CALICO 1999
Conference Presentations
Day Two: June 4, 1999
8:00 – 8:45
Computer-delivered ESL Speaking Tests
Jerry Larson
For several months, work has been in progress creating a computer-delivered ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) speaking test. During this session, the components and functioning of a prototype of this test will be discussed and demonstrated.
Teaching Agents in CALL Tutorials
Philip Hubbard
Recent research in social psychology has demonstrated that we interact with computers in many ways as if they were fellow humans. Teaching agents, like the helpful paper clip in Microsoft Office, are already playing a role in human-computer interaction. That role will expand as agent programming becomes more sophisticated. In this presentation I begin by exploring the status of teaching agents in current software, especially CALL tutorials. I then suggest ways in which future CALL applications, both CD and web-based, can make use of teaching agents to lead to effective teacher-learner interaction when the teacher is not physically present.
The Virtual Global Village: The World Wide Web, Instructional Technology and the “Communicative” Language Classroom
Jon Blake
The “discovery and conquest” of the Internet and its application to the teaching of foreign languages and cultures have created some very serious pedagogical problems. The interest in Instructional Technology appeared on the horizon at a moment when theorists of foreign language acquisition were promoting notions of “proficiency-oriented” and “interactive” teaching for cross-cultural communication. The digital realms of the Internet, the WWW, CD-ROM, and Network-based communications should immerse students in “task-driven” cultural studies. This field of expansion has presented a dilemma to foreign language teachers, who have had to face the issue of proper contextualization of these activities. Digital technologies can promote a more student-focused environment only if the teacher examines what is happening in the classroom before the addition of the use of any of the computer technologies. The World Wide Web as properly applied in this effort provides quick and unrestricted access to authentic materials, in the form of text, sound and images. This presentation will include Power Point demonstrations using an LCD panel and/or scan converter to display pedagogical examples from my own Web site, saved to the hard drive of my laptop.
MediaGuide: An Interactive Multimedia Template
Gary Whitby
This presentation will display a prototype template for a series of interactive multimedia movie and video guides geared to language learners, yet also applicable to other audiences interested in the content and critique of media and the elocution of the scripts. This template will allow a better understanding of the media as a whole and in the language used by the characters portrayed. This is done in an interactive process and at the same time a framework is provided for a continued series of guides that could facilitate a series of videos or films.
Evaluating Software Effectiveness: Matching Wants and Needs
Debra Hoven
This presentation presents the preliminary findings of an evaluation of learner use of the software tools in a multimedia software package for teaching Indonesian listening comprehension and culture. Data on learner perceptions of the ease of use, and appropriateness of the software interface are being investigated, in order to improve our understandings of the perceptions and reactions of novices compared to experienced users of multimedia software packages. This investigation will include an analysis of the differences in strategy use between high and low proficiency learners, and their use of the help tools such as grammar reference notes, language laboratory simulation, replay facility, and mid-task answer checking.
Japanese E-mail and Its Effect on Communication Skill Development
Nobuko Chikamatsu
The current paper discusses a Japanese e-mail exchange project conducted between US college learners of Japanese and native Japanese college students in Japan. The structure and other details of the Japanese e-mail exchange project are described first, followed by the results of student survey and writing tests. The student survey was conducted by distributing questionnaires to examine student attitude toward the e-mail project. Then, the analysis of the writing tests (vocabulary and essay tests) is discussed to examine the effects of computer use on Japanese writing, comparing computer-writing and hand-writing settings. Some pedagogical implications will be also discussed.
9:00 – 9:45
Academic Misconduct in CALL
Wilfried Decoo, Jozef Colpaert, Ruth Sanders, and Randall Jones
CALL, because it is an interdisciplinary field dealing with quickly changing technologies, seems to be a field at high risk for academic misconduct. It is easy to become an “instant expert.” When utopian projects are funded, the proposers cannot live up to their initial promises and may yield to the temptation to plagiarize or falsify results. The panel will discuss a recent case, how to recognize misconduct, how the profession can set standards for assessing originality, and how researchers can protect their work from misappropriation.
Interactive Movies on DVD
Gina Brown on behalf of Michael Bush
Movies can be quite useful as a source of comprehensible input for language learning. Interactivity is a means to make movies more comprehensible for a wider range of learners. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) is an ideal technology for the new millennium that has the potential to make interactive movies accessible to a wider range of learners than was ever possible with interactive videodisc and CD-based interactive video systems. This presentation will present the results of a project to make a classic Italian movie useable with DVD technology. DVD-Video with barcode for classroom use as well as DVD-ROM implementations will be demonstrated.
From Vanilla Web Server to WebCT: Moving a Multimedia On-line Course to a Framework-bound Environment
Fenfang Hwu
This paper describes the challenges faced and solutions adopted in converting an on-line course, originally designed to be delivered on vanilla web server, to being delivered on WebCT, a commercial on-line course framework. In the face of the intrinsic limitations, yet with the timesaving features of the commercial web courseware, the challenges that the conversion confronted are maintaining the learning methodology behind the original design and supporting the original course structure while weaving the commercial framework’s built-in features into the course. The presentation will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each environment and the lessons learned.
Computer Mediated Communication in the Language Lab: Foundation, Implementation, and Results
Peter Lafford, Barbara Lafford, and Michael Cottam
A discussion of Second Language Acquisition Interactionist theories will provide a basis for exploration of some of the practical issues involved in the implementation of computer mediated communication, and an examination of different models of online chat environments (web-based chat rooms, dedicated chat software such as Tribal Voice’s PowWow, and the chat functions of dedicated distance learning systems such as FirstClass). Finally, the presenters will share the results of a semester-long empirical research project involving three sections of Spanish 201, which examines the effect of task type and instructor participation on output, interaction and student attitudes towards computer mediated communication.
Foreign Accent Archive
Steven Weinberger
Humans have the unique ability to instantly detect a foreign accent. At the same time we make biased social and personal judgements about the speakers with these accents. Careful linguistic study of non-native speech reveals that it is a systematic and uniform system of behaviors. This is a report on a project that is developing an ongoing and on-line web repository of digitized non-native speech to be used by students, researchers, and teachers. It serves to de-mystify foreign accent by supplying ready examples along with principled linguistic analyses of each accent. The methodology and pedagogical uses of the archive will be discussed.
Going the Distance: Interactive, On-line Professional Development Courses for Teachers of German
Ali Moeller, Donna Van Handle, and Stephen Panarelli
Interactive, on-line courses created for professional development of teachers of German will be demonstrated and discussed. This joint project of the Goethe-Institut and the AATG was funded by the European Recovery Program. Results of a course developed and offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the spring of 1999 entitled TELI: Technology Enhanced Language Instruction, authored by Donna VanHandle (Mount Holyoke College) will be featured. Project authors and staff (Eleonore Sylla, Goethe Institut-Washington D.C.; Kathy Corl, Ohio State University; Ali Moeller, Instructional Planning; Joan Campbell and Iris Bork-Goldfield, Schreiben; Iris Busch and Lisa Thibault, Sprechen) will demonstrate various features of the courses. Stephen Panarelli, project technologist, will demonstrate technology used to create these interactive, on-line courses.
10:00 – 10:45
Virtual Reference: A Case for Web-based Dictionaries in Instructed SLA
Tom Randolph
This presentation provides both ESL/FL teachers who have access to an Internet-ready CALL environment and individual ESL/FL learners who have Internet access with a guide to setting up their computers’ WWW browsers in the role of electronic lexical resource. Several cutting edge lexical reference sites will be demonstrated. An analysis of the electronic dictionary form compares harddrives to the Internet as corpora storage and lookup sites, concluding that the Internet offers the greatest potential for a CALL dictionary due to its capacity for constant change and growth, its cost-effectiveness, and lack of size limitations.
A (Cultural) Web of One’s Own: New Modes of Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Class
Gilberte Furstenberg, Shoggy Thierry Waryn, and Sabine Levet
This session will present a unique Web-based, cross-cultural project and methodology, which allows students to gradually construct understanding of a foreign culture. With a combination of Web and classroom use, students in France and in the US simultaneously observe and compare a variety of similar materials from both cultures. They analyze these materials, react to them and exchange viewpoints in a constant cross-cultural perspective. This step-by-step approach provides students with the unprecedented ability to directly apprehend aspects of culture that are usually invisible to them. It also provides teachers with a new way for teaching culture in the language classroom.
On-Line CALL Teacher Training
Jeff Magoto
Like all teacher training, in-services about teaching with technology always involve hard choices: How do I meet the needs of a diverse audience? How do I motivate the technically experienced students while not losing the neophytes? How can I maximize hands-on time while systematically presenting examples of software use and tasks? These days, there’s an additional wrinkle: How do I deliver all of this across continents via the Internet? This demonstration details the presenter’s experience with an 8-week online CALL methodology course for Greek teachers of English. Topics covered will be syllabus design, sample activities, and software tools for course design.
Multilingualism, Technology and Language Learning
Sipho Nakasa
The use of technology such as video-centered instruction and computer assisted language learning programmes within a multilingual and multicultural academic context is a great challenge for students and staff participating in designing and implementing such programmes. The Cape Technikon, being one of the technologically and career oriented learning institutions in South Africa is currently grappling with this challenge of using technology in student academic development. Its Writing Centre is at the forefront of this process. The paper will therefore assess the cognitive value, rewards and future prospects for using technology in learning development and cross linguistic affirmation.
Internet-Based Language Instruction for Science Students
Yvonne Stapp
For the English-language instructor, designing courses for university science and technology students is very challenging, especially regarding up-to-date materials, visual reinforcement, and meaningful practice. The Internet is the ideal all-purpose resource. The Web provides outstanding materials including graphics and virtual visits to science-technology sites, and Internet communication facilities make language practice more productive. With very basic equipment and software, an instructor can design quality courses which accommodate diverse individual levels and needs, even in large classes. Three courses are demonstrated here, and a description of the techniques used for designing and evaluating the courses is given.
1:30 – 2:15
Didactic Functions in CALL Applications
Jozef Colpaert and Wilfried Decoo
An extensive analysis of actors, available technology and linguistic-didactic functionality, within the Pedagora research project has revealed that the eventual added value of CALL applications mainly depends on four factors: actor involvement, content (quantity, quality, flexibility, reusability), strategies (tasks, skills, exercises) and didactic functions. Every application or system incorporates one or more of the following didactic functions: Tool (as an instrument for the learner), Monitor (as advice on demand), Mentor (as follow-up of the learning process), Tutor (as organizer of the learning process) and Lector (as one-way instructor). These functions will be illustrated and discussed against Levy’s tutor-tool framework.
From Libra to Gemini: Work(s) in Progress
James Champion, Michael Farris, and Franziska Lys
Libra, an Authoring Environment for Multimedia Lessons on the Macintosh was designed for faculty members who wished to author lessons for their students which focused on listening comprehension. Gemini has enhanced several of the features of Libra , while including a number of new features. It also adds facilities for designing lessons focused on reading comprehension. The programmer of Libra and Gemini will discuss the evolution of Gemini and its major new features. Other panel members will demonstrate projects in various stages of development which illustrate the application of some of the new features.
Fokus Deutsch: Television for Language Learning
Robert Di Donato
This session will focus on the conceptualization, development and production of a new German telecourse “Fokus Deutsch,” consisting of 24 half-hour programs for beginning through intermediate German. Excerpts from specific programs will be shown in order to analyze the pedagogical and multimedia implications of the series. The series will be piloted as the basis of a distance learning course in first year German at Miami University in the fall of 1999. Additionally, it will be broadcast on public television nationwide beginning in September 1999.
From Didactics to Technology
Jean-Claude Bertin
The presentation aims at showing the real place of technology in the learning/teaching process, i.e. a means rather than an end in itself, as is too often the case. The presentation intends to demonstrate how teacher-centred authoring packages make it possible to focus on didactics rather than technology when designing multimedia learning materials. The presentation shall start from the teacher’s needs, then use a video clip in order to demonstrate how this clip can be exploited for teaching purposes.
Computer-Assisted Reading in Chinese
Zheng-sheng Zhang
Computer programs have been used to aid reading by providing instant help, mostly on vocabulary and background information. However, such assistance is not sufficient for Chinese, due to its linguistic and orthographic characteristics. The identification of words may pose problems, since the orthography leaves no space between words; the identification of syntactic relationship may also be difficult, since Chinese words bear almost no morphological markers. The paper discusses special strategies for helping readers of Chinese and suggests possible computer implementation of these strategies. Some of these strategies will also be useful for reading in other languages.
Developing Pragmatic Awareness in the Virtual Zone of Proximal Development
Sheila Carel
I describe learning theory, schema theory and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which guided the development of The Virtual Ethnographer, a multimedia courseware designed to meet the National Standards’ goals for culture (linking practices and perspectives) and for communication. I then report upon a case study in which high school students of French used the program and undertook a virtual field experience in France. I provide evidence from the student ethnographers’ findings, interviews, and my observations to demonstrate how the theoretically grounded coursework led to the development of pragmatic awareness and other cultural knowledge.
2:30 – 3:15
VRoma: Collaborative Learning in Cyberspace
Judith de Luce, Suzanne Bonefas, and William Magrath
This presentation will examine the VRoma Project, an NEH-supported community of teachers and students who create on-line resources for teaching Latin and ancient Roman culture. VRoma is more like an on-line classroom than a true simulation of Rome. Here students and instructors interact live, hold classes, and share resources for the study of the ancient world. This session will feature: collaboration on the VRoma MOO in a university/secondary school advanced Latin course, and faculty “consultants” for an AP class; building resources for interactive language exercises; and creation of internet resources.
Instructor-made Online Tools for Teaching
William Cline and J. Sanford Dugan
As computers become more widely available, individual instructors are encouraged to develop computer-mediated materials that meet specific local needs. Two experienced foreign language teachers present several tools developed for online instruction, including a HyperCard-based ESL composition correction stack, an HTML template for online lessons, and a set of web-based lessons for a second-year reading course in French. The presenters, using intermediate computer skills that are largely self-taught, found that the major components of development are knowledge of the subject matter and design of instructional tasks. Implementation of the materials is also discussed.
Information Technology and WH-Questions in the Language Learning Classroom
Jacky Tweedie
The ESL teaching environment is awash with exhortations to use information technology (IT) in the classroom. Rarely is the validity of IT in the classroom (or curriculum) challenged. The Intensive English as a Second Language program (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada) has begun a series of initiatives within its unit designed to examine the role IT should play within its communicative curriculum. Ad hoc initiatives have led to staggered experiences and outcomes for teachers and learners alike. This paper will discuss the process the school has begun in its attempt to understand some of the fundamental WH-questions prompted by it.
Bridging the Gap Between Pedagogy and Technology: An Exploration of TA Attitudes
Travis Bradley and Lara Lomicka
Scott (1998) proposes that technology should serve as a means to reflect upon foreign language teaching and learning. As a crucial step in their professional development, TAs should explore the pedagogical assumptions upon which CALL applications are based. In teaching a graduate course on technology in language education, we explored TA attitudes on the use of technology for language learning. They were asked to complete a pre- and post-course questionnaire and to reflect on their development during the course. In this presentation, we will address the issues of course design and implementation and present findings regarding TA attitudes toward the pedagogy-technology interface.
Winnowing the Web with KWiCFinder
William Fletcher
Today’s Web is a natural extension of the foreign language classroom. Paradoxically, its explosive growth limits its usefulness. On-line searches too often yield more irrelevant than useful matches. KWiCFinder shifts the focus from process to product: it submits a search, retrieves matching webpages, and produces a Key Word in Context abstract of each match. Scanning these abstracts, the user rapidly identifies content of further interest. Borrowing concordance conventions, KWiCFinder permits highly specific search criteria to eliminate false matches. KWiCFinder will be demonstrated and the benefits and dangers of using the Web as a linguistic and cultural corpus will be discussed.
3:30 – 4:15
The Three “I’s”: Interactive Intermediate French, German, and Spanish Courses on the Internet
Franziska Lys and Janine Spencer
This session will present three new interactive web courses for intermediate French, German, and Spanish. Materials include interactive exercises with feedback, self-check tests, sound files to illustrate pronunciation, video clips for culture and listening comprehension, easy links to on-line reference materials, a virtual on-line tutor, and an individualized tracking system. This presentation will be interesting to any language teacher as the materials presented go beyond the traditional confine of a textbook and classroom. This new teaching approach is unique because it empowers students to be in charge of their own learning and gives them means to become more autonomous learners. The presentation will serve as a model to anybody developing interactive web-based language material. All three web courses have been pilot tested with over 1,000 students and presenters will share results of surveys conducted to evaluate students’ affective responses and the effectiveness of the program as a teaching tool.
The Benefits of Network-Based Communication for SLA: The Case of the RTA-Chat Program
Robert Blake
SLA research suggests that negotiated target-language use in the classroom speeds the process of second language acquisition and encourages students to continue their language studies. Will the benefits of L2 negotiations hold for network-based communication as well? A network-based component was introduced into the intermediate Spanish lab curriculum of 50 university students in the spring and fall quarters, 1998. The goal was to foster second-language acquisition by electronically augmenting opportunities for negotiated language use with classmates via a synchronous chat program, Remote Technical Assistant (RTA). RTA supports live interactions with a full array of communication tools: transmission of multilingual text, replayable sounds, shared graphics or whiteboarding, remote Web page control, and a collaborative writing tool or Textpad. Functionality of the RTA program, results from the study, and the potential of using the RTA program in the language classroom will be discussed and illustrated.
XML and Language Learning: What’s in Store?
Douglas Mills
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) Specification was approved by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in February of 1998. As browser support and development tools for the standard become increasingly available, what are the implications for language learning and teaching via the web? Will XML revolutionize web-based language learning, be just another tool, or not be very useful at all? In this presentation, XML will be introduced and some of its possible applications to web-based language teaching will be examined. Available XML-enhanced language learning sites will be demonstrated and a web-based list of relevant resources will be provided.
WALL-Web Assisted Language Learning
Beverley Clinch
This presentation will illustrate how the World Wide Web is incorporated into the curriculum of Spanish at a local high school in South Carolina. Although on-going, this project fits within the communicative emphasis on language learning. The open-ended nature of hypertext imposes an active role in the learning process which crosses curriculum boundaries, motivates the individual and improves basic skills. Additionally this environment provides students an ability to “learn language, learn about language and learn through language.” (Warschauer, 1997). But what level or quality of “learning” actually occurs as a result of these projects? Preliminary findings and theoretical support.
Using the World Wide Web to Teach French Civilization
Lynn Herkstroeter
Contemporary French Civilization taught in French is ideal for the WWW. Each week in the computer lab students were given activity sheets with about four URLs and specific tasks and/or questions. They were also expected to report the news about France from the internet. For example, they were following the 1997 elections and results. Students could access very up to date information. For topics such as government, political parties, geography, social issues, the family, education, and leisure the internet provided abundant material. Students completed three projects: web pages on various topics and a final group project.
4:30 – 5:15
Multidisciplinary Project Teamwork: The MultiCAT Testing Project
Kathryn Corl, Lauren Aland, and James Cheng
This session will present Ohio State University’s MultiCAT Multimedia Computer Adaptive Language Tests in French, German, and Spanish. The MultiCAT Project, now in its fourth year, has benefited from the diverse talents of a multidisciplinary team. Presenters will discuss aspects of the project’s development (e.g., item development, interface design, user testing, multimedia programming, and databasing issues) and demonstrate the current version of the test.
Designing Commercial French Courses for On-Line Delivery as Part of the UI-Online Program
Elizabeth Martin
The Department of French at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) is currently designing various Web-based courses for professional development. This presentation pertains specifically to our two-course sequence in Business French that is scheduled to be delivered entirely on-line beginning in August 1999. The website that is being designed for these courses will feature both synchronous and asynchronous two-way communication systems, video, on-line activities specifically created for the courses, and numerous links to other websites pertinent to the study of commercial French. The presentation will include a guided “virtual” visit and demonstration of a U of I Business French course website.
Con/textos: Literatura Hispanoamericana en Multimedia
Julia Van Loan Aguilar
Con/textos: Literatura Hispanoamericana en multimedia is an application designed at the Univ. of Pennsylvania to incorporate L2 reading strategies in a culturally rich interactive framework for the study of the short literary text in the intermediate Spanish classroom. In a task-based format, students review audiovisual background information on the text, listen and respond to RealAudio interviews with the authors, read and/or listen to the text read by the author before completing post-reading composition activities linked to oral interaction in the classroom. Presentation will also discuss research on the interactive glossary as an aid to top-down processing.
Concordancing and ESL Writing Research
Ross Bender and Sharon Bode
The use of the concordancer as a pedagogical tool in ESL is not widely popular in the United States. At the same time, concordancing software has become more available. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of the concordancer as a tool for teacher research, rather than the customary teaching tool. In this paper is described the use of the Longman Miniconcordancer and MonoConc for Windows to analyze 100 student essays written as part of an ESL placement test. Such features as type/token ratio and article usage are analyzed and correlations to the holistic scoring by a human rater are explored.
Teaching with Technology to Create Student-centred Classrooms
Michael Vallance
The paper details and demonstrates the collaborative project work undertaken by first year engineering students at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore, focusing on the writing tasks of a product description and a comparison and contrast report, together with their computer-based oral presentations. Due to the resultant positive effects of the student-centered, constructivist learning environment the paper concludes that the utilization of technology for collaborative project work is essential for the successful development of engineering students’ technical communication skills.