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Computer
Assisted Instruction in Language Teaching
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Most teachers, especially in eastern European
countries, still rely on chalk and the blackboard. But over the years, more and more
technical inventions have shaped the educational aids with which teachers surround
themselves. Maybe it is high time for teachers to find a place for the computer to make
our teaching more effective, emphasising its ability to interact with the students.
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My experience as a teacher proved that wherever
they live, teachers voice similar doubts, hopes, and problems. Teachers are deeply
concerned about keeping abreast of the "best," "most modern" methods
of teaching, modern aids, etc.
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I shall try to prove that we can fulfill
students' expectations by using computers as teaching aids and that this can be done even
in a country like Romania, where computers are still relatively rare in the teaching
process. The computer can be a partner for the learner to play educational games with, or
it can be used to generate examples, to illustrate certain operations, or to stimulate
conversation.
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In computer labs, students tend to form groups
of two or three around a single computer, even when there are enough computers available
for each student to use one individually. One reason may be that students using computers
do not feel that they are being watched or judged; perhaps as a result, they do not feel
that the work they do on the computer is their own private property. They become relaxed
about pooling information and seeking help from their friends. A computer can analyse the
specific mistakes the student has made and can react in a different way from the usual
teacher-this leads the student not only to self correction, but also to understanding the
principles behind the correct solution. A computer gives individual attention to the
learner and replies immediately to questions or commands. It acts as a tutor and guides
the learner towards the correct answer while adapting the material to his/her performance.
This flexibility is impossible to achieve with written handouts and worksheets.
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There are three models for computer use in
language learning:
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- as a language teacher;
- as a stimulus for conversation;
- as an aid to cognitive development.
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In order to think about uses of the computer in
the classroom, it is useful to keep two terms in mind. Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
is the term used to describe computer programs designed for teaching, whereas Computer
Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is the term used for different forms of second language
instruction accomplished with the use of computers.
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In using a CAI program, students follow the
instruction as the lesson unfolds on the terminal while interacting with the computer.
Generally limited to developing reading and writing skills, lessons may include drills and
practice exercises, reading comprehension passages, games or simulations, etc. Over time
the hardware has improved, which results in better graphic facilities, including colours,
the possibility of animation, touch screen, audio output and video media. Listening
comprehension exercises have been developed using a sound blaster and/or a CD-ROM. A short
dialogue is displayed on the screen (students can hear it), and then a related question is
viewed on the screen. Once the students type in an answer, the fast and accurate accessing
system enables branching feedback to be provided in audio form. Students can also request
backup information in written or audio form and can make use of an audiocard allowing
instant access to digitally recorded sound files stored on the hard disk.
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Rather than replacing teachers, computer-based
packages are being used as classroom resources. The way in which these packages are used
varies with the context of their use, age levels, subject areas or classroom settings.
Using a computer in teaching languages can offer unlimited types of activities with
considerable potential for learning.
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Teachers from different subject areas are likely
to have different perceptions of the use of computers in learning, as the knowledge, aims,
and skills associated with different subjects vary quite widely. Teachers who subscribe to
a view of education as an acquisition of knowledge in the form of information will find
that many computer packages can be used. Teachers who value learning by discovery or by
interaction with other students will find that there are various computer-based packages
to support those approaches.
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The following describes some of the advantages
and limitations of using a computer in CAI or CALL.
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Both CAI and CALL systems allow the normal and
even unusual errors that people are apt to make.
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By creating friendly programs with both systems,
any user can work independently at the console.
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The programs respect the individuality of the
students by allowing them to make frequent choices with many options.
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The feedback to the users helps the students to
analyse patterns in the language.
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CALL programs present the learner with a
novelty. They teach the language in different and more interesting, attractive ways and
present language through games and problem- solving techniques. As a result, even tedious
drills can become more interesting.
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Computers offer a valuable source of self-access
study adaptable to the learner's level.
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Using a computer in teaching languages can offer
unlimited types of activities with considerable potential for learning.
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Besides teaching a foreign language, CALL
programs will provide the learner with some sort of computer literacy, which is becoming
essential in modern society and could be of great help in future training and career
prospects.
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Students are more relaxed; they are no longer
afraid of being corrected, judged, or watched. In fact, they create their own environment
around the computer, a sort of privacy where intruders are not welcome; only some
colleagues have access as needed.
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The computer has no "days off."
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The computer is patient and will tirelessly go
over and over again the same point for as long as necessary.
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The computer is "the best" teacher in
the world as it can provide information requested in a very short time.
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Learners who do not have prior experience in
using a keyboard might waste quite a bit of valuable time identifying letters on the
keyboard. However, with practice this can be worked out if one is not afraid of learning
new things.
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Working with computers normally means that the
learners work in isolation. This obviously does not help in developing normal
communication between learners, which is a crucial aim in any language lesson. In
practice, learners tend to revert to their mother tongue in discussions. The teacher
should not allow this if s/he wants to improve the students' language skills.
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CALL and CAI programs deal mainly with reading
and writing skills, and even though some listening programs have been developed recently,
they are very limited (there are very few interactive games with outstanding graphics,
colours, and spoken language capabilities).
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The programs which develop communicative
interaction normally present pre- determined uses of language based on the writer's
imagination of what would take place rather than what people really say in real situations
(so called "false conversations"). This sometimes creates confusion and
frustration on the part of the learner. However, these problems tend to lessen as students
become more familiar and comfortable with these programs.
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The time and effort required to develop such
programs can be considerable.
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Computers cannot cope with the unexpected.
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It is more tiring to read from a screen than
from a printed text.
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For teachers who develop their own material, the
time spent on programming and typing in the lessons can be quite lengthy.
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With the arrival of inexpensive computers,
second language teaching is now gaining a new dimension. Second language teachers will
have to learn how to work with and adapt to the new technology to maximize learning
opportunities for their students. Our inclination is to adapt the technology to our ideas
rather than adjust our thinking to confront the new reality on its own terms.
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The kind of exercise most appropriate for a
computer is one in which there is only a small set of acceptable answers to each question
and in which it is fairly easy to predict where the learner may go wrong. An example would
be a drill aimed at a specific point of grammar and vocabulary.
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The kind of exercise least capable of being
computerised is one in which the student has a relatively free hand, as in essays or
creative writing, or one in which the number of possibilities is too large for
computerization to be a practical proposition, as in the case, for example, of
translations of long passages. The computer is only an instructional medium. It is not
tied to any teaching method. Being helpful in building or consolidating the basis
necessary for achieving a reasonable level of communicative competence, computers have the
advantage of allowing teachers to split the class, thus enabling the teacher to create the
kind of environment which simulation and other activities require.
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Students enjoy programs which have many possible
variations and combinations. The teaching points may be primarily morphological,
syntactic, lexical, or stylistic; they may call upon integrative skills, or they may
relate to background knowledge. The exercises may involve any of a large number of
operations- substitution or transformation drills, gap-filling exercises, copying, writing
down a dictation, putting words in the correct order, or answering certain types of
comprehension questions.
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Some software packages include printed, audio,
video, or other materials to be used in conjunction with the software for reading,
writing, and many other types of classroom activities and provide a focus for small group
discussion, cooperation, planning, record keeping, and problem solving at the computer.
Techniques designed to enhance the illusion of a tutor can be psychologically helpful in
the initial stages of computer assisted instruction as a means of overcoming the barrier
between person and machine. These are likely to succeed best with younger pupils. If the
computer's comments are given in the language taught, the exchange will also have some
demonstrative value as a simulation of conversation. Clearly, it will be up to each
teacher to determine, by trial and error, the optimal degree of personification for
materials and students in question.
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Some computer games can be helpful in enhancing
reading, for example, in the English classroom. They can make reading interesting by
providing an objective that has immediate results such as succeeding at a game. Instead of
concentrating on the fact that they are reading English, students simply play a game.
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Another advantage of these games is that they
are "user friendly." A person does not need to know a lot about computers to be
able to compete in these games. The dialogues usually include realistic language and
contain a dose of humour as well.
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If the teacher wants to help the students and
have them read a bit more, s/he can prepare a short guide on what steps to follow to play
in the game, and/or prepare a short introduction to the plot, or preteach some new
vocabulary, and so on. Students play these games better in pairs, so they can discuss what
to do next, help each other find clues, or, if necessary, look up words in an English
dictionary. It does not matter how far into the game they get. The fact that they read and
use English as naturally as possible and in a funny and interesting way is definitely a
great asset. Of the various techniques available, the use of help files enabling the
learner to retrieve information as necessary immediately springs to mind. Help files
provide the teacher not only with an unobtrusive solution to the problem, but also with a
means of accommodating different learning styles.
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For example, by storing grammar rules and
examples of actual usage in a help file, teachers can cater at the same time to the
learner who likes to be given rules at the outset, and to one who prefers to have a chance
of deducing them. Lexical information and hints pointing the learner in the right
direction or even providing the correct answer can be put into help files to change the
computer from an instrument that simply teaches to a resource one learns from.
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Another way of shifting responsibility from the
teacher to the learner is to allow the learner to exit from an exercise before the end.
One of the greatest advantages of a "quit" facility is, indeed, that it allows
the learner to try out exercises without being committed to what may be too easy or too
difficult a task. Generally speaking, a "quit" facility gives the learner
freedom of action, including the possibility of ignoring the existence of the facility
altogether, and working through the lesson in a traditional manner from the beginning to
the end.
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Another innovation involving self assessment
consists of giving the learner the option of working mentally. The learner decides on the
answer before requesting the correct answer for mental comparison. The mental comparison
option legalizes the practice of pressing the return button without typing an answer in
order to get at the correct answer. If a student answered in his/her mind, s/he can get
immediate feedback with most programs by pressing the return button for the correct answer
without actually typing it in. Although it has certain dangers and will be appropriate
only in certain circumstances, it solves the typing problem and is very useful to students
who are revising.
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The learner may be able to adjust the level of
difficulty of the activity. In a gap-filling exercise, for instance, the learner can
choose the frequency or the size of the gap. Or if the speed is important, s/he can be
allowed to select the pace at which the items are to be displayed. In all this, it is most
important to remain flexible. The aim is to remove as far as possible any element of force
and create fluid, multi- purpose, multi-level packages to be used by the learner as he/she
deems fit.
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Computer assisted learning should be enjoyable
so that the "ally" should from time to time turn into a playmate. A great deal
can be achieved by exploiting the intrinsic appeal of riddles and puzzles. A potentially
dull and boring exercise can often become very attractive simply by being turned into a
guessing game. Many standard language games such as crossword puzzles, anagrams, word
ladders, and charades lend themselves readily to computerization.
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One can take advantage of real time by setting
time limits and organizing speed reading activities. Animated graphics, which so far
remain unexploited, promise to gain importance in the future. Graphics in general are
likely to become more widespread as CALL spreads to encompass younger age groups, and the
expertise of authors increases. Even simple graphics can be very effective. Maps and
diagrams can convey size, shape, position; family trees provide visual cues for exercises.
With the addition of animation you can have events and processes.
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Simulations can also encourage students to
conduct role-plays with a view to gaining insight into an historical situation or to
establish empathy with the central character. One of the great advantages of computer
simulations is that they can often be used by groups of students as well as by
individuals. Computer simulations can thus be of great assistance in simulating
conversation, in confronting students with tasks to be carried out in the here and now.
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In a typical application, the administrator uses
the computer to test, to grade the test, to record the marks, to work out profiles, and
uses the results to guide students through the material. The computer may keep an index of
learning resources, help with registration, or do the time keeping. In the course of
performing these duties, the computer stores, retrieves, and manipulates large amounts of
data requiring the kind of memory which at present only a mainframe can provide.
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The range of topics with which the computer can
help is vast, from the evaluation of methods and materials through measuring the realism
of teachers' expectations or the reliability of self assessment to conducting experiments
on pacing, sequencing, interference, etc.
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How quickly computer-based research will take
off and how successful the computer will be is a matter for speculation, but it is bound
to change to some extent, what happens in our classrooms. In spite of the many
applications and advantages, CALL and CAI still have not found their rightful place in
language learning and teaching. We should avoid asking ourselves how we can teach our
lessons on the computer and begin to re-evaluate our methods in the light of the
computer's tremendous teaching potential. Teachers must address themselves to the
challenge of computers and effectively apply their theoretical knowledge and practical
experience to the teaching of second-language communication through this new medium.
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