[L544] Reflection #1 (CALL Overview)

• Hubbard, P. (2009). General Introduction. In Hubbard, P. (Ed.), Computer Assisted Language Learning (pp.1-20). London: Routledge

• Levy, M. (2009). Technologies in Use for Second Language Learning. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 769-782.

I’d like to point out first about two practical CALL applications mentioned in the articles. Hubbard (2009) briefly introduced Google Docs free online suite for collaborative writing (p.8). I’m personally in favor of doing collaborative work in learning or working something new, and using Google Docs in L2 (second language) writing class was one of my paper topics before. There are a number of advantages in this, such as writing/editing by multiple users at the same time, planning/discussing/editing together within the document, or learning reciprocally from each other’s mistakes and errors. This would be a great CALL application for writing project group assignment, but meanwhile there also would be an issue of assessment for individual contribution in collaborative writing process, or to what extent the instructor would intervene or give feedback to them. The other CALL application I’d like to discuss more about is Second Life (Levy, 2009, p.777). I took a sneak peek at Second Life when I took my master course (something related to technology) in 2009. It was pretty long time ago and must have been developed a lot compared to nowadays, but to me it did not seem appropriate for language learning because there were so many distractions in that virtual space. Some people were just hanging out there and doing awkward things to others misusing its environment of virtual space and anonymity.

Thus, seeing the two examples of CALL applications, I would say that language teachers should prepare the educational settings before applying those applications in their language class. The technology and application should be integrated to set up an effective curriculum for language learners. And like mentioned before, to what degree the instructor would intervene in learners’ interaction on the online/virtual space would be an issue while maximizing learners’ autonomy and self-motivation.

In terms of setting up an effective curriculum with technology in language class, teacher education and professional development for CALL should be a prerequisite to a successful CALL design. In particular, Hubbard (2009) cited that pre-service training for CALL is presently sporadic, with the majority of teacher candidates still receiving little or no formal preparation (Kessler, 2006). The language teacher’s attitude towards using technology in class would definitely influence on learners’ conceptualization about combining technology in their language learning, and teacher’s positive attitude comes from their efforts to utilize appropriate technologies in the proper language learning contents and to keep up-to-date on the changes/improvements/trends of technologies. Levy (2009) also mentioned about the need of learners’ training for the technology; when learning technologies are introduced to students, learner training is essential because the default position of users is different from that of learners (p.778). Therefore, training for both language teacher and language learners would be necessary for effective and successful technology-integrated language learning and teaching.