2003 Friday Sessions

CALICO 2003

Conference Presentations
Day Two: May 23, 2003

 

8:00 – 8:45 

Collaborative Development of Dedicated CALL Technologies
Jozef Colpaert
Wilfried Decoo
This presentation will start with an overview of a research project which focuses on available functionalities in current CALL applications. There are various aspects where the implementation of dedicated CALL technologies would entail a considerable increase in effectiveness: exercise types, data access, string manipulation, linguistic-didactic analysis and tracking, pronunciation training, background content structuring, and systematization. We will present in more detail a concrete case: the fill-in exercise. Finally, we will show how dedicated CALL technologies can be designed using natural language and objects. Possibilities for collaborative development will be discussed.

Chat as a Precursor to Formal L2 Writing
David Wright
This presentation will look at two brainstorming tasks for formal L2 writing, both using synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC). Quasi-experimental results reveal that treatment-group participants, who took part in open-ended tasks with unknown native speakers, could not take advantage of their SCMC tasks for formal writing until the end of the semester. Comparison-group participants, who took part in cooperative learning tasks with known nonnative speakers, made immediate use of their SCMC tasks for formal writing. Data collected come from a measure of students’ take-home essays that assigns different values to clauses according to strategic discourse management.

The Development of an Online Concordancer as a Writing Support Tool for Intermediate Learners of Japanese
Maki Hirotani
This paper presents an online concordancer developed by the researcher as a writing support tool for learners of Japanese. The target users are intermediate learners based on the fact that the majority of the learners outside Japan are struggling at novice-intermediate levels. The presenter will report how the learners with intermediate level proficiency actually used the concordancer in their writing. The researcher uses tracking tools, a video camera, and follow-up interviews to obtain data regarding the frequency of the use of the concordancer, the learners’ writing behaviors, and their reactions toward the product for further development of the writing support tool.

Investigating Issues of “Learnability” through CALL
Gabseon Sunny Lee
Jinhee Choo
Hyun Eun Choi
This paper reports on a study that examined the relative effectiveness of CALL instruction for teaching L2 learners to correct three types of L1-induced grammatical errors. The CALL program described in Cowan, Kim and Choi (2000) served as a platform for investigating Korean ESL students’ ability to locate and correct errors involving conditional and passive sentences and dropping articles in texts. These error types were identified from a large written corpus. A quasi-experimental pretest/post test design was used. Variable success was found for lexically, syntactically, and pragmatically determined errors. Implications for the design of CALL programs that foster “uptake” and long-term learning are discussed.

Students’ Attitudes and Motivation in Online Language Courses
Eiko Ushida
This presentation will report the results of research that examined students’ attitudes and motivation in the learning of French and Spanish within hybrid online courses offered at Carnegie Mellon University. Thirty-four students participated in this study from four online courses (elementary level/intermediate level, French/Spanish). Students’ attitudes and motivation were measured twice as pretest and posttest by using a modified version of Gardner’s Attitude and Motivation Testing Battery (1985). The presenter will show changes in the patterns of students’ attitudes and motivation toward the learning of French and Spanish in online courses and discuss possible influential factors.

The Effect of Collaborative Online Learning: A Case Study between Two ESP Classes
Mei-Mei Chang
Shiou-Wen Yeh
Collaborative activities are pervasive in modern world. In collaborative learning, learners work together to achieve shared learning goals. Email is one of the applications for collaborative language learning. With email, students can instantly send and receive messages from across the world. This paper describes a collaborative learning project which aims to develop Taiwanese EFL learners’ comprehension, expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning through learning international news in English. The email messages, students’ pre- and postconnection surveys about email usage, and students’ post-connection attitude surveys were collected. Both quantitative and qualitative data regarding the online collaborative learning were collected and analyzed.

9:00 – 9:45

Learner Adaptable Databases in Language Learning
Jim Bauman
This presentation describes the components of a language learning application driven by an extensible and user customizable Access database which addresses individual learner preferences and needs. The database is demonstrated in both standalone and web delivery systems for a Dutch application, the standalone system using Microsoft Word as its front end and the web system using Cold Fusion-based forms. The system integrates curricular materials and user provided materials with a lexical and grammatical core to provide learners with focused, on-demand support. Learners can bookmark the system to return to and review points of difficulty.

Synchronous Versus “Semi-synchronous” CMC: Do student Collaboration and Responsibility Produce Better Language?
Robert Sanders
Results of a study that analyzes the quality and quantity of student language production when they use synchronous CMC in the presence of their instructor versus when they form their own chat groups, assign their own chat times, and are graded according to their chat transcripts. Allowing students to collaborate in making and directing their own interactions saves considerable resources and is more convenient for students when compared to instructor-supervised simultaneous use of computer laboratories. Is the quality of interaction comparable or even better? Is there a greater sense of learning community among the students?

Applying Second Language Acquisition Research to the Development of Web-based Activities
Bonnie L. Youngs
The world wide web can be an effective culturally enhanced teaching and learning tool and provide teachers with language and culture in context. Language acquisition research can help teachers choose appropriate web pages and develop multiple level reading and writing activities. Based on principles of second language acquisition, this presentation will explain why some web activities are insufficient and ineffective. In addition, participants will, using one web page as a point of departure, develop an activity that could be adapted for beginning through advanced learners and learn possible ways to move from development to implementation with students, and subsequent follow up. Handouts, bibliography.

A Computerized Medical Interpreters Qualification Exam for Spanish
Jerry W. Larson
Kim L. Smith
During this presentation, we will discuss the development of and demonstrate a computer-delivered Spanish oral exam designed to assess speaking skills of individuals wishing to work as medical interpreters. The exam can be used by schools and medical organizations to determine the language qualification of potential medical interpreters in Spanish.

Computer-assisted Learning of Chinese
Peter Leimbigler
The presentation demonstrates the main features of the KEY 4.1 software (both Mac and PC) for writing, learning, and teaching Chinese (Japanese and Korean word processor included), as well as the KEYTIP Chinese/English online reading tool, which is a “talking dictionary” allowing the student of Chinese to work independently on Chinese Internet texts directly in the browser. The new version includes several innovative features for teachers and learners: Pinyin with Hanzi, Text To Speech, automatic glossary building, Timed Reading Module, hidden annotations, and creating vocabulary statistics.

Language Learning Research Using the Web
Robert Zerwekh
George Henry
This paper discusses our investigation into using the Internet as a platform for research into language learning over the web. By using the web to present quizzes to students at different locations and storing the results on our server, we can increase the number of subjects in each study. This is especially important for the less commonly taught languages (Thai, Indonesian, and Tagalog for this study.) This paper will summarize first year results of these studies as well as discuss some of the administrative hurdles we encountered when we invited language learners from other universities to participate in the study.

10:00 – 10:45

A Web Site for All Seasons: LangNet Updated
Madeline Ehrman
Catherine Ingold
This presentation is an update on progress on LangNet, a federal interagency-sponsored language learning web site providing learning material in some 15 languages of national security interest. Included is a description of the substantial amount of material available for reading at ACTFL Advanced, Superior, and Distinguished levels, the design and prototypes for listening materials, the newly created Learning Object Authoring Tool to accelerate lesson development, the role of learning styles and strategies in LangNet, and insights into the process and lessons learned so far from work on this very large, complex project. The presentation is an interactive lecture with visual support.

Online Teacher Professional Development: Connecting Research and Practice
Aleidine J. Moeller
Hyesung Park
This session will demonstrate how online foreign language professional development courses can improve instructional practice and student learning. Pre- and post-online surveys determine background knowledge of participants regarding content and pedagogical knowledge. Building on this knowledge, the participants are introduced to second language acquisition theory through authentic learning tasks, threaded conversations, and online resources. Practicing teachers apply theories to language instruction by using the classroom as a laboratory to examine and research how these theories impact student learning. Examples of online tasks, surveys, discussions, and student samples will be demonstrated.

German Express: Speech Technology–It Works
Nikolaus (Klaus) Koster
Andreas Ryschka
The Foreign Service Institute has developed a series of mentored distance-learning programs which target beginning adult learners. Based on needs assessments of the target population, the courses focus on language use in everyday situations and guide learners from presentation of language through practice to oral production. Focusing on listening comprehension and speaking in context, the German program uses SRI’s EDUSpeak recognizer for extensive oral practice and instant, error-specific, and annotated feedback. Mentoring of the learners fosters creative language use. The presenters will demonstrate their “German Express” courseware and offer the audience the opportunity to explore the program.

A Mini-Course for CALL Teacher Training
Phil Hubbard
This talk reports on a CALL “mini course,” an optional 1-unit supplement to an ESL methodology class providing a broad overview of the field for prospective teachers and equipping them with a foundation to support future independent study. The presentation will begin with the rationale and course structure and then focus on the course web site, which includes substantial original instructional material, homework assignments, and links to sites relevant to selected topics. The presenter’s university presently supports the opening of class web sites to the outside, so the material is freely available to others for independent study or pre- or in-service training.

Tell Me More Pro, New Version 6.0, Language Learning Software
Christophe Pralong
TeLL Me More PRO responds to the educational demand for a more thorough, comprehensive approach to language learning, while applying the latest in multimedia resources. It is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese. This award-winning software, based on the latest innovation of speech recognition, has been adopted in thousands of academic institutions worldwide. The new version launched in March 2003 includes a new feature developed by Auralog: the dynamic mode. This working mode adjusts the learning program according to the needs of each student, enabling them to make the most of their learning!

Les Chansons de la francophonie on the Web
Alysse Weinberg
Les Chansons de la francophonie is a series of web pages with interactive listening activities based on French songs. These activities include true-false, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, written-answer, and reading comprehension questions based on external web links related to the theme of the song. The pages were integrated in WebCT to facilitate data collection and assessment. The actual amount of time students were spending using the activities was difficult to track. Les Chansons de la Francophonie will be presented as well as sample pages, a description of the tracking system in WebCT and its limitations.

1:30 – 2:15

Co-construction of Language in Commercial English as a Second Language Chatroom and Its Impact on Language Development and Strategic Competence
Senta Goertler
Sonja E. Klocke
The purpose of this multiple case study is to investigate the co-construction of language in a commercial English as a second language (ESL) chatroom and its impact on language development. The researchers will analyze the discourse in regard to the negotiating of meaning and strategies for communication, especially turn taking, based on physical and virtual observation of the participants. This research plans to add to the current research on the effectiveness of chatting in a classroom (e.g., Darhower, 2002) and also research on the importance of interaction on language development (e.g., Gass & Varonis, 1985).

Voice Lab: Reinforcing Oral Language Teaching and Assessment
Janet Flewelling
Don Snider
Voice Lab is a teaching and assessment tool that allows teachers to present computerized oral activities to students, to assess those activities online, and to provide oral feedback. Teachers can extend oral practice beyond the classroom by providing students with activities that can be accessed at any networked computer. By comparing their answers to models created by the teacher, students can improve their oral language skills independently. The presenters will demonstrate the software, speak to a project in which the software was piloted, and actively engage participants in oral test creation.

Language Online: Research Conclusions and Lessons Learned
Christopher M. Jones
N. Ann Chenoweth
Kimmaree Murday
Eiko Ushida
This presentation will describe the production and assessment of Language Online (LOL), the Mellon-funded project at Carnegie Mellon University to offer the first two years of French and Spanish in hybrid online courses. The first course in this project was offered in Spring 2000, and, by the end of Spring 2002, all eight courses had been developed and offered at least one time. We will present an overview of the assessment results and discuss what we have learned about the design, implementation, and assessment process in a project of this scope.

Technology for Teaching and Research: Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers
Lara Lomicka
Gillian Lord
This session discusses a cross-institutional collaborative graduate seminar on technology in language education. Students on both campuses interacted via electronic discussion boards, chatrooms, and a joint web site. Virtual guests engaged students in exploration of topics related to technology. Presenters offer ideas as to how to implement such a course, analyze and discuss students’ work, and present administrative and technological challenges. The session concludes with time for discussion and idea exchange.

CALL Research Design and Tools: A Panel Discussion
Carol A. Chapelle
Dorothy Chun
Phil Hubbard
María Victoria González Pagani
The CALICO SLAT SIG sponsors this panel discussion which focuses on design and tools in CALL research. The session will center on the value of computer technology tools for Second Language Acquisition as source of knowledge for the field. It will address challenges CALL researchers and practitioners have faced in the past and will offer some insight on how these tools can be used more effectively when designing research methodology. The session concludes with time for discussion and idea exchange.

Collaborative Worldwide Language Learning: Tandem Language Learning via Free Internet Audio Software
Gary Cziko
Sujung Park
Tandem language learning (TLL) involves bringing together two individuals with different native languages who are learning each other’s native language, with each partner taking turns as both student and tutor. Originally requiring face-to-face interaction, the Internet now makes it possible for language learning partners anywhere in the world to transcend time and place limitations. This presentation will (a) provide an overview of seven free Internet audio programs appropriate for electronic TLL, (b) demonstrate how these programs can be used for TLL, and (c) show how language learners can find collaborative TLL partners on the Internet.

2:30 – 3:15 

DeCEN: A CALL System to Help Students Practice and Develop Reasoning in Determining the Countability of English Nouns
Rika Yoshii
Alastair Milne
Kazumi Slott
DeCEN is a CALL system for helping ESL/EFL students master the English countability system. Determining the countability of English nouns is difficult for many Asian students, whose native languages have different views about what is countable. Our model of the countability system does not rely on English terms that tend to confuse the students. DeCEN helps students develop their own reasoning habits for determining a noun’s countability by analyzing its meaning in context. DeCEN provides help based on students’ answers and chooses the next exercise based on their performance. DeCEN, written in Java, is available via the Internet.

An Investigation into CALG
Gearóid O’Néill
In this paper an investigation is presented into computer assisted bilingual dictionary generation from two monolingual dictionaries using rules based on spelling, morphology, and etymology together with distributed semantic representation. The two languages are Irish and Scottish Gaelic, which derive from the same base, namely Old Irish. It is hoped that the dictionary will facilitate speakers of one language learning the other directly and that the difficulty or ease by which relationships between the two languages are expressed will give insights into approaches for teaching.

DISSEMIN8 and DISSEMIN 8 Square, The Implementation
Philippe Delcloque
The DISSEMINATE vision has moved to implementation with the first 8 modules functioning as a suite; in parallel and with partners, the LMS architecture is being specified to achieve bottom-up integration and suitability for varied delivery environments from 1 to 20 to 1 to 20,000 including a new digital (and virtual) language lab. DISSEMINATE will allow work wide partners to produce exercise modules which can plug in the architecture and lead to approved certification ‡ la Macromedia. The project also plans to deliver plug ins for some of the predominant LMSs used in institutions.

Digitizing VHS Tapes Step by Step
Michal Krynicki
With the growing demand for including multimedia into their teaching, many instructors wonder how to incorporate their VHS video materials into their classroom activities/presentations. This demonstration will explain the steps necessary to digitize VHS tapes using an average PC, a VCR, and basic inexpensive software. It is geared towards a novice audience and will be very practical in nature. The demonstration examines minimum hardware requirements, necessary connections, and general setup. It focuses on capturing and basic processing (e.g., compressing video and audio, splitting, cropping, and deinterlacing).

Avoiding Collaboration: Spanish Oral Interview Practice Program
Bernice Nuhfer-Halten
The purpose of this project is to provide students of SPAN 1001, SPAN 1002, and SPAN 2001 with a program that they can access INDIVIDUALLY in the Language Laboratory at any time during the course of the semester to help them prepare for their individual oral interview at the end of each term, without having to collaborate with others.

US Government Sponsored Language Projects
Stephen LaRocca
John Morgan
Sherri Bellinger
Recent world events have heightened interest in speech technologies for learning and other applications. Within the US government, speech-enabled courseware for foreign language learning is a priority; simultaneously, there is an increased demand for rapidly deployable speech translation devices that can instantly provide a rudimentary capability to communicate. Researchers at the US Military Academy are collecting speech data and producing recognizer software in support of government language learning programs. The same group is supervising and promoting the development of speech translation devices, such as Speaking MINDS. Common ground existing between learning systems and speech translation devices is discussed.

3:30 – 4:15

Collaborative Call the Wimba Way
Peter A. Lafford
Wimba is an Internet-based voice technology providing an asynchronous communication environment well suited to supporting language learning. The flagship voice-enabled bulletin boards (“Voice Boards”) are now joined by “Voice Email,” “Presentation Publisher” for streaming lectures, and “Language Tools” for voice-enabled web page activities to comprise a package Wimba calls its “Online Language Lab.” The key to the technology is the Wimba web server and the platform-independent small Wimba applet which downloads to record and playback the high quality compressed audio which resides on the server. This presentation will explore the potential of Wimba for language learning.

Ten Years Later: Interactivity on the Internet
Franziska Lys
Drehort: Neubrandenburg Interaktiv was developed in 1991 as a listening comprehension tool. It contained interactive comprehension exercises with video feedback to promote active viewing skills and allowed students to work through a self-guided learning environment. The software was designed with Libra, a Macintosh-based authoring software. In this session, the presenter will demonstrate Drehort Neubrandenburg Online a completely redesigned version of the original software. The presentation will demonstrate the new online learning environment focusing on a set of new interactive exercises delivered over the Internet. The software used to develop theses exercises was Flash.

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

Tools for Continuous Assessment
Alex Chapin
Middlebury College has created two web-based modules that allow for continuous
assessment of second language acquisition. The QuestionsDB module supports many of the standard question types in drill or test modes and allows for easy cross-student comparisons not only of overall test scores but also individual answers. The StudyDB module is a database-driven vocabulary acquisition tool that can generate drills and quizzes based on students’ knowledge base that the program acquires through tracking their performance. This tracking information can be used by students to focus their study and by faculty to assess progress of students individually or collectively.

Producing Video Clips to Learn Newspaper English–A Cooperative Learning Experience in an EFL Classroom
Huifen Lin
This paper applies an extensively employed technology–video–in ESL/EFL classrooms to introduce the strategy of cooperative learning and its effect on fostering learner autonomy in acquiring newspaper reading and writing skills. To illustrate how video clips can be valuable tools in motivating EFL/ESL learners to tackle difficulties commonly arising in the English newspaper learning process, the presenter begins by reviewing principles of cooperative learning strategies and their integration into language instruction in ESL/EFL settings. The presenter then examines how these principles can be used to guide video project work EFL learners engage in to acquire newspaper English reading and writing abilities. A real classroom experience will be provided to demonstrate the process of integrating video project work into newspaper instruction. Suggestions about summative and formative evaluation criteria of students’ work will conclude the paper.

Language Courseware at the Crossroads: Auf geht’s! as a Way Forward
Lee Forester
Anne Green
The role of courseware in language instruction is changing rapidly. Formerly cast in a supporting role, courseware is moving to center stage. This session will describe Auf geht’s!, a multimedia elementary German course currently in development with support from FIPSE. The course places tremendous emphasis on culture and fully integrates multiple media (print, web, CD-ROM) with the classroom experience. The vision of the project will be presented, including the major points of innovation in media, culture, vocabulary teaching, support for national standards, and the role of grammar. Elements of the course will be shown to illustrate the principles involved.

4:30 – 5:15

When All Tastes are Catered for: Matching Screen Designs and Learner Profiles
Isabelle De Ridder
This paper reports on an experiment conducted in an attempt to elucidate whether different learner profiles benefit from different screen designs in CALL applications. The screen-design issue chosen was the signaling device of electronic glosses. Two signaling devices were evaluated: hyperlinks that were either visible or invisible. The hypothesis was that visible hyperlinks would be helpful for some learners while disturbing for others, as far as vocabulary learning and text comprehension are concerned. Students whose learning style is one of external regulation and step-by-step processing might benefit more from a highlighted condition than students whose learning style is one of self-regulation and deep-processing.

Online Language Placement Tests: Assessing All Four Skills
Claire Bartlett
Brigitte Crull
Eric Granquist
Rice University administers online placement tests in French, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese. These tests are written by our faculty members who are OPI testers and then submitted to ACTFL for review. Students usually take the tests from home, and, for the first time this summer, they had to complete a speaking component. We will first demonstrate how to author a test and show the French test as a sample. We will then discuss test results–particularly those of speaking. Finally, we will describe the technical requirements and distribute to interested participants a CD-ROM of ExTemplate 2.0, our web authoring program.

What Makes Students Click: Working Memory and Look-up Behavior
Dorothy Chun
J. Scott Payne
Research on SLA with multimedia has suggested that individual differences play an important role in L2 vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. We report here on a study of second-year German students who read two German short stories on a CD-ROM and who had access to a variety of multimedia features, including annotations of difficult vocabulary words. Their working memory (WM) capacity was assessed with nonword repetition and reading span measures. Findings suggest a relationship between WM capacity and look-up behavior with low WM capacity individuals looking up significantly more words. Implications for classroom instruction and multimedia software design will be discussed.

Learning from Screen: E-reader or HTML?
Miriam Schcolnik
Sara Kol
E-learning offers increased opportunities for reading and learning from computer screens. The development of e-learning materials may benefit from the investigation of modes of text presentation. How should academic texts be presented to enhance usability and facilitate learning? The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of screen reading mode on learning. Participants in the study are students in advanced level courses of English for Academic Purposes at Tel Aviv University.

Taming the Internet: Curriculum Development Through the Use of Multimedia and Authentic Culture
Katherine Sharnoff
Celia Fryer
The use of technology and the Internet provides unlimited resources for learners to encounter authentic culture. However, the unreliability of web sites and links as well as limited language skills can reduce the effectiveness of Internet activities. We will show how we used technology and multimedia as a catalyst and method for curriculum development. Our pilot project integrates the standards for foreign language learning, technology, culture, and assessment. In addition, we will discuss how our multimedia culture “modules” enable learners to practice the four skills areas while providing a consistent “student-centered” approach to interaction with authentic cultural materials.

Investigating the Effects of a Technology Integration Professional Development Training and Support Model for University-level Second and Foreign Language Teachers
Paula Gunder
Language teacher educators heeding calls to increase the quantity and quality of instructional technology courses (Wildner, 1999) understand technology’s influence on how we use language. This pre-service attention has had a “limited impact on how teachers think about and implement technology-supported teaching” (Egbert et al., 2002, p. 1) and highlights the need to focus on in-service teachers. This presentation reports on a comparative multicase study of six university-level language teachers’ experiences within a technology integration training and support model, offering a grounded view of what teacher-learning situations could/should consist, how teachers respond, and how and why it effects curricular change.