Why Use CALL?: Experiential Learning

Why Use CALL?
Research and practice suggest that, appropriately implemented, network-based

technology can contribute significantly to:
Experiential Learning
The World Wide Web makes it possible for students to tackle a huge amount
of human experience. In such a way, they can learn by doing things
themselves. They become the creators not just the receivers of knowledge. As
the way information is presented is not linear, users develop thinking skills and
choose what to explore.
Motivation
Computers are most popular among students either because they are
associated with fun and games or because they are considered to be
fashionable. Student motivation is therefore increased, especially whenever a
variety of activities are offered, which make them feel more independent.
Enhanced Student Achievement
Network-based instruction can help pupils strengthen their linguistic skills by
positively affecting their learning attitude and by helping them build self-
instruction strategies and promote their self-confidence.
Authentic Materials for Study
All students can use various resources of authentic reading materials either at
school or from their home. Those materials can be accessed 24 hours a day at
a relatively low cost.
Greater Interaction
Random access to Web pages breaks the linear flow of instruction. By sending
E-mail and joining newsgroups, EFL students can communicate with people
they have never met. They can also interact with their own classmates.
Furthermore, some Internet activities give students positive and negative
feedback by automatically correcting their on-line exercises.
Individualization
Shy or inhibited students can be greatly benefited by individualized, student-
centered collaborative learning. High fliers can also realize their full potential
without preventing their peers from working at their own pace.
Independence from a Single Source of Information
Although students can still use their books, they are given the chance to
escape from canned knowledge and discover thousands of information
sources. As a result, their education fulfils the need for interdisciplinary
learning in a multicultural world.
Global Understanding
A foreign language is studied in a cultural context. In a world where the use of
the Internet becomes more and more widespread, an English Language
teacher's duty is to facilitate students' access to the web and make them feel
citizens of a global classroom, practicing communication on a global level.
What Can We Do With CALL?
There is a wide range of on-line applications which are already available for use in the
foreign language class. These include dictionaries and encyclopedias, links for
teachers, chat-rooms, pronunciation tutors, grammar and vocabulary quizzes, games
and puzzles, literary extracts. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a virtual library of
information that can be accessed by any user around the clock. If someone wants to
read or listen to the news, for example, there are a number of sources offering the latest
news either printed or recorded. The most important newspapers and magazines in the
world are available on-line and the same is the case with radio and TV channels.
Another example is communicating with electronic pen friends, something that most
students would enjoy. Teachers should explain how it all works and help students find
their keypals. Two EFL classes from different countries can arrange to send E-mail
regularly to one another. This can be done quite easily thanks to the web sites providing
lists of students looking for communication. It is also possible for two or more students
to join a chat-room and talk on-line through E-mail. .
Another network-based EFL activity could be project writing. By working for a project a
pupil can construct knowledge rather that only receive it. Students can work on their
own, in groups of two or in larger teams, in order to write an assignment, the size of
which may vary according to the objectives set by the instructor. A variety of sources
can be used besides the Internet such as school libraries, encyclopedias, reference
books etc. The Internet itself can provide a lot of food for thought. The final outcome of
their research can be typed using a word processor. A word processor can be used in
writing compositions, in preparing a class newsletter or in producing a school home
page. In such a Web page students can publish their project work so that it can reach a
wider audience. That makes them feel more responsible for the final product and
consequently makes them work more laboriously.
The Internet and the rise of computer-mediated communication in particular have
reshaped the uses of computers for language learning. The recent shift to global
information-based economies means that students will need to learn how to deal with
large amounts of information and have to be able to communicate across languages
and cultures. At the same time, the role of the teacher has changed as well. Teachers
are not the only source of information any more, but act as facilitators so that students
can actively interpret and organize the information they are given, fitting it into prior
knowledge (Dole, et al., 1991). Students have become active participants in learning
and are encouraged to be explorers and creators of language rather than passive
recipients of it (Brown, 1991). Integrative CALL stresses these issues and additionally
lets learners of a language communicate inexpensively with other learners or native
speakers. As such, it combines information processing, communication, use of
authentic language, and learner autonomy, all of which are of major importance in
current language learning theories.

Why Use CALL?: Experiential Learning

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Why Use CALL?

Research and practice suggest that, appropriately implemented, network-based

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