ABSTRACT

This Research has been carried out to find out about the effectiveness o
f using CALL in Classroom teaching. This research was done in my school, which i
s a rural school and has several preuniversity classes, where the learners are f
rom the non English speaking families and school is the only place they acquire
the second language. In the beginning when I took over the class, the learners c
onverse with me only in Malay, and very few learners spoke in Manglish (Malay En
glish). I tried different styles and methods of teaching to make them acquire t
he language. My aim was to make them conversant in the language, so I applied th
e four main skills in language in my Teaching Listening, speaking , reading and
writing) CALL is one of the most easiest and effective method which I found out
during my university days where most of the second language learners in my clas
s improved after few following the CALL lessons. This experience gave me hope
to teach the rural learners and to train them as competent learners in English.
During most of my CALL lessons, the learners were my target and my complete atte
ntion was on the learners learning style. I focus on their learning by guiding t
hem and giving instructions. Few catch-up very fast but many of them needed my a
ssistance, I went from one student to another and gave them my full attention on
how to get information from the internet and how to be smart learners. After 5
to 6 lessons only, many of them learnt how to retrieve information from the part
icular websites.
By the time they were able to get the information themselves, they were competen
t in the speaking, reading and writing skills. Through reading only they were ab
le to retrieve information from the search engines. The learners improved overal
l in CALL class. Not only in the language based subjects but in almost all subj
ects. These learners were able to solve the problems which once they found as un
solved.
The learners improved their vocabulary, word power, pronunciation, enunciation a
s well as language proficiency. They were independent learners and able to compl
ete any assignment with the aid of Computers. CALL had given them vast exposure
about Global learning and most of these learners at present pursuing the Tertiar
y education in local universities. CALL had given them a new way of thinking and
analyzing and had helped them to be independent and confident learners.

1. Reflection: Teaching and Learning

First I was a bit restless when I face the non English Speaking group of learne
rs who used only Malay when converse with me. The sentences which were uttered b
y them were “Kami tak erti cakap orang putih” which means “we can’t understand English” I
introduced different styles and methods to help them acquire the language and to
become fluent in it. One of my approaches was CALL. The four main skills, I had
 used in this CALL known as Speaking, listening, reading and writing. When I gav
e the learner’s instruction, they were able to follow, Listening and speaking skil
ls were the main skills practiced in this method. While they learners searched f
or the information online, they were reading the articles and they manage to get
information and were able to complete or write their essays.
Unknowingly the four main skills were explored by the learners and this had real
ly helped them to write better essays and to produce quality assignments through
CALL lessons.
Teacher’s role in a CALL lesson is very important and the teaching and learn
ing is ‘learner centred’. A CALL classroom teacher need to be very active and should
be able to move fast to help the students who need the teachers guidance. Those
learners, who are unable to find or search the websites or to find the topics w
hich they need to identify, need to be alert all the while. None of the learners
should be neglected. Negligence could make the child to feel low spirited or no
t bothered by the teacher. So, a CALL lesson teacher need to possess high self e
steem and highly motivated so he or she could motivate the learners to perform b
etter and to produce high or better marks.

Issues.
Learners were helpless, to do certain assignments and they approached me d
uring a
CALL class, I showed them and even guided them how to find related sites and how
to do certain assignments. Many of the learners were unable to communicate in E
nglish; they spoke in Malay in the beginning. Only few learners manage to use fe
w English words and spoke in Malay. Almost all these learners are from the Felda
area, where these learners are unable to converse with anyone in English. Only
during MUET lesson they were able to hear English words spoken. I realized they
needed lots and lots of motivation and pushu

3. Objective:

The reason why I’m introducing or sharing this CALL methodology with other
s is, because this method is proven to be very effective when applied in classro
om. Learners are very confident to learn and they showed progress in their studi
es. Independent learning occurs, learners are more confident with this method be
cause many unsolved problems and questions were solved by using this method, ret
rieving of information and ideas from the websites and getting related notes for
the unsolved problems and questions from particular sites had given these learn
ers satisfaction.
Learners are given simple ideas related to the topic and were guided, to
search for the sample essays and notes, which they need to do an assignment. The
group which, I had introduced this CALL system is the form six learners. Those
students who were timid and were not brave enough to approach or ask anyone to c
lear their doubts.
My approach was more like peer tutoring; I gave them a topic to find on t
he search engine, for example; Aquaculture, some manage to find it, some unable
to find and asked me to help them? I ran to them and searched for the topic, th
ey were happy. When I managed to get for them, my steps were simple when I expla
ined to them, I typed the topic on search engine and showed them, more speaking
and listening activities, took place during this step. Learners were more confid
ent when they were guided to retrieve information them selves.

4. The Aim of this research

The aim of this research is to increase the number of high achievers and to
help the learners in general to perform better through independent learning. In
this CALL classroom, a teacher’s attitude and behavior is very important to motiva
te the learners. The teacher, learner relation ship is so close that, the teache
r dedicated herself or himself as a peer when teaching these learners. A teacher
who teaches this subject need to be an active person and fast moving individual
so he or she could run to the learners when they need her or his guidance. Bein
g a CALL teacher is quite tiring and interesting at the same time, because the l
earners always need the teacher around them, as long they need her service.
A teacher who applies CALL in her lessons can bring vast changes, in her l
earners’ behavior and attitude. The teacher not only guides and teaches them the s
earch engines on “how to search for information and to retrieve information from t
he web but also motivates them and gives them strong influence of being independ
ent learners. In few months of following a CALL classroom lesson the learners fo
und to be very confident learners who had improved their listening, speaking, re
ading and writing skills. These preuniversity learners had been trained to be te
rtiary level learners when
They followed few of the CALL lessons. From time to time the learners were given
few tasks such as writing few assignments on the topics given to them.
Learners are able to be evaluated, able to perform better and able to find infor
mation for the problems or question thrown to them.

TARGETED GROUP

4.2 The targeted group of learners are lower six students w

ho are from non English speaking Environment. Some of them are from, Gunung Besa
ut, and some from The Felda Trolak, few of them from the Towns surrounding areas
, almost all of them are from the non English speaking homes and surroundings.
These groups of learners are from two different classes where each c
lass consists of 23 students; these learners are from the villages and isolated
Felda schemes.
5. Research: How it was carried out

Learners were questioned if they could follow the instructions give

n to them. Their reply was this.

Ex: 1.Could you please show me how to get this note?

Ex: 2. How to get notes for this question?

Ex: 3 I’m looking for some notes for this essay, could you please show me how to g
et the notes?

Ex: 4 Teacher please show me how to search ideas for my journal.

The research was carried out through observation and constructivism, how
the learners search for the information on the web. I questioned them and throug
h my observation and when I notice them searching for the relevant information.
The first few attempts were failure. The learners were unable to find the import
ant sites which they needed, and they requested my help and asked me to show the
m or to type, My approach was , showing them and guiding them to search for idea
s. This is how I showed them to search for information by typing on the search
engine;

Ex: 1.
Environmental issues + Land slide
Ex: 2
Sample article + Harvesting Rain
Ex: 3
Sample essay +Bio technology
 The action carried out

First the learners were guided to retrieve information on certain topics.

Few learners asked me how to find meanings for certain words and I told them tha
t they should go to the on line dictionary, and they asked me how? I told them t
o type on search engine as how it’s shown below:

Ex: 1. online dictionary + Merriam Webster

Some asked me how to find sample essays or articles; this is how it was shown on
search engine as it is displayed below.

Ex: 2.sample essay + unforgettable memory.

One of the student asked how to search for a map and this is how it was shown to
him.

Ex:3 Map+ Pacific Islands

Action, observation and evaluation carried out.

i. Observation

First I let the learners to search the information themselves without guidance,
few of them manage to get the result and manage to find what they were searchin
g for.
But few of them tried and tried, but their attempt was not fruitful. At la
st they asked me to guide them, but I gave them some clues about the search engi
ne, and explained to them that they could choose either this way or that way. I
motivated them to try different methods and approaches to find what they were lo
oking for.
The learners were not bored even though they tried many times. One matter tha
t I realized from my observation was that the learners were not bored and fed up
when dealing with machine (computer) for longer hours.

ii. Reflection
After few CALL Lessons, I noticed ample of positive attitude and behavior amon
g the learners. Their language, I mean their spoken English was much better with
proper usage of words and pronunciation. They had acquired better Writing than
earlier. They sound more confident and able to carry out the task given to them.
5.4.2
Activity 2

I. Observation

Online articles and news are considered good reading materials, Learne
rs were interested to read simple reading passages, On line articles are good so
urce of reading materials and these articles are suitable to use for the upper c
lasses reading session.

i. Reflection

Those learners who were exposed to read online journals and articles
found to be more fluent and able to express their view compared to those who are
not exposed to reading online articles or journals. The frequent online readers
found to be independent learners and able to do any assignments on their own. B
ut those who had not exposed to reading online articles or journals were seen as
dependent learners and they depend on their peers for everything. These depende
nt learners were found to be comfortable when doing group assignments but the in
dependent learners were very comfortable being themselves doing the task alone.
5.5 Reflection based on Research
i. I evaluated the learners after few CALL lessons by giv
ing them some questions of retrieving information from online articles and journ
als. Learners were able to answer the questions easily.
Another approach is by giving few topics and asking the learners to find facts r
elated to the topics given to them. Learners were able to find what was asked.
One more approach was asking learners to do individual presentation in class. L
earners carried out the task without difficulty.
My last attempt to test them was, I asked them to write a spontaneous essay and
the learners manage to write the essay within the time.

ii. I realized that the CALL system of teaching and learning be

nefit the learners a with Global knowledge , improving writing skills, speaking
activities, as well as reading skills, where the learners were able to enunciate
well and accurately.
iii. Overall this CALL lesson has made the learners highly motiva
ted and had given them more confident to learn their subjects without any diffic
ulty. The result of their online learning had made them better learners Holistic
ally, When the STPM results were out, those who had used the retrieving informa
tion from online resources for learning and made it a habbit, found to produce v
ery good results and made their way to University.

6. My next research is about using CALL in Reading. I’m going to discuss abou
t different methods, ways, approaches and styles of reading, which could make a
reader, enjoy reading and benefit from it. This method could / might attract the
non native learners of English to learn and enjoy reading in English.