Survey of Unanswered Questions in CALL: Background

Computers are increasingly working their way into the lives of language teachers and learners. Whether backed by research or not, people are going to use computers to help them teach and learn languages. As a field, CALL has the potential to aid computer-using teachers and students by pointing them in the direction of more effective implementations and away from less effective ones. While a certain amount of this can reasonably be done by looking at the face value of descriptions of content, applications, and practice research has a critical role to play as well. CALL research is difficult. It is in principle more diverse than language learning research itself, since it is informed not only by the disciplines that underlie instructed second language acquisition theory and practice, but also by those of computer science, instructional design and human-computer interaction. It is further influenced by constantly evolving technology and by shifts in the technical sophistication of the users. This diversity results in a field whose research agenda is diffuse and whose results are often difficult to interpret and generalize. Navigating this field is especially difficult for newcomers (both graduate students and professional researchers) and for those coming into CALL from peripheral fields such as education, psychology, linguistics, computer science, and so on. Understanding what constitutes useful research questions is obviously important. There a number of ways to identify interesting and plausible research questions. Thinking helps, as does reviewing existing research in edited volumes and journals such as CALICO Journal, CALL Journal, ReCALL, IALLT Journal, and especially the free online journal Language Learning and Technology. Looking to language learning theory for applications to research is another useful method, and insuring that hypotheses to be tested have some basis in theory whenever possible is also important, a point that is central to Chapelle (2001). Another route into CALL research is to see what CALL professionals consider important. This can be done by inference through reviewing patterns of previous research, but there are also a few sources of suggested research questions. For example, Dunkel (1991) offers lists of both current questions (p. 8) and future ones (p. 26). Egbert & Hanson-Smith (1999) provide the richest collection of proposed research questions: there are lists at the end of each of the eight major sections of their edited volume. Chapelle (2001, p. 68) presents a list of evaluative questions that make it possible to judge empirically the degree to which proposed CALL tasks are consistent with some established findings in SLA theory. The current project is also built on the considered opinions of CALL professionals. In this case, a survey was sent to 120 of them, asking each to identify a single unanswered research question in the field. The following two research questions were addressed: 1. What do CALL professionals collectively want to know? Are there general trends? 2. Are there any clear differences among researchers, developers, and practitioners? However, the primary motivation for the survey was to collect the questions themselves and make them available online. The survey was sent out in early July 2002 and submissions for the initial study were accepted until August 14, yielding a total of 64 usable responses. Several

surveys that arrived after that date appear on this site but are not part of the statistics in the following sections. The results were presented at the 10th International CALL Conference in Antwerp on August 19. The following section (Survey & Respondents) presents the survey itself and some demographics of the 64 respondents. The final section (Results & Discussion) gives a few of the trends that emerged and some tentative interpretations. REFERENCES Chapelle, C. (2001). Computer Applications in Second Language Acquisition: Foundations for Teaching, Testing, and Research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Dunkel, P. (ed.) (1991). Computer Assisted Language Learning and Testing: Research Issues and Practice. New York: Newbury House/Harper Collins. Egbert, J. & Hanson-Smith, E. (ed.) (1999). CALL Environments: Research, Practice, and Critical Issues. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Computer Assisted Language Learning: Where are we now and where are we going? by Graham Davies
This article was first presented as a keynote paper at the UCALL Conference, University of Ulster at Coleraine,14-15 June 2005, and in then in revised format at the conference on E-Learning and Japanese Language Education: Pedagogy and Practice, Oxford Brookes University, 31 March to 1 April 2007. It was presented again in revised format as a guest lecture at the University of Warwick, 3 October 2007. An earlier article with the same title but different content was published at the Futurelab website in 2003: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/Futurelab_CALL_Article.htm Links checked 14 July 2011

Abstract
In this paper I begin by looking back at early developments in CALL, beginning with my first contact with computers in the 1970s, and moving forward to the present day, highlighting the key developments in Information and Communications Technologies and how they have related to contemporary approaches to language teaching. I refer to

the various attempts to establish a CALL typology and to document the history of CALL, and I discuss in which ways the advent of the Web changed approaches to CALL and the lessons that should have or could have been learned from the past. I refer to the large amount of money the UK government has invested in promoting e-learning and question whether this has had the impact it should have had. The paper concludes with a speculative look at possible future developments.

Contents
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A brief history of CALL A bewildering array of technology The Web Lessons from the past ICT myths Training: No. 1 priority Loads of government money o Department for Education (DfE) o BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) o CILT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching) European Commission CALL typology, phases and approaches o Typology (Davies & Higgins) o Phases of CALL (Warschauer) o Phases of CALL (Levy) o Approaches to CALL (Bax) A bewildering array of methods o Methodology o Teachers' attitudes to methodology Where are we heading? o Predicting the future o Historic blunders Whither technology? o Expansion of online learning o Other major growth areas o Human Language Technologies Whither methodology? o Three C's o Normalisation: Integrated CALL References Websites

A brief history of CALL

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1960s: CALL begins, but only on big mainframe computers. See Sanders (1995).

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1976: My first contact with a computer, a Prime 300 "minicomputer", which was about the size of two Coca Cola vending machines. CALL becomes more widely available. Late 1970s: Enter the microcomputer. Christopher Evans publishes his seminal work The mighty micro, Victor Gollancz Ltd (1979). 1980s: The microcomputer boom. I bought my first microcomputer, a 32K Commodore PET, in 1980. Schools in the UK embrace the BBC Micro. CALL begins to reach the masses. 1980s: The professional associations CALICO (1982) & EUROCALL (1986) are established. IALL (International Assocation for Learning Labs) goes back to 1965, initially focusing on language labs. IALL is now known as IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology) and focuses on language learning technology in general. 1990s: Advent of the Web, which becomes publicly available in 1993. EUROCALL becomes a recognised professional association (1993). First WorldCALL conference in Melbourne, Australia (1998). 2000: Broadband becomes more widely available, opening up new possibilities for delivering audio and video materials via the Web. Blogs and podcasts appear. 2004: Web 2.0 becomes established as a term describing major changes in the way the Web is used. See Section 2.2 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT website, What is Web 2.0?

See Section 2 of Module 1.4 at the ICT4LT website, History of CALL, especially the link to Delcloque (2000) History of CALL, which began as a poster exhibition that was produced to mark the beginning of the new millennium. It was then set up as a website (now closed) and is now available in PDF format.

A bewildering array of technology

Over the years the language teacher has been confronted with a bewildering array of technological devices. Here are the most important ones, more or less in chronological order:
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radio slide / filmstrip projector movie projector gramophone / record player television (terrestrial) tape recorder (Anecdotal evidence suggests that most language teachers perceive the tape recorder as the invention that has had the most significant impact on language teaching and learning.) language lab videocassette recorder (VCR) computer audio CD player satellite television

y y y y y y y y y

videodisc player CD-ROMs the Internet / the Web interactive whiteboard DVD-ROMs DVD player / recorder mobile phone personal digital assistant (PDA) iPod and similar devices

The Web
The Web is a remarkable invention by Tim Berners-Lee (who happens to be British) and has transformed the nature of CALL, but in many respects the advent of the Web caused us to leap backwards in terms of some aspects of CALL pedagogy. Early CALL materials on the Web displayed a lack of interactivity and, in particular, poor feedback. Web-based materials are improving, especially those incorporating sound and video, but there are still far too many of the point-and-click-let's-move-on-quick variety, and the Web has not yet caught up with CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs in terms of video quality and interactivity. There are very few websites that offer the learner the possibility of recording and playing back his/her own voice, a popular key activity among both teachers and learners that has been possible since the widespread use of the tape recorder in the 1950s. A common criticism levelled at Web-based teaching and learning materials is that they are uninspiring ("boring" is another word that springs to mind) compared to established materials such as those on videocassette, audiocassette or broadcast TV. Many Web learning environments contain a collection of true/false or multiple-choice exercises that are much the same as those created on the BBC micro in the 1980s. A veritable explosion! Presentations at the following conferences reflect the sudden impact of the Web on the language teaching profession:
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EUROCALL 93, Hull, UK - no presentations relating to the Web. This was the year when the Web first became available to the public. EUROCALL 94, Karlsruhe, Germany - a few presentations relating to the Web. EUROCALL 95, Valencia, Spain - more presentations relating to the Web, and the beginning of criticism of the Web as a teaching and learning tool. Thereafter: Nothing but the Web! See Felix (2001). EUROCALL 2007: Web 2.0 was the focus of Bernd Rschoff's keynote at the conference The keynote can be viewed in streaming format in the EUROCALL 2007 Virtual Strand: http://sites.google.com/site/vsportal2007/

Lessons from the past

We have a good deal to learn for our previous experience in using technological aids, but this is often ignored. See Davies (1997). Three key lessons to be learned:
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Don't regard technology as the panacea - v. the language lab. Don't neglect training in using new technologies - v. the language lab. Open up to new ideas - v. the language lab.

ICT myths
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Saves time - no! Saves money - no! Saves staff - no! It's a more effective way of learning - maybe, but the jury is still out.

See Felix (2003). 2000-: E-learning becomes the buzzword, but it is widely misunderstood and often associated with a limited view of e-learning, i.e. e-learning at a distance or learning online. This is the definition given in a UK government consultation document Towards a unified e-learning strategy, July 2003: If someone is learning in a way that uses information and communications technologies (ICTs), they are using e-learning. They could be a pre-school child playing an interactive game; they could be a group of pupils collaborating on a history project with pupils in another country via the Internet; they could be geography students watching an animated diagram of a volcanic eruption their lecturer has just downloaded; they could be a nurse taking her driving theory test online with a reading aid to help her dyslexia - it all counts as e-learning. In other words, the government's definition of e-Learning is a catch-all term that includes all aspects of using a computer as an aid to learning, from producing a word-processed handout for one's students to following an online course in a virtual learning environment (VLE). See Mark Pegrum's wiki on Myths of E-learning: http://elanguage.wikispaces.com/myths

Training: No. 1 priority

Training is the key to success in implementing technology, but this is the budget that is often cut first. If teachers are not properly trained to use the technology it will be underused and ineffective. The ICT for Language Teachers project, which was funded by the European Commission from 1999 to 2000, aims to address the problem of a lack

of quality training materials for language teachers. The outcome of the ICT for Language Teachers project is a website consisting of 16 training modules, which are regularly updated: http://www.ict4lt.org See Davies (2002).

Loads of government money

An enormous amount of government money has been spent on promoting ICT in education - probably too much. Education Minister Stephen Twigg announced to MPs in May 2004 that the government was spending more than 9 million a year on education websites. This figure is steadily increasing. Why has ICT been singled out as something special compared with more traditional media such as books and audio- and videocassettes? Is the taxpayer getting value for money from what has been spent on setting up and maintaining education websites? See the following websites and judge for yourself how useful they are.

Department for Education

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) changed its name in May 2010 to the Department for Education (DfE). Prior to June 2007 it was known as the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). These are some of the the key government websites and documents that are of interest to language teachers:
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DfE Homepage: Search for materials relating to "Modern Foreign Languages" or "MFL". Languages Ladder: The Languages Ladder aims to introduce a voluntary recognition scheme to complement existing national qualification frameworks and relates them to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages. Asset Languages, an assessment scheme that is linked closely to the Languages Ladder.

Goverment publications relating to modern foreign languages and to e-learning have appeared at regular intervals in recent years:
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Department for Education and Skills (2002) Languages for all: languages for life a strategy for England, Nottingham, DfES Publications. Department for Education and Skills (2003) Towards a unified e-learning strategy: consultation document, Nottingham, DfES Publications. Department for Education and Skills (2004) Languages for all: from strategy to delivery, Nottingham, DfES Publications.

Note: Following the change of government that took place in May 2010, some of the above documents may cease to be relevant.

National Curriculum for England: There is separate provision for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - links can be found to relevant sites from the National Curriculum site: http://curriculum.qca.org.uk. Modern foreign languages are no longer a compulsory subject for children over the age of 14 studying in state secondary schools in England a disastrous policy that has resulted in three quarters of state secondary schools no longer offering modern foreign languages beyond Key Stage 3 (Year 9, the third year of secondary education). Curriculum Online: A UK government initiative that ran from 2003 to 2008 and which had the noble aim of providing ring-fenced funding, known as e-Learning Credits (eLCs), to schools to enable them to buy software and online services to support their teaching. Unfortunately, the initiative was surrounded with an atmosphere of controversy from the outset, resulting in court action against the BBC, accusations of high-level bungling and a very expensive and complex website - now closed.

BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency)

The Council for Educational Technology (CET), a forerunner of the British Educational and Communications Technology Agency (BECTA), began to be active in the area of Modern Foreign Languages/ICT in the late 1970s. In 1981 the CET joined forces with CILT in the organisation of the first major conference focusing on Modern Foreign Languages/ICT. In the same year the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP) was launched under the auspices of the CET, leading to the establishment of a network of support centres and teams of advisory teachers responsible for offering advice and training in a range of different subject areas, including Modern Foreign Languages, for primary and secondary education teachers. A number of Modern Foreign Languages software packages and Modern Foreign Languages/ICT printed publications were produced under the MEP initiative. A national centre, the Microelectronics Education Support Unit (MESU), was then set up as a successor to the CET. The MESU was renamed the National Council for Educational Technology (NCET), to be renamed yet again (in 2000) as BECTA. BECTA was finally closed down in January 2011.

CILT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching)

CILT now refers to itself as The National Centre for Languages. CILT's website is a goldmine of information for language teachers: http://www.cilt.org.uk/

European Commission
The European Commission has also spent a lot of money investigating ICT and languages. See the report by Fitzpatrick & Davies G. (2003). The report opens with an executive summary that includes the following statement: One important fact that has emerged from this study is that Foreign Languages as a subject area is 'different' from most other subject areas in the curriculum, namely that it

is skill-based as well as knowledge-based, and in this respect it has more in common with music than, say, history or geography. One of the important issues lying behind this statement is that the media-rich environment required by CALL software (which it shares with hardware and software for teaching and learning music) places considerable demands upon the technicians who have to set it up and maintain it - a fact that is unfortunately often overlooked in most educational institutions.

CALL typology, phases and approaches

Various attempts have been made since CALL became available to a wider audience to establish a CALL typology and to document the changing phases of CALL.

Typology (Davies & Higgins)

See Davies & Higgins (1982) and Davies & Higgins (1985). Both the above described the different types of CALL packages that were available at the time, namely:
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gap-filling exercises multiple-choice exercises free-format exercises re-ordering exercises adventures simulations action mazes games "total Cloze": text manipulation exploratory programs writing - word-processing

See also Jones & Fortescue (1987), Hardisty & Windeatt (1988) and Section 3 of Davies, Walker, Rendall & Hewer (2000), which contains an overview of CALL typology. In spite of the technological advances since these early days we seem to have lost a certain amount of imagination. Most of the activities available on the Web, for example, appear to be tedious, multiple-choice point-and-click and drag-and-drop exercises. Whatever happened to adventures and simulations such as French on the Run and Granville? Is anyone writing action mazes these days? See Berer M. & Rinvolucri M. (1981) MAZES: a problem-solving reader, London: Heinemann.

Phases of CALL (Warschauer)

Warschauer (1996) and Warschauer & Healey (1998) attempt to interpret and analyse trends and advances in the field - phases rather than a typology. Warschauer (1996) distinguishes three phases of CALL: i. ii. Behaviouristic:The computer as tutor, serving mainly as a vehicle for delivering instructional materials to the learner. Communicative:The computer is used for skill practice, but in a non-drill format and with a greater degree of student choice, control and interaction. This phase also includes (a) using the computer to stimulate discussion, writing or critical thinking (e.g. using programs such as Sim City), and (b) using the computer as a tool or workhorse - examples include word-processors, spelling and grammar checkers, and concordancers. Integrative: This phase is marked by the introduction of two important innovations: (a) Multimedia (b) The Internet

iii.

The main advantage of multimedia packages is that they enable reading, writing, speaking and listening to be combined in a single activity, with the learner exercising a high degree of control over the path that he/she follows through the learning materials. The Internet builds on multimedia technology and in addition enables both asynchronous and synchronous communication between learners and teachers. The advent of the web has opened up a new range of tasks for MFL learners, e.g. webquests, web concordancing, and collaborative writing. Warschauer claims that we are now well into the integrative phase. Certainly, the range of different types of CALL software currently available is impressive. As well as routine drill-and-practice programs, there are vocabulary games, action mazes, adventures and simulations, exploratory programs, and text reconstruction (total Cloze) packages. One can take issue with Warschauer, however. The term behaviouristic certainly describes early CALL (late 70s, early 80s) but the communicative approach, spurred on by the Council of Europe's work on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages and its emphasis on functions, notions and communicative competence in the 1970s, predates the advent of the microcomputer in schools and universities. The integrative phase appears to be describing the technology more than the pedagogy and methodology. See the following articles, all of which describe how computer programs were used in the 1980s to foster communicative skills:
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Jones C. (1986) Jones G. (1986) Piper (1986)

Phases of CALL (Levy)

Levy (1997:118ff.) analysed the results of a comprehensive CALL Survey which he carried out among authors of CALL materials in order to determine what kinds of conceptual frameworks lay behind their work. The CALL Survey was concluded in early 1991, which follows the boom period in CALL in the 1980s and pre-dates the advent of the Web in 1993. There was strong support among Levy's respondents for the communicative approach to language teaching and task-based learning, but a substantial number also favoured formal grammar instruction. On the whole, however, most respondents declared their approach to be eclectic. As for the role of the computer in CALL, most respondents favoured a non-directive role, with very few supporting the idea of the computer replacing the teacher. There was a significant lack of references to innovative pedagogical approaches: "Data Driven Learning was the only new approach to language teaching that was cited by survey respondents as a direct result of the attributes of the computer. In other words, this approach has been conceived with the computer in mind." (Levy 1997:123) But Levy could also have mentioned total Cloze (text reconstruction) programs such as Storyboard, Fun with Texts, Eclipse, Rhubarb (and many other variants), offering activities that could not be carried out without using a computer.

Approaches to CALL (Bax)

Bax (2003) prefers to talk about approaches rather than phases. Bax offers a critical examination and reassessment of the history of CALL, and argues for three new categories: i. ii. iii. Restricted CALL Open CALL Integrated CALL

Bax offers definitions and descriptions of the three approaches and argues that they allow a more detailed analysis of institutions and classrooms than earlier analyses. It is suggested that we are currently using the second approach, Open CALL, but that our aim should be to attain a state of 'normalisation' in which the technology is invisible and truly integrated. This state is defined and discussed. In the final section Bax's article proposes some ways in which this normalisation can be achieved - using ethnographic assessments and action research, for example - thus setting an agenda for CALL practice in the future. i. Restricted CALL I call the first approach 'Restricted CALL'. In terms of its historical period and its main features it differs little from Warschauer and Healey's 'Behaviourist CALL' [...] the term 'Restricted' is more satisfactory since it allows us to refer not only to a supposed underlying theory of learning but also to the actual software and activity types in use at the time, to the teachers' role, to the feedback offered to

ii.

iii.

students and to other dimensions - all were relatively 'restricted', but not all were 'behaviourist'. The term is more comprehensive, more flexible and therefore more satisfactory as a descriptor. (Bax 2003:20) Open CALL According to Bax, this variety of CALL is more open in terms of feedback given to students, software types and the role of the teacher. It includes simulations and games. Bax argues that we are still using the Open CALL approach. Integrated CALL Bax, in contrast to Warschauer (1996) and Warschauer & Healey (1998), prefers the term Integrated rather than Integrative:

The key point about Integrated CALL - which sharply distinguishes it from Warschauer and Healey's formulation - is that it does not yet exist to any significant degree, but represents instead an aim towards which we should be working. (Bax 2003:22) Integrated CALL implies normalisation: This concept is relevant to any kind of technological innovation and refers to the stage when the technology becomes invisible, embedded in everyday practice and hence 'normalised'. To take some commonplace examples, a wristwatch, a pen, shoes, writing - these are all technologies which have become normalised to the extent that we hardly even recognise them as technologies. (Bax 2003:24) There is still, as Bax points out, an element of fear and awe and exaggerated expectations surrounding ICT, and this has to be overcome in order to achieve a state of normalisation. See also Bax & Chambers (2006).

A bewildering array of methods

Methodology
A search on the Web using the Google search engine revealed that many people fail to make a distinction between pedagogy and methodology and use both terms as if they are interchangeable: The term methodology is widely misunderstood and often confused with or used as an alternative to pedagogy. In some contexts the two terms may be interchangeable, but it is useful to make a distinction. Pedagogy is more concerned with the theory of teaching and learning, whereas methodology describes how something is or should be done or, in Sue Hewer's words, 'the way in which the teacher structures the learning environment'. Many teachers and researchers talk simply about methods or approaches. (Hewer & Davies 2000) King (2003) argues the case for an agreed methodology for language teaching:

The development of a National Languages Strategy has raised a major issue about the quality of the language learning experience in our schools. In simple terms, can there be an agreed methodology for language teaching in order to raise standards and improve quality? A logical starting point for answering such a question would be the most comprehensive and well founded contemporary description of the language learning process - the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF). (King 2003) He continues: Of course it is not such a straightforward matter. The CEF itself is 260 pages long and is in any case a 'framework' to aid practitioners of all kinds to reflect on what they are doing and to explain this to others. It is not a syllabus or a methodological guide. The issues raised in the CEF are themselves complex and often unresolved. In the words of one recent commentator, 'Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century and ending only recently, ... (the) aim had been to find a universal panacea method for the optimum teaching and learning of modern languages. It is now generally accepted that no one single such method exists.' [Whitehead M. (1996) Materials and methods 1966-1996 in 30 years of language teaching, London, CILT.] (King 2003) Foreign languages, according to King, have spawned a huge range of different approaches, more so than any other subject area. The communicative approach, however, appears to have found favour among most language teachers: It is these particularities - in many ways the difficulties - of language learning in schools, colleges and universities which have inspired a wealth of research and development in the pedagogy of language teaching and learning. Interestingly there are significantly more WWW entries for Language Teaching or Language Teaching Methodology than for any comparable area of the curriculum. As suggested above this has been a process which has gone on for over 250 years (actually even longer), but it has had a particular resonance since the Second World War and especially since the 1980s. For although Maurice Whitehead is right to conclude that no single method exists, it is also the case, as he goes on to say, that there is a broadly accepted 'approach' - a 'communicative approach, incorporating inter alia many of the best elements of a wide variety of methods'. This - slightly eclectic - communicative approach underpins the general consensus about language teaching and learning both here and abroad. It is associated particularly with the work of the Council of Europe in the 1970s but it has other influences and precursors and is based on both research into the processes of language learning and analysis of classroom practice. (King 2003) Decoo (2001) documents the history of language teaching methodology as follows:
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Traditional approach: Grammar-translation, learning vocab lists 1860s: Communicative approach 1870s: Authentic input, direct communication 1880s and 1890s: Direct Way (also known as the Direct Method) Early 20c: Decline and demise of the Direct Method

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1910-1930: Eclecticism 1930s: Reading Method 1940s: US Army Method 1950s: Audio-Lingual Method (New Key) 1960s: Structuro-Global Audio-Visual (SGAV) Method: audio, pictures, slides 1970s: Common European Framework's Functional-Notional Model Communicative Competence 1980s: Communicative Approach 1990s and early 21c: Constructivism, Discovery and Task-Based Learning, Collaborative Learning, etc

Decoo (2001) argues that a method lasts for around 20-30 years, i.e. the span of a typical teaching career. Publishers adapt their textbooks to whatever trends are current: Another aspect of commercialisation is the ability of existing textbooks to adapt to new trends, for a publisher does not want to lose his piece of the market. For example, during the audio-revolution of the 1960s, eclectic textbooks were quick to add audio tapes, eliminate translation exercises and grammar overviews, keep all the rest, and call themselves audio-lingual. A similar movement happened with traditional methods of the 1970s that transformed themselves into communicative ones. The same is happening now with communicative textbooks of the 1990s. As the post-communicative movement is emerging with new keywords, 'revised' editions of the communicative textbooks are quick to integrate fashionable jargon in their introduction, even if the authors have only a fuzzy idea of what it means - terms such as process-oriented, holistic, higher-order, constructivism The original method dies quietly, but the same content is reborn with some slight adaptations. Since we talk in terms of mortality, this procedure might be called the reincarnation of methods. (Decoo 2001)

Teachers' attitudes to methodology

Language teachers, especially in the secondary schools sector, tend to be somewhat negative towards theorising about language teaching pedagogy and methodology. ICT4LT Module 2.1, which focuses on methodology (Hewer & Davies 2000), has consistently been the least visited ICT4LT module ever since the website has been in existence, i.e. since December 2000. Littlemore (2002) found some resistance to theorising about CALL pedagogy and methodology while running a course in ICT for language teachers. She argues the case for including theoretical elements in a CALL course, but feedback from participants showed that these were the least popular elements. This course was designed to introduce participants to various ICT applications in the context of relevant pedagogical theory. As well as ICT, it focused heavily on concepts such as learner autonomy, learning to learn and language learning strategies. (Littlemore 2002)

The course organisers were seeking to avoid, at all costs, a course in which ICT applications were simply presented, without any consideration of their pedagogical worth. This is because research has shown that the introduction of technology into the language teaching curriculum is much more likely to be successful if full consideration is given to the pedagogical needs that the technology is actually fulfilling." (Littlemore 2002) We see that the aspects of the course that were perceived as 'purely theoretical' were not popular. (Littlemore 2002) Davies, Bangs, Frisby & Walton (2010 revised eidtion) have produced a document titled Setting up effective digital language laboratories and multimedia ICT suites for modern foreign languages, which has a strong focus on pedagogy and methodology as well as talking about essential hardware and software. The first drafts of the document work were criticised by a "plain English" editor for making too many references to pedagogy and methodology, which she felt was guaranteed to put off the average modern foreign languages teacher. In the first draft of the document, pedagogy was mentioned 53 times and methodology was mentioned 29 times in around 35 pages. After considerable redrafting and finding alternative ways to express the same ideas without using words ending in "-ogy", the authors managed to reduce these figures respectively to 6 and 13. It would be interesting to speculate why teachers are put off by the use of such terms.

Where are we heading?

Predicting the future
Predicting the future may not be a good idea: Sam Goldwyn (founder of MGM): "I never prophesy - especially about the future." Winston Churchill: "I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place."

Historic blunders
Predicting the future of new technologies is especially problematical: Telephone: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." Western Union internal memo, 1876. Radio: "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"

Anonymous associates in response to David Sarnoff, Founder of RCA, urging for investment in the radio in the 1920s. Computer: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas Watson, Founder of IBM, 1943. Computer: "640K should be enough memory for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981 (attributed, but denied).

Whither technology?
Expansion of online learning
Undoubtedly, there will be an expansion of online learning,, but it is more likely to supplement conventional modes of learning rather than replace them. Language learners in particular cannot acquire certain skills, for example conversational skills, without face-to-face contact with an experienced teacher, but software tools such as Skype, Wimba and Gong now facilitate synchronous and asynchronous oral communication and are already being used in distance-learning CALL environments There is already evidence of increased usage of Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning foreign languages, for example discussion lists, blogs, wikis and podcasts, as well as dedicated social networking websites and virtual worlds that promote sharing, collaboration and interaction: see Section 2.1 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT site, What is Web 2.0? Many universities, however, may be focusing on the wrong target group. The typical university student aged around 18-25 is the least likely person who would want to spend their time studying for a degree sitting in front of a computer screen. Such a student is more likely to want to get away from home and enjoy university life in all its aspects: But do we really want to deliver whole courses via the Web? Do we really want to deprive young people of the valuable experience of leaving home, studying and socialising with their peers, joining societies, going to clubs and parties, travelling, and falling in love? Do we really want to breed a generation of screen-gazing zombies? (Davies 2002) The spectacular crash of the e-University UKeU in 2004, which was set up at great expense and launched in 2000, is a clear indication that the target groups of online courses still need to be identified. The thousands of students who were expected to sign up for UKeU courses simply did not materialise. More market research on the demand for online courses clearly needs to be done, and the vast amounts of expenditure on the technological infrastructure of such courses need to be reduced. Established distanceteaching universities have tended to focus on older people (aged 30-plus) returning to education and lacking the time to spend studying in the traditional way. Perhaps this is

the group that online courses need to focus on too. "Silver surfers" (aged 60-plus, like myself) are another possible target group. The 2008 CIBER project report, Information behaviour of the researcher of the future, dispels a number of myths concerning the Google Generation. Research carried out by the CIBER project team claims that:
y y y y y

young people rely too heavily on search engines, they view rather than read, they do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the Web, they find it difficult to assess the relevance of sources, they spend too little time evaluating information.

Regarding the information resources that young people prefer and value in a secondary school setting, the report also states that it is evident that young people consistently value teachers, relatives and textbooks above the Internet (which is comforting to hear). It also states that the impact of social networking is not as great as might be expected, at least when it comes to looking for information, and while younger users are keen consumers of user-generated content sites like Wikipedia and YouTube, there is a marked age difference between these younger consumers and the older people who actually create the content. The report also claims that over-65s in the UK spend around four hours longer online each week than the allegedly always-on 18-24s. In a similar vein, an article by Gregor Kennedy et al. (2007) suggests that the new generation of students is less interested in Web 2.0 technologies than teachers imagine them to be. It reports on a research study conducted among a large number of students in Australian universities, which concludes that there is greater diversity in frequency of use of technology than many commentators have suggested and that the use of collaborative and self-publishing Web 2.0 technologies associated with this generation is quite low. See: "The Net generation are not big users of Web 2.0 technologies: Preliminary findings", ASCILITE 2007 Conference, Singapore: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/kennedy.pdf See also Jones C. & Cross S. (2009) "Is there a Net generation coming to university?" In: ALT-C 2009, In dreams begins responsibility: Choice, evidence and change, 8-10 September 2009, Manchester, UK: http://oro.open.ac.uk/18468/

Other major growth areas

These are currently major growth areas in the teaching of modern foreign languages with the aid of ICT:
y

Discussion lists, blogs, wikis and social networking: see Section 12 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT website.

y y y y

Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): see Section 14 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT website. Virtual worlds, especially Second Life: see Section 14.2.1 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT website. Podcasting, i.e. the delivery of audio broadcasts for downloading to a PC or iPod or similar device: see Section 3.5.2 of Module 2.3 at the ICT4LT website Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL): see Section 4.2 (Item 14) of Module 1.1 at the ICT4LT website.

Human Language Technologies

An area of research and development currently known as Human Language Technologies (HLT) is likely to make an increasing impact on CALL. Gupta, Schulze & Davies (2000) describe the main areas of HLT that have already had an influence on CALL and which are likely to have an influence in the not-too-distant future. These areas include Natural Language Processing, Machine Translation, Corpus Linguistics and Speech Technology. HLT was once regarded as a fringe area of CALL, but it is now attracting increasing attention, especially among researchers working in the area of Intelligent CALL (ICALL) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI-based CALL was the focus of considerable attention in the 1980s and early 1990s but it attracted vehement critics such as Last (1989) and fell into disfavour among many CALL practitioners for a while because it promised much more than it could deliver. ICALL is now making a major comeback: see Schulze, Hamel & Thompson (1999) and Heift & Schulze (2003).

Whither methodology?
Three C's
Current methodology might be summarised as the "Three C's":
y y y

Communication Cooperation Constructivism

But see Decoo (2001), who speculates on the criticisms that a future generation of language teachers might level at current approaches, for example: students left to depend to a large extent on personal initiative could be left "drowning without buoys". According to Decoo, the Internet may result in a greater emphasis being placed on reading and writing skills and a return to grammatical analysis.

Normalisation: Integrated CALL

Bax's view (Bax 2003) of Integrated CALL implies a process of normalisation that has still not been achieved in language teaching and learning. Only when ICT is regarded by most teachers and learners in the same way as other technological aids that form part

of our daily lives will it be considered normal and no longer regarded with fear and awe and expected to deliver more than it can realistically achieve. As far as my own family is concerned, ICT is a normal way of carrying out a number of tasks that previously we would have approached in a different way:
y y y y y y y y y y y

Keeping in touch by email with friends and relations in distant places Online shopping Online banking Checking train timetables Booking flight tickets Making hotel reservations Checking on the weather Keeping up with the news Using the Web as a library Sending birthday cards via the Web (using Moonpig) Ordering our milk and paying our milkman online

When we can draw up a list of similar tasks for the language teacher and learner a state of normalisation will have been achieved. But the current trend to place ICT on a pedestal, as if it is the cure for all ills in education, may work against this process. See also Bax & Chambers (2006).

References
Bax S. (2003) "CALL - past, present and future", System 31, 1: 13-28. Bax S. & Chambers A. (2006) "Making CALL work: towards normalisation", System 34, 4: 465-479. Davies G. (1997) "Lessons from the past, lessons for the future: 20 years of CALL". In Korsvold A-K. & Rschoff B. (eds.) New technologies in language learning and teaching, Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Also in regularly updated version at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/coegdd1.htm Davies G. (2002): "ICT and modern foreign languages: learning opportunities and training needs" [Online]. Available at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/needs.htm Davies G. & Higgins J. (1982) Computers, language and language learning, London: CILT. Davies G. & Higgins J. (1985) Using computers in language learning: a teacher's guide, London: CILT.

Davies G., Walker R., Rendall H. & Hewer S. (2000) "Introduction to Computer Assisted Language Learning". Module 1.4 in Davies G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. Available at: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod1-4.htm Davies G., Bangs P., Frisby R. & Walton E. (2011 revised edition) Setting up effective digital language laboratories and multimedia ICT suites for Modern Foreign Languages, London: CILT: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/CILT_Digital_Labs.htm Decoo W. (2001) On the mortality of language learning methods. Paper given as the James L. Barker lecture on 8 November 2001 at Brigham Young University. Delcloque P. (2000) History of CALL. This document began as a poster exhibition that was produced to mark the beginning of the new millennium. It was then set up as a website (now closed) and is now available in PDF format: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/History_of_CALL.pdf Department for Education and Skills (2003) Towards a unified e-learning strategy: consultation document, Nottingham: DfES Publications (Ref. DfES/0424/2003). Felix U. (2001) Beyond Babel: language learning online, Melbourne: Language Australia. Felix U. (2003) "Teaching languages online: deconstructing the myths", Australian Journal of Educational Technology 19, 1: 118-138. Available at: http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/felix.html Fitzpatrick A. & Davies G. (eds.) (2003) The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the teaching of foreign languages and on the role of teachers of foreign languages, EC Directorate General of Education and Culture. Graham Davies's contribution, relating specifically to the UK, is available at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/docs/ICC_Grahams_Report_Final.htm Gupta P., Schulze M. & Davies G. (2000) "Human Language Technologies". Module 3.5 in Davies G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. Available at: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod3-5.htm Hardisty D. & Windeatt S. (1989) CALL, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Heift T. & Schulze M. (eds.) (2003) Error diagnosis and error correction in CALL, Special Issue, CALICO Journal 20, 3. Hewer S. & Davies G. (2000) "Integrating ICT into language teaching". Module 2.1 in Davies G. (ed.) In Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers

(ICT4LT), Slough, Thames Valley University [Online]. Available at: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_mod2-1.htm Jones C. (1986) "It's not so much the program: more what you do with it: the importance of methodology in CALL", System 14, 2: 171-178. Jones G. (1986) "Computer simulations in language teaching - the KINGDOM experiment", System 14, 2: 179-186. Jones C. & Fortescue S. (1987) Using computers in the language classroom, Harlow: Longman. King L. (2003) Improving the quality of language learning in schools: approaches to teaching and learning, London: CILT. Last R. W. (1989) Artificial intelligence techniques in language learning, Chichester: Ellis Horwood. Levy M. (1997) CALL: context and conceptualisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Littlemore J. (2002) "Setting up a course in ICT for Language Teachers: some essential considerations", CALL-EJ Online 4, 1 [Online]. Available at: http://callej.org Piper A. (1986) "Conversation and the computer: a study of the conversational spin-off generated among learners of English as a Foreign Language working in groups", System 14, 2: 187-198. Sanders R. (ed.) (1995) Thirty years of Computer Assisted Language Instruction, Festschrift for John R. Russell, CALICO Journal, Special Issue 12, 4. Schulze M., Hamel M-J. & Thompson J. (1999) (eds.) Language processing in CALL, ReCALL Special Issue. Toner G. et al. (2008) Multimedia language learning in higher education in the UK, CETL Survey in Partnership with LLAS. Coleraine: University of Ulster: http://www.cemll.ulster.ac.uk/site/news/CETL%20Survey University College London, CIBER Project, School of Library, Archive and Information Studies (SLAIS) (2008) Information behaviour of the researcher of the future, CIBER Briefing Paper: London, University College London. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/ggexecutive.pdf Warschauer M. (1996) "Computer Assisted Language Learning: an Introduction". In Fotos S. (ed.) Multimedia Language Teaching, Tokyo: Logos International. Available at: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/warschauer.htm

Warschauer M. & Healey D. (1998) "Computers and language learning: an overview", Language Teaching 31, 57-71.

Websites
CALICO: http://www.calico.org Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/ EUROCALL: http://www.eurocall-languages.org IALLT: International Association for Language Learning Technology, originally known as IALL (International Association for Learning Labs): http://www.iallt.org Graham Davies's "Favourite Websites". Over 300 language-related links. Updated every week: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/websites.htm ICT4LT (ICT for Language Teachers). This is a comprehensive resources site, initiated with European Commission funding in 1999-2000. It consists of 16 discrete modules covering various aspects of CALL as well as a glossary of terminology and a resource centre containing a bibliography and useful links. The site is updated every week: http://www.ict4lt.org WorldCALL: http://www.worldcall.org

Graham Davies 2011 under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.