveness of Dynamic versus Static Images in the Teaching of Aspectual Distinctions
Hélène Ossipov
An especially difficult aspect of French to master is the distinction between the past tenses because, in most contexts, either tense could be used but with differences in meaning; moreover, that difference is one of aspect, which is coded differently in English than in French. Using dynamic images rather than static images would render the distinction clearer to L2 learners of French. I will present the preliminary results of a study in which students were taught the distinction with the use of movie trailers, discussing the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest results of one control and one experimental group.

 The Nexos Media Edition: An Intuitive Model for Hybrid and E-Learning Environments
LeeAnn Stone
The myriad variations for language course delivery today (from face-to-face to hybrid to fully online) has created challenges for language departments (in terms of common text, delivery of instruction, and teacher training), for instructors (in learning how to use and integrate the program resources and determining how and when to assign them), and for students (in keeping track of the various program components). The design scheme for the Nexos Media Edition, an integrated multiple media introductory Spanish program, resolves these departmental, instructor and student challenges by providing a suite of options designed around a book-like interface with embedded multimedia components.

 The Expanding Role of Technology in Foreign Language Teacher Education Programs
Christopher Luke
Jody Britten
As computer technologies continue to expand, current and future foreign language educators must learn to effectively integrate technology with instructional practices and activities. This responsibility necessitates a thorough and realistic understanding of the various functions, uses, strengths, and limitations of technology. Teacher education programs are a logical starting place for educators to gain requisite knowledge and skills. Accordingly, the purposes of this presentation are: (a) to highlight and explain some of the expanding roles and affordances of technology in a collegiate foreign language education program and (b) to encourage continued research and development of instructional technology in teacher education programs.

 The Maze Task as Learning Activity and Testing Method
Kara McBride
The maze is a fun, computer-delivered, visually presented task in which the participant is shown two words at a time, only one of which can, when added to the words preceding it, continue a grammatical sentence. Given its status half-way between a reception and a production task, the maze can focus participants on any specific grammatical structure or vocabulary set that the programmer chooses. Two experiments are discussed. One used the maze task as a learning activity on 120 Spanish FL learners. The other employed the maze as one half of a pre- and posttest with 200 EFL students working online.

 A RunTime Revolution Program Resurrection
Robert Balas
Anne George
We will discuss and demonstrate how RunTime Revolution to which we were introduced at a CALICO conference permitted us to create an improved and expanded dual platform software program. Through contracting with RunTime, we were able to resurrect years of work creating videos and student lessons for French. Activated by the RunTime DreamCard Player, we have been able to continue our projects, which were becoming obsolete with the phasing out of OX9, on Québec theater and documentary film, Maghrebian literature, student programs in French as well as an experimental program with a Northwest native American language, Halq’eméylem.

 11:30 – 11:50

English Language Collaborative Learning in Asynchronous Online Environments
Goh Kawai
Students in our online course need to learn from each other without interacting with instructors. Students study at times and places of their choosing. We developed non-real-time, nonsimultaneous virtual meeting places where students can interact using voice or text. Our web-based voicemail center allows students to leave each other simulated telephone messages and to verify messages were correctly received. Our shared folder allows students to exchange business letters. In both voice and text, students are forced to interact because they must reply to incoming messages. However, whereas instructor-led courses can recover when teamwork breaks down, online courses cannot.

 Working with Foreign DVDs: Region Code and Copy Protection Problems
Peter Ecke
Foreign language teachers use of DVDs, purchased abroad, has become increasingly difficult through restrictions imposed by the motion pictures industry on DVDs, DVD-playing equipment and software. In addition, the law has imposed restrictions that negatively affect the fair use of digital media for educational purposes. In this session, I will describe some common problems experienced by language teachers when using DVDs purchased abroad, explain these restrictions, and present tools that are available to overcome them, in particular, those that make it possible to play and backup educational DVDs from other regions in DVD players and computers purchased in North America.

 Fostering Learners’ Speaking Skills Using Internet Telephoning
Golge Seferoglu
In this talk, the presenter will outline her own research findings in relation to using free Internet telephoning to foster learners’ speaking skills, particularly their accuracy and fluency at the discourse level. Moreover, pros and cons of using these free Internet telephoning tools in teaching speaking skills and pronunciation will be discussed. Furthermore, issues that need to be taken into consideration while using these technological tools with specific learner groups will be explored.

 Implementing Moodle on a University-wide Basis
Thomas Robb
As an avid Moodle user and developer, this presenter was keen on seeing Moodle implemented as the school-wide system for my university of 12,000 students. This presentation will chronicle the journey, placing particular emphasis on those aspects of a university-wide implementation that had unexpected consequences. The discussion will include problems with authentication, user account names, personal profile data, course registration and creation, student access, and instructor training.

 Blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom
Maria Fidalgo-Eick
Traditional writing in the second language classroom has taken the form of essays and sometimes real-paper diaries. Many times the students were/are left to write to an unknown audience. New technologies added the use of collaboration tools for writing and communication such as bulletin boards, chat rooms, and so on. A new possibility arose with the blog sites–online diaries where the writers audience is obviously wider. Our students are technology savvy. A lot of them had immediately begun to create their own blogs in their native language. Why not use the blogs for our foreign language classrooms?

 Creating Teacher-made Materials Using Adobe Audition
Gregory E. Menke
Marina Cobb
This presentation focuses on our experiences in conducting Adobe Audition training in house to more than 180 multilanguage faculty members. Creative uses of audio exemplifying learner-centered, skill-integrated instruction will be demonstrated. Attendees will receive a handout of all techniques presented.

 ESL Writer Feedback via Screen-Capture Video
Jeanette Clement
This demonstration of an innovative electronic method for responding to student writing features both visual and verbal feedback. Participants will learn how to provide feedback using audio-enhanced screen capture video. Results of a pilot study will be presented.

 1:30 – 2:15

Content-based Distance-learning of a Less Commonly Taught Language and Culture: The Case of Arabic Without Walls
Sonia Shiri
Arabic Without Walls (AWW) is a distance-learning project designed to bring elementary Arabic to University of California campuses that do not offer Arabic. One of the three main sections of AWW presents cultural-linguistic materials following a content-based methodology supported by a variety of other strategies. This thematically organized section contextualizes Arabic for the distant learners and raises their awareness of selected cultural aspects of the Arab world, past and present. This section acknowledges the college language learners intellectual needs and addresses them from various perspectives. This paper will present some of the strategies used to address the challenges of designing content-based materials for a nonroman script language that shares few cognates with European languages, on the one hand, and a culture that is often subject to media-nurtured misconceptions, on the other.

 WikiWikiWeb for Language Learning and Learner Autonomy: Activity Theoretical Principles and Implementation
Francoise Blin
In the Hawaiian language, ‘wiki’ means ‘quick.’ WikiWikiWeb, as originally created by Ward Cunningham in the mid 1990s, is thus a fast and easy way of collaboratively creating a website (see for example Wikipedia). Starting from an activity theoretical perspective on language learning and learner autonomy, this paper proposes some principles for the integration of WikiWikiWeb and associated technologies in language-learning environments. These principles are illustrated through examples drawn from French courses delivered to Irish university students and supported by Moodle, an open source virtual learning environment. In particular, the collective construction of electronic artifacts such as wikis is discussed with respect to its potential for language use and language learning.

 Lexical Competency in L2 Production: FL2 Learner Corpus Analysis, and Beyond
Marie-Josée Hamel
Jasmina Milicevic
In this talk, we will report on an ongoing research which looks into lexical competency from an L2 production angle and whose ultimate goal is to propose pedagogical tools for enhancing it. In an FL2 learner written corpus (50,000 words), we have investigated errors resulting from insufficient knowledge of semantic properties of lexical units. Our analysis has revealed diverse lexical errors types and an overall high density of lexical errors, indicative of a rather low level of lexical competency of supposedly intermediate-advanced learners. To remedy this problem, we intend to develop an electronic lexicographic tool based on meaning-text linguistic theory (Melcuk, 1997).

 Web Standards and Accessibility: the Future of the Web
Megan Foldenauer
Imagine what languages would be like without standards. Web pages, like languages, have syntax, grammar, and rules called “web standards.” This session provides a pragmatic look at current web standards, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium. Accessibility and Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act, which requires that Federal agencies’ electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities, will be addressed, as well as benefits of web standards designs using XHTML and CSS, including better rankings with search engines, easier website maintenance and re-design, compatibility with new technologies, and faster websites that are less expensive to host.

 Cultural and Linguistic Support for the Armed Forces
Pamela Combacau
Bella Cohen
Steve Koppany
This presentation captures and recapitulates the efforts made by the Defense Language Institute to use technology combined with face-to-face training to provide a prompt response to the need for predeployment culture training. The Familiarization Program is a joint effort between two program managers as well as numerous web developers, content developers, teachers, and administrators which resulted in a successful program used by thousands. The flexibility of design allows training coordinators to efficiently respond to time constraints imposed on deployed units.

 The Double Gaze: TRACS as Facilitator of Foreign Language Learning in Hybrid Italian/French Courses
Moira Di Mauro-Jackson
This presentation will provide an overview of the project to deactivate Texas State University’s current customized version of Blackboard by migrating users to a Sakai based environment. The Sakai Project is a community source software development effort to design, build, and deploy a new collaboration and learning environment (CLE) for higher education. This presentation will also show how this customized version of the Sakai software, called TRACS (Teaching, Research and Collaboration System), is implemented in a regular French course and a hybrid Italian course( taught in class and  online). We will show how Sakai is used to enhance foreign language teaching, learning, and testing to meet student academic and professional needs. This presentation will therefore focus on the user’s view, as well as the administrator’s view of the system, making this an outsider’s and insider’s gaze onto Sakai and one of the pilot group professors that uses Sakai in her language courses.

 1:30 – 2:15

Content Data Models, Learning Management Systems, and Instructional Design Patterns: Architectures for Sharing Creativity for Online Learning
Michael Bush
Online materials development efforts can gain three important categories of lessons that from software engineering principles: the need for standards, content data models using XML schemas, and software design patterns. SCORM, the primary standard for online learning, has certain advantages but can also lead to approaches that bury content within complex amalgams of JavaScript, HTML, ActionScript, and so forth, that may or may not be useable in the future. This presentation will demonstrate how the development of generalizable Content Data Models can be used to represent granular units of content that can be sequenced using the concept of instructional design patterns.

 Community and the Preservice Teacher: An Exploration of Computer-mediated Forums
Rebecca Chism
When two student teachers at Kent State University were unable to attend a weekly seminar class with peers due to time and distance constraints, necessity called for the exploration of alternative formats. Various applications of computer mediated-communication forums were implemented as a way to develop a virtual forum for the distance student to receive the same support, guidance, and sense of community enjoyed by the other students. Data from student interviews and virtual communication demonstrate that these applications were effective in creating a sense of community and bonding outside the classroom.

 Can Learner Training Lead to Increased Gloss Use?
Anne O’Bryan
While recent studies have found that viewing glosses with multimedia annotations can help students learn and retain vocabulary words (Chun & Plass, 1996; Al-Seghayer, 2001), O’Bryan (2005) found that when providing pictorial glosses for select words within an online reading unit, few students took advantage of the clickable gloss function allowed by the medium, a finding that mirrors a number of research studies (see Hegelheimer, 1998; Hegelheimer & Tower, 2004). In an attempt to combat this discovery, this study investigates whether training learners to use CALL effectively following Hubbard’s (2004) five-step approach leads to increased gloss use.

 FRANEL: A Cost-free Online Language Learning Environment for French and Dutch, Based on Broadcast Material
Piet Desmet
Hans Paulussen
Via Franel (www.wtv.be/franel) we want to stimulate the inhabitants of the border area Flanders-Wallonia-France to learn each others language and culture. After all, this free electronic language learning environment is based on reportages from three regional TV channels which present the neighbor’s region. Communication without borders is our baseline. The most important trump cards of Franel include (a) the integration of authentic broadcast materials (streaming video with adapted Franel-player), (b) the thematic structure in modules and units, constructed along a uniform global didactic scenario (listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, speech acts, etc.), (c) multiple access facilities to the different materials, (d) an intuitive interface and the animated text balloon Franel, and (e) half-open language activities, intelligent feedback and tracking & logging (via Idioma-tic and Cognistreamer). Franel is intended for the general public, regular education and the business world. In less than three weeks time Franel has reached more than 2500 individually registered users.

 Development of Innovative Multimedia for Use in Teaching Online at the Defense Language Institute
Gregory E. Menke
Tarek Elgendy
Hanan Khaled
Marina Cobb
Soondeuk Kim
Hudar Arin
This presentation demonstrates how available technology at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) can be applied, matching classroom activities with out-of-class assignments online. The languages represented include Arabic, Korean, Kurdish, Russian, and Spanish. Specific strategies will be provided for transferring and adapting technological materials from the classroom environment to the web environment, emphasizing the importance of flexibility on the part of the teacher. Sample lessons will be offered for teaching aspects of grammar, listening, reading, culture, and games that exemplify principles of teaching for proficiency in the communicative task-based classroom.

 Collaborating with Multilingual Teams to Create Learning Tools
Karen Audant
Dermot Rourke
Tiffany Taylor
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the federal government’s primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the US foreign affairs community. Since 1999, FSI has designed and developed over 70 distance learning courses, including language courses and tools. This presentation focuses on a collaborative model for instructional and technical design of Arabic-based language-learning tools.

 A Journey Into the FLORE Project
Catherine Caws
Martin Beaudoin
Christian Guilbault
Norm Friesen
FLORE (French Learning Object Repository for Education) is an online collection of French resources specifically designed to be used by the French community of educators and learners. This demonstration will take you into an exploratory journey of this new web portal to show you the major components of the system design and explain how the description and peer reviewing of the resources can be integrated into the context of courses and research by students. This presentation will also help answer the following fundamental question: how can Learning Object Repositories be used effectively for language learning and teaching?

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