3. What is CALL?
CALL is the future!
● Includes a variety of different softwares and “apps,”
straying away from traditional teaching and shifting
into a technology-based approach
● Different approaches to teaching and learning
language, heavily based in online connection
4. The basics
Why does CALL matter?
● CALL has exploded with user friendly, gamified apps
that are “sticky” or addictive. Many can be used on
mobile phones, making them easily accessible
● Apps that complement learning are pushing their way
into the classroom as the new norm
5. CALL in the classroom
✔ Students
✔ Parents
✔ Curriculum Specialists
✔ School Administrators
✔ Teachers
✔ EdTech Bloggers
✔ Politicians
✔ Policy Makers
✔ Academics
So, how exactly does call fit into the language
classroom? We asked....
6. CALL as an assessment tool
We asked several students, professionals and parents…
● Q1: What should be the role of CALL in the classroom
based on the benefits?
● Q2: What are the limitations of CALL in language
learning?
● Q3: What are the ethical issues surrounding the rapidly
increasing usage of CALL in language learning?
7. 3 Main Approaches of CALL
● Tutorial
● Engagement with authentic materials
○ radio stations, tv programs, newspapers, etc.
● Communication
11. Online Learning 2.0:
The mobile learning “revolution” at a glance
● Most apps built to reduce/eliminate the need for teachers
● Apps are more interactive
● Apps tap into innate human motivations for learning
● Improvements in audio/recording and interactive design
make these assessment tools increasingly multi-modal
○ able to assess your writing, reading, listening
comprehension, speaking, and conversational skills
12. Assessing listening
Brown and Abeywickrama ask:
● “Can you assess one skill in isolation, without the
participation of at least one other skill?”
● Can we directly observe the performance of all
four skills?
13. Duolingo sort of does it...
Duolingo can test two skills in the same exercise:
listening to the voice, and then having the user
speak the sentence.
Cons:
● Voice is monotone, sometimes distorted and
never varies.
● This exercise is never a substitute for
conversation.
● Computer doesn’t give feedback on test taker’
s pronunciation. It’s strictly pass/fail
● Teacher must be present to observe the
student performing the skill when pass/fail
scores not sufficient
14. Busuu relies on humans
Cons:
● Feedback is not immediate
● Assessors are members of
community/receive zero
compensation for their labor/
and no barter exchange
driving feedback
● Lack of clear compensation
model casts doubts on
reliability and consistency of
feedback
15. Livemocha assesses listening without AI
Livemocha will assess listening/writing
and listening/ speaking without
“artifical intelligence”. Humans do the
assessing driven by a bartering system.
Cons:
● Feedback costs money or barter
exchange
● Feedback is not immediate
● User interface is not gamified like
Duolingo
16. Assessing speaking
Brown and Abeywickrama remind us there are five
different types of speaking (p.184):
1. Imitative
2. Intensive
3. Responsive
4. Interactive
5. Extenstive
17. All technology in question tested users on their
ability to perform “imitative” speaking
Brown and Abeywickrama (p. 184): “Imitative speaking is the ability to
simply parrot back a word or phrase..this is purely phonetic level oral
production..no inferences are made about the test taker’s ability to
understand or convey meaning or to participate in an interactive
conersation
18. Assessing reading
Brown and Abeywickrama ask (p. 224):
“Is reading so natural and normal that learners should
simply be exposed to written texts with no particular
instruction?”
19. “Quoted!”
One interviewee says…
“With Duolingo, there is no instruction on how to learn
anything whatsoever! None. I haven’t come across any
instruction on how to learn things quicker except of course in
the main forum and even there rather not too precise which
is easy to understand as those are not too wide spread which
in the end is to my advantage but to any learner's
disadvantage. In German such a behavior is called
'Unterlassene Hilfeleistung' and is punishable.” -Denk Muskel
20. Bottom up vs. Top down
From Brown and Abeywickrama (p. 224):
● Bottom up: strategies for processing separate letters,
words, and phrases
● Top Down: conceptually driven strategies for
comprehension. Readers must develop appropriate
content and formal schemata to carry out correct
interpretation
21. CALL on reading strategies
● It is easy for CALL to offer reading assessments that
measure bottom up reading strategies.
● It’s more challenging to test top-down reading on a
massive self-service website like Duolingo.
● But that doesn’t mean they don’t try..
23. How it affects reading assessment
(in Duolingo)
● Crowdsourcing means that anyone with minimum of experience on
Duolingo is allowed to assess your translations
● Assessors may only give you a reductive “looks good” or ”looks wrong”
● Detailed feedback on translation is no guarantee
● While translation requires reading comprehension, feedback on written
translation is not a direct observation of reading comprehension. It is an
observation of writing.
● Duolingo does not have a direct assessment on any type of reading skill.
24. Livemocha tackles “bottom-up” reading
assessments in a direct, but limited way
Livemocha uses a short-answer reading task.
The user reads questions that must be
answered in written form in a sentence or
two.
Cons
● Software provides zero automated
feedback. Not a simple
correct/incorrect
● Human feedback has a cost and is not
immediate
● No comprehension questions
available
25. So what did interviewees think? Two themes arise
from interviews
People liked to discuss learning technology
in terms of its:
● Capabilities
● Appropriateness
27. the good
● Students enjoy the versatility, availability, flexibility,
authentic materials and convenience of CALL.
● Teachers consider CALL another tool in their toolkit for
differentiation, variety, independent work, authentic up-
to-date materials and fun class activities.
● Administrators, Districts and School Boards are eyeing
the cost-cutting benefits of CALL in an era of budget cuts.
28. ● Parents see CALL as a supplement to school which
can help with additional practice to assist and
challenge their children.
● School and community libraries provide CALL as a
way to engage children in learning and reading.
● Politicians and policy makers are looking at ways to
innovate the schools of tomorrow-which may not
have walls.
the good
29. ● Student teachers of today have grown up with
technology and integrate CALL into lessons to engage
students and provide extended learning opportunities
such as Skype chats, epals, Facebook pages, video
exchanges and interactive games and activities.
● Designers of CALL are constantly working to improve
their products to bring them to a wider audience.
the good
30. ● Students get bored with the same CALL and move on
to new CALL without learning in depth or with live
human interaction.
● Teachers have trouble monitoring the use and
learning done with CALL.
● Administrators, Districts and School Boards can’t
provide enough technology or the updates required to
provide all students access.
the bad
31. ● Parents worry about students becoming “zombies
hiding behind a screen” instead of engaging in human
interactions.
● Schools and community libraries have trouble
providing enough devices for all students and keeping
them current.
● Politicians and policy makers focus on computerized
testing for accountability, diminishing the role of
teachers in instructing and assessing students.
the bad
32. ● Student teachers are frustrated with out of date or
insufficient technology to use new CALL in the
classroom.
● Designers recognize there are still many bugs to work
out to make CALL accurate and interactive.
● Computers recognize only one correct answer vs.
different lexical variants.
the bad
33. All of the stakeholders agree that CALL…
● is a valuable supplement to language learning that is
convenient and self-paced
● provides a wealth of authentic material and
opportunities for cultural and linguistic exchange
the conclusions
35. CALL cannot stand alone nor
replace the human
interaction of the live, in
person, language classroom.
... human interaction and communication is
key to language learning!
