2003 Saturday Sessions

CALICO 2003

Conference Presentations
Day Three: May 24, 2003

8:00 – 8:45 

Multilayered Collaborative CALL
Katrina Keogh
This presentation describes a multilayered collaborative CALL project involving curriculum development, classroom teaching in a disadvantaged area, and development and presentation of related CALL software. The target students, in coming from this background, had many special needs. The courseware was designed to address their specific needs and abilities. It demonstrates the benefits collaboration with various sources can have on the developmental and implementation stages of a CALL application. These sources–target students, their teacher, and the school–provided many forms of continuous feedback, all of which were integrated into the ongoing and revised developments in the courseware.

Using a 3D Graphical Virtual Environment (MOO) for Internet-based Japanese Language Learning
Greg Jones
Todd Squires
This presentation will describe on-going research concerning the use of 3D graphical environments for online language learning. The combination of contextually accurate graphical environments, collaborative tools (e.g., audio, text, email, and whiteboard), speech recognition/natural language processing, and intelligent tutoring technology creates a potentially powerful online language tool. Current information concerning a pilot project between the US and Japan using the 3D software for online language learning will be covered. Discussion will also include development of a middle-ware application to interface between the online learning environment, a commercial speech recognition/natural language processing system, and intelligent tutoring approaches in order to create authored language scenarios.

Interactive Video with WebDVD–An Update
Harold H. Hendricks
CALICO 2002 saw the demonstration an internet browser-based application that duplicated, with a DVD, the interactive capabilities of computer-controlled videodiscs. A year later we can now demonstrate a more mature version of the program featuring both student and instructor capabilities that go beyond those we had with videodisc. Using the commercially available DVD, Orfeo Negro ‘Black Orpheus,’ we will demonstrate the features of an interactive web site for English- or Spanish-speaking students learning Brazilian Portuguese or Portuguese speaking students learning English. We will also demonstrate the instructor tools provided at the same web site to control the DVD in class through playlists, utterance search, and instructor created activities.

Distance Language Learning: Designing and Developing for a Worldwide Audience
Alysoun Mahoney
Miyuki Fogel
Krysia Smith
Since 1999, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has been designing and developing language-learning courseware for foreign affairs professionals around the world. Courses for teaching basic communication skills have been created for French, German, Greek, and Korean and are being developed for Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Advanced reading skills courses have been produced for Arabic, Chinese, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. A listening comprehension course is being developed for French. This presentation by content experts provides an overview of the instructional design and development process for distance language learning courseware that is being implemented with very encouraging results.

Collaborative CALL: How Can It Help in Mentoring New Teachers?
Kathryn Murphy-Judy
There is a growing crisis in our educational system as veteran teachers retire and new teachers are not being produced in our colleges of education. In this presentation, we look at collaborations that are taking place between Richmond area universities and local school systems that are facilitated by new technologies. Models of collaborative CALL for enhancing teacher education programs in foreign languages, too, are presented.

Solving the DVD Puzzle: One Institution’s Solution
Carine Ullom
This presentation describes how the Language Resource Center at St. Lawrence University implemented a low-cost solution (approximately $70 per station) to the vexing issue of DVD region codes as it applies to software-driven DVD-ROMs. The solution was implemented both on faculty office systems and in electronic classrooms in the Department of Modern Languages initially. Soon, however, the IT department adopted the solution in classrooms campus wide as DVDs from regions other than one began to appear from within Fine Arts, Global Studies, Government, and other departments. Special attention is given to the pedagogical advantages of using software driven DVD-ROMs to play DVDs.

9:00 – 9:45

Reading Comprehension in an L2 Multimedia Environment: Cognitive Load and Learner’s Prior Knowledge Interaction
Eduardo Lage Otero

This presentation will discuss a study conducted with college-level L2 learners asked to read a multimedia-annotated Spanish short story (Una carta a Dios) during the course of instruction. The researcher looked at the effects of extraneous cognitive load and individual differences in spatial ability and prior knowledge in comprehension of the story. The hypothesis was that learners with low prior knowledge would benefit more from the multimedia annotations than those more proficient in the target language. Additionally, those with low spatial ability would find the multimedia annotations more useful and perform better in vocabulary and comprehension tests.

Digitized Slowed Audio and the Internet
Jay Kunz
During the past five years, PureVoice digitized slowed audio has been available in the Mississippi State University Language Media Center for first-year foreign language students in a variety of languages. Based on a comprehensive survey of the students, the format has been changed to QuickTime and now the files are available through the Internet. This presentation will demonstrate the older PureVoice as well as the newer QuickTime files. In addition, it will present results of surveys and other data about student use of PureVoice and QuickTime slowed audio.

Concept Mapping and Collaborative Language Learning
Sandra Hoenle
Concept mapping, the creation of visual representations of concepts, is a process for understanding linguistic, cultural, and grammatical concepts. It has three main advantages: it is based on research into brain’s visual capacity, it supports collaborative learning, and it helps learners become active players in the creation of knowledge. Using Inspiration concept mapping software as an example, I discuss and demonstrate how it can be used to: create visual representations of cultural and linguistic concepts in the target language, comparing those concepts to similar ones in their first language, illustrating and manipulating grammatical concepts, and establishing a learning community.

Making the Most of Your Learning Management System
Robert Godwin-Jones
Learning management systems (LMS) such as Blackboard and WebCT were not developed with language learning in mind. While they supply a number of features and tools which can be effectively integrated into language courses, they do not provide all the functionality that might be useful to language learners and teachers. This presentation will discuss the options for supplementing LMS functionality for language learning, using Blackboard 5.5 as the example. I will also demonstrate courseware plug ins we have developed at Virginia Commonwealth University, including Wimba voice integration and online WYSIWG editing.

Electronic Portfolios for Language Students
Jan Marston
This presentation will explore the electronic portfolio as a teaching and learning tool in Drake University’s new Language Acquisition Program. Each language student portfolio contains a series of time capsules–video, audio, and textual self-portraits of their language abilities at given moments in their learning process. Building the portfolio requires that students reflect on their own learning, evaluate their accomplishments, and create demonstrations of competence for evaluators, future employers, and graduate schools. Implementing portfolios involves understanding the learning process but also technological questions such as portability, access, and scalability.

Electronic Writing Portfolio: Integrating the Writing Component in Web-enhanced Language Courses
Pablo Viedma
First-year web-enhanced Spanish classes at the University of Minnesota are lacking some functionality: students are unable to get electronic feedback on their compositions, as well as not being able to archive their entire semester worth of writing materials. The use of a new tool, TextWeaver, could assist students to achieve this goal. It required some modifications to adapt it to the University of Minnesota needs. In this presentation, we will show the functionality of this tool, and the modifications we implemented.

10:00 – 10:45 

Technology-based Reading, Reading Strategies, and Reading Comprehension in ESL among Freshmen
Linda de Serres
A study was undertaken to evaluate L2 reading strategies in a multimedia environment. Among 150 French-speaking undergraduate university students, 12 freshmen were identified, six expert and six novice readers in L1, who read a text in English involving an unfamiliar topic in a multimedia environment. Reading strategies were collected through introspective verbal reports. The content of the transcriptions will be discussed regarding navigational schemata, metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies, as well as subjects’ attitudes towards the use of the computer as a reading-learning tool. Achievement measures in L1 and L2 such as linguistic and reading proficiencies will also be considered.

Conducting L2 CMC Research: A Panel Discussion of Methodologies, Models, and Techniques
J. Scott Payne
Barbara Lafford
Steve Thorne
The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools has become increasingly popular among second and foreign language practitioners and constitutes a productive area of SLA research. The CALICO CMC SIG sponsors a panel discussion highlighting current CMC research methodologies, data collection and analysis techniques, as well as providing a framework for understanding the research presented in the CMC research poster session to follow. Audience participants can expect to leave this double session ready to conduct their own L2 CMC research and apply research insights to the creation of pedagogical CMC activities.

Improving Negotiation of Meaning through Technology-Enriched Information Gap Activities
Theresa A. Antes
Negotiation of meaning among novice-level learners is both more crucial to communication and more difficult because students have little language with which to negotiate. This session presents efforts to facilitate negotiation of meaning among novice-level learners through technology-enriched information gap activities. Multimedia formats can provide students with various types of language support, thus allowing them to work through the task differently, and often more successfully. Comparisons of language produced by students working in traditional and multimedia formats will be provided to determine the effect of this additional support on language produced and overall negotiation of meaning.

Distance Language Learning: Delivering to a Worldwide Audience
Josh Saunders
Marsha Kaplan
Eleni Marinos
Since 1999, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has been taking language learning to the desktops of foreign affairs professionals around the world. Courses that teach basic communication skills are offered in French, German, Greek, and Korean. Advanced reading skills courses are being given for Arabic, Chinese, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. This presentation by content experts provides an overview of the collaborative learning and teaching strategy with a focus on the role of the mentor in an asynchronous learning environment.

Web-Based Class Projects for Introductory Language Courses
Clara Roman-Odio
Using the web as a point of departure for class projects in introductory language courses can immensely enhance learning possibilities. Students become active participants in a personal creation which involve finding and selecting information, designing, and performance. The goal of this work will be to present the design and implementation of four web-based class projects aimed at providing active practice (oral and written) of the vocabulary, grammar, and real-life situations introduced in an introductory Spanish course. The projects offered students an opportunity to investigate specific aspects of Hispanic cultures by focusing on individual countries, prominent figures, the arts, cuisine, politics, and history. The design is based on an integrative approach to language learning including web-based research, free exploration of the target culture, use of illustrations, oral presentations, and pair exchanges. Project samples will be shown, along with a discussion of the grading criteria and outcomes. Overall, this work demonstrates that the web can serve as a powerful vehicle to noticeably improve the quality of written and oral discourse and the level of cultural engagement.

Integrating Auralog’s Tell me More into a Basic German Program: Textbook Versus Technology–Some Challenges
Johannes Vazulik
Kenneth Burkman
Beginning this academic year, the US Military Academy (USMA) at West Point has integrated the Auralog Tell me More (TMM) e-learning system into the basic language program for four of seven languages. Each language has adopted a different approach for integrating TMM into their courses. For the German program, the challenge was to tailor activities that followed the existing program of instruction and capitalized on the strengths of TMM’s speech recognition and pronunciation features, while, at the same time, complementing and supplementing the current textbook’s content. Presenters will discuss their work in creating customized learning paths and developing ancillary instructional materials for true beginners. They will also address problems encountered, lessons learned, and future tasks.

11:00 – 11:45

Power, Politics and Pecking order: A Case Study of Technological Innovation as a Site of Collaboration and Resistance
James N. Davis
This paper summarizes a qualitative study of (a) the creation of highly successful web-based beginning FL-teaching software and (b) the political implications of the development team’s success within their host administrative unit, a department of foreign languages at a large US research university. As the team forged strategic alliances across the campus and received substantial funding through the university’s technology initiatives, certain traditional intradepartmental power relationships (especially language vs. literature teaching) were destabilized. My aim in conducting this research was to understand better what happens when a technological project becomes central to a department’s functioning, and, thereby, to faculty discourse.

Vocabulary Acquisition in an Online Environment
Jennifer Oden
Conflicting opinions regarding vocabulary acquisition abound. Watanabe (1997), fo
und that both multiple-choice definitions and marginal glosses are effective, while appositive definitions given within a text are least valuable, with marginal glosses showing the best evidence of vocabulary retention. However, some have criticized these findings because the subjects exposed to the multiple-choice treatment did not receive feedback, inhibiting item acquisition. Hulstijn (1992) says extra work may aid in learners’ retention, due to the “mental effort” hypothesis. Using CALL materials to provide immediate feedback, this study investigates if extra mental effort on the part of the learners affects vocabulary acquisition.

Language Learning Attitudes of Learners Towards the Use of Technology
Martine Peters
Daniele Guénette
As technological innovations have invaded the classroom, learners have reacted in different ways. In an effort to understand more clearly the impact of technology on the second language learner, this paper will present results obtained from university learners of a second language. The purposes of this research are (a) to discover the extent to which language learners are incorporating computers into their language learning and (b) to find out what attitudes learners have towards the use of computers in language learning. Results indicate that students who use the computer laboratory feel more comfortable using the technology but also judge that using the technology makes them better language learners.

Approaches to Developing an Intermediate to Advanced Instructional Language Web Site
Bogdan B. Sagatov
The Russian Language Mentor (RLM) web site at the George C. Marshall Center is designed as a development/sustainment curriculum for intermediate to advanced linguists. The site offers a variety of tools and strategies used to engage and involve eLearners. Take a tour of the RLM with its developer, Dr. Bogdan Sagatov. Not just for Russian linguists! 

On Slate: Creative Uses of Blackboard In and Outside the Classroom
Christina Frei
Ed Dixon
Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl
This presentation focuses on creative uses of Blackboard (course management system) in three different settings: (a) integrating Blackboard into a first-year German language course with course assignments and classroom activities, (b) in collaborative group work in which students in a fifth-semester German conversation and composition course use Blackboard as a virtual collection space for student-created comprehension exercises (working in Hot Potatoes and Wimba) in connection with their readings of an authentic literary text, and (c) “Language Direct,” a peer-tutoring program for foreign language learners of Spanish, Italian, French, and German which provides drop-in tutoring and online help. We use Blackboard to organize each language into a community of learners and to coordinate our tutoring assignments.

Linguistic Data Mining: The Role of Corpus Linguistics in Web-based Language Pedagogy
Ken Petersen
This presentation will provide a brief theoretical overview of Corpus Linguistics and demonstrate a specific example of the implementation of Corpus Linguistics-inspired tools in action. Russet, an Internet repository for content-based Russian language materials has recently unveiled a content authoring system which allows instructors to develop content-based materials and activities. A key component of the system is a set of tools which allows students to find collocations of lexical items in the texts and activities produced on the site and allows instructors to search student work for the usage of specific forms, words, and phrases.

1:30 – 2:15

Code-switching Forms in Email Messages: An Exploratory Comparative Study
Susanna Sonia Tobias
The last three decades have seen the expansion of research exclusively committed to code-switching in its spoken form, but systematic investigation into code-switching at the written level has been largely neglected and is, therefore, still in its embryonic stage. This paper will report the findings of an exploratory comparative research carried out on code switching in emails, a new form emerging from written discourse in the electronic era. The study investigates code-switching practices of four different linguistic groups and of three levels of proficiency. Also, the paper will discuss the pragmatic use of this uninvestigated field for teaching, academic, and nonacademic purposes.

Assessing Computer Literacy in Adult ESL Learners
Amy Meckelborg
Studies into the effectiveness of CALL often assume a degree of computer literacy not reflected in a class of adult immigrant learners, many of whom have had limited exposure to technology. This presentation will report on a study that looked at computer literacy among adult ESL learners. A typical CALL lesson was analyzed to isolate the prerequisite computer literacy skills. These were then assessed by way of a self-report, a written test, and a practical test. Results will be discussed in relation to the computer literacy skills identified, the feasibility of the various assessment methods, and implications for classroom teaching.

The Auralog E-Learning System: When Technology Replaces the Textbook
Stephen LaRocca
Brian Poe
The large-scale introduction of Auralog’s Tell me More (TMM) system into West Point’s language program has taken different paths for the four languages involved. Most of these paths involve selecting some activities from TMM that preserve the structure imposed by a traditional textbook. The French program opted for a more holistic approach to incorporating the software, using the default TMM structure and sequencing as a replacement for that of a traditional text. With a goal of bringing about a dramatic increase in the amount of spoken language production that takes place in the course of a semester, all homework assignments come from TMM.

Hybrid Careers and Faculty Development with CALL
Joel Goldfield
This presentation examines trends in faculty development with CALL against the background of trends in job descriptions related to technology chiefly in the liberal arts complemented by undergraduate and graduate education programs. Background materials, updated since my 2002 CALICO presentation, will look at first-hand institutional information, recent survey results from national conferences, trends in CALICO and IALL conference programs, and job types in the Chronicle of Higher Education and MLA Job Information List ads. Pioneering results from a recently concluded joint social science and foreign language grant will be illustrated and future projects described.

Designing Web-based Activities for Active, Collaborative Language Learning
Sandra Peters
In this demonstration, participants will learn how to integrate web-based activities into classroom teaching to promote active and collaborative language learning. After examining web sites used for creating activities and sample web-based activities, they will explore low-tech ways to design and author their own activities.

Bring A New Life Into Interactive Digital Movies
Fuqiang Zhuo
DVD has an increasing role in foreign language instruction, but, due to the limited titles and features and additional hardware required to nonlinearly access to subtitles, instructors may like to have interactive digital movies with all the DVD features for teaching, learning, and research. The presenter will discuss how an interactive digital movie can satisfy various needs for instructional purposes and/or learners with different learning styles. Audience will see an interactive movie sample with its unique features such as hide-and-show of video and subtitle and annotations, accessibility to a subtitle sentence, data tracking of user’s interaction with the video, and so forth.

2:30 – 3:15 

Computer Assisted French Vocabulary Learning by Signing Deaf Adults Using Le français sur le bout des doigts
Nathalie Bélanger
Michel Bastien
We will present the results obtained in a follow-up study on the evaluation of software dealing with computer assisted vocabulary learning of written French words. The results from a previous study were used as a starting point. We created new experimental material with words that were more difficult than in the previous study (less frequent and more orthographically complex words) and added a compulsory consultation of a bilingual online dictionary following some of the learning activities. 

The Psychological Power of Cyberculture? Computer-mediated Communication and Foreign Language Anxiety
Marion Nike Arnold
Research in the field of computer-mediated communication (CMC) suggests that electronic discussions provide an egalitarian, low-pressure environment which can be especially beneficial for students suffering from foreign language (FL) anxiety. This presentation reports on the findings of a research study designed to address whether students actually experience a reduction in FL anxiety in electronic environments. This study compared six sets of small-group synchronous chat, email, and face-to-face discussions between 56 college students from third-semester German.

Application of Information Visualization to the Analysis of Online Discussion Among ESL Students
Teresa Chen
Language teaching professionals have increasingly used computer-mediated communication (CMC) to enhance instruction. As the medium becomes prevalent in language learning contexts, data that can generate information regarding the nature of educational CMC increase exponentially. Nevertheless, compared to the voluminous data available, there has been little analysis conducted to derive information for the improvement of teaching and learning. Information visualization, which is concerned with obtaining insightful understanding of data by means of visual representations, is ideal for the analysis. This presentation demonstrates an application of visualization to CMC analyses and claims that this analytical approach enables the generation of new insights.

Building a Community of Foreign Language Learners and Teachers Through a Web-based Environment
Nancy Pedraza Araque
Martha Berdugo Torres
This paper will report on partial findings from the authors’ on-going research concerning the design of a web-based environment to support undergraduate foreign language teaching and learning at the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia). It will show an overview of the web-based platform, some of the activities and materials developed at the moment of the presentation, as well as the evaluation strategies and tools used throughout the participatory design process. Finally, some conclusions and comments on the experience will be presented. 

Analyses of the Effects of an Electronic Course Management Tool in First-Year College Spanish Courses
Christine M. Huhn
Maria Cooks
Despite various semesters of study and using methodologies identified as best practices, it is not uncommon in today’s language classes to find students who have not developed the most basic of language skills. In order to address this concern at one university, a hybrid course design was implemented (distance learning combined with traditional language instruction) through the use of WebCT. This research project discusses the initial evaluation of the program used in the first-year Spanish classes at Purdue University. Included in the presentation will be a discussion of the use of WebCT as both a course management and research tool.

Dynamic Digital Media Archive for Language Teaching and Learning
John Vitaglione
LARC’s digital media archive (DMA) provides users connecting from different learning environments one-stop access to authentic language text and media resources. Foreign language teachers and learners will be able to find the resources they need easily without time-consuming Internet searches. The blend of topical language resources and instructional design suggestions will also enable language faculty to incorporate DMA materials into their lesson plans quickly. Content accessibility affords different learner modalities the ability to approach learning as best suited for them in a nonthreatening environment.

3:30 – 4:15

Collecting Topical Language Examples from the Internet
Joel Martin
Selim Levy
We describe a general technique for enhancing CALL systems by collecting topical, authentic language examples from the world wide web. Often CALL systems have very few examples displaying only a limited variety of syntax, authors, writing styles, and topics. By providing that variety, CALL systems may be more motivating to students, allowing them to choose the topic of the presented language examples. In addition, the students can learn from up-to-date, authentic uses of language rather than rote learning a small set of language examples.

Giving en E-Workbook a Go: Student and Faculty Perspectives
Catherine M. Barrette
Using technology in FL instruction has advantages and challenges; online workbooks are no different. An investigation into an e-workbook and e-lab manual for introductory Spanish led to their optional use in 12 first-semester Spanish classes because of their pedagogical and technological promise, and some manageable introductory challenges. This presentation describes the first uses of these e-materials, including percentage of students using them, start-up challenges, and ongoing problems and benefits. In addition, the results of a survey completed by faculty and students regarding the utility of these e-materials are discussed. Suggestions for others considering e-workbooks and lab manuals are offered. 

CMC and the Five Cs: Bilingual Synchronous Computer-mediated Communication and the National Standards
Mark Darhower
The National Standards are by now a common and useful framework within which to conceptualize and deliver foreign language instruction at all levels. This presentation will demonstrate various ways in which the “five Cs” of the National Standards movement (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities) unfold and develop throughout a semester of bilingual chat. Discourse analysis and questionnaire data will describe the discourse community of university intermediate-level English-speaking learners of Spanish in the United States and Spanish-speaking learners of English in Puerto Rico.

Key Word Searches for CALL Targeted Feedback
Howard Pomann
Jose Paez
In many CALL programs, fill-in phrase or sentence tasks only accept feedback for one correct response. Keyed-in response tasks accepting multiple correct responses usually provide limited feedback for incorrect responses. Through the use of key word search answer analysis, more interactive and effective fill-in tasks can be created which (a) accept multiple answers appropriate to specific contexts, giving students the opportunity to try out different lexical and grammatical forms; and (b) provide targeted feedback for incorrect responses, corresponding to correct answers students are trying to express. Presenters will demonstrate advantages and limitations of ESL templates developed using key word search analysis.

Providing Teachers with Innovative Technologies for English Language Learners: Collaborative Efforts for the Mainstream Classroom
David Rutledge
Sittipon Imasen
Mainstream public classroom teachers often lack the necessary skills to move beyond a reliance on commercially produced CALL materials to provide innovative technology learning opportunities for their English language learning (ELL) students. This session presents teacher produced materials that respond to ELL students’ linguistic (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and cultural needs. The session also describes some of the challenges in bringing together language learning theory and technology to a group of teachers with backgrounds that had been previously limited to language learning or technology. This separation of expertise created opportunities for a collaboration of skills to emerge.

Collaborative Online Reading as Strategic Activity
Sabine Siekmann
This presentation will report results of a qualitative investigation into the strategic activity of student dyads engaged in collaborative online reading tasks. Approaching reading from the perspective of sociocultural theory, students are viewed as engaging in tool mediation goal-directed activity. A microgenetic analysis provides insight into mediation tool use and types of dialogic engagement.