Language Learning in the Era of Ubiquitous Computing

March 10-14, Tempe, Arizona

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Conference Presentations: Day One
March 12, 2009

10:00 – 10:45

Keynote Address

Contemplating CALL: Clichés and Challenges
Nina Garrett, Director of Center for Language Study,
Yale University, Retired

10:00 – 10:45

Technical Issues in Comparing CALL with Classroom Learning in a Blended Curriculum
Carol Chapelle
Susan Matson
Erik Voss
This paper describes a study comparing outcomes for over 200 intensive English learners at three different levels in two instructional conditions: one with and the other without the use of CALL. We report results and discuss methodological issues such as selecting and developing measures and demonstrating equivalence of groups in view of ethical, conceptual, and logical constraints.
Recording of this session

Conference Presentations: Day Two

March 13, 2009

8:00 – 8:45

Learning Blends and 3D Virtual Worlds to Promote Oral Skills Development in Modern Language Education
Ton Koenraad
The Dutch project ViTAAL presented here aims to explore activity designs for voice-enabled 3D virtual worlds to enhance the attractiveness of language learning and support task-based methodologies with a focus on oral skills. To this end schools and teacher education organizations collaborate to develop and test specific activity formats. In this paper we document the experiences with formats such as cross-media, interactive narrative LanguageQuests, and the provision of online events and fun activities such as quizzes, fortune-telling and karaoke competitions to promote informal learning. We highlight the organizational issues in this learning blend, offering learning practices for all partners involved.

Technology-Enhanced Blended Learning in an ESL class
Maja Grgurovic
Blended learning, a combination of face-to-face and online instruction, has been primarily investigated in comparison studies. In order to further advance the research in this area, some authors (Neumeier, 2005) point out a need to situate studies within theoretical frameworks and to move beyond quantitative comparison methods (Chapelle, 2003). In view of these needs, the present study investigates a technology-enhanced blended learning model in an ESL class, using three theoretical frameworks and employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The findings about CALL innovation, face-to-face and online mode integration, and learner-computer interaction can inform the introduction of CALL into a language program.

CALL Technology Education for L2 Teachers: Does It Work?
Kwang Hee Hong
The present study investigates the influence of L2 teachers’ prior technology education experience on their use of computer technology in the classroom. The data were collected from L2 teachers (including ESL teachers) in public secondary schools (grades 7-12) across a county in a Midwestern state (a total of 454 teachers across 91 schools in 16 school districts). The findings of the study show that L2 teachers with more technology education experience were more likely to use computer technology in the classroom.

Performing Caperucita: Video Production in the Spanish classroom
Victoria Maillo
This presentation describes the use of video production in the Spanish intermediate classroom to promote active learning and language acquisition through the use of technology. Student presenters will provide their own perspectives of the project and together with the instructor will discuss the pedagogical benefits as well as lessons learned from this experience.
Recording of this session

Comparison of Synchronous and Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Peer Reviews by EFL College Students
Chia-Wei Pai
The study compares asynchronous versus synchronous computermediated peer review (CMPR) activities of 18 EFL English-major freshmen using Google Docs and Google Talk in two writing cycles. Copies of asynchronous comments, transcripts of synchronous talk, and different drafts were analyzed and compared regarding function and content of peer negotiations, feedback adoption rates, and text revisions. Student responses were also investigated to reveal their perspectives on experiencing CMPR. Findings of the present study can contribute to a better understanding of how media types affect the nature of peer review activities.
Recording of this session

Blending Language Instruction
Senta Goertler
Blended or hybrid instruction offers many advantages such as flexibility in time and space and a potential for more individualized instruction. On the other hand it also bares many dangers such as inadequate preparation and support for teachers and students. Furthermore, results on language learning in blended versus traditional instructional format have been mixed. This study compared student linguistic and computer literacy development in four traditional sections with two blended sections of third-semester German. In addition to the research results, the process of blending the curriculum, the blended curriculum, and sample activities will be shared with the audience.
Recording of this session

Towards Automated Support for Language Learning while Composing First-Hand Narratives of Conflict and Conflict Prevention
Gregory Aist
Salman Ahmad
Pierre Bucher
Randy Compton
Matthew Greene
Tylar Hoag
Alan Hoag
Eric Keylor
Patrick Krecker
Kevin Leeds
Paul Mickevicius
Sean Philipp
Peter Woods
An emerging area in applied linguistics is language learning in authentic contexts: embedded in real-life situations at work, play, and so forth. We discuss challenges, opportunities, and prototype applications for natural language processing to support language learning while people relate first-hand narratives. For example, toogeneral words (car) can trigger more specific suggestions (jeep). We focus on the theme of Stories of War and Peace, conflict and conflict prevention, including cross-cultural communication. Not only are such experiences transformative and vivid, they often involve people of varied language backgrounds working together, creating naturally occurring demand for language learning in authentic communicative contexts

9:00 – 10:30
Extended Panel Presentation

Second Language Acquisition Theories, Technologies, and Language Learning
J. Scott Payne
Bryan Smith
Steven Thorne
Leo van Lier
In this panel, four researchers working within different second language acquisition (SLA) frameworks will relate various SLA theories to technology-related language learning. Presentations will be followed by open discussion with the audience. Panel participants are Scott Payne (Psycholinguistics of SLA), Bryan Smith (Interaction Approach to SLA), Steven Thorne (Sociocultural Approaches to SLA), and Leo van Lier (Ecological Approaches to SLA). Each presenter will provide a concise description of an SLA approach, important research and pedagogical findings produced from this framework, and address how each SLA theory might assist research, pedagogical practice, and technology design.
Recording of this session

9:00 – 9:45

A Window to Study Abroad Immersion: 24/7 HD Video Streaming as a New Frontier in Language Development
Lance Askildson
Although video teleconferencing services have been available for over a decade, the technology for high-definition audio-video connections over existing internet infrastructure has only recently emerged. A number of exciting opportunities for language learning have accompanied these technological developments. The present case study examines the implementation of such a high-definition video link for language learning in the form of a live ‘internet window’ between the University of Notre Dame and its study abroad affiliate in France. Utilizing student feedback and observational data, this presentation will critically examine the technology and the pedagogy underlying the ‘window’ initiative while also identifying areas for future investigation and improvement.
Recording of this session

Modifying Digital Role-Playing Games as a Tool to Enhance Foreign Language Teaching
Regina Kaplan-Rakowski
This presentation discusses the potential of using digital role-playing game modules for the teaching of foreign languages. I focus on the distinctive characteristics of these games that are uniquely suited to the challenges of foreign language instruction. I then provide an example of a game module that illustrates these principles and presents concrete examples of foreign language teaching techniques that are customized to take advantage of the interactive roleplaying environment.
Recording of this session

CALL, the Digital Divide, and Rural Development in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing
Ivon Katz
Many would contend that CALL has little or no place in language classrooms in the rural areas of the developing world and that the money needed for CALL would be better used for other educational and development projects. Do economics actually force us to accept that CALL is only appropriate for one side of the digital divide? This presentation will examine examples of successful, unsuccessful, and promising CALL/technological initiatives in the developing world and offer guidelines on how existing infrastructure and/or lowcost initiatives can successfully promote both language learning and social development.

Impact of Authentic Materials and Language Learning Technology on Student Success
Ulysses Navarrete
Yes, they do exist together! Learn how to incorporate language learning technology and authentic materials into your classroom and class plans. Partnering these two elements together provide students with culturally accurate education within a multimedia environment. Discuss what authentic materials bring to the classroom, lesson, and learning process, as well as how content that is created with materials authentic to target language directly impacts student success. Learn how cultural texts, current events, videos, real-world situations and scenarios, and native speakers deliver creditability and relevance to the learning process. Technology helps the learning process, making learning interactive, engaging, self-paced, and fun!
Recording of this session

Delivering Quality Interactive Language Instruction via Synchronous Teleconferencing
Bonnie L. Youngs
Marc Siskin
This presentation explains the teaching of an interactive, first-year language course via live video and audio teleconferencing by highlighting (a) challenges found during the set up of the course, (b) choices of the equipment used, (c) adaptations and alternatives in pedagogical approaches, (d) problems in achieving the appropriate physical environment to facilitate interaction between the instructor and the students and among/between the students (the reception classroom in Qatar and the delivery classroom in Pittsburgh), (e) difficulties with equipment and tech solutions implemented, and (f) the everyday efforts required to deliver a high-quality course in which students could learn and be motivated.

This Time It’s Personal: The Power of Desktop Videoconferencing
Judi Franz
Akemi Morioka
The opportunity for language students to be exposed to the ‘real’ culture and authentic language use is truly beneficial. Creating such an environment in a location where the target language is not spoken outside the classroom is challenging. The Japanese language program at the University of California, Irvine has conducted videoconferences with students in Japan over the past 5 years. Our presentation will discuss the results of participating in this videoconference, including our experiences with the technology (e.g., Skype, etc), forms of conversation (one-to-one vs. group), discussion topics, the different language levels of participants, student reactions, feedback, and influences on motivation.
Recording of this session

10:00 – 10:20

Explicit Feedback Versus Implicit Feedback in CALL
Rong Liu
Forty intermediate ESL learners participated in a pretest-treatmentposttest experiment. Two treatment groups received computerized input-based instruction. One group received implicit feedback, that is, yes/no feedback. The other group received explicit feedback, that is, explicit grammar explanation and why the answer was wrong. Results showed that there was no significant difference between implicit and explicit feedback groups. Both groups improved in the interpretation task. Input-based instruction was effective in improving participants’ ability to interpret and produce the target forms. This showed that when the role of feedback is examined, it is important to consider the types of instruction and types of measurement.
Recording of this session

Digital Game-Based Learning as a Model for Language Courseware Design
Matthew Buscemi
This presentation focuses on the design and development of online English reading courseware by the presenter. Leveraging existing research in the area of digital game-based learning, the developer has provided this courseware with unique advantages in motivating student progress through tasks in the courseware and monitoring student learning. The presenter argues that a design framework emphasizing the importance of both second language acquisition theory and game-based learning will increase learner motivation and engagement with the English language reading modules. The presentation will summarize preliminary results of a study that utilized data gathered from the courseware.

Lexical Processing: Methodology of Intervals
Ulf Schuetze
The presentation reports on the methodology of a large-scale study carried out on lexical processing in second language acquisition trying to answer the question what intervals are most efficient for a lexical item to move from passive to active status (Laufer, 2007). A virtual vocabulary program (ViVo) that was developed at the University of Victoria is currently tested with 120 students of beginning German courses using two modes: a uniform spaced and a graduated spaced interval. The items learned and tested are based on the textbook used and presented with images, sound files, and sample sentences. Tests were carried out at the end of each 10-day learning period.
Recording of this session

Lexico-Grammatical Complexity in a TB-SCMC Task
Karina Collentine
Robinson (2001) argues that task-based language teaching (TBLT) provides design principles that establish conditions that encourage learners to produce discourse containing lexico-grammatical complexity. Yet, an important question to address in TBLT research is how to operationalize complexity since many researchers use a small set of metrics (e.g., t-units). The present study, thus, employs corpus-linguistics analytical tools to explore whether researchers should compare learner complexity in task-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (TB-SCMC) to native speaker ‘models’ of complexity or to learner models of complexity (e.g., to what they might produce in an expository composition or narrative).

Redesigning Courses for the Postcommunicative, Digital Age: Who Is Ready
Mark Knowles
Edwige Simon
This presentation explores the applicability of a language center/language faculty partnership based on a current initiative at University of Colorado, Boulder, between upper level literature teachers and ourselves. We will report on research of said faculties’ readiness in terms of the perceptions, anxieties, and motivations for undertaking course redesign and will present our strategies for instilling cooperation. We will provide a defense for what may be a controversial choice of this particular population. Discussion will also center on recent course redesign initiatives that leverage the potential of technology (Bransford et al., 2004), and that are founded upon the principles of anchored instruction.
Recording of this session

Virtual Learning in 3-D Virtual Business Environments: The Construction of Interactive Frames to Complete Assigned Tasks in an Online Classroom
Stella Hadjistassou
The aim of this study was to expand the current instructional practices from the conventional Blackboard system to incorporate specific learning tasks in virtual environments and to address the following questions: (a) How can students implement such virtual forums to expand the collaborative frames and to examine business practices? (b) In what ways can students utilize such virtual forums to complete their assigned tasks? and (c) What are some of the major challenges that students encountered in this process?

10:30 – 10:50

NetRecorder: A Simple Internet-Enabled Recording Utility
Devin Asay
The NetRecorder was developed to meet a persistent need by language instructors at Brigham Young University. Teachers needed a way for students to quickly and reliably record their oral language skills and a quick and easy way to review those recordings. The NetRecorder is a custom application developed using Runtime Revolution. Students use the NetRecorder utility’s simple start-and-stop recording interface to record. It then automatically saves their recordings to a networked database. A companion utility for teachers allows them to easily create recording assignments or to call up the recordings for review after the students have recorded them.
Recording of this session

L2 Socialization in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC): Korean Task-Based Dyads
Hyewon Lee
This paper investigates how Korean native speaker (NS)-nonnative speaker (NNS) chats and Korean heritage speaker (KHS)-NNS chats in synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) can differently enhance language socialization (LS). Preliminary findings show that KHSs, like NSs, can provide NNSs with linguistic knowledge and sociocultural resources for language practices and benefit in developing a positive attitude towards their own linguistic and cultural knowledge of Korean. Also, the process of LS seems to be bidirectional in that NNSs also teach or express their communicative needs to NSs or KHSs. Through this type of social interaction in SCMC, which includes gradually more active participation by NNSs, what was firstly a practice used by NSs or KHSs becomes a part of NNSs’ linguistic and cognitive range.
Recording of this session

A Comparative Analysis of Instructional Discourse on English as a Second Language Teaching Websites
Haesong Lee
This study examined the differences in the nature of instructional discourse between two contrastive types of English as a second language (ESL) teaching websites: drill-and-practice sites and discussion-oriented sites. Prompts for drill/practice and discussion activities were selected from five online learning materials on the MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource form Learning and Online Teaching) site and subsequently subjected to a frequency and a concordance analysis using the Simple Concordance Program. Results indicate striking differences in the nature of instructional discourse in the two contexts. Discussions are presented in terms of behaviorist theory of learning and scaffolding strategies.

The Use of Blogs and Wikis in Learning the Preterite and Imperfect Aspects in Spanish
Daniel Castaneda
This study investigates the influence of blog and wiki technologies on student performance when learning the preterite and imperfect aspects in Spanish. Preliminary results show that there were no significant differences in language gains and satisfaction level. However, from the technological perspective, the results suggest that the wiki is as effective as the blog in students’ learning of the preterite and imperfect aspects. Current research on this topic takes into account a different population, a longer treatment time, and the incorporation of a qualitative component.
Recording of this session

Technological Activities in Language Learning: From the Mouths of Students
Nandini Sarma
Alysse Weinberg
Martine Peters
This paper examines the perception students have of technological activities used in language classes at the university level. Students from 5 Canadian universities (N = 71) described and discussed the technological activities they had encountered in their French classes. Twenty-two activities were identified and described using 34 constructs or characteristics that emerged during the discussion among participants. In general, students have clear views on the technological activities used in their language courses and find that they have a positive effect on their learning. Our conclusions pave the way for further research and offer recommendations for language teachers.
Recording of this session

1:30 – 2:15

Beyond Blackboard: Using Wikis in L2 Composition and Collaboration
Robert L. Davis
Course management systems like Blackboard have become a staple in university programs. However, these systems have limitations: access is restricted to faculty and enrolled students, and CMSs do little to facilitate students’ creativity or motivation in generating content. This session will demonstrate the use of a free wiki service as a tool to enhance L2 process writing in Spanish in a range of contexts: a small-format advanced-level content class, a first-year culture class, and a lower division program at two sites (distance learning). Suggestions for assessing student work and generalizing the model to other contexts will be provided.
Recording of this session

Using Second Life in World Language Teacher Education Contexts
Mehmet Sahin
Julio C. Rodriguez
Karina Silva
This presentation will provide an introduction to one of the most popular and sophisticated virtual worlds, Second Life (SL), and will explore its potential in the intricate context of world language teacher education and development. We will use technology, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) as a platform for both the exploration and discussion of the main features of the environment as well as the organization of the discussion of preliminary findings from a survey administered to world language educators who actively use SL. Findings are used to propose core guidelines for the optimal application of SL to professional development opportunities.
Recording of this session

Priming the Language Pump with Sounds, Images, and Text
Michael Bush
This presentation will report on research into the effectiveness of the ideas of I. A. Richards, the Cambridge and Harvard scholar and researcher who developed during the middle of the 20th century a series of language-learning books known as the Language through Pictures series. Although Richards foresaw the revolutionary impact that computer technology could have on learning, this potential remains largely unfulfilled. This presentation will report on studies that (a) target Modern Standard Arabic using today’s technologies that were unavailable during Richards’ and (b) update his learning strategies with techniques drawn from current language-learning theory.

Learner Interactions With, and Affective Views of, Gloss Presentations in CALL Reading
Elizabeth Lavolette
Sixty-nine adult ESL students read two Web-based texts that used different gloss presentations: one required them to click on glossed words, and the other required them to hover the mouse over the glossed words. The participants were split almost evenly among liking the click, hover, and both presentations. A strong effect was found for the length of time that the participants had lived in English- speaking countries; those who had lived in these countries the shortest time (approximately 6 months) preferred the click presentation, while those who had lived there the longest time (5 years+) preferred the hover presentation. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

CALL in Second Life: Instructional Strategies and Activities for Language Learning in a Virtual World
Douglas W. Canfield
Regina Kaplan-Rakowski
Randall Sadler
Lisa Volle
Thom Thibeault
The presenters will demonstrate innovative CALL strategies and activities allowed through the technology of the virtual world, Second Life, with emphasis on the pedagogical aspects of each. Three-dimensional learning objects constructed with Second Life’s building features will also be presented. Virtual worlds provide immediate access to native speakers throughout the real world, have cultural themes and social settings, and allow capture of conversations for later analysis. Attendees who would like to participate should bring their WiFi-capable laptops with the Second Life application installed and have an account already created (secondlife.com). Mac and PC.

Automated Writing Evaluation and Feedback: Language-Learning Potential
Elena Cotos
Research on the formative value of automated writing evaluation and intelligent feedback is still scarce and lacking foresight. This paper presents a mixed-methods study investigating the effectiveness of a new natural language processing-based program, called IADE (Intelligent Academic Discourse Evaluator). The study focuses on IADE’s discourse-related intelligent formative feedback, seeking evidence of language-learning potential. Multiple sources of data yield positive results with respect to learners’ enhanced focus on discourse form, noticing of negative evidence in their output, as well as improvement in the quality of their production.

2:30 – 3:15

Investigating Learner Variability: The Impact of Task Type on Language Learner Errors and Mistakes
Sylvie Thouesny
Language learners do not only write incorrect forms, but also correct instances of the target language, which both provide useful information on their strengths and weaknesses. Variation in learners’ performance may be due to factors such as task type. However, information drawn from direct observations in learners’ written texts only enables inferences about learners’ performance. Following an overview of the instruments used to discriminate errors from mistakes, this paper argues that identifying both occurrences will provide a better insight into learners’ knowledge variability. It investigates whether one learner of French produces errors/mistakes in one task but not in another.
Recording of this session

Incorporating International Telecollaboration into a Language Teacher Education Course
Shannon Sauro
The Cyber Language Exchange is an online international collaborative exchange integrated into a joint teacher-training course in linguistics for students in an MA-TESL program and preservice certification track for undergraduates seeking an ESL endorsement. This presentation will explore the implementation of this collaborative project and will outline strategies for designing and incorporating CMC opportunities and relevant computer-mediated pedagogical tasks for language learning and language teaching in non-CALLfocused teacher education courses.
Recording of this session

Apex Learning’s Online World Language Solutions
Lisa Frumkes
Apex Learning provides digital curricula for differentiated instruction. Our online learning solutions are used in credit recovery, remediation, alternative schools, and distance-learning situations, as well as in traditional classroom settings. Apex Learning’s complete high school curriculum currently includes French I, French II, AP French, Spanish I, Spanish II, and AP Spanish. In this presentation, the developer of these courses will demonstrate how these materials can be used at the secondary and postsecondary level to meet students’ varying foreign language education needs in cost- and time-effective ways.

Rosetta Stone Immersion Software for Navajo Language Revitalization
Marion Bittinger
The Rosetta Stone Endangered Language Program is working with Navajo language experts to develop Navajo Rosetta Stone language-learning software for use in Navajo Nation schools and chapter houses. The project has been endorsed by the Navajo Nation Board of Education and is slated for completion within a year. The software is being customized through a collaborative process to accommodate the complex and vibrant Navajo language. See examples of the Navajo Rosetta Stone software and learn about the role that technology can play in language revitalization among North American Native groups.
Recording of this session

Engagement, Differentiation, and Critical Thinking: Opportunities in TELL Classrooms
Joy Egbert
Hyun Gyung Lee
Jian Shian Su
As teachers we need to be explicit about our goals and processes, grounding our instruction in theory and research. Although we may not always be able to access all of the research that is conducted in the fields of inquiry that address technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), we can and should use a research-based learning framework as a guide to more closely align theory with practice. This interactive presentation links research and practice in a format that can help teachers choose strategies and tools for engaging language learners, differentiating instruction, and supporting broad goals such as critical thinking in technology-enhanced classrooms.

Social Language Learning: RSS-based Personal Learning Environments
Esperanza Roman Mendoza
RSS technologies, particularly in the form of aggregators and social personalized start pages, can help internet users select, filter, organize, and manipulate information of all kinds. Used as instructional tools, these technologies can lead to scalable, informative, and productive learning processes that encourage multichannel communication and collaboration. This presentation analyzes the implementation of RSS technologies to create language learning environments in which students, through goal-oriented learning, can understand cultural contexts, develop multiple literacies, employ different channels for interaction, and discover new social dimensions. An example from the field of heritage language education is included to illustrate these RSS uses.

3:30 – 4:15

Correlating Quantitative Measures of Speech with Perceptions of Fluency
Garry Molholt
Maria Jose Cabrera
V. Krishna Kumar
Phillip Thompsen
Recent research projects provide differing perspectives regarding which aspects of speech signals can best predict listeners’ perceptions of fluency. For this study, spontaneous speech was elicited from 45 college freshmen who were familiar with their topic. Their files were analyzed according to the quantitative measures of rate of speech, phonation-time ratio, pitch variation, and mean length of runs. In addition, qualitative measures, including phoneme clarity and the quality of the vocabulary were also measured. Files were rated by 97 listeners for clarity, confidence, and fluency. Results show the extent to which quantitative measures alone can predict perceptions of fluency and the types of files for which the inclusion of qualitative measures improves correlations.

Second Life Chinese School: Iterative Design for Embodiment and Game Play
Dongping Zheng
Kenneth Wade Dirkin
Yong Zhao
In this paper we use a design-based research method to systematically examine how new designs change the environment for interaction with native speakers and among symmetrical interlocutors within a semester-long distance-learning course in Second Life Chinese School. The design framework will help unfold how the second iterative design cycle came into action with formative evaluation. Finally we will make the point that designing for an embodied experience will provide learners with opportunities in engaging in situated language learning that is meaningful and sustainable.
Recording of this session
Demonstrate: Online Portfolio System for Language Learners
Danielle Steider
Anne Marie Baker
Dennie Hoopingarner
In the Demonstrate portfolio system, users can upload artifacts o their language learning, including test scores, documents, presentations, audio, video, and images. From this database of their work, they can create multiple web-based portfolios for multiple purposes and audiences. There is a feedback mechanism so instructors, administrators, or peers can leave formative feedback for individual portfolios. This presentation will highlight the functionality of the program as well as practical uses for formative assessment, summative assessment, teacher training, and marketing oneself for career or educational opportunities.
Recording of this session

Positive Changes in Learner Identity through Foreign Language Chat
Adam Mendelson
Chat transcripts from a semester-long online tutoring project for university students of Spanish reveal a positive transformation of a focal student’s online representation as a learner and user of the language. This student went from presenting himself as an inadequate speaker and frustrated student to an autonomous user of the language who regularly took advantage of opportunities to speak Spanish. The implications of his transformation include the need to explore interpersonal relationships that span virtual and physical environments, as well as the need to problematize strict divisions between online and offline identities.
Recording of this session

Google Apps for Online Teacher Training: AATJ Japanese Online Instruction Network for Teachers
Takeshi Sengiku
Eiko Ushida
Google Apps provides Web 2.0 social-networking features for communication and collaboration. Can we use Google Apps instead of wikis, blogs, or Moodles to develop online courses? We examine this question from three perspectives: communication, collaboration, and instruction. The Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) has launched an online professional development program, JOINT (Japanese Online Instruction Network for Teachers), using Google Apps and other interactive technologies. The initial pilot JOINT course, “Content-Based Instruction for Advanced Japanese,” was developed and offered in Fall 2008 and will be offered again in winter 2009. This presentation will report on the course development, evaluation of participants, and successes and challenges in using Google Apps for online teacher-training courses.

iPhone CALL: Data-Driven Learning for Mobile Devices
J. Scott Payne
Miodrag Glumac
The capabilities of Apple’s iPhone offer unique opportunities for mobile language learners. In this presentation, we will demonstrate a data-driven learning application designed specifically for the iPhone and provide an overview of iPhone application development.
Recording of this session

4:30 – 5:15

Teacher’s Second Life (SL) Toolbox: A TBLT Curriculum for Incorporating SL into the Language Learning Classroom
Susan Faivre
Implementing Second Life (SL) as a vehicle for multilayered strategies in ESL/EFL classrooms can be an effective means of teaching in a new and exciting virtual environment. However, introduction to the tool can be tedious and time consuming and can detract from the course objectives. This presentation introduces a practical TBLT curriculum for incorporating SL: a website companion, machinima training videos, TBLT activities, a teacher guide, and in-world “boxes” of companion teaching materials. Though the training materials can be adapted to most classrooms, this project’s capstone task is an adapted business proposal unit.

Individual Factors and Successful Online L2 Learning
Robert Blake
Kelly Bilinski
What factors make for a successful L2 learning experience within a hybrid format? The results of this study point to the following individual factors as crucial to a successful online learning experience: learner discipline and affective variables, ability to collaborate in groups, and preference for auditory/kinetic learning styles. All students studied introductory Spanish with a suite of multimedia materials previously published in a DVD format but now delivered within a MOODLE wrapper that included SCORM-compliant activities and a Flash-based CMC tool. The learning materials and SCORM activities will be demonstrated and results of the profile analysis will be discussed.
Recording of this session

Automatic Input Processing for Activities with Target Answers
Luiz A. Amaral
The PINATA (Processing Input for Activities with Target Answers) project develops natural language processing (NLP) tools to analyze learner language independently of the type of activity. The general goal of the project is to achieve a high degree of portability of the NLP error analysis modules in a way that different CALL systems could use them to generate linguistic analyses of student input. The PINATA system receives as input the student answer and a set of possible target answers and generates as output feedback messages about the linguistic properties of the input. Currently there are NLP modules being developed for Spanish and French.

Collaborative Writing and Web 2.0: Realities, Challenges, and Opportunities
Greg Kessler
Dawn Bikowski
This paper integrates findings from three recent studies investigating NNES student discourse in collaborative writing projects using wikis and Google documents. Attention to form, focus on meaning, and response to feedback were studied in varied interactions. Implications for a shift in research and practice regarding collaborative writing will be discussed.
Recording of this session

Pageflakes Versus Blackboard. The LMS Winner, by TKO … Pageflakes
Michael Heller
Enza Antenos-Conforti
Patty Kahn
Innovative uses of technology could transform an instructor’s pedagogy by promoting a social constructivist learning environment suitable for today’s learner. Montclair State University analyzed the impact of using Pageflakes, a personalized online desktop, as an alternative to Blackboard along with integrating innovative uses of Web 2.0 technologies into the curriculum in an intermediate Italian course. This project will investigate the anticipated benefits of Pageflakes, where an integrated platform provides a systematic and interactive learning environment that accommodates the different learning styles in support of 21st century learner preferences and characteristics.

Corpus Linguistic Approaches to the Analysis of Formulaic Sequences in L2 Spanish Computer-Mediated Learner Language Use
Steven Thorne
Julieta Fernandez
Aziz Yuldashev
This presentation reports the results of a quantitative analysis of> in- and out-of-class blog and instant-messaging use occurring in a high school Spanish foreign language course. The presenters use corpus linguistic methodologies to examine aspects of language development and focus particularly on formulaic sequences. The presentation concludes with a discussion of the utility of CMC tools for promoting language learning and the use of corpus linguistic tools to track changes in language development at various levels.
Recording of this session

Auf Deutsch mit deinem Podcast, bitte! Innovative Use of Digital Media Portfolios, Podcasting, and German> Content in Standards-Based Classroom Instruction
Peter Schultz
This presentation highlights podcasting, iMovie, and Windows Movie Maker as innovative technology tools for video production in German for high school teachers and learners. These tools are products that teachers and students can learn and implement easily to produce quality speaking and visual portfolios. Digital video portfolios support curriculum planning by meeting foreign language standards mandated by state education departments and address technology standards such as the NETS-S of ISTE. This work can also help add to the latest research in teacher education by informing teachers and researchers of innovative uses of digital portfolios in high school foreign language programs.
Recording of this session

Note: the company that provided Speakerbox recordings is no longer in operation.

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Conference Presentations: Day Three

March 14, 2009

8:00 – 8:45

Ethical Issues in CALL: How They Affect Both Teachers and Students
Shudong Wang
Neil Heffernan
Ethical issues, such as digital copyright, online privacy and security, nonbiased language knowledge delivery, and equity of online instruction are important issues in CALL. This paper aims to delineate the major issues of CALL ethics in current foreign language e-learning settings based on data collected from surveys among CALL teachers and students in Japan. The main issues of CALL ethics are discussed, along with teacher and student ethics self-assessments, perceptions, and ideals of ethical issues in CALL. The paper also proposes possible solutions to these ethical problems.

Developing Intelligent Online Web Exercises for Russian
Markus Dickinson
Joshua Herring
Chris Riley
Building from the TAGARELA system for Portuguese, we develop an ICALL system for learners of Russian with the goal of providing exercises in the healthcare domain to beginning and advanced learners. Offering general exercises in this specific context requires the activity model to separate exercise content from domain and cultural content. A more general web framework allows the system to scale up to more exercises and potentially other languages. The richer morphology and freer word order of Russian requires the expert model to integrate morphological analysis and develop parsing methods to diagnose ill-formed input, which we do with limited resources.
Recording of this session

The Electronic Portfolio as Assessment Tool and More: The Drake University Model
Marc Cadd
The Drake University Language Acquisition Program provides a unique learning environment for its students. Because of its emphasis on oral proficiency, culture, and the development within students of a sense of responsibility for their own language-learning experience, the electronic portfolio is a central and indispensable feature of the program. Audio samples, writing samples, projects completed with Web 2.0 technologies, and an assessment of cultural proficiency are all vital artifacts placed in ePortfolios by students. This presentation will describe how Drake uses these portfolios, how they are assessed, and their applicability for a wide variety of programs.
Recording of this session

Practice Makes Perfect: Promises and Pitfalls of Online Workbooks for Skills Development and Speaking Proficiency
Eduardo García Villada
Online workbooks offer meaningful activities and instant scoring of student performance, but what do these performance data tell us about student language proficiency? Participants will learn about a study that compares student speaking proficiency with their perceptions of skills improvement in three language programs and two delivery systems. The presenter will discuss advantages and disadvantages of online workbook use, along with directions for integration of online materials in different curriculum contexts.

Online Collaborative Writing and Peer Editing
Frances Matos-Schultz
Pablo Viedma
Taking the lead from learners in a student-driven hybrid course environment at the University of Minnesota, we have moved the focus of writing from an instructor’s mandate to an online learner community of collaboration. In this community the writers/learners take ownership over the text and share the task with other writers exposing them to the process of writing from a brand new standpoint, that of collaborators and critics. The software focuses mainly on collaborative writing and peer editing. The presenters will briefly demonstrate the tool and discuss experiences and findings.
Recording of this session

The Flashcard Evolution: An Old-School Learning Technology Gets a Digital Makeover
Jim Ranalli
Flashcards have been around for a long time, but with the advent of the personal computer and the internet, they have become more powerful than ever. They retain their original benefits: portability, ideal quizzing potential, and the ability to prioritize among items. But today’s digital versions offer so much more: multimedia annotation; tagging to allow categorizing, sorting, and searching; alternative review modes featuring games and puzzles; and algorithms that facilitate optimized scheduling of reviews according to psychological principles. This presentation will summarize the cognitive benefits of flashcards and then profile several of the most innovative and powerful tools that represent this new generation.

Creating an Authentic Online Learning Community: Facebook Use in Beginning-Level Chinese Classes
Li Jin
Beginning-level students are very often disoriented about the ultimate purposes of learning a foreign language, especially a difficult language such as Chinese. This presentation discusses an empirical study investigating the effectiveness and caveats of integrating Facebook projects in university-level beginning Chinese language classes with a purpose of promoting authentic learning and using Chinese as a foreign language. Student interaction patterns, perceptions about using Facebook in the class projects, language acquisition as well as language instructor evaluation of the integration of Facebook will be presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating Facebook in beginning-level Chinese language teaching.
Recording of this session

9:00am – 10:30am
Extended Panel Presentation

The Role of Language Resource Centers in the Era of Ubiquitous Computing
Mary Beth Barth
Cindy Evans
Michael Jones
This panel will consider the mission of the language resource center and role of the center director vis-à-vis the college-wide IT organization. The panelists, Mary Beth Barth (Hamilton College), Cindy Evans (Skidmore College), and Michael Jones (Swarthmore College) direct language centers at small liberal arts colleges. While our institutions share many similarities, our positions and our centers present different profiles with unique advantages and challenges. The panel will address a variety of questions from our different perspectives and invite active participation from the audience.

9:00 – 9:45

Less is More? A Comparison of the Effects of a Hybrid and a Traditional Language Class
Fernando Rubio
Tim Cannon
This presentation reports on the results of 2 years of research on the effects of a hybrid course on the level of oral and written proficiency of first-year university students of Spanish. The students were enrolled in a course that met face-to-face for 2 hours a week with an additional 2 virtual days of online work. The study looks at a variety of measures of proficiency and fluency and compares the results to those obtained by a group of students enrolled in the same class taught in a traditional format (4 hours of face-to-face instruction per week).
Recording of this session

Collaborative Writing in Wikis: Insights from Culture Projects in Intermediate German Classes
Claudia Kost
Nike Arnold
Lara Ducate
This presentation reports the findings of a study designed to investigate the collaborative writing and revision processes of foreign language learners in a wiki environment. Specifically, it is based on a comparison of two wiki projects in intermediate German classes in which small groups of students used wikis to collaborate on a project based on cultural and historical topics related to a novel. The archived versions of the wiki were analyzed for the amount, type, and quality of revisions. In addition, an end-of-semester survey was administered to assess learner attitudes towards the project and perceptions of the writing process.

The Role of Computer-Mediated Scaffolding in Academic Literacy Development
Wei Zhu
This presentation discusses a case study which examined the role of computer-mediated scaffolding in nonnative English speaking students’ development of academic literacy in university content classrooms. Six primary participants demonstrated their understanding and negotiation of task requirements, completion of individual writing activities, and comprehension and appreciation of academic literacy conventions through two-way peer-to-peer scaffolding via online discussion boards. The findings indicated that computermediated collective scaffolding enabled students to rehearse and refine academic writing and understand literacy requirements and conventions. The presenters will also describe the research methodology and discuss the implications of the study for both research and classroom instruction.

First-Year Spanish and Italian projects: Calm Technology Design and Integration of Digital Media in Second Language Learning
Antonio Gragera
Moira DiMauro-Jackson
This session presents two linguistic initiatives being shaped in the Department of Modern Languages at Texas State University. These two projects combine their developers’ personal stands on second language learnability and on the role of intercultural collaboration in learning a foreign language. Each project represents one distinctive end of the continuum between technology integration and calm technology that the term “ubiquitous computing” evokes. On one hand, the project for first-year Italian integrates different sources of digital media and technology to facilitate individual learning by connecting second language learners with native speakers of the target language. On the other hand, the project for first-year Spanish addresses principles of attention, from the fields of developmental psychology and neurosciences, and multimodal-aural and visuallearning by “centering the periphery” through an online meaning negotiator.

What Happens When Technology Isn’t Ubiquitous: Teaching Distance Language Teacher Education Classes in Rural Alaska
Marilee Coles-Ritchie
Sabine Siekmann
In this presentation, we will present data collected over the past 2 years while delivering distance language education courses for K-12 teachers in immersion and ELL settings. The presenters share challenges and solutions in a situation in which computing is by no means ubiquitous due to physical, social, and technological distance. Data are organized in four themes: (a) course preparation, (b) course delivery options, (c) student feedback, and (d) our own reflections on the process. By sharing our successes and challenges in creating a hybrid multimodal delivery model, we hope to contribute to the effectiveness of distance education.

From Media to Hypermedia: Increasing the Pedagogical Value of Foreign Language Audio and Video Materials through Hypermedia Conversion
Thom Thibeault
Hind Rmail
This session focuses on the pedagogical advantages of converting audio and video materials accompanying language textbooks into hypermedia transcripts. Hypermedia allows students to click on unfamiliar words in a foreign language text in order to access relevant media that expands understanding. Words can be linked to text, images, video, audio, animations, and Web links. The presentation highlights the software program, Hypermedia Editor. This program allows instructors to create their own hypermedia units. After discussing the theory behind Hypermedia Editor, the presenters will demonstrate how the program works. A free download of Hypermedia Editor is available for Macintosh and Windows.
Recording of this session

10:00 – 10:45

Learner Training in CALL
Alan Bessette
CALL offers language learners many potentially beneficial possibilities for improving their language skills, but, to make full use of those possibilities, learners must be trained in how to use CALL. This presentation reports the results of an action research project in learner training. The presentation reports on initial surveys and interviews about student attitudes towards the CALL materials and their ideas about how the materials could be more fully exploited. It will also report on the training program in which students were taught goal setting, exploitation, and review strategies. Finally, the presentation will report on student attitudes and reactions.

National Foreign Language Instructional Technology Survey
Greg Kessler
Senta Goertler
Jack Burston
Though the volume of articles written about CALL during the past 25 years gives the impression of high levels of integration of technology into the foreign language curriculum, very little is actually known about how, or even whether, teachers really use technology in their classrooms. The aim of our presentation is to (a) draw attention to our lack of knowledge about foreign language instructional technology usage in American colleges and universities, (b) describe the design of a survey that seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge, and (c) present the preliminary results of the pilot testing of this survey.
Recording of this session

Timing Repetition to Enhance Listening Comprehension
Anne O’Bryan
This presentation will detail a primarily qualitative investigation into the impact two forms of repeated input, whole-text and individual semantic units (i.e., episodes), have on helping English as a second language (ESL) students remedy common problems encountered while listening to an academic lecture and continue to move fluently through the three recognized phases of listening comprehension. ESL learners at the low, intermediate, and advanced listening proficiency levels participate in verbal protocol sessions, semi-structured interviews, and take notes in order to answer the proposed research questions. This study will have implications for materials developers, teachers, and learners.

From CALL to MALL: Portable Device Applications for Language Texts and Digital Media
Mary Ann Lyman-Hager
John Vitaglione
Cellular technology offers high-speed data transfer affording users multimedia access on their personal digital assistants and smart phones. LARC’s Mobile Assisted Language Learning applications enable language learners to read glossed texts and play digital resources on their mobile devices. Web Gloss is a dynamic glossing tool for adding hot-word links that play multimedia annotations on a mobile device. The Mobile Media Archive permits users to select course modules from LARC’s web-based Digital Media Archive via their cell phones and play them anywhere. This presentation discusses Everyware and how teachers and learners can use these free applications for accessing resources and contributing new content.
Recording of this session

Blended Learning, Self-Managed Learning, and CALL: A Report on Student and Teacher Attitudes and Experiences
Jacob E. Larsen
Suzanne van der Valk
Blended learning is becoming increasingly popular at colleges across the US due to its perceived benefits for both students and educational institutions. Likewise, it has been argued that in today’s
college environment student abilities to self-manage their learning has a great impact on their academic success. This presentation will focus on an on-going study in which blended learning and self managed learning are used in conjunction with authentic, online CALL materials to teach an advanced level course in an intensive English program. Preliminary data on student and teacher attitudes and experiences will be shared.

Glossing and Annotation Tools: Past, Present, and Future
Lathrop P. Johnson
It is not such a long stretch from the interlinear and marginal glosses of Antiquity and the Middle Ages to the multimedia annotations for foreign language text possible with today’s technology. This presentation will briefly summarize research with electronic annotations. It will then describe and demonstrate the capabilities of some of the earlier electronic annotation tools and present a variety of viable options available today. Finally, it will sketch desirable directions for annotation tools of the future, emphasizing ease of use for the teacher and usefulness for the student.

11:00 – 11:20

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Spoken Features and Epistemic Devices in L2 Writing
Lingxia Jin
This study uses corpus data (including both learner corpus and native English speaker corpora) in order to examine the characteristics of Chinese learner written English. It aims to test the hypothesis whether Chinese English learners will use more spoken-like features, in particular, spoken-like epistemic devices to express certainty and doubts in their English academic writing and how this compares with native English academic writing. Pedagogical implications will be discussed.
Recording of this session

Producing Digital Videos: A Sociocultural Approach
Luba Iskold
Students frequently experience problems utilizing their listening and communicative skills acquired via formal learning in everyday contexts. The presenter will discuss sociocultural approaches to language acquisition and the pros and cons associated with the Legacy Project in her conversation and composition class. Students conducted and videotaped interviews with representatives of the local Russian community and produced DVDs with video, full interview transcripts in the target language and in English, as well as glossaries and cultural glosses. A template to organize, deliver, and use student-produced materials will be presented and discussed. The template may be used for any language.

CALL and Perceptual Training for the ESL Classroom
Lisa R. Pierce
Su-Youn Yoon
This research reports on a web-based application designed to be a delivery system for perceptual category training in the context of pronunciation instruction in ESL classrooms. Exemplar training has been successfully used in laboratory settings for perception research and in clinical environments for the remediation of expressive phonological impairment. The increasing use of computerassisted language learning (CALL) in second language classrooms suggests a natural extension of this methodology; however, with only one exception [6], such methods have made few inroads into language teaching programs. This work reports on a pilot study in which ESL students were trained to perceive [l] and [r]. Students in the experimental group who underwent exemplar training made statistically significant gains in perceiving nonnative phonemic categories in comparison to those ESL students who did not undergo training.
Recording of this session

Integrating Student-Centered Video into the Classroom
Olaf Böhlke
The use of video in the classroom has become a lot easier with the recent advances in technology. Teachers in smart classrooms at the presenter’s institution have at a minimum access to a ceiling projector, a DVD/VHS player, and the internet. While the presentation of videos has become less of a challenge within these classrooms, it appears to be still challenging for many instructors to plan, schedule, create, edit, and eventually publish student-centered videos. This presentation will explore the rationale for doing such projects and guide teachers through this multistep process.
Presentation video and Links

Facebook in the Language Classroom: Perspectives on Sociopragmatic Development
Melissa Fiori
Geraldine Blattner
Many college students are members of the well known social network Facebook, which offers a variety of opportunities for language learners to develop L2 sociopragmatic competence, an aspect that is often limited in textbooks. This study examines whether interaction in Facebook groups heightened awareness of language variety. The results of self-assessment questionnaires and analysis of student participation on various discussion forums suggest that such social networking facilitates the development of sociopragmatic awareness through authentic target-language input and occasion to engage with native speakers about topics of personal interest to the learners.

11:30 – 11:50

The Development of Materials for Hybrid Spanish Courses
Julio C. Rodriguez
Cristina Pardo-Ballester
The application of design-based research guidelines to the design and development of materials for language learning affords excellent opportunities to implement a principled approach to produce materials that integrate relevant SLA findings. In this presentation, we will describe a design-based research approach to the development of materials for hybrid elementary and intermediate Spanish courses. Relevant SLA hypotheses as well as principles of blended learning will be addressed in relation to their impact on the design of the materials and the learning experiences envisioned by the designers. We will report preliminary data from three pilots.
Recording of this presentation

EFL Bloggers’ Language-Learning Identity
Nathaniel Carney
Identity’s relationship with language learning has received significant attention within the last decade, but most such studies focus on learners in second language contexts or study abroad. Studies of identity and foreign language learners remain uncommon. This study examines language learner identity through a number of Japanese university English language learners’ individually maintained blogs written weekly over a period of 21 months as class assignments for required English classes. The study specifically looks at participants’ development of identities as “English users” and as a community of bloggers in the language classroom.
Recording of this presentation

Automatic Profiling of Learner Corpora
Ekaterina Arshavskaya
This study was designed to find out whether ESL students of various L1s lack knowledge of academic vocabulary and instead opt for informal doublets. Part-of-speech profiles in the BAWE database (native speaker corpus) and MELD (ESL corpus) were compared. In the second part of the study, POS profiles of more advanced ESL learners (BAWE ESL corpus) and the same native speaker corpus (BAWE) were compared. The first study re-confirmed the speechlike nature of learner writing of upper-level ESL students (Granger & Rayson, 1998) of different L1s. Upper level ESL learners lack knowledge of academic vocabulary. However, the second part of this study showed that with longer exposure to the L2, writing skills of L2 learners may approach those of native speakers.
Recording of this presentation

Scaffolding Telecollaboration to Bridge the North-South Divide
Jonathan Haddad
This paper explores issues for designing telecollaboration projects in the context of differentials in human development and the resulting digital divide. It examines the assumptions of traditional native speaker (NS) to nonnative speaker (NNS) exchanges and NS-NS tandems, and uses Algeria as an example of a country of medium human development where neither model would apply. In the context of teaching US secondary students of French about Algerian culture, the paper discusses how existing social networking platforms and partner-country discussion boards may be used not only to facilitate computer-mediated communication among partners but also to model intercultural communicative competence.
Recording of this presentation

Use of Wikis in Developing Intercultural Competence
Rose Spicher
The current literature in CALL contains extensive documentation of the use of telecollaboration to increase language students’ intercultural competence. Wikis, a relatively new online resource for collaborative writing projects (McDonald, 2007; Mac & Coniam, 2008; Kessler, 2007), provide an original way for students to collaboratively negotiate a shared understanding of each other’s cultures, but they are, as yet, largely unexplored by CALL researchers. This presentation reports on an initial exploration of the nature of language use within a cultural glossary wiki shared by American and Indonesian university students.
Recording of this presentation

Comparative Analysis of Learning Management Systems in Malaysia
Supyan Hussin
Ismie Roha
This paper presents a comparative analysis of two LMSs from two different institutions in Malaysia emphasizing the challenges in developing the LMSs for ODL program, the level of readiness among teachers and students, and the international standards from a language pedagogy perspective.
Recording of this presentation

1:30 – 3:00
Extended Panel Presentation

The Best of CALICO for Teachers: Online Tools that are Hot, New, and Free
Gillian Lord
Lara Lomicka Anderson
This session offers language teachers, particularly those teaching at the K-12 level, an overview of current (and free) tools in technology. We will briefly present the latest tools for blogs, wikis, podcasting, social networking, and so on and discuss their pros and cons, benefits and challenges. Participants will learn how each technological tool can be used to its fullest potential in a language class.

1:30 – 2:15

Beyond Motivation: How Self is Self? An Exercise in Theoretical Validation of Empirical Findings in CALL
Jozef Colpaert
This presentation reports on an exercise in theoretical validation of experimental findings in educational engineering. I will provide an overview of relevant theories and concepts in literature such as self-determination theory, goal-setting theory, attribution theory, expectancy-value theory, VIE (valence, instrumentality, expectancy) theory, self-efficacy, and the technology acceptance model, next to related concepts such as affordances, volition, and praxeology and show to what extent they confirm, contradict, or enrich the findings. I will discuss problems associated with detection and elicitation of relevant information about the learner and other actors and how to reformulate this as indicators of positive assertive will.

L2 Address Behavior Development through SCMC
Marta Gonzalez-Lloret
This paper presents the potential of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) to promote pragmatic competence among language learners in a higher education context: specifically, the development of their L2 address system and their interactive resources to display closeness when engaged in communication with L1 speakers. Through conversation analysis (CA), the sequential organization of SCMC between Spanish L1 speakers and L2 learners was analyzed to discover what type of address behavior they exhibited, as well as documenting change in their pragmalinguistic resources and patterns of interaction. The findings suggest that SCMC can be a valuable tool for the development of the Spanish address system.

Bringing Together Error Correction and Learner Corpus Analysis: A New Look at Written Corrective Feedback in Teaching Beginning German
Nina Vyatkina
Joseph Cunningham
This paper reports on the short-term and long-term effects of computer-mediated written corrective feedback (WCF) in comparison with other feedback types in an elementary German course. Electronic error tagging serves as an instrument for achieving both pedagogical and research purposes of the study.

Multimedia Exams: Computerized Testing at BYU
Russell Hansen
The College of Humanities at Brigham Young University initially established a multimedia examination lab to give computerized exams for lower level Spanish and German courses. This lab has now expanded to provides services to a broader spectrum of courses and languages. The use of computers to administer exams has not only avoided encumbering valuable language class instruction and interaction, but it has also enabled instructors to employ several different types of media in their exams in a seamless fashion while collecting student responses in a more agreeable format.
Recording of this presentation

Building a $50 Interactive Whiteboard for the Language Classroom
Christopher S. Hill
Interactive whiteboards, sometimes called by one brand name, Smartboards, put an interactive computer display on a classroom wall. High cost can keep this technology out of teachers’ hands. But freely available software can be used to create interactive whiteboards for under $50. Instructions will be provided and successful application of this technology in a variety of classroom environments will be discussed and demonstrated.
Recording of this presentation

2:30 – 3:15

Improving Pronunciation with Podcasts
Hajime Kumahata
Peggy Patterson
Podcasts can be an important instructional asset for improving student pronunciation in any language. Recognizing this potential, we explored approaches similar to those used by Pacific Content to make our educational podcasts more engaging and impactful for language learners outside the classroom. We created two podcasts: one focuses on regional variations of Spanish, while the other addresses English sounds commonly heard in the Spanish spoken by beginners. By using these podcasts, students can better understand how certain English sounds influence their pronunciation, often giving them an American accent, and how they can work to improve their Spanish pronunciation authentically.

Turning Language Learners into Linguists? First Experiences of Learners with a New Corpus-Driven Language-Learning Tool
Peter Wood
While electronic dictionaries have been used in CALL applications for some time, the question of whether they have any advantages for the learning of vocabulary and word formation rules is still a matter of debate (cf. e.g., De Ridder, 2002; Laufer, 2000). Providing learners with a convenient way to look up translations of unknown words certainly helps them understand a text faster than with a conventional dictionary, but CALL applications, I argue, have to provide more than that. Can we, by providing sophisticated features like corpus access and concordances, enable students to carry out independent research, encourage them to focus on various aspects of the new vocabulary, and to retain it?

Improving Language Programs through Online Assessment, Data Collection, and Analysis
Susan Cefola
The School District of Pittsburgh created and currently implements district-wide online assessments and practice activities with funding from three FLAP grants. This session will demonstrate the online assessments and activities and provide information about the world language program from the data that have been collected and analyzed.
Recording of this session

Attention to Feedback in Multimedia Applications: The Role of the Complexity of the L2 Forms
Jesus Izquierdo
This study investigated whether the complexity of L2 past tense forms in a multimedia application would have an impact on learners’ attention to L2 past tense feedback provided in the form of metalinguistic clues. The findings suggest that the complexity of the L2 forms present in the environment and the manner of feedback delivery mediated learners’ attention to feedback. Based on these results, implications for the integration of feedback in L2 multimedia applications and the use of these applications in language classrooms will be discussed.

Technology for French Learning: A Mismatch Between Expectations and Reality
Kimberly LeVelle
Jinrong Li
Aliye Karabulut-Ilgu
Ruslan Suvorov
The presentation reports a multiple-case study of technology use by students enrolled in a third-year university French language class that integrates technology-based language learning activities involving the internet, movies, wikis, WebCT, and “clickers.” Interviews with the teacher and students throughout the semester show how and to what extent students use the technologies suggested by the teacher both in class and outside of class for French learning purposes.

SCMC Environment from the Socioconstructivist Point of View: Topic Coherence and Interactional Features of Text-Only Chat Versus Virtual Chat in Second Life
Min Jung Jee
This study explores topic coherence and interactional patterns of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) based on the socioconstructivist point of view. The main purpose of the study is to compare interaction patterns of text-only chat on the Teach- Net to virtual chat in Second Life. With topic coherence, specific interaction patterns examined are greetings, leave takings, off-task discussion, and intersubjectivity. The overall research question is to examine the difference between the text-only chat and virtual chat in terms of topic coherence and interactional patterns.
Recording of this session

3:30 – 4:15

The Motivational Trajectory and Learning Strategies of ESL Learners in an Entirely Web-Based Writing Environment
Jie Zhang
Online learning constitutes a new community of practice, in which learners establish new routines and negotiate different meanings through the mediation of computers. In this study, I looked at an entirely web-based ESL writing course in a northwestern university and conducted an analysis of two students to find out what makes a strategic learner in an online environment. Data from different sources were collected. The data indicated that learners who have good self-regulatory skills and integrative motivation tend to benefit more, whereas those who have difficulties in regulating themselves through computers with an instrumental motivation are more likely to be frustrated.

Letter-by-Letter: Can the Chat Interface and Display Impact L2 Learning?
Jill Pellettieri
Bryan Smith
This presentation reports on a study comparing L2 learner interaction mediated by two types of text-based SCMC interfaces (a standard compose-and-post vs. a shared-screen, immediate transmission interface we have developed) to examine how features unique to each impact noticing and attention to form. We analyze and compare keystroke logs of L2 learner dyads engaged in two similar information-gap tasks, each mediated by a different interface. We discuss this shared-screen software and the implications of our findings for pedagogy and future SCMC research of SLA oriented hypotheses.

Wiki as a Collaborative Language- Learning Tool
Linda Bradley
The purpose of this presentation is to present an investigation of language-learning activities that students are engaged in when using a wiki as a collaborative tool in a language course in higher education. Environments that support peer work are interesting from both a communicative and a language-learning perspective. Methods used for this study were observations of the wiki where the contents were analyzed and categorized into activities that could be distinguished. The results suggest that wikis have a potential to support collaborative language learning in which peer work and feedback play an important role.

Building Learner Fluency and Accuracy in Chinese via CMC
Dongdong Chen
This study explores the effectiveness of ITALKI-based CMC. Thirty college beginners of Chinese practiced Chinese 2 hours weekly with educated native speakers for 12 weeks using ITALKI, a language exchange system applying Web 2.0 technology. Learners were later interviewed by a native speaker and also submitted written work. The same tests were administered to another group of 20 beginners of Chinese who had the same learning conditions except that they did not receive any online communication with native speakers. Results indicated that the experimental group showed better fluency and accuracy as compared to the control group.

Français interactif: A Case Study in Open Educational Publishing
Karen W. Kelton
Nancy Guilloteau
This presentation will discuss the development and evolution of the web-based, beginning French curriculum at the University of Texas. The flexibility of digital technology allows adaptation of the content in response to a continuing cycle of formative evaluation, a process not possible in traditional textbooks. Tex’s French Grammar and Français interactif are open access websites, that is, no passwords or fees are required. This French curriculum has gone global and is increasingly used by students, teachers, and institutions throughout the world. As a result, developers are faced with the challenges and opportunities of producing open educational resources for a worldwide community.

Cutting the Apron Strings with CALL: Turning ESL Students into Self-Sufficient College Writers
Paul Sundberg
Sarah Jarboe
John Leidenheimer
ESL writing courses typically offer learners valuable textbook-based presentation and practice but too often leave them dependent and ill-equipped for actual college writing. This presentation describes a multi-class research project to train advanced ESL students (a) to use computer-based writing resources and (b) to develop a variety of writing strategies for using them in order to become autonomous university-level writers. CALL resources used included online dictionaries, thesauri, grammar and spelling checkers, grammar and style references, and web-based corpora for collocation testing. Learning outcomes among classes receiving the CALL treatment are compared with control group classes using primarily textbookbased methodologies.

Handout from this presentation

Conducting Experimental Studies of L2 Instruction on the Web: Requirements and Solutions
Fenfang Hwu
Ching-yeh Tzseng
Researchers recognize that large amounts of data can lead to much stronger conclusions. Computers are advantageous in this regard because they are capable of delivering learning activities to a large number of learners and maintaining consistency in the delivery. Nevertheless, because of the availability of computer labs and students’ schedules, it may be impossible to conduct such a study on campus during or outside class. Conducting such a study on the web seems to be a solution to these problems. However, in such an environment special considerations need to be taken and solutions need to be reached. In this presentation we will share our experience in designing and implementing a web-based research study with about 500 potential participants.
Recording of this session

Note: the company that provided Speakerbox recordings is no longer in operation.

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